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Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Coherency,
das Gesamtkunstwerk
and how to make design
decisions
Sus Lundgren 2010-02-10
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Today’s goals
To introduce coherency/consistency as design
concept
To introduce the notion of das Gesamtkunstwerk,
– and interactive objects as being Gesamtkunstwerke
To show how you can use these concept in your
projects
– in order to make good designs
– and get high grades :)
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Today’s goals
To introduce coherency/consistency as design
concept
To introduce the notion of das Gesamtkunstwerk
– and interactive objects as being Gesamtkunstwerke
To show how you can use these concept in your
projects
– in order to make good designs
– and get high grades :)
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
What is coherency?
What is coherency (consistency)?
Discuss
– Think of things that are incoherent
– …or coherent
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Coherency
Coherency, consistency,
cohesion...
– That things ”work” in the same
way
– That one can draw conclusions
on not yet seen or tried things
on the basis of what one already
knows about the system
– That there is an underlying
idea/notion/logic that unites
different aspects of the design
– Common in all types of design
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
So it all boils down to...
coherent according to what???– Ease of use ?
– Other ideals
– Ideas
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
So it all boils down to...
coherent according to what???– Ease of use ?
– Other ideals
– Ideas
I’ll give a lot of examples..
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Dragon’s Gold
Coherency-objectives
1. Usability / efficiency
2. Keeping as much of the
game’s core (rules,
gameplay) as suitable
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Coherency in usability
Common ”usability” theme, related to foreseeing
what the program will/can do
–Hmmm… this icon has a diskette on it…
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Coherency as ”beauty”
Coherency as the strive for harmony and unity
– Pythagoreans (Pythagoras ca 582-500 BC): Beauty is
built into the Universe: Simple symmetry and harmony,
geometric shapes
– Augustine (5th century): ”Modus, species et ordo”
(latin, measure, form and order)
– Thomas of Aquino (1225 –1274, philosopher): Beauty,
but also purpose
– Scholastics: Consonantia (accord, harmony) and
claritas (clearness, light)
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Coherency via math & proportions
Math- and
proportion-based
coherency
Da Vinci’s paitning is based
on the ancient Roman
architecht Vitruvius’
description of the human
proportions.
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Coherency via math & proportions
Math- and
proportion-based
coherency
Map of body measures, this
one designed by Le Corbusier
(first half of 20ieth century), but
many similar maps have been
drawn throughout history
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Coherency via math & proportions
Math- and proportion-
based coherency
– Functionalism
– De Stijl
– Ulm
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Coherency via math & proportions
It is certainly true that at Ulm there was a
fixation on geometry as a visual language.
The emphasis on rationality favored
mathematical thinking in design. […] By
excluding from our teaching, from the very
beginning, not only art, but taste and
fashion, we freed ourselves to some extent
from the emotive and irrational
characteristics of these fields of activity.”
– Herbert Lindinger in ”Ulm Design: The
Morality of Objects”,1991, pp. 78 and 79
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Form ever follows function
It is the pervading law of all things organic and
inorganic,
Of all things physical and metaphysical,
Of all things human and all things super-human,
Of all true manifestations of the head,
Of the heart, of the soul,
That the life is recognizable in its expression,
That form ever follows function.
This is the law.
– Louis H. Sullivan in “The tall office building artistically
considered” (1896)
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Case: Riven
The Computer game
Riven is based on
two things
–An underlying
narrative of the D’ni,
writing books that
become worlds
–The number five; five
islands, five colors,
pentagon shapes
everywhere, e.g. tables
with five legs…
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Case: Riven
Five islands
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Case: Riven
Gehn’s crest; five
in five in five in
five in five…
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Case: Riven
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Case: Riven
Five pillars
Five beetles
Five-pointed star on wall, in pentagon
Five-pointed star on floor, with D’ni symbol for five
in the middle
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Case: Riven
One of five paintings
Two five-pointed
stars in the upper
right symbol
D’ni-symbol for five
as medallion
…and it goes on like
that…
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Ex2: Coherency via narrative
Leon Battista Alberti (1404 –1472)
– Della Pittura 1436
– Arti del designo was an exact science
– Still, art needed historia
“The great work of the painter is the 'historia'; parts of
the 'historia' are the bodies, part of the body is the
member, and part of the member is a surface. […]
Everything the people in the painting do among
themselves, or, perform in relation to the spectators,
must fit together to represent and explain the 'historia.'“
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Coherency via narrative
Stylt’s design of Reval Hotel Sonya in St
Petersburg based on Dostoyevsky’s ”Crime and
Punishment”
– A giant bookcase in the lobby has been filled with versions
of “Crime and Punishment” in many different languages
– A sofa shaped like a huge Russian lacquerware box with
motifs from the novel.
