Utopian Exercise Design

"The Shake Weight" source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1239591/Alex-Gerrard-new-face-Shake-Weight-fitness-product-ridiculed-TV-host-Ellen.html

A design that strives to make our society today a more utopian world is the “Shake Weight”.  This strange (and pretty silly) object is an exercise device that takes the normal arm weight and turns it into a something more.  The designers of the “Shake Weight” wanted to make lifting weights and thus making the human physique better by creating a more appealing way to work out.  The “Shake Weight” looks like an ordinary weight but it vibrates to tone and add muscle to the upper body of the user.  This vibrating technology was initially targeted for women but now can also be found for men too.  It both strengthens and is a convenient tool to allow the average American to work out more than they normally would.  Yes, this device looks slightly suggestive and kind of stupid when a user is exercising, but it creates results… or so the tests show.  It is the perfect example of utopian design because it takes an everyday object and attempts to make it better.  Not to mention, the marketing for this new product has been huge, and has even shown up in popular tv shows like South Park and SNL.  These shows indeed mocked the “Shake Weight” but any press is good press to a certain point.  Every child, teenager, and adult in America knows what eh “Shake Weight” is and in my opinion, that is pretty huge for an exercise designed object.   

WARNING! Tacos are Dangerous!

Okay, so this may sound completely trivial and maybe a little stupid, but hear me out! Tacos are dangerous!  Dangerous, that is, to your clothes and to how you look.  Yes yes I know this sounds too silly but think about it, the design of the taco shell is completely wrong.  The taco shell in theory is a "perfect" design because it is shaped in a U-bend form to allow for food to be stuffed inside; however, when have you eaten a hard shelled taco without the shell cracking unexpectedly in the middle or all the contents falling out of one side, and I am not talking about the side that faces your mouth!  The taco shell also forces the eater to tilt their head to one side just to enable a bite, does not this seem like too much trouble for such mess to occur only a second later?  I realized this fact while eating family dinner tonight.  My father had prepared all the fixings for "build your own" tacos.  It is one of my favorite meals but the Cooper family eats tacos unlike the average family... we take the taco shell in hand, grab both sides of the crispy holder, and snap it in half, thus creating two flat halves.  Now with the flat halves, a person can layer sour cream, gauc, beef, tomatoes, the works basically, onto the crisp corn tortilla.  The taco turns into an open face sandwich of sorts.  People are going to be saying, are you crazy?! This takes away from the whole point of a taco! And maybe it does, but it tastes the same, you build it the same, but the end result is less mess on your hands, face, and it might just save your favorite shirt from getting a nice strain smack dab in the middle of it.  So next time you are about to build your own taco, think about this new design, and hey, maybe you will find out that the secret to the best taco ever, is the taco deconstructed.

The Taco Deconstructed (my mother eating her taco)

The Color of Music Videos: Color Transforms

will.i.am. and Nicki Minaj have recently song and then filmed a music video called "Check It Out", which Housefield (our teacher) showed us in lecture the other day.  This video was not something I would normally watch considering my roommates and I do not pay for tv and thus I cannot watch the newest music videos on MTV, not to mention that I am not exactly a fan of this genre of music.  However, I found myself thoroughly enjoying the video and song so much that once it ended, I wished the clip would have gone on longer.  It was design at its finest!  The music video had Korean words, though after the clip was over, we were told to discuss it in small groups and everyone in our group thought it was Japanese... shows how little we know about language, sad if you ask me but that's a side note. There were so many interesting, eye catching colors, especially Nicki's make up.  It was almost like her face had turned into a doll made of candy.  The pinks are what caught my eye the most I think.  There was an interesting contrast between the black, robotic nature of the audience watching the performers and the performers themselves who were colorful and animated.  The typography that was used was sans-serif maybe to create a more modern look to the video, which keeps with the futuristic look that the costume designers were clearly going for.  To be honest, I was so engaged during the music video that I completely forgot what the song was about.  The music was no longer important, which is a decision the director must make.  The center of attention here was the image and the dance form that was taking place while the song seems to just add to the video, not the other way around.  After watching the clip, I instantly thought that this video was "Lady Gaga - esque" which made me realize what an impact Lady Gaga has made on our society today.  I wrote about her earlier in a different blog post but I still stick to my guns when I say that like her or not, she has changed the design of the music industry for good.  Now back to the video... I think it's very interesting that Korean Pop is becoming more famous in the US.  This shows how we are going more global and maybe the producers of this music video wanted to capture a wider audience such as the international crowd.  This is worldwide design conversation.  There is a lot of form vs. content going on in the song as well.  The background song to "Check It Out" is "Video Killed the Radio Star", a classic from the 1979, and this style of taking an old popular song and rapping over it can be heard in most of the chart toppers today.  While I do not really like this method of making music, it shows design as inspiration from without.  I really loved this music video and everyone should go watch it. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqky5B179nM

