[singlepic id=378][singlepic id=380] This was a breeze after AKQA. My kerning, spacing and everything were still poor, and still need brushing up. But Parsons is great in that it offers me the ability to learn about marketing theories, cultural dimensions and how things should ideally run. In addition to all of the wonderful theoretical models and frameworks, some professor were actual Mad Men and drill you to come up with really unique concepts. They really know how and why offices are structured in particular models and the fine grain detail about the human to human interaction that would go on. They certainly do have stories to tell. [nggallery id=31] The "see - learn - do -share" process is from Marieke de Mooij's Global Marketing and Advertising. One of the key differences in a viral model is that it offers the ability to share at multiple points throughout the experience, not only once the purchase and experience has been completed. Source: Marieke de Mooij Ph.D.
Feng Mengbo
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Crafting Hybrid Design
Definitions.We shouldn't let definitions limit our discipline. Our actions, tools and methods should define our discipline, not vise versa.
Siloing Definitions Apparently in Silicone Valley, introducing yourself as an "interaction designers" denotes that you know how to code. But that on the east coast, it means you are a visual designer possibly without the ability to code.
Someone else told me that "User Experience" is online, but "Experience Design" isn't exclusively online. But isn't the design of a service also supposed to be user centered? It makes sense that the pathways must be well designed for the provider as well, which is why some companies like Kaiser Permanente prefer the term "People Centered," since they also design for the nurses that take care of patients. There is the theory that experience cannot be designed, only the parameters for the experience. But that doesn't mean outcomes are totally out of our control. We need to influence specific prompts of the experience at the right times.
There's the threat of being overly specific. I've also heard that if something becomes a discipline it is no longer integrative, making the institution of learning a "tradeschool," or the firm "industrialized and mechanized."
Defining by Differentiating Oreilly gives four definitions of what IA may be and then states what is not IA. "*Graphic design is NOT information architecture." "*Software development is NOT information architecture." "*Usability engineering is NOT information architecture." Some architects say that information architecture isn't actually architecture, because most IA practitioners don't have BArch or MArch degrees, nor are they certified by an association like RIBA, The Royal Institute of British Architects. You can now find the term Interaction Architects popping up.
There are designers fighting for new ground, and designers fighting to defend their current titles and current methods. Maybe we currently we exist in the "gray areas between disciplines" fighting for future methods. (Oreily).
Design Future Another way to put this is that we're "hybrid designers [that] re-design, re-think," and are "better suited to a complex physical/non-physical world" (FastCo). While we may get caught up in defining new disciplines and titles, we should focus on defining new methods and media. Not new media as in tv, web, mobile but new media as in Robert Fabricant's concept that "behavior is our medium." Fast Co emphasizes "Being a thought-leader (or a design-thinker) is nice, yet also being a craftsman," who can create functional outputs is important. I find the concept of being a "Hybrid Designer" very fitting. There can be different types of hybrid designers, but they will all rely on specific craft.
[singlepic id=267]Robert Fabricant leads a team of Hybrid Designers at frog design
Well, what is craft? Richard Sennett believes craftwork to be "highly refined, complicated activity [that] emerges from simple mental acts like specifying facts and then questioning them."
As humans we place concepts into hierarchies and then apply labels terms to them. This allows us to understand ideas and share them. But these are all abstractions. When the lines begin to blur, we begin to freak out. Lines themselves are abstractions that do not exist. We just use lines as means to define an actual space. In imagery like painting or illustration a line is just used to define an edge, but if you zoom in it's not a line, just more space...gray space. Even vectors are something we cannot directly engage with. Let's create the fine grain detail, develop new craft and then zoom out to decide what specific type of designer we are. For now, maybe a Hybrid Designer is a nice, loose umbrella term.
Even if you are an architect there is the chance someone will define you as someone who "builds buildings." It's not just buildings or construction sites, or website. It's communities and empires. The communities and empires of the future are those of the mind.
sources
Orielly Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
http://www.oreilly.de/catalog/9780596527341/toc.html
Fast Co on Beyond Design Thinking: Why Hybrid Design Is the Next New Thing http://www.fastcompany.com/1656288/beyond-design-thinking-why-hybrid-design-is-the-next-new-thing
Robert Fabircant - Behavior is Our Medium at IxDA http://www.ixda.org/resources/robert-fabricant-behavior-our-medium
NYC UX Community Holiday Party
Yesterday was the UX Community's annual holiday party, attended by IxDA, UPA to name a few. I attended with my friend Jake from Parsons' Design+Management program. It was mostly relaxing and socializing. But I learn about new things every time I meet with members of these groups. We met a number people there who majored in English, liberal arts, or journalism. That is because just a few years ago degrees were not available for the disciplines they now practice. Which is interesting for Jake and myself because he is getting a BBA in Design+ Management and I am getting a BFA in Integrated Design. Those are not common job titles. It isn't necessarily our goal to make them more common titles. We're looking define new roles, new methods and from that may come new titles. [singlepic id=255] [singlepic id=257]
Topics we brought up: Service Design for transportation - specifically airlines Redesigned airline tickets - passfail.squarespace.com brought to my attention by Jess Eddy who has great work.
