Making products young,

Diploma interview

2010-05-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

It has been some time without posting anything new for the diploma. It was time for some vacations and some re-organizing of my life with the new status "master student waiting evaluation and looking for job". Finally the time has come for the evaluation. On Wednesday is one of the two big days for this diploma. I will have my personal interview with the committee ( 3 people, in my case designers of different fields). The procedure ( as I have already mention in another post) of my school AHO is probably very different compare to other universities all around world. I have first to have a "close" interview with the committee, then one of the members of the committee has to read the thesis in detail, and in two weeks from now I will have a second shorter and "open" presentation, where the committee has to make clarify questions. In that presentation I can defend my thesis in case they have not understand it ( or parts of it), in addition my supervisors and anyone else involved or not in the project is eligible to question or participate and support the project.

For the interview I have to prepare a 15-20 min presentation with the most essential parts of my thesis. As it is not a classical "industrial design" project I have decided to do it in the form of "lecture" aiming to the best understanding first of pedomorphosis in humans and then the extension of pedomorphosis in design. The second "open" presentation will be a short version of the first.

In addition with the whole process, I am going to participate (not with a paper, as I the final paper deadline was the same date with my diploma submission) in the 9th Nordcode seminar in Hiak. I hope to have the chance to speak with some other people on my subject and get after that into serious work for writing a paper out of the diploma.

:)

Final diagram and explanation of the thesis

2010-03-26T05:24:00.000-07:00

As a last post for this blog before I submit my diploma I would like to present a diagram that I made as an overall explanation of the thesis (in terms of methodology), where one can get a glimpse of what I have done up to now and where the future investigation can be focused.

As for the actual thesis, with findings, diagrams, study cases I will try to reserve the confidentiality status of my school. Though I know that will be really hard. I probably will participate in some design seminars the next months around the time of my evaluation, so I do not know what it will happened. Whether I publish in few days or months, please stay in tune and visit the blog from time to time in case anything new pop-up. Thank you!

Workshop and why I did not use it

2010-03-26T05:07:00.000-07:00

Back in September I held a workshop, you can see the following link the details
http://paedomorphosisindesign.blogspot.com/2009/09/workshop-on-childlike-design-with.html

During the thesis i had to do some slightly changes of the exploration directions. There are few reasons for that with most strong the fact that I had to build first a good base on the biological phenomenon which will allow me to examine in depth further the phenomenon. I tried though to give a number of possible explanations in all the promising exploitative directions but I consciously left outside the main Thesis book the market framework and the historical analysis of the phenomenon.
I consider the workshop related to the market framework and thus it has been left it out. The material though of the workshop will be available to the evaluating committee.

Disneyland

2010-03-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

Back to September I did a study trip to Disneyland, Paris. I did not manage to write my experience here, so now few hours before I submit my diploma comes a short post on Disneyland ( they will be couple of late posts today)

In September my supervisor advised me to visit Disneyland, Paris as a part of my thesis. I was lucky because that was coincide with a visit to Paris for a friends' wedding. In the begin I could not see any connections why this visit to Disneyland would be relevant with my thesis, and this thought was in my mind until the moment I entered the park. I was there early in the morning, the moment the park opened its doors and the moment the party began, a party that no one had ever prepared me for. People were hoping, running and screaming, a constant loud music with childish reedy voices, colors sprang up from everywhere , and a scenography that was immediately transferring you in an old American road with view to the pink castle of Sleeping Beauty. The only way to escape one from this hullabaloo was to let himself be part of it. And so I did.

One of the most interesting parts of the park is Fantasyland. The place is distinguished from the rest of the park by the use of colors and signs. The color palette varies from primary bright tones to more festive tones. The signs have used a handmade font referring to childlike writing. The elements of granting roofs, balconies, doors and windows are all designed with a fairy-tale patina. The materials in most of the attractions are original ones and only in places where it demands better durability and efficiency they have fake the original materials.

