David Kelley: Human-Centered Design (Task 1b)

We normally focus on products and objects in terms of technological involvement. Human-centred design is the approach to the design involving behaviors, personalities and products. Therefore it makes us more enjoyable when we encounter those products.
Kelly showed some videos concerning products, services and the environment. At PRADA New York, scanner has an important role to communicate with customers. For instance, if customer gets interested in a product, the scanner shows how she could fit with other items. Also, in dressing room, more information will　be provided by touching the screen, so that customer can check what to fit as well.

In the next video, there is one interesting device at London Science Museum. Active games on the big screen are placed on the table for multiple players. Also, huge screen fulfilled with lines displays the feedback from visitors. Such line design is based on London subway system. In the last video, funny room is showing up. It has the cubes all around involving various kinds of elements such as flower base and fish tank. All the things in the room are creative and eye-catchy.

I liked a product named spy fish, which is a small camera-built hovercraft seeking under the water as well as what scuba divers do. You can watch the video by its camera on live. Also, it is attached with a remote controller up to your desire where to go.

During the video, all he mentioned was the design with fun, enjoyment and pleasure. One of his known designers did manufacturing business in Kenya for the local people and the sales on the product are non-profit in fact. So in this point, it is obvious that Kelley focuses on human, people, living etc. to connect to design rather than business markets. This could be because he knows or believes that the design with such features would be more trust-worthy for consumers.

I think the idea of human-centered design is quite important as Kelley mentioned. It is because we design products for people. I want to see people feel pleasure and happiness. We have just started project of design product having more pleasure to use but the video refreshed my mind what is primary to consider. I need to refine my idea more and more for the best human-centered design.

Don Norman: Emotional Design (Task 1a)

This post is about the first Video Blog task of Emotional Design by Don Norman. During his speech, Norman mentions about the new view of what the beauty and the emotions are. He says that the design, (or could be anything) should be that people can be positive by touching and feeling those.

He had an impression to the Japanese knife in terms of its shape (saying "beautiful"), balance (feels good) and function (excellent sharpness).
His passion is all towards the fun. For example, he defines brain-storming as the method of making us happy. Thus when the problem in our head is solved, that is the moment we feel happy. That should be emotional satisfaction of us. In addition, he explained about such satisfaction by raising the example of a car up. He seems pretty happy about the well-designed appearance of inside the car. All the components are round and organized. Therefore, how those are placed is also the key point of feeling happy, I guess.

In our case as designer, we can achieve that people (clients) feel happy about our design by our emotionally successful ideas. We can feel happy as well because we figure the solution about the best idea out.

Therefore, it is important for us to be creative not only about how functional, or any physical excellence our designs are, but also about how emotionally we can communicate with people so that they can feel good to use it. That is the wonderful part of the design.

In my thought, good design should come with a good appearance first, however if we have only that point, it is never enough to achieve the emotional satisfaction. We need everything. Those are like function, balance, etc.. So I can say that Norman points the quite important issue out. All I need to do first is maybe having fun. This is because if I did not design with fun, enjoyment or something similar, my products will surely not be interesting in terms of not satisfying you.

In order to enjoy my design, I think I need the vital spec with me such as the general skills about design. So I must be fine with technical drawings, marker sketching, model making etc.. And then I can start enjoying my design. Therefore, I feel the time is never enough to build up myself. Design is fun and I want to enjoy more. I will never forget this “emotion”.

studio IDES 1031

this is the beginning of the studio 2011.
I am currently excited, motivated but also anxious a bit.

All I will do is doing my best with the biggest effort and well-organized time management.
Work most efficiently.


Kosuke Fujisawa

TED talks and By Design radio

In the last part of my design passport topic, i found one TED Talk link from other student's blog. The title is 'Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine'. He mentioned how technological development changes the life of people, especially focusing on the developing countries. I was very impressed by the idea that time-consuming house jobs are in such a lot of population in a day and if the introducing new technology is brought to the situation, people can save energy and get some time for their own hobbies or something like that.