Patience as Part of Creating

my art homework due Tuesday, drew this over the weekend

This weekend, I learned something very important: that patience is the key to creating a work that is both impressive and beautiful.  I am in Art 2 here at UC Davis, which is a black and white drawing class.  The course is a requirement for Design majors though a student can choose between Design 14 and Art 2, I chose the art route because I love to paint and draw; however, this class is nothing like what I expected.  It is both challenging and frustrating, yet fulfilling and helpful.  It is so hard because the homework is incredibly time consuming.  I have spent hour upon hour trying to perfect a drawing, getting annoyed and tired but it is teaching me to just push through.  So our homework this weekend was to draw from a black and white photo but triple the size from the photo to your work.  I drew a still shot from the film “Gone With The Wind” and used the grid method for dealing with the tone and shading of the image.  I focused on line and form in each box of the grid, working methodically from left to right, beginning at the top left and ending in the bottom right.  As I look at my finish piece right now, I can say that this is the best drawing I have ever done, and all it took was a method and patience.  I would spend an hour at a time working and then leave to do something else to refresh my mind and body.  I feel like this is a great lesson for designing anything.  You cannot get stressed out and overwhelm yourself, instead, make a plan of action and execute it in a timely but reasonable manner.  

The Kymco People 150

Me on my Kymco People 150 in downtown Davis

When looking into Ergonomic Research, we can see that it is the process of creating a product that is designed for a specific use.  Most people instead have the idea of office objects when thinking about ergonomics, such as office chairs, special keyboards, and desks.  However, ergonomics do not only apply to office equipment.  Instead, it is basically the design of task appropriate objects that are user centered.  The Etymology of the word comes from the Greek “ergon” which means to work and “nomos” which means laws.  There are five areas of Ergonomic Research, which are safety, comfort, ease of use, performance or productivity, and aesthetics.  We can apply these steps of research to any object to see if the object is success or has failed in the realm of user-centered function. 

            I have a Kymco People 150 scooter in the wine red color, and it is how I get around campus and Davis instead of using a car.  It is 150cc meaning that it is both normal road and freeway legal, and honestly, I think it is the best purchase I have ever made.  Let’s apply it to the five areas of research.  When it comes to safety, any motorcycle, whether it be a small one like my scooter or a huge Harley Davidson, is not exactly safe.  The risks of riding a motorcycle are enormous from the dangers of being on a bike that is 45+ mph to the lack of a seatbelt to the other drivers around you in cars that would crush a motorcycle in a second.  However, when a person gets their motorcycle license and buys a bike, they are fully aware of these facts so let’s look at the actual safety of the scooter.  It rides very smoothly which means no wobbling and grips to the road well.  Turns are smooth as well and it is very easy to maneuver.  Not to mention the head and tail lights are very bright and the left and right indicators work well.  I would say that as a scooter goes, this one is very safe.  Now on to comfort.  This scooter has a very large cushioned seat for the rider, which is soft and padded.  The knee room is huge and the angle at which the handlebars are placed makes using the throttle and breaks very easy.  And as I said before, the ride is very smooth.  The ease of use is next, and it actually relates to the safety.  For a motorcycle, safety and ease of use go hand in hand because if the bike is safe, the bike will be easy to use.  You have complete control over the Kymco People and the handling of the bike is as good as it gets.  As performance goes, this scooter is top of its class.  It is fast, powerful, and gets you from A to B quickly and efficiently.  I have had no troubles with it so far.  Lastly is aesthetics and let me tell you, this scooter looks good.  It is made in the classic Italian style with a great finish.  The detailing makes the scooter look expensive when in fact it is much cheaper to buy than its competitor the Vespa.  There is no wonder that Consumer Reports in 2010 rated the Kymco People 150 the best scooter on the market in all aspects.  I love this bike and as a college student, it fits all my needs. I can even ride up to class and park it outside after I bought a $70 parking permit (a very small price to pay for such convenience).  The ergonomics of this scooter were clearly studied for a long time and it is a great buy.          

