DESIGN COMPETITION XMAS 2014!!!- CALL FOR ENTRIES?-))))

Hello and HNY 2015!!!A4D-D4A declares the design competition, officially OVER. The correct answers to the three questions, are:

A-4.The fabric is an original heavy-weight cotton, monochrome pattern , woven and printed in the 3 primary colors, at the legendary Aigaion Textiles S.A., (in greek :“AΙΓΑΙΟΝ ΚΛΩΣΤΟΥΦΑΝΤΟΥΡΓΙΑ Α.Ε”), Piraeus, Greece, around 1979-80).

 

B-2. In ARTE’s documentary- co-production on HUGO BOSS, Nino Cerruti, proudly talks about his first  long- term collaboration with the German brand, on exporting  the textiles for the famous HB suits, when the company decided to use Italian fabrics in order to go up-market in men’s fashion.

C-4. Ise Gropius, Walter Gropius’ second wife, died on the 9^th of June 1983, 14 years after her husband, architect and founder of the Bauhaus school, in Weimar, Germany.

                                               **************
Hurra!!!A4D-D4A organizes a small design competition, just to say farewell to 2014!!! The winner can choose among  prizes like: 1. A4D-D4A T-shirt  (choice between 2 colors available) 2. A4D-D4A Mug 3. A design publication- a recent title on contemporary design (in English or Greek-again your choice, once you are shortlisted as the Winner of the Competition).

Please think well and choose the right answer to the following 3 questions:

A.Which is the design/manufacturing company of the fabric depicted above (central blog picture) ?
1.(FREDRIKA fabric), IKEA Group, Sweden
2.Textor Textiles, (bed linen) Romania
3.(UNIKKO "poppy" pattern), Marimekko, Finland
4.Other

B.Who is the italian designer- textile manufacturer, who used to export men-suit fabrics to Hugo Boss AG?
1.Brunello Cucinelli
2.Nino Cerruti
3.Ermenegildo Zegna
4.Giorgio Armani

C.When Ise Gropius (born Frank) died?
1.18 May 1883
2.1 March 1897
3.5 of July 1969
4.9 June 1983

Terms and Conditions:
1. Enter the competition by clicking Like  at the A4D-D4A FCBK page: https://www.facebook.com/all4designandbloodymore
2. Post your message on Post to Page, together with your answers!
3. You validate your entry only if you answer correctly all 3 questions!
4. In case of many people answering correctly, there will be a draw and the super Lucky one will be contacted for his/her postal details, in order to mail him/her, his/her choice of prize.
5. Everyone is eligible to join the competition, no matter of age or country.
6. The winner will be announced on the 5th of January 2015, on the A4D-D4A FCBK page and on the http://all4design-design4all.blogspot.gr.

The clock is ticking!!!-)))
Happy Holiday- Brave New Year 2015
A4D-D4A

Shop till you drop …around the globe!!!!

Picture above, clockwise from the top: Professor Astro-Cats book, Air and Space Museum/ Mug, Design Museum/ Neckpiece by Isfrid Siljehaug, Klimt02.net(Current Obsession mug, Fake issue)/L.S.P Tee, Wadada /Arnoldsche publication on Morrocan carpets and modern Art/Children’s pen-toy, Industrial Gas Museum/poster for Spitafields Saturday fashion market/ Knoll- type chair , Design Warehouse. Picture background: Designforeurope portal.

Purchase wisely this Xmas, from trustworthy sources, by investing in…innovation, cultivating your taste, developing your senses and helping out Growth- which is not an abstract term! Design remains an important factor for Growth, so A4D-D4A chooses and proposes carefully, only multi-tested design spaces, shops, portals and companies, where you can start filling that holiday shopping list…around the world!

