Denise Flasz

Hello! My name is Denise Flasz, I was born in Caracas, Venezuela but I currently live in NYC. I got my BFA in illustration at the Instituto de Diseño de Caracas,and then I decided to do an MFA in Multimedia design at the Centro de diseño digital. After all this college experience and some freelancing I worked for almost two years in a Visual Communication enterprise named Oruga Films, where I can say that I learned many of the things I now know and also gained a lot of experience in what professional work and team work matters. Since I was in college I new I wanted to grow bigger and achieve many goals in life, and for this I knew that if I wanted to do great I had to attend a great school, so I applied and of course choose Parsons New School of Design. For me it was really hard to pick what I wanted to do in this school, and what kind of major I wanted to get involved into, because many things seemed so valuable and incredible interesting that it was really hard to make up my mind, and that's when I saw the DT program and how wide it was, and started projecting and realizing how much I could achieve from this major and how good it was going to be for me.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Presentation

Issues:

How to educate technology without technology
How to improve a community life
How to fight poverty
How to create and enjoy what I am doing
How to make it productive

Sentence:

I want to identify the artisan skills of a specific community in Venezuela, and then help them with design and marketing to create a business plan that could help them develop as a community through their own identity.

Paragraph:

Some of the best talents and secrets in Venezuela are only known by natives, not sharing them or finding them might be good for locals who like the treasures for themselves, but most of the time
this poor communities need to be known and recognized by tourists and natives so their income can improve. Another issue is that people like best what is trendy or imported, things that are made by artisans or Venezuelan companies are known as cheap and bad quality products. So how can poverty be erased if we don't open the necessary doors for them to succeed.For this, I want to create a system that can fight poverty and this endless cycle.I would like to discover this hidden communities and their artisan talent and then with a marketing and business plan develop their own traditions,skills and identity into one or more final products, that at some point could be sold and known by locals and tourists.If a product has a good design and a good marketing , then it's going to sell.. I might not have the tools to educate at this point but I do have the tools needed to position a new brand into the market.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Rewrite

Sentence:
I want to identify the artisan skills of a specific community in Venezuela, and then help them with design and marketing to create a business plan that could help them develop as a community through their own identity.


Project:

Some of the best talents and secrets in Venezuela are only known by natives, not sharing them or finding them might be good for locals who like the treasures for themselves, but most of the time
this poor communities need to be known and recognized by tourists and natives so their income can improve. Another issue is that people like best what is trendy or imported, things that are made by artisans or Venezuelan companies are known as cheap and bad quality products. So how can poverty be erased if we don't open the necessary doors for them to succeed, how can Venezuelans with low income start producing if we never give them a chance to do so.Poverty is a state made by man and society, it can certainly be improved with the right tools and education, but one thing is for sure, this could only happen if we start paying attention to this 90% of the world population.Starting by the fact that kids are not raised to be successful, they picture themselves as their fathers ,whom always worked as employers for others. They don't visualize more than what they have, and adding the lack of information, technology and of course education the problem gets worst.

Since this is a major issue this days, I want to create a system that can fight poverty and this endless cycle.I would like to discover this hidden communities and their artisan talent and then with a marketing and business plan develop their own traditions,skills and identity into one or more final products, that at some point could be sold and known by locals and tourists.If a product has a good design and a good marketing , then it's going to sell.. I might not have the tools to educate at this point but I do have the tools needed to position a new brand into the market.

If this brand succeeds then this little community can work as a whole as if they were a company, they don't need to have a good education or special skills, because they'v been prototyping this product for centuries, and since it;s going to be their own Enterprise I am sure they'll build it with love and care for it.Their income will grow and they will start emerging from that horrible and inhuman state. As for the future, I plan to collaborate with fellows that work with poor societies and great artists and designers that are willing to give a little of their time for social design I would also work with big enterprises and foundations that could invest in this communities and of course with advertisers and Marketers.I think that this project could educate and open their eyes to the real world, through technology and design and can lead them to a great beginning.

Venn Diagram:: improved (based on entrepenourship)

More prior art...

Rural Studios
–USA 1993- ongoing newbern Alabama (population 261)
by Clare Cumberlidge and Lucy Musgrave.
“The rural studio, which works in one of the poorest counties of one of the poorest states of the USA , vividly demonstrates the impact of context based education in a deprived community .It is a pre-eminent model for how an academic institution can work in its hinterland community to produce real change as well as a new model of education.”
This image is one of the few rural studios for families, that were built in Alabama with low cost materials to provide decent dwellings.

Source:
Design and landscape for people (new approaches to renewal)
New School library

Relevance:
It shows how you can builds real change based on a community knowledge, bringing employement to them and also business and direct wellness.




