Design

Metodologias de Gestão no APL de Confecções do Agreste Pernambucano

by Charles Leite

published in VII Colóquio de Moda, in Maringa, Paraná, Brazil. Between 11 and 14 September 2011.

Este artigo sintetiza resultados e compilações decorrentes de pesquisa, em andamento, que é intenta verificar a... more Este artigo sintetiza resultados e compilações decorrentes de pesquisa, em andamento, que é intenta verificar a aplicabilidade das metodologias de apoio a gestão do design nas organizações do segmento de moda no agreste pernambucano. Os resultados iniciais demonstram que muito pode ser feito para potencializar os negócios na região.

This paper summarizes the results and compilations resulting from research under way that is intended to verify the applicability of the methodologies to support the management organizations in fashion segment in Wasteland Pernambucano. Initial results show that much can be done to boost business in the region.

Dragonfly: An Ecological Approach to Digital Architectural Design

by Michael J. Braund

Published in ACADIA 2011: Integration Through Computation, ed. by J.M. Taron, V. Parlac, B. Kolarevic and J.S. Johnson, pp.178-186. Stroughton, WI: The Printing House, 2011.

(Co-authored with Daniel Hambleton)

In his keynote address delivered to The American Society for Esthetics in 1976, James J. Gibson wrote, “Architecture... more In his keynote address delivered to The American Society for Esthetics in 1976, James J. Gibson wrote, “Architecture and design do not have a satisfactory theoretical basis.” He then asked, “Can an ecological approach to the psychology of perception and behavior provide it?” (1976, p. 413) We believe that it can, at least in part. In this paper, we expand upon Gibson’s insights into the nature of perceptual experience by applying the concept of “affordances” to the design of architectural objects in general, and to the domain of digital architectural design in particular. On our account, the affordance-concept supplies a useful theoretical basis for conceptualizing the relationship between environments and occupants with respect to the form and behavioral meaning of geometrically constructed layouts.

Donald Norman (1988) first introduced affordances to interaction design theorists, as a conceptual tool for predicting how agents will interact with a given product. The extensive body of literature that has since emerged, from human-computer-interaction studies (Ackerman, 1996; Conn, 1995; Moran, 1997; Norman, 1999) to architectural theory and practice (Koutamanis, 2006; Maier and Fadel, 2009), has followed Norman’s lead in defining affordances, somewhat amorphously, as whichever action-related properties of objects are sufficient to elicit the intended forms of behavioral interaction between the agent and object. However, while this is correct, it is only half the story. It leaves unexplained how human perceivers detect and “pair down” on the potentially vast range of possible affordances (at a given time), to select the ones that will be relevant to the coordination and guidance of the targeted actions. Call this the “selectivity problem,” a proper treatment of which is missing from the literature. This is no small matter. If the theory of affordances is to be useful to architects and designers, if it is to have explanatory and predictive power over how perceivers will interact with their surroundings, then some account of the cognitive procedure by which affordances are selected for the deployment of specific behaviors is necessary. Otherwise, it is unclear what the theory hopes to predict or explain.

To this end, we maintain that the couching of affordances in a framework of human intentionality is not only consistent with Gibson’s theoretical views (i.e., the action-oriented definition of the concept of affordances not only suggests an intentional perspective), indeed, such a perspective is necessary if we are to succeed in implementing the affordance-concept into an architectural design context in a way that addresses the selectivity problem. This is one of the goals of “Dragonfly,” a first attempt at implementing the affordance-based control of perceptually guided-action into a digital design simulation. Dragonfly enables human interaction with geometry by encoding the basic principles of ecological psychology (including a rudimentary form of intentionality) into an interactive CAD environment. New vistas for future research and interdisciplinary approaches to design are then discussed, with a special emphasis on their applicability to architecture.

Developing a design approach, exploring resistance and ambiguity

by Ambra Trotto

Designers face the world’s complexity at an experiential level. We consider Making (synthesising and concretising) an... more Designers face the world’s complexity at an experiential level. We consider Making (synthesising and concretising) an essential activity of designers, prior to Thinking (analysing and abstracting), because only through experience – a result of acting in the world – we achieve meaning, funnelling human intentionality. Making enables designers to explore the unknown by trusting their senses and their kansei, exploring resistance and ambiguity and by tapping into their intuition (Sennett, 2008). Because “intuition begins with the sense that what is not yet could be” (Sennett, 2008, p. 201), it involves skills, as skills are our way to make sense of the world, transform it and to cater for ethics.
In this paper we describe a one-day workshop that has been held during the CHItaly conference 2011 in Alghero, Italy. During that day, we explored how the integration of points of view, using intuition through skills can communicate and create a richer meaning. The assignment was to design an empowering/enabling tool that allows a person to begin to experience another person’s skill. To be able to design such a tool, designers had to go through several steps of documenting and reflecting upon their own and each other's skills.
We reflect on the experience and explain how this approach can support the integration of points of view, which is considered to be formed by personal experience, by skills, and by kansei.

