Diagrams - mapping and defining my hypothesis

These diagrams are from the first phase of the project where I was mapping the areas that pedomorphosis appears. I was trying to visualizing first the broadness of the phenomenon and second to define the area of my interests. They were very helpful and even if my research has go in many cases in different ways still there are fragments of these diagrams in my final construction of my texts and research.


First diagram: Which disciplines does pedomorphosis affect?



Second diagram: The interdisciplinary of the phenomenon



Third diagram: Tag cloud of pedomorphosis



Fourth diagram: Possible generated hypotheses

Another lecture in Evolution theory in the area of Oslo

Last Friday I had the honour to hear two experts in Evolution theory at the Litteraturhuset in Oslo. Professor Kevin Padian on:"Darwin's Enduring Legacy ... and some enduring myths." and Professor Jon Elster on:"Darwin's impact on the social sciences"
http://www.cees.uio.no/darwin/cees/20-november-2009.html

The first lecture was incredible for one like me that has not depth of the theory. His way of presenting the truth was amazing and as one of the key expert witnesses in the "Intelligent Design trial" Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District in USA in 2005, his speech was sharp, clear and many times humoristic. A truly delightful lecture.

The second lecture became kind of hard for me. I really had problems following his reasoning, which was I think a problem of using an advanced language. He pointed out artefacts somewhere but I really strangled to understand his statement. The session with the questions from the public confirmed that I was not the only one lost in the audience. Still is pretty sad that in the name of an Academic Status we miss the substance of the subject. When he was asked " ... but at the end what is the contribution of Evolution on the social sciences?" he answered " It is enormous, and we have to find it in the directions of emotions and behaviours". Which means that when it comes to product design, probably the right way for someone to go is what Paola Antonelli describes, in the film "Objectified" as the emotional connection of humans with objects.

Graphic Identity of the submited material

From the moment I use this blog as a process diary, I figure out that I have to upload a bunch of things I have done up to that moment, but I am the only one who knows about them. So we start with the graphic identity of the diploma.
I tried to develop a graphic identity closer to my subject. That immediately drove me to a childlike style.
I wanted the overall layout to be flexible, playful, creditable and conscious; playful and flexible as the main reference to the phenomenon of pedomorphosis and creditable and conscious as it is theoretical approach of the phenomenon.

As for the colours I use both in the blog and the final book are following the same principles of playfulness and flexibility. They have been selected carefully and confirmed by the books, interviews and articles of Leatrice Eiseman, Pantone's colour expert. (Eiseman, L. (2000). Pantone guide to communicating with color. Sarasota, Fla., Grafix Press.)

The font I chose Is Helvetica Neue Ltd Std for the printed material. I end up with this font, first because an unofficially poll around Diploma class set off winners Calibri and Helvetica.



Then I saw the flexibility of the two fonts, and Helvetica had more variations than Calibri. Both fonts though I believe they are playful, flexible and same time serious.

As for the web I have use Verdana which is the simplest and more reliable digital font.

TED talks. Why play is important or why Neoteny(pedomorphosis) should be our biological first and last name.

TED Talks ...why we are attractive to cuteness

Finalizing the diploma programming

The procedure for the Diploma in AHO, gives the opportunity to student s to correct almost up to the last moment their diploma programming (which will be the first introduction to the themes for the evaluators). So I took the chance to correct or clarify few things to my diploma programming. The title has already mentioned in the last post. Here I present the final hypothesis the aims and the final methodology.

Hypothesis

I submit that the childlike characteristics often found in product design can be illuminated through the biological phenomenon of pedomorphosis which stands for retention of childlike physical and behavioral traits by grown up humans. What I propose to call pedomorphosis in design (or: making products young) can be explored through focusing on design objects, design intentions, and the personality of designers.

The questions, which a hypothesis like that arise, point three directions:

- How is the phenomenon of pedomorphosis in design related to design objects, design intentions and the personality of designers?

-Why does pedomorphosis in product design exist at all?

-What do the pedomorphic elements stimulate and why is pedomorphosis important to product design?

