TYPE 2: Journal 5

From watching some of the videos on the TED website I found them all to be very inspirational and informative. The three that I watched all proved to share valuable points and advice to the viewer, but at the same time each one had a differnt take on Design.

Stephan Stagmeister is a list maker. I feel that he is the type of person who wants his work to allow him to feel good about himself. Most everyone wants this, but I believe he feels more strongly about it. He made a lot of good points in his speach and recognized that most people visualize happiness rather than actually being happy. He also found that to create happiness the majority of people design it in a cynical way to get across to the viewers. This is something I definitely understand and see a ot in advertisements. From his speech I found that his last line on his list was a great perspective and something to remember: "Having guts always works for me." I do not think that he is trying to be concieded or cocky, but is trying to say that by being brave and going after what you want, eventually it will work out. He is considered to be so popular because he is "Striking to the point of sensationalism and humorous but in such an unsettling way that it’s nearly, but not quite unacceptable, his work mixes sexuality with wit and a whiff of the sinister. Sagmeister’s technique is often simple to the point of banality... The strength of his work lies in his ability to conceptualise: to come up with potent, original, stunningly appropriate ideas."

Jeff Skoll is a movie maker. He made a variety of key points that I found fairly interesting. First, animation can be communicated through all languages. He then went on to talk about the different gaps that society seems to struggle with on a day to day basis, the first being oppertunity to do what you want and the second being the hope gap. The first gap is easy to understand and relate to but the hope gap is a little more difficult. It is about how we see ordinary people as inadiquate to make a difference in the world and we need to figure out a way to close this gap. He also discribes that it is not about what you want to sell but it is about what you want to tell through your design. By exposing the "real reality" to people it allows them to improve themselves.

Jan Chen is a designer who created a prenature, infant size sleeping bag that can be heated with wax and keep premature children warm for hours at a time because they do not have the fat on their body to keep themselves warm. She breaks it down into the basics of design which I found easy and interesting to listen to. She clearly stated that an incubator in the USA is roughly $20,000 and underprivialaged countries cannot afford such an expensive treatement. Therefore a portable, sterilize and inexpensive design needed to be made. It needed to be simple, localized and affordable, meaning $25 rather than $20,000. She also shows how design can influence the entire community by explaining that with less mortalitles after the sleeping bag is introduced, the over population of over crowded countried will go down.. She is quick to recognize all of the key elements in good design.

How Good is Good?

Stephan Stagmeister has a very philosophical approach to his work. I really enjoyed reading this article because of all of the inspirational thoughts.

1. Strive for happiness
2. Don’t hurt anybody
3. Help, others achieve the same

Now I would change that priority:

1. Help others
2. Don’t hurt anybody
3. Strive for happiness

Good design + bad cause = bad

Bad design + good cause = good?

How to be good?

Me-values: ego and pleasure
Mates-values: belonging to a group, not letting it down
Moral-values: religious values, general law, general values of a particular culture
Mankind-values: human rights, ecology

Good Design + Good Cause = Good

Design can unify

Design can help us remember

Design can simplify our lives

Design can make someone feel better

Design can make the world a safer place

Design can help people rally behind a cause

Design can inform and teach

Design can raise money

Design can make us more tolerant

All of these things are things that I never really thought of when designing. It is interesting to look at the way he is thinking and take a different approach when designing. He is not just thinking about himself but about those around him who will look at his designs and gain information from them. His outlook on design is unlike many other designers, making him so 'popular.'