Hasta La Ideas

Qualche tempo fa mi è stata segnalata un’animazione video molto bella e divertente, che voglio condividere con i lettori di Elmanco così come hanno già fatto centinaia di utenti sui social networks. L’autrice è una giovane graphic designer americana di nome Sara Shin che sta completando i suoi studi al college Otis di Los Angeles, ma che ha già avuto diverse esperienze di lavoro come freelance e stagista in studi grafici di alto livello.
Il video “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.” (una citazione di F. Scott Fitzgerald) è nato durante l’internship nello studio Blind ed ironizza sulle condizioni di lavoro dei designer alle prese, come sempre, con clienti bizzosi e tempistiche impossibili.

La morale è di imparare ad accettare la sconfitta, perché fa parte delle regole del gioco e non sempre gli incarichi che ci affidano hanno successo, ma perdere una battaglia non significa perdere la guerra: Fail again, Fail better.

Nothing makes a designer’s day more than seeing his creation out and about. In last week’s episode of KCRW’s Design and Architecture host Frances Anderton tipped us off to a quick turnaround mobile design challenge that promises to take your work deep into unexplored Los Angeles neighborhoods and into dusty cities across the border.

Producer Pearse-Chavez conducts an interview in a random quiet area.

Sonic Trace is a multi-platform project funded by KCRW’s Independent Producer Project that seeks to document immigrant stories that start in Los Angeles with roots outside the country. Throughout this summer producers Anayansi Diaz-Cortez and Eric Pearse-Chavez will be going around different parts of Los Angeles and across the border asking three compelling questions: Why do people leave? Why do others stay? And, what makes people go back (in either direction)?

One of the first Los Angeles migrants from Tavehua, Oaxaca, Mexico. Sonic Trace’s prime subjects. Photo courtesy of Sonic Trace.

While traipsing around the town with a mic in hand may seem glamorous, the truth is, it’s pretty bad for gathering audio. The pair will hit venues from churches to concert halls with vastly different sound conditions. The two need a sound booth, but not just a boring box. Diaz-Cortez tells Core77, “We would love it if it felt like a telephone booth, but with both parties in the same booth. We want it to be a borderless, neutral space where you can reflect.”

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Dezeen Wire: Japanese designer Takeshi Miyakawa has been accused of planting false bombs and arrested while installing his work in a New York street during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.

The 50 year-old Brooklyn-based designer was arrested on Saturday after a passerby reported one of his illuminated I Love NY carrier-bags, hanging from trees and lamp-posts around the city, and the NYPD bomb squad were called in to investigate.

Miyakawa is now being held at Rikers Island prison for 30 days for psychological evaluation as the design world campaigns for him to be freed – follow #freetakeshi on Twitter and the Free Takeshi Miyakawa group on Facebook for more updates.

Portrait is by Louis Lim.

Here’s some more information from his studio:

Brooklyn-based designer Takeshi Miyakawa was arrested on Saturday, May 19, 2012 at 2am for “planting false bombs” – he was installing a new series light sculptures inspired by the I LOVE NY plastic shopping bags (see attached images) around the city in trees and on lamp posts as part of NY Design Week 2012.

A passerby called in a bomb threat after noticing the sculpture installation. The NYPD arrested Miyakawa while a bomb squad verified that the sculptures were non-threatening. The designer and four of his colleagues co-operated with the police, repeatedly explaining that the hanging bags were an art-installation, and not explosives.

At an arraignment on Sunday, May 20, 2012 the prosecution recommended that the judge fix bail, while his lawyer, Deborah J Blum, characterized Miyakawa’s arrest as a gross misunderstanding as evidenced by his many accomplishments in the field of design.

The Honorable Martin Murphy decided to hold Miyakawa for a mental evaluation, extending his detainment for an additional 30 days.

The 50-year-old designer relocated Tokyo to New York City 23 years ago, working for the renowned New York architect Rafael Vinoly. Miyakawa established his solo design practice, Takeshi Miyakawa Design, in 2001.

Clutter can collect in homes and offices for multiple reasons, and avoidance is a common cause for clutter collection. Avoidance is not laziness (laziness can be a cause for clutter, but it’s very rare). Rather, avoidance is what happens when you choose not to make a decision and it is one of the top reasons for clutter accumulation, if not the top reason. Instead of deciding how to deal with a mess, you decide instead to avoid making a decision and (try your best) to ignore the mess.

I do this every few months with my inbox on my desk. I’ll be great for weeks at processing and making decisions about the paperwork that comes onto my desk. Then, a piece of paper I don’t want to deal with appears, and the paper hangs out in my inbox for days while I avoid making a decision. Other papers eventually pile up on top of the paper I’m avoiding (in theory: out of sight, out of mind) and eventually my inbox is a stack of papers cluttering up my desk. The pile causes me anxiety, and no matter how much I’m trying to avoid making a decision about that piece of paper at the bottom of the pile, I know it’s still there. It hangs over me like a cloud of darkness. I’ll waste so much time and energy thinking about that piece of paper, which is ridiculous because almost always it only takes a few minutes to process it when I finally stop avoiding it.

Does this scenario resonate with you? My guess is that it does.

Being a good decision-maker doesn’t mean that you always make the right decision. It’s impossible to always make the “right” decision (and since “right” is subjective, what you believe to be right may not be considered right by others, anyway). Rather, good decision makers are people who can make well-informed decisions efficiently and then respond appropriately to the outcome. For example, if the decision turns out to have a negative outcome, good decision makers quickly respond and rectify the situation. They also learn from all decisions they make.