Museum shops are your best bet, in order to find exceptionally good design in so many categories. A4D-D4A lists the following “leaders” in museum retail:

http://www.2121designsight.jp/en/architecture/  Tokyo, Japan

http://designmuseumshop.com/  London, UK

http://shop.designmuseum.fi/ Helsinki, Finland

http://www.smithsonianstore.com/museum-stores/air-space/?cid=3412&lf=c  Washington DC, USA

https://www.facebook.com/199014420238840/photos/a.202870229853259.50586.199014420238840/494719004001712/?type=1&relevant_count=1  Industrial Gas museum, Athens, Greece

Outdoor markets are huge fun to spend time in, some of them being an important design hub. Here lay the essential design markets, where makers, designers and services co-exist to offer a really unique experience for the buyer/customer/ critic.

http://www.melbournedesignmarket.com.au/home/  Melbourne, Australia

http://www.spitalfields.co.uk/img/saturday-style-market-image.jpg  London, UK

Design portals and networks offer many possibilities, along with valuable information for the local or international industry and market- destined to sellers AND customers. Find out more about design-related -places, sectors, funds, fields, grants, contests, commerce, spots, shops and people on:

http://www.ctdn.co.za/  Cape Town , South Africa

http://opendesignct.com/ Cape Town, South Africa

http://designforeurope.eu/ Public sector portal, EU

http://klimt02.net/ (Jewelry and more), Barcelona, Spain

Books are definitely the most appreciated gifts, but really good books and studies on design, are getting more and more difficult to find, due to their production cost: two publishers are getting their way with the market’s increasing complications, by offering strictly, nothing less than the best, in context and layout, during a great number of years.

http://www.arnoldsche.com/Design/ Stuttgart, Germany

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/titles/art-design San Francisco, USA

Clothing companies with a flair? Too many out there , but only a couple pioneering an avant-garde design approach, regarding visual communication, graphics and illustration  techniques. So lucky if you get an inspired T-Shirt from Santa, especially if it comes from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCE_z_2HIuk  Wadada, London, UK

http://www.chunkclothing.com/  London, UK

Design merchants rise in different corners of the planet and design capitals- traditional or new- exchange ideas and shift powers, at the dawn of a new economic era. A4D-D4A concludes this summary of where-to-buy-what- it’s-design-worthy- with a town , famous, not only for its natural beauty but  for its status as a “Key” player, for international creative arts, crafts and design. 

A last stop, a last shop, thousands of Km away from our familiar territories…” on the other side of the water”… Santa Fe.

http://www.designwarehousesantafe.com  private merchant-shop, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

A4D-D4A wishes you a very Merry Holiday!!!!

 

  

SANTA IS COMING EARLY-ON, TO A4D-D4A…: Marinos Marinou;-))

 PICTURE ABOVE: A4D-D4A LOVES GOOD FOOD. EDIBLE, VINTAGE “KOOKY “GRAPHICS BY MARINOS MARINOU. A4D-ELICIOUS!!!!

Marinos  Marinou, is an Art director, illustrator, graphic designer, visual artist and creative pastry chef. Larger than life, he throws some of his magic sparkle by answering quintessential design-questions, explaining some secret equations of the actual design world.

All4design-design4all: All these years of your work as an Art director, you “switched” many times your canvas from traditional press and illustration-oriented/ sketch-on-paper, techniques, to other areas, such as exhibition design, sculpture, scenography, wall jewelry, even  creative pastry. Do you believe that a good designer gains more valuable experience through cross-platform experimentation?

Marinos Marinou: I always have been an active graphic designer, a “restless spirit”, as far it concerns investigating new techniques and experimenting with materials. That helped me to take the first step on this fantastic journey, one I could never imagine. I discover something that it never feels like work. I always say that I make a living out of my hobby. I want my work to connect with people on an emotional level which is what I think most effective and lasting. I usually work on numerous ideas at once for the same project, getting progressively more experimental as I go along. The process of each project generates a number of possible ideas , using various techniques and encourage me to think outside the box to come up with creative and innovative solutions. I enjoy working on anything I haven’t tried before, coming up against a new challenge. This is how I get able to speak visually and emotionally to a variety of audiences. A designer could be a great one, by discovering his own “strength”  in a field,  either this is typography or image-making or both, when he develops his ability to communicate that by experimentation cause there are so many different visual aspects on each direction. That’s why the term Visual Communication is also used currently for graphic design.
 
