#designseminar

[polimi-designseminar2020]

My not-so-ecofriendly family

During the 5 days Design Seminar I got asked to think and carry out a nudging experiment involving my family members. This has been an interesting challenge, as I had just heard about “nudging” but I’ve never really used this approach in either my personal or academic projects. In this occasion it has been interesting to understand deeper its meaning and implications and mainly to apply this approach in a real-life experiment. 

PROBELM IDENTIFICATION First of all, I started thinking about some of my family members’ behaviours that I personally find annoying or frustrating or not correct. I listed them all to have clear in mind on what kind of behaviour I should have put my attention on. I identified quite a few problems (at least from my personal perspective). Since I’m trying my best to adopt more sustainable behaviours, I ask my family to adopt simple similar strategies or actions that are good for the environment: drinking grinded coffee (like the moka one) rather than coffee made out of plastic capsules; paying a lot of attention in sorting out the rubbish in an organized and tidy way, making it easier to do it (for this I already developed a strategy to help my family in that); encouraging my family to avoid using plastic bottles, as I always refill glass bottles at the water refilling station that my hometown provides. I ended up focusing on this last problem, which I consider a problem since my family still uses plastic bottles rather than the glass ones, which are filled and ready to be drunk just like the plastic ones. I tried to analyse why my family still tends to prefer using the plastic bottles by observing them and asking them. “Because they are just right here, in the cupboard!”

PROBLEM ANALYSIS We actually store plastic bottles in the cupboard, right on the side of our table in the kitchen, while we keep the glass bottles on the balcony because they do not fit in the same cupboard - figure 1. I realized that plastic bottles are still preferred because they are nearby and easy to get. According to the Bridgeable BE principles, I identified the “default bias” as the behavioural economics principle that defines this current behaviour: guided by their habits, and also by a bit of laziness, my family members don’t seem to be likely to change their actions in something they don’t consider as much valuable as I do. So I thought about using the “substitution” BE principle to modify this habit and that could help me nudge them towards the “Future state”, which is bringing them to prefer using glass water bottles rather than plastic ones.

THE EXPERIMENT So what did I do? I basically just swapped the plastic bottles for the glass ones, moving the first ones on the balcony (where glass bottles were kept) and bringing the second ones inside the cupboard (where plastic bottles were stored) - figure 2. So, just by moving them, I substituted a similar behaviour, rather than eliminating an entrenched one. In this way I’ve been able to find an effective way to nudge my family members to do what I desired. I could see, indeed, that the glass bottles were being used, while the plastic ones were still all on the balcony - figure 3. I started the experiment on Tuesday 17th June and after two days I could happily verify that my experiment worked quite well, and that I’ve been able to successfully influence and encourage my family to pick the glass bottles instead of the plastic ones.

Arianna Meroni

[concipio-tektura]

Design a Community by Ar. Royal Pineda #designseven #designseminar #academe #learningstudio #learningfromfellowarchitects #concipiotektura (at PUP Bulwagang Balagtas) https://www.instagram.com/p/BzMnUggnI6g/?igshid=155nznr3qv34z

[inspirationbrew]

Why Don't We Recycle? How to Help Us Care

When I was in middle school, I recall having a guest speaker come in to talk to the whole high school and middle school about global warming and its negative effects on the planet. Frankly, I was sleepy and pretty bored and do not remember much from the presentation apart from the fact that global warming was a bad thing and pollution is adding to it. I think after this presentation, I had a sense of awareness of the matter but not enough to create concern in me. Throughout my years after that, there were various talks or moments when topics about pollution, biodegradable vs. non-biodegradable waste, recycling and the like came up. With more exposure to such topics, my awareness about the environment began to increase but not enough to change most of my wasteful habits.

One sustainable thing that I fully recall my family doing is recycling soda cans. We would keep all our used soda cans until we had an adequate amount of them then we would take them to a blacksmith who turned them into pots and returned them to us. With these results, I was motivated to recycle my soda cans because I could see a direct positive reward from doing so.