– Desks inspired by Dostoyevsky’s own desk
– Parts of Rafael’s “Sistine Madonna” which appear in
many of Dostoyevsky’s novels, hanging in each room.
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Coherency via narrative
Anthony Dunne – Hertzian
Tales: comment on invisible
signals around us
– Radio waves, electromagnetic
waves
The Faraday Chair
The Thief of Affections
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Ex 3: Coherency via personality
“In ascribing a certain character to an artifact we make
a very simple, but powerful description that frequently
will be accurate enough to help us to manage the task of
handling the artifact and to appreciate the
consequences of our interaction with it.”
– Lars-Erik Janlert and Erik Stolterman in “The Character
of Things”, 1997 p. 300
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Ex 3: Coherency via personality
Reeves & Nass, The Media Equation
– the theory that interactions with computers, television etc
are identical to real social relationships and to the
navigation of real physical spaces.
– Submissive/Dominant people prefer computers with same
personality; even more if it adapts its personality to them
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Ex2: Coherency via personality
IxD: Dunne and Raby
– Technological Dreams series: No. 1, Robots:
” These objects are meant to spark a discussion about
how we'd like our robots to relate to us: subservient,
intimate, dependent, equal?”
Independent (goes about with its tasks)
Nervous (home security)
Sentinel (=vaktpost, guards personal data)
Needy (very smart)
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Case: The Iron Horse
The Iron Horse was my
Project-course design
– The toy we always wanted
but never got
– A bike that sounded like a
horse
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Iron Horse design decisions
Goal: Encourage play and imagination
Means: To give the bike horse-traits
Secondary goal: Safety
Means: Keep ordinary functions, not
interfere with use, just augment
Imagination”personality” and mimic behaviors
Play no rules
Imagination + safety only use sounds
Chosen
Forced
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Choosing sounds
Whinny (friendly, aggressive)
Snort
Chewing
Digestion sounds
Urinate
Poop
”Movement”-sounds from hoofs
Kicking
Swooshing tail
Which ones
would you have
kept?
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Choosing sounds
Whinny (friendly, aggressive)
Snort
Chewing
Digestion sounds
Urinate
Poop
”Movement”-sounds from hoofs
Kicking
Swooshing tail
Which ones
would you have
kept?
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Choosing expressions/behaviors
Live in groups
– Know each other
– Greet each other
– Keep the group’s pace
– Graze in pairs
– Can sleep standing up
Movement
– Walk, trot, canter (three-beat) gallop (four-beat)
– Rear
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
The hardware of the Iron Horse
Hall sensor + magnets
– lock + spokes for speed, pinion + frame for pedal
movement & position
Accelerometer
Radio transmitter + reciever, key with transmitter
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Expressing the horse character
Expression
Gait sounds
Greeting Whinny
Whinny (rear)
Whinny
Snort (prompt)
Snort
Keeping pace
Tail swoosh
How?
Speed of wheels
Radio signal from horse/key
Accelerometer
Randomized by code
Speed of pedals
Randomized by code
Radio signals from horses
Radio signals from horses
Probability
depending
on
individual
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Horse-jumping application
We also came up with the concept of a horse-
jumping application
–Fences as white lines: width = height
–Jump = pedals in correct position
–Sound of falling fence if failed
–Explicitly no rules or points
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Iron Horse design decisions
Goal: Encourage play and imagination
Means: To give the bike horse-traits
Secondary goal: Safety
Means: Keep ordinary functions, not
interfere with use, just augment
Imagination”personality” and mimic behaviors
Imagination + safety only use sounds
Play no rules
Chosen
Forced
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
The New Office Assistant
Have you ever owned a dog?
They do this…
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
The New Office Assistant
…They don’t do this…
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
The New Office Assistant
And they certainly do not do THIS!
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
The New Office Assistant
Let’s improve this…
New
Save
Open
Find and Replace
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Multidisciplinary coherency
Coherency is easier to attain in one singular
medium:
Stories
Music
Adding more disciplines makes it more
complicated since they need to cooperate,
intertwine even, to become a
Gesamtkunstwerk!
