Dangerous Design: Earbud Headphones

The invention of earbud headphones was successful in many ways. It allowed the transition from public radio to a personal music experience. Most importantly, it allowed individuals to listen to music without disturbing others around them.

(Image taken from Google Images)

Although earbud headphones were created improve the lives of individuals, the way earbud headphones were designed ultimately causes danger to the individual's health and society as a whole. 

With earbud headphones, the consumer's health is at risk. A single earbud is designed small in size and fits within the socket of the ear's exterior. The miniature speakers on each earbud allows the earbud to be in contact with the individual's ear hole, sending audio directly to the eardrum. In modern society, the use of earbuds has become pivotal to the individual, either for personal use or for practical use. However, people seem to overuse earbuds. When individuals are surrounded by the loud surroundings of a public setting, they are usually tempted to increase the volume of their music playing through their music players. This reliance on earbuds can eventually cause hearing loss to the individual.  Earbuds cause more health risks other than hearing loss. With its small-size, bacteria builds up on the earbud and in the individual ear socket due to its direct contact with the ear. This bacteria build up can eventually cause wax-build up in the ear, having a risk of ear infection. 

Not only do earbud headphones have a harmful effect on individuals, but it also causes negative effects on society. Earbuds were designed to be portable in benefit for individual use. Earbuds allow individuals to disconnect from society due to its portability, transforming a personal music experience into an individual sphere of isolation. Multiple "spheres of isolation" are being created with the mass-use of portable earbuds, breaking the individual from society.

Design in Utopian Society: Shards O' Glass

For the past decade, the Truth campaign has been informing the world about the negative effects of tobacco and attempting to improve society for the better. They are most famous for their television advertisements that are used to promote their campaign. The advertisements are designed to be able to relate to society by depicting society as a whole within their commercials. One of their earlier advertisements show thousands of living people, representing the statistical deaths caused by tobacco use, and having them pretend to drop dead outside the building of a major tobacco company.



Although the design and execution of the advertisement may seem subject to exaggeration, its overall concept supported Truth's message in getting through to the public.

With one of the campaign's more recent advertisements "Shards O' Glass," Truth attempts to make the problem of tobacco-use more obvious by communicating the problem indirectly to society.



The "Shards O' Glass" campaign is designed to show the dangers of tobacco use and the tobacco industry. The design of the advertisement uses satirization by over exaggerating society's obliviousness to the danger of tobacco and applying it to the fictitious product "Shards O' Glass," a product that imposes an obvious danger to the consumer. By showing the obvious dangers of Shards O' Glass, Truth is able to inform individuals to become more aware of the apparent dangers that tobacco imposes on them, taking one step forward in improving the minds and health of society.

The content of the Truth campaign's performance art in the form of advertisements - the instantaneous death of thousands of people and a product as ridiculous as Shards O' Glass - can be criticized as being over exaggerated. However, the conceptual design of the campaign allows individuals to focus on the concept of anti-tobacco of the advertisements rather than its over exaggerated content. Overall, the conceptual design of the advertisements effectively informs society of Truth's message and aims to improve society for the better.

Color Transforms: Traffic Light

There are a lot of designs that stir up conversation in society with the use of words and visual text within the design. Most of these designs use text to directly communicate with the minds of individuals, allowing our brains to interpet the words we see into meaning. On an eight-sided stop sign, we would look at the four letters that make up the word "STOP" and interpret the visual aspect of the word into a meaning that makes us cease movement.

However, design in society cannot always communicate with us through the use of text and type. Most designs communicate with us my means of other visual aspects, such as color. Take, for example, the tri-colored traffic signal. 

(Image taken from http://www.deviantart.com, by username "monsterlienchen")

The traffic light signal found in most traffic intersections is a mere box that shines three lights at upcoming vehicles. However, with the use of color, the design of the traffic light signal is transformed into an object that communicates meaning to all vehicle drivers. The three colors used - red, yellow, and green - are are used to inform drivers when to stop, slow down, and go - respectively. 

But what about these colors helps the traffic light signals communicate these meanings to the drivers? Red implies alertness, stimulating the mind and increasing circulation in the body, which allows drivers to be attentive and step on their breaks in time. With the bright red light standing out in the middle of the dull-colored surroundings of the street, drivers are able to notice the traffic signal even more. Yellow implies caution, stimulating the driver's nerves. Because yellow is the first color that the eye notices, it gives drivers a signal to slow down, even when the driver is hundreds of feet away from the traffic signal. Green implies growth and acceleration. Being the complementary color of red, green relieves the stress and tension that is given off by the red stop light. 