Snow Culture Project (Japan 1986-ongoing)

“ Snow Culture project in Japan demonstrates vividly how a creative approach to difficult distinctiveness of the town of Yasuzyka to develop not only a new and diverse economy but also a unic knowledge base of technology and culture in which the town can take pride.If the public identify of a town is to be sustainable and credible it must be based on a place’s intrinsic qualities."
The town exported 450 truckloads of snow to Tokyo for gifts in 1987.

Source:
Design and landscape for people (new approaches to renewal)
New School library

Relevance:
A town that only had ice and snow developed their own comercial business based on snow! they sell something that usually you get for free and people buy it! they came up with a good concept and now they have theri own and unique business with something really simple.




Ivory Park Ecocity (South Africa 1993-ongoing)

“ Ivory park is a physical demonstration of environmentally and socially sustainable urban development, combining local expertise with international innovation in an incremental way.It takes a holistic approach to eco-development as a vehicle to reduce poverty and increase the community’s capacity to hel itself, and is based on the understanding that poverty is exacerbated by modern solutions that require large-scalse infrastructure and the use of non-renewable resources.As a major initiative involving government agencies, NGOs large design firms and developers, it shows how independent activist projects can partner with institutional organizations to enable large scale realization without losing their ethos and integrity.”
Source: Design and landscape for people (new approaches to renewal)
New School library

Relevance:
Cooperative models are required, participants are required for their own management and deelopment.




Designing digital knowledge management tools with aboriginal Australians
by University of Melbourne, Charles Darwin, Djurranakpi and Merri Creek productions

Introciding indigenous knowledge and resource management in northern Australia (IKRMNA)
They matched terchnology with their cultural identity to preserve elder's people knowledge with future generations, they were scared at first of computers, they said technology just makes everything worst.But then they felt a huge diference between the new genweration and the elder one.They felt like all the cultural knowledge was about to get lost, until a group of researchers of the university of Melbourne, harles Darwin, Djurranakpi andMerri Creek productions proposed a program named TAMI that had a friendly interface that allowed text, audio, movies and images to be filed and stored.

Source:
DIGITAL CREATIVITY 17-18 2006-2007 vol 18 no.3 pp.129-142
New School library

Relevance:
Introduction of new concepts and technnology to ma community that is not familiar with it.Showing them the posibilities of new technics and opening their eyes to new realities, but never forgeting their cultural life.



Kibbutzim (Israel around 1900-ongoing)

"The kibbutz (Hebrew word for “communal settlement”) is a unique rural community; a society dedicated to mutual aid and social justice; a socioeconomic system based on the principle of joint ownership of property, equality and cooperation of production, consumption and education; the fulfillment of the idea “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”; a home for those who have chosen it."
Information on Kibbutz:

Agriculture & Fisheries 24
Industry & Quarries 24
Tourism, Commerce & Finance 11
Transportation & Communication 5
Building & Utilities 1
Public & Community Services 18
Personal Services 17
"Children grow up knowing the value and importance of work and that everyone must do their share. From kindergarten, the educational system emphasizes cooperation in daily life and, from the early school grades, youngsters are assigned duties and take decisions with regard to their peer group. Young children perform regular age-appropriate tasks, older children assume certain jobs in the kibbutz and, at high school level, they devote one full day each week to work in a branch of the kibbutz economy."

Source: Jewish virtual library

Relevance:
In a community people work for the same objective, in this social model people enjoy serving others and being helpful, its a matter of education.This is the only social model that actually works, everyone focuses on one product and they all do their best to make it well.They are their own business, and its something so personal and private that they dont accept anyone who is not willing to give 120% of themselves to make it better.The fathers of the families are their own bosses and they all take care of eachother giving all their will to keep it going.



ARTIZAN ARTIZAN (Spain)
By Keren joshua and Diana Chocron

A company that sells artisan jewelry from Margarita island (Venezuela) in Europe. They created the company and gave it a design twist and a great marketing, that target is for a high and fashionable profile.

In Spain you can buy them at the store or see them through this web page but in Venezuela you can buy them on the beach.

Source: Artizan Artizan

Relevance:

It shows how a good marketing works, how artisan pieces can be sold as expensive hand made jewelry.





KAKAO Maroa (Venezuela-Argentina)
By Cheff Sumito Estevez and María Milagros Mendiry

A wide selection of artisan ingredients of one of the greatest cacaos of the world, which is from the state of Sucre in Venezuela.They filled them up with extravagant ingredients like the ones you can found on indigenous communities on the Amazon (big ass ants pepper).They created a spectacular line where the designs are made from Venezuelans (artists and designers) and they are currently selling them in Catacas, Margarita and Buenos Aires.