It was not until I was in my late teens after I had moved to the U.S. that I started hearing more about recycling, caring more about the environment and seeing recycling being promoted often. Though I felt like it was made more convenient, I saw too many people around me not recycling and I myself often omitted it. We all knew non-biodegradable waste was bad for the environment and that there were a lot of negative consequences to our unsustainable actions but I still always took my food from the dining halls in the always available non-biodegradable stereo foam boxes that they begged people not to use. It is not until recently that I started wondering; why in a nation that has a lot of knowledge about the negative effects of some of our actions on the environment are so many people still unaware of such topics and make no effort to care about their environment?

The answer to this, I am not completely sure of but I know some of the things that can move me to choose more sustainable actions. Though I recycle often, sometimes I feel like it can be more of an OCD behavior instead of an actual understanding of the full scope of my actions. I do not think living a completely sustainable life is possible but I believe there are a few things that could be emphasized to promote sustainability.

First, we need to be more educated on the subject. Many of us simply do not know what is recyclable nor how to recycle. Seeing often and fully understanding not only the magnitude of the issue but the qualities of some of the materials we use will help. We know a lot of things are bad but we do not always understand how or why or even what they are. Being able to understand these things is the first step.

Second, we do not always know what the negative effects of our waste has got to do with us individually. Like most human beings, I can sometimes think bad things happen to other people and not myself. If I do not see a direct effect of my unsustainable behaviors, I can easily neglect taking action and save doing the right thing for another time which hardly comes. Being able to see how it will affect not only our planet and the distant people of the future but also me personally, those around me and my children, will most likely help me take more steps towards sustainability.

Finally, when I think back to how I religiously kept my soda cans for them to be repurposed, I see how rewarding recycling can be. A lot of our trash can be repurposed into so many things; even our perishable trash can be composted. I can recall hoarding some of my old belongings because they seemed valuable to me and I thought I will one day find another purpose for them. If we were able to see value in some of our waste and learn how to repurpose them or where to hand them in/ sell them to be repurposed, we will probably be motivated to be sustainable by this more than any of the other options I mentioned earlier.

Though being more sustainable is something we can all do individually, I believe it takes a lot of parties working together for it to be put into action. We need to make tools for recycling, composting and the like more accessible to people, we need to help each other understand the negative effects of some of our waste as well as the value of some of them, and we need to encourage each other to do what is right. We may never attain perfect sustainability but we can take little steps towards sustainability that can eventually lead to big changes.

[worthington-designsem-blog]

Digital Design: Downfall of Man's Hand

The improvements in design and technology within an overturning "Post-Modern" culture had a huge impact which stretched further than the art world. Although there were many positive reactions to this new age, critics pointed that digital design removed the hand of the artist similar to Gutenberg's press. Because digital design had accelerated and democratized design and image making, these changes resulted in a new artistic aesthetic, a challenge for personal style, an improved communication system which acted in place of old technologies and a stronger reliance on machine over man.

The tools and mindset during the era brought about a new aesthetic which mirrored the use of the computer. Cramsie writes that, "the mouse, keyboard, and screen, when used in conjunction with the new computer software, allowed designers to do things with type in particular that previously, if not actually impossible, would have taken a lot of time and money to produce" (317). Due to the abilities of the new technology, artists could create much more efficiently. Not only were typeface designers affected, but so too were fine artists. By using the computer as a tool to create her work, "Greiman was able to drift and float in an open and uncharted territory because it was free of tradition or any established aesthetic… In this way she was able to treat the computer as just another tool, in the same way as she would a pencil" (316). The fine art aesthetic developed from type as imagery and more digitalized photographic images.  As artists learned new tricks of the trade, they were able to reach an abundance of different styles and treatments. Cramsie says that as time passed, "the range of visual effects that could be conjured from the new digital medium grew as various new kinds of software were developed" (323).

