Design Sojourn | Strategic Industrial Design Blog

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At the fork, we turned left off the beaten track and into the unknown. A brand new design sojourn.

Sigh.

Ah well, all i can say, is that its the suck! Its was one server reset + 2 reinstallations of wordpress. Now i have two more reinstallations of wordpress AND setting up of a sub domain to add to my list.

Walking off the beaten track, is really hazardous i tell you…but as they say “who moved my cheese?”
Apolgies to my friends who left comments: diana, niblettes, rajblades and a few others that I have forgotten (its 12am). Your comments were lost in the last reset/reinstall.

Again please bear with me, this sojourn off the beaten track is really really tough and long…

Haha, how many of you have more than one blog? I actually have 3! One here, one at Xanga and one at 1up.com. Updating them is a nightmare. Just to much to write. I cant decide if i should just focus on one, or just update all at the same time as invariably they will all contain the same information. I wonder what i should do…

The interesting thing is the internet and technology in general allows the power to the people, the power to choose, and the power of information for everyone (the great equalizer) and for the power of expression. This is technology’s promise of democratizing society.

But with so many people online it has become so diverse, how do we know what is good and what is not? That’s where “Collective Intelligence” (Time, Nov 14, Pg 40) comes in. How do I know what is a good blog or what is not? Many sites like Google, Flickr, tomorrow.sg and del.icio.us, sort out the noise and filter up to the surface the links more commonly viewed by people on the assumption that more commonly viewed = good.

But interestingly enough, as we become more global and diverse we can yet be more insular. Look at online dating (Time, Nov 14, Pg 41), and membership only discussion forums, we can now pick and choose who we want to talk to.

Such “homogeneous clustering” of interests groups that are popping all over the place, is a common thing in society. High class fashion shows vs. middle class soccer games ring a bell? But on the internet, if you have an interest in say “life-like human dolls”, you can find like minded individual and support groups so you will not feel out of place. The great thing as Malcolm Gladwell said:

“…there are many different clusters being created all at once, and the overall effect can be to increase diversity but there are 10 me’s (clusters).” (Time, Nov 14, pg 41)

Every body’s multi-sided personality can now come out and be embraced one at a time!

Design Translator the Designer

Design Translator the Gamer

Design Translator the Painter

Design Translator the Novelist

Design Translator the Film critic

So i guess my multiple personality is somewhat justified!

Arrgh! I am truly having a hard time trying to design this blog. After running a blog at xanga.com for a bit, I realize that at Blogspot I have to be a robot. I have to learn to read HTML code. But I not a robot, so I cant. What I don’t get is why can’t Blogspot create a site has a point and click system like Xanga? Then I realized, it’s about control and more specifically control of content.

At Xanga, its all point and click and html formatted, it’s pretty easy to beautify your blog and put up nice little pictures and stuff. You can also change colors of your title blocks and what naught. But what is the nett effect? You get a blog that has ad banners, and unwanted links all over the place. Of cause the premium (pay) section of xanga minuses all the nastiness, and you get extra space for pictures etc. But I like to compare apples to apples as blogspot is free.

Check out my Xanga site for more information on what I mean: http://www.xanga.com/Acornanvil

I think this leads to a much bigger scenario on the web and with internet access. There is a lot of talk about the “post PC era”. A utopia where we can connect to the internet without the PC “middle man”. So when designing such direct to internet products, the question is:

“How much control do you give a user so that he gets the best experience possible when using your product?”

Do I want a TV that can connect to the internet, but the thing I can do is surf and read selected content? So simple that I can navigate from my remote control but this means I can’t even email or choose the websites that I want?

Do I want an internet radio that has a preset list of internet stations when at the end of the day I can hunt for much more on the computer?

Do I want a Nintendo DS that can provide me a gaming experience so streamlined that the only thing I can do is play the game and get out? I cant even “chat” nor interact with other players in anyway? (More on my Nintendo DS online experience next.)

The more streamlined a product is, the less control you have and the more control the product’s maker has on you.

On a smaller local level, at blogspot I have an awful experience setting up and designing my site when compared to xanga.

But I realize I am a control freak and I’m sure as there are others as well.

This leads me to think this is really about the end user. “Who” really is your target market? In today’s Design and Innovation credos about ignoring user focus groups to design the next innovative products or focusing on targets markets makes us optimizers not innovators, I am finding more and more situations where understanding the target market and user still holds true.

I believe it’s the idea that is innovative, an idea that does not come out of a focus group or a target market study. But how this idea transform to a usable tangible experience, that’s where understanding your target consumer and how he/she will use this product that will make this idea/concept a success.

Nice little rant, but my problem still stands with blogspot, well I guess at the end of the day I need to find my way around the google way.