Story.Human. Human.Body.

Story.Human.

I am excited by stories, movies in particular. They stir something in my heart that makes me want to be a better artist, a better designer, a better storyteller through my own medium. Storytelling is very important to me. It is one of my main interests in industrial design. I believe that it is through stories that we as humans express our greatest desires, our deepest fears, and our most basic needs. It is through stories, and the experiences that shape them, that we form relationships, interactions.

Telling stories is a very uniquely human activity. I believe it is one of our highest and surest forms of communication. It has stood the test of time (caves till now till far long after we are gone) and evolved in its mediums, but never abandoned any of them. People still draw and illustrate to tell a story, they still speak words, plays and theatrical productions are still written and created, movies are still being made, and now even the internet is being used to bring back the cereal.

Some might assert that one of the most important things to include in a story is the hook—the event at the beginning that makes the listener or reader say, “Well, what happens next?” That desire, the desire for knowledge, satisfaction, adventure, myth—it is human. It is uniquely human. Story is at the heart of every man, woman, and child whether they know it or not. Through the recognition of that within ourselves, and the fostering of story around us in the world, I believe that the human experience can be made richer, and that humans themselves can become better…

Humans are relational creatures. It is in our very nature to come together, relate, communicate, love. By sheer logic one can see how everyone is connected in one way shape or form. E.g. one thing I buy affects those who sell it, to those who make it, to those who harvest its materials, to those who grow it, to the earth, etc. Looking at life in the context many small stories that make up one large story creates a connection between everyone and everything in the world. It brings us together.

Human.Body.

I am driven by good design. The most innovative design lies in the realm of change. True innovation and creativity bridge the gaps between disciplines and bring design to a place where it can change the course of the future. It is my assertion that story should not and simply cannot be left in books and visual media. I believe that story permeates every aspect of our lives and should be acknowledged, even featured. This especially applies to design.

What if designers thought in the context of the human experience, as it relates to storytelling? What if they considered their hook? One might say that they do already but they just use different language, like, ‘consistent form language’ or ‘wow factor.’ I kind of think these are mere scratches on the surface of what potential story has to change and better the course of design. This is the point at which someone could dismiss me and say that design has its place in storytelling—structure, revision, product. Then I would reply that more importantly, storytelling has its place in design—a hook, cohesion, a climax and resolution. This is where we as designers get to forget about products, and get to remember ourselves as human. We as designers have the power to shape the human experience for ourselves and potentially millions upon millions of people around the world. We must rise to that challenge.

As far as three dimensional work goes, I personally want to design for the body. The human body holds, to the greatest extent, our basis for design. The most useful products are designed for interaction with it. Direct interaction demands good design. Good design requires cohesion and subtlety. This means a seamless interface between the human body and the environment surrounding it. Take clothing, for example. There is not much that gets closer to our bodies than clothing. It is often times through our clothing that we experience the world around us, whether we are shielding ourselves from it, exposing ourselves to it, or making ourselves more a part of it. Well designed clothing is functional, durable, visually and tactilely appealing, and stands the test of time.

My question is this: What separates a well designed consumer product or garment from a well told story? Most would say end purpose and product. Sure, all go through a similar process to form the product, but all are different in the end, right? I don’t believe that for a minute. I would assert that a well designed product, as a well designed garment, as a well told story should all serve to better the human experience here on earth—that is their purpose. It is our job as designers to make that our goal, our premise. Design not simply for humans, but for the human experience, and in doing so, create a better humanity.

form as function

cinema.

For the second timeline we were asked to investigate light in the context of ‘designing a better mousetrap.’ I arrived at the movie projector. Storytelling is very important to me. I’d say it might be one of my main interests in industrial design, especially for cinema. I’m not exactly sure what category of mousetrap design that falls into, but perhaps it will soon be made apparent.

Using cinema as a medium for telling stories has been common since the turn of the 20^th century. Humans are relational creatures. We’ve been telling stories since we were in caves… While the spoken word and the written word have been with us for ages, cinema has come and is hopefully here to stay. The tools for projecting movies onto a screen have changed over the years in technology but majorly not in end result. Projectors still exist to do one thing—show movies on a large scale. I suppose the mousetrap design I’m might just kill the little guy quicker. Or more efficiently. Or might be able to be put in more places in the home…

It’s very interesting to think that not long ago, the home cinema experience involved most often enormous (and by today’s standards, crude) television set ups. It’s refreshing to have the magic of a rear light projection able to be affordable enough to be brought into the home. Many people nowadays believe that cinema is dying—that the cinema experience is dying. People blame the internet, piracy, television, all kinds of things. I refuse to believe that. I believe that an experience cannot simply ‘die.’ People are right to think that things are changing—the advent of new technology means that the gatekeepers will have to adapt. But the fact that people are buying and using home theater systems means that the experience, the magic, of cinema is not dead at all. People still want the big screen. They want it so much that they’ll set it up in their homes.

are posters dead?

The idea of something ‘falling into the past’ is slightly depressing to me. This can be especially true when it’s a mode, process, or style.

For the first timeline I looked at how public information has been passed to and from people over about a 250 year span. Examples ranged from lighthouses, to posters and billboards, to the news, to the light-up skyscrapers depicted in ‘Blade Runner.’ Revisiting these subjects, I’ve come to think more seriously about them, especially in the context of risd.

Recently, large televisions were placed in various locations around the risd campus with the thought and intention being to use them to convey public information at high speed, immediate updating, that kind of thing. I think they fail, and I don’t like them.

This place (risd) is a home of creation, construction, culture, tactility, and passion. These huge televisions have taken the place or cork boards, posters, and flyers. That said, they have not improved upon the medium. While these televisions can show many images, they have to cycle through all of them in some kind of random preprogrammed sequence. And it sucks. I feel that I have not seen one useful amount of information on these televisions—rather, I’ve seen pictures of people at parties, a horse, and a snow storm, and one flyer that had too much text to be read in the 3 seconds it was on the screen. Useless. This transition to digital has spawned laziness in its participants. As many transitions to digital already have…

Has the administration forgotten that ours is a generation that loves to create posters and steal them for our own once the event is over? The process of creating a poster is not only incredible, but important. This is, of course, an understatement for the printmaking and graphic design departments. These televisions are, in my opinion, an effrontery to artists and designers and to a process that has been used for hundreds of years. If certain people think that this medium of digital projection is meant to replace posters here at risd, and let them fall into the past, then I think, I hope, that they are sorely mistaken.