I recently deleted my Facebook, the main reason being that I was getting distracted and felt like it was taking up a lot of my time. Since deleting it, I have realised that I don’t actually need it. Not knowing about what everyone is doing constantly puts my mind and my focus directly on my work and my own life. Deleting it has made me aware of what I need to do and what is and isn’t important in terms of doing well (at this point, my final year off study) and allowed me to do a substantial amount of work compared to before where I was constantly checking my notifications. Anyway this video I found shows us how obscure it would be to do the things we do constantly within our cyber-selves. Facebook has created a behaviour that doesn’t seem normal in real life: one that wouldn’t be socially accepted in the physical world.
Category Archives: communication
Futuristic
This programme is great, showing fururistic ideas and ways of lving. It captures the intensity of the digital world and portrays the extent it can take on our lives. Connecting to dead people through internet/smart phones- as the internet has collected the characteristics and vocabulary of the dead person whilst they were still alive- to access to a morph of the dead persons body and bringing it to life…sounds scary and perhaps gross but this is a great show. Thinking into the future it would be hard to say what is and what is not possible.
Black Mirror-
RSA design competition…everything but the final design ofcourse
The 3D wayfinder
I have been researching how other designers have worked with technology to create a 3D option for people to travel through train stations. This video shows a design which is very complex in a large building where you can easily find brands, gifts, shops and the best routes to get to your destination automatically. The design is futuristic but probably not too far away. The only thing with this design that I don’t agree with is the large amount of options for its user. Although the idea looks nice, how many people will be waiting to use this one machine at one time? And how long will it take to find the destination due to the selection of options? I have been designing for the interior of the train stations to control and defeat the crazy, busy, uncontrolled human traffic to make the journey ‘The good journey’ however I think the key is to make the service I am going to design much more unique and accessible to the travellers, public and commuters using the journey daily, weekly etc. I am going to do this through connecting the smart phone users to the interior of the train station to avoid confusion, panics, and getting caught in the masses of people whilst travelling from ‘A’ the entrance of the station, to ‘B’ the preferred train platform.
I will upload the work I am working on soon.
The Good Journey development.
I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking rather than being physically productive over the last few weeks. I never read. Unless its something that catches my eye or unless I am on a relaxing holiday however I have just received some new books which appear really great. It’s a good feeling using books as a development medium aswell as a research tool. I have been reading about ‘way finding’ design on sections focussing on colour/colour selection and how interior, architects and designers use colour as ”powerful wayfinding tools”. I like the idea of integrating colour with design, not for aesthetic appearance of the design but for the use and the opportunity colour brings to creating something great and user friendly. I have never come across this role/position and now that I have found it, it seems like a great and promising area for me to explore and follow. You will see this sort of design in ‘the good journey’ project which I am completing over the next week or so.
Common colour indicators… Blue for male: Pink for female. These rough photos were taken in Aberdeen’s Academy which has a relatively modern interior which makes me wonder if it will always be generic that these two colours will always represent the two sexes. It looks ‘okay’ and freshly done however I find this interior very dated and bland. Then again it is only guiding people to the toilet up a relatively straight forward stair case that you can only see when you actually have to use the toilets.
the conclusion to Part A…
this is the conclusion to my dissertation part A, which will lead on to part B, development and the final outcome.
Whether in the context of the past, or in the modern world we live in today, design has had, and still has a profound influence on people’s perceptions, behaviours and, from this, their interaction with each other. It can be observed that since the Industrial Revolution, design has catered increasingly to and encouraged our sense of individuality, in relief and reprieve of the cramped and crowded conditions which came before; yet has gone to the extreme of making people so conscious of themselves that they feel uncomfortable sharing their space with others and has cut them off from the world around them. There is something which can be done to allow people to feel connected, and through design, we can enable people to feel at ease once more with the world around them and the people within it.
