Moment Visit

In this post I will be talking about my visit to Moment: A digital product design firm. Going into their offices I didn't really know what I was expecting, I had never really visited a digital product design firm before and the term seemed so narrow, I kept wondering what was their job and what were their expertise? Moment is a company that is responsible for designing products and services for things like the web, mobile devices, and emerging platforms. Their main goal is to work together with the collaboration of each other using their various skills in order to solve problems. They have worked with several important companies such as ESPN, Tiffany & Co, Disney.. and those projects were successful due to their continuous communication between the people that work at the moment and their clients. They refer as creating a "long lasting business value."Their motto is to design things and application that work for people that makes people's lives easier. For example one of the projects that fascinated me the most is the medical application that they were able to create for people with Diabetes. The application that they created allows you to track the food your eating, reminds you to to take your medicines, to keep track of your medicines, your check up, you tests... This project fascinated me and made me realize how important   web design actually is. Also it made me notice another really fascinating elements, without the creation of the Iphone really, applications wouldn't have been so efficient, so easy to use and so popular, that it in fact also created a whole new fileds and opened a whole lot of creative opportunities to take part. I really enjoyed my visit to the Moment firm it was a great experience.

Cindy Sherman

Art is a field that has no boundaries when it comes to creativity, however when taking an artist such as Cindy Sherman, such boundaries may be questioned. Cindy Sherman has managed to portray art in a light that includes acting, art, and her own personal identity in one. Though her work of art may not be considered beautiful by many, she manages to portray her views on society, by not only using disrespectful and disturbing images, also by allowing these to be presented in the public as her views. She has spent much her time dealing with close friends who have suffered from AIDS, cases of sexual harassment, bulimia, etc. and has managed to show her personal political views on such cases through her art. Cindy Sherman’s “sex pictures” collection, it was produced between the years of 1992 and 1994. Since Sherman’s childhood she has had a fascination for dolls as well as participating in games of dress up. She began to worry that she was becoming too dependent on herself as a model, therefore she decided to remove herself from her photographs and use pros ethic body parts, in order to make materials that reinforce the message that she was trying to evoke. Sherman became more interested in the basics of what these pros ethic body parts can do in the essence of a photograph. One can depict figures created from a jumble of pros ethics, which include a disembodied, legless, a mask of an old scary looking woman and fabric. Also, she added makeup and pubic hair to the plasticized, hairless medical dolls in order to make them more diverse and lifelike. In her images, Sherman is fulfilling her goal; she is “playing on our disgust with old age and sexuality, without pushing us to ask ourselves why we are so disgusted.” Her photographs show her belief in the world of sexuality whether it being straight, gay, lesbian or transgender should be glorified rather than fought against. AIDS also had a big influence on most of her “sex pictures.” She works with painting, sculptors, film, installation, performance, collage and assemblage.
            Sherman’s work may be considered rather simple to an average eye, however when actually observing the art and the true meanings behind it, the complexity and difficulty behind her work becomes apparent. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, the spread and concern of AIDS became drastic. She was living in New York City at the time, a place where many queers would join together to elaborate on their sexual desires. Through her experiences in New York, Sherman managed to create an incredibly influential and vulgar collection, know as “Sex Pictures.” The artist refers to her work as “angry art,” as she is very much aware of the fact that many people respond negatively to her over exposed and exaggerated photographs. A lot of Sherman’s friends had suffered from AIDS and discrimination due to same sex relationships. She has witnessed several of her close friends suffer physically and emotionally under such stress. Thus, she felt as though she owed a form of solidarity to those individuals who she thinks haven’t received enough recognition.            The postmodernism presented within Sherman’s work has been debated greatly amongst several art historians. In most of her photographs, Sherman is trying to create a sense of the subjective individual as well as a sense of ones self. The first thing is that her photographs break down the wall of the subject-object boundaries, and the second thing is that the subject photographed has become framed and mixed in its gender and material makeup. Through this Sherman is creating a vague line between a man and a woman. All of Sherman’s photographs are inspired by female identity, however historians keep on asking the same question, “Who is the real Cindy Sherman?” No one can seems to be able to tell, due to her photographs not exposing only her personal identity. Thus, her images don’t represent anyone in specific, but they represent the nature of identity of the “real” popular culture within her eyes.
Through researching much of Sherman’s work and history, it has become clear to me that she falls far from what society what accept as normal. She was able to look beyond these categories implemented by society and attempted to act herself. The artist believed that society has created very strict roles for both gender roles; therefore, when falling outside one of the two gender norms, one faces an automatic inequality in society. In addition, many of Sherman’s friends are queer, and as a queer individual rights in society get taken away from you. Through much experience of being exposed to oppressed behavior, Sherman allowed herself to create her “sex pictures” collection. Although she may be considered as “horrific, weird and disturbing” she has fulfilled her goal as an artist. Her aim through her artwork was to shock people by exaggerating the “norms of society”. She wanted to create a realization that several individuals fall outside of what is considered to be normal and stress to her audience that everyone should have the right to their own identity. Sherman clarifies her aims as she says, “If I disgusted you, then I did my job.

