Reading Reflection 02

The reading from the last two weeks in design covered identities, systems, and the introduction of McDonough and Braungart's Cradle to Cradle. To me, chapter 7 in Heskett's book on identities was the most interesting out of all of the selected readings. The first paragraph of the chapter contains the sentence "The constuction of identity, however, goes much further than an expression of who someone is; it can be a deliberate attempt by individuals and organizations, even nations, to create a particular image and meaning intended to shape, even pre-empt what others perceive and understand." I was able to easily understand what Heskett meant by this because it related to my English writing course that I took last quarter about rhetoric and identity in technology. For example, when a person creates a Facebook page, or a page on any other social network for that matter, they have the ability to create whatever image of themselves that they want through the use of their profile picture and the information that they write about themselves. They may put up a picture of them at a huge party with all of their friends in order to create one image, or a picture of them with all of their family at home for an entirely different image. When this picture is selected, the individual is usually very aware of the self-image that they are putting off to others. This same concept works in a very similar way in the design of a company's "identity" or logo. They may choose to convey whatever kind of characteristics about themselves that they want to stand out. Page 96 in the book states that "Image is a projection of how a company would like to be understood by customers..." but also that "...image is credible only when supported by a good product or service."

Chapter 8 in Heskett's book is about the design of systems. One example that is given of this type of system is the design of road sinage. The format of this system was created so that the viewer or user is able to very quickly recognize the sign and read it without having to lose too much focus off of the road that they are driving on. Page 100 says that "Above all, the effectiveness of any system will depend upon its overall coherence, with clear standards enabling users rapidly to understand and navigate their way through without undue problems. Another example that is given in this chapter is the design of icons for computer programs that create easily understood visual shorthands for the user. A good design should be clear and relatively simple while also being able to be differentiated from other icons. All of these things need to be taken into consideration as the designer of any type of system.

Lastly, the introduction to McDonough and Braungart's Cradle to Cradle, which is titled "This Book is Not a Tree, talks a lot about designing for a safer, more enviromentally friendly world while also introducing the two authors and how they came to know one another. To me, the most interesting part of the chapter was their statement on page 16, "Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals, and soil. Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet." Now, although ants and humans really can't be very well compared on the same scale, this idea was still somewhat of a slap in the face to humans as to what we are doing to our environment that we live in. I am interested to read the rest of McDonough and Braungart's book to see where else they take their idea of "remaking the way we make things."