"A Man's House is his Art": The Walker Art Center's Idea House Project and the Marketing of Domestic Design, 1941 - 1947

by Alexa Griffith Winton

Idea Houses I and II, two houses built by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in 1941 and 1947, were the first... more Idea Houses I and II, two houses built by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in 1941 and 1947, were the first functional modern homes built by an American museum. The houses were conceived and built during an extreme housing shortage brought on by the Great Depression and exacerbated by the Second World War. Unlike commercial model homes of this period, these houses were designed by architects retained by the Walker, with furnishings and home products selected by the curatorial staff. Rather than product placement, the purpose of the exhibitions was to promote awareness and appreciation of modern home design by presenting the houses as source material for visitors' own potential building projects: literal houses of ideas. Through these exhibitions, the Walker also sought to re-imagine the museum experience as an active, participatory event, free of the elitist associations of the conventional museum, and in these cases focused on housing, the most pressing issue of the day. This paper examines the interrelated museological and architectural aspirations of these exhibitions in the context of the housing crisis of the 1940s. These twin goals of providing quality home design advice and reinventing the museum experience are what made the project popular in its day and interesting now. This paper examines the houses both as museum exhibitions and as houses, and investigates the complex interplay of commerce and the museum that is perhaps essential to discussion of the Idea Houses, considering that the overwhelming commercial influence on home design and furnishings was what inspired the project in the first place.

Color and Personality: Dorothy Liebes and American Design

by Alexa Griffith Winton

Ways of Reading. Visual Music Course Development at OCADU

by Robert Appleton

Ways of Reading. A course at OCAD University conceived and taught by Robert Appleton using sound, text and image.

The Word/Image Dualism Revisited: Towards an Iconic Conception of Visual Culture

by Dominik Bartmanski

published in Journal of Sociology, 2012

Is there any difference between the widely discussed ‘pictorial turn’ and the emerging ‘iconic turn’? If so, does it... more Is there any difference between the widely discussed ‘pictorial turn’ and the emerging ‘iconic turn’? If so, does it matter? The answers to these questions are positive if we look at the problem from a cultural sociological point of view. It has been observed that the concept of the ‘iconic turn’, coined by a German philosopher Gottfried Boehm, may capture more effectively the sense of life attributed to visual objects than W.J.T. Mitchell’s famous ‘pictorial turn’. This article endorses this conjecture and provides a theoretical context for its justification. It thus contributes to the emerging debate about the paradigm shift in studies of visual culture.

Encouraging Meditative Experiences through Respiratory-Musical Interaction

by Jay Vidyarthi

Energy Patterns and Urbanisation

by Dermott McMeel

position paper presentation for Mobisys 2012 Workshop: Next generation mobile computing for dynamic personalised travel planning.

Transportation arteries have - by and large - emerged from what
Jeremy Rifkin [1] calls‚ ‘energy systems’ and the... more Transportation arteries have - by and large - emerged from what
Jeremy Rifkin [1] calls‚ ‘energy systems’ and the associated
nodes of energy production and consumption. He cites our
reliance on - and continued adherence to - patterns formed during the first industrial revolution. Whether we choose to meditate on the historical development of canals, railways or roads, the energies of production and consumption would seem to still largely inform transportation networks in the 21st Century. Public and private transportation systems appropriate these industrial arteries and we find habitation and commerce emerging as accretions round them. The information used by planning specialists to design transportation today continues to be informed by the energy patterns of production and consumption of habitation, commerce and industry. The primary foundations on which we continue to build and plan cities are these unquestioned historic pillars.