Also, By design recognized me the new point of view about design. I actually listened some of radio but most of them said about technology, the opposite side of opinion of TED talk above in fact. For example, technological advance took place of human physical advance, natural resources, and so on. It is partly related to the garbage issue which was mentioned in the lecture of around week 9, in terms of too much production and consumption.

I had a chance to reflect those two opposite ideas but what I feel is that our developed countries still have necessity of decreasing today's such a great number of production. and do design about green, sustainable, something. I cannot say well but living with the nature, the environment is he primary idea for making something. I currently work at restaurant but have seen lots of garbage are thrown away thus sometimes feel scared. That is part of the reason I want to reduce the garbage which is directly linked to the damage, harm to our planet. Therefore, I want to learn and make something achievable that idea through rest of my uni life. I have been given one exam in 2 weeks time, so now is the time to be back to study on the desk with textbooks for a while. Hope everyone will have good but also some meaningful holiday...

Passport issue

Here is continued topic about my design passport. I got a really good chance to look at not only new design and its idea but also how my thought is and what I want to do, have to do as well.


I have visited COFA Library for such many times for referencing my works. I get ideas, inspirations, and motivation. However, similarly, I sometimes feel really depressed when I come there, because I see lots of good works and I am normally likely to compare my own designs with them. I know almost all of designs in books are surely excellent to be sited. So, I will keep the motivation to achieve the good design listed in books during next semester as well.
Reading magazines, journals were done in main library. I liked one of the series, called AXIS. this one is written both in English and Japanese. Therefore, it is much closer to me to catch the author's thoughts by reading both languages. As one of the most interesting article, I want to raise about relationship between design and cartoon. It is that cartoon drawer has lots of, or even infinite 'drawers' of ideas so that they can keep drawing such world of fantasy. So the point is that designers should follow or imitate those idea creation because sometimes they tend to think about reality. But if the idea of unusual world comes with them, they can keep wondering "what IF that kind of thing exists??", which is important thinking way of getting idea about something new.

Also, I sometimes find good works on other students blog. I am not close to most of guys for having not many same classes but I feel their works are nice. It should be good opportunity to talk to them and discuss about what inside the brain of each, so I maybe try it next semester. But, looking through their blog was really good refreshment to my designer mind anyway.

Semester almost finished...

I'd like to post some part of my design passport as I am done and submitted it today.

Through the process of making this passport, I got a chance to RE-take a look at my design view and thought and also some new of it. In order to achieve the passport, I went to art gallery, museums, exhibition, libraries, visited several websites, etc..

Firstly, I visited Henry Hoke exhibition in the day of our first lecture. It was a good choice to go there then otherwise I could not have time to take ferry to the kind of far point. At the place, I had a look at a large number of tools which are now that base of current daily handy tools. Those products include manual chainsaws, giant wind up key, leg pulls, etc.. One impressive product was Random Excuse Generator. I actually could not get the main point of it but how people manage it was fun.
Similarly, my notes about Hoke says "A restless curiosity that lead to a brilliant insight", probably referenced from his background information. Hoke is the hidden pioneer of today's basic models, that is my conclusion after seeing the exhibition.

In the next part of the passport, my destination was the museum of contemporary art. I was sort of rush because I had pulled going there off for not having time.. This time, I saw the exhibition of Michael Stevenson. This was his first exhibition and there were different style of design works with the ones I had seen before in other places. The main feature of his work, named "The Gift" was a ship, or even better to be say yacht. It reminded me the thrill of adventure to the unknown area.

Through visiting those exhibition, I felt something like industrial, handy, humanity, anything about life. Everywhere life including animals, plants etc. exists, and we are also part of them. I would like to design the thing which is related not only to ourselves (human) but also to the environment so that I can represent we are all together.

