CDES 102

Last lecture, some TED talks

 

 

Here are links to the five videos we watched are below. They fit some of the overarching themes for the semester: Collaboration, Perception, Creativity and Innovation, and Design Thinking. These are videos we couldn't quite fit within our regular topics, but they also form their own nice litte collection of communication design related ideas. Enjoy. They are all from TED.

Steven Johnson on how design is a form of thinking and problem solving; how it is a process, a network, and an accumulation of ideas that needs the right environment to thrive.

Emily Pilloton on design as a catalyst for social change.

Adital Ela on design for sustainability and bridging ideas.

Marcin Jakubowski on open source and collaboration in service of problem solving, sustainability, and object creation.

Pranav Mistry showing a possible future in technology and human/computer interface. This, too, is of the open source philosophy.

John Hockenberry (video not yet available) also has an engaging story about designing, and living, with intent. 

Byron and Alan

Final quiz study guide

Here is the study guide for the final quiz which is next Monday, May 14, at 8:00 PM in our regular classroom. It will be multiple choice, 30 questions. Please bring a pencil. We will bring everything else.

Download CDES 102 Quiz 3 study guide

Byron

The brain and metaphor

Have you ever wondered why metaphors even work? How about jokes? Well, here's an interesting article about the relationship between the human brain and metaphor.  

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/this-is-your-brain-on-metaphors/?hp

Enjoy,
Byron

 

Infographics and appropriate UPOD terms

An image from the Gapminder web site.

Here are the visuals from last night's class on Infographics. It contains many links to both static and animated infographics, many of which we didn't take the time to show as you can explore on your own. I'd encourage you to take 30 minutes to go through and explore things we didn't show. There's a great video from the New York Times: Download VisualizingInfographics2 

If you like the kinds of things we discussed, and are a baseball fan, you'll enjoy this: Craig Robinson's Flip Flop Flyball. 

Looking for a simpler infographic? How about this one that shows how to make coffee drinks?

Is that too simple? Then have a look at this one about the 800 billion dollar stimulus package. That should keep you occupied for a while.

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 

Gestalt in use, project three

Remember our discussion about figure-ground and our comment that there was a peculiar sign here in town that many find baffling? The sign in question is for the gas station on First and Mangrove. The Mangrove sign is on the left. The designer/sign maker started with the original logo that is on the right. Something went terribly wrong.

The visuals for tonights lecture can be downloaded here: Download GestaltInUse-Data&Metaphor2

The university system is still down so I can't post your next project as I normally do. For now, you can access and download it here: Download Metaphor&Data S2012 Once the system is back up, I'll provide a link at left to the same document.

Byron

Frank Gehry

 

Frank Gehry on Charlie Rose, August 2007

If you enjoyed the selection of the film we showed on Monday, it's titled Sketches of Frank Gehry by Sydney Pollack and is available on Netflix. The clip above is an interview with him on Charlie Rose.

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

Byron

Two mini-case studies in creativity

Tom Hanks in Apollo 13

As you recall, on Monday night we spent our time discussing two mini-case studies in creativity and innovation. They were selections from Apollo 13 and Sketches of Frank Gehry. The discussion was, among other things, a way to consider the role of constraints in creativity.

We are including the notes from the board here for your reference. Why would you even want these notes? I take them to add to my archive of ideas and thoughts that I can return to for future ideas. It's a way to be an active learner. I have a friend with a great saying: "If you aren't taking notes, then you're just a tourist."

I'll leave it up to you to contemplate, study, and derive meaning from them as you sift through the many interesting ideas discussed.

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

A tambourine, a scribble, cloudy skies, boredom, fear, and a missing ruler

Here are six selections from last night’s quick exercise in which you wrote, in exactly three sentences, about the most useful constraint you’ve ever used in your own creative activities.

In high school I was in a design class where we were learning how to silk screen but we ran out of screens. Due to my lack of materials, I went home, fixed a broken tambourine, used a pair of ripped stocking as the screen, and used mod podge as the filler. It actually worked really well and many people admired my resourcefulness and creativity.

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The most useful constraint I have ever encountered is never having a ruler handy. It has forced me to determine the spacing I want in my various projects and developed my eye for distance and space. Using random objects as rulers has also led me to integrating new materials into my projects.

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In designing the front page of the newspaper, The Orion, I made it a goal to never do the same design twice. It has forced me to try new things and research more. I haven’t been comfortable or bored since.

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The most useful constraint I’ve ever experienced when attempting to be creative is probably the weather when making pictures. As a photographer, the weather greatly influences how my pictures turn out. Sun or rain has drastically forced me to be creative, even if I don’t choose to be.

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When drawing a picture for an art class I started with a quick scribble. I gave myself the rule that the scribble could not be erased. It forced me to incorporate it and come up with something I never thought I could.

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Fear is the most useful constraint I use with creative projects. Whether it be an assignment or personal goal, fear of not performing to my greatest ability makes me work harder, and faster. Granted, it’s not so much fear or something bad happening as it’s fear of not creating something to be proud of.

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What do all of these have in common? Embracing the constraint and finding a way to incorporate it into the creative activity. I suppose that it’s making lemonade out of lemons, to use a trite aphorism.

 

Everyone who submitted their exercise at the end of class will be getting four points extra credit.

Questions or comments? Please use the comments link below.

Byron and Alan