When I think of [design] I imagine a process of exploring and experimenting with an open mind, guided by a specific purpose; problem solving and artistic expression intertwine to create a product that is useful and aesthetically pleasing.
Click on the image to see a brief “Slate Presentation” on the roles of 3D printing in the design process of wind instruments that I create.
DO NOT PRESS
DO NOT PRESS
We’ve probably all seen something similar to this online. The infamous Big Red Button that we are not allowed to press. I think that it is a great example of design. Why, you say? I’ll tell you. What is the first thing that you want to do when you see it? Press it! This object, is not only recognizable, but it implores you to use it without overtly saying to do so. You think that it is of your own will that you’re pressing the button–in fact, it must be your own choosing because the button said don’t press it.
For those visually inclined peeps, the contrast of smooth-edged red, and seemingly rough-edged white balance each other out. If you’re still not sure if this design is up to par in terms of artistic content because I made it in Microsoft Paint, I know of a great nation on the other side of the world that might help you decide.
Let me know what you choose. In the meantime, I’ve got a button to go press.
Technically Yours,
R.
Created with Tagul.comFor this weekly create I used tagul.com to make a word cloud with words that relate to design. I got to choose the individual fonts and colors of each of the words that I add it and even add small animations when you hover over the words. My personal definition of design would be an idea or plan that exists to create a final project. This design could consist of a blueprint or outline and include few to many specific details that attempt to explain the final idea. A design does not need to be a physical, written plan but can exist in the mind of a creator.
Design involves the planning of an object’s look, feel, or functionality.
I made this image in Adobe Fireworks out of icons I found and modified to represent these different aspects of design. I chose the canvas size of 3236 x 2000 because its width to height is roughly the golden ratio.
I am an artist.
I create conversations that challenge normalcy and comfort, that shift focus to the unnoticed and misunderstood, that demand self evaluation and the scrutiny of implications. I respond to questions, just not the questions that are often asked, and not the ones that are coated in layers of sugar for ease of consumption. I disturb and unnerve to enlighten and share perspective.
I am a technician.
With technology, I forge, otherwise unattainable, aesthetics to shape worlds on stage and to build a platform for art’s consumption.
I am a producer.
Working with teams of designers and artists affords me the opportunity to grow as an artist and a theatre practitioner. Collaborating innovators push the limits of theatre as we know it. I am an interface between production teams and the world– I manipulate circumstance to facilitate the making.
Let’s make something.
Innovate with me.
Christopher Stratis
Harnessing the power of disruptive technologies to revolutionize/reorganize the production environment. Thanks #CDT450
— Christopher Stratis (@dasBinaryGnome) March 29, 2015
Any textual representation of self will be taken out of context, read with different intentions, and potentially used against the person who posts. I’m slightly paranoid when posting– there is no erasing content on the internet. Every public, digital transaction gets associated with your being. Employers, friends, family, strangers, co-workers, and subordinates see this and project this onto their preexisting ideas of what that person is about. It’s a pretty powerful tool if used correctly, but the effects could be catastrophic.
Test, testing new apps for animating. Making this iPad work for me and not influence my work negatively #cdt450 http://t.co/xBRwa5Ggmy
— Kate Schwarting (@KSchwartling) March 29, 2015
I tweeted a little experiment with making abstract animations today. It’s really important to me that when I work in different apps that it doesnt call attention to the app that was used so that it remains consistent with my artistic identity and adds positive qualities to my work. In choosing what aspects of my identity to put on Twitter, I would like it to be about my experimentations with different media (including apps) as well as ideas. Twitter is a powerful tool for shaping identity and I think it’s important to take that into consideration at all times. I find it interesting that when I google my name it is one of the top three sites that appear along with this blog despite how infrequently I tweet, which shows how important it is to make sure that these are the aspects of my identity that I want to be public.