Information Architecture - Do you have any examples of good IA for a site including search functions that aggregate info from other organizations? Specifically for services like OpenTable or Kayak - where there is info from many restaurants and hotels.
960 Grid System - Fluid 960 Grid System - featuring code download 960 Grid System - featuring Illustrator, InDesign, Flash template downloads etc
Architecture - Bjarke Ingels 3 warp-speed architecture tales on TED Bjarke Ingels Group website
Joshua Prince-Ramus uses Hyperreality Designing the Seattle Central Library TED on youtube
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LeftLoft, Italian Design Studio Opens in New York
Leftloft, an Italian design studio opens it doors in New York this year. They had a reception for their studio launch earlier this week on Fifth Ave, right around the corner from Parsons. They describe themselves as an "independnt graphic design company based out of Milan, Italy." They do graphic design and creative direction/strategy. They've aslo done some really nice information design and design for environments.Some of their clients include: Moleskine, Pirelli, Politecnico di Milano, Car Sharing Italia [singlepic id=232] [singlepic id=246] CMGN [singlepic id=238] Paul from Pentagram New York [singlepic id=233] 倍耐力Perelli 是一家CSR公司 [singlepic id=239] Touchpoint Genius! It's like the Ridel logo that has been etched inversely on the bottom of their crystal, so when you finish a glass you are looking right at their logo. [singlepic id=249]
Check them out at http://leftloft.com/
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Luxury Education Foundation Behind the Scenes
More photos from preparation and the reception[singlepic id=207] [singlepic id=223] [singlepic id=224] [singlepic id=230] [singlepic id=219] [nggallery id=14]
Luxury Design Strategies LEF Final Presentations
LUXURY DESIGN + STRATEGYFor the past 16 years Parsons students have collaborated with MBA students from Columbia University to develop brand-strengthening design solutions for luxury companies.
This year, teams were chosen to research and design for Hermès, Bulgari, Maclaren, Loro Piana, Haviland. Each company had a unique case, requirements and goals. It is good to see more professionals and people from different backgrounds change their view of design from something of decoration to a force of actual function and meaning. Increasingly I notice more business schools getting involved in design. Like Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Stanford and Columbia.
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SITE
Students meet at Parsons, Columbia University, and the offices of the companies’ chief executives for discussion and working sessions.
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Barbra Cirkva, Chair
Ketty Maisonrouge, President
ADVISORY BOARD:
Assouline: Prosper Assouline, President & Founder
Bulgari: Veronica Trenk, Managing Director
Cartier: Emmanuel Perrin, President & CEO
Chanel: Barbra Cirkva, Division President, Fashion, Watches and Fine Jewelry
Christian Dior: Pamela Baxter, President & CEO
Graff: Henri Barguirdjian, President & CEO
Gucci: Laura Lendrum, President & CEO
Hermès: Rober Chavez, President & CEO
Lalique, Haviland, Daum: Maz Zouhairi, President & CEO
Loro Piana: Fabio Leoncini, Managing Director, Luxury Goods
Louis Vuitton: Geoffroy van Raemdonk, Acting President
Luxottica: Andrea Dorgio, EVP of Wholesale North America
LVHM Perfumes and Cosmetics: Pamela Baxter, President and CEO
Maclaren: Farzad Rastegar, President
Special Thanks to Heico Wesselius and Andrew Cornell Robinson of the Design+ Management department of Parsons The New School for Design
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links + sources:
http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/luxury-education-foundation/
http://www.luxuryeducationfoundation.org/
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Inflated view of China's Growth
China's exports are less dominant than we initially perceived. That is because "many of China's export shipments include imported goods that are reassembled" before being finally exported. That creates an inflated view of the number of exports that China actually has and skews our view of China's growth.Researchers developed a new metric called "domestic value added exports" which are total exports minus all imports used to produce goods that are subsequently exported.