What I realized in Fantasyland and general in Disneyland, is that there one can find the inner child of himself. I really can argue that place is not direct for children but for adults who are or want to be children themselves. On the other hand I do not forget that this was a personal utopia of Walt Disney. I think that what Walt Disney was apart of a charismatic storyteller (from the 2D with cartoons to 3D with his theme park) was a growing young man. It seems that his capacities of imagination, creativity, playfulness, wonder, explorativeness. sense of humor, enthusiasm, joyfulness, and optimism were high developed. In that sense there are few connections with pedomorphosis in general: one is the theme parks both designed as childlike and designed for the ultimate regression to childhood for the audience, and the second Walt Disney himself as an example of growing young adult.

I finish the post with the most annoying, lovely, fun and famous rides of the park. "It's a small world"

Last findings-readings

2010-03-06T14:49:00.000-08:00

As the thesis is taking its final form I have come up with some very interesting and the same time encouraging (for my own research process) articles. These articles have introduce me to scientific analytic tools that I was seeking for long time ago and I was unable to reach.
The International Journal of Design
gave me a very good insight to analytic tools like Principal Components Analysis and other kind of study measures concerning emotions, responses and products. That also made me evaluate my up to now research findings. The approaches I decided to follow was empirical ones and during the whole process I try to build them as much as scientifically I could. Seeing the articles at Journal of Design, I have a more clear understanding of how I can go further on with my theme. I also figured out that my empirical data and findings I have, even if they have not been analyzed with the assistance of questionnaires, interviews or workshops (as for example many of the articles have used to carry out experiments); still are extremely valuable material and it has been confirmed again and again with my Professors. I just hope that I will in the short future I will be able to carry out the research on that scientific level.

Small cars dominate Geneva show

2010-03-02T04:58:00.000-08:00

Small cars dominate Geneva show

By Jorn Madslien
Business reporter, BBC News, Geneva motor show

More than 30 world premieres will be unveiled during the first press day of this year's Geneva motor show.

Small cars will dominate the show as even luxury brands like Audi, Lexus and Aston Martin try to meet growing demand for frugal, fuel efficient cars.

Many electric and hybrid models will be displayed - the fruits of government aid to help carmakers cut emissions.

And on the corporate front, Toyota and GM Europe will outline their plans to recover from recent difficulties.

Meanwhile, Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen, will outline plans to take advantage of trouble elsewhere in the industry as it pursues ambitions to overtake Toyota as the world's largest carmaker by 2018.

..........
Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/8543877.stm

I just wonder how these small cars will look :D

Making things clear and concrete.

2010-02-17T02:25:00.000-08:00

During the last period I was feeling somehow a little confused. The reason was that during these months many things (theories, approaches, concepts) poped-up and I did not know how to connect them all together. In the first stage I have used extensively the pedomorphosis in it's biological and anthropological form. In a second level I have brought the emotional design discussion. And last (something i constantly avoided up to that moment, because of their extension and depth) the semiotics. Still the latest field I will simply applied partly and only as possible future investigations.
Yesterday I had a meeting with a beloved friend of me, who is studying linguistics. She managed through our argumentation to make me see what is what and where possible all come together (at least for the submission of my master). I am really grateful for that meeting. The last part now is only to put it down as concrete as I can and just give a great step for argumentation on childlike products.

*cross fingers*

Ps: i know that through this blog probably things look like a mess. The reason is that I have use this blog as kind of report on what I am doing. My schools regulations and the way the sensors judge the diplomas, most of the times demands a presentation of our process. There is also another problem that has appear the last semester, when actually AHO had to face the candidates blogging and the existence regulation of confidentiality of the diplomas up to the evaluation (something on which I do not want to take public position but I will try to follow it as much as I can). So for anyone who is really following the whole project and has problem to understand things or thinks that I lack coherent and I just throw ideas, please contact me. As for the findings I will try to give a glimpse of where the whole project has go in the near future.

