Halfway Through and Moving Forward
Welcome back from Spring Break with another edition of Ted Tuesday. This week featured the words of Rogier van der Heide speaking on the functions and concerns of light in our lives and the importance of the interplay between light and darkness.
The comparison of sunlight to artificial lighting is of particular intrigue as you consider how artificial lighting constrains, forces, and unifies the world we have created for ourselves. There was a time, after all, when people lived and worked by the cycles of the sun – at sunset your work was over for the day. And yet now we take our artificial lighting with us everywhere, extending our days as long as possible into the night until fatigue forces us to sleep (or just to drink more caffeine). In this sense light becomes seen as a source of productive hours rather than health and healing.
James Turrell was brought up in the following discussion as an artist whose work focuses on light as it pierces through darkness.
James Turrell. Roden Crater.
James Turrell. Sky Pesher. Walker Art Museum.
His open spaces bring a sense of peace and meditation when the viewer sits in the dark to experience and focus on the light that extends inward. But it is the duality of existence between light and dark that makes this calm possible – alone darkness can bring tension and anxiety of the unknown, and the over-stimulation of light (especially artificial light) can be harsh and wearying after extended hours.
It reminds me of a coworker who once complained about the fluorescent lights required in her basement level office until she was able to replace them with a softer, more ambient lamp. Her daily headaches have stopped, and her office really is now the nicest in the building.
Onwards Towards New Projects
As always, though, class moves on, and since we wrapped up the team design projects before break, it was time to dig into a new topic. The project this time: design a website. And remember:
The user is your guide.
and
The content is the focus.
Each of us was to choose any topic for a site that we felt well versed in explaining and exploring. What are your hobbies? Your interests? What do you want to spend your time talking about?
After a good deal of frustrating brain wracking, I ended up choosing jewelry design – a site focused on providing information, advice, and interaction to potential jewelry designers looking to begin selling their work out in the world. As a jewelry buyer for a retail store, I’ve seen a lot of amazing work:
laser cut architectural earrings by Molly M. Designs
cranberry bronze cast necklace by Silver Seasons
recycled and interchangeable lockets by Olive Bites Studio
as well as a lot of not so great work and designers with really bad price points, technical skills, and selling abilities. So let’s make a site to give people some of that quick user guide info up front! Or just some inspiration and awareness as to who the competition is out there.
But There’s Always a Twist
In the real world, you don’t usually get to design for yourself. So partner up and trade sites. Each of us is now a client – and my jewelry site is now in Annie’s capable designer hands. I provide her the content and information on the topic, and she makes the whole thing look gorgeous.
So What’s Next?
We whipped up content outlines for our designers in class (hopefully), so each designer needs a working site map ready for Thursday.
And review UX chapter 6 as we’ll be needing user research options too.
This time through, the weekly Thursday quiz will feature the only the Krug book: chapters 10, 11, and 12.
And a very special guest speaker for the night – Nick Zdon – so have your questions ready!
Principles of Usability 