The traffic light signal could have been designed differently, having it use text saying "STOP," "SLOW, and "GO" to communicate with the drivers of society. However, with the use of color, the traffic light signal is transformed into a simpler and more effective design that communicates the same information to society.

Ergonomics of the Water Bottle

In recent history, the distribution of water to the human population has changed drastically: from the flow of rivers, to the development of irrigation systems, to the pipes and conduits of water treatment plants, to the sinks of our houses, etc. One major development of the distribution of water is the packaging and marketing of water by means of plastic bottles.

(Photograph taken by me, Daniel Daquigan)

While I look at (and take a photograph of) my water bottle, I think about its importance in society. As college students strive to achieve academic success, we also have to take our health into account. One major component of this is being hydrated and drinking plenty amounts of water. The portability of water has become an essential factor in maintaining our health in the fast times of our modern society. With the invention of the plastic water bottle, portability and easy access of water has become possible in our society.

The plastic water bottle has set its mark in our society, but what about the the plastic bottle and its relation to the individual in society? How does the plastic bottle function in relation to the individual? We could observe the plastic bottle's functionality by looking at the ergonomics of its design. 

With its size and form, the plastic bottle can easily be used by a consumer while being able to contain water. The hollow cylindrical shape of the bottle allows the consumer to hold it with one hand drink from it with physical comfort. Also, its plastic cap allows water storage for later use and portability without the consumer having to worry about spilling. 

The bottle's transparency gives the bottle a clear and pure aspect like that of drinking water itself, giving visual comfort to its consumers.

The form of the plastic bottle allows for the consumer's safety. Because of its round cylindrical shape, the  plastic bottle can be used without causing any physical harm when it comes into contact with the consumer. Although there are some companies that choose a square form with edges for their plastic water bottles (such as Fuji water), the bottle is designed so that the 90 degree angles where the sides meet are rounded out to allow physical comfort and avoid harm upon contact.

However, plastic that comprises the bottle can cause health issues for the consumer. Being in direct contact with the plastic, the drinking water can cause chemical changes to the plastic and can be toxic. Over time, the plastic's toxic waste eventually collects in the drinking water. Although minimal amounts of the toxic substance may have no effect on the consumer from drinking one bottle of water, the effect can be drastic on the health of consumers whose daily lives rely on bottled water - like that of a collee student.

As for the aesthetic factor of the plastic water bottle, the visual comfort of the bottle's design also accounts for the design's beauty. The clearness and transparency of the plastic gives the bottle an aesthetic feel of pureness, like that of drinking of water.

"Check It Out" Music Video: Word & Image

During the last lecture of Introduction to Design, the music video of Nicki Minaj and Will.i.am's new song "Check It Out" was incorporated into the class discussion.



Within the video, a Nicki Minaj and Will.i.am sing and dance on the stage of an Asian-esque TV show. They both wear futuristic outfits while they perform for an audience of Asian people who are wearing sunglasses. As they sing and dance in front of the camera, Korean words pop out from behind them, giving the video a vivid aspect.

The interaction of words and image (or in this case, motion pictures) draws a conversation between the on-stage performers and the Asian audience, as well as the music video itself and its viewers. Although the announcer in the beginning of the music video spoke Japanese, the words used were Korean characters. While the Nicki Minaj and Will.i.am performed in English, the show's audience was Asian.
In contrast, while the words used in the visual aspect of the video were Korean, the majority of the video's viewers are probably English-speaking. With this interaction of word and image, a conversation between eastern and western cultures draws Global attention.

The words in the music video also act as images. The Korean text popped out, giving it a more three-dimensional aspect rather than the typical two-dimensional aspect of all words. With the use of neon and pastel colors, the words are more vivid and brighter compared to the dark colors of the set of the stage within the video. With this interaction of word and image, an indirect conversation is created due to the colors and visuals of the type that make up for the eastern/western cultural barrier.

Business Cards

Over the weekend, I went back to San Francisco and visited my brother's house. I was looking through his housemate's library of books and stumbled upon a book called Business Cards: The Art of Saying Hello.

(Image taken from Google Image Search)

That day while my brother was hosting a housewarming party, I was quietly sitting on the living room couch looking through this book while friends and family interacted with each other. After hours of looking through this book, my brother's housemate showed me that she also had the sequel to this book, Business Cards 2: More Ways of Saying Hello.

