SIGNALS
"If you wish to understand the universe, think of energy, frequency, and vibration" -Nicola Tesla
At the core, design is concerned with the manipulation of matter. Ā Because design lives in the physical world, signals, which require transmission through a physical medium, play a powerful, although mostly invisible, role in the discipline. Ā Sounds, vibrations, data, radio waves, light, and communication are all types of signals which carry information and energy.
If I think about the objects and systems I interact with between getting out of bed and going to work: A thermos, a microwave, lightbulbs, the internet, the San Francisco transit system; they're all seemingly mundane but have signals as part of their core function. Ā All objects can be looked at from the perspective of signals, waves, and energy.
The thermos insulates my coffee from my hands so the vibrations of its molecules (or heat) don't transfer to my hand and burn my. Ā It insulates the coffee from the air so it dosn't transfer as much energy to the atmosphere and make my cold and gross.
Microwaves create high frequency waves that spin the molecules in my breakfast causing them to heat. Ā Lightbulbs radiate photons in a broad range of wavelengths and frequencies.Ā
By definition, signals are used to transmit information. Ā The internet, a system for distributing information is itself a signal processor.
Even transit system is an amalgamation of all forms of signals. Ā The sound of announcements, the data distribution required to communicate schedules to passengers, vibrations in the tracks, the radio communications used to coordinate drivers, the lights of the train, and people's conversations and body language all come together to help me get from my house to work.
Even an undocumented, hand-made wooden table from the 1800s, has little relationship to the age of the internet, has a resonant frequency which can be used to amplify sounds or measured to learn about the table's material properties, mass, and dimensions. Ā (SeeĀ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yaqUI4b974Ā for a demo)
Signals permeate everything and connect all matter through frequency. Ā If signals play such a large role in the build world, you can see how the study of signals plays a major roe. Ā What is less obvious, is why the science of signals is often overlooked in the design process and design education in general. Ā
In upcoming articles, we'll look more in depth at each of the signal category's relationship to design and add more categories as we continue our explorations.