The Perfect Design?

The Toilet, recognizable to everyone

So I am sitting with my friends and I ask one of them what I should write this post about.  One of the boys crudely said, "Well, I would start by saying... When I was sitting on the toilet..."  I laughed a bit then got out my computer and thought... wait a minute, that gives me an idea, have you ever sat on a Japanese Toilet?  It is a toilet designed to give all forms of comfort to the user by the means of warmth, personal cleansing, and drying without any effort from the person.  This goes to show how design is Utopian (which is something I have discussed earlier but basically means that design is always searching for the next best thing, it wants to be ideal).  The toilet is a design that is perfectly functional and is an object that every human recognizing and knows how to use.  Designers who developed the Japanese Toilet created a toilet for a person who wants more out of their toilet going experience.  This type of toilet will heat the seat to the temperature you desire, will spray and wash to clean desired areas, and will blow warm air to air dry.  I sort of laughed at the idea of this because why do you need all this extra fancy items in your life, but after I tried one at a friend's house, I realized how great this toilet was!  Then in lecture, when we were watching "Objectified," I had a realization: that Japanese Toilet may be frivolous, but it is a design that improves people's lives.  Even if there is a very small market of people who actually buy the product, that toilet has better the lives of those people.  This was a design that was not made for no reason, there was clearly a need for a better type of toilet.  Now the only question is, will it catch on every where in the world?  Time will only tell.  

Word & Image Part 2: Art and Words

Twombly's "Wilder Shores of Love" source: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/T/twombly/twombly_wilder.jpg.html

While in Design lecture, we have looked at many artists and contemplated the difference between art and design.  A perfect example of an artist that uses design in his work is Twombly.  In Twombly’s painting called “Wilder Shores of Love,” he uses words to add meaning to his brush strokes.  For Twombly, the formation of letters into meaningful words is just as important as the images he creates.  He is utilizing the idea of “Signare,” which is Latin for “to mark.”  He is a painter doing mark making which crosses the boundaries between art and design.  He pushes the limit and makes word and image juxtaposed.  We must keep in mind that Twombly is not creating a narrative story like McCloud does, but instead using known English language words to describe his abstract paintings.  Another work of Twombly’s is “Autumn” from “The Four Seasons” collection.  The dripping, scribbled letters of autumn flow along the canvas in what seems like a young child’s hand writing; however, the words on top of his art are 100% harmonious.  Twombly is just one example of signare and juxtaposed word and image, but I think the true reason that I choose to write a post about him is because I find his paintings beautiful and inspiring.  I have painted a lot over the years, but usual in a very realistic style with very straight lines.  I want to try out some abstract works where I am not afraid to let the paint drip. 

