Points on Making Good Design

Watching this weeks Coursera lectures for Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society, our professor Karl T. Ulrich really got it bang on with his three simple points for 'How to Create Beautiful Artifacts.'.

• Work hard.
• Take care & notice (or Be aware)
• Iterage again and again

I may argue that this would sum up how to be good at anything.

Choosing the best

I love this post "The Best" by Dustin Curtis.  Do your research, think about design and you will find a product that solves your problem.  Design is important.

It’s better to have a few fantastic things designed for you than to have many untrustworthy things poorly designed to please everyone. The result–being able to blindly trust the things you own–is intensely liberating.

This also rings true as I learn new design techniques and ways tho think through a problem during Coursera's Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society.

I found Curtis's post through Daring Fireball by John Gruber which I regularly read.

Design Quote: Malcom Gladwell

"By embracing the diversity of humans being, we will find a sure way to true happiness."

Malcolm Gladwell speaking about Howard Moscovitz at TedTalks 2004

First Week of Coursera, Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society

My first week with Coursera's on-line university course Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society was difficult but ended up being incredible rewarding.

Coursera is an on-line university completely free, taught by real professors and linked to well respected universities in Canada, the United States and around the world.  It is completely free.  Yes, free.  However, you will not get accredited for it.  Right now it is for the joy of learning by some of the best professors out there.

I enrolled because I get very little design experience in my everday life which is a direction I strongly want my career to go in.  I was hoping this course would get me excited and get my mind thinking about design again.  The only design course offered is Design: Creation of Artifacts and is being taught by Karl T. Ulrich from the University of Pennsylvania.

My life is like everyone's.  It is busy.  I have a full time job as a Landscape Architect, am married, have a five month old little girl and a dog who gives me dirty looks if we don't walk her twice a day.   Coursera says this course is a 5-10 hour work load per week.  That frightened me.  I almost didn't enroll.  I eventually thought, if I can't do it, I un-enroll and nothing lost.  Here is how the first week went.

There were several videos to watch which is how the course is presented.  At most a video is 12 minutes long or so.  These were easy to watch and informative.  There is also a free textbook as suggested reading by Ulrich, (download it here).  The first two chapters did not take long to read and reinforced the information from the video.  It is basic 101 design information that is interesting.  Then I took a look at the assignments and become frightened and thought they were below me.  There were four assignments, all fairly simple well thought out assignments to get you thinking about design problems.  Why was it then after one day I debated dropping this course?  It was my wife who pointed it out to me.  I had become a lazy thinker.  I was afraid to take a chance and think outside my comfort level and I didn't realize it.  And this is work I enjoy doing.  This course is exactly what I needed and I almost gave up before beginning.

So I hunkered down.  I watched ones less tv show three weeknights and took a couple hours on Sunday to finish all my assignments.  I still had time for my wife and daughter, for the dog and a small social life, and yes a little tv.  Am I happy with all my assignments?  No.  I think I could have done better.  But did I do what I could with the time I have?  Yes.  And it made me realize my mind has become lazy when it comes to thinking more than then required..  I love design.  I want to be doing design work everyday.  However, for a while I have not had the opportunity to do this in my career or in my hobbies and it changed me.  This course made me realize this (more so my wife, thank you!).  With a little shift in mind-set I'm staring to see the assignments not as burdens but as challenges to think differently again.

I am sticking with Coursera for as long as my daily life will allow it.  Television will be still be there when it's done.  I truly want to finish this course and think it is a great tool to get me thinking critically again.  One week down.

Design Inspirations

Milton Glaser

...The three cardinal factors of design are the following:  Who is the audience?  What do you want to say to them?  How do you say it effectively?  If you don't follow this sequence, you're always going to make some terrible mistake.

From 'Design Dialogues' by Steven Heller and Elinor Pettit.  


Milton Glaser is a very well known graphic design, illustrator, typographer, art director and educator.  


Another tidbit from the interview, a Chinese saying:

...Everything at its fullness is already in decline... 

And to continue on the same trend, a couple weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend a conference put on by Sheridan's graduation Illustration class, Illustrationism.  Here are just a few of the things that came up I found interesting and useful in the process of building a career.

Always remember the two P's when you're building your career:  Perseverance and Patience.

Inspiration is for amateurs.

And a don't be afraid of risks.

Jonathan Ive on Being a Designer.

Ive, I mean Sir Jonathan Ive, recently gave an interview to The London Evening Standard. Ive's opinion on being a great designer:

It is so important to be light on your feet, inquisitive and interested in being wrong. You have that wonderful fascination with the what if questions, but you also need absolute focus and a keen insight into the context and what is important - that is really terribly important. Its about contradictions you have to navigate.

Full interview here. Ive is the well known and fairly publicly quiet designer behind the Apple products for over the last ten years.

Dieter Rams' 10 Principles of Good Design

From Core77

While reading about Jonathan Ive, the designer behind most of Apple's products, I learned that a big influence of his was Dieter Rams.  Rams was trained as an architect but became an industrial designer working many years at Braun creating numerous iconic products we recognize.  Later in his career Rams created the ten principles of good design.  

Good Design is:

1. Good design is innovative.
2. Good design makes a product useful.
3. Good design is aesthetic.
4. Good design makes a product understandable.
5. Goop design is unobtrusive.
6. Good design is honest.
7. Good design is long-lasting.
8. Good design is thorough, down to the last detail.
9. Good design is environmentally-friendly.
10. Good design is as little design as possible.

Now what does this have to do with landscape Architecture?  Although it seems Rams orientated this towards product design, I truly think these principles will carry over to all design, including landscape architecture.  Good design is universal.  


I won't go into detail here about each principle, you can read more about Rams on his principles on Wikipedia or see more of his products all over design blogs such as Core77 (Where I grabbed the photo from), product pages that are still for sale and even a Flickr group.  


I'm going to keep my eyes open for Landscape Architecture examples that closely relate to the principles and keep you updated.


I will leave you with one picture of a radio he designed.  It is clean, distinct and I'm sure very easy to use.  

G.

RT 20 superHet VHFand medium wave radio, 1961