Source: Google

Relevance:

It shows how a good marketing and design works, how artisan ingredients with technical knowledge improve quality and target.




Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Ven diagram::

What are examples of work that share something in common with your motivations? These precedents can be contemporary or historical, can be drawn from the realms of design, technology, sociology, psychology, etc. In preparing this section of your document, please include the following information for each precedent discussed:
• title of work and author/designer/artist
• brief description of project
• relevance of the project to your motivations

Social Entrepreneur:


Barefoot College
by Sanjit “Bunker” Roy [Doctor-Engineer-diplomat. Since 1972 Works and lives on a village in India (Tilonia)]

Founded the Barefoot College :A local school only for the poor, it combines common village knowledge with technology, to develop new ideas and concepts for their everyday life.
“Barefoot College was founded to provide basic needs such as drinking water, health and education services, employment and energy to a population of some of 100,000 people spread among more than 110 villages in the Rajasthan desert state. The college provides nine different areas of specialization: drinking water, night schools, health centers, solar power, environment, income generation, traditional media, people's action, and women's groups. All students are equipped with basic literacy, health and first aid skills and are then urged to move from one area to another, understanding their inter-relationships and learning the principles of community building and sustainability.

Over the years Barefoot College has become more oriented towards the use of traditional knowledge and skills by the local people in the villages to develop their communities.”

Source: Barefoot College
Audio Source: Itc
pop tech 2005 oct 19 to 22

Relevance:

This project shows how a good social idea can be merged with entrepreneurship. He used the strength of that specific community to create something innovative and good. He showed the people from this village how to be sustainable and how to create a business that worked with their skills, without changing their history and culture. He design an educational and economical model at the same time.









"Creating a world without poverty"
by Muhammad Yunus

He wrote a book about how could we cerate a world without poverty, in this book he explains that he believes poverty is a condition made by society, people are born with the same talents the only difference is that some have the chance to uncover them and some don’t. People who have more get more and people who have less get less.

He lent money to woman and poor people as he believed that they were being hold by money lenders. He believes that poverty is man made, that if you are born on the street you don’t get to open your gift.He says poverty will end this way and that by 2030 we could create a poverty museum.

Source: cdn
Audio Source: itc
Muhammad Yunus organization

Relevance:

I want to focus my project into a social design field, based on Venezuela's poverty case. almost 90% of the population in Venezuela is and were born poor, since they don't have the will to overcome this situation because they are comfortable that way, they don't seek for more, they are not aware of the technology world that is around them and little they know about the internet and computers.This condition passes through generations and generations, bringing that sort of luck to their children and so on, preventing them on becoming professionals and true entrepreneurs.If in this book he has a solution on how can we change their minds then I am interested.





El sistema
by Jose Antonio Abreu (Maestro Abreu)

He created :Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, abbreviated FESNOJIV, and sometimes translated to English as "National Network of Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela") and also known as El Sistema, is a publicly financed private-sector music-education program in Venezuela ,originally called Social Action for Music.


The program is known for rescuing young people in extremely impoverished circumstances from the environment of drug abuse and crime which they would likely otherwise be drawn into.


Famous musicians:


Gustavo Dudamel
Edicson Ruiz Joen Vazquez
L. Miguel Rojas
Edward Pulgar
Natalia Luis-Bassa


Source: Wikipedia
Jose Antonio Abreu

Relevance:
This was a Social action for music, Master Abreu designed a way to educate people through his pasion (music) He helped and guided kids that otherwise would have never been knowned by the world. I am very interested in designen a social action for art and design.




Via tecnológica
by Claudia Cova Colmenares

Claudia Cova is improving the quality of life of people in the poorest sectors of Venezuela by bridging the digital divide. Through effective donation and appropriation of usable computers, she is providing valuable training and resources for young people to compete in today's technological world.

A study by Goldman Sachs Investment Research estimates that only 3.4 percent of the Venezuelan population have access to computers and only 1.5 percent of the population use the Internet. (old facts, but It might have gotten worst)

Source:
Ashoka
Via tecnológica

Relevance:

She is currently working on the field that I want to target, she recognized the technological issue and is currently doing her best to improve this situation among poor people. As today era depends on the internet I think its a great way to get started, kids can learn a lot from the internet if they know how to do it and how to use it, they dont have to depend on anyone to research and have acces to information if the have a computer at hand.