A4D-D4A: Magazines and the paper media in general, got seriously hammered by the economic crisis. Web-zines of every kind rise up through their dynamic sites ,i-pad versions etc. What are the most  important  aspects of an on-line mag, in order to be “design” appreciated-, or “design” successful?

M.M: The advantage of technology is that the number of digital media available continues to increase. And that brings new possibilities and challenges to design. It’s completely different from the print media because you have to design and build an interactive relationship between the application and the user – the latter having the ability to choose the content he/she receives. New media design has the same principles as the traditional design except you have to communicate messages across different platforms.  I believe that the most successful aspect is to find a way to be more memorable, more unique and effective. The way on-line media is produced today homogenized the overall result , so it makes weak, easy to forget, with less impact. Good design in Social media can also work well in order to produce desired and effective results. It’s largely an untapped area. People watch closely all kinds of information. From various events, politics, new products, fashion,  gossip and so on, I believe the design can play a bigger and more effective role in this. As any other area ,in the on-line magazines you have to stand out from the crowd . Design can help you achieve that because by creating a great layout, a great “packaging”, you attract people to come and visit your site.

A4D-D4A: Cyprus is a small country, with a reasonably large creative community- despite the country’s size- who is thriving quietly the last 25 years. What’ s the secret behind such an evolution in design services , on Cypriot ground? Which other design markets, globally, you think worth noticing, and in which countries?

M.M: As you rightly point out ,Cyprus is a small country. People are closer to each other and closer to nature. We can be in 5 minutes out in the countryside or down at the beach. We are not lost in the chaos of a big city. We are able to show all these influences from our surroundings as well as the strong influences from different cultures passed through the years from our island, into our lives, our culture, our arts and of course our design and be more creative. The way we live and the fact that most of the designers went abroad developing their skills and  knowledge, helped the design industry to make a strong statement in such a small country. So I believe the way of life stays an important reason that a large creative community exists in Cyprus.
The last few years creative agencies in Greece are acclaimed in Europe or internationally, their course being  remarkable:  “Beetroot”, “Mnp”, “Bob Studio”, “K2design”, “Mousegraphics” and so many others. Also the contemporary Scandinavian design is characterized by simplicity, minimalism and functionality, especially agencies and designers from Denmark and Sweden. Of course, my first influences since I studied in the U.K, came from Britain, which is the “birthplace” of some great graphic designers worldwide.

A4D-D4A: What do you think is the biggest challenge for a young designer today?

M.M: The new generation of designers gives very promising signs. The economic crisis that emerged globally is one of the biggest challenges for a young designer today. There are fewer chances for a young designer finding a job or even given the chance to show his work. They have to work twice as hard to find ways to stand out and be noticed. More and more design agencies are closing down and that makes it even more difficult. Also technology moves so fast as I mentioned  earlier so young people need to stay always updated of what is going on in the market and find a way to propose something new -find the right moment and make their move into the industry.

A4D-D4A : You have a vast knowledge from so many design fields, you’ve experienced so many cultural and political changes, studying abroad, and working eventually in your homeland…What’s your biggest wish for the design industry, in the forthcoming years?

M.M: My wish is of course to overcome the economic crisis , so more and more agencies open their doors to enthusiastic designers ready to give fresh, new and unexpected ideas and qualities, which are eventually the seeds of new design proposals.

(Note: Marinos Marinou is also a qualified Graphic Arts professor in secondary education and member of OLTEK (Technical Education Association of Cyprus).

More of Marino’s work as an Art Director and some of his numerous, previous  and current projects, on:

www.sigmatv.com 

www.cityfreepress.com.cy

www.ilovestyle.com 

https://www.facebook.com/marinos.marinou

Marino, many thanks!