The London Underground Map
The London Underground, as I remember from 1 year ago is led by a range of colours similar to the  ones of the monopoly board. And we are led by these colours as they represent different routes. It is such a clever network and really easy to use I found with the coloured coaches and the small pocket maps you can take. It is a grand system and is easiest and simple to use this way. For my ‘good journey’ project I think something not similar or the same but something influenced by this system could really help the travelling around in our every day train station. Something more digital could work and could guide people to their train or to their gate they are heading for. Train stations can be ridiculous to tackle at the best of times with the surges or human traffic and the rush to get to your gate on time. Something can really be done to help this madness at our stations.
A good talk and my project
This is such a great talk. Really makes you think about design and it even made me think about my own project in product design. I could easily design a chair…but there are enough chairs in the world. Or even a new mobile phone even though the ones we have are almost limitless! However after this talk, it has confirmed a few things in my head. That we should design for the needs of people and not the wants of people. Like the problem I have been researching:
“How can design make people more comfortable with having others in and allowing more people in their personal space?”
And by this question I am thinking about our space, our senses, our possessions our behaviour and the design we have become accustomed to in our Century. Since the industrial revolution people became more independent and wanted more. And this happened however now it has come to a point where people are relying on more and more produce even when they do not need it. So I like simple ideas and thinking back before we were taken over by technology to an extent. This is when you wouldn’t/ wouldn’t have a choice who you sat next to on a bus or train. When people were comfortable in the streets to sit next to someone without a second thought or even avoiding that area. If design can bring back the way people think, changing their behaviour instead of closing off for their own worlds, people may actually be comfortable with others and allow others into their personal space so he world doesn’t become even more alienated isolating people. And no I am not trying to change the world!
You are so digital. But do you have to be?
where everyone thinks ”YEAH! New technology! I can Tweet, Facebook and find exactly what shop that dress is in in this supermarket! All on my smartphone!!” I like that technology is becoming so advanced to an extent. But not to the extent where the applications do not actually help us but waste out time or allow us to procrastinate continuously. In public transport having a game to keep us amused if we are on our own or music to set us up for the day ahead is fine. And I think there is a sudden expectation for designers to take new technology with two hands and make it better again. It shouldn’t be this way because all the ‘little’ things like the people, the place where we live, and the environments we are in are not used to their potential but instead ignored most of the time because that little screen that is your mobile phone is constantly flashing and guiding you and stealing you away from the environment that you are actually in physically.
The train station.
http://www.networkwestmidlands.com/railmap/
Step 1: Look at this figure preferably on your smart phone as you would at the train station, or on your way there. And put yourself in the situation below:
Step 2: Basically, from what I have written above about smart phones…apply this sort of behaviour to:
yourself in the busiest train station on a Saturday. Your train is soon. You are on the bus on your way to the train station. You still have to go to the self-service ticket machine to collect your tickets. You still need to find out your platform. You wont find out until you enter the station. After collecting your ticket and finding out your platform you have 10 minutes to get to your platform. The station is too busy and people are everywhere. So you start heading to platform. You have a few minutes and people are boarding the train already! There are still people who are running across, diagonally and out of control because they are also in your situation. They have somewhere to be too. After squeezing through and avoiding as many people as you can you have reached your platform just in time. How many times did you look at your phone throughout this adventure? A train station isn’t always the best place for a mobile phone. The best use for your phone really, in this situation is ‘time’. Not too much else.
Wouldn’t this journey be easier if:
You collected your ticket. And the rest was handed over to the responsibility of the train station? By this, why should you be forced a stressful start to your journey when a change can be made so you can get around the station and to your platform in a smoother way. A less forceful way. How can the train station change to allow this ‘good journey’ that we really expect.
How we choose to use space
three desire paths just showing how people deside to take their route. In so many cases it’s not the route intended for them.
…further research in this area where human traffic can create major problems including stress, dis-orientation, and rushing around at a train station. Looking at the space and how it is actually used and redefining the way the space is used will help this problem caused by human traffic and create a ‘good journey’
my space our place 