Interesting Links for 10-9-2011

[andrewducker]

• Why Is Average IQ Higher in Some Places?
  (tags: intelligence disease)
• Using Settlers of Catan to illustrate the difficulties of climate negotiations
  (tags: globalwarming SettlersOfCatan politics games)
• Good Design is as Little Design as Possible - the gorgeous work of Dieter Rams
  (tags: design architecture inspiration art)
• Possibly the finest 404 on the internet
  (tags: video funny internet 404)
• Sistine Chapel as a quicktime thingy you can scroll about. Shiny. Must visit in person sometime.
  (tags: architecture religion michelangelo vatican art interactive)
• North London supply teacher made Somalian Deputy Prime Minister. I'd love to know why...
  (tags: teachers london somalia politics wtf)

Comments

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

thanks for the Dieter Rams link - excellent stuff. It's pretty damned nice to see that philosophy in action, not least as a Johnny Ive fan [yup. The influence is very obvious]

those rules are something I shall endeavour to follow - and indeed more or less did with that car park design. I wish more product designers would. It really is amazing how many things are made with an absurd quantity of unnecessary guff tagged on

It needs to be clarified that the final rule - which you emphasise - relates to knowing what to leave out, rather than underdesigning. I think this is something that's going to be a lot more prominent in years to come.

interestingly, the German judgement in Apple vs Samsung more or less states that copying someone else's design does *not* count as innovation. Using the very curious 'stifling' argument isn't going to work.

[cybik.livejournal.com]

I disagree with "as little as possible". I believe in "as little as needed", which is not the same thing. I love Modernism (Mies van der Rohe said "less is more, which I think is a better way of saying "don't do too much to your design, don't overload it"), but I absolutely do not want to live in a Modernist white box. I like the British Arts and Crafts houses, which allow for more decoration but take influence from the (comfortable) vernacular and also from Japanese design which allows for empty space with designs.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

I would largely agree with you there, but for the slight ambiguity the wording introduces.

to me, 'possible' means you strip it down to what is absolutely necessary for the thing to work and function in a full, comfortable and useful way.

'needed' introduces the factor of 'what if...', which is when you start adding things that don't especially need to be there.

the really important factor here is that people who eventually use products will add the things that *they* need or want, and it should be easy for them to do that [as an integral part of the design]. In other words, what you design isn't what people will use, it's the base product around which users will create their own experience - just as with a couch you add cushions, with a laptop you download Chrome. Those things don't have to be in the product design. The design just has to be the best possible place to want to add them.


hmm. In re-reading your comment I'm pretty sure we totally agree on this.
Words....

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

by oc-incidence "Dieter Rams Pocket Radio" is a rather good musician (one man band as it were) who has just come to my attention