As the overall aesthetic was developing, the typographic style began to lack individuality. After experimenting with the letters and numbers conceptually to distort their appearance, typographers returned to creating legible fonts which were easily accessible and malleable. Cramsie explains that, "This new access to or 'democratization' of the making of typefaces had a paradoxical effect on the individual style of a type-designer" (321). Because designers were exchanging and changing, adding to and taking away, what previous designers had made, "it was harder for an individual's style to assert itself" (321). Personal style became less prevalent as prominent characteristics of typefaces started blending together.

An improved communication system arose from typographic tweaks which acted in place of old technologies: the bar code, Morse code, and the telegraph were some initial developments. Before the invention of the barcode, "large grocery stores had had to close periodically in order to carry out an inventory of their stock...the process of making an inventory became an automatic consequence of selling an item" (313). Workers used the numerical standard as a technology to count and track consumer products, and the former hand-stamped labels were diminished. This saved greatly on time and money. The telegraph was invented as a result of the transaction between readable standardized type and referenced sound. Cramsie says that "the telegraph and its subsequent graphic code were the first steps along the now crowded road of electronic communication" (313). The changes in typography surpassed the art world and reached the world of business through communication.

These advances allowed for a more pronounced reliance on machinery, and less on man. Designers tapped into technology through typefaces, working with light and its ability to read, an extraordinary find for the time. Cramsie writes of the typographer, Frutiger: "By harnessing improvements in character recognition technology, Frutiger was able to close the gap between the needs of humans and machines" (313). People could be removed from the process now that computers were adept enough to produce so automatically. Frutiger's creation of OCR-B for bar codes led the way to machine over man. Technology could take over, with the direction of the cautious artist.

[worthington-designsem-blog]

Psychedelic Art

Psychedelic Art, one of the products of late 20th Century abstract art, embodied the culture of the vibrant carefree 1960s. Art becomes a form of personal expression. As a result, counter-culture thoughts and views are made aware through the artistic and literary styles of the young leaders of the time. Cramsie points out that, “As growing number of designers and design students became aware of the counterculture attitudes of the 1960s, so many of them began to turn away from the clean, orderly, corporate style of Swiss typography” (261). Forms are abstract, figurative, and emotional. An emphasis is placed on fine art within graphic design, along with the printed reproduction. Art is aimed at the masses as opposed to the prestigious individual. The key influences that brought about the development of psychedelic art were cultural influences, its relationship with fine art, and the desire to create the visually stimulating surface.

 Cultural influences consisted of the ‘sex drugs and rock n roll’ attitude. Cramsie explains that, “The whole movement had been created in opposition to the mainstream; it was necessarily underground and mysterious, or subversive even” (271). Thus, the designs created for it, too, appeared to be against the norms: floating distorted type, horribly contrasting colors, nonsensical decorative lines. Cramsie adds that, “While the posters of this style were dedicated to reproducing the sensory effects of hallucinogenic drugs, content was frequently suffused with sexual overtones and function dedicated to promoting folk or psychedelic rock bands” (270). There was a high demand for posters, album covers, and event fliers that shared the new design style with the public. The emotion that flowed from the artworks was meant to mirror the artist’s feelings for their piece.

 Art was strongly predisposed by fine art. Old paintings were referenced to touch on the familiar. Discussing Jan Lenica’s Wozzeck, Cramsie says that “the poster takes its basic motif from a painting that has come to define the movement, The Scream, by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch” and “the poster’s letting looks back to an earlier period still, that of Art Nouveau” (269).  Hand drawn images and typography were also very popular. Cramsie, speaking about designer Wes Wilson’s The Association, says that “by warping his hand-drawn letters into irregular shapes and spaces, Wilson helped to establish what became a signature feature of much psychedelic lettering…It was evidence of what had attracted them to the counterculture scene in the first place” (271). The type was particular to the cultural emotion and radical attitude. This form of creating typography stemmed from old hand-drawn techniques but the words were much easier to produce and reproduce.