Assignment 2 Hidden Story

Here is an essay written about the chair named the Chaise Longue by Charlotte Perriand

Chairs are one of the fundamental products around people, and thus there are plenty of those in the market, referred to by Garner (1980, p.9), and there is a distinctive person who broadened such chair design. Charlotte Perriand (1903-99) has been known as a designer of ‘Iconic Modernist’-categorized interiors and furniture, according to Ellis (2000, p. 25). Also, Abercrombie (2004, p. 238) states about Perriand as saying that  “We know Perriand best, of course, as Le Corbusier's associate and collaborator in furniture design”. As one of her masterpieces, The B306 Chaise Longue, which was made on 1928 in Paris, has attracted not only designers but also the public over nearly the century. Since the chair seems to have a lot of points to explore, this essay will focus on the real story including its design, production and use.

 During the Modernist movement, the characteristic of design was defined as a self-conscious functionalism with a strong emphasis of new materials, described by Garner (1980, p.9). Abercrombie (2004, p. 38) mentions that Perriand made efforts on the design by following such Modernism with simplicity and vivid description through her life. Iovine (1999, p. 30) regards Perriand’s design works as excellence by her writing “though her tenure (1927-37) in Le Corbusier's studio was formative, her talent and clear modernist sensibilities were evident from her first installation”. It is additionally stated by Ledes (1998, p. 112) that Perriand became known with one of her work named “Bar sous le toit”, translated as ‘Bar Under the Roof’, in 1927, and such an event caused her to encounter Le Corbusier. Since that year till 1937, Perriand dealt with interior design with him. During the period of her working in Paris, Perriand developed three outstanding chairs with the collaboration with Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. The B306 Chaise Lounge is therefore one of those products, according to Ledes (1998, p. 112). Here is a visual reference of the work.

http://designmuseum.org/__entry/4678?style=design_image_popup

Through her work achievements with Corbusier, Perriand presented following phrase. ‘Metal plays the same part in furniture as cement has done in architecture. IT IS A REVOLUTION. If we use metal in conjunction with leather of chairs… we get a range of wonderful combinations and new aesthetic effects.’ This statement is supported by Garner (1980, p.113).

 It is stated by Iovine (1999, p. 30) that Perriand had her focus towards the human with machine, equipment for living. The work “B306 Chaise Longue” is not excluded as an example of such an idea as well. On a website, it is also described that a steel tubular chair which is a symbol of the machine age. This chair was designed for the 1925 exhibition, and it includes adjustable chrome or matte black cradle and a matte black base, according to Ledes (1998, p.112). He also mentions that a black leather headrest, together with leather, pony skin, was utilized for the upholstery part. Benton (1998, p. 34) states that designing of this chair widened the mass-production idea in industrial processes. Also, through designing it, Perriand hit on ideas about using some more new materials, which has been used in current products making. For example, according to Benton (1998, p.34-35), she began to use some traditional materials such as bamboo.

 

http://www.dailytonic.com/milan-2011-tokyo-chaise-longue-by-charlotte-perriand-for-the-firsttime-in-production-by-cassina-it/

 This product above, named ‘Tokyo’ (modeled by Italian manufacturer Cassina), is made with several types of wood such as bamboo, teak and beech. This fact is seen by a website. Those woods, especially bamboo has been said to be the material that Perriand encountered when she was engaging in craft works in Japan around 1940s. Additionally, it is possible to view that the chair could have a good combination with Japanese ordinary furniture (website). Therefore, it can be said that the B306 Chaise Longue has still had a lot of popularity with the public, stated by Ellis (2000, p. 25). Today, it has been released with the different materials to the original. Moreover, there are several effects that Perriand have caused in the chair design but also in some other product design. In the first place, Perriand’s challenge of using new materials triggered the development of Japanese craft production in later times. The theory was mentioned by Benton (1998, p. 32).

 In conclusion, Charlotte Perriand is one of the most remarkable designers as a pioneer of industrial, interior design. And in particular, her work the 306 Chaise Longue has been the symbol of Modernist movement achievement and has affected current chair but also whole design industry as well. There is significance in terms of having great deal of followers, including manufacturers, designers and most importantly consumers who use the chair, such a simple and functional style.


I feel that just saying about "making chair" is easy to process, but is much more difficult to do the production.
My view about designs became extended by doing lots of research about this assignment, and also found that I do need to consider deeply and deeply in order to design good products in every single moment so that my clients and consumers would satisfy