A Bridge Between Education and Business
by Mohammed Abbad Andaloussi

Education in Morocco faces two major problems. First, despite spending 26% of the budget on education, only 13% of students graduate and over 400,000 drop out each year. Second, because there is little focus on business, most students want to become civil servants.
improves the Moroccan education system through partnerships with the private sector. A former businessman who understands how poor education hurts labor market quality, Andaloussi convinces the business sector of the value in helping schools provide better education. He links businesses to schools both as financial sponsors and as advisors on school management, services, and market-relevant education, teaching students to see the connection between continued education and professional success. Andaloussi has created such partnerships for 110 public schools in marginalized areas of Casablanca, with plans to reach 1,000 schools throughout Morocco within the next five years.

Source:

Design for change series hosted by Sheela Sethuraman

Al Jisr website (French)
Mohammed Abbad Andaloussi at Ashoka.org
Sic



Relevance:

He mentions that the kids in Morroco dont have enough focus on business, they expect to have the same destiny as their parents, and that's when all starts becoming a chain. When there is a narrowed mind, you dont get to see the sides and the posibilities that await for you outside. Kids dont have the chance to develope their talents, because they dont have the oportunity to do so, sometimes they are not eve aware of them, because its like living on an island, islated from the world.By encoraging entreprises to link with this schools he is opening their mind, and also the entreprises mind by telling them to take them by hand.




Social Design and art

Visualthinkingstrategies.org

A great model and way of teaching through art and visual strategies.

"To build a society that is innovative, prosperous, and truly democratic we need to teach next generations not just facts and skills, but how to learn, how to communicate, and how to think creatively, critically, independently."
—Philip Yenawine, Co-Director, Visual Thinking Strategies


“Why Use Art?
Children start using their eyes to make sense of the world as soon as they open them as infants. Long before they can read, they understand imagery. Using art as the starting point for discussion or writing, therefore, allows young people to use strength virtually all of them possess. Experience with art helps students picture what they read, aiding comprehension.”

Source:
Visual thinking strategies


Relevance:

It shows why teaching through art is important. What are the benefits of teaching kids at an early age through visual power.This gives sence to my research and why would I want to create a design model that teaches through my passion that is design and art.




Good magazine

GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward.
Since 2006 we've been making a magazine, videos, and events for people who give a damn.

We're doing this because
1) it's smart business and 2) we believe in this.

Let the secret be known–most magazines do not make money on subscriptions or newsstand sales. In fact, they spend a ton of money just to get people to buy copies or subscribe. So we came up with the idea of giving away all membership fees and allowing you to choose which organization you would like to support. In other words, we're putting our money where our mouth is and empowering people who are driving change in the world.

This whole thing is an experiment. The intention is to meet a self-selecting group of quality people who find us through word of mouth, internet links, media coverage, mailings, our partner organizations, or the other crazy schemes we like to come up with, and raise significant money for organizations that will do something important with it.

Source:
Good magazine

Relevance:

At this point, this project shows more of a link to my graphic design interest, merged with a social cause.And at the same time it solves the problem of my other paper idea of the magazine and subscriptions. They love design but their are concious and at the same time they are building a business that's smart because it helps them and also it raises money for good causes.




YED (youth entrepeneur designer)
by British council
project by Sigal Cohen
Experimento mondongo

Venezuela's design scene is complex and directly influenced by its mixed population, political situation, and social challenges. Briefly, 80% of Venezuelans live in poverty. Because of this mixture it is no surprise that in Venezuela you can find an array of design styles that extend from the refined and sophisticated to the raw and unqualified. I believe that one of the biggest challenges designers have here is that of educating the eye of the Venezuelan consumer that lives in the middle of these precarious conditions. This means taking into account this reality, extract their language, their tastes and opinions, and try to expose these qualities through visual communication in order to achieve the identification of the consumer with the product.

In my opinion, the strengths of design in Venezuela can also act as its weaknesses. Due to the lack of graphic design schools and the existence of a market where design is seen as mere decoration, the training of professionals in graphic design is concentrated in the production of "toderos" (designers that have some knowledge of all the design areas but lack specialization). On the one hand, I consider this to be a strength because it makes us capable of undertaking any kind of project by having a global design vision. Moreover, the lack of certain tools allows us to innovate more and make us be as creative as possible."

"I would like to showcase projects developed by Venezuelan designers that have enabled us to penetrate Latin American markets in Broadcasting Design and Web Design for Cable TV Channels, helping us to innovate more and maintain the high standards of their brands image. As Venezuelans, we understand the culture of other countries of Latin America, because we have similar roots and suffer from the same problems. For this reason, we have developed design pieces that have been successful throughout the whole continent and have been recognized with awards for their visual and communicational impact. An example of the above is the Broadcasting Design developed for Cable TV Channels like Sony Entertainment Television, AXN Latin America, Animax, HBO Latin America, Warner Channel Latin America, MTV Latin America, VH1, Nickelodeon Latin America and many others."

