Notes from a sleep-deprived state of semi-consciousness
Milton Glaser brings clarity to some ideas about design that have been swimming around in my consciousness for a while.
“One definition is that design is the intervention in the flow of events to produce a desired effect. Another is that design is the introduction of intention in human affairs. A third rather elegant description is that design moves things from an existing condition to a preferred one. This last one reduces the complexity of the idea, but I like all three definitions. Design doesn’t have to have a visual component. Ultimately, anything purposeful can be called an act of design.”
I’ll even add fourth: Design is a way to figure out how to do things that haven’t been done yet.
When I say I want to be a designer, this is the kind of thing I’m talking about… to me, its much more than print design, web design, product design, or any of the specific disciplines that seem to dominate design.
Marketer/Blog Superstar Seth Godin takes on the problem of Fight Global Warming campaigns:
As a marketer, my best advice is this: let’s figure out how to turn this into a battle to do more, not less. Example one: require all new cars to have, right next to the speedometer, a mileage meter. And put the same number on an LCD display on the rear bumper. Once there’s an arms race to see who can have the highest number, we’re on the right track.”
In other news, the wiki I’m creating for my Sustainable Exhibition Design project at UC Davis is functioning and populated with some information, most of it actually useful! Available for public access at: ucdgreen wiki