the 5 E's of the Chase mobile application

The Digital Product that I am going to use is in my opinion one of the easiest and most convenient free applications that are available in the app store. The Chase mobile application comes in handy at all times, since I live in NewYork City and Chase banks are almost as frequent as strarbucks cafe's, chase is the most popular and available bank in the city. However with the chase application everything is made a lot easier for you, it is created for teens as well as adults. First of all you when you enter the application,it is usually to check how much money is available on your account, that is what ENTICES you, after deciding to check your balance or to look for Chase branches around you, you would need to enter the application. Once you ENTER the application you have the option of doing several things such as looking for Chase branches near you, logging on to your Chase account or contacting Chase. One can ENGAGE with this digital product in several ways, if you are entering your bank account, the screen will give you the different things you can do, check your balance, transfer money from your savings to your checking account, look at your recent activities, pay your bills, deposit checks (by taking a picture of the checks front and back), and look at the alerts you receive. I must say one things that I don't think is really successful with the application is the alert component, the alerts aren't clear and are usually hard to spot within the application. One can also pick "find an ATM branch" and the application will directly find the branch that is closes to you and tell you the directions of how to get there. Once your done using the application it is always safer to log out therefore in order to EXIT the application properly you should press on the "log out" button. Finally the EXTENSION will be the fact that you will eventually need to go on the application again and use it while you have to, it is no longer a pain to deposit checks or transfer money all of these little details are available to you right on your phone through the use of a great digital product interface.

Best and Worst Digital Products

Technology has become an essential in almost everybody's life. Children, parents, grandparents are mostly all familiar with a computer or a phone. Throughout the development of technology many different stages were created. Nowadays the current stage is the consumer stage meaning it is no longer about understand the technological bits of the machine but for it to be designed in a way that everybody can understand how to use it without being an expert. Designing for Everyday Life "describes the challenges designers face in making this powerful technology fit easily into people's everyday lives, rather than forcing their lives to fit the dictates of technology."

Since the second I woke up I have been dealing with different technologies. Most importantly the IPhone has created a whole new field of digital products, that have to do with the apps that we use everyday, everything is slowly being shifted towards the digital world.

In my opinion there is a large number of great applications on the Iphone and some really horrible ones as well.

My favorite digital product is Seamless, being a college student, it is one of the application that I use the most to order food. Seamless is a delivery service that combines all the restaurants that deliver in NYC and from that application you have acces to all the restaurants around your area and you have the choice to look at the menu and to order from this one application without having to talk to anyone. No only is the application extremely helpful it is very easy to use, the screen is clear and all you need is available on the page. I really like the way it is organized and the fact that you can write down special instructions for the food that you are order if you wish to have your sauce on the side for example. Although I find it one of the most helpful application to use in NYC as a college student, I think that the application is lacking one thing: the use of pictures, something that Yelp (another application) provides us with but not seamless, people tend to like pictures, and not having any makes it harder to choose where to order from. 

Although most applications on the Iphone are great there are a lot that are not so great, my least favorite application  is Viber. Viber's function is great it allows every Iphone user to call for free even if it is international calling, however the application is very poorly designed. The applications shuts consistently when it is being used, and rarely ever rings when someone is actually calling me. Skype for example is sort of the same type of application both apps do the same things however Skype is designed in a much more appealing way, it is easier to use and contains many more customization. 