 

GEOTHINK : SPATIAL THINKING is the future in design education?

 Picture above:  http://www.geothnk.eu

GEOTHNK is an educational platform/model,  helping knowledge flourishing . It’s moto?”Semantic pathways for building a spatially- thinking society”. It is associated with the  Inquiry Based model for Life-long learning, which is based on creating scripts, questions, problems and missions, through  investigation and a-“revealing-discovering things” approach.
Spatial thinking is the ability to relate concepts with space, so to comprehend the basic human equations between those two notions. Spatial thinking is fundamental for students to understand natural  and mathematical sciences, but also more abstract/indirect terms, developing   senses and sensibilities and eventually reasoning things, cultivating  their logic and imagination.

SPATIAL THINKING: Slightly altered;-)) educational pathway, illustrating the association of related terms, in a lesson that could be in Climate, Geography,  Architecture/Urban Planning or even Design! (picture  from presentation of Cartography Lab OntoGEO, Athens Polytechnic ).

The aim of this community is to support educators to  develop innovative pathways that can help learners to use geospatial concepts , in order to understand , concepts, problems, phenomena, techniques, stories from different domains, not only Geography, but also Social Sciences, Mathematics, Environment, History, Art,  etc. The GEOTHNK model is adoptable to about, any field , discipline or attempt of associating any type of knowledge.

Join the GEOTHNK community in the ODS portal!!!!!: http://portal.opendiscoveryspace.eu/community/geothink-community-400866

Special thanks to: Research and Development Department ,Ellinogermaniki Agogi , Cartography Lab OntoGEO, Athens Polytechnic (National Technical University of Athens, for all the information provided at their organized GEOTHNK seminar, on the 20th of October, at the  Eugenides Foundation, Athens, Greece.

3 MEGA- POSTS on: DESIGN THINKING CHILD-LIKE METHOD, IMPROVING DESIGN EDUCATION and XLAB 2014!

 Picture bellow: XLAB-SEGD

1.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soren-petersen/does-child-like-thinking_b_6071942.html
Soren Ingomar Petersen, president at Ingomar & Ingomar Consulting, and his article on Huffington Post, about producing innovative designs by following the ways children think.

2.http://www.designweek.co.uk/industry-voice/design-education-what-needs-to-be-done/3039274.article
Rob Curedale, Design director and educator, publishes on Design Week his latest evaluation about changes and improvements on the existing design educational curriculum/system.

3.https://segd.org/2014xlab
Grab that late-evening flight to New York for this year's XLab. Great speakers and overall experience- Xlab explores the latest thinking from designers who are using digital technology to create compelling customer experiences that link people to places.
..."Buildings that communicate, spaces that interact, surfaces that communicate, spaces that rack your every move. Cookie anyone? How will you market in the new digitally enabled environment?"...,
Clive Roux, CEO at SEGD (Society for Experiential Graphic Design).

Joyful design thinking!

A4D-D4A

TOP LIGHTS: a key-selection, plus: the BEST PLACES to always discover more amazing lighting design!

Design is discovery, poetry, method, technique, innovation, humanism. Light is a fundamental component of our existence, our living, our world. A4D-D4A selects few lighting designers-inventors, who infused with ingenuity the world of creative lighting design, the last 50 years.


By strictly chronological order:

Vico Magistretti, Eclissa lamp, 1965, Artemide, (photo by www.flickr.com).

Ingo Maurer, Lucellino lamp, 1992, (photo by www.ingo-maurer.com).

Hella Jongerius, Blizzard lamp, 2002, JongeriusLab, (photo by www.jongeriuslab.com).

Yves Béhar, Inner Light lamp, 2004, (photo  www.pininterest.com).

Lindsay Adelman, Ceres hanging light, 2011, (photo by www.lindsayadelman.com).

Only1Led bulps, lamps  and lights, 2012, http://www.only-1-led.com.

 

Jeff Dah Yue Shi, Led Bamboo, 2012, (http://vimeo.com/34075507).

