Let's go get this T Shirt!

I think this is Resident Evil 4 promo T-Shirt. Ha pretty good idea!

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Doride Lamp by Karim Rashid

When i first saw this lamp, i'm thinking this looks like some concept done by students. Sounds a lot like some ideas my classmates came up with. Then i realised it's by Karim Rashid! I never like his stuff, because they are always stylist to a point it's not functional anymore. In other words, i find them superficial ,shallow and most importantly, for the fact that he's a stylist, i find his design ugly.

However the thing is, i actually quite like this lamp. It's supposely inspired by a leaf blowing in the wind. Although a leaf has no relation to light (ok unless you want to give some crap reason of photosynthesis etc), the form actually communicate the idea of a articulated stem. Diffuser are added in the pattern of leaf veins to complete the look while also blocking glare. Finally, yes according to him, he came up with this idea while he's still studying. No wonder it's better than the rest of his design and that explains why it seems like a student's work.

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There are too many things I need to do

Thus i got myself a MUJI To Do List notebook! I really like how the cover tells you about what to expect inside and how because the graphic on the exterior is embossed, it is very subtle and can only be seen when light falls on it.

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Good Design is all about the Attention to Details!

I'm not a fan of big revolutionary ideas. Thus most of the time i do not really see the value in coming up with concepts that can't be made. When you try to change the world, the world has to change and that is a big problem.

Very often i see people coming up with a new (sometimes better) way of doing things, it may cost the same as it's competitors, but it has a big problem, everything else needs to change. People gotta reinvest in infrastructures, send people for training and throw away their old equipments that cost a fortune.

What happened is nothing will happen. Unless it's benefits are really significant. This is why certain things just never change, like how you hope self assembling PC can be much easier, why electric plugs still looks the same after so many years.

I prefer design that pays attention to details, small little things that people do not think matter. These small little things often create irritation for the user in the long run. One example is this medicine bottle designed by Deborah Adler. A medicine bottle with a label that's easy to read. Small idea big benefits. (I can totally imagine some guy proposing using some OLED sorta display for something like this and fitted with solar panels so it's earth friendly and finally the hospital will have a system to update all the display through wireless technology). In this case, it's the execution, the attention to details that's key to its success. Good execution is the key to any success. So please do not dream about big ideas only, pay more attention to the detailings of the design.

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moving

moving, originally uploaded by linyou.

Is the world moving or me on the escalator? I sure hope i'm the one moving, but it looks like the world is.

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crossroad

crossroad, originally uploaded by linyou.

2 paths that's lit with opportunities. One straight forward and leads you straight out of the building, but you can only admire the sky from ground level. The other is tougher and full of unknowns but promises more, you will get closer to the sky if only you can find the route to the roof. Which to take?

I took the stairs, and am starting to wonder if there's a sky.

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Chimpanzees learn from video demo

Just saw this post on BBC News, that talks about Chimps building their own tools after watching video demostrations. The Chimps were broken up into several groups and shown progressively shorter video of less information. To their findings, the group of chimps who had see the full video can easily replicate what they had seen and build the tools easily, while a handful of those exposed to less information can build the tool. Then the reseachers noticed an interesting phenomenon.

"What was interesting about this group was that, when we presented them with the grape at different distances from the cage, they made the appropriate tool to reach it. Those that had been shown the full demonstration, and had socially learned to make the longer tool, continued to make it even when the grape was so close that it was more awkward to use."

"It could be that social learning is such a strong force for the chimps that they apply a blanket rule of 'go with what you've seen' (rather than work out what's most appropriate for the task)."

They are now trying to test their findings on young children and personally i think they're just going to get the same results. I think the chimps are totally demostrating what human beings will do if they are exposed to the same thing. We quickly accept and settle on a single solution that was taught by others, usually without questioning why was it done in that way. We are usually lazy to think so we will just follow what has proven to be useful. Very often when i questioned why certain friends did something, they will answer ,"I never think so much la". This answer never fails to irritate me. The group of chimps that built their own tools have thought through the process and understand what needs to be done and why, thus able to come up with the more efficient method.

In fact there were some research done that asked participants to draw what they were shown on the screen. They will be shown pictures of a real kitten and the outcome of their drawings will be a caricature of a kitten, simple line works that most easily represents a cat. They were then hypnotized or using some scientific method (i do not know how) to temporary clear their memories, this time round, the same participants dutifully drew out what they seen on screen, rather than some caricatures of it. This experiment shows how what we have seen and learnt affect what we will do in the future. How when we faced with different task on hand that we may end up using the same solution even when they may not match.

I often hear people commenting that if you want to design only functional things (things people really need), then you do not need to design anything because we already have everything. Well they are right and wrong, because of the reason stated above, a lot of things around us are done without much thoughts, we call those conventional wisdoms. As the world progress, people changed, technology improved but many things still remain. By spotting these, we can surely find opportunities for new products/ design that makes sense.

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