Future Wall Provides Me With Insight

sketch of the Future Wall

For my Interactive Objects and Spaces final, I will be designing a 12-foot long wall called the Future Wall. Future Wall is a blank wall containing soundbites of people’s opinions and forecasts of the future – both the general future and personal futures.

Why the future?
The Future Wall serves to capture ideas of what the future will be like. It is a space that contains recordings of people’s goals, people’s outlook on life and people’s messages for the future. Before starting this project, I did some research on notable walls (i.e. The Great Wall of China, Berlin Wall, etc…). Historically, walls have served as barriers, but they have also served as iconic points of discussion and adventure. Walls, in general, are meant to create separation, but how can I take the metaphor of a wall and use it as a space for collaboration, a space for conversation and memories?

The Interview Process
I have been interviewing a lot of people for this wall project in order to capture a variety of soundbites and opinions. The interview process has been a really valuable experience in that it has taught me about interview etiquette, about how to feed off people’s answers, about how to ask the right questions…

Interviewing people has also helped open me up, because it has given me the courage to talk to others in detail. It has also allowed me to become closer to people and learn about unfamiliar details about friends and strangers alike.

The interviews have all been very interesting and there are a variety of takes on the idea of “future.” Politics, the environment, personal aspirations, education, happiness, technology…these have been some of the topics raised in the interviews. What’s also interesting is how a lot of people have been eager to contribute their voice to the Future Wall.

I even feel that this project will be important as I explore my upcoming thesis idea (which is basically about sustainable communities, self customization, social networks and collective and self empowerment. – yes, it’s broad right now) because it will help me gain insight about what the public understands and what people’s desires are for their communities and for themselves.

Next week, on Super Thursday, the Future Wall will be on display in the alcove by the Media Design Program studio. I’m crossing my fingers that it will work!!! The wall will be embedded with light sensors that will trigger soundbites that will come out of several speakers in the wall. Wave your hand over a sensor (which is hidden – you have to find it by waving your hand over the wall), and you will be able to start hearing people’s soundbites. Crossing my fingers it all works out!!!

Symposium held on materials and research

This past Tuesday, Art Center held a symposium on materials, research and meaning. For many, materials is often an afterthought for products, but the presenters gave examples of how an initial study of materials often lead to better and more meaningful products.

One of the things I learned at this symposium was how perhaps we’re moving into an era that will start focusing more on self–assembly and perhaps less about the purchasing of whole mass produced products. Perhaps more towards an IKEA-esque world, but where customization becomes the emphasis.

MASS SELF-ASSEMBLY = MASS CUSTOMIZATION

With this understanding, how will designers change their understanding of product development?

In my opinion, the idea of self-assembly and customization are two key words that will be important for the sustainabilty movement. In our efforts to preserve our environment, how do these two words play into maintaining a quality of life that is conscious of our environment but also tolerant to change and our human desire to be unique as well as cultural? I know that sounds a little broad, but I think raising a question such as this will help guide designers who are part of the sustainability movement.

Meredith Davis Visit

sorry for the blurry photo. it’s dark in the LA Times Theatre!

Meredith Davis, Director of the Graduate Graphic Design Program at North Carolina State University, came to Art Center this evening to speak about Design Thinking. She gave us a presentation about design education and provided us with knowledge and insight about the importance of research for the design world. Davis provided us with both assumptions and trends of design research and design education both on the undergraduate and graduate level.

She raised the question of how we can build a research culture in the realm of design. How can design make a difference? What affordances can we provide to the research world? Her visit couldn’t have been at a more perfect time because this term has been a lot about research and thinking in the design arena.

As design research students, we not only have to focus on the making process, but we also have to strengthen our skills as researchers, collaborators and leaders. Graduate education isn’t just about refining visual skills and concepts. It’s also about discovering a new knowledge base that supports new practices within media design.

Davis said, “Students are great researchers.” I’d have to agree. We have energy, imagination, fresh minds and a lot of optimism. What more, we have a community of creative peers that we can share ideas amongst.

It’s encouraging to know that design is heading towards a more meaningful place.

Next Nature Workshop

The Next Nature Workshop is this weekend, February 16 & 17, over here at Art Center. This workshop is being provided partially to help people prepare ideas for the upcoming Visual Power Show in the summertime (date TBD).

Check out the description below. And, if you’re interested in finding out more about next nature, check out the site. They’re taking proposals!

Designing for Next Nature Workshop
The extent to which new technologies are intervening in the constructive, material, aesthetic and social practice of everyday life can hardly be underestimated. Today design starts at the level of bits, atoms, neurons and genes.

We are all born in a world that has been designed already. Now we seem to be living in a time in which the ‘made’ and the ‘born’ are fusing. The hypoallergenic cats are already on the market. Plants are used as sensors, information displays and chemical factories. Animals are being augmented and branded. Young girls are provided with hypernatural vaginas, modeled after the photoshopped vaginas seen in playboy magazine. In response to donar organ shortage, researchers are working on a 3D organ printer. Real nature is not green. It is out of control. Our technological world has become so intricate and uncontrollable that it has become a nature of its own. Games have become jobs. Second life is not sustainable. Digital world metaphors are boomeranged into our physical environment. Wine making has become an information science. Everyday robots give massages and take care of the children. RFID chips open doors, they might be infected, but nonetheless are edible. The media are disappearing. Nature takes over?

The question we pose is simple: How do we design for next nature?

The first part of the workshop will be an introduction into the topic. We will read and discuss some papers and watch video related to the next nature theme. Students will be stimulated to critically look at their own and their fellow students’ work and their position as a designer. These moments of reflection we deem essential to get insight in the sense and non-sense of design.

The second part of the workshop, students work in groups of 2-3 people on a design proposal related to the topic of next nature: Preferably a marketable product that communicates a social cultural and creative vision on the topic. At the end of the weekend, each group carries out a five minute presentation before an expert jury which judges the quality of the idea, the presentation, social cultural dept and the answering of questions.

Deliverables:
A short but visionary 5 minute design statement in the form of a concrete, practical design proposal. Along with this you deliver a documentation of the work: one image and two short texts: 1) describing the product, what it is, why we need (200 words max) and 2) a justification (200 words max) with background information and a social cultural reflection.

Sustainability Summit

This past week, Art Center hosted the “Systems, Cities & Sustainable Mobility” Summit (Feb. 5-7, 2008). I was fortunate enough to attend the pre-summit where I was able to hear a little forecast of what some companies are doing in order to integrate green into their businesses, as well as how planners are working on developing eco-friendly cities that will be able to contribute to combating various issues around global warming.

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about my thesis direction and have been seriously considering focusing on issues pertaining to sustainable communities. I think this summit happened at a serendipitous moment for me because the subject matter really helped provide detail as to what people are doing with the idea of sustainability. No longer is it just about recycling or at-home conservation. Thinkers are really taking huge steps to make connections on both a micro and macro level, and what’s really great is that designers are an essential element to creating sustainable environments and technologies.

To read more about what happened at the summit, visit their site.  (http://artcenter.edu/summit/index.php). Recorded presentations and notes should be posted within the next few days.