CDES 102

Famous logos in different languages

The FedEx logo, in Arabic.

Thanks to Scott for sending along this link which shows some famous logos that appear in different languages. It's great and worth a look.

Byron 

The Art of Film & TV Title Design

Interesting in filmmaking? Interested graphic design? You'll probably like this brief video on Film and TV Title Design.

At the end is a brief homage to Saul Bass, the graphic designer Alan mentioned in class last night who directed the iconic bloody shower sequence in Psycho.

Enjoy,

Byron

Bonus material: Craig Frazier

Here is a link to Craig Frazier's web site. He was mentioned briefly in tonight's class. It's worth exploring, trust me. He's an alum of Chico State.

Enjoy,

Alan and Byron 

The decline of thinking outside of the box

I annnounced last night that I'd post the whole of the article I referenced at the start of last night's class. The specific text I referenced is in the pink box. It would have been more in keeping with the spirit of the article if they had put the text outside the box, don't you think? Please pardon the coffee stains.

Byron

Notes on the Kony video

Thanks for an interesting discussion tonight about the Joseph Kony video. Clicko on the above for a picture of the notes from our class.

The visuals for the phone are here, and the ribbons are here.

Byron

The Learning Project

The grades for your first project have been posted and you should be able to see them online. One of the very best projects was by Lindsay Smith. You can download her project here.

Like everyone, Lindsay conducted her observations and recorded her findings. What made her project especially effective was that she took our advice from the class overview session and really did a nice job in clearly and concisely communicating her findings. The form of her project indicated that she had done a serious amount of thinking about what was important and how to communicate it to an audience. If you browse through her project, I think you'll see what I mean. Take, for example, her visual documentation. It very clearly showed us the important discoveries she made that ranged from counterspace that was limited to high traffic and congestion areas.

Some of the more common and general shortcomings in projects were, in no particular order:

A. Injecting personal opinion into the process. Your findings needed to emerge out of observations. Looking for evidence to support an opinion was a fundamentally inappropriate approach.

B. Making statements that couldn't be backed up by any kind of data. Remember, counting and measuring were usually necessary.

C. Using visuals that didn't relate to your findings, or that didn't help clarify your thinking. Using imagery is an opportunity to persuade.

D. A lack of depth with your observations and data gathering. This relates to item "B."

E. A lack of attention to craft of writing, or clarity of message. Proof-reading matters.

If you have questions or concerns, please bring them to our attention as soon as possible.

Byron and Alan

Redesigned touch-screens in Ford? Not doing so well

Ford's MyTouch control screen.

Remember that article from a few weeks back (it was actually from 2010) about Ford and IDEO (and Microsoft) designing a new touchscreen interface? Well, the verdict is in, and it's not a good one. Ford is releasing a software update to address numerous complaints and problems with the screens. They aren't helping sales. In fact they seem to be having the opposite effect. It is interesting to note that Microsoft is mentioned prominently as the software designer, and IDEO isn't even mentioned. Why? I don't know.

Byron

The Set Designer & Innovation

Here are two terrific articles about the relationship between physical space and innovation. Both are from the New York Times. The first is about Bell Labs. It's a long-ish piece that outlines how MOST of the technological innovations we use today came from one lab. Their approach shares a lot with some things we've discussed in class, though there are some differences.

The second article, When Truisms are True, is much shorter. It ddresses the importance of one's environment with an ability to come up with new ideas. It takes the aphorism of "thinking outside the box" quite literally.

Byron 

More comments on the first project

I've fielded a few more questions today about the first project that indicate there is still some confusion about the project format. Here's what I just sent to a classmate:

Your project should have four distinct sections, each with the appropriate heading: ABSTRACT, OBSERVATIONS & ANALYSIS, VISUAL DOCUMENTATION, and CONCLUSIONS. 

The Abstract is a written narrative.

The Observations can be a combination of narrative, bullet points, highlights, etc. You should present that section in a way that indicates that you've carefully considered your observations, organized your thoughts, and contemplated how to present them succinctly to a reader. It shouldn't be a stream-of-conciousness, long prose, description.

The visual documentation should support your observations. Provide context and explanation for your visuals as necessary, and don't use anything superfluous.

The conclusion will need to be a narrative.

Byron

First project, rough drafts

Thank you to everyone who submitted your project early. You will all be receiving extra credit points. As there were so many early submissions, we were unable to go through each of them in class in signficant depth, so we tried to be targeted with our comments and observations. The picture below is a distillation of tonight's class, and the general recommendations you told us that you took away from class.

The picture below has some other points we tried to make during the evening. I suppose they'll only make sense if you were there...

If we didn't get to your particular project tonight, I apologize. But I hope that after tonight's discussion, everyone will find specific ways to improve upon your work.

Questions or comments? Please use the comments link below so that all may participate in the discussion.

Byron