Day of Design 1

2/10/2016

   
During the Day of Design we had the privilege to hear about the work of professional designers. The first speaker was Josh Goldblum, the CEO of Bluecadet in Philadelphia and New York. He first discussed how he and his company try to use a wide arrange of technology and try to remain agnostic when choosing platforms to design for. They try to integrate with touch screens and social media as much as possible. All of this seems important, especially if they intend to stay up to date with technology.

After that he showed us a lot of projects he worked on. The first thing was a website for science fair Friday, and a game called chem crafters. Then he showed off an app that gave a tour of the the Monticello museum which had 3 touch screens to customize typography. Another app which seemed incredibly useful was called Anthi, I think, and it translated english names into korean and vice versa. Probably my favorite piece of work were these museum pillars with touch screens that could be moved up and down in order to get all the content of the exhibit. It apparently cost over 100 grand. Then he showed off a wall dedicated to the pope's travels in the papal museum. Then he told us about a mobile museum experience that allows people to sync their phones to the screens in the museum and share content. Then he showed off an experience which used 2 Xbox Kinects that were used to take a picture of their bodies and place them into landscapes. Then he talked about wood cuts of Ben Franklin that were animated in AfterEffects with scripts. It was actually very interesting to see just how integrative they can be, even though it can be expensive. 

  Then he talked about the process needed for each project. He said project management and communication are the most important part of the process. He used to work for a museum which is why he loves the cultural aspects of each project. He discussed how brainstorming can be such a struggle. They usually look at the content of the project in order to come up with a design. For example he talked about how he was working on a piece for a Van Gogh exhibit and they asked themselves, what do people like about Van Gogh. He said that a lot of work comes from experiments and prototypes. To be a successful designer you must have the tenacity to solve problems and be willing to experiment.