As Far As I Can Tell

This morning I helped out Roberto, a Ph.D. candidate at the Illinois Institute of Design with some research he was doing. It was a sort of ethnographic study of people’s work environments, which I analyzed with another woman. He was basically studying us, and attempting to develop new theories on the uses of data analysis in the design process. It was pretty interesting, and I got paid $45, so all around it was worth it.

I’ve been considering graduate school more lately, specifically the Institute of Design. The programs I’m looking at would re–enforce the part of my education that I feel is too self taught. Things like interaction design, information architecture, usability, etc. I’m not interested in a masters program that focuses on just formal design issues; I feel like my undergraduate studies were really good in that regard.

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I don’t like Michael Graves. He’s just another one of those people who goes into design because they feel like they can’t make any money in art. He even brags about it in the video on his website. So you don’t want to be an engineer Mike? Maybe that’s because you don’t give a shit how things work as long as they’re your signature color of blue with your actual signature stamped on them too.

The problem with this type of design that is being touted by Target these days is that it tends to emphasis only the visual. Sure, it’s transparent plastic and makes your kitchen all match, but does it work? It gives design a bad name, and ends up creating a market where soap dishes are fashion statements.

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So I have a cat, her name is Birdie. I like her a lot, which surprises me a little. She’s lazy and paws at my belly with her claws like she’s milking it.