Titolo: Design estetico in Mixed Reality: studio e implementazione

by Michele Fiorentino

Nineteenth-­‐Century Natural Theology, Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology, Russell Re Manning (ed.), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).

by Matthew Daniel Eddy

Natural theology came in different varieties during the nineteenth century. It functioned both as a way of seeing... more Natural theology came in different varieties during the nineteenth century. It functioned both as a way of seeing nature but also as a way of being in the world. This essay explores the intellectual and experiential facets of design arguments by focusing on who promoted them and, just as important, why they appealed to so many people on a daily basis. In short, we learn that natural theology was a way of knowing and doing. The essay is structured around three kinds of natural theologians: philosophers and theologians, savants and scientists, priests and pedagogues. Whilst I take care to address well-known names like William Paley and Charles Darwin and classical disciplines like physics and theology, my larger aim is to show the appeal of design to middle class readers and authors (especially women) and to the founders of the emerging human sciences like biomedicine and evolutionary anthropology.

Continuing professional development through reflexive networks: Disrupting online communities of practice

by Gurmit Singh

Singh, G., McPherson, M. & Sandars, J. (2012). Continuing professional development through reflexive networks: Disrupting online communities of practice. Paper presented at ProPEL International Conference 2012, University of Stirling, UK, May 2012.

How to write a paper, say something, and be worth listening to.

by Jon Schull

While bad writing implies bad thinking, good writing proves and produces good thinking. A good paper enriches your... more While bad writing implies bad thinking, good writing proves and produces good thinking. A good paper enriches your reader and says something worth saying. The process of writing a good paper enriches you.

I begin this essay by introducing a recipe that can be helpful in in almost any domain. Then I try to distinguish writing that says something from writing that just goes through the motions. Finally, I show how to use the recipe to write papers that really say something.

Egypt Exploration Society Invades ... London Underground?

by Amara Thornton

Thornton, A. 2012. Egypt Exploration Society Invades ... London Underground? The EES Newsletter, 4, pp.4-5.

Questions Following the Major Questions Arising from the Holocaust - Guy Stiebel meeting Muli Ben-Sasson

by Guy Stiebel

In: Arieli-Horowitz D. and Bartal O. (eds.), Protocols 24 (Zug o Pered), 2012

Des "Nippologies" dans les musées : design et identité japonaise à Paris

by Coralie Castel

Published in Cipango, Journal of Japanese Studies from Inalco (National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civiizations), Japanese Studies department

O fim do tamanho único: ao estilo e à linguagem do consumidor

by Marcelo Santos

Pensadores a exemplo de Andre Gorz (2005) falam sobre a existência, na contemporaneidade, de um capitalismo... more Pensadores a exemplo de Andre Gorz (2005) falam sobre a existência, na contemporaneidade, de um capitalismo pós-industrial, constituído a partir da valoração dos capitais imateriais, como o conhecimento. Do ponto de vista produtivo, uma das transformações geradas por essa nova forma de produção é a troca do modelo fordista (série padronizada) pelo toyotista (flexível e diversificado), isto é, de produtos uniformes, massivos, por produtos específicos, endereçados aos gostos e necessidades de cada consumidor. A palavra de ordem no mercado, hoje, é a customização: como diz Wiersema (1996:14), as mercadorias de “tamanho único” estão com os dias contados. Esse cenário abre as portas para a introdução de um novo estilo de vida (Simmel, 1995 [1903]), pois as negociações entre as culturas coletiva e individual são redimensionadas: o subjetivo passa a ter poder no processo produtivo, agregando “sua cara” àquilo que irá consumir; é o produto que espelhará o seu consumidor, e não mais o contrário. Neste artigo, de maneira introdutória, analisaremos essa questão sob a perspectiva semiótica, tentando compreender, do ponto de vista da linguagem, o que acontece quando cada pessoa passa a ter o poder de, em alguma medida, personalizar os seus objetos de consumo.

Ideias de Design

by Adelino Silva

Moto-mobilities: geographies of the motorcycle and motorcyclists

by Suzanne Reimer

co-authored with Philip Pinch (London South Bank University)

This paper draws upon and seeks to extend accounts of systems of automobility through an examination of geographies of... more This paper draws upon and seeks to extend accounts of systems of automobility through an examination of geographies of the motorcycle and motorcyclist – or what we term ‘moto-mobilities’. We utilize the figure of the motorcycle to raise the importance of analysing alternative mobilities: to consider how they appeal to different travelling dispositions and emotions; how they have been represented; and how they have been produced, marketed and consumed. The paper first reflects upon the experiences and embodiment of the motorcycle-rider; second, evaluates representations of moto-mobility; and finally attends to the materiality of mobility via an examination of the economy of motorcycle qualities.

Visual structure of a Japanese Zen garden

by Michael Lyons