Learning something in 2013 for your resolutions?

Have you thought about how technology will impact upon that learning process?

When I first started learning French, some twenty years ago I had access to a teacher during lesson time, books in the library and cassettes for listening comprehension. Some tv programmes were available but were difficult to get hold of. Maybe I could have video taped them and watched them at some other time, but let's face it, this was a faff on.

Leap forward to 2013 and we can see how learning has changed. Essa Academy is at the forefront of student interaction technology, having issued every child and teacher with an ipad. The upshot? No heavy books for the kids to lug around, instant feedback from teachers during the lessons and a reduction in the photocopying bill of some £65,000.

See the BBC video here ...

…and an older but more comprehensive video showing the school's 'enabling' ethos headed by the Principal, Showk Badat.

New tech roundup from the BBC

Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups vie for attention

California's Silicon Valley has done much to earn its reputation as the world's leading technology hub.

This article covers new tech start-up products the self-balancing motorbike, the anticipatory chat app and the $10,000 coffee machine. Are these guys on the right track? Check out the article here: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19655627

David Hockney pushes boundaries of art creation

It's wonderful to see an established artist tinkering at the edges of technology to create their art. David Hockney's ipad exhibition shows off his ipad created 'paintings' and talks intelligently about how he feels that throughout art history embracing new media has always been the case.

The following video shows a different exhibition in Canada, still by Hockney, but this time using screens to display the artwork which calls for a different appreciation. The gallery is dark and the artwork is lit and as Hockney says offers a different "luminosity" to the work.



Here's the ROM's Hockney exhibition link: http://www.rom.on.ca/hockney/

After seeing this series of videos I wondered what the technology was like and what level of detail it could actually achieve. Here is a painting by a different artist showing a high level of detail using the 'Brushes' app…




In addition there's a whole suite of brushes and stylus pens to use with this sort of program:
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/02/26/5-stylus-pens-and-brushes-perfect-for-ipad-artists/

I need to get painting again. Now, though, with light!

Mathieu Lehanneur's science based designs

Mathieu Lehanneur's talk for TED highlights some really fundamental principles of design. Is it colour theory? Typography? Is it perhaps the socio-economic impact of design?

Nope.

It's even more fundamental than that. It's about being human.

At a martial arts seminar once I heard a Systema guru speaking about styles and how to effectively make the techniques work. "Do you think this move is more like the crane style of kung fu or tiger style?" (referring to the idea that fighting systems have evolved after emulating certain animals in their habitat). The head honcho snorted and said, "Humans shouldn't need to imitate animals they should concentrate on being human".

In a similar way Lehanneur states in his opening part of this lecture how important science is to him: the science of being human because therein lies the answer to design solutions. He says,

"Science helps us understand how we see, how we hear, how we breathe, how our brain can inform or mislead us.

It's a great tool for me to understand what could be our real needs.

Marketing people have never been able to do that.

Marketing reduces things. Marketing simplifies.

Marketing creates user groups.

Scientists admit complexity, admits fluctuation and uniqueness."

Understanding how we perceive and interact with our world is essential for designing products or communications. What I find intriguing about his approach is that he looks at the real essence of the problem. Often designers talk about solving problems but really just create a make-over or 'paint it up' to look pretty (and in fairness often clients want this as a solution rather than any deep searching study into what is really needed!). This guy at least looks at the very heart of the problem and works in deep thought into the solution. Designing isn't about drawing pretty pictures it's about solving problems. Drawing helps us communicate ideas. Problem solution is about thinking. It's about seeing how we are as humans.

Design should be business led not technology led

I was having a grumble with a developer friend of mine the other day as we pored over the designs that a creative agency had sent over. We couldn't understand how they could quite blatantly have ridden rough shod over our technical and functional spec whilst designing their concepts! I mean do they realise how difficult it is to implement this design!?

Problem was- the design was spot on. Focus groups of client customers were happy, client was happy: it did the job perfectly. So the developer and I got on with it: tweaking the technology to make it reflect the design. Pushing the boundaries of our expertise in order to fulfil this website. And that's the way it should be!

Visual design in the business environment or commercial visual communications rarely exists to satisfy its own needs. Design can't be led by the technology we use at the moment. If that were the case we'd be riding around in wooden cars. (That's a gag). We have to push technology to fulfil the marketing objectives of (in this case) a website. And of course the marketing objectives are set by the business goals. Design is a function of a business: it has to earn its keep.

So designers of the world unite in your efforts to create websites that look great in their role of doing a good business task. You have nothing to lose but developers who give you grief!

:-)