Word & Image

source: http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/1/tweet-shovel-ready-too-big-to-fail-get-thee-behind-us-banished-word

 Sadly, I missed the lecture with the guest speaker on comics because I was sick, but I want to write this blog post about the importance of word and image.  This school year, we have focused a lot on comics using McCloud’s book “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” to see how comics are first of all, a serious art form, and also, how design is visual communication.  There is a narrative storytelling within comics that engages the reader with pictures along side words to create an in depth tale.  Visual literacy can be explained as the ability to interpret and make meaning of an image.  This visual literacy happens every day with all the images the human mind takes in, but with comics, the literacy is increased to an easier level by the aid of words.  The interpretation of the images presented to us is made clearer by the written words.  For example, when a drawn picture of a man in black and white is put in front of us, we can see, yes, this is a man.  However, when there is a bubble above his head saying, “I wonder what I should have for lunch today,” we can then understand that this is not only a picture of a man, but this certain man is having thoughts.  Not only are the man’s thoughts about something that is very “every day”, but also the reader is about to relate to the man because lunch has to be made all the time.  When word is placed next to image, the image is heighten to a level of deeper understanding.   

Gossip Girl as Fashion Art

The main characters from "Gossip Girl"

Tonight, I was watching "Gossip Girl" with my roommates.  I had not watched an episode of "Gossip Girl" in a long, long time, and I had completely forgotten about how style and fashion is such a huge part of the show.  I mean, come on, what girl in today’s world wears a tiny blue cocktail dress with an open back along with thousands of dollars of sparkling jewelry and four inch high heels to a college lecture at 10am?! Answer: no one, but it is what makes the show so interesting.  The plot line is exaggerated drama, and before tonight, I did not realize that along with the drama, there are exaggerated fashion statements. 

"Gossip Girl" actors posing in new styles

It was as if I was watching haute couture coming down the runway instead of a teen’s favorite soap.  This is an example, once again, of design as a communication form.  Audience not only gets to hear about a story and be amerced in the fictional lives of Upper East Siders from New York City, but they also get to experience design, fashion, and the newest, hottest trends. 

The Toothpick

When you finish eating at a restaurant and you walk out the door after paying the bill, more often than not, there is a little bowl filled with toothpicks near the exit.  Some people take a toothpick, some people do not, but what a lot of people to do realize is the variety of what kind of toothpick is being held in that little bowl and how many functions it can have.  Take, for example, the Japanese toothpick.  It looks like every other toothpick: made of a light wood, thin, small, sharp; however, on one end, it has a grooved indent and a flat end while the other end it pointy for cleaning teeth.  The serrated and flat end is meant for breaking the end off and using it as a little rest/holder for your toothpick so it does not roll away and does not touch any dirty surfaces.   

The Japanese Toothpick

This is a perfect example of needing to know the small features of a designed object.  Each product has a story behind it and from that story, a need is made, and from that need, a purposeful design is created.  I have used so many of these Japanese toothpicks without ever realizing that they held this “secret” function that now seems so obvious to me once I found out.  It is both clever and useful, and I think one of the main reasons I am writing this blog post about this toothpick is because I found it so amazing that I did not know the function of the end of the pick.  I want to tell everyone because I find it so cool!

Objectified: Content and Form

"Objectified" title screen

“Objectified” is an amazing film about product design in society and how industrial design changed our lives.  It focuses on who designs, why people design, and what is the function of design.  What is important to keep in mind during this movie, and it is something that is discussed very frequently during the film’s designer interviews, is that design is created because there is a need.  Design is created because an object can be bettered, it can be slightly modified to improve a person’s life.  Whether it is a small change like a better handle on garden sheers to enable easier bush and hedge cutting, or a medical device that allows vaccinations to be brought to third world countries more readily (I saw this at Ideo when I visited the Palo Alto offices this summer).  Content is why is the product needed in the community and how it can be best presented to the using public, while form is the actual product in its finalized state.  What I also really liked about “Objectified” was that it talked about how design is utopian.  This is something that we have listened to in lecture by Prof. Housefield, but it means that design is never going to be perfect, but is always striving to reach perfection.  “U” means no and “topos” means place, thus utopia is “no place” or an ideal land that does not exist in reality.  This is a great description of design because everything can be made better.