Position Map

I decided to create a position map for coffee shops around Union Square in New York City, since that area is filled with students and we all know that coffee is a necessity in a student's life; therefore I thought that it would be interesting to evaluate the successes or failures of these  coffee brands. A perceptual brand map is an excellent tool to help understand optimal product positioning. Brand's are known to occupy a space in a consumer's mind while other brands compete within that space. Since people use specific criteria in order to evaluate the brand, and easier way to draw out information is to structure the map depending on what the consumer values. Therefore I thought of four big criteria sections: 1) a comfortable environment, 2) Wide choice, 3) limited choice, 4) wide choice. Based on that I was able to position the different coffee shops around Union Square on the map and I was able to draw out some interesting information. Two of the important criteria used by consumers when they are making judgements in the marketplace are the typres of environment created by the location and the range of coffe that is offered. One can notice that MacDonald's is the fastest delivery environment however, their choice of coffee is extremely limited, while Caffe Nero has a much more comfortable environment and a wide range of coffee drinks available for example. Book Shop caffe creates a comfortable environment with a limited range of coffee choices while The Bean is a fast delivery environment with a wider choice of coffees. This is not to say that one is better than the other just different. As a result this helps inform decision about a brand marketing.

Best and Worst Product Evaluation

From the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep, design is constantly around us. We as human beings sometimes take that for granted or don't even realize how important design is in our everyday life. After watching the documentary objectified and reading some articles that focus on product evaluation and what makes a product good or bad, I was able to really notice how big of an effect products and designers have in our life. Every single one of these object has a story, and a group of engineers and designers behind    it that spend hours trying to put together a product that facilitates our daily routines. For a whole day I wanted to note down almost all the designed products I use on a regular day. As the day went buy I noticed my list getting bigger and bigger and it was then that I realized that if design or products did not exist my life and all of our lives would just not function the same. The first product I use in the morning is my alarm clock, ten I brush my teeth and shower, wear my bathrobe, pick out my clothes use the hairdryer, put some make up on, head to the kitchen feed the dog, put his leach on take him down, (meanwhile Ive used my phone and an ipod to put on some music), I use the elevator to go down, my key to reenter my building, finally I make my coffee using my nespresso machine and cut myself some fruits using a knife. I've only gone through less than a quarter of my day and I realized that I've already used at least fifteen designed products. However, throughout my morning experience I noticed that there were some product that functioned a lot better than others. The product that was the most efficient and easiest to use was the Nespresso coffee machine. Nespresso is a coffe machine that was created in 1976 by Eric Favre in Switzerland and has been an enormous success ever since. I find the machine extremely easy to use, the buttons indicate exactly what you are suppose to do, and you result with a coffee that could be even better than starbuck's coffee straight from your own kitchen at home. Besides the function, Nespresso machines are also very visually appealing, they come in different sizes and colors and most of their forms are rounded, therefore it creates an organic feel to the product. In order for the machine to produce coffee, one must buy the disposable capsules, those could be found online or at the nespresso store. I have to say that that's the only annoying or frustrating aspect of the coffee making process. A way to improve that would be to make capsules more available in supermarkets, or maybe having a capsule that would last for more than one cup of coffee. Finally another argument that I can also point out is the prices of the machine and the capsules, tehy are priced pretty high which makes it also hard for it to be available for everyone. Moreover, in my opinion the worst product that I used that morning was the hairdryer. A hairdryer or a blowdryer is a electromechanical device, designed to blow cool or hot air over wet damp hair in order to accelerate the drying of the hair process. Although the buttons on the hairdryer are usually easy to use and indicate exactly what you need to do most of the time, there are still so many elements about that product that make the use of the hairdryer a frustrating process. First of all the product is big and bulky, it is heavy, hard to transport and during trips it takes up a lot of room in a suitcase, however travelling with is necessary for most women. In addition the cord is too long or too short, it is never the right size, it gets tangled into everything such as the knobs or the drawer and it knocks over most of the products on my dresser. But the most frustrating aspect in this product is the noise that a blowdryer makes. The noise of a blowdryer is the worst thing to hear in the morning, especially if its not you using the actual machine. We live in such an advanced world that people have been able to facilitate and improve a large number of products that are used every day, however we still havent managed to find a way to reduce or eliminate the noise of a blowdryer ( even though the world we live in today meets all the capabilities of having an improved and easier to use hairdryer.)

Post office: Not as efficient as we thought!

