Reading Reflection Chapters 1-3

              In this blog I wanted to focus on the eco-effectiveness chapter, this chapter opens with a comparison of three books. The first is a typical bookstore book, which is printed on beautiful quality paper with nice bright ink, including a beautifully colored jacket and sturdy cardboard cover. One might think it is a biodegradable product, but it is not. Instead, the paper contains chlorine in every aspect of production, so it adds toxic chlorine to the environment when recycled. In addition, printing inks, even soy inks, are toxic when they break down. An electronic book is an option which is now being discovered. However, there is another option.              In the natural world, systems replenish each other, as with the cherry tree. It is a cradle-to-cradle model, because even when things die, they provide a clean, natural environment for new life. Early nomads and early agriculture follow a similar model. Certain cultures, such as Rome, turn away from this model and deplete the landscape with tree-felling and nonsustaining agriculture. The same things happen when great cities arise in America, when the surrounding farmlands are depleted. Soon "nutrients," such as food and other raw materials, become transferred from localities instead of remaining local. Agriculture becomes industrialized, but this threatens the soil as well as adding toxins to the local environments.

Illegal Art

 Business and Legal Issues...Hmm..I found this weeks course topics very interesting. Especially because the legal aspect of any ideas has a lot to do with many products, innovations, or even songs that are played on the radio. I sometimes think that many people do forget that I live in a "copyright" society. And many people don't realize that most of the activities that we do everyday may be "illegal". Sounds scary right. But after watching the RiP! A Remix Manifesto documentary I made the realization of how much illegal activity that many of takes place in. But honestly, to me, it isnt illegal at all. To people like me, downloading a song, or even viewing a slide show with a popular song is doing something wrong. When I got into my car after class I looked at all of the CD's that I created with my random jams and mixes on there and began thinking what would have I done if I was one of those people who was accused of this crime?..Each song wants a certain amount of money and a percentage here, and percentage there...and those fines started adding up! Okay, so off the whole illegal thing. The other thing that caught my attention was the fact that Disney is one crazy company when it comes to their money and I have made the decision that if I ever had to go up against them, that I wouldnt. Simply because they'll do exactly what they have done before, lie, steal, and cheat their way to get up and stay up. While keeping one foot on you, when youre on the ground and taking the money out of your pockets, cutting open your head and taking your brain so they can take any other ideas that you may have...

Finally the 2nd Book

I dont know about everyone else but I was kind of tired of Heskett's rambling on about EVERYTHING...I know this guy knows what he is talking about but my goodness if someone could take the elements about design and shove it down your throat it would be him...Onto Cradle to Cradle...
In the introduction of this book is questioning the common and most essential items that we use in our home. It was kind of disburbing how he pointed out the different items are full of unwanted chemicals that we would like to come in contact with. As I continued to read, I came to a conclusion that this guy is the kind of "reduce, reycle, and reuse" kind of guys. So when I read that this book was made out of synthetic paper I was surprised but couldnt help to check out the different features (as in the bind and the texture of the pages)...He also gave us a some background information about himself and how his life was different compared to living in the states. I do feel that as a nation that we are "trying" but this isnt trying hard enough...the question is what can we learn and make the states more energy efficient?!?

50 Things: A Trip to the Grocery Store...Meijer

So as I was walking around and felt almost completely clueless STILL about if I was doing this assignment right...so this is what I got.

1. Grocery carts to the left..all are blue
2. Produce is to my right
3. Women's clothing is towards the center of the store
4. Sale items are towards the middle of the grocery area
5. All super bowl items were towards the front
6. Valentines cards were towards the children's toy section
7. There were labels above each section (e.i Home Entertainment, Produce)
8. I heard the voice of the self check out lane
9. All international foods were grouped together
10. All beer brands are grouped together
11. The milk in the dairy aisle was "ranked" by Fat Free, 1%, 2%...so on and so on)
12. The sales were placed below the items in yellow
13. The candies were grouped together by color and type...(reds...chocolates..)
14. Gargantuan Grocery Carts ( those annoying carts with the little tv and cars)
15. I saw people wondering around...trying to figure out that one thing they are forgetting
16. I hear a child throwing a temper tantrum in fruit snack aisle
17. I see a person blocking the wine aisle
18. A kid on those damn wheely shoes
19. The 10 for 10 deal...or shall i say trick
20. Fricking signs...are everywhere
21. There is always that one person who doesnt have enough money and has to choose between alcohol or bread...
22. Carts with bum wheels
23. Not so private pin pads for your ATM card
24. A lot of darn lanes closed
25. Mean cashiers
26. Check out holder-upers...there is always someone who takes forever to checkout
27. Frosty Freezers
28. Pharmacy is towards the back
29. Mens products are on the left
30. Womens products are on the right
31. Shaving cream and razors are grouped together
32. Toothbrush and toothpaste grouped together
33. Shampoo and Conditioner grouped together
34. Hand Soap, Body Soap, And dish detergent are in different aisles...(what? its all soap right..just kidding)
35. Bank is close to the lottery area...bet your life savings...:-)
36. I see people shopping in there pjs...
37. AntiBacterial wipes near grocery carts
38. food that is already cut up is more expensive
39. all of the kids foods are placed towards the bottoms of the shelves
40. All the pet stuff is at the back
41. Flat screen tvs are all on display
42. Dirty shelves
43. All herbs grouped together
44. Service Desk
45. tortilla chips and salsa grouped together
46. All salad toppings and dressings together
47. fizzy drinks
48. energy drinks
49. double doors
50. exit sign