Domestic Value Added Exports Equation DVAE = [total exports] - [imports used to produce goods that are subsequently exported].
In 2008, China's total exports were 33% of their GDP. DVAE was 19% of their GDP, meaning that only 14% of their GDP was from pure exports which entirely originated from China.
This is more reason to use the term GNI (Gross National Income) instead of Gross National Product, because much of what is produced is not an actual product but a service or combination of internationally sourced products.
This article supports my view that the world is: 1. over emphasizing China's growth and power 2. too reliant on physical products -we are not measuring the output of these products (impact on people's lives or the environment) but we also are not properly measuring the input into these products. 3. needs new methods of identifying ways to measure production and income (on both a level for nations and individuals).
quotes via HBR HBR article - http://web.hbr.org/email/archive/dailystat.php?date=120610 Original study A truer picture of China's export machine by McKinsey Quarterly -http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Globalization/A_truer_picture_of_Chinas_export_machine_2676?gp=1
Yeh IDeology on Connecting in a New Economy
Angela Yeh presented at Parsons about connecting talent, recruiting and job searching. She spoke on how in a knowledge economy, information is passed through both hi-tech & human networks, which we can make "more indelible, solid & memorable."
Follow her on twitter @YehID View her recruiting firm's website here at Yeh IDeology
AIGA Design Educators Conference - Remapping the Curriculum
Part I: Remapping the CurriculumOne of Six Views of the AIGA Design Educators Conference Quotes by Jon Kolko
Shelley spoke on "Described the changing qualities of culture and society and the new demands placed on design educators in driving specialization toward fields like service and interaction design."
Christopher Vice - spoke on how "We must actively and aggressively reframe design education in order to best meet the challenges facing our world and culture."
"For most of the field’s history, educational programs in graphic design have taught students how to create artifacts. That involves a number of core competencies, including but certainly not limited to color theory, two-dimensional design, three-dimensional design, typography, composition, printing and prepress, packaging, digital prepress, logo and mark creation. But the world has changed, and professionals rarely focus exclusively on printed material. In the last 20 years, the overall landscape of design has shifted: — From single artifact-systems to design language systems, focusing on a unified visual and semantic message across multiple printed pieces — From one-way communicative artifacts, such as brochures, to interactive artifacts, such as software — From designed artifacts to “design-thinking,” where the focus of the design process is applied in the context of large-scale business, organizational or cultural problems — From commercial goods toward service, emphasizing time-based, human and more experiential qualities of designed offerings
Suggestions: 1. Recast the Foundation (good, because I only took one foundation class.)
2. Specialize and Differentiate I think we should also integrate the skills that are specialized and different. You need verticals ex: human factors engineering, typography. "— Focus on service design or interaction design. " "— Focus on partcipatory design" "— Focus on traditional design specialites"
We're not designing artefacts - maybe we're not even designing ways of thinking (as that may simply be impossible). We are designing methods of thinking, we design the pathway and the specific prompts within them.
Changing Design Education "increasingly questions consumption and advertising, which are at the heart of industrial and graphic design disciplines." "There is an increased demand for service-based jobs as our country re-evaluates economic sustainability. People are demanding quality, reflective and meaningful experiences in their world."
"The subject of design is the humanization of technology, and as long as technological advancements continue, so the pragmatic and day-to-day jobs of designers will continue to morph. And so must design education continue to evolve."
------------- Questions I pose, to myself and maybe prompts for others to think about: What is your vertical (deep area of specialization)? It may be something that can spread across a wide domain, or be applied to other domains.
How to make the game more meaningful and effective. How to make it more fun? We'll get to that after we address the basics. We must "dramatically revamp their courses or face irrelevance." That is I am a test tube baby, a prototype generation for design education.
Cameron Tonkinwise asks, "If designers are innovative creatives why are they so very tame & lame when it comes to redesigning design education" (via Tiwtter @camerontw) Possibly because professors are scared of becoming irrelevant and design students are afraid of studying a discipline that does not exist yet. Although, that would be parcipatory design for design education - crafting the discipline as you define it. Additionally that would be creating the cirriculum as it is taught. Some of the main barriers to redesigning design education may be based in the fear of it becoming an act of blacksmithing design education. Full text: http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=22988 Update Jon Kolko is now heading up the Austin Center for Design, which has a focus on social design and real world impact. They aim to create impact by "emphasizing creative problem solving related to human behavior, through the use of advanced technology and novel approaches to business strategy." Learn more about ACD here: http://www.austincenterfordesign.com/
Jon Kolko from Ix11