Fashion Shoot for Fun

Martin Wong (student and photographer at UCD) wanted to do a photo shoot this weekend.  Here are some of the pictures that came out.  It was really fun!

Comparison and Contrast

Compare and Contrast

When I am asked to compare and contrast, I often think back to my days in elementary school where I was taught how to make a Venn diagram (invented by John Venn in 1880).  These diagrams have two circles, exactly the same size, placed next to each other but with some overlap going on to create three compartments for words.  It is used for comparing two different topics or subjects, so one side of the circle is one subject’s unique characteristics, the other side is the other subject’s, and the middle section created from the overlap of the two circles is left for the similarities between the subjects.   

the basic Venn diagram

The Venn diagram has such a simply design but it is the perfect visual aid for young children to learn how to compare and contrast.  I know that this blog post was meant to focus on comparing and contrasting design, but I wanted to study the actual design of comparison and contrast.  More complicated Venn diagrams can have three circles, or even more if they can fit.  It is an easy way to illustrate logic, statistics, probability, and computer science, along with the basic qualities of a subject.  I think that this diagram is a perfect design; it is functional both in organizing thoughts and helping reach a conclusion.  This is what design is about, simplicity at its finest.       

Design as Conversation

image: USA Today, Gaga wearing meat dress at VMAs

Conversation is the key to human success.  People are social animals that need communication to survive in the world, whether it is mentally with happiness from friendship and relationships or it be success in the business world.  Recently, Lady Gaga wore a dress designed and made entirely out of raw meat at the 2010 MTV VMA Awards show.  This dress was worn by Gaga in response to a lot of controversy surrounding her raw meat bikini from the cover of Vogue (Hommes Japan).  This is the first part of design as communication…. Gaga is using a dress almost exactly the same as the bikini to reply to the negative comments.  She is using fashion design to speak out to the public saying that no, she was not ashamed of the bikini and that she believes she can wear whatever she wants.  Once the VMAs were over, Lady Gaga appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’s show and explained "Well, it is certainly no disrespect to anyone that is vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I am the most judgment-free human being on the earth… However, it has many interpretations but for me this evening. If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And, I am not a piece of meat" (Gaga to DeGeneres).  Lady Gaga is clearly a woman who wants to make a statement, and what better to do it through fashion.  Not to mention, she keeps everyone on his or her toes, wondering what’s coming next!

Wonderers

The title of Justine Kurland's work at the Nelson (UC Davis)

Today, I went to the Richard L. Nelson Gallery to view the new photography installation by Justine Kurland titled “Wonderers.”  The exhibit captures the essence of vagrancy and sadness, and at the same time, freedom and wonder.  The images caught in the seven different photographs are scenes that for the most part, I have witnessed before: a homeless man asleep under a freeway overpass, a make shift home in the wilderness.  Except these pictures were so intense, so real, that even though I have experienced homelessness in my everyday life, these photos made it seem much more up close and personal.  And to my surprise, it was not as shameful or as degrading as I normally feel looking at vagrants in real situations.  I almost began to envy the freedom and the carelessness that these men and women processed.  That’s a funny word to talk about in relation to the homeless: “possess.”  Sure, these people do not possess much in the way of material goods, but they possess the freedom of time without commitments, the freedom of being in nature without humans around to ruin it.  Kurland’s use of bold, saturated color in her photography makes the images very much like how the human eye would see them if a person was standing in front of the scene instead of looking at a photo.  In one image, the leaves of the trees are super green and lush, and the skin of the wandering travelers is bronzed from days and days in the sun.   

Justine Kurland at the Nelson (UC Davis)

On the other hand, the picture of the “suicide bed” (which is a homeless person’s bed made up next to a train track in a dark tunnel) is very grey, dim, and almost sour to look at.  There is risk in the photograph as well as tangible fear from the onlooker than death could happen at any moment if the person in the bed were to roll over at the wrong moment.  Also, the design of the exhibition is laid out in such a way where you walk along and look at these big photos one after another which I think is very effective in the gallery’s space.  I highly recommend anyone and everyone to go look at the show.  Another fabulous artist at the show is Cutter Collective, go see!

