Catch-Up #6

Journal #6

Conversations on Design

Ze Frank: Frank is inspired by social design. He talked about the design and format of a video game he used to play and how the point of the game was driven by social interaction of characters. I think this also relates to the problem he wants to solve. He said he wanted all problems to be redesigned, but he specifically pointed to how the process of design could be changed. He thought it would be cool to see a group of designers interact in a group to solve one problem since it’s normally the other way around.

Marc Lathuilliére: A book and a bottle of vodka. The book because not only does it have a nice cover, it’s very “transparent;” You start reading and you know exactly what it’s trying to communicate. The vodka is the opposite. The branding doesn’t tell you the vast amount of power inside that alcohol – it remains a mystery until you indulge. For him, it’s all about the language and communication. That’s also his problem for solving: learning to communicate in this design language and using that to recreate diversity

Jake McCabe: He is inspired by a blank 8.5x11” piece of paper. It’s so simple and clean and represents open opportunity. Yet in order to get there, it takes so much effort to produce. It’s just “a beautiful thing.” As far as solving with design, since the paper is a resource, he’s into sustainability. Our resources are having to be rethought; that blank paper is becoming a type of luxury.

Georgia Christensen: I didn’t just pick her because she talks about Texas. She’s inspired by a chimney. I was named after a fireplace/chimney piece. She finds it neat that her father, who designed the chimney, had to work with a construction worker to construct it to achieve the perfect lines and how this group effort created something so beautiful and simple. What’s not simple is public transportation, which is what she wants solved. Amen.

Daniel Pink: This guy must be my hero because his inspiration is an eraser for the pure fact that it allows you to make mistakes. “If you can erase, you can create.” Wasn’t it Thomas Edison who mentioned something about failing 1000 times before he got the light bulb right? Mistakes suck, but they help you grow, and with an eraser, you can help change those mistakes into something better. As for solving problems, he believes that instead of designing for single pieces, design should be tackling systems, or the bigger picture.