Journal 08: Media Reviews

I pick Design & Accessibility for my topic. I picked this one because it was really interesting to me how this issue is being solved here in United States. For me as an international student this was not even a problem and I did not think of it as a problem. Later I realized that it is so because of the place where I live. There are so many other problems that the government does not care about such a things and I have never thought how important is this for a well designed country. I picked up some sources which can describe this better.
- http://www.nea.gov/resources/accessibility/pubs/DesignAccessibility.html I have never thought that there will be a handout for managing  with the law requirements regarding the accessibility. I guess we have the same law but nobody is doing anything about solving this issue. This book is created to help managing the problem easier.
- http://www.accessibilitydesign.com/aboutus.html This is the web site of a company which deals with building and designing access for people with disabilities. I have never thought that there are companies managing this issue.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY6PhtCLrTg It is so amazing how these people are designing a new way, way which is easier for understanding from people with disabilities for learning. I think that this is really rare in my country and it will be great if it happens more often.
- http://www.ap.buffalo.edu/idea/ This is the web site of a company that deals with a lot of daily used things in order to make them accessible for people with disabilities.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBjvNYmUdjs&NR=1&feature=fvwp This is a link to a video describing more about the American Act for people with disabilities. It is amazing how good and detailed is this law.

Course Reflection

The past weeks we have been working on our projects for Coleman. It was a great experience to participate in such a project. All of it was fun and I felt like this is my favourite project thus far. We separated in groups and started designing a new project which will make the home life easier. We were thinking about something multifunctional and we came up with the idea of a table which can transform into a hammock. It was a great pleasure for me to participate and help design. I am a little bit upset because of the fact I cannot help my group present the project but I am sure that they will do it perfectly.

Reading Reflection 3

This reading was really interesting for me. All the issues with the recycling and the problem with the environment is really serious. The things as lowering the level of usage of things that are not needed is really important for solving this problem. It is amazing how there are so many innovative ideas that can change the future and save the planet but nobody is trying to change because it costs more efforts. It is sad that here in America people are trying to do something about it but for example the people in my country are so far away from the idea of saving the environment. Probably only the biggest companies are warned to use safety packaging and ways for preserving their products. Recently I saw a movie that discuses the topic about better evolution for the human kind but it is sad how the biggest companies would not want to take that step because they would lose a lot of control and more importantly money. With the time people are learning from their mistakes but it is really important to be careful not to make fatal mistakes. There is always a way to save products and the environment but the problem is when the people are going to make that change and understand that this it the most important thing for our future.

Peer Dialogue 03

For my peer dialogue 3 I looked again at Dan's Design Blog (http://dancsp11.blogspot.com/). I remember that last time I saw something that was not perfect. However, this time his blog is really well done. The letter-form assignment has really good pictures. They show the letters really good and there is no need of description. However, he added comments that says how did he capture the letters which I found nice. Furthermore, his course reflection post is perfectly done. He explains everything perfectly and I was curious to understand what was he interested in after it.
The other blog that I checked was Aggies's (http://agerhardt7design200.blogspot.com/). She did great job with all of her tasks. I think that her best post is the Online scavenger hunt. She got really good pictures for description and her definition about home good is really clear and right. Furthermore, her letter-form assignment is perfect. I like how she made the pictures black and white. I think that this makes the letters even more clear for understanding.
I think that Dan's and Aggies's blogs are still perfect. They continue doing well and I am curious to see how are they going to complete the rest of the assignments.

Letterform Seek & Find

T

S

Y

V

C

Q

L

H

Z

X

B

E

I

O

A

U

F

J

W

Course Reflection 03

These two weeks were awesome! I really like the 9th and 10th lecture when we watched the movie. It is amazing how some people are trying to legalize their product in order to keep their profit but destroying the art. I fully agree that there should be award for the work of the artist but there should be a way that other artist can create more from their products. I was amazed how this group (I don't remember their name) put on Internet their album. So people can decide how much should it cost. Methods like this one can save the music industry in my country. Furthermore, my favourite part of the movie was with the Brazilian DJ. After the class I checked their sets on Internet and now they are one of my favorites.
The 11th and 12th lectures were also amazing. I really like how these guys introduced us with the tasks that we will solve as future design students. After this presentations I understood a lot of things about the academic issues and more about the exam. After the whole lecture I was sure that I want to continue in VC.
The presentation on the next class was interesting too. I understood a lot about design work. However, I enjoyed mostly the video clip at the end of the lecture.

Online Scavenger Hunt

1. Outdoor camping manufacturers:

http://www.cabelas.com/
http://www.gandermountain.com/
http://www.made-in-china.com/
http://www.coleman.com/
http://www.basspro.com/homepage.html                         

2. Trade show / exhibition booths from the outdoor recreation and sporting industry:

   

3. Manufacturers or retailers who specialize in indoor home goods products.

http://www.ikea.com/
http://whirlpool.com/home.jsp
http://www.sony.com/index.php
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx
http://www.usa.philips.com/

4. Images of trade show / exhibition booths from the indoor home goods market.

5. A definition for home goods could be products used at home. They can be used as entertaining,house work or just as products that improve the house design.

6.  Images of different types of possible home goods:


    

Reading Reflection 02

I found that reading that book is really interesting. The facts that are shown made me even more interested in design. The most interesting thing for me was when Haskett explains how the design is different in different couture and how the corporations are managing with it. Furthermore, how corporation's products should fit with their logos and image. Another good idea or maybe a fact shown in this book is how the system is organized. The fact that designers have to be sure that their products are clear for the users. For example the road system and the fact that even if you are not a driver,you might have a clue what it is about.

Peer Dialogue 02

For my Peer Dialogue 02 I will "talk" about the same posts as in my previous. I looked at Dan's design blog (http://dancsp11.blogspot.com/) and Aggie's blog (http://agerhardt7design200.blogspot.com/).
I think that they both did good job with the scavenger hunt assignment. Dan got everything perfect and he included really good images. I read interesting facts about the buildings that I was not able to find anywhere. ("Something interesting I found about the construction of the building was that they had to use very safe and reliable lifting devices to lift the large blocks of stone, as most of them weighed between 1300-3000lbs!"). Aggie's post about scavenger hunt is also really good. I like how she explained who is on the picture. I guess what I like most is the picture of me :) (just kidding). I think Aggie did a great job with her Found face assignment. She got really good catches and my favorite are the one with the boxes and the one with the oven. I was looking at my oven in order to find a face before but I couldn't. When I saw her I recognized the face momentarily.However, I don't think Dan did good job with the Find faces assignment. Maybe it is not a good reason but some of the pictures were blurry and some were not showing the face good. For example the one with the drums.
Overall, I think that Dan and Aggie have wonderful blogs. They are giving really good explanations of everything and even that I don't speak English well and I am still understanding everything is a good reason for it. I still think that they have the best blogs.