The information above is taken from the application form completed by the finalist in early 2007. Things may have changed since this information was provided and we recommend that you should not rely upon this information as a definitive statement of current fact. Click here to contact the finalist.

Source:
YED
Mondongo Experiment

Relevance:

She is targeting the Venezuelan people, she determined a problem which is the lak of identity in design but at the same time the mix of culture you can find on the streets. Venezuela's civilians are very creative, there is a lot of rough wood on the population that can be polished into something really innovating.She created this project and is currently working socialy with any artist that's willing to cooperate. If I can use this strategy to identify and raise a community culture they could be more proud of , and then use it as a business to raise money and create a business plan.



Celery design
by Bryan Dougherty and Rod deWeese

Celery is a design studio focused on creating communications that have a positive impact in the world. We do cutting-edge green design and brand strategy work across many media. We have over 10 years of experience working with industry leaders (and those who aspire to be leaders) in corporate responsibility, clean tech, organic foods, renewable energy and community development. Our clients tend to come back to Celery again and again because we take the time to understand their unique challenges and add value to their messages beyond layout and surface visuals.

One of Celery’s roles over the years has been as an advocate for a new model of graphic design that deals proactively with social and environmental challenges. Through frequent lectures, magazine articles and public outreach projects such as the Ecological Guide to Paper, Celery has worked to influence other graphic designers to embrace sustainability as a crucial design objective. Celery’s work in this area was recognized with an Environmental Leadership Award from the American Institute of Graphic Arts. The firm’s work has been featured in numerous publications including ID Magazine’s ID 40 list of influential design firms.

Source:

Celery design

Relevance:

They are people that like graphic design and found a way to do it responsably, they create amazing products and art but they thik about the social impact, one of the projects that I liked the most was the Lemnis bulb, avoiding the fact that is a very expensive bulb, the idea they developed for the package was very clever, they designed a box that could be used as a lamp after opening.Another issue on the poor people us that they are not green consious, they live in their trash, and they just throw it everywere.If products like this could reach their hands they could decorate theyr houses in a non expensive way and they could start recycling.Its a long way, but you have to start somewhere.




JoinedUpDesignForSchools
by the Sorrel Foundation

As designers, we have to work with clients.In this project the clients were the kids, architechts and designers joined pupils to learn and research what they really want and what could make their lifes easier at the place they spent more of their time: School.

After prototyping they runned programs on 100 schools having great benefits.

Source:

Joined up Design for Schools

Relevance:
Right now a lot of thinks pop to my head on what could be the main issue of the problem, what can I solve through art. This idea of using kids as your clients it;s very smart, who can tell you better what they need than them.



Design That Solves Problems for the World’s Poor

By the New York Times /Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
A computer for every kid! and many more..


A billion customers in the world,” Dr. Paul Polak told a crowd of inventors recently, “are waiting for a $2 pair of eyeglasses, a $10 solar lantern and a $100 house.”

The world’s cleverest designers, said Dr. Polak, a former psychiatrist who now runs an organization helping poor farmers become entrepreneurs, cater to the globe’s richest 10 percent, creating items like wine labels, couture and Maseratis.

“We need a revolution to reverse that silly ratio,” he said.

This article explains a lot of designs that are ment for the poor, very interesting.

Source:
New York Times

Projects

Relevance:
The best design solutions are ment for the rich, what about the rest and mayority of the world, the solve their projects with their own design.They have knowledge of many things that a lot of desdigners have no idea.They've been prototyping for centuries.Its good to listen to them and give them technology, merging the knowledge that we have with theirs and then creating a real and inteligent design that another community may need.





Design and entrepreneurship

Zinio
Digital magazine

This is a company that has a huge magazine library. They sell the magazines online because they have this three main reasons:
Read now: dont wait to get your first issue.
Difital gives you more: Content, videos links
No waste: GREEN

Source:

Zinio

Relevance:
For MYOM idea, this is web page has a great resemblance to what I want to do. They have the ability to sell the magazines online at a fast rate.It would be good to study what is their accordance with the magazines companies to get the permit to sell them.They are also concern about the fact that magazines waste to much, and that digital gives you more.




Friday, November 14, 2008

My questions

How can I create a concept that will combine design and technology for low profile societies?
Is there a way of educating throe creativity thinking and ideas?
How can I create a project that's significant and innovative that could solve a problem of a poor society? How to make it simple, meaningful and accesible..
After I recognize a problem, how can I create a solution that could be developed as a thesis? how simple should it be.
Should it be comercial or social??

