Juan Maximo Flugelman-Hammer – DESIGN & PROTOTYPING

Listening to Jesse and my peers critique my initial maps and forces gave me some ideas on how to better show how these interact. Also, I was not quite sure how to best describe the “Crowds”

However, after discussing this Leah, it became apparent that my map was too literal and not personal enough; so I went wild(er) in terms of how and what to show. In the map below, I completely changed the pallet, modified how to show police (now as station rather than control), show Crowds as something ‘over’ the other forces describe street art as something static, small, and worth seeing. Venues remains the same and traffic is now that impedes (red bars) the regular flow of movement.

After yet some more feedback, I made some further changes. I was invited to think about a story and how this is conveyed in the map; so here it goes:

There is a festival in town. All venues are open to the public. There are 2 main public stages, a main one, and a secondary one. Crowds concentrate, naturally, around these two stages. Traffic, as expected, is an issue, shown here by the red bar preventing a regular flow. Art, everywhere, takes the shape of street art, conveyed here with a sort of graffiti on same of the walls around town.

November 11, 2017November 11, 2017

Exercise 2.3: Geographies – Juan Flugelman

This week I arrived in Buenos Aires, the city that saw me grew up. I have not lived in Buenos for the last 20 years. Although I come back once or even twice a year, the first impression is always shocking. Argentina, and specifically Buenos Aires, lays between the developed and developing world. As such, the city is a contract struggle between what Argentineans (we) know is right, and the reality we live and build every day

The best expression of such struggle? Chaos. There is ‘stuff’ happening all the time. Forces really have an impact on how people here live their lives. The key ones and most prominent ones are Noise, Traffic and unevenness; both streets and construction style. Let’s take a walk!

November 6, 2017

Mapping Part 2 – Juan Flugelman-Hammer

November 4, 2017November 20, 2017

Exercise 2.2 Architectures – Juan Flugelman-Hammer

(the link was broken. Pasting directly from imgur)

Working Area

Home (office)

Neighborhood where I am staying this week (Mexico City)

(Since my handwriting is horrendous, the font has been kindly provided by my dear friend Jorge)

October 29, 2017

Project 2: Mappings – Juan Flugelman

The City of Guanajuato, where I am today, hosts the biggest art and cultural Festival in Mexico. The Festival Cervantino started in 1953 when Enrique Ruedas directed an homage to Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Based on the success of that first event, the city decided to repeat it every year as a mean to bring art in all its forms to Guanajuato.

Statue of Cervantes in Guanajuato

Sign for this year’s Festival Cervantino

It is a momentous occasion for this city as it receives thousands of tourists ready to enjoy the city and hundreds of events occurring in multiple locations of this relatively small city. It is momentous as it transforms this town into something new, ephemeral and unique for 3 weeks.

Crowded streets during the festival

With momentous comes traffic. Lots of it. This force brings this town into standstill and affects how the city moves and develops. Traffic can be define as a clot in a city’s arteries, a force that has a direct effect on people’s mood and behavior.

Video here

Traffic emerging one of Guanajuato’s dozens of mining tunnels now used for traffic.

Since the city receives many dignitaries, there is a strong governmental and police presence. This force affects the city as it adds a sense of importance and status beyond the norm. People in the town will know that something special is going on even without knowing the details of the Festival.

Police Protecting the Streets

The artistic forces that move this festival are the same that affect the city and its design. The festival draws people from across the country and makes the town feel like a medieval art fair for three weeks. Streets are full of performers, singers and dancers. The effect is clear, and most of all, LOUD

Street artists performing a piece from “Don Quixote”

As the festival develops, each venue is used to house some type of performance. The city is known for its old theaters and churches, which are also turned into festival locations. A venue could be defined as a heat spot, a place where energy is concentrated and then emerges to infuse the whole town

Teatro Juarez

Teatro Principal

Teatro Cervantes

October 24, 2017October 24, 2017

Exercise 2.1: Informations – Juan Flugelman

This is how most people see and understand a map today; mostly online, and on a mobile device. Also, today, the idea of a map is just a portion of what we considered a map in the past. Before we used to have to unfold a very large piece of paper, have a broad view, and then fold/focus in the area we needed to. Today, is mostly a tool to show directions from Point A to point B

Chunking: The map contains a lot of information in a easy-to-ready format. It has to condense several levels of information including street names, geography, possible routes, etc. into one view.