Analysis' tool + communication tool

2010-02-11T01:39:00.001-08:00

From the very begin of my diploma I had a constant fight with myself for the method I will follow to analyze the phenomenon. Would had been some study cases or i would just spread it out to as many possible examples I could find during the diploma time? The fight became kind of conflict when people i was talking with where really supported the idea of study cases. Something inside me though was telling me that the right way was the representation of the phenomenon through as many possible examples. The result of it at the end was a collection of 218 objects, carefully selected from a bigger collection, that have been analyzed to their both morphological and emotional-behavioral elements. The cards also will serve as a communicative tool with the sensors and audience. They are designed with the great help of my sub-supervisor Anne Melbye. You can get a glimpse here, the whole collection will be presented in the final presentation around June.

Defining Categories

2010-01-06T05:49:00.000-08:00

Since the very begin of the diploma I had decided to categorize my observations under the following categories: form - color - proportions - material - context - names.
I decided to drop the category of the names, as it is by itself a whole research field and I considered it as a Meta-level research.
Then the others categories became more concrete with time to : Form - Color - Scale - Materiality - Context (as emotions and as behaviors).
The category of the Context is related to the interaction between object and user, so in that sense is not direct connected with the material substance of the object.
These categorization is the guide for the morphological analogies between the objects and the human pedomorphosis. And it seems that this kind of definitions of the morphology of objects is been used also by design researchers. Not long time ago, I came across this book Steven Skov Holt & Mara Holt Skov (2005). Blobjects & Beyond: the new fluidity in design. San Francisco, Chronicle Books.
In one of the chapters they had exactly the same categorization and actually defended them as the main components in which an object can be analysed.

Diagrams - mapping and defining my hypothesis

2009-12-14T02:22:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-22T12:27:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-21T03:46:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-11-07T04:56:00.000-08:00

TED Talks ...why we are attractive to cuteness

2009-11-07T02:00:00.000-08:00

Finalizing the diploma programming

2009-11-05T02:07:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T01:10:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-23T00:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-21T04:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-23T03:12:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-18T05:17:00.001-07:00

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. "

Paris, Renault and childlike advertisment

2009-09-18T01:59:00.000-07:00

These days Paris is been taken by an amazing advertisement from Renault.
They make an analogy between their car models and babies. I still try to find someone who talks French to translate me the whole campaign.

I am pretty fascinated that car industry is really a pioneer of using children themes and childlike elements through all its history to achieve better sales. In this specific case it does not have to do with the design morphology but more with the context the product is loaded.The whole advertisement can be found under this link
http://www.renault.fr/
It is easily understandable that Renault's advertisement plays among others with the emotions of joyfulness, playfulness, imagination, enthusiasm and optimism, that Montagu characterizes them as pedomorphical.

Eurodisneyland and childlike design.

2009-09-13T03:37:00.001-07:00

Last week I visited Eurodisneyland in Paris and I got amazed. Soon I will try to reflect to most of the things I found interesting. I just only want to say that I have never seen such elaborated and well thought environment. To be continue...

Racism and pedomorphosis

2009-08-25T02:47:00.000-07:00

I am pretty thrilled from the discovery I did today inside Gould's book "Ontogeny and Philogeny".

He is analysing the Theory of Recapitulation and he connects it with the theories of racism. Recapitulationists claimed that " whites, as children, reach the level of black adults; whites then continue on to higher things during their ontegeny. "(pg132). These ideas were commonplaces back to 19th centuary and the beggining of the 20th. Many politicians had used these theories to construct a rationale for imperialism and of course for the superiority of the whote race. More than any one Hitler used these theories to rise the Nazism.

Gould then maintains that with the occuring of pedomorphosis all the datas on human evolution which support the superiority of the white race were virtually, simple because these data were products of hidde or not, strong political reliances. Gould opposing the recapitulation with a sense of irony:

"...If their motivations were so simple and unsullied, then the replacement of recapitulation by paedomorphosis as an explanation for human evolution should have led to the following honest admission: hard facts prove that white children are like black adults; under pedomorphosis, children of primatives are like adults stages of advances forms; therefore, blacks are superior to whites. "

In other words, pedomorphic model reaffirm racism in the opposite.