The United States Postal Service, which is often referred to as USPS, the Post Office, or U.S Mail, is in charge of providing postal service in the U.S. It consists of 574,000 employed workers and operates over 218,000 vehicles. The service is very useful, in which it allows packages to be sent from one destination to another and is one of the most important features in several businesses that use this service to send goods across the globe.  Though it may seem that the U.S Postal Service is efficient and currently working well, there are many faults to the service, some of which I have experienced myself. When I lost my passport, I had to report straight to the post office in order to receive a new one. As I arrived there, the post office only had one man working behind the counter for lost passports and the line was immense. This resulted in me waiting for three and a half hours, missing a lecture that I needed to attend, and then leaving the post office in pure frustration. The one thing I promised myself when leaving was to prevent using the system to the best of my ability, unless very necessary, something that several individuals feel about the service. The individuals in the line, some of which were previous activists at the Occupy Wall Street Movement, got very upset and began yelling across the post office. One man yelled “this is a monopoly and we need to change it!” The post office is a service that everyone can use and needs to use in order to send their mail; however seems to be a service that not many people are accepting as a positive service. What is that individuals hate the post office so much? The main answer is, the time and process it takes for anything to be accomplished. Whether it’s actually going to the post office, filling out the information required for your item to be shipped and then spending hours in line, or waiting patiently for a package to arrive, there always seems to be this notion of waiting that individuals are very unhappy with. The lines in the post office move far to slowly, which causes individuals to get frustrated. In order for them to improve this, one may want to increase further employment in the service, so for example in my case, having three people working behind the counter, would have already saved everyone so much time. Another aspect they may want to improve on is the process of filling out forms at the post office; these could be prevented by just having a kiosk, which allows you to fill out any information required instead of four different papers that need to be given off when sending a package. Though there are many faults the post offices, it is a service that does provide employment and works some of sufficiently, however needs to increase its consumer confidence.

The American Dream

Nowadays, automobiles and cars are so available to everyone that they are taken for granted. However, back then cars and automobiles weren’t that easy to get a hold of, therefore suburbs weren’t as easy to get to. The wealthy people were the only ones who owned cars and they used their automobiles as more of a touring car. Also, the wealthy had the money to create enormous houses to hold their belongings, which due to land constraints had to be a little outside the city. Ford decided to create more affordable cars in order for the rich and the poor to be able to own a car, which eventually led to life in the suburbs. Cars were getting more popular and the more car owners there was the more they needed roads to drive on, therefore, a large number of roads were crated.

Since New York City was being invaded by factories and pollution, the higher social class wanted to create the ideal living situation that would consist of big houses and living outside the city. Because cars were initially only owned by rich men, those people were considered luxurious people, with big houses with a lot of space. Wealthy people couldn't handle the idea of a living in the city, there were too much pollution, too many factories were opening which made life in the city no longer pleasant.

However as Ford was created and cars were easier to own by everyone, those deserted suburbs were starting to get busy, and therefore, more restaurants, cafes, and shops were being open. After cars began being more accessible to everyone people began moving to the suburbs, there were too many cars over crowding the city. Therefore the wealthy people weren’t the only ones moving outside of the city, they also began moving into the suburbs. This made the suburbs look like the city since they were little by little people were moving from the city life to the suburb life. Suburbs began to look like the city, each person owned more than one car, therefore there was a lot of pollution, and trees were cut down in order to build houses. And soon all city business were also shifted to the suburbs, which leads us to the fact that the evolution of automobiles reflected prevailing social values.

"The Girl with a Pearl Earring", inspired by John Berger's "Ways of Seeing."

“The Girl With a Pearl Earring” by Vermeer is known to be one of the most famous pieces in history. That is due to the fact that it has been seen everywhere, on t-shirts on mugs on post cards… which helps us recognize this historical piece so easily. When we first lay eyes on it, we immediately assume it is beautiful and that the artist was a genius, however how do we really know that? We as human beings tend to mystify the past and rely only on our previous knowledge forgetting about the time and place of when the painting was created.