 The most important encouragement for the development of the psychedelic style was the desire to create visually stimulating images from the two-dimensional surface. With careful choice of color and placement of swirling lines, the artist was able to generate patterns that “added to the impression of a fluctuation or shimmering picture surface” (269). Artists were enthusiastic to transform the flat surface through vibrant reverberating hues and line work. Cramsie adds that, “The characteristic that united this very varied yet predominantly geometric form of abstract art was the arrangement of hard-edged linear shapes into patterns that created various kinds of optical illusions” (269). The strange artistic nuances embraced by the psychedelic style coincided perfectly with a decade of lively innovative minds.

[worthington-designsem-blog]

The International Style

The International style in art, also referred to as Swiss style because of its origins, began around the 1950s as a response to the Modernist design era. As Richard Hollis explains in his article “Graphic Design: A Concise History”, the International Style was based on clean consistency throughout graphic design. Type was transformed to be more legible and layouts more rational. A grid was used as an important tool for compositions, whether with diagonals or verticals and horizontals, but this often encouraged strange asymmetrical layouts as a concern for interest. Bold sans-serif fonts, flush left, and a primary focus on typography and photograph were other key themes. All of these elements were combined to produce direct messages, as opposed to the former artistic approaches.

 In the Hollis article, the objectives of this new advertising are described as “getting attention, clear objective presentation of product service or idea, appeal to the consumer’s instincts, and fixing it in the memory”. He adds that the formation of repetition or a series to instill a message in the brain was very common. The key reasons for the development of the International style were the changes in technology, keeping up with society’s needs for a conventional uniformity, and to present design as concise communication.

 The technological advances of invention of the lumitype process made design more efficient. Lumitype set text by shining light through a photographic negative onto a light sensitive surface. This made the creation of typography easier, faster, different faces more similar, and less design effort with better outcomes. Cramsie explains that "it made clear the direction of an evolving trend: the dematerialization of printing. Photocomposition signaled a decisive break with the tactile, object oriented printing process that Gutenberg had established 500 years earlier" (242). There was no longer a need for hand setting each letter in a press. Because type could be made through photographic processes, different weights and styles became more similar.

 Changes in society, government, and economy led to the need for uniformity. Design across Europe called for standardization especially in Switzerland, where the unusual democracy and voting processes "placed an onus on designers and printers to present information clearly and impartially. It caused a civic as opposed to a capitalist, bias to develop within Switzerland's information culture" (244). In addition to the business side of things, the Swiss’s strong tradition of craftsmanship especially in typography influenced the formation of the style. Letterforms were still modern but became more gently curved in relation to humanity.

 The culture also influenced the need for a universal way of communicating. Cramsie writes that, "these three pillars of globalization—transport, communication, and business—needed to be supported by an effective exchange of information" which led to the "rational, minimal, and apparently impersonal or corporate character of Swiss design". This impersonality directed design toward the masses, not just a small group of creative minds. The International Style provided a clear objective look at design that encouraged direct communication with the viewer and was still aesthetically pleasing.

[worthington-designsem-blog]

