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!!!

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.

Hans Rosling on Poverty and Life Around the World

Instructor Peter Cho recently shared this TED talk with us in our Communication Design 3 class. Hans Rosling, a professor of global health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute spoke at the TED conference in 2007 about poverty around the world and what countries are doing to get themselves out of it. The entire talk was profound, but what was great was how Rosling demonstrated the visual data, using his own cheerful and humorous personality and visual graphic animations to contextualize poverty changes over the year.

You can listen or watch his talk at TED.com as well as read more about Rosling himself.

In general, TED.com is one of my most highly recommended sites to listen to just about anything intelligent and inspiring. If you want to know of a place where you can listen to bunch of smart people, look no further.

A Green Facade?

photo: A green skyscraper: The Antilla Building, Mumbai

The Antilla Building is being criticized for being nothing more than a green facade. It brags green and plush on the outside, but is still full of not-so sustainable parts. I don’t personally have a say in this debate, but looking and reading about this particular building sparked another issue for me: in the ever-growing hype around sustainability, what about the little people?

My concern isn’t so much about creating this extravagant building of flowing vines and falling flowers. Where my focus lies is in the more practical side of the world, and that world is the one I live in – the world where people seek to improve their quality of life without burning a hole in their pockets, the world where access to a better life isn’t about solar powered shoe shiners, but about community building and social empowerment.

In my personal quest to understand the beneficial relationships between nature and humans, how can we bring “sustainability” down from the rafters and into our backyards in a practical, realistic and affordable way? Sustainability (and I apologize for its overuse), isn’t meant just for the Hollywood stars to show off their eco-superpowers. It’s meant to be practiced by everyone. And if everyone doesn’t have access to it, things aren’t going to change. I realize that this is not an individualistic endeavor. Sustainability, I’ve observed, requires two things right now: 1) long–term investment and 2) community. These are two qualities I want to continue to explore this term.