Consistency This is key for a map. Similar objects or features must appear in a dependable way as to allow the user to navigate almost instinctively without having to second-guess the meaning of use of a feature.

Efficiency: The map should let you accomplish your goals in a quick view without spending too much time and maximizing it use.

Principle of Least Astonishment People have a preconceived notion of what a map should do and how; it is a tool not to challenge but to aid the userrs

Clarity: This is very challenging for a map since it has to cover a lot of information, but a strategy that must be accomplished to make a successful map. A map should always communicate clearly providing the information they need, with no additional options.

October 23, 2017

Graphics: Juan and Shirin

juan_shirin

October 17, 2017

Objects: Chairs by Juan Flugelman

Scandinavia finally conquered the world. Between sectionals and these of chairs, we can all have a piece of ABBA in our living rooms. Many times considered an accent piece, this “designer” chair is very coveted in our living room. It is comfortable, hold well, and provides the right center-of-everything feeling that I expect every time I seat on it.

Old, sunburned and dying; this is how I see this chair. Like an old grandparents, we know it is there, we know it is comfortable, we enjoy its company, but it just smells funny. I like it because it gets warm very easily as the sun covers its black leatherette. Once on it, the neck and head extra cushion does help maintain a relatively comfortable position. My relationship to the chair, just like that to my grandparents, is a positive one. I like spending time there since it is relaxing, and, at the right time of the day and season, works great as a sun bathing tool.

Although I generally try to avoid clichés, as an Argentinean, I #love a good cowhide and leather chair. It is comfortable, it is cozy, it is solid and gives the room an air of aristocracy. Nice plush cushion and back support in cowhide are the perfect base for this chair. You literally sink in its plush hair. The leather armrest help add to the allure of excess and richness. It makes me feel relaxed.

I spent most of my day seated on this mass produced chair. Look nice but I am paying for the fact that I went with a cheap imitation rather than the real thing. It makes me feel sad since it reminds me of my sedentary life and the fact that, although I am remote and don’t have an office, I have to be seated on it long periods of time. The lumbar support is awful and not strong enough. The armrests are flimsy and do not adjust to my height.

October 17, 2017

Objects: Love/Hate (Juan Flugelman)

#LOVE

The Sonos speaker is a monument to simplicity. Two controls are mostly never touched, only for a 1-time set-up, volume and pause. Affordances in the speaker are loud and clear (pun intended). With these two simple controls all speaker functions are provided and work as expected.

The Application continues with the simplicity of the speaker but provides the needed tools and information to perform all functions. It provides clear visibility to the myriad of options that are needed to stream different music to different speakers (or groups of speakers) at the same time, in different volumes. As one navigates through the application, it provides the right feedback to the user so s/he knows the status of each speaker. Also Sono’s consistency made my experience easy and predictable.

#Hates

Why are USB Connectors design in a way that will only fit one side and not both? There is no visibility to figure out what is top versus bottom and how to plug it correctly. Feedback is inexistent as one does not know if the cable is in fact connect properly, having the user to double check all the connection. Apparently, the design has a physical constraint that does not allow the cable to be inserted in any direction. Due to this restraint, and consider the simplicity of its function, the habituation is not as fast as one would expect with a system that just calls for plugging a cable into a charger.

