Design Context Blog: February 2012

Wednesday 29 February 2012

Jo's preparitory task

1. Poster for the V&A

2. 'Fortune magazine' (1953)

3. El Lisitsky (1919) 'Beat the whites with the red wedge"

4. The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar. In spite of its name, and the fact that its founder was an architect, the Bauhaus did not have an architecture department during the first years of its existence. Nonetheless it was founded with the idea of creating a 'total' work of art in which all arts, including architecture would eventually be brought together. The Bauhaus style became one of the most influential currents in Modernist architecture and modern design. The Bauhaus had a profound influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography.

5. The Trottroir Roullant, an electric moving walkway which was installed at the metro station Montparnasse-Bienvenue in Paris in 1900, brought about a new way of thinking.

6. Le Corbusier was a great architect of the modern era, he argued that any architecture should be designed to be functional and in order to meet the needs of those within it.

8. “All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.”

9. Paris became a popular for those who were wealthy and had time to spend, it was a place of new experience, many considered it as 'The place to be' and it quickly became the social hub of Europe.

10. Effel Tower.

Tuesday 28 February 2012

The Phycology of a Smile

The Physiology of a Smile

In a nutshell, when you smile, your body releases endorphins.

Endorphins send a message to your brain that makes you feel good… confident… satisfied.

Test it for yourself… try to smile and feel sad at the same time.

Your natural reaction when someone is smiling at you is to smile back (remember, you learnt this as a baby). But there is much more to it…

When you smile at someone, they tends to smile back at you – partially unconsciously… and endorphins get released in their body.

So, thanks to the endorphins, what their unconscious mind memorizes about you is “this person makes me feel good” – a great way to break her skepticism and make them trust you.

Now, you see why smiling first is essential and how it can help you greatly when trying to influence someone, or trying to seduce a man or a woman!

Quick summary:

- Closed lip smile

–> a fake smile to be polite, or the person is embarrassed by their teeth (this applies to many more people than you may think)

- Whole face smile

–> a genuine smile, indicating honesty and openness to communication

- Covering the mouth (or parts of the face)

–> while you are talking, they could be surprised by what you said

–> when they are talking, they could be lying or uncomfortable with the conversation

The happiest people spend the least time alone. They pursue personal growth and intimacy; they judge themselves by their own yardsticks, never against what others do or have.

"Materialism is toxic for happiness," says University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener. Even rich materialists aren't as happy as those who care less about getting and spending.

Because the December holidays are friend- and family-oriented, they painfully reveal the intimacy missing in some lives, Diener says. Add in the commercial emphasis — keeping up with the Joneses and the Christmas enjoyed by the Joneses' kids — "and it's a setup for disappointment," he says.

And yet some people manage to look on the bright side, even if they lose their jobs in December. Others live in darkness all year for no apparent reason. A person's cheer level is about half genetic, scientists say.

Everyone has a "set point" for happiness, just as they do for weight, Seligman says. People can improve or hinder their well-being, but they aren't likely to take long leaps in either direction from their set point.

Even physical health, assumed by many to be key to happiness, only has an impact if people are very ill. Objective health measures don't relate to life satisfaction, but subjective feelings do.

Plenty of healthy people take their health for granted and are none the happier for it, Diener points out. Meanwhile, the sickly often bear up well, and hypochondriacs cling to misery despite their robust health.

Good feelings aren't "all in the head," though. Actions matter, just not in the way often believed.