(Image taken by me)

By the end of the day, I was completely fascinated with the concept of business cards that I ended up borrowing the second book and bringing up to Davis for the week.

But what's so special about business cards?

Just as the title says, business cards say "hello." The business card is one of the many ways people indirectly communicate with other people. It has become a major part of business, allowing companies and entrepreneurs to make a first impression to potential consumers.

While a business card can communicate what seems to be an unlimited amount of words, it has one major constraint: its size. When communicating through means of business card, people are limited to fit the information they want to communicate - name, business, address, contact information, etc. - into a little space that has to be able to fit into the pocket of a wallet.

Words are one way of communicating through a business card, but by looking through the collection of business cards shown in Business Cards: The Art of Saying Hello and Business Cards 2: More Ways of Saying Hello, images help support these words in communicating information. With a limited amount of words hat a business can contain, images can take the place of words supply an unlimited amount information by visual means. As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Obama Campaign Poster: Word and Image

In some aspects of visual communication, word and image work together to communicate a bigger message. Sometimes, a work's message can be perceived with only the use of words. Other times, the message can be received by looking at the image only, paying no attention to the text of the work.

In the United States 2008 presidential campaign, a series of posters created by artist Shepard Fairey promoted Obama during his run for the presidential artist. Although the images were not official campaign posters of Obama's presidential campaign, the posters have become famous icons, symbolizing what the posters say: hope, change, and progress.

The interaction of word and image on the poster design above supports the image in effectively communicating a the message of "HOPE" to its audience. With the use of colors in the portrait of Obama, the neutral beige color in the center conveys a sense of hope when surrounded by the more bold and darker colors of blue and red.

Like the colors communicating a message of hope in the previous poster, the use of colors in the portrait of Obama also effectively communicates the poster's message of "CHANGE." The bold change in the contrasting colors of red and blue conveys change within the poster as a whole.

Lastly, colors and line within the portrait also supports the poster in effectively communicating its message of "PROGRESS." By alternating the light blue and beige colors using lines, the poster shows an upward progression throughout the image. 

With the use of simple details such as line, color, and contrast within an image, the message that a mere word can communicate on its own can be amplified with the word's interaction with image.

(Images taken from Google Image Search) 

Daft Punk Typography: Word & Image

Word and image interact together in many visual designs. In many works, words and images are juxtaposed on the same plane to communicate a message. The image of a work is used to explain the text, while the text also explains the image. In this case, words and images have purpose when the other is present. In other cases, words and images are integrated together - images are made to look like words or words are made to look like images.

For the past week of studying for midterms, typing up papers, and catching up on readings for class, I've been resorting to two things: the internet and the music of Daft Punk as a getaway from school work. While looking through people's work on Deviant Art, I stumbled upon this image.

(Image taken from deviantart.com)

I admit, I'm a Daft fanatic. Because I'm also a typography fanatic, this image just blew my mind out. Created by James Fleuraime (deviant art user name fleuraime), this typographic image titled "Technologic - Daft Punk" shows a portrait of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo wearing his famous helmet. Fleuraime integrates the words of the lyrics of Daft Punk's songs into the image of de Homem-Christo. With the use of various sizes of text, different colors, placement of type, etc., the portrait successfully establishes unity throughout the image. Through our gestalt perception, we initially see the portrait of de Homem-Christo as a whole, then eventually notice the individual lyrics of Daft Punk. The placement of type also established continuity in the portrait, where the line of type shows the borders of the portrait as well.

Red Bull

Midterm season at UC Davis is beginning to die down amongst most students' schedules. Rigorous amounts of coffee have been consumed in order to stay awake to retain as much information as possible before exams.

However, my roommates and I took another direction. As freshman coming from a public high school of San Francisco, we had no idea of what was coming ahead of us, what are the best study techniques - how to handle the rush of midterms in general. So, instead of using healthy study tips - sleep, balanced diet, time management - we indulged on the wonders of sugar-filled energy drinks!

One of my roommates favored Rockstars for its energizing affect. My other roommate drank Starbuck's Energy Shot for its taste. My choice of energy drinks were Red Bulls. Why? Because I am majoring in design.