Aims

The goal of this diploma is to develop in a first level approach to the phenomenon of pedomorphosis in design. It is not aiming to final statements or conclusions. The acquisition of knowledge, data and observations hopefully can be used as a casebook for further personal investigations and also as useful tool for other designers with interest on the topic.

Methodology

I have chosen to work with observations, categorizations, and mapping.
Observation phase will continue during the whole semester with the help of:

- existing bibliography on design product history and morphology
- used as a casebook
- popular journalistic articles
- web search on blogs, forums and websites
- a workshop with design students
- a study trip to Disneyland
- attendance of lectures and seminars on Evolution Theories (if possible in the area of Oslo)

The categorizations of the products will be based on form, color, material, proportions, names and contex, which will be interpreted in analogy with the physical and behavioral pedomorphic traits in humans.

The mapping will consist of the development of pedomorphosis in the general field of design including design objects, the design intentions and the personalities. The mapping aims to present the broadness of the phenomenon

Here it is important to mention that due to the cross disciplinary nature of the phenomenon and the limited time reserved for writing of the Master Thesis, an extensive review of the phenomenon will not be possible and findings and investigations of the other disciplines that involve to the phenomenon will remain on the level of reference.

Changes in the title

I changed the original title of this blog and my thesis title to:

"making products young, or the phenomenon of pedomorphosis in product design: observations and mapping."

The reason why is that I wanted to be understood very easily and connect my diploma with product design direct. I felt that the former title will make the readers to think that I am talking for pedomorphosis itself and not for the analogy between pedomorphosis and design. Hopefully now it is more understandable.

Reflections on an impostor's ideas

This month's Wallpaper* issue has as guest editors Karl Lagerfeld and Philippe Starck. They have been invited to design the cover of the issue and to present in 15 pages their visions of humans' future.
I have to admnit that Starck's vision has delighted me,something that has not happened before with Starck and his ideas.
In his introduction note he declines the role of the "ambassador" of life and he declares his new mission that is nothing than giving the platform he has been given to scientists and people that have something to say. It is amazing to hear that words from the man who put design in the stardom. I hope he will be faithful on his own words and continue the new adventures with the same passion and craziness that have characterized him up to now.
As for me and my diploma, his statement confirms my daring deed to go to design directions that are not the conventional and fashionable ones.
Thank you Mr. Starck!!!

Summing up the last weeks

The last weeks have been a blending of different events and things concerning the project.
First I had to prepare a presentation for the IDE department which was the first public presentation of my diploma. Basically was an internal discussion within the department of what this diploma is about and how it will develop further the next 2 left months. The presentation went well and the comments concerning the presentation and communication of the diploma were pretty significant. Both my supervisor and the institute leader were marking off the need to personalize more the theme and not academizing the theme. It finds me totally agreeing and I think that will help me a lot to walk away from ambigous ideas and statements.
Another event took part this week. On Monday morning I came across with a press release for an event at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters on "Evolution, Culture and Society" , which had just started. I immediately called my supervisor and we simple ran to the Academy. We were lucky and they were nice so we simple joined the seminar without pre-registration. The program was full of interesting lectures and the speakers all around the world with great names on the list.

http://www.dnva.no/nyheter/vis.html?tid=41387

The seminar of course took me away from the desk work, but it was worth it!
It was worth it first because it confirmed my choice to work on a field that I was not expert and I did not have the depth. In this seminar evolution theory and its processes was applied in so different fields from linguistics and game theory to religion theories. That really makes the use of biology as framework to explanation of product design development (and specific this of childlike characteristics) necessary as never before.

The other advantage from this seminar was the fact that I confirmed my suspicious about pedomorphosis and the agenda of evolution biology. In my research the modern references to the term were almost inconsidereble and it is true that is a part of the evolution theory that is not often under investigation or use. Two of the people with who I talked in the seminal, an old psychologist and a biological student, had only a small clue about it. That makes the choice of Montagy's and Gould's books as my primary references unquestioned.




photos by: Professor Jan Michl

Workshop on childlike design with design students at AHO

Last Monday (21.09.09) I held a workshop with the Master's level class of Technoform in AHO.

The workshop was on childlike design and how can we apply the elements that constitute that morphology.

The participants was 18 (4 female- 14 male) and with different ethnical background.

