chucklesmetuna-blog

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We just got boozed!! Happy Halloween!! #boozed #halloween #thisneighborhoodrocks (at Springdale Estates, Waukesha, Wisconsin)

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Wonder Woman is cray. #wonderwoman #showmeyourbelly @kttrice

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@kttrice bedroom door open + lunatic dog = dead bear #dogshaming #josiethedestroyer

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Week 15 - Final Thoughts

One of the biggest changes I see in the future of design is that designers will have to begin designing for “invisible” interfaces or Zero UI.  The difference with Zero UI is that there is no graphical user interface.  Users will interact via voice commands or artificial intelligence.  The data must be shaped and designed in such a manner that the user can interact seamlessly.

Another method of designing in the future will be customer experience (CX) design.  Instead of designing a product for a user, firms will be designing the user’s experience/interaction with that product.  The brand will focus on creating a spectacular experience for a user that purchase’s their product.

Finally, virtual reality and augmented reality are already shaping the future of design.  These are along the lines of Zero UI, but have a somewhat more tangible interface. Users will be able to interact similarly to Tom Cruise in Minority Report.  With a heads-up display in front of you at any given moment, the designers will need to create a parallel experience to real-life.

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Week 14 - Design Awareness - Day 7

Some how at work the topic of restroom layouts came up and I was reminded of this restaurant’s design. I visited this restaurant when I was in Florida last December.  They have one of the most interesting men’s restroom that I have seen (see below).  

This restroom was designed to be very masculine and to resemble a car.  The website has the classic Ford type-face and is very appealing to the car (and beer) enthusiast. 

http://fordsgarageusa.com/

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Week 14 - Design Awareness - Day 6

The way this splash screen was designed makes this game seem really attractive.  From the bold type-face to the action-packed renderings of the characters, some serious thought went into this design.

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Week 14 - Design Awareness - Day 5

My dog likes the design of this ottoman.  Now we can take the tag off of it.

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Week 14 - Design Awareness - Day 4

Golfing with my buddy, I was admiring the design of this golf course.

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Week 14 - Design Awareness - Day 3

The typography and the simple logo made me think of the digital aesthetic.

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Week 14 - Design Awareness - Day 2

The top picture is our living room as of today.  The bottom is the house when we were initially shown it.  It is interesting how different colors and furniture placement can totally change the design, look and feel of a room.

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Week 14 - Design Awareness - Day 1

Walking through Costco, I was intrigued by the minimalist design of these accent tables and thought they would go well with our patio furniture.  My wife thought otherwise.

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Week 13 - New Media

Digital aesthetic is a defined by the text as “a hybrid style inspired by references to science fiction, video games and technology”.  Basically, digital aesthetic is the design of things pertaining to technology.  Similar to how the machine aesthetic designers tailored their designs around machines.  

An example of digital aesthetic design would be the US military’s current uniforms.  The digital camouflage colors allow the wearer to blend better to multiple terrains and environments.

Max Headroom is another example of digital aesthetic.

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Lookin good! #lovelycouple #cjandcj2016 (at The Pfister Hotel)

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Cathy & Chris wedding!! Woot!! #congrats #cjandcj2016 (at The Pfister Hotel)

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Week 12 - New Media

New Media is a phrase that refers to things like email, websites, virtual reality, mobile apps and games, streaming videos, etc.  New media is essentially anything that is not static graphics and text.  One major trait of New Media is interactivity.  Previous forms of media, or “old media”, like radio are based on one way communication.  There is not any user interaction other than turning on the radio and picking a station.  With New Media, like a website, one must click links or type things to get the desired result.  There are a multitude of fields that impact interactive design, but the ones I will talk about are web designers and user interface (UI/UX) designers.

In today’s world web designers are building interactive experiences for screen based interactions.  These designers need to create visually stunning, easy to navigate pages that get the message across as quickly as possible to the user. Web designers need to make the page react accordingly to the user’s input.

The field with more of an impact in the rapidly changing world of technology is the user experience (UX) designer.  The UX designer needs to design or build for multiple interactions, not just screen-based interactions like a web designer.  In products like an Android watch, or Amazon Echo, or Google Now there are other ways of interacting besides through a screen.  With an Amazon Echo there is a screen-based mobile application to enter data and account information, but the breadth of the interacting is done via voice commands.  The UX designer has to create an agile back-end that can promptly process user’s voice commands to create a seamless interaction.  The same goes for Google Now and Android Wear devices.  The heart of the design is in the lack of need for a screen.  

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Week 11 -Graphic Design

The textbook defines a Citizen Designer as “a professional who attempts to address societal issues either through or in addition to his or her commercial work”.  In other words, the designer is using his or her talent to design a product with the consumer’s best interest in mind.  An example of a “bad” citizen designer would be one that designs a promotion for a product they know doesn’t work or creating an alluring package for an inferior product.

According to the textbook, William Morris believed that “high quality design could serve as a beneficent social force to reform the ills of the industrial age”.  Morris believed that responsible commercial design would be a gateway to influencing social change.

In today’s design world there are many talented designers that produce attractive designs, but to be a “citizen designer”, a designer must have more than talent.  They need to be able to ask the right questions and be able to form responsible decisions.

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Week 9 Industrial Design

Brook Stevens

Brooks Stevens was born in Milwaukee in 1911.  Stevens had contracted polio when he was young and it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  His father encouraged him to draw and play with models while he was laying in bed.  Later, Stevens set out to use these skills he crafted and translate them to an architecture degree from Cornell University.  This, however, did not pan out.  Stevens left Cornell degree-less and moved back to Milwaukee.

Stevens opened his first design office in 1935 and quickly grew his staff and accounts.  Since then, Stevens has designed countless items and gadgets we all know and use today.  From Lawn-Boy tractors to Miller’s Logo to the Oscar Meyer Mobile to Excalibur cars, Stevens was a pillar of Milwaukee’s industrial design.

Stevens stayed in Milwaukee where he could be out of the limelight and he could spend time designing for the numerous manufacturers around the area.  He designed for Allis-Chalmers, Harley Davidson, Miller, Evinrude, Briggs & Stratton, and the list goes on and on.  

Stevens decision to stay in Milwaukee was fundamental to the world of design today.