Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Architecture

  1. I think water faucet handles are bad architectural designs. The majority of water faucets have to pushed up to turn on the water, which is not a bad idea. I think that bad idea comes into play with the temperature of the water. The vast of majority of water faucets have to be turned to the left for warm water and the right for cold. I personally think that aspect of water faucets should be changed. Considering the fact that "Warm" has an "R" in it which triggers turning right and "Cold" has a "L" in it for left.
  2. The hicks center in a well designed building for the most part. The building has a nice visceral design. The building is very attractive. Its structure is also behavioral. The building has a huge "K" on the building and the words "Kalamazoo College" which allows tells viewers that the building represents Kalamazoo College, unlike some of the other building around campus. I think the building should have a door in the front of the building that would allow people to walk into the second floor of Hicks coming from Trowbridge.
  3. The major flaw in the design process is the feedback phase. The majority of companies don't have a feedback phase. Without this phase designers can test their designs until it's produced. This usually leads to the majority of bad designs.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Responses for the Advertising Group

  1. "Commercials..should be seen as works of art that have their own conventions" I too think that commercials should be seen as artwork. All commercials have be uniquely designed to appease a certain group of people and they usually do this very skillfully.The author realized that commercials can be broken up into categories. I really thought that it was interesting that the author saw commercials as art, and I also agreed with him.
  2. The author's key points were: -The Economics of Marketing -The Manipulation of Advertising
  3. The advertisers are very skilled in manipulation. They manipulate people into thinking they want what ever the see in the commercial, and if the advertisers have done their job right consumers will go out and get that item.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Fashion Design

  1. People feel the need to express themselves with the clothes they were. Everybody knows that you're clothes say something about you. People like for their clothes to portray whatever image they think of themselves. The only real reason that clothes are so reflective is because people judge you by the clothes you wear. For example, If someone wears a white t-shirt with a pair of plain blue jeans, the mast majority of people will think that he/she doesn't care about what people think or the clothes they were.
  2. Fashion is constantly changing because of advances in technology and because the taste of society is always changing. Fashion has to continue to evolve, because that's what the people want.
  3. Price, Materials, How it's created, Visceral Design, Behavioral Design, Is it in style?

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Atlanta's Future

  1. The thesis statement "Atlantians had a hard time understanding any of this beyond the visceral level".
  2. 3 major points:
  • Building Downtown Connector
  • Georgia Regional Transportation Authority
  • Environmental Protection Agency
3. The state of Atlanta spends too much money on things besides it's visceral design.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Kalamazoo: The Downtown Version

  1. Overall Downtown Kalamazoo is a very interesting place to go. The area is very visceral, which helps to attract people to the area. Downtown is clearly designed better than the area around it. You can tell that this area is special because it stands out so well. The area seems like the stores are more expensive than it's surrounding area. The stores downtown also had very colorful signs. Everybody building had a very colorful sign, or at least an attention grabber, except for one and the one store stood out like a sore thumb. Downtown Kalamazoo did a pretty good job of mixing the essentials which are fun, food, and shopping.
  2. I think that they should add a movie theater, stores that sell clothes aimed towards younger kids, and put something in that empty building.
  3. " They tend to see streets and sidewalks strictly as a civic realm, a social environment where people meet and interact, and they tend to favor the sorts of attractive sidewalks and streetscapes that seem to promote sociability"- Steven Lagerfield The sidewalks of downtown Kalamazoo were very attractive. I notcied a large amount of people sitting on the benches while reading a newspaper or just sitting around talking with a group of friends. This proves that the sidewalks of Downtown Kalamazoo are visually appealing to the average vistor.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Constructing the Egg Container

My partner was Brandon Casto. We meet in my room to discuss ideas of how to the egg could survive a three story drop. Our original idea was to somehow protect the egg with are air pockets. Then, we decided to slightly blow up sandwich bags and wrap them around our egg. We used about three or four sandwich bags. Next, we thought that by putting it in a box it would absorb some of the impact. After we had our creation we tested it by dropping it around in my room.

- Link to Brandon Casto's Page http://brandonsblogs88.blogspot.com/2009/11/cityegg-container.html

Whyte Vs. Gibbs: Who Will Win?

  1. Whyte and Gibbs have two major distinctions in there approach to city design. Whyte wants to manipulate people to do what he wants and Gibbs designs slightly persuades people to do what he wants. Gibbs try to over manipulate people by taking advantage of the things that he knows will distract people. Personally I don't like being manipulated, especially while I'm shopping. I think that he over complicates the shopping experience for the male percentage of shoppers, because the average male wants to get in and out with very little distractions. I think Gibbs in more convincing to the large majority of shoppers, because he design simply suggest you to look another way, instead of forcing you to go that way.
  2. Elements that are particular attractive to me for an urban area are simplicity, cleanliness, parking, flow of traffic, stores that are offered. My ideal urban area would be somewhere where I could go to fulfill my minor shopping needs as well as food and amusement. I would be repealed from an area if it didn't have any stores that I wanted to go to or if roads were too complicated to drive on.