Parsons Students Say No to the IPad

In this article Nussbaum explain how his design students at Parsons have their doubts about Apple’s newest invention, the iPad. Nussbaum states, "...the Parsons School For Design students are saying that in an era of user-generated content, the iPad is about the consumption of media, not the creation of media." In other words the iPad is an ideal invention for the transportation of media but it doesn't offer its user any tools to create. The iPad does not work as a phon, a camera or as a recording device so if one were to own an iPad they would also have to carry around an iPhone. Nussbaum also says that for Gen Y, creating and sharing media is very important and has become a basic part of their daily lives. It seems as if the creators of the iPad overlooked or ignored this fact. Therefore may of the younger consumers that make up the Apple market, including these Parson's students, will not be running to their nearest Apple store to pick-up an iPad come March.

Class Notes 1/28/10

.tiff, .pic, and .eps = good for printing

.jpeg and .gif = web images, not good for print

how to scan:

- preview image first

- select part of image that you want to scan

- scan as .tiff or .eps and name image

- open in photoshop

- rotate and straighten image (use rulers to help) and crop image

- save as .eps

scan 4-6 from book for next class (one must be of the designer)

Hella Jongerius Knows Color

Hella Jongerius is a industrial designer who is not afraid of color. As Jan Tichelaar states, "Hella does not design by thinking in terms of function, form, material ... and color. She treats it in an integrated way." As a designer, Hella is also interested in making mass-manufactured objects seem just as unique and cherished as handcrafted ones. Rawsthorn also delves into the fact that many industrial designers have been reluctant to use color in their designs and many just stick to the blacks, whites, and grays. I can definitely relate to these other designers. In my own work, mostly drawing, sculpture, and photography, I have always been comfortable experimenting without color. A lot of my favorite pieces are simply black and white and it is always a challenge for me when I am encouraged to use color within my work. (See the original article here)

Don't Fix the Car, Reinvent Mobility

As of now the automotive industry has primarily been focused on redesigning the car and creating alternative forms of fuel. In this blog posting, the writer argues that instead we should be investigating alternative forms of mobility. The writer explains that even cars that do use alternative fuels still create problems, including room for storage and expensive infrastructure. They also describe some radical car concepts, the most interesting being Ahmad Filiz's globule design for Peugot. This concept consists of four separate motor-powered spheres contains one seat each that can be configured in different ways to form a globule shape; The spheres can even stack on top of each other. I agree with the writer in that we need to think in a whole new way to solve our societies dependency on the car. But until vehicles like the gobule can be sold on an accessible level to the general public we still need to look to alternative forms of fuel and work on making our cars better. (See original post here)

Simplification Is the Key to Good Design

Designers aim for their products to offer more and more to their given consumers. This can lead many designers to create overly complicated and over-designed products. Rawsthorn describes how the features of these products can actually become more of an annoyance rather then be helpful to their users. I agree with Rawsthron that in many cases the original design of a given product is most likely the best. I think that simplification is the key to great design. No matter how great looking your espresso machine looks, if you cant figure out how to turn it on then what is the point? (See original article here)

Class Notes 1/26/10

resolution: pixels per inch
web= 72
print= 300

blogs:
- 3 posts on 3 different articles due each class
- post should consist of: review of article, personal response, link to post, additional info/links pertaining to the article

1st project: brochure (due in 3-4 weeks)
designer- charles and ray eames
for next class: bring in book(s) about designer and draft text for brochure