Last Reading Assignment!

VISIBLE SIGNS _p131-179

Symbolic Creativity:
The examples for Nike's Dunk/Be True were really interesting. They used color and type funky-like.

Junk & Culture:

"Where there is dirt there is a system"

Rubbish theory.

There are clear hierarchy's at play in cultural production--

Fine arts are generally considered a more significant practice than design disciplines.

The Open Work:

"...a piece of discarded material can become an artefact once it has been framed."

The mark does not merely stand for the action--it is the action.

The gesture and the sign are fused together.

Homework_Week 2

CD_p 115-125

Design has the power to enrich our lives by engaging our emotions through image, form, texture, color, sound, and smell

Next step: Using our empathy and understanding of people to design exp. that create opportunities for active engagements and participants.

EXPERIENCE ENGINEERING

Examples:

1. Disney World- based on participation (100,000 people a day)
2. Whole Foods Market- fresh product displays, free samples, info about prep and storage, "healthy lifestyle" products = ALL designed to draw us in and participate
3. Mayo Clinic- different than Disney and Whole Foods 

• reputation for leading edge research to innovation around the patient experience
• SARC ex- suggest that design thinking can not only be applied to product/experiences, but tto the process of innovation itself

TO CHANGE BEHAVIORS - OR NOT TO CHANGE

Way tot get people to try something new= 

• Build on behaviors that are familiar to them
• Understand peoples behaviors
• IDEO, Bank of America Example - All people want to save more, only a few have strategies of doing so

"Invisible saving"- Jar of change

So, BOA did "Keep the change" - Automatically rounds up debit card purchase to nearest dollar and transfers difference into savings account. Because of this, in the first year, nearly 2.5 million customers were added to BOA.

BUILDING AN EXPERIENCED CULTURE BY MAKING EVERYONE A DESIGN THINKER

An experience comes to life when it feels personalized/customized

ex. yahoo search pages

Timing/Right moment helps

ex. IDEO designers- Ritz Carlton 

"Scenography"

1st phase:

• created a tool kit= inspirational ex. to show what a great experience culture might look like- used visual language inspired by art and theatre

2nd phase:

• each hotel is individual= does own think based on local culture

EXECUTING THE IDEA

ex. 

• Food looks - experience, outside/inside
• Cars- smell, interior, sound
• FLW House- motivated by the belief that design and execution must work together if the architect is to deliver not to just the house, but the experience of it

V.S._p 31-51

HOW MEANING IS FORMED

CATEGORY OF SIGNS

Categories are not separate and can function together in sets

ex. traffic sign

• warns we are approaching a traffic light
• boh icon/symbol
• physically looks like the think it represents (iconic)
• international agreement about meaning (symbol)
• red triangle=warning sign
• index sign- placed in street

Pierces 3 levels/properties for signs:

1. Feeling/mood (firstness)
2. Physical relation (secondness)
3. Mental level (thirdness)

Semiosis- transfer of meaning/ act of signifying

Unlimited semiosis- triangular process

VALUE

Saussure- focused on relationship between sign and other signs in the same system- signification= artificial things made by us/society/culture- part of a comm. system

ex. sound, thought, front, back- paper cutting relationship

Value is always composed into 2 things:

1. a dissimilar thing that can be changed
2. a similar thing that can be compared

Syntagm- collection of signs organized in a linear sequence

2 basic characteristics of a paradigm:

1. units in set have something in common
2. each unit is obviously different from the others in the section

Paradigm- ex= letters of alphabet, codes= digital codes

Metaphor v. Metonym 

Metaphor- (advertising) product is imbedded with particular properties that it is not readily associated with

Metonym- similar, but used to represent loyalty

Portfolio:

• xmas tree ex-grenades-cool concept
• racism erases face-empty space=metaphor for pointless anonymity

Homework_Week One

CBD_P39-55


Converting need into demand, or putting people first.


The overall of this section was using insight, observation, and empathy to figure out what people want.
Should we just figure out what people want and give it to them? Its not that simple.
As designers, we need to learn how to put people first, and have a "Human Centered Design".


As far as insight goes, we need to observe and see what people really need.
A good example they gave of this was the Jazzer-size lady.
Basically, because she was "larger", she couldn't be seen as "fit", and consequently couldn't be part of that world of exercise. She challenged it, and got them to change their minds.
This gave designers inspiration.


For observation, we need to watch what people do and listen to what they say.
Quality, not quantity. But who should we observe is always the real question.


Then came empathy.
This was the most important distinction between academic thinking and design thinking.
Design thinking- to translate observations into insights and insights into products and services that will improve lives.
This is an effort to see the world through the eyes of others, through experiences, and feel the world through their emotions.


VS_p 8-26


What is theory?


Theory- 'Theoria' (greek) --meaning to view/observe/reflect


This section talks about both Sassure and Pierce's concerns with structural models of the sign; the relationship between components that allow us to turn our signals into a message we can understand.
Sassure was about linguistic (language), which focused less on the reader, and he looked at a system of signs. 
Pierce was about semiotics, the signs themselves and the way they are organized into systems and the context they appear.


I found the wording in this section to be a little confusing at times, but the visuals were really helpful.


Favorite examples:
1. Cross's on page 15
2. Dog on page 16 (signified, signifier= sign)
3. Pipe on page 20
4. Smoking on page 24 -- good example of linguistic signs based on different cultures.