The participants had a variety of chosen design fields (automobiles, furniture, lighting, food related design, urban design, oil-spill related products (sic!), dry cleaner's apparatus)

The workshop lasted approx. 3hours.

The workshop was divided in 4 tasks (2 individual tasks and 2 group tasks):

• Task 1: First application of the 9 words that reference to the morphological characteristics of products (3min per word, approx. 40min)
  
• Task 2: Second application of the 9 words that reference to the sense related qualities (emotions or intellectual) (3min per word, approx. 40min)
  
• Task 3: Description from the teams of forms, materials, colors in relation with the intellectual properties that has been described in the task 2 (10min)
  
• Task 4: Finding 3 existing products that represent these relations and choose the best examples for presentation (10min+ 5min per team for presentation)
  

Task 1: The words the student invited to interpret were small, round, smooth, partial distorted, fragile, light(weight), flexible, stretch, colorless-colorful.

Task 2: The words the student invited to interpret were joyful, energetic, exciting, curious, fantasy-like, playful, friendly, optimistic, fresh, cute, childlike.

The students produced around 320 drawings and 40 mock-ups in clay. There was not a limitation on their choice in tools of representation and they came out with different techniques as collage, small 3d clay models, use of color pens or combination of all the above.

The actual drawings and photos of their models will be on hand this Friday.

The goals of the workshop were:

• To see how the designers unconsciously can apply childlike characteristics to products.
  
• To see how the designers consciously can apply childlike characteristics to products.
  
• To see how ethnical background can combine with the phenomenon and how ethnical background can affect the design process in the concept of pedomorphosis.
  
• To see which fields of product design are more compliant to the intrusion of childlike qualities.
  

The photos are from the workshop in action. Sketches and the rest of material will be uploading when I will have it on my hands.

Thank you guys! You are awesome!

Pedomorphosis, physical deformations and Arts' interpretation

Reading the today's' news I came across with an article for the smallest girl in the whole world.

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/article3278492.ece

By being involved in a subject like pedomorphosis my antennas are very sensitive to these kind of news. Probably because I am hoping to see the word of pedomorphosis to be mentioned somewhere in the articles. In the very begin of the diploma I had found several articles on different physical deformations on human body concerning always the rate of development. It seems to me (and with the minimum medical knowledge) that pedomorphosis has nothing to do with all these deformations. The rate of growth is a totally different mechanism than this of pedomorphosis. All these with the deliberation my insufficient knowledge to the medical issues.

What was interesting from the beginning was the Arts' perception on such kind of themes. There are specific films that they come and go frequently in my mind all this period. Hollywood has work pretty often with aging disorders. Copola's film from 1996 Jack is a great example of a kid turning older faster than normal (in medical terms is called gerontomorphosis and its the opposite of pedomorphosis).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116669/
Another worth noting film is all the "Peter Pan"'s films and as well all the "Alice in Wonderland". (Looking forward to see the new version http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014759/)
A more intellectual interpretation of aging disorder was from Günter Grass at his famous book The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel) which was transfer to cinema in 1979
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078875/
The boy is born with an adult's capacity for thought and perception, he decides never to grow up and stops his physical development at the age of three. He is though sexual maturating and develops an adults behaviour(political decisions). The way Grass has perceived his main character reference exactly to the first observations biologists had made to salamanders and their sexual development while in a immature stage of development.
I will keep my eyes open for more films and books that have worked in these subjects.

Methodology

In a former post for my diploma description I had a quite fuzzy methodology. The only sure thing was that I was intent to see the theme in a holistic approach within always the limits of time.
Re-writing the diploma description has helped me a lot to clarify my methodology and my goals.

"Methodologically speaking, I have chosen to work with observations, mapping and categorizations.

Observations will be take part during the whole semester with the use of

- existent bibliography on design product history and morphology

- popular journalistic articles

- web research on blogs, forums and websites

- a workshop with design students

-a study trip to Disneyland

- trips to National Kunstindustrimuseet and Norsk Folkemuseet (OBOS-gården)

The categorization will be based on form, color, material, proportions, names and context.

The mapping will consist the development of pedomorphosis in possible fields of design and the possible questions that pedomorphosis can arise within these fields. "