Decision-making is a skill, same as tying one’s shoes or typing on a keyboard. It’s something that can be taught and improved over time. Just because you’re not-so-great at making decisions today doesn’t mean you’re doomed to spend the rest of your life surrounded by clutter. Thankfully, there is typically a cumulative effect, so the more decisions you make the better you usually get at making decisions.

Theories abound on how to help people become better decision-makers, and the following is what I’ve cobbled together over the years as the best method for making decisions about clutter. These tips may work for you in other areas, but my intention is to focus on helping you make better decisions about processing your stuff:

1. Acknowledge you need to make a decision. This seems ridiculously obvious, but you would be surprised how easy it is to ignore this step. If you have ever thought, “I don’t want to deal with this right now,” as you set down whatever it was you were holding, you have skipped this step in the decision-making process. Instead of thinking, “I don’t want to deal with this right now,” practice thinking, “I need to make a decision about this right now.” Then, move on to the second step in the decision-making process. If you don’t have the proper time to make a good decision right then, identify exactly when you will have the time and schedule it immediately on your calendar. As David Allen advises, you don’t want any “open loops” — something that doesn’t belong where it is, the way it is.
2. Identify actions you can take. When processing clutter, your possible actions might be as simple as: keep or purge? Your list might be longer or it might be full of all good options (or, conversely, all bad options) or you may not even be aware of what your options are. Be creative here and work to give yourself at least two actions you can take.
3. Decide the value of the decision. Is making this decision something that could impact your life in a significant way? Or, is it a minor decision that will have very little impact on the way you live? Minor decisions need to take the least amount of time to decide which action you wish to take. Major decisions should take longer, but not any longer than it would take to rectify the situation if the choice has a negative outcome. For instance, if you spend four days making a decision about something that would take you just 10 minutes to fix, you have spent way too long making the decision. By knowing the value of the decision, you can determine how much time to spend researching and weighing actions and possible outcomes.
4. Research and weigh realistic possible outcomes. People who struggle with decision-making usually get held up on this step. They cycle through fears and unrealistic emotions (“… but what if …” or “I could miss it”) instead of concrete possibilities. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the what-if cycle, and instead list out actual outcomes and how you will handle each of those outcomes. If it’s a major decision, you may wish to use a piece of paper and write out each outcome. If it’s a minor decision, all you’ll need to do is quickly list the outcomes in your mind. When you list real possibilities, it helps reduce your fears and confront how you will respond. If you decide to get rid of a shirt that no longer fits, you know you’ll be able to get a new shirt if the time comes.
5. Make a decision. After going through the previous steps, you’re prepared to make a decision. Remind yourself that no one makes the right decision every time, and you’re doing the best with the information you’ve collected. Remind yourself of possible outcomes and how you will be able to handle the outcome. Finally, remind yourself that with each decision you make, you’re becoming a better decision-maker and the process will become easier.

Do you need to work on becoming a better decision-maker? Will doing so help you process your clutter and keep you surrounded by only the things you need and that you truly value? What decision can you make today that will help you alleviate some clutter from your life? What have you been avoiding that has created more clutter?

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

Dutch designers Daphna Laurens have created a series of storage containers that partially conceal their contents behind metal grilles.

They presented the cork and aluminium Cover collection with fellow members of design collective Dutch Invertuals as part of an exhibition on the theme of vulnerability called Untouchables Retouched in Milan last month.

The pair also showed pieces from their Cirkel collection in Milan at The Front Room: Geometry and Colour.

See all our stories about their work »

Photography is by Raw Color and Daphna Laurens.

Here’s some more information from the designers:

Cover is a collection of containers. Containers that make you curious, curious about what’s inside of them. The covers can be separated from the bowls to fill them, or they can be used singly as open containers.

By drawing a line or closing borders, by creating boundaries or setting up fences people believe they can create a certain level of safety. These divisions make curiosity turn into fear. Fear of the unknown. These objects aim to arouse that natural human quality, curiosity.

Materials are cork and aluminium, blasted and powder coated.

Cover collection was presented at the Salone del Mobile 2012 for the first time at the Dutch Invertuals exhibition: Untouchables retouched

“Almost unnoticed we have shaped a society without danger. Nevertheless things happen to us we can’t control. ‘Untouchables Retouched’ is a visual dialogue about re-balancing and re-valuating the beauty of vulnerability.”

By conducting research and experiments the Invertuals have transposed the theme of vulnerability onto contemporary designs. Balance, delicacy, curiosity and transience were sources of inspiration.

Dutch Invertuals is a collective of individual designers who are always in search of the limits of their profession. They present pieces that reflect their contemporary viewpoints in images, objects, materials, insights and stories.

Participants:

Daphna Laurens, Edhv, Mieke Meijer, Raw Color, Jetske Visser, Jeroen Wand, Maurizio Montalti, Kirstie van Noort, Susana Camara & Mike Thompson, Adrien Petrucci, Paul Heijnen.

Curator: Wendy Plomp

As a designer and initiator of Dutch Invertuals, Wendy Plomp tells the story of a collective: born from the idea that a mix of strong individuals can create a wonderful unexpected world in which the different disciplines reflect the multi-faced nature of design.