The history of the race.

The tale upon which the modern Olympic Marathon rests is the mythic run of Pheidippides from Marathon to Athens. He was a professional messenger and, in 490BC, is supposed to have brought a message from the plains of Marathon, where the Greek Army had just won a crucial battle against the invading Persian Army of General Datis. After the battle, in which he may have taken part, he was dispatched to Athens to deliver the news: “Rejoice, we are victorious”. He did this, and no more, dropping dead with the delivery.

source: “The Expert’s Guide to Marathon Training” (Hugh Jones, 2003)

Contemporary races:

IAAF Competition Rules for Road Races

International Association of Athletics Federations

Marathon = 42.195km running race. all running should be done on roads, with an exception of start and finish being able to take place inside a sport stadium.

The races shall be started by the firing of a gun.

In Road Races, an athlete may leave the road or track with the permission and under the supervision of an official, provided that by going off course he does not lessen the distance to be covered.

For all events longer than 10km, refreshment stations shall be provided at approximately every 5km. In addition, drinking / sponging stations for water only shall be placed approximately midway between the refreshment stations or more frequently if weather conditions warrant such provision.

A hands-on medical examination during the progress of an event by the official medical staff appointed by the Organizing Committee and identified by armbands, vests or similar distinctive apparel shall not be considered assistance.

An athlete shall retire at once from the race if ordered to do so by the Medical Delegate or a member of the official medical staff.

Kenyan, Patrick Makau, hold a time of 2h03:38, in Berlin on Sep, 25th 2011. The fastest male marathon recorded.

while Paula Radcliffe of the United Kingdom ran a 2h15:25 marathon in London on the 13th of April 2003 for the fastest women time recorded.

source: http://www.iaaf.org/

Training:

Running long distances in a competitive atmosphere requires lifestyle decisions.  Daily running routines is a common occurrence in the avid marathon runners life. Multiple miles a day is common.

Online people publish their own training routines, and quite often people comment and critique on each others schedules.

These routines often include not only “I run 3 miles a day” generic descriptions. But in-depth breakdowns of the variables: distances, times, hydration details, weather, stretches, diets, etc.

here are a couple of training programs

http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/marathon.html

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244-255-6946-0,00.html

I find it interesting that a marathon is nothing more then an instinct to challenge ones physical self and push the human body to the limits.  The “race” is just as much a mental strain as a physical one.  Often running partnerships take place in order to motivate the runners to overcome the mental.

Equipment:

Avid marathon runners are also in need of external equipment to help enhance their performance, hopefully making the running process as “streamlined” as possible. Watches for timing. ipods for music. water bottle belts for hydration. special running sneakers. special socks. clothing which is formulated to “play well” with sweat. reflectors or lights for running at night. heart monitors.

champs sports running section

Think about typography as an audible experience. Each word we read is spoken in our heads.  How can those sounds be translated into an visual form?

Visual Communication by Johnathan Baldwin. 74-77, 96-97. What is culture? Critiques of mass culture. Sub and counter cultures.

Raymond Williams culture:
1. the process of a society’s intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development.
2. The particular way of life of a people, period or group.
3. The works and practices of intellectual and especially artistic activity.

Popular culture is general perceived to be cynical process for engaging the masses in a cycle of consumerist desire.

(in popular culture advertising) critics identify a cycle of never-ending desire, fulfillment and eventual disillusionment.

Subcultures are groups of people with a set of shared beliefs, values or lifestyles.

Design Research edited by Brenda Laurel

First off I’ve got to say that before reading this chapter I wasn’t convinced how relevant research in design really was. I thought it sounded good but wasn’t really sure of the impact in could have. But our world is becoming more and more diverse. On a global scale we are becoming more and more open minded, this activates cultures we have not experienced. The statement by Malinowski in 1922 was articulated nicely, ” the final goal… is to grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world.” In industrial design you wouldn’t be expected to design a tool for someone in a vacuum. It requires research. The same research is necessary for graphic design in order to understand how to better communicate to the people!

Designing for Interaction by Dan Saffer

P1

“Well, “research” is a pretty broad term. Exploration, investigation, looking around, finding out are all synonyms for research.”

“Design research helps give designers empathy with users.”

“Often, the success of a research program hangs upon how the question is framed.”

P2

Research requires planning; who are you researching and what do you want to discover?

The materials necessary for design research can be as simple as a notebook and a pen, or as complicated as specialized software and video-recording equipment.

Writing down those instructions (moderator script) will help make the sessions run more smoothly.