Noted lighting design fairs and international exhibitions :
 http://www.design-lighting.jp/en/
http://guangzhou-international-lighting-exhibition.hk.messefrankfurt.com/guangzhou/en/for-visitors/welcome.html

Museum exhibitions and catalogs: Lightopia, Vitra Museum, Germany (2014), http://www.design-museum.de/en/exhibitions/detailseiten/lightopia.html

Enjoy the  wonder list, inspire and lighten up your day!!!


ETSY Intellectual Property report: The complete image.

Makers' ever so famous portal, Etsy.com, presents on it's blog a comprehensive guide, about intellectual property rights, do's and dont's, basic traps about sellers-designers-makers, legal advice and small details we usually ignore about the "rules" of creativity, when trading original craft-work on the internet, (or even outside the world wide web). Very useful and simple, helps to really undestand what's going on.
https://blog.etsy.com/en/2014/intellectual-property-infringement-essential-facts/?ref=etsy_success

LIGHTING DESIGN TRIBUTE THIS OCTOBER: Ingo Maurer, Ariane Mnouchkine and the WillyDilly lamp anecdote.

 Picture above: WillyDilly pendant-lamp (image source: flickr.com)

October continues as the month for lighting design in A4D-D4A.  Ariane Mnouchkine’ play MEFISTO, -her adaptation of the novel by Klaus Mann-  is coming up, in the Greek National Theatre. The connection with pioneer lighting master Ingo Maurer and the creation of his famous design WillyDilly, lies an afternoon, down in a dark restaurant in Munich. Ariane Mnouchkine visited the premises with her theatre group, and I.Maurer, lighted the moment, with a spontaneous, friendly gesture: he folded a sheet of paper, fastened with a peg….WillyDilly was born, to stay and define the lighting design history. Unpredictable, poetic, precise about his craft and diverse enough to obtain an amazing lighting result from his many constructions over the years, Ingo Maurer remains a passionate designer at his 82 years of age.

More light on: www.ingo-maurer.com/

 

CEO at UX designer, Director & Creative Consultant at Tape Interactive - the norwegian “enfant terrible”*, on-line media designer and entrepreneur Ronny Ellefsen, reveals some key aspects from the real design-battleground.

 *(:a usually young and successful person who is strikingly unorthodox, innovative, or avant-garde,  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enfant%20terrible)

Αll4design-design4All: Socio-economical turbulence in Europe and USA, applied major changes in countries' economies and local businesses. From your experience all these years of work in communication/new media design, which are the most vertical changes in your practice, due to the crisis?

Ronny Ellefsen: I’m an independent-user-experience designer and when the crisis started, I was living in London where the market was hit pretty hard. At the time I was working a lot on Government funded projects, which did continue after being halted for several months until a better grasp of the situation was reached. In 2011, I moved to Switzerland which saw a very different scene. However, as an expatriate, it did take some time to work my way into getting the contracts. Switzerland has managed to stay afloat, as most of Europe struggled through difficult times.

 A4D-D4A: Scandinavian design tradition continues to be something like, “beans on toast” of the design world- a comforting , familiar and secure choice we all tend to go back to. Problems do occur though, with other, more recent markets, coming up and declare a new supremacy in ideas, materials, execution,  prices. How big it's the challenge for north and central Europe's design legacy, to compete Brazil, China, South Africa etc?

R.E: First of all, having lived abroad for many years, I’m also at times shocked at the prices charged in Scandinavia. However, I think in many ways the advantage you have in Scandinavian design is the quality and the focus on developing something that will last for a long time. Growing up in harsh weather conditions, you don’t want to have to make something more than once, if you can avoid it. But, Scandinavians don’t have the patent on quality and endurance, and I for one, welcome the challenge from the rest of the world. I just hope that it will keep Scandinavian design on it’s toes to carry on the quality, but to find better, more cost-effective ways of production.