Venn Diagram

In order to create my own Venn Diagram, I wrote on a paper, a mind map that contained all the fields that I thought represented me in some way, I divided them in sections and then selected the fields that matched with each other and grouped them as they were similar or if they had a common link. I found interesting the process of blending each and every field because all of them had a relationship with one and other, they were responsible for a certain equilibrium that I had never displayed graphically to appreciate.

I decided to make three Venn diagrams that related to one and other, the first one is the most extended, it represents my life in three mayor fields, the social field, the personal field and the professional field, divided then by the things I know and the things that I at some point will learn and get to know. When this diagram blends it shows how my personal life affects my social and professional life and vice versa, they all blend together to form the person that I am today, every second the gray center circle grows as I learn and experience new things, but it will never reach an end point because there is always something new to explore.

The second Venn diagram narrows the first one by representing generically the two major areas of human interest, but again from my personal and professional point of view. Humanities and sciences are the two mayor areas in human life, they represent the balance between the right and left-brain, and they represent all knowledge. I consider my self pretty complete and balanced, but now as I see it in the diagram, how equally all my interests are in both areas I can reassure that. In my personal opinion, being aware of the variety of things that surround us give us the opportunity to choose the things that we really like the most, exploring and testing are the only things we can do to actually say we don’t like a specific thing, and then move on.

The third diagram narrows the second diagram to represent my personal ideas when it comes to all the projects or concepts I come up with. I chose to divide it again by the client and personal field in order to show how it affects the development of my thoughts, and then for this time I came to the conclusion that surrealism, realism and functionality are the main three words of my ideas. In this diagram, I wasn’t aware that this three words worked together every time I created a concept, but the more I think about it the more I agree. Surrealism is the start of my thoughts, I sometimes dream my ideas or maybe daydream them, everything at that point is just a rough idea of how I see the solution to the problem, if I were to represent that idea at that same moment, the final product would’ve been very personal and maybe a little strange, but if I then applied realism, this idea could start to follow our human needs in how the idea would be best applied to people, animals or nature. None of this two would be relevant if they were not functional, unless they are a work of art, but as we are talking about ideas and concepts the functional field is very relevant. What is great design if it doesn’t work?

This project showed me what I thought I knew in a whole different way, like an archeologist, I just discovered many things that were there but I didn’t see before, I could conclude that this experience is almost like a VUJADE. Something that has happened but I never realized.

Venn Diagram



Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Personal preferences::My work




















Artizan web page
Web page for Artizan jewerly
Ya es medio dia en china
Web page for Sony Entertainment television's late night show "Ya es Medio día en China"
Two sides paint (2001)
Final code project (boot camp)

Personal preferences::Profession or Practice

My professional preference is Art and everything that has to do with it, I am constantly thinking of new ideas and searching for new technologies or mediums to express them in , I love graphic programs and I love manual work, I like to illustrate, draw, mix and model, and recently I've been exploring with a different medium, which is very extensive but also very productive, I am currently learning how to mix code with graphics and create a more personalized work on web design, animation and digital art.

Personal preferences::Companies or Organizations
















Psyop
Great animations and ideas
Pictoplasma
A periodical conference that brings artists and visual designers together to talk about their work.Some of the artists that have showed their work and I really like are Friends with you, Tokyo Plastic, Fafi Fafinette, Miss Van and many more.
Lobo
Incredible motion graphics

Personal preferences::Websites or software

Flash references
I often go to this web page to see new flash designs and tendencies.
National television
Great animation references from some of the companies I like
Graphic and Illustration
Graphic-Exchange
Graphic references and Illustrations from the web

In order to open your mind, it's always good to learn from others and search what are they up to..
as for the software's I like, I think I have a personal preference from everything that has the name Adobe on it!

Personal preferences::Thinkers




















Paul David "Bono" Hewson
"The less you know, the more you believe"
Performer, leader, activist and artist + (we were born in the same day)
Tim Burton
"One person's crazyness is another person's reality."
Walt Disney
"I believe in being an innovator."
Gustavo Dudamel
He is a genius!
(more info)


All of this people, are leaders, they've followed their instincts and pursuit their dreams...

Personal preferences::Visual artists
















Marian Bantjes /Graphic designer
Jesus Rafael Soto /Sculptural work
Sabrina Ward Harrison / Art
Gary Baseman / Illustration
Miguel Chevalier/interactive artist

It's impossible four me to list only four visual artist which I admire, but here are four names that I like to follow...

