Blog 6

• In an interconnected world, what are the limitations of design when cultural, political, economic biological and environmental systems are increasingly open?

Personally I would believe that the limitations would derive strait from the designers themselves. By this, I mean that our own experiences and knowledge about these subjects would determine our capabilities to design projects about them. One designer may know more about the economy than another and thus can make a more convincing argument or narrative through their design. I believe Tarkovsky mentions in a documentary interview that creating something we know on a personal level is the only true form of art no matter the medium. Another limitation could be overexposure to such easily accessed knowledge such that designs begin to meld or look similar. By living in a generation that is dominated by such connectivity we sometimes have more trouble finding uniqueness. Our minds cannot expand beyond what we believe is already known.

• Does new media present the “new” direction for design? Describe how new media does or does not present “new “ directions in design and provide an examples (links or screen grabs) to support your assertion.

Yes, new media does present “new” directions in design. As mentioned in the reading it is very hard for us to think of any of the new possibilities for design after seeing everything that is already created. But when a new form of media or, in a more general sense, reforming of an old media occurs many times a revolutionary designs can emerge from the investigation. For example, typography for a very long time was always associated with print or still based graphics. When motion design took off a wave of new typographic motion designs began to pop up. (Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVPfTlpCKaw&feature=related) While this may not be professionally made it opens the doors for so many other possibilities for the way we imagine the movement of type.

• Is it time for designers to reintegrate disparate fields in order to consider new directions in design? Give examples (with links or screen grabs) of some new ways that design might be considered. These do not have to be existing ways, just ways that might yield some new and interesting results.

I personally do not think that there is any wrong or right time for designers to reintegrate disparate fields. Any time we can be influenced or reinvent older fields to create something new is great. It lets us continue to let be inventive but also pay respect to designs we find influential or the ones that worked. A topic I feel very relevant to this discussion is newspapers because as we know they have been in decline since the introduction of web based news and blogs. As discussed in this video http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksDirector a designer took it upon himself to redesign a newspaper in a smaller country with quite miraculous results. While the design in some ways resembles a magazine the idea of creating a design solely for the weekly newspaper shatters the image we associate with them. Overall, this yields new and interesting results because it creates a design focused paper that still delivers news but appeals to the consumer who wants a more interesting medium for news that is not online.

• What is the next “big thing in design”? Why do you think so and based on what criteria? Provide examples to support your assertion.

I really feel that with when these computer surfaces, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89sz8ExZndc & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKgU6ubBgJA&feature=related become a everyday household technology it will reinvent not only the way we design objects, website, pictures and all our forms of media for viewing but how we actually create them. I do understand that this is quite focused on the technology but interactivity is also part of our job as digital designers. We will change the way people interact with their media via these devices because it will take into account how people will access our work with something as personal as a hand instead of a mouse.