Yes, the Red Bull energy drink design. After drinking Starbucks coffee for the first few weeks of the quarter, I am currently fascinated by the logo design of the Red Bull can. The contrast of the red logo against the blue and silver aluminum can, how the text fits the content of the logo, the head-to-head image of the to bulls, and most importantly, the color of the bulls: red. So many aspects of the logo's form perfectly interact with the invigorating identity of Red Bull. 

Even while taking a sip of the energy drink, the image of Red Bull strikes the eyes of the consumer. The Red Bull Company has incorporated their logo onto the tab of the can, making sure their image becomes embedded in the minds of the consumer.

Industrially Designed

Industrial design has made a tremendous impact on our everyday lives, producing mass produced products that we encounter on a daily basis. As mentioned in the documentary Objectified, such objects include vacuums, cameras, cars, and (something that we can consider as an everyday object in our modern society) the iPhone. Behind these objects, form and content work to together to create an object that can function in a person's day to day activities.

The aspects of form, content, and functionality may pass our minds as we use these objects, especially with all the technology that is involved with today's electronics. But aside from these "technological" electronics we use everyday, the aspects of form, content, and functionality passes our minds when it comes to the simplest objects. For example, the chair.

The chair is a mass produced object who's content is its functionality. A typical chair's form usually, such as this one, has four legs for support, a seat for its user, and a rest for the back. This chair, like most mass produced chairs, exhibits bilateral symmetry across a vertical axis. With this symmetry, the user has balance on the chair.

Chairs have been modified to function within an office environment. Instead of four static legs for support, wheels have bee applied for easy movement around the office. Keeping a sense of bilateral symmetry, arm rests have been added to both the left and right side of the vertical axis.

Some chairs go outside of the boundaries of a typical chair's form and content, but still functions as a chair. This accordion chair excludes legs as support, but its block-like form supports itself. Unlike the stable form of a four-legged chair or an office chair, the accordion chair can be shifted into form and still function as a chair. With the chair's accordion-like feature, the char exhibits unity through a sense of continuity from one end of the chair to the other.

Interaction of Form and Design in Objectified

The concept of a design is an interaction between a work's form and content. Form is the visual aspect of composition, structure, and the work as a whole, while content is the work's subject matter, story, or information that the artist communicates to the viewer. Without content, the design's form stands alone without any purpose. Without form, the design's content cannot be effectively conveyed to its audience.

Throughout the documentary Objectified, director Gary Hustwit explores objects that modern society encounters everyday, such as chairs, cars, toothpicks...just a few to mention. One of the ongoing themes within the documentary is the interaction of form and content within the design of each object. One object that the film focused on was the vacuum, examining the form and content of three different modern vacuums.

(Source: http://www.manufacturer.com/cimages/product/www.alibaba.com/0330/z/11106124_Dyson_Vacuum_Cleaners.jpg)

With the Dyson vacuum designed by James Dyson, the form of the vacuum fits the content of its design: the handle on the top, suction on the bottom, movement by wheels. Basically, the Dyson vacuum's form fits the concept of a typical vacuum.

(Source: http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/productImages/5/9/00000119359-DirtDevilKONEM0213-large.jpeg)

Another vacuum examined within the film was the Dirt Devil KONE, designed by Karim Rashid. By looking at the KONE's form, the content of the design is very unclear. Karim designed the vacuum to function as a piece of art while being a common household item. However, the vacuum fits more towards its art aspect rather than its vacuum aspect, having its viewers question if the KONE is even a vacuum at all.

(Source: http://www.slipperybrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/irobot-roomba-560.jpg)

The Roomba vacuum, the last vacuum examined in the film, functions by itself without any human interaction. Because of this, the Roomba's content deviates from that of a typical vacuum.

As mentioned in the film, "We now have a new generation of products, where the forms bear absolutely no relation to the function." The interaction of form and content within the modern objects of the film has  taken a new conversation as technology and design evolved over time. The "tangible content" of original designs have turned "intangible" as the object's design has been innovated over time.

Comparison and Contrast: Gap Logo Redesign

Last week in Introduction to Design, Professor Housefield recommended at the daily news for topics to blog about. One of his examples of design in the news is Gap's logo redesign.

Like the Startbucks' logo I mentioned in my earlier post, the comparing and contrasting of the old design and the new design is great a discussion when it comes to logo redesigns. Receiving negative remarks by design critics everywhere, Gap's logo redesign is worthy of comparing and contrasting.

