Symbol Eclipse

My sister recently told me about a kid she knows. He had a non-functioning toy camera, and after pretending to take a photo he was turning it around to show other people the non existent screen on the back side.

I am not sure what to call the period of time when designs and interaction sort of eclipses itself. The story reminded me of my ongoing fascinating with the "Save" ico; (A floppy disk!?) I challenge anyone to come up with new kinds of graphic symbols which mean "save".

I have a roommate who is very involved in rock climbing, he is always trying to get me to join him... which is always funny, because I am entirely unlikely to take him up. When we got into a an interesting discussion about the design of climbing walls. He was trying to show me pictures of Mission Cliffs, and we stumbled on this. It really struck me, climbing in the smallest space possible as opposed to the highest.

Our talk about wall design lead me into "interview mode."  Using unexpected silence to draw more out of the other person, and embracing my ignorance on the topic.  My roommate shared a lot about his relationship to athletics and his body.  He sees it as a test of "body intelligence."  He explained what motivates a climber... their interest in the problems and physics of climbing as opposed to the accomplishments of height.   Something I think the photograph really illustrates.

I look at the photograph as a perspective to see furniture design and exercise equipment design... perhaps a more controlled melding of the two.  

Sensual Non-Sexual Subcultures

This Youtube poster named Billon45 has 141 videos all more or less about his desire to be inside of an inflatable. I'm no shrink, but this has gotta be some kind of fetish. Though I like to think it is more interesting than that... From a design perspective there is something about ballons, and being inside them that is really exciting. The tension of popping, and their womblike protection.

I like to think it some kind of purely physical experience that interests him, and the closest language we have to describe it is a fetish... despite there not being anything explicitly sexual about it.

It is not unlike the equally bizarre Zentai subculture, which is a little be more directly sexual. Though it shares the sames charecteristics of putting a body into extreme conditions of comfort and danger.

Spiderboys

Through the window of a bagel shop two young boys about 11-12 years old who looked like brothers passed by. One boy was wearing a red t-shirt over top a long-sleeve blue shirt. His brother was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with the logo and graphic of "Spiderman."

One brother embodies the iconic characteristics of Spiderman's costume while the other one decorates himself with the icon. It seemed like an interesting metaphor for issues that come up in design a lot.

Collecting Your Collection

"My Collection" search on FlickrIt is interesting to compare conventional object collecting with compulsive hoarding. In some cases, it seems like a controlled version of hoarding. It would interesting to do do a more research into the thoughts of collectors. I tend to see the discussion of sustainability in the context of consumption, not materials and energy. If we better understood how we consume, we might be better prepared for changing our behaviors before we change change our objects.

I recently spoke with a friend about his DVD collection. He had maybe a little over 20, and had no desire to buy more. He said "It's at a point where I couldn't throw any of them out, but don't imagine anything else that I would want to own". Another friend owns only the single DVD of "Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home". The relationship between amount and content says so much about the people behind the collections. Could be an interesting area to do more interviews and research.

Possesed: A Case For Some Limited Hoarding

POSSESSED from Martin Hampton on Vimeo.


Possesed is a great short documentary on the subject of compulsive hoarding. This is really interesting in the context of design research. In many ways, I think we all express some hoarding characteristics. While the film presents some extreme examples, I would guess the spectrum of hoarding is pretty diverse. I would like to make the case that a little bit of hoarding is natural and good, and research like Posessed might help us understand that.

While the film focuses more on their desire for objects with their compulsive purchasing. I think equally important is an unspoken fear of empty space. It is not exactly that a person might love an object, as much as they are discomforted by the lack of objects. As much Horror Vacui, a fear of empty space, as a desire to fill it with particulars.

I would really love to work through this problem by experimenting with design. Many designers look to the values of Modernism... minimizing and embracing empty space, which is noble. However, perhaps many users desire clutter. When a design finds a way to embrace clutter I get really excited.

I wonder if a bedroom was inconsistently textured as opposed to painted a solid color, that might be a comforting kind of color. Or perhaps developing an organization system that slowly assists a compulsive hoarder control the system, through unique storage systems. I can even imagine an entire system of architecture made to address the disorder.

Sharing Books

I found this great image by searching the terms "reading together" on Flickr.

The way we interact with books can be far more unexpected and interesting than their form suggests. As designers seem to expect paper books to die out our interaction with books seems like an interesting place to learn from, and potentially reinvent these interactions.

Standing around with a couple classmates, the three of us hunched over a copy of Spacecraft. I realized that page-turner was working through the book back to front. Despite its literal "backwardness" it seemed like an automatic and obvious way for us to flip through a non-narrative book. I mentioned that we were going backwards, and somebody responded by saying that the shape of the spine somehow made the pages fall backwards easier. I suggested it forced us to focus only on the pictures. Someone else might have said it had to do with allowing our instinct to use our left and right hands a certain way that linear books don't allow. Perhaps "right-to-left" languages are better suited to book form?

Sharing books, especially children's books is wonderful. The image of a teacher reading to a group kids seated on the floor... reading a line or two, then turning the book around and sharing the illustration in a slow arch so that everyone can see the picture. Something about that kind of book sharing is very powerful to me. I wonder if that experience impacts the size, material, and weight that designers make children's books.

While book design is a tremendously creative field that is innovative. I wonder what an industrial designer might bring to the book as an object experience, as opposed to graphic. Or what group book-interaction research might bring to the design of digital format browsing.