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The first post is that of an infographic that shows a brainstorming idea coming to fruition, and that is how I see the design leadership final project. It started as a list of ideas, transitioned into one idea, and then, with input from classmates, I was able to widdle it down into a clean, proposed idea: a phone application that restricts certain parts of a phone. Without the input, it would have been much more rough around the edges, and not have covered issues only seen by beta testing (or asking questions).

The top photograph is a shot of EV charging stations in a parking lot. When electric vehicles were initially introduced, there was the main worry of longevity of the batteries, however with charging stations behind implemented more and more, at grocery stores, in parking lots, and at traditional gas stations, it is become more and more a viable option to replace a gas vehicle for shorter distances.

The first photograph is of an outdoors company, Huckberry. I chose this company as one that shows responsibility with design leadership due to it’s clever way of storytelling as a means to sell products. Sincerely, each story is curated and professionally shot to draw the viewer in to know more. They were founded in 2010 with little captial, and from there were able to exponentially grow over the years. By the website, it looks as if not all is made in the USA, but one can filter a search to show all that is. That is a perfect example of design leadership.

    For visual diary # 11 I decided to stick with software and the introduction of Windows 8 by Microsoft in 2012. Windows had been previously known for, and prided itself in, simple, effective user interface that people knew and understood without having to think too much about changing revisions. This was not the case from Windows 7 to 8. The main issue was with leaps and bounds in technology, such as tablets, Windows 8 had a fixed user interface across all mediums. This led to problems, especially in the corporate world, who purchased computers running Windows 8, unbeknownst to these flaws. As someone who has been intimate with user-interface in software, and the making of constant attempts to revise and revise so as to alleviate or at least reduce IT questions from employees, I can say that Windows 10 saved the day.

Visual Diary 10:

    The above photograph is of a well-known Frank Lloyd Wright building, albeit maybe his most iconic. Although it had its own structural flaws that later had to be rebuilt and reinforced, it has sustained as a building molded so naturally camouflaged into nature that one may simply walk past without noticing until a second glance. It sits above a waterfall in Mill Run, Pennsylvania.

     For Module 9 I decided to use graphical analysis found through Google searching between various countries. The parameters included individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, creativity, and others. It was a quick, visual insight into offsets between countries. Studies were performed by one Geert Hofstede in a World Economic Forum Competitiveness report. Characteristics that stood out instantly were: the United States creativity was up nearly double that of China, but beneath Russia. The power distance of Russia was vast, as seen in yellow on the top chart. Individualism of the USA trumped the other countries in the study as well. 

    Although a bit dated in terms of design feats in the last 20th century, modern cruise control was a way for design leaders to alleviate parameters from an existing design so as to push the technological boundaries. The story goes the inventor was frustrated with his lawyer and his erratic driving of increasing and decreasing speeds as a drove and talked, so the modern cruise control was born. From here, jumping to present, Tesla and other car manufacturers are prototyping fully autonomous vehicles with a driver over-ride when necessary. As for the beginning of cruise control, it removed one of many driving variables, or parameters, in a complex system.

    Along the lines of vehicle advancements by design leadership, electronic anti-skid control was introduced in 1983 on a Toyota car. This was once again a design feat of reducing a parameter--sliding into a potential crash--by introducing an electronically controlled detection of wheel traction loss, and compensating for this loss. One statistic from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration claimed one-third of fatal accidents could be prevented by this technology.

    For the seventh visual diary I have found these two wonderful examples of wicked design solutions. There are plenty of lists created on blogs with similar solutions and prototypes, however I felt these two complimented each other well--one is a simple, grocery-oriented color-code for avocados to know typical colors of ripeness while shopping, and the other is an architectural design for a bench that allows one to rotate the cross-members and replace the wet ones with the dry ones beneath. 

    In terms of storytelling mediums--Powerpoint, narrative, video, audio, photography, story-telling, designs of products and services--there are many of these which overlap depending on the medium. For example, the climbing movie Free Solo harnesses a documentary video to tell a story. It is human centered by going into the history of previous climbers attempting similar feats, lifestyles, and relationships within the climbing in a park such as Yosemite.

      In the photograph shown above, two volunteers with Habitat for Humanity are framing up a house in a newer suburb. This was chosen to show the overlap between help and service--the volunteers are helping lower income families in need, however there is also a service being provided of construction work, and, at the end, a house being built. 

Google’s minimal homepage, as well as it’s efficient, human-centered search result, has created a search engine that most go to rather than others. The logo is well-known, and the design strategy and tactic as per the results are built around the people and what they are searching.

At the top:

A rebuilt American infrastructure is a desideratum. President Trump claims a 1 trillion investment for work on the roads and rails. The economy, environment, and mobility of the people will be affected on a national level. Detours must be empathic in design.

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#designintervention #sustainableschema #electricallyholistic #b1bollinger