Bridge #2 Mapping the system – Studio

Apple Store west 14th st

notes:

• Lots of glass – futuristic, exciting, new

• Simplistic

• Technology advancements

• Advertisements

• White/clean

• Employees – lots of them, same blue uniform

• Glass grad stairs

• Wooden tables to display the hardware/software – looks like podium, effective way because it looks so majestic

• Big ad on top – lures customers, eye-catching

• All products were linked to chargers = working/functioning full battery all the time – gives a sense of no end of time

• How much do Apple employees get paid?

• It seems like such a high demand job since its “Apple”, how hard is it to work for Apple?

• How much does this store in particular make in a day? *Roughly on average*

• Apple inspiring to me because: can sell few amounts of products for a lot of money so their profit margin is high

• How hard is it to work for Apple’s designing team?

• How/where does Apple get their inspiration?

• How many design teams are involved in software? and in hardware?

• Will Apple be supporting and maybe creating public surveillance systems for the city?

• How private is the cloud?

• What are the chances of being hacked now a days? *my theory is very high

• Will Apple be one of the firsts to make big advancements on AI?

• How close are self driving cars to becoming legal on the streets?

• Apple is one of the leading technology companies, and was first to create their own software and hardware – total control of their products – important when making innovations

System Mapping:

 

I chose to start my research by visiting the Apple store on west 14th street in New York City because I know I want to direct my research question towards technology. Apple has always been an inspiration to me as a business woman and as a designer/computer scientist. Not only is Apple on of the leading technology companies in the world, it has innovational products that changed the way humans live and interact. Apple was the first computer company that was in charge of creating it’s own software and hardware, which enabled them to be flexible to changes and able to adapt the way the whole thing looked and worked by their own standards. It was the first company that embraced the idea of user-friendly. Meaning, not only did they want the product to work, they wanted people to want to use it. They wanted it to feel, touch, look good to the user and excite them to learn how to use it. So I started with visiting the Apple store, one of many, to get a feel of how they advertise, employ, display, sell their products. I used the second research process we learned in class to map my system of the Apple store, by noting down everything I saw or thought of when I think of: Apple Store. Then I chained them all with arrows to see if I knew who talks to who, who is involved with who, and if I can think of all the elements that went in and are in the Apple Store and products.

My major is design and technology, which makes me a huge fan of this idea of combining the computer science “software” side to the design “hardware” side. I have many questions and possible research questions that can steer off from this topic because it is a broad subject. I am very intrigued with Artificial Intelligence, AI. Many companies and teams are investigating this idea of a computing software that could potentially think and process like a human. It is far from being successfully completed but there are elements of AI in many products that are on the way of being created, like self-driving cars. Self driving cars might not be the best idea, in terms of taking a person’s free will to drive on their own, but could be a huge advancement on taking over truck drivers because it would be an efficient way to ship products. Then again, that causes thousands of people’s jobs to be taken away, so there is a huge debate on advancing the AI concept to products that can take over many people’s jobs.

Another topic I can branch off to is public surveillance and privacy. Apple products are huge on privacy yet they also have a high amount of product theft. Now a days, there are countless hackers worldwide only getting better and better at cracking people’s accounts. While the Apple users are less and less aware of how to keep your data private, which means that if a person has not been hacked chances are they could soon. Apple’s entering code is very secure, as they keep prolonging the code digits to make it harder to guess the code, also wipes it clean if too many wrong attempt, find my iPhone app for stolen phones etc. Public surveillance systems are being implemented in cities which also interferes with people’s privacy. How can we keep our lives private when the computer asks if we want it to save our password for our bank account? How can we not get our identities stolen when all our photos and credit card information is on the cloud?

When creating the system mapping of the Apple store, couple questions arose. How many different designer teams are needed for such innovations? Who is in charge of privacy advancements? How can we be sure our privacy is in tact? Will Apple be a part of creating public surveillance systems? Does Apple have a team working on AI software? Will AI software take over everyone’s jobs even the artists? To concise my research question I will have to pick a branch and pick more specific idea, because these are all very large questions. My next steps could be to make a system mapping for the individual questions them selves and see if one has enough information to base my research on. That is one issue with this topic, a lot of my ideas are futuristic which means that some ideas like AI might not have enough data to support or deny my theory.

