Today’s Conventions and societys needs

This week ive been thinking allot about what the needs will be for the future. So once again ive been looking at the past for inspiration and context. Ive just remembered that i covered a similar topic in my dissertation last year!

Today’s Conventions

As I said in my introduction, just as conventions in society cause us to think in certain ways, so do conventions cause us to view design in certain ways. The most heavily used conventions in design today are abstract expressions like “innovative” , “dynamic” , “trendy” and “cool”. These intangible conventions are more often than not perceived as the more tangible forms of colour and materials. The conventions of colour and materials evoke the abstract expressions of “innovative” and “dynamic”.

These expressions of image are nothing new. Many years ago, when electricity first became available to the general public, the conventions at the time portrayed electricity as very expensive and dangerous. This was a serious problem for the fledgling industry before it even got off the ground. What the industry needed to do was to change this perception from expensive and dangerous to that of a modern
source of energy, accessible by all.

At the time, the conventions that would best change the view of electricity where that of technological futurism. The 50’s technological view of a better future promised chrome-plating, streamlined designs and better quality of living for all. These provided a ‘back bone’ for electricity that would change its image to
a modern, and above all progressive, form of power that was ahead of its time.

This basic premise of progressive conventions is still true today, despite the symbolism changing somewhat. I think ‘I-pod’ is a prime example of this. It evokes images of ‘modern’, ‘innovative’ and ‘ahead of its time’. Take a look at one; its surface is smooth and clean, and has little, if any, moving parts. These conventions, which have been used across Apple’s product range in recent years, are also common conventions in science and, more notably, science fiction, to depict a cleaner more efficient future and advanced technologies. Two most notable examples would be a certain black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey or the relentless liquid metal killing machine T1000 in Terminator 2. These conventions in science fiction will be explored in more detail later on.

Science fiction aside, Apple’s design ethos, of late, also evokes an image of cleanliness which is more often a convention found in the bathroom rather than that of an innovative and award winning electronic products. So what is this convention doing in Apple’s design ethos? For that you don’t have look any further than Apples chief designer, Jonathan Ive. He came to Apple from a London design consultancy, that, among other things, produced bathtubs and wash basins. Products that both evoke a common perception of hygiene and cleanliness.

It’s these perceptions that have helped Apple’s designs become so successful, because people experience and interact with those perceptions on a daily basis whenever they go to the bathroom. These conventions are not immediately obvious to us outright, because we are not consciously aware of them. For example; have a look at an i-pod, maybe not the newer ones but certainly the early models. Now, have a look at a traditional bathtub. You will probably find that both have a smooth, white surface, with chrome finishes.

To sum up, conventions essentially shape our perceptions of the world and perceptions are crucial to the design process. The key to a good product in my opinion, is to communicate through conventions and in turn perceptions. More often that not, designs that have inappropriate communication or communicate a negative message never do as well as designs that have effective communication. Have you ever looked at or picked up a product in a shop and it just looks or feels cheap? I think this perception of value has a direct link with material and
communication conventions.

A prime example of this would again be the ‘i-pod’, or should I say the i-pods competition when it was launched on the market. MP3 players had maybe been around a year or so before I-pod came on the scene. Comparatively, i-pod and its competition functioned in much the same way. They both played and held similar amounts of music files. At the time, the current market-leaders in audio players had the edge
as already being established in the public’s mind-eye. Speaking from experience, I would certainly be perfectly happy to pay the extra money for a brand name audio product rather than a lesser known brand.

The ammunition that Apple unleashed to “blow its competition out the proverbial water” was its tried and tested new design ethos, pioneered by Jonathan Ive. Not only did the design of the i-pod evoke a cleaner perception of technology, but it gave a technological product something that it had long sought after but never truly mastered; style.

In years gone by, many electrical and technological retailers marketed products as “must have” items that, “would look great in your home”. Televisions and hi-fi systems would be finished with polished wood surfaces. Personal music players would be pitched with young and “cool” people dancing around with them in fashionable clothes. However Apple’s new ethos on design had made its products truly desirable. They didn’t need wood finishes or young people dancing around with them. They instantly portrayed this purely by the design.

The Apple design ethos dictated that; products no longer have to be finished with a variety of materials to match the furniture or decor because they became part of it! And personal music players no longer had to be marketed by young people in fashionable clothes because its designs became fashionable in their own right.