Let's take a look at the two Gap logos:

Gap's former logo (right) displays the company's name within a dark navy blue box. With the use of serifs in the logo's type, the former logo gave the company a sense of sophistication to their clothing line, especially for their well known line of jeans. The contrast of light type on top of a dark form also makes the company's name stand out (as well as the company itself).

Gap's new logo (left) presented itself to the public last week. In the new logo design, the company's name has been changed into a Helvetica typeface, removing their "sophisticated" use of serifs. The well known blue box that encased the company's name has been reduced and placed in the corner of the new logo. Also, the blue box now exhibits a diagonal gradient in contrast to their former solid navy blue box. For its bland use of the font type Helvetica and the reduction of its prominent blue box, Gap's new logo has been slammed by logo designers, said to have taken a step back from their former logo.

Within its day of appearance in the news, the new Gap logo has been withdrawn from the public. 

*Image source: http://www.fastcodesign.com

Design as Conversation

As defined by Dictionary.com, a conversation is an "informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by spoken words." Design - as common as it sounds - can be considered a conversation.

By now, we have grown to know the concepts of "design is everything" and "design is everywhere." With something that exists everywhere, we as human beings have been affected by many aspects of design throughout our lives. We are even affected by design on a daily basis, from the form of the office chair you are sitting on, to the structure of the car outside your building, to the colors and shapes of the traffic signs that pass by you as you drive home from work. With this much impact from something we encounter everyday, we can even say that design has a life of its own.

Everyday we have a conversation with the design of the world around us, having an "informal interchange of thought, information, etc." The layout of our keyboards makes us wonder why the letters are not in alphabetical order. The first three minutes of the Jeunet's 2001 film Amélie provides us indirect information on the plot to come. Although design communicates with us indirectly, it gives us thoughts of how things are they way they are and information on why things are the way they are. As we communicate with design, we engage with what is around us, interchanging with what design has to offer our minds.

Still not convinced that design can be considered a conversation? For those who think so, your opinion is valid: Again, as defined by Dictionary.com, a conversation is an "informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by spoken word." There are probably some situations in design where we can actually exchange spoken word with design itself, but for most aspects of design like visual communications and fine art, this interchange of spoken word is absent. We cannot simply talk to Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and expect a response from her. However, the closest thing we can get to spoken word from design such as visual communications and fine art is the visual display of words. In Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud describes words as a form of design, being the "ultimate abstraction" of reality while retaining a meaning within a word itself. With the use of words in visual design and fine art, the design of images can be accompanied by the use of words, being able to communicate - or have an "interchange of thought and information" - with human society.

Whether design in society interchanges thoughts and ideas with our minds indirectly, or through the use of words and visuals to exhibit information, design is in a constant conversation with those that are surrounded by it.

*Image source: http://www.conversationagent.com/2007/12/index.html

Pixel - The Graphic Design Club

There are many types of people within the design of our society - architects, interior designers, engineers, fashion designers - the list could go on and on. A good portion of design in our society is also visual communications, conveying visible information to the world. Within this realm of visual communications, an important aspect of the people of design are graphic designers.

I recently attended the first general meeting of Pixel, an AIGA student group in UC Davis specifically about graphic design and visual communications. The club consists of students associated with visual communications (and other students of other affiliations - everyone is welcome!), and is a great resource for design students at UC Davis, providing many events and job opportunities for members.

Being a mere first-year student here at UC Davis, I wanted to be involved in many clubs that spark my interest as I did in my years in high-school. Ever since Pixel made an announcement during a lecture in Introduction to Design, I have been forward to their first general meeting. As a design major and an aspiring graphic designer, I was hoping for Pixel to give an outline of the design courses that UC Davis has to offer.

(Photo by Me, Daniel Daquigan)

And that's what Pixel did. President Dayee Leung and vice president Leslie Cheng, along with the rest of Pixel's officers, provided the meeting with a list of various design courses, such as Introduction to Photography and Letterforms & Typography. Showing students a preview of these design classes, Pixel helps students prepare for upcoming quarters while keeping them interested in taking these classes as well.

Yaan Tiersen: The Design of Amélie

It was the first lecture of the quarter in Introduction to Design. As I walk down the stairs of the lecture hall of Haring, I notice students seated looking at the projector screen. I take a seat and join my fellow design students by looking at the screen as well. I couldn't believe my eyes. Professor Housefield is showing Amélie on the first day of class.

