Let's talk about scale.

Product, interior, and fashion design all have one great thing in common: scale.  In each case, designers have to keep their entire focus on the individual.  Architecture, urban planning, and fine art all have to speak to the broad public.  Between their size and the uniqueness of each of those disciplines' work, they can only ever appeal to greater society.  Products, fashion, and interiors are far more replicable, and therefore, are much more personal because each person can have their own phone, sweater, or kitchen.

Isn't it amazing how much holding something, even if there are 10 million others just like it, makes it feel like it's all yours?

--Becky

Deja Vu Again

Remakes have been complained about for decades, particularly in Hollywood.  “They’re unoriginal, boring, and NEVER as good as the original”, says everyone ever.  Be it a movie remake, media crossover (like a book to movie), cover song, or homage design, you only ever hear complaints.

(and now, a demonstrative Google image)

Look, we can all agree that George Lucas butchered his masterpiece when he added all the early-generation CG to movies created, and shot into the halls of legend, using muppets and camera tricks.  But I am a strong proponent of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, even if I didn’t love it as much as the original.  I also like cover songs performed by bands that don’t suck.  No, we all know that bracelet wasn’t found in a pharaoh tomb, but the nod to Egyptian proportion, pattern, and material create a whimsy that wouldn’t have existed in a mod gold bangle.

The fact that something was done before doesn’t take away its value.  In fact, reimagining an existing classic is a little terrifying.  In many ways, the stakes are so much higher than in an original work.  The new artist has the automatic audience of the original, most of whom want him or her to fail.  His or her intentions are secondary to the original artist’s, even if they are the same person (lookin’ at you, George Lucas).  Finally, even when the new artist succeeds, she or he cedes most of the credit to the original artist.

A well-done revamping is an art form all its own, bringing to its audience something both novel and familiar, fresh and perennial.  Witnessing old beauty in a new way, or bringing to the surface beauty completed glossed over in its original form, is worth checking out.  It’s not all good, but when it is, it’s incredible.

And THAT, everyone, is why I listened to lullabye versions of modern rock songs like, all week.

--Becky

They're All Crazy

Everyone secretly thinks they’re crazy.  Isn’t that fantastic?  I know that I, for one, would be deeply relieved if I found out I had a mental disorder.  It would explain why my brain feels itchy every time I can’t sing out loud when I have a song stuck in my head.  We all think that we have perfectly unique brain chemistry, that our brains would be brilliant if only we cut through the haze, and that no one ever really understands us.  This is a designer’s curse and boon.

In a way, everyone is right.  No two people have ever experienced the world the same way.  Designers have to design spaces, clothing, gadgets, websites, and advertisements that touch everyone without alienating all the weirdos… which is also everyone.  How exciting is that?  It’s the best challenge in existence, determining objects and systems that tailor to 7.5 billion unique users.

Oh, you push paper instead?  That sucks.

--Becky

Smart Up, Schools!

Why is it so hard to be a designer professionally?

Seriously, why?

Well the easy answer is that there are more designers than there are needs for designers.  Whether this is a short term economic problem or a long term “new normal” remains to be seen.  But why are there too many designers for not enough jobs?  Is it too easy to become a designer?

Design schools might be too easy to get into, or too easy to get through.  It is considered by many to be a lesser form of making, and the standards of design schools reflect that.  You can be an engineer if you want to make stuff.  You can be a construction manager.  You can be a craftsman.  But designers are too often filled by the ranks of those who are interested in glamor, not making the coolest stuff ever.  That changes the conversation in the classroom, and therefore, in the resulting working world.

Now there are a ton of people out there who want to be designers, and not enough jobs to support their dreams.  Disa-freakin-ppointing.

Becky

I Never Wanted to Be This Person

I caved.

I bought an iPhone a few weeks ago, and I have to say, I did everything I could to convince myself to buy something else.  Being the lame bougie trendsetter wannabe that I am, I needed to hate this populist gadget.  But honestly?  I love my new little toy.

We could discuss its simple design, easy interface, features, blah blah blah blah.  None of that is what surprised me about it, since I’ve been subjected to dork rants on the subject for years now.  Not interested.

What I thought was cool was recently brought to my attention by a book I’ve been reading.  It’s called Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things, by Donald A. Norman.  Part of it goes into how we make even our most logical decisions based on emotions, so the way to sell a product is to design it to make us feel warm and fuzzy while we use it.  That’s marketing 101.  But feeling like we’ve “made it” just by pulling our phone out?  That’s impressive.

I’ve been playing with my phone in public now, and I notice that when I do, I feel more successful, more fashionable, more “with it”.  Merge that with a high-performance piece of technology, and I have to give this win to Cupertino.  And while that makes me feel like a huge Apple-pheliac, which I hate because I think Steve Jobs is the spawn of the devil, at least now I understand why it’s socially acceptable to ignore other people at parties in favor of playing on your phone.

Becky

Joyfully Alone

Ohmygosh, I need to talk about this.  So much.  

I was wandering around pinterest.com, as I am wont to do, and stumbled across this painting by Leonid Afremov.  “Heartstopping” was the first word to come to mind, followed very quickly with “more!”  Upon googling the artist, I found that this is his style of preference.  He doesn’t use a brush, preferring the rich texture of a palette knife, resulting in a stained glass rainbow.

My favorite part of this piece in particular is that there is so much joy in the rainbow of colors presented, but the subject is walking down a quiet, wet street alone.  It straddles the line between carefree and contemplative, but the stained glass patchy luminance also adds a layer of reverence (at least for those of us who grew up around them!).

Brilliant.  So this painting is the wallpaper on my phone, and smile every time I have a reason to call someone.  Not because I like my friends… because I like Leonid Afremov.

--Becky