#lorilong

The second project, Over Time I get Used to Everything and Start Taking it for Granted, is a series of photos taken throughout New York City in places Sagmeister had never been to before. Because of these unique stops, he could not take them for granted. Among various other things, Sagmeister swam in the Hudson River at 6:00 a.m. with letters painted on his chest, marking a word on a dirty cop car and hanging out the window of a thirtieth floor window holding a sign until the police and fire trucks arrive. At this point in the story, he narrowly misses being arrested.       After reading several other booklets, I realized that Sagmeister tells a story through type, photography and video (accessed online). At times he will share the story or journal entry to explain what the project was. This part comes at different times in these small booklets. Sometimes they are at the end and other times they are in the middle. Never does he tell the story before the viewer can see part of the project. This seems to help pull you through the images. Some of the images that are not as interesting end up having the explanation in the middle. This makes the reader want to see what happens after. Sagmeister plans things for his work and does not worry about repercussions. This is probably why we see his work as so cutting edge. People are scared to do what he does. He seems to live like a 20-year-old boy still with ideas that are surprising. The most interesting part of his stories is how he gets to the idea. All of his ideas seem to come from his journals or things that keep him up at night. As a designer that keeps trying to write a daily journal, which seems like a great source to get encouragement.

Before reading this book, I thought I could imagine the process Industrial Designers go through when working on a project. Now I know a more detailed version of it. The next night after reading the book, I found myself trying to figure out how to stuff chicken breasts the best way possible from this perspective. It was refreshing to have a new point of view.

Of the 3 exploration headings, Aisthetika, Punk Manufacturing, Love and Fetish, I chose to focus on Aisthetika. Aisthetika are things that we perceive through our senses, most often a unique combination of the senses. There are other less obvious senses as well that are considered too. Smell is the strongest sense and most often left out of Industrial Design. Smell is also the sense that helps us remember. A single smell can take you back to the day when you were hanging out with your grandma. It could be the smell of cut grass the day you skinned your knee, or it could be just the way your best friend’s house smelled. There are also the less acknowledged senses. The senses of time, humor, style, balance and rhythm.

As a graphic designer, I usually only focus on sight, maybe sometimes sound as well, by playing with the way the title is said. Other than that, I never think about how something feels, tastes or smells. Going through the experiments, I found myself thinking if this would be possible for my work. Could I make a poster that released a scent as someone walks by that also has a texture? Maybe cut grass?

The first experiment the designers did was making a printer less noisy. Some people hate the sound of printers, so they want to simplify the sense of sound. They figured that they could cover it in felt. They decided to take one sense that was annoying and add another one that could be more enjoyable. The designers go through many steps of changing the thickness of the felt, figuring out how to make the ink accessible and how the paper would feed through a drawer.

I was confused during the middle of this process. It seems like they just got started making experiments without trying to figure out all the aspects that needed to be designed. It seems like it would make more sense for them to start listing all the aspects that needed to be considered. I tried to think about using this macro to micro process that let itself unfold but it seems like it was not well thought out. Surprisingly, they ended up over designing the printer cover until the corners looked weird and had to go back a couple of steps. This may have happened because they did not brainstorm very much until after they started. At the same time, this macro to micro process sounds freeing and may be worth trying occasionally.

In another experiment, a doorbell sprayed a specific scent for each person that rang it and came into the house. Reading about this experiment made me think about how much smell really does mean to me. In the book they said, “It smells like the postman and lavender.” What a peculiar way to identify someone with an essential oil. There is a stereotype that all hippies smell like patchouli oil to the point that it is overwhelming. Now we want to positively label our friends and family with jasmine, basil and lemon.

Reading this book has helped me open my eyes to other disciplines in design. Although I probably could have a scent in a poster and a texture, I would never have thought of it without an Industrial Designer’s point of view. I can see how each failed experiment contributed to the success of another, that each experiment is worth the time. Something that I have been thinking lately, which is mentioned in the text: Design is stuck on a known path to an expected result. Being a designer is not about getting to the same place with different means. It is about getting to a different place. My next question is, how does that poster with a scent and texture become digital?