Cutter Collective at the Nelson (UC Davis)

Bedroom Designs

I want to spend a minute thinking about how interior design can completely change the feel of a living space.  I find it amazing that when faced with a square room, a person can turn it into whatever they want through the use of color and furniture.  I really started to think about this when I moved into my apartment at the beginning of September.  Faced with a room that was 9ftx10ft, my options were limited… or so I thought.  When I first walked into the tiny, shoebox of a room, I thought to myself, “Oh god, my double bed that I just bought is NOT going to fit in here.”  Surprisingly, with a little hard work and heavy lifting, my bed, desk, desk chair, and shelves all fit into the small space.  Once I added color to the room in the form of posters, curtains, and decorations, the room started to feel a lot bigger.  How is this possible???  I kept thinking to myself that this is completely against my initial thought that a room would feel more crowded when items are in it.  The beauty of interior design is making the right pieces fit into the right places.  The use of space is key to creating a living space that is, well, livable.  What also amazes me is that my two other roommates were faced with the same tiny bedrooms and the final look of each room is completely different from one another.  These thoughts and ideas make me very exciting to study more on the subject in years to come.       

Design from Without

When I hear “Design from Without,” I immediately think of getting inspiration from an outside source.  Whether it is someone else’s work or an idea from nature, designers must pull ideas from every aspect of life.  The perfect example that I can think of for pulling ideas from outside sources is the photographer Sir Cecil Beaton, who used a Jackson Pollock painting as inspiration for his vogue photo shoot in 1951.  Beaton was an interior designer, photographer, fashion designer, and style icon from England.  As an artist, designer, and creative mind, Beaton looked outside himself to find the next trend and search for new beauty.  Even the painting that Beaton found inspiration from was created by design from without.  Jackson Pollock painted many pictures, but not in the usual sense of painting.  He used the flow of the paint and the movement of his body to form lines and splatters on a canvas.  His outside source was the natural movement of liquid, the actually physics of viscosity.  

 Cecil Beaton for Vogue, The New Soft Look, 1951

Sure, everyone has great ideas, but as “Stone Soup” day (talked about in my previous post) showed, collaboration is the key to design success.  A design must use other ideas to truly make something amazing.  This just emphasizes more on how important communication is; talking a plan or idea out with a peer or mentor could lead to huge new ideas.  Even if there is no one to speak with, go out, look around, the world is filled with objects and things that will spark some imagination when you as a designer are stuck in a rut.        

Stone Soup

 

It was a day unlike any other day at college… it was “Stone Soup” day.  I remember being read the book Stone Soup by Marcia Brown when I was in kindergarten. My 20 classmates and I gathered around our teacher, Ms. Fong, sitting on our little floor pillows and listening with eager ears.  I am sure most of you know the story, but in short, it is about three soldiers who are able to bring a community together and feed a large group of people through innovation and a little creativity.  I actually had not thought about this story until Housefield the week previous in Design said that we would be having a “Stone Soup” day where everyone would collaborate on building something out of “materials.”  The word material is pretty vague but my group ended up bringing all sorts of different items including glitter glue, cardboard boxes, metal wire, bottles, and much more.  At first, I was a bit skeptical that anything of interest would come out of these everyday, trash objects, but through thought, teamwork, and honestly, some spontaneity, our “soup” turned out pretty cool.  I really liked how everyone worked together, keeping the communication open, throughout the building process.  It was a good lesson on designing something, that alone, one may be at a loss of what to do, but once everyone starts talking and throwing out ideas, a great thing can be made.  My favorite part of our “soup” (which I should really call more of a sculpture) was the wrapped up cider bottle inside of the triangular box with the mesh, cut up, plastic fruit boxes as the background.  I have attached a picture of this above! 

