Compare and Contrast

The UCD campus contains a few special sculptures, such as the eggheads and the abstract by Tio Giambruni.  Each sculpture is different in shape, size, color, and intention, but nonetheless, all deserving of their space on campus.

There are 7 eggheads scattered throughout campus.  Each egghead holds a different expression and is positioned differently. For example, The one in front of Shields Library has it's nose stuck in a book, the one behind Mrak Hall facing the library, is flipped upside down on it's head, and the one by Dutton is flipped onto its back. When I first saw these eggheads back when I was a little girl visiting the campus, I immediately wondered why the eggheads were there. Reflecting upon my first encounters with them, I realize the answer: to have people stop and wonder about the reason why the eggheads were made in the first place. There is no real reason as to why the eggheads exist, they just do.  Even though I make that argument, I think that to some extent, the expression that each egghead has is influenced by its location. The egghead in front of the library was sculpted with its face in a book.  Adding a book to the sculpture is most appropriate since it's located in front of the library, a place where there are tons of books and where students will come to put their face in a book.  It would be inappropriate to have such a sculpture in front of Mrak Hall.  Consider the eggheads in front of the drama theater.  One egghead is down on the side, the other one isn't.  These expressions are appropriate for a sculpture outside of the drama building, since drama is all about movement and acting. It's as though the egghead themselves are acting.

Unlike the eggheads, which are rather simple, the sculpture by the art building done by Tio Giambruni, is more complicated, in the way that it's not something someone can look at and say "Hey, that's a  -------." Giambruni helped expand the sculpting sector of the art program, so the sculpture probably exists to commemorate his contributions to the art program. To some extent, I do believe that the sculpture is supposed to attract attention, and make people wonder about it, but in a different way than the eggheads. The  Giambruni sculpture only intends to make people wonder about what it resembles, since it isn't anything in particuluar. So I think it pushes its audience to wonder about its shape, its form, and all that it resembles.
Sculptures exist everywhere. The reason for them is up to you to decide.

Jar of Hearts

When I think about how these blogs are about "design in society" I immediately think that I must go out into the small city of Davis and pick something out that relates to design.  Since design is "everywhere" surely I should be able to find something in Davis that is "design" and talk about it. But this time around, I decided to go beyond the whole world of Davis and take a look at the music video for Christina Perri's Jar of Hearts.



You cannot deny that there was a good amount of design that went on in the production of the music video. One obvious element of design was the overall dark hue of the music video.  The gray colors of the music video reflects the overall gray tone of the speaker in the song. I see the song as a revival song, a song sung after the speaker has gotten over the pain of being hurt by the person s/he loved. But the images used in the lyrics are very dark, and the dark imagery comes to life in the use of the gray overtone throughout the music video. The director of the music videos also manipulates the black, white, and gray colors in the music videos to further enhanace the mood of the song.

To some extent, there is a hint of resentment and bitterness towards the ex-lover. Those feelings are projected through the choreography of the dancers. Towards the end of the music video, all the women that the man tries to catch fights back vigorously against him. He'll pick her up, but she'll fling her arms and legs, causing him to release her.  These moves relate back to the tone of bitterness and resentment. She no longer wants to be with him, since she sees him for who he is; and he is someone who's heartless inside.

Design as a conversation

Design aims to create dialogue with its audience.  It wants to evoke some sort of thought from them.  Even the simplest form of design provokes the mind.  In class, the conversation was seen between Lady Gaga and Yoko Ono—a music-based conversation.  There was a back-and-forth response between the two artists, and in a conversation, one of the most important thing is a back-and-forth flow between people.

But design and conversation does not need to be as complex and as abstract as that.  Designs carry messages.  If that message is sent successfully, then already there was some sort of conversation going on. Take for example, poster ads.

Poster ads are meant to sell their product to the viewer. Ads are supposed to spark interest in the potential customer. Once they’ve been hooked, the conversation starts. For example, imagine a flyer advertising an Open House.

This flyer is supposed to catch the attention of people walking by. The bright colors, such as the yellow on the cupcake, fulfill that purpose.  It’s as if the yellow is shouting “Hey, look at me!” Once the attention is captured, the flyer must say all that it needs to say, as simple as possible, without loosing the interest it had sparked.  If that is successfully done, the viewer may walk away thinking “Yes, I will check out the Open House,” rather than not think anything about the product at all.

Lady Gag and Yoko Ono was a conversation between two artists.  Design speaks to people. It creates dialogue and thought. In Lady Gaga’s and Yoko Ono’s case, it was a musical design. Rather similar to that of Einstein on the Beach by Phillip Glass and Robert Wilson.