Final presentation


1251 A Public Space Final from niemc967 on Vimeo.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Prototype refinement


1251 A Public Space 2 from niemc967 on Vimeo.

Since our last presentation we decided to improve many things, so for this one we thought we would've solved many of our problems but the fact is that new problems came out, some of them where expected and some unexpected.The good news is that we still have other iterations and prototypes to build and work on, we have a lot of information about the place , the project and the people and we are going to find Mr. perfect Trashman!

Our public space


1251 A Public Space from niemc967 on Vimeo.

This is our presentation of the place we chose , at this slide show you might see how do people interact, what kind of people come here more often, how do they triangulate, what do they do here etc..we show the problems and the good things that led us to find the three first prototypes.

Friday, October 24, 2008

List and describe 2-3 things that you experienced in your 2nd iterations that were as you expected/ predicted and 2-3 things you found unexpected.

In this second iteration I found unexpected the fact that a snowman shape will attract more people and make them decorate it, but it didn’t. The last shape (geometrical) was simpler and yet more efficient, maybe because it resembled more a trash than a sculpture that’s been trashed. I also found unexpected the fact that people didn’t interact with it or looked at it much, it was just some junk at the corner but the greatest surprised of all was that real trash man worker dumped it into his trash.

From the beginning I knew that this snowman prototype was going to be hard to build because of his three circled shapes, we decided to go with plain wire but I knew that it would take us hours to build it from scratch. Another thing I expected was a failure in the role of this snowman since we didn’t put trash inside him I knew that people wouldn’t know that it was a trash dispenser so it wasn’t much of a surprise to spend our time watching the people walking by without throwing anything inside it.
In “interaction relabeling” how is the “aesthetics of interaction” defined or explained?List one example from text, list one example life or your observations.

The aesthetics of interaction relabellings refer more to the aesthetics rather than to its use, what this means is that you can use an object to interact with, that has nothing to do with its real use, you can refer to it as if it were something else. In the text they give the toy gun example, which they use to describe and explore richness of action, they refer to the bullets and how they get expulsed and metaphorically explain how ideas can get expulsed the same way. In life people we sometimes what they have at hand to represent aesthetically something that was not meant for that use, when people want to compare grammatically the action of exploring thousand of ideas, they use the word “brainstorm” because aesthetically that’s what it is, but the functionality of a storm has nothing to do with it. When people also want to represent ferocity in an image they use a “lion” because of its connotative fierce as an aesthetic rather for what an animal or mammal.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Prototypes-TRASHMAN *look and feel*



















Materials:

-Wire mesh about 8 ft.
-Wire scissors.
-Metal wire (one roll).
-A wood base of (2ft by 2 ft).
-4 plastic wheels.
-A wood hanger stick.
-Construction paper.
-Plastic gloves.
-Purell.

The look and feel of this dummy, its going to be a wire-mesh-human-like-figure , it will consists of various kinds of meshes some of them with smaller holes and other with bigger.It's going to be standing up at the same height of an average man, so kids and families will be able to reach him. We will provide plastic gloves if someone is afraid of touching the trash and if people are paranoid it will be a great idea to provide also Purell.

The base of the sculpture is going to be simple wood, and the wheels made of plastics as the ones you can find on "Arties".The figure is going to be attached by nails and if necesary a wood Cain will hold him from the back.

Prototypes-TRASHMAN *implementation*















Since the Plaza is a private property, but the sidewalk is a public space, we can settle the installation in the north corner where 50 street crosses. It should be standing right next to the light pole, where crossing people meet, with people that are buying food and with people that are waiting for the light to change, it also stands in a way where it doesn’t bother or hurt anyone. In case the guards are not friendly with this experiment the sculpture should have wheels on the button so the movement of it would be easier, and our experiment saved. We can document different views and sides of the plaza so people from all around can interact.

The wire mesh should have medium size holes, for the little trash to fit in, but this sculpture should also have bigger holes made of normal wire for the bigger containers of trash, the idea is to reduce the big packages so we can have more empty space for many people to interact, so if they still want to participate, we think they’ll figure out a way of doing so by dividing their trash in segments.

The statue should be standing up in a really strong base, made of wood or something that weights more than the statue itself, so we could be sure that it’s always going to be standing up no matter what!.

Prototypes-TRASHMAN *roll*

















There are no garbage disposals due to terrorists attempts to put bombs inside the trash cans. Because of this, people find it very disturbing to walk for two blocks just to find a trash can to deposit their trash, for consequence they just “forget it “ right next to the fountain, inside the fountain or in the floor.

