Making connections

In the past few years since I started this blog, it's biggest purpose has been to make connections between the thoughts in my head and the work I'm doing. I have a major connection to make, that gets to the heart of why I do what I do.

For the past four months I've been working at digital advertising agency LBi (now MRY). It's a hidden behemoth of a space behind Flatiron's grey walls. You could literally work there for four years and not meet everyone, but I'm working in the creative department among a bustling extravaganza of interesting folks.

LBi calls themselves a marketing agency for the digital world, so my job is to design beautiful online advertisements in the form of websites. I suppose it could be argued that every website is that, however the websites I'm designing are promoting consumer products like this one for Neutrogena.

This is a new one for me but it's reminded me a lot of what both of my parents devoted their lives to - marketing consumer products. My mom started her own direct marketing business in the 80's and People's Bank and Harrah's were among her clients. My dad worked at General Foods for a thousand years and was VP of Sales and Marketing.

Every trip to the supermarket was analyzed for product placement, and every commercial on TV was picked apart. He spent so much time managing the Maxwell House brand I remember I had a mixtape with all of the different options for "jingles"...

I feel more of a connection to them with this work because the feedback we get from the client might be feedback that they would have given to a creative team. It doesn't make it any better (ha!) but at least I understand the client perspective. As a designer I have this practical side that was probably instilled by my corporate parents. Design is a perfect balance for me (even though I will always secretly wish I was a conceptual artist). I love helping people to develop their brand, and providing the valuable service of design, and working within the energy of a creative team.

A sense of place and frameworks for the web

Previously, I've written about the differences between looking at digital vs architectural space, but I'm also interested in the similarities. There are two concepts in web design/user experience that come from the physical world. Number one, a sense of place. Two, frameworks.

How do you create a sense of place when designing for the web? It could be as simple as having some repetitive elements that create an element of familiarity. I think Steve Krug can help us with this answer. I'm almost finished reading his web usability bible, "Don't Make me Think", and there are many gems worth remembering.

In the web space, there are some idiosyncrasies that you will not find in the physical world. He describes the experience as being dropped from the sky into the middle of a maze, or being lost in space. There is no sense of scale, no sense of direction and no sense of location. Probably why the back button accounts for 30-40 percent of all web clicks. Tools like clearly visited links, breadcrumbs, persistent navigation and site identification (as home button) make the experience much more enjoyable and less confusing for the user.

Another metaphor with the physical world: web navigation as streetsigns. Navigation is so much more than just a feature of the website - it IS the website. It shows you the content, where to begin, and it gives a sense of place, of feeling grounded. If a site is done well, it will clearly tell you where you've been, where you are in this moment, and where you need to go.

Liz Danzico writes about frameworks on 52 weeks of UX, and she relates designing them to creating opportunities, possibilities for action for the user. Just as in architectural space, if the frameworks are too strict it limits the possibilities for movement - there is less freedom. However, if there is no structure or organization, then it leaves open the possibility for chaos. Designers have the responsibility to create a balance between these two extremes.

Erving Goffman, whom Danzico dubs the father of framework analysis, describes the delicate balance: "Frameworks allow people to locate, identify, and label an infinite number of concrete occurrences. People can move through the complex framework of a city or a website, but they’re unlikely to be aware of it or even be able to describe it if asked. People fit their actions into the ongoing world that support a set of activities—the “anchoring of activities.” It gives them context and interpretation from their point of view. Be clear, but leave room for stories to be told and to flourish."

Storytelling as a metaphor for web interaction - the more engaging the site, the more people will be attracted and encouraged to be themselves, be social, and tell their unique story.

Kevin Lynch, ideas and documentation map

One more book to read: Kevin Lynch The Image of the City, 1961

I spent the afternoon on Friday reading Adrian Forty's Words and Buildings. In the book there is a diagram from Kevin Lynch called "Form Qualities of the City" in which he simplifies our visual world to nine different illustrations. To Lynch and other urbanists concerned with the lack of intelligibility of our cities, form was the property that would overcome the alienation of modern cities. Not sure if I understand exactly how, but Forty writes "Interest in 'form' as the means of resisting the effects of mass culture and of urbanization have been recurrent throughout the twentieth century". I think I'm onto something here because this is exactly what I'm interested in studying, but I need to read his book to understand completely.

I am halfway through reading The Experience of Place by Tony Hiss. It's helped to open my eyes to all of the senses that create a feeling of atmosphere. For example smells, sounds, climate, angles of buildings (where patterns emerge), how sunlight creates space (relates to height of buildings) are all factors that contribute to our experience of place. Also something I would like to explore is to show how a space could be altered with significant changes - this could be the project where I remove all remnants of branding or signage from storefronts and examine how that changes the experience.

Naturally tied in with this experience is the awareness of previous uses and flows, and historical changes. This education could naturally create interest in the preservation of authenticity of a place. For example, the sensory experience of Grand Central station contributed to it's preservation when the city wanted to tear it down in the 70's. Also, the loss of Penn station before that was the driving force behind the creation of the Historical landmark commission in New York City.

My biggest challenge in all of this is to sift through the massive amount of information I'm encountering. I'm reading so much in my Seminar class that I haven't been able to read as much as I would like for thesis. I think Kevin Lynch is exactly the jumping off point I needed, because my point of view is coming from two different areas and it seems like he marries those points of view. They are: 1. the rejection of speed and consumerism of our culture and preservation of authenticity of place. or at least awareness of historical and cultural context in development and signage. 2. Uncovering hidden forms, patterns and relationships in our surroundings and how these discoveries contribute to the atmosphere of a place.

We read a lot of Herbert Muschamp's architecture criticism for Seminar this week, and I was interested in his differentiation between context and adjacency when discussing The New Museum. He writes that the New Museum's roots are deep in Soho and thus the structure represents large raw loft spaces, but it's location is firmly on the border of Soho and the Lower East side. There is no awareness of it's place in a rich and layered historical neighborhood (the neighborhood I learned about from Charlie Cohen) apparent in the building's white-walled interior or exterior of galvanized zinc. It is located directly next to the Bowery Mission and Salvation army, which has been housing, feeding and clothing the homeless and destitute since the late 1800's. I wonder what the interaction is between these two institutions, the employees and visitors. I also wonder what Muschamp believed are the differences between context and adjacency?

On Wednesday night last week I walked from one end of Rivington street to the other with a tape recorder to capture the feeling of atmosphere at different junctures. I found it really interesting that there were three distinct atmospheres on this one street, and I am exploring the reasons why. This is the sketch of the documentation map I created. I wanted to capture all of the interactions, places and details that create the atmosphere of a neighborhood.