Week 1

The 5 Articles

Dumb Things Smart Homes Do (Ji, 2020)

This article seemed interesting to me because I thought that it could give me some creative ideas but after reading it, I realized that it was not really about what Smart Homes does but more about what mistakes the Smart Home Industry does.

What I understood was that there are many products being design for smart homes because it's evolving pretty well but the designers are not considering everything that need to be considered. One example from the article is that the use of cameras is not being used for security measures really but more as a communication device between the members if the family who live in the smart house. And basing on that I guess that as a designer it means that I should also consider other uses of what I am designing even though the main target for that particular product was not meant to be like that.

Another thing that were mentioned in this article was that it's an evolving industry and a lot of time when new products are being produced the old ones are becoming obsolete and users are left to deal with them thus affecting the ecosystem as these products end up not being recycled. So that is something to be considered. How many products will become obsolete, and how to deal with these obsolete products so that they do not affect the environment? Is there really a need for a new product in the first place? I think if all these are considered for everything that we design we will not have to worry about pollution anymore at some point but it's something really hard to do as it involves so many different things.

Other than that, there is the user-friendliness. These smart products do are pretty hard to deal with. They all need different apps and software and they all need to be set up properly to have it to its full potential and it can get quite daunting. User-friendliness is something very important that needs to be considered from every angle of a product and I also think it a product for a smart house need to also be user-friendly for the person who is going to install the product also.

Tokyo’s See-Through Public Toilets Let People See How Clean They Are Before Entering (Taggart, 2020)

This article got my attention because it seemed weird, odd and somehow genius at the same time. Public toilets are badly treated and some people like me prefer to not use them at all. The project's purpose is to make public toilet more comfortable while at the same time allowing the users to know what's behind the doors and not get surprised and disgusted. At the same time, I think it will also encourage people to keep public toilet clean as they will feel embarrassed if when they leave the toilet got dirty or something. For me personally I don't care about little problems like this as I already have my way around them, but seeing people solving these little problems like that inspires me to open my mind more and try to solve similar issues.

Ten Translucent Buildings With Exteriors that Allow Light to Pass Through (Carlson, 2020)

This article also got my attention because it was odd, reading it made me realize that the architectural sector has evolved a lot and sometimes people value practical use more than aesthetic as some of these building looks really weird. It also made me realize the importance of new technologies in design because without this new material people would have just made huge windows in the building which could have been more costly and made the air inside the building cold.

The Role of Human Centric-Design In Developing a Successful Product (Singh, 2020)

Human Cantered Design is the key to success and is quite hard to achieve, and that’s why this article caught my attention. Designers need to really put themselves in the skin of the users and tackle every problem. Interviews and feedback from stakeholders are also required to achieve success. A designer needs to be well prepared for every eventuality and not just sit back and design something aesthetic that is totally useless. However, based on this article we can find that aesthetic does make a difference, so in my opinion a successful product should be well balanced between aesthetic and user-friendliness.

Decades Later, India’s First Graphic Novel Has Found Cult Following (Basu, 2020)

I really like graphic novel and webcomics so seeing an article on a graphic novel artist made me want to read. I liked how the artist Sen did not have any idea for his novel but then drove inspiration from a real-life event. Ideas are really hard to get and sometimes you feel low and uncreative because of lack of ideas but it’s inspirational to see that great people in the history of design had the same issue and how they dealt with it and were able to create great content. I also liked reading about people who do not stick to only 1 thing like this artist who at the same time wrote graphic novels and did installation and murals that also got great success. As a designer I want to break my own limits and be very flexible.

Bibliography

Basu, R., 2020. Decades Later, India’S First Graphic Novel Has Found A Cult Following. [online] Eye on Design. Available at: <https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/how-indias-first-graphic-novel-found-a-cult-following-a-decade-after-it-was-published/> [Accessed 18 August 2020].