Because conventions ‘communicate’, we fill our homes and our lives with products that carry messages that communicate who we are. This has become increasingly apparent in recent years as a way to communicate social status via, self-expression, making design a powerful communication method. Conventions are even used in personal appearance. We can communicate what kind of person we are, our taste in music, or the social circles we move in,

“HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED AT OR PICKED UP A PRODUCT IN A SHOW AND IT JUST LOOKS OR FEELS CHEAP?”

3rd Generation Program of Stud

Title: The conventions of new technologies: An exploration into how new technologies will change the way we live and how the conventions generated by these new technologies will influence not only the technology itself but the culture that created and interacts with it.

Research: My research will encompass many mediums and topics.

A detailed look into the history of technology and how it can change a society and what kind of changes these can include.

I will also look at the evolution of a range of technology’s, and how it evolves and changes over time and the conventions (expected and un-expected) that these changes can generate.

I’ll look into a wider context of the effects of technology by looking how it has change today’s society. Looking at the economy, politics, globalisation and culture.

Ill also look into new and emerging technologies that are still in their infancy and or still in development.

I will investigate into a number of futurologist to better understand the techniques and foresight they implement to predict the future.

The collation of all the above research into a final report / dissertation.


Aims: Make a series of predictions that take into account past and present technological and social conventions to track the development of current and new technologies over the coming years.

Once a better understanding of potential future technologies has been reached, to develop a range of visuals that depict this new technologies and how it would be used. Strong emphasis will be centred on how retailers could use new technology to interact with consumers and how the technology and conventions that exist today will evolve over the coming years.

Finally, to present the final created media in an appropriate format.


Method: The broad scope of the research will require many hours of sifting through a range of different mediums and documents to find relevant and useful information.

The formulation of my own vision of the future will require a level of intellectual strategic foresight which can be accomplished by collating the relevant research .

Rather than simply coming up with a random outcome I’m going to take a certain type of technology(s) that are currently available, analysing what they are currently capable of at present, and then predicting how the technology could advance over the next ‘x’ amount of years. I’ll do this so an outside observer to my work has a good idea of what the technology is currently capable of and so have a context of which to view the technologies evolution.

At this stage, the potential and capabilities will be clear in my head which will aid me to accurately and better visualise the designs and concepts. It’s around this point that I will look at context, and how best these technologies could be implemented and where. Their location could greatly influence how they look and operate. Depending on the concepts, I may mock up a simple version that people could interact with so i can test my outcomes as I go along.

For this project I intend to look more at the visual aspect of the how retailers could use new technology to interact with consumers rather than the technical and electronic side to it. So my final outcomes and presentation will have to reflect this. Interaction is quite an integral part so many of the final images will have to show people interacting with my designs, be this 2D images or a short video or 3D animation clearly showing the interaction. Other aspects of the project which will include research, development, blog & multimedia will also have to represented in a very visual way. So perhaps a digital catalogue of all this information will have to be produced.

New Project Idea

(Above are some pages from my note book, these lead to the formation of the below idea. Click on the images to see a larger images)



Located Consumer Media: an investigation into how retailers could use new technology to interact with consumers as they go about their daily lives.

Breif Description of research:

My research will cover a wide range of themes & topic areas covering mainly secondary research to begin with before moving into some primary research as the work begins to develop.

Some of these research areas will include looking at:

• Research papers (on technology, predictions, human interaction, interactive displays, advertising etc)

• Futurologists

• Science fiction ( a look at various mediums and influences)

• Technology magazines and websites

• Discussions by academics (podcasts, interviews etc)


Aims:

By use of the above research, formulate a hypothetical prediction for the future.

Use the aforementioned hypothesis to formulate a range of technologies and techniques that could be implemented by future advertisers and retailers to communicate with consumers.

Develop a range of design ideas and concepts that show how the technologies and techniques would work & look.

Present this visual representation of the future in an appropriate format.


Methods:

The broad scope of the research will require many hours of sifting through a range of different mediums and documents to find relevant and useful information.


The formulation of my own vision of the future will require a level of intellectual strategic foresight which can be accomplished by collating the relevant research .

In the development of my ideas and concepts i will have to have a firm grasp of not only the basics of the technologies but also their potential and evolution.

At the same time I will have to keep a firm grounding in relation to the user involvement and experience of the potential concepts. It is a good idea to keep track and not loose site of the users.

At this stage the final presentation is hard to gage, however I can imagine that the outcomes will be predominantly digital and conceptual in nature so strong images and a possible all digital presentation might be needed.