(Image Source)

I have only watched Amélie once in my lifetime, at a free screening of the movie at Dolores Park in San Francisco. I was with my extended family sitting on the grass in front of the projector screen. As a public showing of Amélie, hundreds of San Franciscans surrounded me staring at the same screen. It was hard to hear the dialogue between Amélie and the various characters with this many people conversing around you. Aside from hearing people's opinions on the San Francisco Giants, one thing about Amélie was the movie's music.

Going back to the first day of Introduction to Design, Professor Housefield asked us to take notice of the design of the first three minutes of the film Amélie. The design of these three minutes - contrasting colors of red and green, the time lapsing of the various scenes, its subtle tones - were used to reveal  content of the rest of the film. Like my first experience of watching Amélie, what stood out to me the most during these first three minutes was its music. The song playing within these first three minutes is titled "Comptine D'un Autre Eté, L'aprés-Midi." Yann Tiersen, who composed this song, also produced the rest of the soundtrack of Amélie. Mainly composed of piano and accordion, the music of Amélie gives the overall design of the movie an somber, yet playful, tone, much like Amélie's character.

Creativity from Without

Creativity from without, or finding inspiration from outside yourself. 

Two months ago, a few of my cousins and I started on our self-made Christmas gift for this year. We decided to make a calendar using photos that we will take ourselves using our Canon camera. For the calendar's theme, we chose to look at the surroundings of our hometown: San Francisco.

(Image by Me, Daniel Daquigan)

After assigning places like the Golden Gate Bridge or AT&T Park to each month, we noticed that we had too many well-known places - places that San Francisco is obviously known for. We wanted to show people places within San Francisco that makes the city a secret gem - places that gives locals the beauty and advantage of living within the city limits. 

After driving around the city, we stumbled upon this land structure along the Golden Gate Yacht Club:

(Image by Me, Daniel Daquigan)

This compilation of cement an pipes is known as the wave organ. As an exhibit of the San Francisco Exploratorium, the concept of the wave organ was developed by Peter Richards and put together by George Gonzalez. With this concept, Richards and Gonzalez looked "from without" and uses the San Francisco Bay for inspiration. As waves from the San Francisco Bay hit the metal pipes that are embedded in the cement, the openings of each pipe producing wave sounds, or what San Franciscans call "ocean music." 

Whether we're using landmarks around the neighborhoods of San Francisco or using the sounds of the Bay, the city is a great source of inspiration "from without."

Stone Soup

Last week in Introduction to Design, we had our first creative group collaboration in which Professor Housefield calls Stone Soup. 

(Source: Stone Soup, Illustrations by Marcia Brown)

In the old folk tale Stone Soup, three travelers convince a town of greedy villagers to contribute to the making of a pot of soup that, by the end of the tale, was enjoyed by all. Similar to this folk tale, individuals of each group brought materials to class, mostly materials that were simply lying around within their homes and dorm rooms, and contributed to the group's creative output to make their own "stone soup."

Compared to other groups, my group seemed to be low on the quality of our materials, bringing two pieces of cardboard, a tissue box, an empty Simply Orange bottle, a few tubes of paint, newspaper, hair ties, and a toy stuffed rabbit. Doesn't seem like much, does it? I mean, we're supposed to be creating something amazing from these materials, something that is worthy of being called Stone Soup, something that Housefield can look at and say "Wow, these students deserve to be design students," but what were we supposed to do with materials like this? For some people, this feeling of being limited may be the case.

For a group of design students, there is always unlimited possibilities in creativity, even with a set of materials like this. We weren't just limited with these materials either. As an outdoor assignment, we were surrounded by nature, giving us materials like the trees, the leaves, or even the pavement. With our set of low budget materials, nature, and our creativity, we set out to make our own Stone Soup.

(Image by Me, Daniel Daquigan)

Going back to my first blog post, "Design is everywhere." As design students, we found design in the materials that we contributed to our soups, we found design in the nature that surrounded us, and we found design in our group members, each of us contributing our creativity in the process of cooking up our creations.

Starbucks Coffee

It's was Sunday. Everyone on Thompson Housing Building was settling down at the end of loaded weekend. I begin to cram in my homework that is due for the following day. After mindlessly passing through a few readings, I realized that I cannot continue my homework with only 5 hours of drifting in and out of sleep. So why not better the situation with a Grande Caramel Macchiato from the the world's biggest coffeehouse company?