Essentials of Color...

This weeks assignment was kind of cool. I was able take a time to walk around the grocery store and look at the area and space in somewhat different aspect. Even though some of my observations could be seen all the time. But there was things that I noticed that I never noticed before..some I forgot to mention..(I wanted to ensure that I had the 50 things). Like one of the things I noticed is that the milk was in "ranking" from fat free, to 1%, to 2%...so on and so on. But what I noticed was that other things of the "Meijer" brand were all color coded so that everyone could automatically identify what milk is what. Red for whole milk and a faint Pink for fat free. That brings me to one of our lectures that we had about the essentials of color. The grocery store is full of color that can affect you mood. For example...You have Coca Cola that has that vibrant Red, white, also grey in their able. If you were to look at the label one can take that the company wants you to feel sexy drinking their drink (red), also feel complete drinking this drink, free of thirst (white), then the security that your money is going towards a drink that is right for you (grey). I think you can easily break down the some, not all of the design strategies of Coca Cola and other products. I really was interested in color especially because I did that survey on how color affects mood. So this is the subject tthat I chose to reflect on.

Hunting Down Design

The Barcelona Chair designed by Mies van der Rohe, 1929. This chair was considered an icon of modernism, the chair's design was inspired by the campaign and folding chairs of ancient times. The original frame was initaially designed to be bolded to gether, but was redesigned in 1950 using stainless steel, which allowed the frame to be formed by a seamless piece of metal, giving it a smoother appearance.

 The chair I chose was the Red and Blue Chair by Gerrit Reitveld, 1918 and I am reading is The Urban Design Magazine. The red back piece acts as the spine of the chair and all the "limbs" are connected. The sloping back blue seat and there are also arms and legs. Reitveld view aestics over function (uncomfortable, but looked good). The design concept were influenced by Piet Mondrian, geometric ordering of space derived from cubishm and the use of retilinear designs of Frank Lloyd White. 



The Wexner Center is a very interesting building. (Grids, grids, grids,) A lot of geometric shapes all around. The most interesting aspect of the building would have to be the towers that are located on the south side of the building. The are used to allude the old armory, which was demolished by fire in 1958. (looked that fact up) The tower is fragmented, suggesting that the past cannot realy be understood.

(towers depicted below)

The Thompson Library! This library has undergone more nips, tucks and enhancements than an aging beauty queen trying to hang onto ther youth. A $108.7 million dollar renovation. This building orginally opened in 1913, and during this renovation there was a technological additions and many other upgrades to meet the 21st century needs. The project alone involved approximately 11 years of planning, 27 months of contruction, and nearly 570,000 man hours!!

The Science and Engineering building. The front hearkens back to the Johnson/Burgee's much earlier bulding with a loggia. (Loggia is a word, orignally of Italian design. It is used to describe the open-sided roof or vaulted gallery, either free standing or along the front side of a building, often at at an upper level)..I learned a new word, to extend my vocabulary..yes!! (feature pictured below) I thought

                                                                                     the design was very interesting and gave the building

                                                                                     a very vintage look. Shows how the city of

                                                                                     Columbus is a melting pot for many cultures.



                                    My partners were Meng_C and Rachel_T...We all had equal parts in doing this assignment. We all took photos of each other on my phone. We also were all able to find the answers to the clues fairly quickly.

Course Reflection

This week of lecture was very interesting. What I found most informative is how people take a basic concept of like, a wheelchair, and can make many changes to where a person who would never have the ability to walk again, and give that right to them back. That got me thinking about other inventions that could take place or can give someone with an handicap something back, for example maybe someone will create goggles that can give a blind person the ability to see, and can give that person a sense of independence back. I thought the assignments due this week like the found faces and the scavenger hunt was pretty fun and gave us a chance as classmates to introduce ourselves to one another...and honestly even though it was fricking cold I actually enjoyed myself.