My Warhol Obsession

Since Design 1 has been focusing so far on the “BIG” questions of design, the “who, what, where, when, why, and how,” I feel it appropriate to say that “the who” is us students, “the who” is you reading this blog, YOU can design, and YOU can design anything you want to design.  Designing is limitless and nothing can be designed to perfect.  There is always something to change, always improvements to be made.  Design is ever changing.  This leads me into my subject today: Andy Warhol.  It might sound a little cliché for me to say that I have a medium to large obsession with Andy Warhol.  Sure, every artist, designer, even none artistic student has a poster of his art tacked up to their dorm room wall (myself included, though now I live in an apartment, but my Warhol posters from my dorm room last year have moved with me), but I can say with 100% conviction that I LOVE Andy Warhol’s work.  Warhol crossed the barrier between design and art and made the two basically synonymous.  As you can see from my previous post about my AP Studio Art portfolio, I researched a lot of Andy Warhol’s work, including going to a gallery in San Jose that had an exhibition of his pieces on, before starting my own collection.  Warhol designed art that changed the course of art as we used to know it.  For me, Warhol answers the question, “Who makes design?”  He shows society that anyone can make design, and that designing something does not only mean designing a building or designing a chair.  He designed art and made people rethink what design and art are.  Since design is made by humans, everyone and anyone can design something.

What is Design?

When I was a senior in high school, I took a course called AP Studio Art.  I am sure many of you have heard or taken the class yourselves, but for those who have not, it is structured in such a way to get the students to show their artistic ability and viewpoint through 12 collection pieces, 12 breadth pieces, and 5 quality pieces.  As I entered the class, I did not really comprehend the amount of work I was about to take on.  Also enrolled in three other AP courses, I thought art was going to be one of my easier classes… boy was I wrong!  After painting, drawing, redrawing, and stressing for what seemed like an eternity (about one school year to be exact), my portfolio was finished just in time for submission.  A few weeks before the deadline, my art teacher pulled me aside for a few words.  Thinking it was going to be something like, “You’ve got this Libby, keep up the good work!”, I was surprised to hear that my teacher was worried about my collection.  She explained that she loved my work, but that it was more “design” and not “art.”  She wanted to let me know that if I did not pass the AP exam (a viewing of ones portfolio by a panel of AP graders) that it was not because I was not talented, but instead it was because my work screamed design.  This got me thinking, what is the line between art and design?  Who has the right to call something art versus design?  In my opinion, art is a combination of elements, whether it be lines on a page or rocks placed together on the ground, that capture an emotion, an idea, an essences of something.  I am no art major and have never taken a course called “What is art?”, but this is my best guess.  But then if my artwork was not art, and was in fact design, did it not hold the ability to affect a person’s senses?  I think the answer is that design IS art, yet holds some sort of function.  Design is man made; it is all around us, everything from the chair you are probably sitting on while reading this blog to the clothing on your back.  Needless to say, I received a 3 on my AP test.  Not high, not low, but a passing grade.  Who knows, maybe the graders thought it was design and felt pity for me and still allowed me to pass, I will never find out. 

Designed for a Child

When I was little, I lived in London where everything was grey.  From the pavement to the buildings and even the weather, the color grey saturated the landscape.  Different shades of grey surrounded me wherever I went, except at one special place that I still hold close to my heart.  This place was a children’s playground right by the River Thames that had brightly colored slides and shapes cut out of the plastic climbing walls.  I so clearly remember this playground as an oasis of new color and form completely different to what I saw everyday.  Not only did the playground have sentimental value to me (going with my parents, grandfather, friends, etc) but it excited my imagination in ways that would not happen anywhere else. The bright color of red plastic covered one wall of the walkway to the slide right next to yellow and blue.  The primary colors placed one after another stood out in my child mind and it is now obvious to me that the designer of the play park wanted to stimulate the young minds of children.  The smooth almost soft feel of the plastic slide still stands out in my memory along with that static, fuzzy feeling on my hands after sliding down it.  (This was how I first learned about static electricity.)  Going back to the playground now, I am sure I would be disappointed at its size and the brightness of its colors, but it was perfectly designed for a child in mind.