I really do not know how this can be related to design, but a first reflection is that maybe a childlike development of products can lead to a more accesible material culture.
Disney for example ... he created a well constucted virtual world that is accessible to everyone.

Bibliography

2009-08-24T03:40:00.000-07:00

Bibliography
The bibliography is still work in progress and during the thesis books will be added or deleted.

Design
Alessi, A. (1998). The dream factory. Cologne: Könemann.
Antonelli, P. (2005) Humble masterpieces: everyday marvels of design. New York: Harper Collins.
Antonelli, P. (2005) Safe : design takes on risk. New York: Museum of Modern Art.
Art & design monographs (1994). Alessi : the design factory. London: Academy Editions.
Marsack, R. (1997). AGI's designers of influence / Essays on design 1. London: Booth-Clibborn Editions.
Michl, J. (2002). On seeing design as redesign: An exploration of a neglected problem in Design education.Scandinavia Journal of Design History.
Michl, J. (2006). Without a godlike designer no designerlike God. Unpublished
Norman, D. (1998). The design of everyday things. London: MIT Press.
Lawson, B. (2006). How designers think: the design process demystified. Oxford: Architectural Press.
Paris, T. (2005). Made in Italy: il design degli italiani. Rome: Designpress.
Papanek, V. (1972). Design for the real world. London : Thames and Hudson.
Petroski, H. (1994). The evolution of useful things. New York: Vintage Books.
Petroski, H. (2003). Small things considered: why there is no perfect design. New York: Alferd A. Knopf.
Pye, D. (1969). The nature of design. London : Studio Vista.
Vegesack A., Oldiges J., Bullivant L. (1997). Kid size : the material world of childhood / Vitra Design Museum. Milano : Skira.

Aesthetics
Burke, E. (1990). A philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful [1757]. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press.
Pye, D. (1978). The nature and aesthetics of design. London : Barrie & Jenkins.
Smith, A. (1982).The theory of moral sentiments. Indianapolis: LibertyClassics.

Philosophy- Cultural Studies - Psychology
Berlyne, D. E. (1960). Conflict, arousal, and curiosity. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Berlyne, D. E. (1974). Studies in the new experimental aesthetics: steps toward an objective psychology of aesthetic appreciation. Washington D. C.: Hemisphere.
Berlyne, D. E. (1971). Aesthetics and psychobiology. New York: Appleon-Century-Crofts.
Csikszrntmihalyi, M., Rochberg-Halton, E. (1981). The meaning of things: Domestic symbols and the self. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
International Design Forum Ulm 1989 (1990) . Cultural identity and design: conference 1989. Berlin: Ernst+Sohn .
Norman, D. (2004). Emotional design : why we love (or hate) everyday things. N.Y. : Basic Books
Rodgers, P., Brodhust, L., Hepburn, D. (2005). Crossing design boundaries. London : Taylor & Francis

Semantics
Chandler, D. (2002). Semiotics: the basics. London: Routledge.
Foucault, M. (2002). The order of things: an archaeology of the human sciences. London: Routledge.
Vihma, S. (1995). Products as representations : a semiotic and aesthetic study of design products. Helsinki : University of Art and Design Helsinki UIAH.
Vihma, S. (1992). Objects and images: studies in design and advertising. Helsinki : University of Art and Design Helsinki UIAH.