Visual Analysis and System Mapping reflection – Studio

1. Your images of your process and notes / ideas from the visual analysis exercises

• Three different sites

• Visuals

• Categorized into three parts: still life art, text, moving video elements

2. Your images of your process and notes / ideas from the design-led systems mapping exercise

• Mall system

• Started with sticky notes of all parts that go into creating and running a Mall

• Used animals to symbolize the different parties

• Mapped out the system of communication within the parties

• At the bottom are questions raised after the research process

3. A new reflection (one to two paragraphs) on these experiences and what they revealed

The two experiences of research processes were very different. The first experience we brought in visuals, each from a different location, and had to find common similarities with our group members, and organize them in such categories. While the second process was a collaborative idea, ours was the mall, and we as a group had to investigate the systems that go into creating and running the mall. The visuals process revealed that there are similarities in types of media or art in different locations, although I did not find this process to informative. The first process was interesting to see the different art displayed in various, and stated the obvious visual differences of similarities, but did not help me investigate any aspects of these areas. The second research method on the other hand, was very informative and raised a lot of questions. It was a great way to visually comprehend how a system in a mall could work, after being able to pin point and move around elements we could think of. The combination of sticky notes and animal figures allowed us to vomit our thoughts out but then concise them into a chain of order. This process made our group think very in depth of all the details and complicated aspects that need to be done, to successfully run a mall. This process also raised a lot of questions we were left with unanswered, because when we created all the chains and links between the groups of working people, we realized we had some holes that we did not know what job would fit there. For example a question like, does the people who work for the stores talk to the owners of that company or the people in charge of the mall if things need to change? Do you design the interior and exterior separately or together?

Systems and Strategies – Starlee Kine

1) A list (made as you listen) of all the things that happen / steps that the narrator, Starlee Kine, takes, and

how to feel better:

something so satisfying when listening to sad songs

they make you feel less alone

they don’t judge you – they tell you ur better off without him

she didn’t want to feel better, she wanted to wallow – turning off phone and turning on the sad sad music

songs articulate feelings she didn’t know she had

after listening for months – she had to write one her self

needed to take charge

be the songs – be the pains

be in the stereo – she wanted to be the lyrics going into her own head

most desperate songs – pitiful – pathetic

felt good to hear others’ pain

how to write it?

went to phil collins – how to write a good break up songs

email collins

met in person

told him the whole story

= shared pain

he also wrote his first song from a divorce

started writing – everything gelt wrong

scribbled lines down when doing everyday things

lack of musical ability – asked around for help

read lines she wrote with others

tried it with a melody

it worked

played it for phil collins

 

 

2) A short paragraph reflecting on what her process was and why she took the steps she did.

Starlee Kine wrote a break up song because she wanted to be her own lyrics that go into her head. She spent months wallowing in sad songs she wanted to take charge and put all her thoughts down that came together in a song. Once her boyfriend broke up with her all the sign came flying back of all the warning signs, cliches, and corny moments that made her feel silly. She thought she was heart broken before, but wasn’t compared to this one. Once she was broken up, she realized break up songs were everywhere and realized they were all relatable. She had no music ability or talent but she was determined to make something of this horrible break up.

Studio: Systems and Strategies – Bridge 1

ANATOMY OF A PROJECT, DECONSTRUCTION, VISION AND REVISION

Step one: 

Studio project:

Seminar integrated research:

bridge 4_annotated bib-16v5n5a

Step two (process of work and research to previous work):

  • Hunger Games movie – research
  • Seminar social issue (public surveillance system) research
  • Online research – New York surveillance systems
  • Are people aware what it is and what it means?
  • Do people know the harm a P.S.S. could do?
  • Does the public know the impact of this notion?
  • Documented it through zines, notes, haikus, sketches

Step three (expansion to this topic and project):

  • Do my own primary research – ask people on street if they understood the concept of a public surveillance system
  • Ask them: do they think the world is more or less free?
  • Baldwin’s vision or the world, my family’s vision in the 60’s under the communist era, and my vision today = in what way do we have more freedom? And in what way to we have less freedom?
  • Worldwide research – not just New York or Hunger Games
  • Would look into age as a factor of decision to pursue the motion of a P.S.S.
  • Research on how advanced these systems are – and plans to implement them
  • Zine didn’t include that it affects everyone
  • Does not list all danger outcomes & that the cons outweigh the pros 10:1
  • Addition: vision of no freedom
  • Add: exponential growth in technology = blindside people

Step four (sketch adjustments):

• one page I would map out all the surveillance systems (that are known)

• second page would be informing of the idea that exponential technology growth may be dangerous and why

• third page would include quotes from interviews with people about PSS