TED

I found all of the videos I watched very informative. I first watched Paula Scher: Great Design is Serious (not solemn). In this, she talked about how we should be serious, not solemn, with our work. Being serious happens when we are at play and accidents happen that may form an imperfect and flawed product. However, solemn design occurs when something is socially acceptable and 'perfect.' Scher found that the times she has been happiest are when she is creating serious design, for example when she had projects that she was completely unqualified for and was experimenting.
I thought this was a great talk because she really explains how great experimentation is, especially when we are young.

The next video I viewed was by David Carson on Design, Discover, and Humor. His main focus was on looking at the message behind the text or the image, the expression that is felt before you analyze the material. Because design is not a life threatening career, we can experiment, have fun, and put ourselves into the work. Some of my favorite examples were;

1. Cigarette campaign posters: "Cigarettes shrink dicks" if cigarette companies can lie so can we.

2. Restroom symbols

3. Placed an article in dingbats because it was boring


The final video I watched was Don Norman: Three ways that good design makes you happy.
There were three principles that he followed: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. Viewers will subconsciously buy products because for visceral and behavioral reasons. For example, they will buy it for the packaging, not the products itself, or because it makes them feel like they have control. Norman described the reflective category as that little voice inside your head, and people often purchase things for the image it gives off, not because they actually like it.
He also talked about how when you are happy, it is much easier to do out of the box brainstorming and work comes easily. However, because work must be completed, deadlines are set. This deadline acts as fear, affecting how the brain works by making you focus.
His direct example of this was when we have large brainstorming sessions in class and we 'love' everything in the beginning. After that stage however, we start to apply the 'fear.'