I’m very picky with how I use Twitter to shape my online identity since it’s public for all to see. I use it to retweet things from my apps’ Twitter accounts and some other posts I really like, and occasionally some thoughts I have. Lately I’ve realized that your replies to people don’t show up in your main feed of tweets so I’ve been using it a bit more for communication instead of solely a platform for publishing.
The majority of my tweets are tech-related but sometimes I stray a bit. My favorite tweet of mine is an idea pertaining to the popular open source app framework PhoneGap and its lack of quality plugins.
PhoneGap needs a good market for commercial plugins, similar to Adobe AIR or better yet the Unity Asset Store. #mobiledev
— Ken Fehling (@kenfehling) October 17, 2014
For this assignment I tweeted a link to a list of iPad music apps on Pinterest. I had already shared something similar a couple of weeks ago on Yammer but I thought this relevant for a couple of reasons.
A nice list of iPad music apps on Pinterest: https://t.co/KPtc7GKf1m #iPadApps #MusicApps #CDT450
— Color Sounds (@ColorSoundsApp) March 25, 2015
For one thing I think some aspects of Pinterest are useful, especially the way you can share multiple aspects of your identity cleanly by creating different boards for different topics. I try to replicate this on Twitter by using multiple accounts and I wanted to highlight that here. The Twitter account for my app Color Sounds is centered around music and art technology, music apps, etc. So I planned to send the tweet from there, retweet it from my main account and post a link to that, however I don’t think you can link to a retweet.
In any case, I get the feeling I don’t use Twitter the way most people do. I’m on it a lot but almost always for consumption, hardly ever posting. I like finding interesting articles and things on it. Also I don’t think I follow or have a single follower on Twitter that’s somebody I know in real life. For me that’s what Facebook is for. Facebook is social and Twitter is business.
Bloodied UVA Student Martese Johnson Is Left to Ask: ‘How Did This Happen?’ http://t.co/bzQf1cadas via @MichaelDalynyc #CDT450 #integreat
— Jay Loomis (@jaymloomis) March 22, 2015
For #CDT450 I tweeted this article about Martese Johnson – he was brutally beaten up by police in front of a bar near the campus of the University of Virginia, where he is an honor student.
Part of the title to the article in the Daily Beast asks: HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? The article addresses issues of prejudice, racism, and the unproportionately high levels of violence that are unleashed on African Americans by police officers. Hopefully, we are becomeing more aware of this systemic injustice thanks to people using social media to get the word out and create an infuriated buzz about it.
What does this have to do with how Twitter can shape my identity? The first thing that comes to mind is that my choice of tweets says something about who I am. Why do I want people to know this story? Why is it important to me? I tweeted this article after reading Cole’s post about how UVA students reacted to this act of brutality, and it reminded me that we need more dialogue about race relations on college campuses in America. We have an excellent opportunity at Stony Brook to open up discussions about race because we have such a diverse community here. Hopefully Twitter, FB, Yammer, blogs, and other social media tools can be useful to help start conversations and to create opportunities for people from different ethnicities and backgrounds to get together and get to know each other and improve race relations through social interaction – online and face to face. #Integreat
impressed with all that the iPad can do Now that I know I can make entire presentations just using an app I may never need a laptop #cdt450
— Katherine Hopkins (@kathopcdt450) March 24, 2015
Twitter can have a huge effect on shaping our identities. I believe that everyone has many selves and one of them is how we act on social media. People are usually either much more open on social media or much more reserved. For me, I used to be a lot more open and probably a little too open on Twitter to be completely honest. I would tweet almost every single thought I had, regardless of how appropriate it was. I think people are usually more open on Twitter than they should be. For me, Twitter was a way to say things that I usually was too shy or reserved to say out loud. I ended up getting into some trouble for my tweets, which is why I was apprehensive to even make a twitter again for class. Your identity is determined on Twitter by who you interact with, what you say, and how you say it in such a small amount of available characters. Your identity is also defined by whether or not you are an anonymous account, the topics that you tweets about, your follower/following ratio, and if you only interact with friends/people you know IRL, or you reach out to tweeters that you have never met.