"Designed" aspects of my life

Going to school is the first thing that comes to mind. And at the moment it is the most influential. I also think that I take this most for granted at the moment. I look at it as taking up too much time and dictating my every move, but I should be looking at it differently, I should be devoting all my time to it and energy because when I graduate I will use theses skills I have used to be more productive and efficient and useful in my job. But life is a constant balance and we learn as we go, so here I go.

Find an emotion

illicit emotion.

No one better than the automobile industry.

BMW for example has one of the biggest names in the arena of cars, and it brings such emotion to the table for everyone involved. Owning a BMW is obviously the height of the experience, but they are not the only ones that get enjoyment from the automobiles.

Just seeing one on the street attracts attention and illicit's an emotion of excitement, and it could be parked, thats power.

Hot trends aren't as effective anymore

But they shouldn't be ignored either.

I was learning about make up trends from some of the girls at work when I was employed by Aveda. I was in a position were I wanted to know what the hottest make up trends were and how to spot them, and more importantly how to stay away from old out dated ones.

What I learned from my coworkers was not what I had expected at all. Make up is married to Fashion in my minds, and their are trends that are Hot, and well things that are Not. But what I was thought was that trends of makeup, no matter how hard you tried didn't work for everyone! go figure right, you mean a mask doesn't appeal or look good on every age face!

This is a "mask" in the runway, you know, where trend is born from!

They taught me that yes, at one time there were different trends for make up, in the fifties it was RED lipstick, in the eighties it was BLUE eye shadow. You want to know why it was a trend? because it looked like crap on 90% of the patrons. Now you want to make the make up compliment the natural features, to enhance the beauty within. But then again, this could all just be a trend too! lol! blew that idea!

Most important in Design

Color? Line? Form? Texture?

None of the above.

The most important thing in design are two symbiotic elements. Emotion and Reflective value. These two branches do not live with out one another and therefore need to be discussed together.

Emotion is what drives a person to buy a product, even if they don't have the means at that time in life to purchase it. It drives them to do anything necessary for them to acquire their new obsession. Secondly is Reflective value. What does this product say about me to people that I will meet in the future, and how does this product add to my reflection of self values I hold myself to.

Deep stuff, we could talk all night.

All the different skills

Skills, for designers, are sets of tools used by a designer or someone in their craft to explain to others their ideas and thoughts in a mainly visual way.

I think by having the education that we do being so standard, that it is impossible to say that we have different skill sets, the biggest thing that I can deduce, and many others as well is to identify those skill sets that best fit a designers need at any given time, or is best for them to accurately explain ideas to others.

Some can do it with thumbnail sketches, others with CAD modeling, and yet others marker renders. its up to you, the job at hand, and how the audience your talking to will best receive it.

Single most important skill for a designer.

DRAWing comes first, then your brain.

Okay, so you see an attractive individual across the room, your intrigued. Maybe a little intimidated, but you have the erg to know more, to seek them out, to get to know them or at least understand them. You are ultimately attracted to them.

So you take a chance, willingly. You walk over. You strike up a conversation and quickly realize that they are not who you were hoping them to be, maybe they were the most un-intelligent person you now know on earth. But for a moment you had them captivated.

Now think of your drawings as the attractor to your ideas. If you have horrible drawing skills, but a fantastic mind and wonderful ideas about what should be, no one will give you the time of day or want to look at all into who you are or what your proposing as a designer.

The drawings and sketches will bring people to you, they then will help you sell your ideas to the masses, and then the mind behind it all will get the chance to do it again and agian, it will bring them back for more every time.

Social and Technological solutions

Is there even a difference?

We are to write about the difference about designing solutions for social issues and technological ones.

I am not going to sit here and act like i have a clue about solving social issues like aids, hunger or clean water, nor will I pretend to know about technological ones either.

But one thing could be said about both, is that they will definitively share some of the same basic assessments, which I may have something to say about.

Whats the problem? Loaded question. Just like taking prescription drugs for some instances of depression, there is almost certainly an underlying problem, or root of it that needs to be addressed. You can take pills to make you feel better and to live a "happier" life, but can those pills heal the emotional pain of an abusive relationship?

Who's effected. Tricky little statement. As human beings it is our nature to think of ourselves first and to think of others second, even when you think your "helping others". I think ministering to the world about faith in a higher power is important, and even rewarding to those who participate, but take a closer look into the realm of missionary works and one will need to rethink the phrase "give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime". Powerful.

How will they be effective. I am sure that this stage will be the true solution, what it is is up for debate.

The examples I have given are mainly social ones, but I think you get the idea.

Design style

Yikes.

I believe at this stage in the game a particular style is definitively being harbored, but I am not sure I have landed on anything I can place my thumb on just yet.

I believe the best way to think about my current style is one of systems. I love to design groups of things, that all work together. They do not have to have the same form factor, or company logo, but rather an underlying relationship to one another that makes for a better sum of the parts over an individualized piece.

The best thing that comes to mind at the moment to put a product line in your minds that does this would be a power tool company and the standardization of the battery packs. I think it is brilliant. How long did it take to get a battery from one company power many different types of tools? too long.

Strategy of design

Can you manufacture design strategy? IDEO would say yes, I believe inventors would more likely say no. Why? Because IDEO is out to sell a service of ideas, while an inventor is out to sell an idea as a service. I believe in the latter of the two thoughts.

I believe that a good design strategy is born from free, unrestricted inspiration. I have a place in my mind for inventors really paving the way for designers. on the spectrum of the Industrial design field we have two schools of thought or areas. On one side we have stylers, meaning people with the ability to take any current technologies or products and them bring them together through form and application. On the other hand you have inventors, individuals creating new technologies, reinterpreting the human experience into something different. I believe that the inventor is sparked, agitated, fueled by life, trial and error, and most importantly by their experiences.

My design strategy is to live, and to react to situations that cause the thoughts of change and reinterpretation in our everyday lives.