The American way, the New York School, and the World's Fair

By 1920, technological developments and increase in commercial business demanded more efficient design--efficient in both reproducibility and concept behind the design. As Modernism came into swing, designers began to focus more on the consumer's needs and less on the fine aesthtics. Design became more attached to emotions to evoke a concept. "Playfulness was fundamental to the success of much commercial Modernist design. It helped to humanize the new range of unfamiliar consumer products that became available during the 1950s" (Cramsie, 230). Posters, though did not resemble the chaos of Futurist design, but still constituted an abstract quality. Modernist design included elements of "asymmetry, strong diagonal forces, abstract shapes and even cut-out halftone photographs" (Cramsie, 232). These specific artistic choices created a more fun and welcoming atmosphere for the consumer, one which familiarized ordinary people with new, estranged products.  Paul Rand, an American designer who began creating in the 1930s, "was given full license to express his artistically inspired brand of Modernist design within a commercial context" (Cramsie, 231), where "every aspect of the design was devoted to expressing the concept" (Cramsie, 232). Rand, along with a few other designers, introduced to Modernist design the idea of "the concept" to promote sales. Modernism ideology progressed in America into the 'New Advertising'.  The New York School which embraced the 'New Advertising' was characterized by direct yet simple ideas, humorous play on words, and carefully considered attention to typographic elements. Cramsie explains that "this new brand of communication frequently relied on the smart sell, an approach that demanded a little more from the viewer" (Cramsie, 235). While earlier design worked around superlatives or luxury, "the main tool used to elicit this more active engagement was wit" (Cramsie, 235). Text was no longer pushed around the artwork, but could very well be the artwork itself with "the idea that letters can be used to illustrate the meaning of the words they make" (Cramsie, 236). The New York School aimed to play with image and text to create a humorous and memorable message, and audiences really took to it.  The American tendency toward efficiency, accomplishing every task at one's best ability in the shortest amount of time, presented itself in The New York School's goal to express creativity. The designers associated with the school focused on productivity, just as Miller discussed in his article "Remembering the Future". He recounted Robert Moses's efforts to use the World Fair as an opportunity to improve the future economy. His ideas included renovating a swampland for the fair's grounds which could be utilized as a park afterward. Funds would also go towards bettering the infrastructure of New York City. Moses took a financial risk to attempt this project, much like the designers of the New York School's risks to create a new aesthetic for design. Paul Rand based his aesthetic off of a humorous concept, as opposed to appealing to the audience with "the biggest and the best" product. 

The architecture of the World's Fair is also reminiscent of the 'New Advertising' with its large geometric shapes which engage the viewer actively with simple yet direct ideas. Stacked cylinders and sky-scraping cones sat adjacent to the iconic spherical main attraction, which also served as part of the fair's brand. The administration of the fair took the approach that there would be something for everyone, which was mirrored in the architecture, different shapes and sizes and colors. This approach also relates to the actively engaged viewer; it was clean cut but still had a playful Modernist essence.

[worthington-designsem-blog]

Symbolist's View On Type//McLuhan's View On Media

French symbolists, influenced by the exciting Futurist and other modernist movements, made a huge impact on design in the early 20th century. Symbolists strived to create something that freed semantics from sensation. The way in which they abstracted typographic compositions “liberated the text from the rigid frame of four uniform margins by allowing words of differing sizes, styles, and weights of type to be spread diffusely across a series of double-page spreads”. Typography, for them, was not about the legibility of the words, but rather evoking the emotions which the text should normally convey.

In earlier centuries, beginning in Greece, “the effect had been decorative not expressive”, but the Futurist movement inversed the reasoning behind deformed typographic configurations. Cramsie says of the Symbolists that, “Without any recognizable word shapes, the reader is forced to look at each letter individually…which makes for a slower, albeit more evocative, shower of comprehension”. The author gives examples of text without punctuation, flowing into silhouettes of curving shapes, interacting with one another. They were concerned with natural forms rather than rigid ones. The more variation, the better, because words that crash and hang and loop and saunter across a page can evoke truer feelings.

Marshall McLuhan believes that consciousness of the global community is shaped by technology over verbal skills; the Internet has made all of this true and freakishly possible. These new media, television and Internet etc., let us experience other parts of the world from our own living rooms. McLuhan spoke of live political debates reaching thousands of people at the same time. Media extends all fives senses simultaneously while print based pieces, for example, only extend the sense of sight.

His thoughts on a literate society scream that media is overwhelming and we are constantly immersed in a whirlpool of emotion even if we don’t want to be. We are almost forced to envelop ourselves in the world of media because it affects every aspect of our lives. The literate person cannot escape media. 

The French Symbolists' ideas of abstract type relate to this idea because they too want to envelop the reader in a world of emotion in which he cannot escape. They believe in the tingling of the senses, just as McLuhan states is the objective of media. Both McLuhan and Symbolists are not concerned with what is physically there, whether it is letters on a page or the colored pixels in a television. Rather they focus on what those things provide the audience with: feeling.