A4D-D4A:. Do you find that academic education remains important for a designer or he/she is better without it?

R.E: In my view, education is gold, but experience is almost as important. However, one without the other, will create an imbalance. Some designers though, are “naturals” and just have an eye for composition without quite knowing why something works. However, these are far and few between. Knowing your craft, I think, is very much down to your academic education paired with field experience.

A4D-D4A: What is the most important lesson you've learned as a professional designer and entrepreneur-the absolute cliché, proved to be the absolute truth or rule?

R.E: Well, as an entrepreneur I’ve learned never to give up. As a designer, I’ve learned that a big part of my job is to listen to what the client say they want, and then try to utilise that knowledge, not just to give them what they want, but to steer them in the direction that I want.

A4D-D4A: Can you give us your favourite design projects or designers, productions, applications, that you discovered recently? Anything you would advise a young designer or student to check it out?

R.E: Ever since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated by energy; particularly the way it transfers, but never disappears. These days I keep a close eye on Elon Musk’s projects utilising the potential of energy. (note: Elon Reeve Musk is a South Africa-born, Canadian- American business magnate, inventor and investor. He is the CEO/ chief product architect of Tesla Motors and  the designer of a conceptual high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop). As an entrepreneur, rather than excepting that an electric car couldn’t be made cost effectively, he questioned the origins of each component, and found an over all better way to put together an electric car. (On a side note, in Norway Tesla is actually  much cheaper than most petrol cars due to the low taxes on electric cars).

(A4D-D4A: On that Ronny’s  last remark , the government  policies in certain countries like Norway, motivate financially civilians so they  purchase eco-friendly design, among other possible choices.)

Ronny, we warmly thank you !

Check  more of Ronny’s ventures and portfolio on the following sites:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/rellefsen

http://tapeinteractive.com/

http://www.yoproglobal.org/

http://www.eypglobal.com/the-community-project.html

INTERIORS AND BEYOND: THE MATERIAL WORLD OF LEDA V. - at Hadjikyriakos Ghikas Gallery, Benaki Museum Annex, ATH, GR

Objects, artefacts and images, in this Scarlet Chamber Of Secrets of cult figure Leda Vardinogianni. A Swan was only missing, to underline her urban myth and uncompromising taste;-))) Bravo Benaki, once again you stir those Exhibition design- waters!

See bellow some pics and - even better go and visit- for one more week the exhibition is on...

DESIGN MUSEUM, LONDON, Unveils Master- Architect: LOUIS KAHN (1901-1974)

http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/louis-kahn-the-power-of-architecture

Louis Kahn, on Design Museum, London, until the 12th of October 2014. DM is thinking really big this time!

TOP DESIGN UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD (is there such a thing?)

Picture  from: http://www.archdaily.com/465420/europe-s-top-100-schools-of-architecture-and-design/52cff944e8e44e30c800010f_europe-s-top-100-schools-of-architecture-and-design_europe_guide-jpg/

Check the lists bellow (for Europe, US and the World)  and jump to your own conclusions, just before the  current academic year kickstarts:
http://www.di.net/articles/big-shifts-in-design-school-rankings-for-2013/
http://digitaledition.domusweb.it/domus/books/131201domus/#/30/