(Image by me, Daniel Daquigan)

Starbucks Coffee has become a world renown symbol of the twenty first century. And many college students in the United States turn to it as fuel for the day's tasks. The world grabs this cup on a daily basis, passing through the day without realizing the icon that rests in their hand with every sip of coffee. The famous green icon on each Starbucks cup is a product of logo design that has gone through many transformations, as all logos do. With all the changes that the Starbucks logo went through, many people cannot make out the what exactly is in the center of the well-known trademark. From the mere image, we can at least make out that there is a woman wearing some sort of crown. But, again, what exactly is this woman? A Starbucks Princess? A queen of coffee?

Undergoing multiple redesigns, the Starbucks trademark started off as a logo similar to its present-day logo.

(Source: http://gourmet-coffee-zone.com/starbucks-logo.html)

Originally brown, the first Starbucks logo features a complete image of the woman present in its current logo. But by looking at the original design, the woman is shown to be a two-tailed mermaid. The Starbucks logo depicts a siren, an enchanting female figure that seductively lures seafarers, according to Greek mythology. With such a symbol, Starbucks uses the image of the siren to represent their coffee as irresistible and high in quality.

The design of every logo has some sort of meaning behind its portrayal. With Sunday's Starbucks cup now pinned to the wall behind my desk as I write this post, I look at the two-tailed siren that faces me and continue to become infatuated with the meaning and the design of the Starbucks logo.

(Image by me, Daniel Daquigan)

"Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art" by Scott McCloud - An Overview

For those in Introduction to Design, you all have encountered one of our required readings for the class, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud.

(Image by Me, Daniel Daquigan)

For those who haven't (which I hope is not the case), you are truly missing out a great read. The reading goes into depth on the subject of comics: from the history of comics, going as far back as 3,000 years, to the anatomy of comics, to the concepts of picture and word, the path of creating a work, and everything else comic related.

What makes the reading a standout is the overall design of the book. Unlike a typical textbook for other classes - hardcover, bulky, tedious, strictly text, etc. - Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art takes on a different direction. McCloud applies the information he has to offer about comics in the form of a comic book itself. He takes on the basic form of all comics that most of us have encountered, using panels, talk bubbles, and illustrations to convey his knowledge of comics. Even with this basic form, McCloud is able to appeal to the reader's senses as well.

In Chapter 5 of the text, titled Living In Line, McCloud asks the reader "Can emotions be made visible?" (McCloud, pp. 118), showing a sequence of illustrations that convey a mental state, such as joy and anger.

(Image by Me, Daniel Daquigan)

By showing different applications of lines, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art fully engages with the reader's senses within only a few pages.

The book's illustrations are a great complement to all of the main points McCloud successfully comes across. Everything about the book's design - from it's general layout, to the way McCloud incorporates himself into the text as a animated character - helps the book exceed substantially past its purpose of informing readers about comics.

Sources:

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

Paper Santa Claus: My "Firsts" to Design

(Source: http://crafts.kaboose.com/paper-plate-santa.html)

As said repetitively to everyone in Professor Housefield's Introduction to Design class in Haring Hall, "Design is everywhere." It has been surrounding us since our first experiences as infants. It surrounds as we currently skim through multiple posts on Blogger. It will continue to surround us even if we grow older and our perception wares off. But before we start to experience the "magic of design" throughout the rest of our lives, we all have that beginning moment early in our lives that starts making us aware of the design that exists around us.

My earliest memories of the impact of design in my life occurred when I was in Kindergarten. One of our assignments was an arts and crafts project that requires us to make a paper cutout of Santa Claus using construction paper. It was the type of project where the teacher has already set black lines on the construction paper as guidelines for cutting using those tiny safety scissors with our eager little hands. The teacher also set out other supplies for us to use: black buttons for Santa's coat, cotton balls for for his jolly beard, blue sequins for his Aryan eyes, and Elmer's liquid glue to hold our Santa creations together in one piece.

After the teachers tells us the directions, I set out to create. Each of the components - his circular belly, the sparkling eyes, his soft cotton beard, the hard coat buttons - were compiled together. The assignment and the directions that the teacher required us to follow caused all these components - which may have no meaning separately - to combine and fulfill this design that is known to be a simplified two-dimensional version of Santa Claus for mere Kindergarteners.

As the little Kindergartener I was at the time, I was simply amazed at what I had made: my own Santa Claus. Going back to this memory of mine, I remind myself that while design is everywhere and is everything, design is also something that we can create. It could be something we create based on an assignment or something we can create without even noticing.