In his essay Berger’s definition of the word mystification is described as “the process of explaining away what might otherwise be evident.” Throughout the first chapter Berger argues that artists used to create images based on their reality in order to result in an image that will last longer than what is seen through the physical human eye. However nowadays, images are crated replicated and reproduces everywhere we go, therefore we become familiar with famous artists and art pieces due to our surroundings as well as what we are taught to know. Berger’s main argument in the first chapter is about how humans mystify works of art from the past by making assumptions of their own such as “ beauty, truth, genius, civilization, form, status, and taste…” Berger also considers the original audience to be much more appreciative of a piece of art from the past because the original audience is fully aware of the context and the reason as to why the piece of art was actually made.  We see the painting as beautiful because we are “taught” to think in that way, the original audience sees it as influential and powerful, leading to the fact that the reproduction of an image loses its essence of power. Moreover, the first chapter of Berger’s book stresses on the fact that art is exploiting it is no longer unique, we see it everywhere it has no more weight of meaning.

I strongly agree with Berger’s arguments in his first chapter. I believe that art is no longer a fixed thing; it is caught in the webs of meaning. Art goes deeper than beauty, form and texture; it is powerful and personal to the eye of the beholder. However, I do believe that the beauty of art lies in the different interpretations of the many observers that walk past the one same work of art. 

The Era of Technology

In our world today, one of the most important tools for all designers is technology and computerization. In the past decade, one can find an infinite number of new designs that revolve around computerization. Designers are no longer attracted to pen and paper; a screen in front of their desks has taken over. The Nook, created by Barnes and Nobles for example is a computerized device that has transformed our hardcopy books into virtual ones through the use of technology. This design not only changes the fact that our physical libraries have disappeared but it also has a great positive input to the state of the world we live in.

            Nowadays, being ecologically friendly is extremely crucial, our planet is relying on its inhabitants to survive, and therefore every individual input is important. The Nook has helped the planet, by saving the use of resources, such as paper and energy. We, as human beings are so used to using an excess amount of paper everyday, we do it unconsciously, through the use of printers, flyers, legal documents, homework assignments etc.… However, due to the vulnerable state of our planet today, our ways have to change in order for us to save our environment. And this is where the invention of the Nook comes into play. Our responsibility is to shift and transition our designs from a server based economy to product-service system.

            The Nook, is the biggest thing that happened to the publishing industry since the invention of paper. It was released in 2009 and it is an electronic book created by American retail Barnes and Nobles. Readers can purchase and download their books within seconds and begin reading. The Nook also allows you to lend, borrow, and buy an infinite number of different stories. Instead of having to carry a bulk of books with us, one single machine can have all these books stored into one place. Also, the Nook has a built in light that helps the reader read more comfortably. It is the first electronic book that has a colored touch screen, and voted to be the best out of the three existing ones: The Sony E-Reader, the Kindle and the Nook. It has allowed unknown writers to publish their books due to the huge increase in e-book sales, which has opened many opportunities for young and unknown writers that were struggling to publish their books.

Good and Bad Customer Service Experience

Since I love flying and travelling I thought it would be interesting to talk the quality service of two different airlines, one where my customer experience was extremely positive and the other isn't so great. Last summer I used both airlines and my experience in each differ greatly.
A huge challenge for well-known airlines is to deliver consistant quality service. British Airways is one of the airlines I use most often. One of the most important aspects in a airline company is achieving customer loyalty. For example, if you are Silver or Gold (there aren't many real differences between them- BA treats silver cardholders much better than any other programmes), it is quick and simple to check in online and have business class access even if you are seated in economy, they allow an extra piece of luggage, have priority boarding (which saves a lot of time) and being able to pre-select your your seat when you book your ticket. Although, Alitalia provides a lot of the same services as British Airways does, my experience wasn't nearly the same. I took a flight this summer on Alitalia and it was one of my most horrible travel experiences, we boarded the flight and waited 3 hours in the plane before taking off due to some flight issues, that wasn't the problem, the problem was that it was extremely hot and unbearable in the aircraft, there was no water, or refreshments and other flyers were extremely unhappy as well. The same thing happened to me in British Airways, we had to wait in the plane for about 2 hours before take off, however, the tv was activated some sandwiches and water or refreshments were served, which made the wait a lot more pleasant than the one of Alitalia.
Another really important element in an airline service is the way the hostess treats the customers. In British Airways from the beginning of my journey (the baggage drop-off) to the end the employers were extremely professional, helpful and welcoming. Contrary to Alitalia, the employers as well as the hostesses were extremely rude, and granted very little attention to the needs of their customers.
Finally, maybe I am just lucky, but I haven't lost any of my luggages with British Airways, and the only time I actually did was when I flew Alitalia. When I lost my luggages I did everything I could to get them back and track them down, but Alitalia was the worst company to deal with, they wouldn't answer, they would constantly shut the phone and they never had clear answers.

