Prototyping and storytelling, two things that I never thought doing before. When you prototype you basically think through every possible outcome, whether it be something that is realistic or a real far out concept. This process allows you to pick and pull Or add and subtract different elements that will ultimately effect the outcome. Prototyping does take some time at doing but it leads to the best possible solution when it’s all said and done. When designing you can pick and choose Images that may help or distract your users from the main message. When you have the entire concept done, it allows you to work much faster when you finally sit down and begin to work on your design project.

Storytelling helps you sell your final decision. Using a story versus numbers or statistics can really motivate or captivate an audience. They will become more involved or gain more personal interest when telling a story. Often times when a story is told, the listener will imagine how he or she may react or get involved with said thing. The listener is also more compelled when stories are told.

Using both of these methods can create better design outcomes and allow your designs to get approved/sold!

Is what we see really what we get? As Marco Polo is walking around, he discovers that he might be seeing things slightly different then others. Me, being the only one of my friends that is a designer, tend to see things differently (or look at them differently rather) . I see something graphic and instantly shot out the name of the typeface used or say what’s graphically wrong with it, or as them what they think about. Most of the time they say it’s dull but gets the message across where I may interpret it completely different. Other times I may get one meaning from something (maybe because I look/thinking harder to them into things) and they will get something completely different. With that being said Marco Polo is realizing that he is seeing things different.

Do not be fooled by my interpretation of the reading, I still have the same feelings for it as I did last week. Was still a slow read for me and most of the time I had to double back to try to grasp the concept of what was actually going on.

I didn’t get to visual record (take pictures) some of issues or discovers I found while walking in the city but instead took a lot of mental notes.

One thing I hate about going to Philadelphia is toll prices. It seems like every year they go up, and I’ve yet seen my toll dollars at work!

Couldn’t keep count of the many times I tripped (but did not fall) or walked around huge puddles or cracks on the side walk. Not to mention how many pot holes I came in contact with (i think some of them were out to get me).

I also lost track of the amount of times I had to circle the block in search of parking, then when you can’t find street parking you have to go to a parking lot and pay whatever fee they decide to charge you for the day. (I try not to drive there on the weekends because that’s when parking cost the most).

If my reaction time wasn’t as good as it was I would have probably been in a few accidents and killed a few people. Cars decide to cut you off at the most random times and no pedestrians, you don’t always have the right away.

To the people out there with feed me signs… be honest, you really want money for liquor - just admit it! On a different note it was kind of sad seeing the amount of people who were living on the streets (aka the homeless) I debated whether or not to ask them what went wrong in there life. If it was a homeless guy asking you for some spare change, it was a promoter trying to solicit you (dude can’t you see I’m having a conversation with a friend)

On a lighter note, there’s tons of beautiful and interesting looking morals and sculptures to help beautiful the city…though for every piece of artwork, there was what seemed like 10x as much trash on the ground.

I’m sure I forgot something…oh yes…the housing there. The conditions of the apartment buildings were an eye soar. That and the amount of abandoned buildings is insane!

Silly me, I started reading pages 26-59 and could not fathom how following the 9 building blocks of a business could help us when designing or brainstorming ideas. I found it to be a very interesting read that I could relate to but could not see a design to business connection. Half way through the reading something told me to check the syllabus, duh the two didn’t relate because that’s not the section we were supposed to read.

Let me start by saying I saved the best read for last, I found Business Model Generation to be useful in several ways. Since I run several businesses it teaches a clever way to sit down at a table and brainstorm multiple ideas on how to better or start a business. The same method of brainstorming can be using when creating a graphic. Jot down several problems or issues you see in a product, a store or really anything. Choose which issue may have the most benefit or rewards for coming up with a solution/product. Then comes phase two of coming up with the ways to solve the issue and then again, choose the most ideal solution. Create a timeline or storyboard, and start working on acheiving your goal!

The way to tell stories or make Post It notes using visuals vs words is a method I wouldn’t have ever thought to use but see the benefits of taking notes that way. This method of thinking seems like it allows more discussion and for the problem to be viewed at all angles. “What if” is good question for brainstorming,

weemsdesign:

Well, what can i say about this reading so far. These are posts about how we feel and how we interpret our readings and other things we encounter. I will say that I was not a fan of what I read so far. Im not saying that the reading was not well written or any good, just personally it was not…

I too felt like this was not an interesting read. There were parts that were somewhat entertaining but for the most part I could not stay focused as I was reading Invisible Cities. I felt like the words should have been invisible because I gained nothing from this reading.

I was extremely confused when reading the Invisible Cities. At first I thought it was different passages or journal entries made by several voyagers. Then I decided to think more abstract and thought maybe the author traveled through the cities while on an acid trip. Needless to say this reading did not hit home with me nor did I understand it’s purpose. The author had a lot of sentences that kind of ran into each other when he was describing the cities or actions like the following blurb from Thin Cities 1 “newly arrived and totally ignorant of the Levantine languages, Marco Polo could express himself only gestures, leaps, cries of wonder and of horror, animal barkings or hootings, or with objects he took from his knapsack—ostrich plumes, pea-shooters, quartzes—which he arranged in front of him like a chessmen”. The sentence makes perfect sense but is to long to keep my attention. I found my self reading then rereading each of the passages and still had a hard time recalling what I had just read. Not sure if I had trouble because of the sentence structure or the content matter.

I wonder how many more of these I can find in The city if brotherly love.

I’m not sure what’s worst, traffic or parking while driving in the city.