Making Data Visualization Easier

Observable is a free website that allows for the creation of complex graphs and data visualization with the help of a little coding knowledge. The templates allow for creative ways to exhibit and share data to offer new insights and eye-catching graphics to make it cool at the same time. Here’s a link to an…

Black Art > Black Bodies

What a decision by the University of Pennsylvania. In what can be seen as easily the most contested and contentious decision by the University over the past week, I think the messaging is clear. Black art > Black bodies. Rather than addressing any material or systemic change, the University has plopped a statue of a…

DATA DUMPS?

This week I wanted to highlight the work of a Penn Graduate student whose work I enjoy. Their work is “a multi-modal, multi-sited ethnography of the entangled material practices of data, energy, and extraction in Iceland, and Greenland.” As we think about our use of data and design, it made me wonder about a critical…

Architecture and Blackness in America

This exhibit at the MoMA is something that caught my interest. As we exit from a very socially engaged assignment in our PSA posters, it seems to dovetail nicely with a critical eye towards design. The intention of the exhibit is to “explore ways in which histories can be made visible and equity can be…

Video Games Are Always Cooler than Everything Else and That is a Hill I will Happily Die On.

While thinking about loading screens this week, I was playing Witcher 3 and it hit me. Video games have mastered the art of the loading screen ages ago. From GTA’s cartoonish vignettes, to Bayonetta’s interactive open space for perfecting combos, to my personal nostalgia favorite of Assasin’s Creed. Who doesn’t love to roam through the…

“Speculative” Design in the Present Moment

This article reminded me of our speculative design project last week and brought up a question about “for whom”. When design moves from the realm of speculative to reality, who is provided access to this technology and is able to afford its benefits. I will say this looks sick though. Link to Article: https://www.yankodesign.com/2020/10/12/this-home-gardening-assistive-device-sticks-into-your-plants-soil-to-keep-it-healthy/

Artificial Intelligence, Real Cities

As technology changes, the use-case of burgeoning technology increases exponentially. One of the use-cases of such tech has been the ever-important utility of artificial intelligence for Minecraft city-building. In all seriousness, this is massive. The article linked below goes on to explain how the techniques embedded in the virtual world of Minecraft can be transplanted…

KOLORS 4 KIDS

When I begin to think about what blog post I’m going to write, I tend to think about others. This week I wanted to flip the conversation around a bit and get introspective. For my club, I’m the social media chair and was tasked (for some odd reason) with making promo for the club. It…

I WANNA BE A MINIMALIST MOM!

“Does it Bring You JOY! NO? GET RID OF IT!” – Marie Kondo (2011 I think). I’ve always been interested in color and what the societal messages around color are. While following the minimalist trend as an outsider for a few years, I’ve been intrigued by the messaging around “minimalist” aesthetic, color, and “high-culture”. My…

Imagination vs. Reality

I wanted to share this article not only because it was a matter of local infrastructural importance, but because of the questions it raised for me. Questions about the imagined future versus the “real” future. I’ll be interested to see how the design for this new development compares to the imagined reality of what it…