"MOM-DAD, I WANNA BE A DESIGNER!" : THE STEINER-WALDORF EDUCATION APPROACH

Scientist + Artist = (Designer maybe Superhero or BOTH???). Steiner schools enhance creativity, synthetic thinking, decisiveness, responsible attitude, teamwork and prepare children emotionally and practically for contemporary world's new challenges.
My first time encounter with a Steiner School student, goes back to 2001, when I had to train a young girl, called Maria (half Japanese- half British), to promote her family's imported products of legendary Clearspring foods. Maria had a super extra-aptitude to learning, yet she was calm, composed and totally unstressed, for a teenager at his first job. I was so impressed and in the beginning I thought it was a matter of character, culture ( due to her dual upbringing), or even coincidental. Then Maria explained to me that in her school, children were not surrounded by plastic objects, only by eco-friendly materials, and that the basic subjects (maths, language, science, geography), were delivered through a unique "creative workshop"- like experience, enriched with experiments, games, social practice and outdoor activities.
I started getting more information on the matter and checking regularly the Steiner-Waldorf institutions, only to realize soon enough the academic accomplishments of the pupils, but also the success on the "Human Factor" : It seems that you get happy kids coming out from a Steiner school, after all, growing up to happy people, no matter life's later difficulties.
What was most surprising, the system to teach a subject in a Steiner school- any subject at all- from grammar to climate- was based on experiential exercises- assignments, leading to projects- an educational technique, very similar to the  Bauhaus preliminary design workshops, held by Josef Albers. A huge difference, compared to traditional teaching methods, a huge change, when it comes to results, in motivation, essential productivity, social accommodation, proven self-rewarding excellence and personal development.

[CHECK THEM OUT- A PARENT OR NOT- A DESIGNER OR A TEACHER- AN ATHLETE OR AN ACCOUNTANT- A LEFT-WING OR A TORY -IT IS AN AWAKENING]:
The European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education website:http://www.ecswe.net/  with important details on the European Waldorf  Diploma EWD)  http://www.ecswe.net/certification/ewd/ and all sorts of updates and news, on the Steiner educational curriculum.

All pictures,  are stills from the amazing video:
http://www.ecswe.net/light-in-the-darkness/ >>>> http://vimeo.com/58751788
Light in the Darkness: A New Perspective on the Media in the Waldorf Schools , produced by Prof. Eugene Schwartz.        
To hear a lecture given to Waldorf parents on this subject, visit d.pr/a/Fpyk
For more information about Waldorf education, visit millennialchild.com

Many thanks to Shedia Streetpaper, www.shedia.gr , Athens, Greece, which published a full article on "School Democracies", including Steiner School lists and websites, on their September issue!!! (still out in the streets of Athens, if you are around paying us a visit;-)))

HappyTime 4AR(ie)d: Bernhard Rieder, is giving away a good deal of all you wanted to know about contemporary digital culture- in association to new media design- and you were just afraid to ask!

Bernhard Rieder is Associate Professor of New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

While still in Paris, he was co-responsible for an MA program in interaction and web design, concluding his Phd research on the social and political dimension of information processing. His background as a web developer, researcher, educator, together with his recent, current position in teaching Media theory, in the university’s Media studies department, (:faculty of Humanities), compose a unique line of experience and flair. Digital communication, society, design, the  information age, issues and problems: here are some basic facts and figures, explained thoroughly, yet effectively by Bernhard Rieder.

Picture above from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/silvertje/7535118470/

Α4D-D4A: We were at the multimedia rush, back in the beginning of the noughties (2000), when we heard that access to digital (personal) data will be maximized , through a common server, running through your (digital) TV, laptop AND mobile phone. Today cloud computing is finally here, how this reality affects the design of new media apps?

Bernhard Rieder: Well, I’ve been a bit out of the loop concerning the latest design practices, but one of the realities is certainly that the necessity to work for different screen sizes and interaction paradigms requires quite a lot of very concrete thinking about device-specific interaction patterns and a lot of highly abstract thinking about how to coordinate between devices, synching data, and so forth. My impression is that design is becoming less about specific technical requirements (including graphical work) - a lot of people can use Photoshop or write some code and outsourcing has become commonplace - and more about what you could call "activity design”, which moves from what happens on a specific screen to the question what people are doing, or what they could be doing. Besides its technical dimension, the cloud is about allowing activity patterns to move from one screen to the next. Apple’s continuity project is a recent example, but so many programs now have a website, desktop app, mobile app, etc. and what holds it together is not a particular interface or design paradigm, but an activity or service. This means that designers need to be concerned with questions that were traditionally asked in the humanities and social sciences.

