Course Reflection 04

 Over the last four classes, we have been working on our final design projects in our groups. without giving away the final project, I can say that we started off thinking about space for college students. We wanted to design something that could be used by college students that could save space and was safe to use. We had several suggestions, then we completely changed our idea. I believe that we have come far as a group with our idea.

Journal 08: Media Reviews

Of the topics that we were able to select, I was most interested in learning more about how color related to design. It was not a notion that I thought of but it makes sense that color would be important. I won’t argue that color does not have an effect on people, but how does it affect them. This was the main focus of the articles that I looked at. It is interesting enough to realize just how important color is.

Color Branding & Marketing

It is very important to know what color to make a product when trying to market it. The effects that color can have on how well or poorly a product sells. The first article brings up the point about how different colors affect our moods in different ways. Even more interesting is the notion that culture differences have to be taken into consideration. Such examples are:

White is the color of death in Chinese culture, purple represents death in Brazil.

Yellow is sacred to the Chinese, but signified sadness in Greece and jealousy in France.

People from tropical countries respond most favorably to warm colors

People from northern climates prefer the cooler colors.

How different cultures perceive color is a topic that I would have not thought was important, but it does matter when marketing a product.

http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2008/06/color-psycholog.html

Color Association & Mood

The second article explains how color can affect a person’s mood. The color bubblegum pink or passive pink is used in a juvenile detention to help calm down aggressive behavior in children and that 1,500 hospitals and correctional institutions have at least one room painted that color.

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/19/science/color-has-a-powerful-effect-on-behavior-researchers-assert.html?pagewanted=all

Color and taste

This article suggests that the color of food can cause it to be liked more or less, even if it is still the same. It mentions the blue steak and green fries, which were feed to people in a room where they weren’t able to tell that the food was an odd color. After they began to eat the food, the colors were revealed and the people became sick. Reasoning for this was that psychologically, we view food as spoiled if it is a “bad color” and steak is not blue and I wouldn’t want to eat it if it were blue because it wouldn’t be appetizing.

http://itotd.com/articles/629/the-influence-of-color-on-taste-perception

Memory

In this article, people viewed 48 images; half in color and half black and white. Mixed with new colors, people remembered the color images if they were colored normally as opposed to false colors and black and white. The article suggests that color association can help make connections and in turn make it easier to remember information.  It is important to consider that target audience. An example is people who are color blind. I know someone who is color blind; they can’t tell the difference between purple and blue so it makes sense to at least consider that when marketing a product.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MNT/is_2_58/ai_n6116729/

Color Psychology and Marketing

This article explains what colors mean in different cultures. Such colors as red, blue and green can mean different things in our own culture as well. Red is a color that draws attention and gives energy. In China, red is a symbol of life and women were red in marriage ceremonies. It also ties in to holidays for love and giving. Blue causes the body to produce colors that calm us. Blue is associated with steadfastness, dependability, wisdom and loyalty. Green can also be calming. It is a color of color of peace, harmony, comfortable nurturing, support and well paced energy. Green can also be viewed as an envious color in our own society as the saying goes green with envy.

http://www.precisionintermedia.com/color.html

Journal 07: Peer Dialogue 3

Sarah spoke about her trip to Bolivia, and I find it interesting about what she had to mention in her post. “Anyways, while staying at this village I enjoyed the freshest and most organic food!  It made every college meal swipe spent seem so disgusting and overly processed. Their houses were also very simple and the way of life in general.  The entertainment came from musical instruments and dancing not sitting in front of a TV.  Their water supply came from the towns people walking to the bottom of the mountain and back again so as you can imagine they used their resources sparingly because of their value and the work behind its availability. This really made me think about how careless I was with my time, my resources, and my diet because of the so readily available products always in front of me.” As Americans, this is our entire way of life is the opposite of other places in the world. I think that America can never go to the way things are in Bolivia, and that third world countries will become more like the U.S. and other developed nations. 

http://sarahdesign200.tumblr.com/post/5119116410/nature-doesnt-have-a-design-problem-people-do

Mike F. brings up a very interesting point about plagiarism in his blog post about A Remix Manifesto. “Now, I must say that when certain books are read over and over again people tend to read the same things from them, just because someone before me thought the same thing and wrote it down does it mean that me putting the same thought down in my own words is stealing because I did it after them?  Again, where do we draw the line”? I do know that there is a thing called common knowledge, which means if it is general information then it doesn’t have to be cited. There is a problem with that because if we read something in a book or two or even three and they all say the same thing, we still have to cite from somewhere even if we learned it before and have a general interpretation that could be our own. Who wouldn’t play it safe with the threat of academic misconduct? I think that is the biggest problem with plagiarism.

http://designbyfreeze.blogspot.com/2011/05/course-reflection-03.html

            Mike B. mentions color perception in his blog. “Both Albers and Itten were interested in the psychological aspects of color. They were also interested in how the eye and the mind perceive color. In his color study called Homage to the Square Josef Albers studied the effects color had on the eye. His squares, which he painted using pure non tinted paint, would show how our perception of pure color can change when placed on different colors.”  It is interesting to think about how color affects people. Psychology is a growing field and there are many things that should be utilized to help people in any way possible. It is a challenge because someone who designs anything has to understand how color will affect the people who use the product.