Form - Perception
Alexander, C. (1964). Notes on the synthesis of form. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Arnheim, R. (1974). Art and visual perception: a psychology of the creative eye. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gregory, R.L. (1974). Concepts and mechanisms of perception. London: Duckworth.
Gregory, R.L. (1966). Eye and Brain: the psychology of seeing. London: World University Library.
Gregory, R.L. (1995). The Artful eye. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ittelson, W. (1968). Ames demonstration in perception. New York: Hafner.
Piaget, J. (1971) The child’s conception of the World. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.
Thompson, D. (1966). On growth and form. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thornton, P. (1998). Form & decoration : innovation in the decorative arts, 1470-1870. London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Whittick, A. (1971). Symbols : signs and their meaning and uses in design. London : Hill.
Wolfe, J.M. (1976). The Mind’s eye. New York: Freeman. (Scientific American, Inc.)

Design, Architecture and Art History
Bayer, P., Noel R. (2003) The Elements of design: the development of design and stylistic elements from the Renaissance to the postmodern era. London : Mitchell Beazley
Byars, M. (2004). The Design Encyclopedia. New York : Museum of Modern Art.
Ferebee, A. (1970). A history of design from the victorian era to the present : a survey of the modern style in architecture, interior design, industrial design, graphic design and photography. New York : Van Nostrand.
Gimpel, Jean. (1991). Against art and artists. revised British ed. Edinburgh: Polygon. (Earlier title: The cult of art).
Gombrich, E.H. (2006) .The story of art .Phaidon.
Nelson, G. (1995). The design of modern design. Gambridge, Mass. : MIT Press.
Phaidon design (2006). Phaidon design classics. London : Phaidon Press.
Thackara, J. (1988). Design after modernism: beyond the object. London: Thames and Hudson.

Biology – Anthropology
Montagu, A. (1981). Growing young. McGraw-Hill.
Lionni Leo. (1977). Parallel botany. New York : Alfred A. Knopf.
Collins M.W., Atherton M.A. and Bryant J.A. (2005) .Nature and design. Southampton : WIT Press

Visual Communication and Data
Klanten, R. (2008). Data flow: visualising information in graphic design. Berlin: Gestalten.
Tufte, E. (2006). Beautiful Evidence. Cheshire, Conn. : Graphic Press LLC
Tufte, E. (2001). The visual display of quantitative information. Cheshire, Conn. : Graphic Press LLC
Tufte, E. (1997). Visual explanations: images and quantities, evidence and narrative. Cheshire, Conn. : Graphic Press LLC

The diploma programming

2009-08-24T02:35:00.000-07:00

Finally after pretty busy writing week I have formulate my diploma description. Seems thought that during the next weeks things will change.

the phenomenon of pedomorphosis in design

observations and mapping

Preface

Childlike and figurative design. Design toys, toys for kids, toys for adults and kids’ items as miniatures of adults’ world. A car that reminds a baby and a mobile phone that it shrinks to the size of a thumb. Activities, known as hobbies, for adults with over-sized toys. And screams of happiness in front of the cutest and sweetest gadget ever covered with million Hello Kitty stickers and a pink fury wrap.

Artifacts evolve from artifacts. But artifacts are made by human beings and thus they reflect humans needs and wants. As an extension of them psychology, beliefs, technology, culture and biology come in the spotlight. And human evolves not any more on the trees, but in a complex environment or artificial biotope, which actually he is creating.

This thesis intent to explore a specific morphology of design, which had or has great success among other morphologies. The perspective with which I intend to explore this success is not through marketing or sales analysis but via an evolutionary phenomenon called pedomorphosis[1], neotony or juvenification. They are terms in evolutionary biology referring to the retention, by adults in a species, of physical and psychological traits characteristic for juveniles. In terms of anthropology and sociology, pedomorphosis, in addition of the humankind’s physical and psychological development, can also explain the development of humans’ behavioral capacities.[2]

Introduction

Theories of biology suggest that human’s neotenous characteristics were an evolutionary strategy that enabled Homo sapiens sapiens to evolve from his ancestors, the pithecanthropines, by shedding the anthropoid traits and replacing them with juvenile characteristics. This process in combination with the other mechanisms of evolution[3] gave to humans both physical and intellectual predominance over the animal kingdom. Some acknowledgeable neotenous characteristics in humans are the so called “baby face”, woman’s vellus hair, curved forehead, small teeth and of course many of his behavioral needs as curiosity, imagination, creativity, eagerness to learn, joyfulness and playfulness.