The Highline

         The High Line is New York City’s new linear park in the sky and was formally used as an aboveground railway. It is located in Chelsea, the heart of one of the city’s most popular districts. The fascinating agricultural landscape creates a diverse perception of a park, by providing an elevated structure. The High Line is referred to as the “Miracle Above Manhattan”, as it stretches one and half miles through the Lower West Side and provides a direct integration of “good design” with concerns of sustainability. The railroad has been transformed from a disused viaduct with rusty tracks to a leafy walkway, lined on either side with some railings for the safety of the children. The park’s main attractions are naturalized plantings as well as a few unexpected views off the Hudson River. The concrete walkways unify the trail, some portions of the tracks are filled with rolling lounge positioned for people to sit or to lay on and enjoy the view that is accessible to them. Since its inception, the High Line has been invaded with all sorts of activities such as: pick nicks, children playing with water, people trying to soak in some sunlight, families enjoying their ice creams and tourists trying to capture every image they possibly can. The skyline definitely creates a balance between individuals being able to benefit from its public access, whilst still being environmentally friendly.

          

            I went to the Highline 3 times for an hour each time. I visited the outdoor park on Wednesday at 5 pm, on Friday at 1 pm and on Sunday at 3 pm. Throughout all of my visits I realized that my sketches looked very similar, people were attracted to the same areas and the same activities. Most of the people were situated on the stairs facing a big glass that frames the city, a large number of people populated that area by doing different things, some sat and starred at the frame of the city, others were eating their lunches, and the rest were reading or listening to music. Also, other areas that were populated seemed to be the areas with a lot of seatings, and the lawn; one can see different kinds of people doing different things, such as picnics, kids playing around, couples holding hands and people laying down and trying to find the most sunshine they can in order for them to find warmth.

Stuyvesant Town

I live in Stuyvesant Town, often refereed to as the faded vision of middle-class Manhattan. Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village changed the physical look of a large area. The complex includes 110 buildings on a area that stretches from 14th street to 23rd street, and first avenue and the F.D.R Drive. The compound replaced almost 600 buildings and displaced about 10,000 people in 1943. However it is one of the most iconic and successful post-World War II private housing communities. The complex can be identified by the sprawling collection of red brick apartment buildings. The complex is identified through one main big fountain that is found in the heart of Stuy town, playgrounds, basketball courts, an ice skating rank, a dog park and a whole lot of trees surround my building. It is so relaxing to walk around the Stuy town especially when the sun is shinning, and the whole neighborhood has been built around the complex such as the: Stuyvesant deli, the Stuy pet shop, the Stuy cleaners etc... However Stuyvesant Town wasn't always so pleasant. Due to a housing crisis after the Great Depression, Stuyvesant Town was already planned to be a post-war housing project in 1942-43. The concept was developed by The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that was based on its earlier development in The Bronx. Nevertheless, Stuyvesant Town was controversial from the beginning , Robert Moses was seen as the dominant force of the creation of Stuyvesant Oval. LaGuardia and Moses began to induce insurance companies and savings banks for them to enter the field of a large area and proceed with a slum-clearance. Nowadays, Stuyvesant Oval and Peter Cooper Village is seen as one of the top listings available in the heart of New York City.

Use/Behaviors

I was in the park the other day and I wanted to observe two people, while I was trying to choose the people I was going to spot for 15 minutes, my eyes shifted in one direction as I saw a mother and her 5 years old daughter playing peekaboo in the playground. I sat and observed them for 15 minutes and named 20 of their actions: the mom was chasing the little girl, the girl kept on running, the daughter hid behind the tree, the mom pretended not to see her, the mom shut her eyes and began counting out loud, the mother turns around and begins her search for her daughter, the daughter was giggling behind the tree, the mom was pretending not to see her, finally the mom yells "I got you, you little monster,"the little girl was trying to run away, but her mom caught her and whispered in her ear, the girl began jumping of joy saying "YES, YES," the little girl walks towards her mom, the mom reaches her hand out, the girl grabs her mothers hand and holds it tight, then they both walked towards the ice cream stand. After watching them for 15 minutes, I sat down for another 15 minutes and did the same thing as I did the first time around however I would only name the actions that effected me or touched me in a way. Here are the next 20 actions that I felt effected me: as the mom and the daughter walked away the daughter gabbed her mom's leg so tight, the mom began caressing her daughter's head, the daughter started kissing her, when they arrived to the ice cream stand the daughter began crying our of nowhere, she was screaming "I lost my doggii" (turns out doggi is her teddy bear), the mom is searching everywhere for doggi frantically, the mom and the daughter run back to where they were playing, and a huge smile appears on the daughters face, she grabs doggi and hugs him really tight, the mom looks relaxed again, the mother picks her daughter up and walks towards the ice cream booth again, the mom and the daughter are both holding the same ice cream, they walk towards the lawn, the mom takes her camera out and begins to take pictures of her daughter with the biggest smile on her face.