Carlson, C., 2020. Ten Translucent Buildings With Exteriors That Allow Light To Pass Through. [online] Dezeen. Available at: <https://www.dezeen.com/2020/08/22/roundup-translucent-architecture/> [Accessed 22 August 2020].

Ji, V., 2020. Dumb Things Smart Homes Do - Frog Design. [online] frog design. Available at: <https://www.frogdesign.com/designmind/dumb-things-smart-homes-do>.

Singh, P., 2020. Role Of Human-Centric Design In Developing A Successful Product.. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://medium.muz.li/role-of-human-centric-design-in-developing-a-successful-product-672dfe73a919> [Accessed 23 August 2020].

Taggart, E., 2020. Tokyo’S See-Through Public Toilets Let People See How Clean They Are Before Entering. [online] My Modern Met. Available at: <https://mymodernmet.com/see-through-tokyo-toilets/> [Accessed 21 August 2020].

First Thing First

When I first read about the manisfesto, it was obvious that it was about the challenging world of advertisment that many designers, photographers and all are wasting their talents on.

One thing that I agreed with was that many ads are very exagerrated just for the purpose of selling and in my opinion it's a waste of energy for creative people to put all their efforts into to deliver lies to people and the direct example that I thought of was McDonalds because their burgers look nothing like what they show in their ads.

One thing that I disagree though is that advertisements are not totally useless as nowadays some people are using it to pass deeper messages and created impact of people like Doritos did with the rainbow doritos which was to support the LGTB community and preventing gay teen suicide.

So we were to discuss in a group and write down our thoughts and my group members were Faridah, Thong and Mardhiah and we were all on the same points so after discussion here's what we wrote.

What is the main problem or issue that the author is addressing?

The main issue that is being addressed is how most people have perceived those who are involved in the creative industry use their skills and talents for “trivial” marketing purposes such as advertising. As much as advertising the problem of manufacturing goods can do, it still does not provide a permanent solution. So instead of letting people in the creative industry use their skills to advertise about stopping an issue, they should instead prioritize on making a more useful and long-lasting solution in other aspects such as politics, campaign, charity, exhibitions, and something that is a lot more informative and long lasting. 

Discuss one point that you agree and why? Give an example?

I agreed with the statement that pointed out opposing designers to waste their talents for various profit-making products.

This is because, I agree that designing for only advertisement purposes can lead to a waste of talent due to a lot of them being exaggerated just to attract clients for the approximately same product.  At the end of the day, most of these real life products did not even look like the ones in the ads. For example, in most cases, McDonald's burgers in the ads are very different compared to their actual burgers (image is as below). 

Discuss one point that you disagree and why? Give an example?

We disagreed with his point of using designers’ talents for trivial matters that did not lead to our national prosperity, such as designing for ads that are related to products or consumers’ necessities. This is because, we believe that “trivial matters” is not an objective topic, instead it is a subjective topic because of the fact that each of us have our own priorities that we would like to buy or have at a certain point of time. The “trivial” ads that he mentioned are not important enough for him, simply because he is just not the target market for the products. Therefore, he does not see the importance for those products to be advertised since he does not have any purpose to use them in the first place. 

For example, an ad for a dishwasher is very useful for a housewife or a chef who has to use the product on a daily basis for their dishes. However, Ken Garlands might find it “trivial” since he might be a part of the community that uses the dishwasher. This goes the same to other products as well. It was also mentioned in his interview that he is a person who is more focused towards social matters, thus, of course, his lens would not be strayed much towards something as “trivial” as products that can be used to wash dishes. National prosperity has a very subjective meaning, hence we think that it’s better for this statement to be explained further since national prosperity differs from one person to another, due to our different backgrounds, needs, wants, and necessities.

References :

Monografica Org. (2013, March 20). Interview to Ken Garland [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb46stSytAI&list=WL&index=5&t=0s

Muteb9905. (2014). Fast Food Advertisement and Consumer Psychology. [Article]. Retrieved from https://muteb9905.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/fast-food-advertisement-and-consumer-psychology/amp/