The term was first coined in 1884 to describe amphibians’ sexual maturity while still in the larval form. [4] Zoologists and biologists were the first who launched the concept of pedomorphosis and they developed it further. It was not until 1940s when anthropologists started to look for a closer relation between social behavior and pedomorphosis. Social sciences, in a parallel development with biology, psychology, neurology and sexology[5] since then have deal with the phenomenon and its effects on the human’s physical and behavioral development.

Many disciplines the past years have tried to apply the evolution theories according to their main field if interesting. Psychology, sexology, marketing and computer programming, they all have applied features that can be categorized as paedomorphical traits[6].

Arts extensively have used both the characteristics and the effects of pedomorphosis. In fashion design, illustration, film, architecture, painting, sculpture, literature we can find many themes and features that can be characterized as paedomorphical. The mini cloths, the Disney’s figures, the sci-fi’s adaptation of cute friendly aliens, Michael Graves’ postmodern architecture, Picasso’s childlike paintings and Miro’s crazy sculpture, have a great number of paedomorphical morphological and psychological characteristics.

In terms of design, in the postwar years, it has been noticed a tendency to develop product forms with childlike characteristics, proportions, colors, materials and even contexts. The example of Mini Morris (1959), Tupperware(1945), Michele De Lucchi’s household prototypes for Gimli, the evolution of the mobile telephone, the over sizing of lamps or minimizing chairs and the design toys can suggest such childlike characteristics. A common element, apart from the morphological ones is their popularity among the others products. They all appear to have both attractiveness and commercial success.

So I believe, all in all, that the concept of pedomorphosis can throw light on this still nameless and unidentified category in product design.

Hypothesis

The concept of paedomorphosis, it seems, it has not been employed among the explanations of childlike features in product design[7]. Though many researchers have attempted to understand the morphological elements that may be seen as paedomorphical it seems that they categorize them under other study topics. A first superficial reading of these characteristics will place them in the category of childish, figurative, children’s, toys’ and anthropomorphic design. [8]

So the hypothesis has been formulated to:

The biological theory of pedomorphosis can make the phenomenon of childlike elements in product design comprehensible.

Among my tasks will be to find out:

What kinds of products show the pedomorphic features?

What are the specific morphological elements of this phenomenon that makes the products attractive?

How external factors as perception, aesthetics and marketing modify this morphology?

What is the role of the designers in the use of the concept of pedomorphosis in design?

[1] Also spelled paedomorphosis.

[2] Capacity as a potentiality (Montagu 1989)

[3] Some of the other mechanisms of evolution are the gene mutation, selection pressures, genetic drift, hybridization and fixation of genes.

[4] For the history of pedomorphosis see Ashley Montagu’s Growing Young (1981)

[5] Especially in the fields of perception, cognition and children behavior.

[6] For example hairless sexual prototypes, playfulness in advertisement and intuitive approach in computer programming.

[7] There is not even one scientific paper on Design theory connected design with pedomorphosis

[8] I speculate that figurative and anthropomorphic design, though they have similar morphological expressions with the concept of pedomorphosis in design, they are somehow distinguished. But this I will try to formulate during this thesis.

Paedomorphosis and Anthropomorphism II

2009-08-11T02:24:00.001-07:00

I come back to the relation between Paedomorphosis and Anthropomorphism, as I have clarify it. I had questioned myself before days if paedomorposis is a special case of anthropomorpism. Paedomorphosis is a natural phenomenon, which affect the morphology of vital organisms. Antropomorphism is a human attribution to living beings,objects, natural phenomena and abstract concepts with human characteristics. Therefore, it is related with philosophy, religion and even psychology.
The interesting thing is that this two different phenomena have similar morphological expressions. And I assume that it is very hard to difference the one from the other, especially when it comes to product design.

