Derrius' Blog

My initial reaction after reading the New York Times article about the chief design officer for Nike is that I am surprised at the amount of work that he manages to get done. It seems like he does not work that much, but he is still able to manage 1,000 workers. It is even more amazing to see the position he is in despite having dyslexia. In fact, using his disability to his advantage exemplifies the amount of drive and passion he probably has.

In Neil’s Diffrient’s 2002 Ted Talk, he talks about his chair that he has designed himself. The thing I  find interesting is that when thinking about the the design of the chair, he does not put focus on it’s aesthetic and physical appearance. He focuses on the human aspect of the chair and how people would interface with it. One thing he learned with some humans is that some don’t ever touch the levers and buttons on a chair to adjust it. He took that aspect into consideration and designed a simple chair that doesn’t need much manual adjusting at all. Streamlining comfortability for users that don’t take the time to read directions or guides is really a brilliant idea that, I bet, wasn’t an easy task.

I feel the article "How to Ruin a Great Design," by Alice Rawsthorn, brings up a good point about what great design can do. Her use of real life examples also helps serve the point she makes. Rawsthorn's main point is that bad design takes away what good design can bring. She writes, "Crimes against design are different. They deprive us of the joy of great design, by wrecking or replacing it." My favorite example she uses is the comparison of the old UPS logo versus the new UPS logo. I personally had to look it up and see the differences for myself since there were no images on the article. But I was able to connect with what she was talking about and saw that the new UPS logo is worse compared to the original. The newer logo looks more bland leaving you sort of dissatisfied if you compare them side by side. I think that is what bad design accomplishes, leaving you let-down and unsatisfied.