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Das Gesamtkunstwerk
Das Gesamtkunstwerk: “total artwork” or
“integrated artwork”
– Artworks or artifacts where several disciplines are used in
creation
– Introduced by Wagner: opera
– Fascinated artists ever since – especially architects
To make every aspect of an object – the form, the
details etc. – to accord, creating a conjoined
whole.
– Many Gesamtkunstwerk-houses
– Bauhaus school
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Das Gesamtkunstwerk as house
Victor Horta:
Haus Tassel
1893-1895
Brussels
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Das Gesamtkunstwerk as house
Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser: Waldspirale, Darmstadt, Germany,
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Hundertwasser’s Mouldiness Manifesto
Today we live in a chaos of straight lines, in a jungle of
straight lines. If you do not believe this, take the trouble
to count the straight lines which surround you. Then
you will understand, for you will never finish counting.
[we are trapped in a jungle of straight lines]
Until now, man has always cleared away the jungles he
was in and freed himself. But to clear a jungle you must
first become aware that you are in one, for this jungle
took form stealthily, unnoticed by mankind. And this
time it is a jungle of straight lines.
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Das Gesamtkunstwerk as profile
Peter Behrens (1868-1940): Graphic designer,
designer, self-taught architect
– Designed his own house as Gesamtkunstwerk in 1901
AEG 1907 – 1914: Groundbreaking!
– Started with graphic design (ads, stationary, invitations,
catalogues...
– exhibitions...
– interior decorations, buildings
– products (e.g. fans, water boilers, measuring instruments
= Profiling all aspects of the company
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Behrens at the AEG
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Behrens’ ideal
Behrens’ general ideal was to let the
visual form of the manufactured
product stand for itself
– No longer cultural, literal, mythological
connotations
The result was novel industrial design
– Used simple basic shapes
– Standard components and measures
– Rhythm by repeating shapes and patterns
– Sparse use of ornaments
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Design languages / profiles
What Behren’s did for AEG, everyone does today;
company or product profiling
– Look & feel
– Colors, fonts, shapes
– Design languages concisting of words, objectives
– Values
– Ethics
…Coherency!
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
The gesamtkunstwerk in IxD
“LG Chocolate sold over one million
units in only eight weeks following its
introduction. This phone offers (from a
2006 point of view) a unique
interactive narrative which can be
called a real Gesamtkunstwerk –
directly engaging the three senses of
sight, hearing and touch, and evoking
the fourth sense of taste through the
phone's name and color.”
– Lev Manovich in ”Interaction as an
aesthetic event” (2006)
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Case: Hipstamatic
Camera-app for iPhone mimicking old crappy
cameras from the 1970ies. How?
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Consistent look&feel
Old-fashioned look&feel
Old-fashioned shutter sound
Old-fashioned flash sound
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Mimicking film quality/decay
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
1) Mimicking effect of lenses
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Mimicking effect of chosen film
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Mimicking lense change
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Mimicks lense change
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Mimicking inexact aim
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Mimicking waiting…
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Slowness in seeing the pic…
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Mimicking ”film roll” 24 slots
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Consistent interaction
Swipe to change lense
– (to some extent mimicking that
oing this is a physical interaction
rather than a choice in a list)
Swipe through film roll
Flick/pan to change film
– (to some extent mimicking that
oing this is a physical interaction
rather than a choice in a list)
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Consistent in its mimicking
I can ”get used”
to the lenses
and the film,
learning when
they work best
or which effect
they give.
(I knew this pic would be
better with hipsta than
with my regular iPhone
camera)
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Why does this help you?
Because coherency is, has always been, and will
always been a design VIRTUE :)
But how?
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Step 1: State objectives
At the start of each project:
1) State goals
2) State means
3) Take outer constraints into account
– Time
– Skill
– Resources
– Demands
Iterate!
Extract a
few design
guidelines
Rank
them!
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Goal: Encourage play and imagination
Means: To give the bike horse-traits
Secondary goal: Safety
Means: Keep ordinary functions, not
interfere with use, just augment
Imagination”personality” and mimic behaviors
Play no rules
Imagination + safety only use sounds
Chosen
Forced
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Step 2: Cling to them
Let your design guidelines serve as frame for the
project.
Do not make any one single design decision
without considering them.
(And remember; at some point coherency always
breaks; make sure it’s discrete)
Sus Lundgren fall 2010
Good luck with
your projects!