Design movements

2009-08-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

I was wondering if the movement of streamline design is closely connected with abstract anthropomorphism. Specially the transportations design of that era have hidden anthropomorphic elements. Also 40's and 50's american design, with Fiestaware first and then Tupperware, by using a totally different color pallete than the acceptable ones, created a new great market success,with which subarbs probably would not be a sucess today.

On the other hand, you have modernism with simplicity and basic forms which are related also with child perseption and development. For example Bauhaus toys in relation with Johannes Itten's theory of colour. Simple forms, colors, shapes and materials. Can this be actually the begin of childlike design?

First loose thoughts

2009-08-04T01:39:00.000-07:00

It seems that the block is going to be a kind of my notebook ... it is easier to write down sponteneous thoughts here. So here we go...

Going through design encyclopedias I have bump into many cases of products -specialty children toys- which presents the oppossite or maybe somekind of form of the phenomeno of paedomorphosis. A detailed translated reality into a smaller scale. Trains, cities, human beings, objects and animals transformed to a mini-scale and they sucessfully become the best friends of kids. Do not know how this can be a part of my research but for sure it is an important element contradictable or not.

Paedomorphosis and anthropomorphism

2009-07-27T14:43:00.000-07:00

Pedomorphologic characteristics in product design, at a first reading refer to anthropomorphic characteristics. The examples of anthropomorphic artifacts are extended and there is a long-held propensity for this kind of forms that can be dated back to earliest times.But there is a fine distinction between the two attributes. Or maybe paedomorphosis (always in design) is a special case of anthropomorphism. Toys for example or even character design, under which label can be placed? A table with the two separated phenomena must be made.

Description

2009-07-27T05:01:00.000-07:00

In my master thesis I intent to explore the type of product design, which appear to exhibits the features of paedomorphosis.

Pedomorphosis (also spelled paedomorphosis) or juvenification is a term in evolutionary biology referring to the retention, by adults in a species, of traits previously seen only in juveniles.

In terms of design, in the postwar years, had been noticed a tendency to develop forms with childlike characteristics or proportions. For example Baby Austins A35 (1956), Mini Morris (1959) and projects like Michele De Lucchi household prototypes for Gimli.

Biology theories suggest that humans' neotenous characteristics were an evolutionary strategy that enabled Homo sapiens to gain predominance over H. neanderthalensis by appealing to these species' nurturing instincts through paedomorphic cuteness to avoid territorial aggression. Paedomorphical characteristics in women are widely acknowledged as desirable by men. For instance, vellus hair, small head, curved forehead etc. These characteristics are the elements of attractiveness, which has been analyzed by anthropology, psychology, sociology and sexology.

I have formulated my working hypothesis in this way:

It seems that a category of products in the postwar product development is characterizing by a formal vocabulary that exhibits characteristics of what evolutionary biology defines as paedomorphosis.

These products, through the years, have become popular and attractive. Some of the questions I would like to answer in this thesis are: Is this attraction related to the childlike proportions and farther on to paedomorphosis? Is it a constant human response or simple a trend and fashion which is a consequence of higher standards of living nowadays? Is that phenomenon, in terms of causes and reasons, takes part in the postwar era or is it a long-standing one? I will try, also, to understand why and how this phenomenon has been generated and what factors have support it – maybe, here the terms of emotional design and psychology can be used.

I will try to develop a list of elements that constitute the paedomorphical expression both in humans and animals; and I will try to find out how such features have been applied to artifacts in the past and how such a formal vocabulary can be used by product designers in the future.

Blog as a daily diary for a research project on design history.

2009-07-21T23:44:00.000-07:00

This blog is aimed to be my daily diary for my theoritical Master diploma at School of Architecture and Design in Oslo. The theme is :
Paedomorphosis in Design. A 20th century phenomenon and if so why?
and is planned to start official at the 3d of August 2009 and go on until the 10th of December 2009.
Main supervisor is Jan Michl , professor at AHO.