The owner of the place obviously prefers to pay a trash picking company to clean the plaza instead of risking everyone’s lives because of insecurity. But the fact is that because people come and go at a really fast pace after only few minutes everything is messy again.

After observing people behaviors and their performances with a trash bag, a cup or the remains of a sandwich, we realized this was one of our main targets if we wanted to make it a better place.

We also found out that their space lacked of artistic performance or attractions for the people that liked to sit there while having something to eat or just relax, we figured out that maybe by adding more attraction the population flow would become more stable. So was there a brilliant idea waiting to be discovered of how to interact with people and give them something to talk about or triangulate, we don’t know yet, but we came out with an idea that seems to fit this purposes and promises a lot of attention and good deed.

This idea consists of a wire-made statue that could represent any shape, in this case we decided to try a man shape to give the idea of a more familiar figure and friendly art, which will eventually have holes produced by the interlaced wires. This statue is going to be standing up in a rolling base and it will lift a sign that says: ”Make me pretty, your trash here”. So yes, it would have the role of a trashcan.

Our Hypothesis is that people would be confused by this message, because it will seem really awkward to throw garbage at what seems to be an art installation, but this confusion will lead them to curiosity which would also lead them to interact and ask questions about it. After the first brave person comes ad deposits his or her trash on the sculpture wires holes then the next one would come and do the same, hopefully by the end people will start seeing the sculpture shape and decorate it with their trash as they walk by as if they were doing a trash man instead of a snow man. Throwing their trash would seem like a fun activity.

Our research on this place and our common sense tell us that people like to stuck their garbage in little places, the smaller the better, so finding a legal hole and participating in this project we predict is going to work really good, and best of all is going to maintain the plaza clean!.
List two things you found surprising about prototypes

Well since the beginning I had a clear idea of how I wanted to make this “trash man” I knew how the role was going to be and how it would become implement. But when I tried doing the look and feel it all started to fit well together, but the surprising thing was coming with a solution on how was the wire going to hold the trash inside, and also questions started popping into my mind on how are people going to interact with it and that’s how I came to the idea of using gloves or Purell. But in general the only surprising thing was how fast I could create this wire man.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Public space prototypes





























What are the 4 types of prototypes, what are they used for and give examples.

-Role
-Look and feel
-Implementation
-Integration

A prototype is the fist approach or representation of an idea, it can be rough but it should explain the main point. There are four kinds of prototypes, each one works fine in its own way, we have Role, implementation, look and feel and the last one is actually the mix of them three.

The role prototype is the one that assumes the idea, and represents it better than the rest of them for example a good role example is the one of the 3d program explained in the lecture, this program assumed the job of interacting and creating 3d space but it lacked of look and feel and implementation, because when the user tried to do it they had to come with new ideas for it to be more friendly. A look and feel prototype is a prototype that works more and defines what the final project is going to look like, it has more fidelity to the last approach, for example the toy that they created a ball that talked back to kids, they used a walkie talkie, a ball and many things that led their prototype to feel like the final product will feel like.

The implementation prototype works more on how useful this prototype is, to see how its working and if it works, from the audio there is a great example about the design team that went to the hospital and talked with the medics that wanted to create a new machine, not much time after the doctors explained what they wanted an idea came to the young designers mind, he implemented tools that he had at hand at that precise moment just to show the main idea of the functionality and the implementation of what the machine was going to do. It wasn’t very pretty but it worked and it transmitted the point, so well that the doctors understood it and liked it. The last prototype , integration is the more balanced one and it’s a complete prototype that uses all of the above.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Can you draw any relation between the Whyte Chapter 5 and your observation?

Well from the beginning of the reading I started to feel that this chapter had a lot to do with the public space we were doing, since it started mentioning that a plaza it’s not only made by it’s structure but also by its surroundings. Our plaza worked and had life because of the sun and its position, how it moved from side to side and how people moved with it. Also people felt attracted by the green scenery that surrounded the plaza and the food vendors that sold things at the corner, made almost half of the population come and eat at the border of it.

The restaurants that surrounded it sold food to tourists and natives ,that invited them to come and relax at this plaza. The fair that opened on Sunday attracted millions of people also; this attraction seemed ideal for stopping and watching it. There weren’t any performers at all I think because of the security, but in compare to the sunken plaza that was on 49 St, the chosen plaza had more people because it was inviting, It had no differences at all from what was the sidewalk and from where the plaza started. On the reading, Whyte said that people come when they feel invited and in this plaza they were, in the other one, the one at 49 St , had less people than we did, they had a performer that attracted a large group but the plaza was hidden, it was sunken inside the building, so unless you were going to the subway you wouldn’t want to seat down there where people could see you but you couldn’t see them.