The Secrets Behind Anthropologie's Spectacular Windows
February 28, 2011
February 21, 2011
November 29, 2010
Caution: Dangerous Design
image from http://nerdcereal.com/is-apple-target-now/
image from http://obamapacman.com/2010/09/video-new-apple-ipod-touch-multitouch-nano-tv-ads/facetime-ipod-touch-4g-2010-apple-tv-ad/
image from http://www.iphonesavior.com/2009/10/apple-ad-guru-lee-clow-refuses-to-retire.html
Although technology design improves our lifestyle efficiently, it could bring us dangerous damages. Apple is one of the best technology design companies around the world. Their consumers have a wide range from youth to elders who will use more than one of Apple’s products, such as iPod, iTouch, iPad, iPhone, Macbook, and more. It is incredible how human can create such technical designs to improve our efficiency and touch screens, which connects us closer to technology. However, technology designs decrease physical interaction in society, and could dangerously become one of our addictions.
The constant growth of technology design creates less opportunity for physical interaction; social lives become more and more available online, but less in society. iPhone has multiple applications and twenty-four seven Wi-Fi. Other than iPhone, iTouch and iPad has similar functions. The design of putting on earphones to listen to music or searching the Web while taking a bus creates a barrier between humans. We gradually have a closer relationship with technology designs than with human beings.
Worse than having relationship problems is constantly sticking to our technology products because of its comforting designs for human. For example, the touch screen design is one of the great accomplishments through technology. The Macbook touch pad design is overly convenient with multiple short cuts through finger movements. Furthermore, technology design can become an addiction. We might start to rely on those technical designs more than we should. Sadly, we will never be able to notice what is happening in our surrounding physically. And less and less quality time with our family because everyone is so busy using their iPhones or other tech designs.
Technology design improves our society and efficiency in life, but we still need to maintain our physical interaction with each other.
November 28, 2010
Utopian Design
Utopian design helps improve the society. It would not be harmful to human, animals, nor the surrounding. Environmental design is now a popular design that has an approach to improve society, which is similar to the idea of utopian design. Those designs often save space and use as little energy as possible. Importantly, the design should not create pollutions or other damages to the world. Sometimes we need to get out of our comfort zones, such as driving vehicles, to riding a folding bike that sustains health and protects the environment.
Riding bikes help build up our physical strength. It makes us healthier by letting us exercise, which will decrease our physical health problems. Biking on the road is also more refreshing than using the biking machine in the gym. In addition, biking can build up our immune system. And through daily biking, our brains function clearer, and we would be able to get our workload down more efficiently. Designers will be able to come up with better design ideas and fewer mistakes can be made during the process of design.
Folding bikes benefit humans, and it also improves the environment. They are designed to decreases pollution and increase space. It does not use any energy nor need any gas. Moreover, the folding bikes are design to use less material if possible. Comparing to mountain bikes or road bikes, folding bikes are simplified to a smaller form. Furthermore, the folding design is efficient and easy to use. There are simply one or two procedures for folding the bike. Not only folding bikes are ease to use, but its efficient space usage is needed in the society. Gradually, spaces become luxurious and difficult to earn, so objects that take less space and light weighted will attract the more buyers.
Color Interaction
Wayne Thiebaud's Sweets and Treats from http://tillagearts.blogspot.com/2009/10/go-see-sweets-treats-wayne-thiebaud-in.html
real cakes reproduced from Thiebaud's painting
Wayne Thiebaud is an amazing contemporary painter that plays with color interactions. Thiebaud is well known for painting pastries and other mass cultural objects. Moreover, he states that he often paints from memories either from childhood or previous job experiences. He was associated with the Pop Art movement, and his work influence the era.
Thiebaud uses heavy pigments and solid colors in his paintings. Painting warm and cool color is how he uses as light and shadows. Most of the color paint are visually seen in his colorful paintings except pure black and white. White pigments, however, are usually used as background that creates a lot of negative space. But when looking at the paintings, you will not think it is visually white because of color illusion. Sometimes he does add little color to the white background, but not often.
The Cakes and Treats paintings were designed with color unity and harmony. The colors are bright and solid with major warm colors and a touch of cool colors as shadows. Through the dominance of warm colors, the blue shadows seemed to have a touch of red and become slightly purple. This type of illusion is color juxtaposition, which creates color combination when two pigments appear simultaneously.
Thiebaud layered many bold colors on top of each other, and it creates the bezold effect like a visual gradation. This technique simplified the details but gives connection between two different pigments. Thiebaud’s style is contemporary, and he uses bold colors with huge white space that gives light intensity.
Thiebaud’s work always has a strong contrast, and the mass production product paintings also have huge negative space. These are his most identified techniques.
November 13, 2010
Lost and Found
(all images via http://www.furniturestoreblog.com)
The Lost in Sofa chair design helps you store things in an unexpected way. I found this creative industrial design by architect Daisuke Motogi on a furniture website. The whole chair is cushion designed, so users can ‘stuff’ objects in between multiple cushions. This clever design can attract consumers that have similar needs and habits, but the product comfort and performance can be revised.
The outline of the chair is built with square shaped cushions. The form seems visually hard, but the material used is soft. The color grey also softens down the form and shape of the design. Safety issues would be less worrisome since the design is completely covered with cushions, unless there are sharp objects placed in the cushions. In addition, sticking stainable food and liquid would be dangerous. Furthermore, if anything is stuffed in to the chair, people need to be more careful when standing around and sitting down in the chair.
Adding to the safety issues, functional comfort representing a major part of the chair design process. Although cushioning should bring comfort, the sharp edges and outline overtake the inflexibility. The design of the Lost in Sofa chair did not include head and neck supports. Moreover, there is no curve support for the overall human body and gesture, since the chair was designed with vertical and horizontal surfaces, like grids. However, if you see it more as an organize storage, it is used with softer material compared to usual storages, including wood and steel. The comfort of the chair design is not well thought out.
