Here at ITP, we have a little thing called TNOs (Thursday Nights Out). Every week someone hosts it, and every week it is awesome. Except for this past week, when it was even more awesome than usual, because it was hosted by Roopa, Ali, and I. Want proof? Check out the video we made. You will either laugh appreciatively or have no idea what is going on. Either way, just go with it.
An idea that I came up with for a business card. Consider this a sketch of sorts. Idea is to convey some sort of seriousness and elegance with the front (with the use of my first name on it) and then flip things up for the back. I wanted to use a different font for the back but I couldn’t get the download to work properly.
The “Mimi” part would be in different colors on different cards, just to spice it up a little.
Simplicity. I am all about simplicity. I want my life to contain fewer material objects. However, I don’t want to sacrifice variety.
Now if my fantasy device existed, I really wouldn’t have to.
The device that I came up with (for a class assignment, I should add) is what I call 24/7 Color. What it basically does is change the color of your shoe–or any part of your shoe–to whatever color you like. That means that you could have one pair of shoes that matched every outfit, or just change tiny details on your shoe to match your mood. Makes life so much easier! Who wants to buy 20 pairs of Chucks when you could just have one whose color would change whenever you wanted it to?*
Here’s how it goes: there’s a small sensor in your shoe that communicates with your cell phone (think Nike plus). When you want to change the color of something, you scan it, the app reads the location of what you scanned, and you choose a color that you want it to be. BAM! (Almost) instant communication with your shoe and the area that you previously scanned. The app reads the location, the shoe changes color, and you have an entirely new item of clothing in the span of a few seconds.
It also would work in handheld device form, for people who don’t have smartphones or who don’t think that they’ll want to be changing shoe colors on the fly. It works the same way: the handheld device communicates with the chip in the shoe, and the color changes to whatever you input.
The only thing is that the 24/7 Color technology would have to be teamed up with a major shoe provider, again a la Nike style. The shoes would have to come with the chips already put in. And while it would be super convenient for consumers, I doubt that any shoe provider would be behind lowering the number of shoes that their customer-base buys.
On the other hand, the first company that adopted the technology could have a head start on creating what would be the subsequent trend: more durable shoes. After all, if you don’t buy as many, means that you’re wearing in the ones you’ve got.
Check out my proposal for the interface of the app. Each box represents the screen you get to after clicking the right button. Pretty self-explanatory, I hope. Again, simplicity is the name of the game.
* I do know someone who bought 20 pairs of Chuck Taylor shoes. All different colors. You could make this stuff up, but sometimes there’s no need to.
The fact that we use signs every day of our life as a means to gather and communicate information apparently does not exclude tons of them from being nonsensical, unclear, or just plain messed up. Don’t believe me? See proof below.
Example 1.) Established institution establishes itself as bad at spelling.
Example 2.) From the ITP building, of all places. It’s hard to read, but there’s caution tape blocking people from walking into the door. The sign that’s posted there has an arrow pointing to the right that says, “Please Use This Door”, but it’s pointing at…a window.
Example 3.) I didn’t mean to touch on potentially sensitive subject matter, but this was a sign that I saw in Harlem awhile ago. This church managed to get their message across, but syntax was sacrificed in the effort.