Α4D-D4A: What is the most common clashes you experience in young peoples debates, during your sessions, regarding computer design?( For instance, the eternal conflict between web designers and web developers always occurs, even in an academic environment like yours?)

B.R: When I taught design or development some years ago, I found that this opposition was beginning to slowly fade away, even if it was slower than what I would have liked. But some of the best designers were beginning to get pretty good at coding, which really also fed back into their design practice.

Α4D-D4A:You once mentioned that you should need NO more than 3 clicks to navigate through an application, in order to reach a function-result, otherwise this app’s interface is extremely inadequate (you used another word but that’s classified info ;-). Have you changed your mind? Do you have any favourite apps , today, that you use regularly?

B.R: It’s of course an overstatement and the slavish following of some usability mantras can really be detrimental to creativity. But what I still like very much about these ideas is that users are not there for the purpose of your app or website. They have their own lives and ideas and struggles and neither the time nor the inclination to learn a badly designed or complicated interface. Things have been getting better, but in particular in Europe, we’ve had so many examples of really badly designed stuff where usability was not of any concern that something like the three click rule had its place. But it’s clear that interface design, in particular, has done enormous strides since mobile appeared and when the activity orientation I mentioned above really kicked in.

Concerning favorite apps, I love the distraction-free writing trend that started some years ago. Stuff like Ulysses on the Mac is really such a boon to writers. I’m still waiting for something to make the email avalanche more bearable, though.

Α4D-D4A: Energy, climate, supplies, science, space, economy, design. Notions that are changing dramatically, succumbing to the necessities of the crisis era. As a programmer, professor and digerati, can you define the most important stakes, regarding the making of the future digital media?

B.R: That’s a big one. My main worry is that complexity in all areas is growing, but our willingness to adequately deal with it is not. By that I mean first of all that the attractiveness of the quick fix, the slogan, the hip shot diagnosis, or the fast thinking is growing rather than diminishing. Things have to go fast and there is little time for introspection and deep deliberation. But most relevant problems today are not only complex in the sense that they have many different components, but also because they have complicated histories and engage increasingly diverse people and ideas. That means that we would actually need a lot of time to unpack the problem, to hear each other out, and to think through a number of lines - and there’s rarely time for that. In my research area, which basically concerns the political dimension of information processing, the people concerned with critique or policy have rarely a robust understanding of technology and the technologists are oblivious to the political dimension of their work. They come together in research projects or conferences and I constantly hear one group complaining about the other - if only the computer scientists were more open, if only the social scientists were less vague, etc. Understanding the other’s ideas not only takes willingness, but years of exchange and the time to learn about sometimes fundamentally different ways of looking at the world. But since everybody is so busy, exchange risks becoming superficial, petty, and thus ultimately frustrating. It’s maybe a naive wish, but I hope that we’ll be able to pause a bit more, to take a bit more time, and maybe to become a bit more prudent.

Α4D-D4A: A kid/young person comes to you, asking your advice; he/she wants to be a hypermedia architect, a designer of intelligent digital systems. Which steps he/she should follow, to realise this, and to overachieve?

B.R: Go broad. With things like codecademy, stack overflow, etc. there’s really no excuse any more to not learn how to code, at least a little. Maybe you won’t become a developer, but at least you’ll be able to be part of a productive conversation about technical specs. And if you have a more technical background, go to the museum, look at a design magazine, read a novel, see a play. You’ll maybe never become an artist, but you’ll hopefully develop a wider appreciation of culture and human diversity. There is nothing more depressing than hearing from somebody in the first sentence of a conversation what they are *not*. To both I’d say to stay up to date on digital culture - there are so many great sites out there that do quality reporting on stuff from gadgets to NSA spying and that’s the larger context every designer or developer now works in.

Α4D-D4A: Thanks so much for your time Bernhard!

Enjoy more of Bernhard Rieder’s  views, ventures, articles and research on:

http://thepoliticsofsystems.net | http://rieder.polsys.net | https://www.digitalmethods.net | @RiederB