There is not much space in between every cushion gaps. And it is hard to find an interior space to place this chair design since all of its side should be fully used for storing. The design is easy to use for consumers who usually prefer leaving items on or around their chair.
Other than being user friendly, the performance of the Lost in Sofa chair is used to store books, magazines, newspapers, phones, spare change, remote controllers, and more. This is an idea of a multi-function design, and also, working against all odds. Because of the ethical idea of keeping clean and neat in space, designer Motogi slightly works against ethics. As a result, he creates chair design for consumers that feel more comfortable in the sense of disorganization. However, the seat space is only limited for a single person. If there are also designs of a longer sofa made with more cushions, it might give buyers more opportunity to play with the design.
Last but not least, the aesthetic design added the final touch and décor for the product. The Lost in Sofa design is more suitable in a modern space. Its overall design appear neat, clean, with a neutral color tone. And as an industrially designed object, it is seen as a moderate sculpture or an organized squared chair as itself.
It is appropriate to combine the function of storage and seating together because you often need places to put things. For example, after reading a magazine, you can stick the magazine in to the chair and sleep. It is sometimes frustrating to not have any place to put your things. This chair design is user-centered with having cushions around the seat and places to stuff. The Ergonomic design of the chair is not focused on functions like safety and comfort, but the easiness, performance, and beauty.
November 10, 2010
3D Effect
Here are the videos from Eric Hutchinson and Will.i.am. Both of the music videos have similar design approach with the relation of images, words, and music.
The typography in Hutchinson’s video was designed with animated lyrics. This music video included many different typographic designs to the lyrics. The foreground and background relation is constantly switching in relation to words and images. The bold word flips placed on top of the black piano was interesting; it made the words and image seems like a whole. Where as, Will.i.am’s Korean typography is abstracted to forms and shapes since few Americans read Korean. The types also remind us how Korean Pop music is becoming popular around the world.
Hutchinson’s music video embraces futuristic designs with a classic black and white theme, and the classy design fits well with this jazzy music. However, Will.i.am’s video portrays robotic movements and facial expressions. In addition, the wardrobe, accessories, and nylon rubber fabric are futuristic.
The words are all portrayed in different eye-popping effects in Hutchinson’s music video, including the piano word board, billboard decors, and slide effects. Moreover, typography is connected in space with transaction movement. My favorite effect is how the words walked up to the screen and towards the viewer, also blurring out the rest of the forms in the back. The words then finished by pulling us back in to the background. Will.i.am’s design has an approach where lagging and drum effects. Also, the movement and overlap effect of the Korean typography give the 3D effect. Furthermore, two dancers are stretched to multiple ones, which gives the 3D depth. The play of ground and ceiling in 360-degree was also breathtaking.
The typographic design, futuristic theme, and three-dimensional effect are recently the most familiar effects used in music videos.
November 7, 2010
Anthropologie Holiday Workshop
(images by me)
Holiday season is coming up and I got an invitation from Anthropologie that they will be having open holiday workshops. These workshops are for people who are interested in helping the Anthropologie Visual Team in the chain store close by.
Their Visual Team is the people who designed and decorated the whole store. And as my previous blog post, I mentioned I have admired Anthropologie’s window displays since I first walked in to the stores. Every Anthropologie store in different areas has slightly different designs cooperated by their own team members.
(images taken by me)
Now that Christmas and winter season is here, I am so thrilled to have this opportunity to co-work with the Anthropologie Visual Team and create their Holiday decors. My friends and I carpooled and drove to Burlingame for this opportunity to help out as volunteers (yes, Burlingame was the closest from Davis, but more workshops are coming up in other store locations).
This year, Anthropologie is re-creating the green bushes of a Christmas tree with different types of wires covered with green painted wraps. Also, adding golden ribbons with written wishes and art craft nuts to be tied on the branches.
Anthro’s design theme for this holiday window displays is symbolic. It symbolizes the idea of Christmas trees and cold weather. Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, and coniferous trees only grow in cold weathers. That is why this type of tree is now unconsciously recognized as a type of holiday tree.
After this unforgettable holiday workshop, I notice how Anthropologie works as a ‘design family.’ Group work is always important in society, and in design.
November 6, 2010
Fashion: Words and Image
(Cover image from Vogue)
This is Vogue’s November 2010 issue. Anne Hathaway is the cover girl of this month. Vogue is one the most recognized fashion magazines in the world. This success relates to many reasons, and one is because of its elegant play of word and image.
Different fashion magazine has different style and design in their pages. Every Vogue cover stands out with its classic serif “vogue” fonts, and a strong cover image. It represents the classy and power that women express today. In addition, the color theme for the cover words and image are design in unity.
(One of the pages from early Vogue found in Google)
This page design is not from the November issue; however, the creativity in typography and photography remains in previous issues. The design and layout in the magazines are according to the play of words and images.
(source form impawards.com)
Moreover, the fashion documentary published last year, The September Issue, was a success to let fusionists and the society get a closer VIP look at the lives of the fashion industry and the life of Anna WIntour, the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue. This poster above simply has a miniature image of a sunglasses and fashion magazine placed on a white space. The title of the documentary is equal the size of the image. And even smaller, below the film title it states “Anna Wintour and the making of Vogue.” The angled but recognizable Vogue magazine placed below the sunglasses is what sells and affects the whole fashion world. All the little details and icons made this fashion documentary noticeable and popular.
Vogue knows what and how their readers see the relation between words and images, which is why it is placed firmly on top of the fashion industry.
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