After I looked over the notes I had taken both times I realized that the way we see things does in fact rely on our feelings. In the second list, there were more moments of tenderness, and physical pleasure, more feelings and emotions were noted. In the first list it was more like factual points of what they were doing as appose to my second list, the second list has more depth more love, and these were the things I was feelings while depicting those moments of the daughter and her mother. "Thats what happens when you apply judgement to your observation. You become selective. You edit. You filter the world through your particular prism." -Twyla Tharp

History/Future

The Fashion Industry Throughout the 20th Century in the United States:


As we all know the world of fashion changes constantly with new emerging trends, in this particular post I am going to discuss six different major phases in the fashion world during the 20th Century. The first one being the haute couture era that lasted from 1900-1920: In the early 1900s women liked to flaunt their low busts, and curvy hips. The skirts worn were usually long and full, and pants were not worn at all by women. From 1910 to the beginning of WWI, dresses and skirts began being slimmer and straight, also, fashion designers began altering the length of the dressed and skirts to show more revealing parts of the body. The second time period is known as the modern era that lasted from 1920-1940 during this decade women began to wear shorter skirts and pants. Dresses were created to fit the body well, in order to bring out the elegance in women. Also, during the 1930's designers created clothes that were able to differentiate day and night wear, however silk was the only fabric used. Afterwards came the rationed fashion and the new look that lasted from 1940-1960 during WWII, women weren't allowed to purchase a large amount of clothes, they had ration coupons to use for purchasing clothing. After the war designers were ready to set a new trend, they strived for elegance and luxury that had been ignored during the war. The new trend consisted of rounded shoulders, full skirts, and narrow waits. Following came the fashion revolution that lasted from 1960-1980: that time period witnessed a youth explosion which completely changed the fashion world, therefore a large variety of clothing became popular, clothing such as pants, miniskirts and jeans. It was no longer shocking for women to wear pants on a regular basis. The last period is known as the present era that lasted from 1980-2007. The present era involves a lot of rich people travelling across New York boutiques and fashion shows in Paris in order to get their hands on the designs first. However not everybody could afford that, therefore in the 1990's women had began to dress more comfortably: ripped jeans, tank tops, sweaters... Nowadays, there remains a large number of expensive designer store, yet women can still buy affordable casual wear at reasonable prices.

Frame/Context

The App Store is a digital application distribution platform created by Apple Inc. The application allows any apple user to navigate through millions of applications and to download whatever application that you need. Depending on the application you wish to download some of them are free and others require you to pay a certain amount of money in order to download them and be able to use them. The App Store is a user friendly software, it is designed in a way where it is easy for the consumer to understand and navigate the App Store without having to go through any learning curves. In addition, the store has a really wide range of categories from games to entertainment to business to childcare to education etc... The layout of the store is extremely simple and not so overwhelming, which follows apple's simple designed software's. The applications available often save people a lot of time, and energy for example instead of trying to do conversion or calculate a tip, you have some applications available that allow you to do that with a click of a button instead of wasting the time to do it mentally, however this can also bring in the factor that technology these days is only making our brains work less. Doing everything electronically these days helps the environment, almost everything is being computerized or done electronically in order to reduce the use of paper.
However, let's try to evaluate the App Store within a different context, what if the app store was used for children's educational purposes? how would it work? and how would it be different from the original app store?
The software would be targeting elementary and middle school students, teachers and parents, it would be designed professionally in order to advance the use of effective digital media in teaching and learning with a special section for children with any sort of disability. The software is created in order to enhance teacher and children's education and a more "modern"approach to the learning and healthy development of children in elementary and middle school.