Creating Human-centered Products and Services

This reading is all about the business and management side of a designer’s job; mostly a guide to project planning, when and what to convey to the other collaborators e.g. engineers and stakeholders. In the design process, the protagonist is not the designer but the client and there are many supporting roles that participate in the process. Therefore it is important to have project planning, to provide an estimate overview of the procedure and expected result for the other collaborators. Communication is important in these multi-participation because people of different fields have separate priorities and that may risk the project veering off the wrong direction if not under the supervision of the designer.

The reading starts off with the basic definition of design and its different types. The writer made an interesting point about experience design, that human-centered design is not experience design and it was presumptuous that we could experience like others would.

We can design every aspect of the environment to encourage an optimal experience, but since each person brings their own attitudes, behaviours and perceptions to any situation, no designer can determine exactly what experience someone has.

He also discussed how beneficial data can be in design under Goal-Directed design, where software inventor Alan Cooper and designer Wayne Greenwood created multiple personas as references for implementing design guidelines; “making conversations about product design and functionality much easier than before”. One of the good advices in the reading is Principles, which I understood as something similar to rules or parameters. It is one of the factors of Goal-directed design and it helps to steer ones process to good solutions. It is important to ask two questions when settling upon the principles of the project.

Does it help your users accomplish their goal? Will it help users minimize their work? 

This is a personal throwback for me as I have done less design projects as compared to my polytechnics days. Which makes me wonder, during the time while I strive to make my work more substantial, have I lost sight of its purpose to visualize concrete solutions? I do suppose I stand on the border between design and art as I gear towards function and yet rejects restrictions by exploring creative expression.

Social Practice Art

A critique of social practice art

This article was my introduction to Social Practice art and I confess, the notion of activism as an art form is rather difficult to grasp. It is like the article describes “indistinguishable from simple museum outreach, or any other vaguely progressive type of work with some creative connection”; the definition of Social Practice art was never clearly specified and is unlike any other.  Originally, I thought it might be something similar to Art Therapy, maybe using art as a catalyst to drive a “social practice”, whichever it may be. However, further research proves that may not the case.

The way I see it, Social Practice art is simply social work with an addition of art used to promote their cause – http://adcglobal.org/tanisa-sharif-vessel/

There is little to no integration between the two. Nevertheless, that may be what sets them aside from regular social campaigns, these “Social Practices” led by reputable artists whom bring along their existing supporters and publicity to the problem at hand.

In contrast, Project Row Houses (PRH) have done a better job at welding the two together. Seeing their documentation of TrePhonos was closer to my expectations to Social Practice art.

Though at one point, the article argues that Project Row Houses did nothing to improve the situation that they were building towards, despite building several affordable housing, the statistics of those living in “extremely poor neighborhoods” still doubled over the past decade. Despite this failure, the PRH is still applauded as a success and I think it is because the core of Social Practice art is naturally the social aspect; the social sculpture as Joseph Beuys says. I can see why it works well with activism since their purpose is to rally supporters. Rirkrit Tiravanija’s 1992 artwork helped me that understand it best.

https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/02/03/rirkrit-tiravanija-cooking-up-an-art-experience/

Strands of Time

Strand of Time was an animated media piece made for Elbphilharmonie’s media wall in Hamburg. Under the theme of Silk Road, I delved into the history of dyes and textiles during the time when its reputation was at its peak. The main idea was to restore an ancient fabric and reveal its timelessness.

Strands of Time at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

The chosen source image was a Chinese embroidery piece predicted to be from the Yuan or Mind Dynasty around the 14th-15th Century. It may be in tatters but is still beautiful in the traditional way.

Original Scan from Threads of imagination Central Asian and Chinese Silk from 12th to the 19th Century

The poem featured in ancient chinese text is a poem about time by tang poet, Wei Zhuang (韦庄).

槐陌蝉声柳市风,驿楼高倚夕阳东。
往来千里路长在,聚散十年人不同。
但见时光流似箭,岂知天道曲如弓。
平生志业匡尧舜,又拟沧浪学钓翁。

(Poem Translation tbc)

Process link: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/ytan149/silk-road-process-part-2/

Artist Bio

Artist: Tan Ying Hui

Bio:

Ying Hui a trained interior designer who seeks to deliver more substance into her spaces. Her passion in textiles, traditional and culture led her to further studies as a Design Art student at the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University. At ADM, she experiments with narrative within the interactive field searching for the best method to express connection between the one’s historical origin and identity.

An additional titbit about the artist, she is also musically inclined, with a mediocre Grade 8 certification in Violin.

Bio2:

Ying Hui is a artist who came from a interior design background who likes to express emotions into her art. She left the field of interior design to search for a soul in her art. She is now mainly exploring the field of interactive design, working in sound design, animation and coding. She also likes to explore textiles and embroidery and is passionate about incorporating ethnicity in art. She is inspired by the artists who uses traditional mediums for modern art and is inspired by their own ethnic groups such as Yuko Shimizu. Ying Hui particularly likes traditional Chinese costumes especially hanfu during the Ming dynasty.

Recent Artwork: Media Art Nexus

Resume: My Resume 2020

Artist Inspiration: Faig Ahmed

https://www.faigahmed.com/index.php?lang=en&page=8&projID=13

Faig Ahmed is an Azerbaijani contemporary visual artist who attempts to explore ancient tradition and culture through his experiments with textiles, pattern in oriental rugs.

Intro for Interactive Environment

Interactive II

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eGjhwGAbpKju_c04pvIJCuSPq8WfyX_4

Media Art Nexus

https://vimeo.com/377817913

Angpao

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ycsjFzLpgTbCkZP-3JiMDWEldItZxB72

CCC Essay

https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/ytan149/wp-content/uploads/sites/1883/2019/04/The-Expansion-of-the-Hanfu-Movement.pdf

Narratives for Interaction

https://youtu.be/n-ixjGi8EX8

Interactive Environment Example

https://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/lotus-dome