Robin Fox

Lastly, the hippies, beatniks...the counterculture...

Per Merriam-Webster, the raw definition of ‘beatnik’ reads:  a young person who was part of a social group in the 1950s and early 1960s that rejected the traditional rules of society and encouraged people to express themselves through art.  

Above is an accurate depiction of the counterculture of the 50s/60s.  The young people of the time were challenging social mores and redefining norms and expectations of the time.  It didn’t all work out well, but I believe that these movement did a lot more good for society than bad.  

This outfit, although a modern depiction of a vintage style expresses a sense of freedom and expression...the exact message that the youth of the time was trying to convey.  Kind of a ‘take me as I am’ message.  

Constructivism originated in Russia, challenging the art of the day, as the philosophy in favor of art as a practice for social purposes, rejecting autonomous art.  Its features often included abstract geometric shapes.  Often, the creation was made of metal and/or glass.  Below are two representations of this period:

These are constructivism inspired lounge chairs.  While incredibly simple in design, they certainly have the attributes of a chair, and would most certainly function well.  I’m not entirely sure of the comfort, though.

This is a building in Russia that depicts the constructivist style.  As you can clearly see, the building is a construct of artistic individuality and defiance. 

Art Deco

This period encompassed ~1920-1935.  It combined fine craftsmenship with modern design and influenced EVERYTHING...clothing, jewelry, furniture, architechture...to name a few.

This art deco piece demonstrates clean lines, and the use of brightly colored gemstones.  

Below, you will see a representation of art deco furniture.  Characteristics of art deco furniture often included textured leather, in unusual, gaudy colors. 

I scoured my home to find ANYTHING that might have had some inspiration from any of the design eras discussed.  I found one thing.  It is a picture that came from my mom’s house after she passed.  I believe the inspiration is from the Romantic Era.  

My house is an old beach house, circa 1925.  It’s really not the kind of house that any of the styles would work well with.  It’s more of a relaxed ‘homey’ environment.  The other end of that is....I can’t decorate to save my neck.  My furnishings are basic, solid and boring.  Having raised my 5 children in this house, there was no room for anything that I would worry about being broken or damaged.  After taking the pics, however, I believe that my living room rug may have an Oriental inspired theme.  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of my boring-ness.   

The Romantic Era, circa 1790-1830

This era was known for it’s depictions of feelings and emotions.  It has a palpable message, and was known for varying subject matter...landscapes, religion, peace, war, etc.   At this time, it was believed that the artist’s imagination dictated the direction of the art...with no influence of ‘artificial’ rules of what art should be.

  Above is an example of Romantic Era art.  ‘Liberty Leading the People’ is a work done by Eugene Delacroix in 1830.  The emotion, movement, and chaos in this work is palpable, as intended.

This is another example of Romanticism.  ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’-a work of John Constable c. 1831

This piece is a soft, peaceful landscape, indicating how versatile this Era was.  

Rococo 

According to Miriam-Webster:  In the 18th century, French artists rebelled against the ponderousness of Baroque style and began to create light, delicate interior decorations, furniture, and architectural elements characterized by fanciful curved asymmetrical forms and elaborate ornamentation. The name of their new style, rococo, has been traced to the French rocaille, a term that evoked the ornamental use of rock and shell forms. In time, rococo was also applied to similarly ornamented and intimate styles of painting and music. But all fashions fade, and by the mid-1800s the rococo style was deemed excessively ornate and out-of-date. Now rococo is often used with mild disdain to describe the overly elaborate.

The top three pics are what most of the cemetery looks like. Very old, but unique tributes to the dearly departed.

This very bold architecture reminds me of the teachings in TMD...EVERYTHING I see relates to the class!!!

For this post, I will be focusing on work space.  While this is not a true depiction of my daily environment (I can’t actually show or draw-I work in a prison-they frown on maps-I don’t look good in orange), it sometimes feels this way, as our work station has never been taken into consideration.  

First...it’s a prison...we have no windows.  What we do have, however, is a fabulous depiction of what Providence used to look like, before the rerouting of the Providence River, facing the desk.  It is a rendering done by one of our former detainees.  While it is nice, it’s not sunlight.  We have obnoxious fluorescent lights looming overhead...pulsating...all day long.  The walls are probably what one would imagine...institutional...butter colored.  Yuck.  A fabulous pairing with the lighting.  But wait, there’s more!  Recently, a muted cranberry was added to the trim for contrast.  Gross.

Now, the nurses station is one desk that hold two computers, side by side, approximately 2.5 feet apart.  There are two desk chairs, far too low for the height of the desk, positioned in front of the computers.  In between, a small file cabinet bearing oodles of forms to fit your needs.  

The area is situated in the middle of everything.  There is no ‘downtime’.  There are officers, detainees, staff, and contractors constantly walking by.  Human nature dictates that most, however, don’t just ‘walk by’....they stop to talk about a myriad of topics.  All the while, you are trying to protect the privacy of the individual on the computer screen.  Quite daunting.  

The Naccarella article (Naccarella, 2016) voices concern regarding work spaces.  It was this article that made me realize that my gripes are legitimate.  Therefore, if I were to employ SCAMPER to this issue, I would choose the R...reverse or rearrange. 