http://mbdesign200.blogspot.com/2011/05/cr03.html

Reading Reflection 3: Cradle to Cradle

Chapter 1 of Cradle to Cradle was a general overview of the Industrial Revolution. Part of what stuck out to me was from the From Cradle to Grave section. It pointed McDonough pointed out that we are customers and not consumers because most of the things that we buy are only intended to last until the next version of that product becomes available. In Crude Products, the addition of substances to products such as antimony to a polyester cloth is viewed as unnecessary. The harm that could potentially arise from such items is weighed against the cost of manufacture and sale of foreign products. This is a risk; for example lead poisoning from Chinese produced toys for children. I remember this being a big concern a few years ago and I assume that it is still a concern of many parents.

Main points from chapter 2 are the four R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Regulate. Ecosystems are not able to naturally decompose chemicals; we have too little technology to simply reduce our emission of wastes.  To reuse a product is to simply move the problem elsewhere. Recycling is actually downcycling which appears to be good, but reduces the quality of the metal or plastic as well as negatively contaminating the biosphere as pointed out. Attempts to regulate are outdated to add to the trouble.

Chapter 3 goes into detail about the process and components of the book itself. This book was not made at the expense of a tree and the book is waterproof and the ink is nontoxic. This is an example of how we can do things that are eco efficient.

Chapter 4 explains metabolism in terms of the biological metabolism, or things that can be decomposed by microorganisms. Also, technical metabolism which is a product that can be reused again in other products.  Unmarketables are products that don’t fall into either category because they are hazardous.

Part of chapter 5 speaks to using local products. I personally believe that people want to be as cheap as possible, but they are exchanging quality for quantity.  Products made locally and foods grown locally do not suffer from industrial machines and chemicals and are flat out better even if they cost a bit more.  My personal opinion aside, the chapter also mentions wind farms to harness energy. I think that this is a growing area and I remember knowing about things like this back home in Cleveland where they could possibly build wind turbines off of Lake Erie. I believe that technology can and has been used to store natural energies and will in the future prevent an oil spill or two.

Chapter 6 just explains different ways of putting the suggestions of the book into action. Even if a person doesn’t believe in global warming, we can still do better at keeping our planet clean. Trial and error to find a system that works is much better that sticking with the old system that is broken.

Course Reflection 03

We saw a video titled A Remix Manifesto. The person who created the video was arguing that copyright laws were bad because they prohibit people from being creative and innovative. He made it seem as though big companies are trying to control everything that has ever been made. I can understand where he is coming from to some degree because most new ideas and inventions come from existing things. I do however believe that some laws should be in place so that individuals get the best of whatever they create, but not that big business should try to control everything.

The other two classes were presentations from the design circle and Cobego. I liked the presentations because they help us to understand what the design college has to offer. I think that it is a good thing to be able to work with having that goal of owning your own business at the end. The people who get involved with the design program seem to really enjoy what they do. 

Journal 06: Online Scavenger Hunt

 Outdoor Camping

http://www.basspro.com/

http://www.gandermountain.com/

http://www.basegear.com/

http://www.cabelas.com/

http://www.campmor.com/

http://www.snowpeak.com/blog/

http://www.northcentralpa.com/article/obrien-outdoors-it%E2%80%99s-show-time

http://www.scenicpathways.com/2011/02/la-crosse-boat-and-outdoor-show/

Indoor home goods

http://www.target.com/

http://www.worldmarket.com/

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/

http://www.ikea.com/
http://www.hildreths.com/furniture.html

http://www.nycgo.com/broadway/

http://www.nycgo.com/venues/bed-bath-beyond

  http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/ikea2.htm

 A working definition of what an "indoor home good"

A indoor home good is something that was created with the purpose of being used inside the home.

http://keetsa.com/blog/category/electronics/gadgets/tvs/page/2/
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=31050

http://www.missingfeatures.com/2007/06/25/building-a-better-microwave/

Assignment 04: Letterform

uppercase letter P

uppercase letter T

lowercase letter i

lowercase letter m

uppercase letter V

uppercase letter Q

uppercase letter U

uppercase letter Y

uppercase letter H

uppercase letter N

uppercase letter R

uppercase letter D

Reading Reflection 02

One of the main points of chapter 7 was how influence from different cultures affects the value of the product. Heskett points out “Business should respond to different cultural needs in ways that improve lives: by designing products and services that are accessible, appropriate, understandable, and pleasurable in ways that they can absorb into their pattern of life”. This is a very important theme that we have discussed in class. A product that is appropriate in both America and India is a very successful product because it can be used and works in different cultures. That product can be used by everyone and is probably a very important design or invention if it can do that.

McDonough wastes no time mentioning that Cradle to Cradle is a book make out of plastic resins and inorganic fillers, and is NOT a tree. He then compares industry and environment as polar opposites and those two opposites clash. I liked how McDonough began to work with Bill and Michael to change the way businesses worked not to reduce, minimize, and avoid wastes; but to innovate to eliminate the purpose and concept of waste management.  He mentions a project in Brazil, but I look forward to a more in depth explanation of how this can be achieved.