You should avoid leading questions

P3

Rick E. Robinson: 1. You go to them 2. you talk to them 3. you write stuff down

With an emphasis on hand writing notes because its simple yet effective.

get consent

“The newness of everything makes everything seem important. But the designer needs to focus on observing the things that are truly essential—namely, specific activities, the environment where activities take place, and the interactions among people that take place during activities”

look for patterns and phenomena

multiple researchers is important because one person can miss something

take notes: subject name>time and date> place> note. no personal opinions this minimizes bias. but have a separate area for thoughts and feelings.

photograph subject and context.

p4

observations, interviews, and activities,

observation: fly on a wall. shadowing. shadowing with questions. undercover agent.

wear something appropriate to not look like an observer.

interviews: directed storytelling. unfocus group. role playing. outlier interview. desk/purse/briefcasetour.

always be non-judgmental

activities: collaging. modeling. draw your experience.

have them explain there choices, but don’t tell them they will be doing that.

self reporting is an activity where the subject observes themselves. journals. beeper studies. photo/video journals.

p5

Jesse James Garrett noted in his essay ia/recon,³ “Research can help us improve our hunches, but research should inform our professional judgment, not substitute for it.”

Although I enjoyed reading the possible ways to accomplish research it seems there was a lack of exactly when to implement the contrasting styles of research. I guess those who know that make the big bucks.

All of these readings have completely altered my perceptions of design research and have persuaded me to a realm where I feel everything should be considered.

Back to the grind

my view for the rest of the semester seems to be a familiar one.

10 New Year’s Resolutions for Designers

Reactions to Web Design is 95% Typography

Web Design is 95% Typography

Are all some blog posts I’ve read recently and my thoughts are as follows:

“Learn to write” and “learn to argue”. They’re both along the same road, articulation of ideas. Its important to articulate your ideas because as designers we are expected to thoroughly think out why we are making the choices we make.  If you cannot articulate why you make a certain decision, maybe your concept wasn’t a very strong one, and another design maybe in order.

Web design is 95% typography. The internet is a beautiful place.  I believe it holds the key to continuing the spread of knowledge on a global scale. But it also is providing MUCH MORE information then we’ve ever had access to.  This is why its important to keep it organized.  Sure its easier said then done, but limitations are what fuel designers.  So I guess you could just think of HTML as a project brief.

GRAPHIC DESIGN = VISUAL COMMUNICATION = INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.  design.

got posted to things organized neatly

got a bunch of cool stuff at the thrift stores down here in dallas

I’ve got a lot of extra time over break…

I took some quick shots, hopefully I can get into the studio and shot some better lit ones here soon

Operation Hope Keynote

what we learned
-We always consider the audience, but in the this case we had a very specific audience. We had to keep in mind how the graphics and the word usage would impact this specific audience. We considered the costs of production. We decided to make things that would be easy to mass produce and get out to the public such as our postcards and fliers. Those are simple things that can be easily distributed. In our situation we also had to really break down the communication model in order to help us be more specific in the direction that we decided to go.

3 thing to expand
1. We would make a book (short, staple bound) that includes info on what to do instead of cashing checks. We want expand on the campaign in what our audience should do next. Come full circle with the campaign and have specific steps that would work for people in their speicific situations.
2. Specifically tailored to different situation in how to solve the problem. The next step. Giving the next step, the answer in the ways that we have already done, billboards, fliers, etc.
3. See the results, actually displaying the fliers and giving out and sending postcards to people. “Test” out our products to get feedback from people.
4. Sending the campaign to Operation Hope to see if what we have created is a liable solution.

For Consideration
We strategically thought of a solution that works with an already established organization. We wanted to illustrate a solution that could actually be implemented and used.

History of Motion Graphics

A couple of things that sparked thought in me after watching this video is the fact that motion graphics has been around WAYYYY before aftereffects.  But it was just much harder to accomplish simple motion because it was mostly done with cell animation.  This means the simplest transition would need to be rendered with no fewer then 9 Frames per second, which is the level of human perception.  Now we have software that can generate this motion which mathematics making very complex motion latent to the click of a mouse. This also brings me to my next thought in which Saul Bass the OG of motion graphics is very brilliant at illustrating, motion graphics should serve a purpose to further the conceptual experience of the animation.  It should not be limited to star wipes with out thought to how pacing and movement can evoke emotion.  This is way I do not enjoy searching youtube or vimeo for the keyword “typography” because the result warrant too many bad attempts at what they think typography is, often using motion arbitrarily.

Happy Animating !