October 16, 2017October 16, 2017

Strategy: Visibility

Visibility is a technique generally applied to complex system to allow the user to see the several statuses of the system as it runs through it processes. The idea behind it that a user can understand what is the system doing, if needs user input and/or what is next in the process. When applied correctly, this concept structures the information so the user sees what is needed at the moment, and if required, s/he is allowed to dig deeper for more information. On the same line, this concepts hides what is not important for a user, showing just what matters.

Lidwell, Holden & Butler: Universal Principles of Design.

Example from original source

Example not cited by original source

Sourcehttps://i.ytimg.com/vi/xJ8BzNGaLVg/maxresdefault.jpg

Example from real life

Only the most important things is visible, nothing more, nothing less.

October 5, 2017October 16, 2017

Strategy: Findability

Content should be easy to locate with little effort. Ideally, it will be presented in one place with minimal links and requests for other pages. This will help performance and loading time as we look into content online. As we browse more pages, these small savings accumulate making the experience faster and more rewarding.

http://www.designprinciplesftw.com/collections/building-blocks-of-sustainable-web-design

Example from original source

Home

Example not cited by original source

Source: google search

Example from real life

October 5, 2017October 16, 2017

Strategy: Not Invented Here

Whatever we do is better than anything else. This strategy refers to the false idea that ‘we’ should and must question whatever has been done by ‘others’ and modify the product as we see fit since ‘we’ know more. There are 4 social dynamics that push this strategy, but mostly, it is fear and the idea of superiority. This might sabotage innovation, so to circumvent this problem, one must think of cross-functional team to ensure a fresh perspective.

Lidwell, Holden & Butler: Universal Principles of Design.

Example from original source

Example not cited by original source

Source: http://www.madeintheusa.com/blog/2014/03/10-reasons-buy-american/

Example from real life

October 5, 2017October 16, 2017

Strategy: Clear

Having a clear understanding of your users is the first step in providing the right information and layout needed for them to have a positive experience. Although the term is vague (clarity can mean very different things for different users), it sits on the premise of consistency and language.

To properly address the user, you have to present the content in a way that makes a logical connection between users’ expectations and your content. The better you know your user, the clearer such connection will be.

http://www.designprinciplesftw.com/collections/the-four-cs-of-form-design

Example from original source

Example not cited by original source

Probably the only good thing under this administration…the EPA’s spanish-version website does apply clarity quite well. It still mentions the same horrific policies, but in a clear way :-\

Example from real life

Sample ballot, both in English and spanish. It does look busy as it contains all the legally required information. However, they still manage to present the information in a clear way for both Spanish and English speakers

October 5, 2017October 16, 2017

Strategy: Cost Benefit

From a financial or operational perspective, this strategy refers to the ROI (return on investment). What will we gain by spending on this feature or function? From a design perspective, we put ourselves on the shoes of the user. How much reading? How many steps? How many clicks? How much does the eye have to travel to find needed elements? All these questions will answer what is the benefit for the user to either wait, travel, read more etc. as s/he interacts with the product

Source: UPD

Example from original source

Example not cited by original source

Source: http://uxmag.com/sites/default/files/article-images/mobileexperience.png

Example from real life

Nothing says cost-saving like big-box retailers like Costco. This picture by Gursky exemplifies everything that is good and bad with the current mentality of reaping HUGE benefits for little cost.

October 4, 2017October 16, 2017

Strategy: Be lazy like a fox

Don’t start from scratch, see what is out there and use it for your design. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. See what works and modify it as needed so it best applies to your need

Source: http://www.designprinciplesftw.com/collections/wikihouse-10-design-principles#549

Example from original source

Source: http://delta-associates.com/what-about-the-old-advice-dont-reinvent-the-wheel-is-it-stupid-or-smart/

Example not cited by original source

Boostrap offers a library of open-source codes for developers to use as they work on their own projects. Basically, a complete opposite to Not invented here.

Example from real life

The new remote for the Apple Tv 4k took the best from the old remote and improve most of its functions. Looking at what had been done, it moved the user experience forward.

October 4, 2017October 16, 2017