I would try to arrange necessary equipment in a user friendly, well lit (not fluorescent) room, perhaps cordoned off from the rest of the facility.  It would be ideal to have a noise reducing construction, to avoid the common distractions of the prison environment.  I would make sure that the heights of the chairs are conducive to the height of the tables.  Most importantly, I would make sure that no screen is visible to anyone but the user.  I would, however, keep the Providence River landscape in full view of the nurses station, as this is a symbol that our population is human, no matter what the reason is for residing with us.  

I think that this depiction clearly reflects what an ideal nursing station would be for us...

References

First picture...This is my favorite Christmas tablecloth....not because it’s exquisite in any way, not because it was expensive or made from any fine materials....because it was my mom’s.  (That’s her cat that I inherited upon her transition to the next leg of her journey).  My beautiful tablecloth represents a clear use of lines.  Being that I am neurotically trying to keep my house ‘straight’ (not clean...just straight), this tablecloth appeals to me.  Unfortunately, because of it’s linear boldness, I also focus on when it is ‘off’...by about a millimeter.  Thankfully, I have Lillie (cat) to challenge me on my knowledge and appreciation of lines. 

This is my truck.  She and I met in June.  I love her because she is bold...she is fierce and fast.  Her dark color indicates that she is somewhat of a bad-ass (and she is). The dark tint on her windows lends to a sense of mystery.  She is large in stature, with clear lines enveloping her passengers and her motor.  She is no nonsense. She’s perfect.  Her shiny chrome wheels and grill lend to the idea that she is built to sustain the elements.  Her ‘hard exterior’ is complimented by a luxurious interior, which is a welcome contraindication.  I may seem a bit obsessed...but the love for my truck is secondary to my love of writing. :)

If I were to market this to an end-user, I would absolutely focus on the user-friendliness of the product.  The idea that a layman could utilize this piece of equipment (with ease) to save a human life, in my opinion, would be an optimal selling point. 

To describe this device, I would say that this is a lightweight, compact, user friendly device.  It is safe, easy to use, using clear and concise language---simple enough for a child to understand.  The AED comes fully ready for use, with pads stored inside.  All you need to do is turn the machine on, apply the pads as shown on the easy to read diagrams, and follow the prompts.  

If I were to choose six images to convey the importance of this device, I would begin with: 1.  Image of a person in cardiac arrest; 2.  Image of ‘layperson’ coming upon said scene; 3. Image of same layperson identifying the brightly colored AED on the wall and securing it; 4. Image of same person opening AED and seeing pictures to guide him; 5. Image of person applying pads and listening for prompts; 6. Image of victim in recovery position.

Objects that might be especially helpful for demonstration to an audience would be:  CPR dummy to demonstrate possible arrest--to assist in the feeling of an actual emergency, AED trainer to practice ease of use---gives user the opportunity to feel the machine and see how it opens, how the pads are positioned, how the stickers indicate the procedure, to hear the machine and follow the prompts without an actual emergency at hand. CPR ‘cheat sheets’ and barrier masks to hand out so that people who are in attendance feel a bit more secure and prepared in the event of an actual emergency.  

So, if you didn’t already know from my profile, I work in a prison.  That being said, I am unable to photograph my facility or our detainees.  This, however, is a fabulous depiction of what ‘med line’ looks like.  To elaborate, a med cart, topped with a jug of water, drinking cups, and a book of MARs is rolled into each housing unit, twice daily.  The detainees line up, get their cups of water, their meds and carry on with their days.  The problems with this system are numerous.  I will focus on two:  Identification of detainees and legibility of MARs.

As you might imagine, this process is lengthy.  We are a facility of 500+ at this time and have an ever-changing staff (people don’t like to be incarcerated---even ‘on the clock’).  Med line procedures dictate that the nurse/med tech on med line check each ID, and match it to the MAR before administering meds.  Sounds quite obvious, right?  Here’s the issue...there are many people that have similar names....sometimes the same name...and sometimes they live in the same housing unit....ugh.

Now, while the name issue is quite challenging at times, there is also the issue of the half hand-written (by multiple staff---some of us have horrible penmanship), half computer generated (only as good as those entering the orders) MARs.  Needless to say, this can be quite taxing on an employee, as they are trying to ensure they are delivering the right meds, in the right amount, to the right person at the right time.  Oh, yeah, under not so fantastic lighting (save this issue for another post).  

In my opinion, this issue could be solved with automation.  A simple program in which the detainee could scan his badge, subsequently having his name, picture and current meds and allergies appear.  It could drastically reduce the incidence of the wrong person getting meds, or the right person getting the wrong dose or at the wrong time.  A system in which the person is identified and the meds are summoned would, from the SCAMPER model, demonstrate ‘Combine’, as we are taking two tasks and making them one. 

Taking the hierarchy of needs into consideration, our current system is stuck at ‘functionality’ at best.  It doesn’t even climb one rung to ‘reliability’, as the errors are quite common, indicating flaws.

As anticlimactic as this may be in the world of bad design, it was a HUGE source of frustration during this holiday season.  

What you are looking at is the tree stand that I bought (for a great price, I might add).  The problem, you ask???  Functionality....

This stand couldn’t hold a normal sized tree for any reason because it is way too small in circumference at the base.  The piece of wood below it indicates how we decided to solve this debacle.  Mind you, our tree this year was only 5.5′ tall!  The tree, itself, fit quite nicely in the stand, however, it was about as stable as a child learning to walk.  We secured the stand to this larger piece of plywood to give it the larger base that it needed to maintain it’s upright position, while also lending some protection from our calculating cats, who attempted several times to destroy it.