Notebook

As I shared earlier, I am already getting educated... big deal... how do you educate a hundred and eight year old  anarchist?

Surprisingly, I admitted I was enjoying education. And I do. It's like taking a shortcut about life... For instance, the uni MOOC talk about Dieter Rams and his principles of a good design... I wonder if I can adopt it in designing a semi-anarchist PGS? remember, I used to detest formal education.

Here it is, A GOOD DESIGN, anyway:

1. Is innovative - progression should not be exhausted... always offer new opportunities for original designs...
2. Makes a product useful - has to satisfy, functional, with psychological and aesthetic criteria... emphasizes the usefulness of a product  disregarding anything that could detract from it.
3. Is aesthetic - integral to its usefulness is the effect on well-being...
4. Makes a product understandable -  clear product structure... making use of the user's intuition (think of the early apple /macs). At best, it is self-explanatory.
5. Is unobtrusive - fulfills a purpose ... design should be neutral and restrained yet leave room for the user's self-expression.
6. Is honest - should appear as it really is. without promises that cannot be kept.
7. Is long-lasting - avoids being fashionable but never appears antiquated... lasts many years – even in today's throwaway society.
8. Is thorough down to the last detail - (now, this is a job!) Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
9. Is environmentally friendly - contribute to the preservation of the environment, resources... and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout its lifecycle.
10. Is as little design as possible - Less, but better – concentrates on the essential aspects, and not burdened with non-essentials. Pure and simple...

Now, we have a task, an assignment... about having notebooks... I have stopped diarying since I - after my first corporate job... I had a scrapbook diary back then, a pad of colorful construction papers.... because I like writing into the soft pages, and collecting small pretty, beautiful, colorful images that I paste on the appropriate page... or draw and express my emotions, observations...... I lost that in my aunt's house, and since then, all other attempts at reviving a diary were futile... I only write or copy good quotes, and that was it...
I keep too many chaotic thoughts, I maintain started probably 15 blogs as release... or more. Some I have abandoned, some I visit every now and then, and try reviving, but they are comatose. Some are already deleted. And this, PSG, is quite young. My other diaries (blogs now) talk about my "creative" (hah! I am saying it again!) which probably is the closest I can point as related to my design 101 course. But not as close to a notebook... like this. This has become quite a diary, kinda more personal, closer to my personality yet as anonymous as it could get. Anonymity keeps us out of tangles and dangers. As much as I don't want to admit, I want m diary to be anonymous,  so, I have stopped the physical diary. it is sort of vulnerable.

I can't doodle and paste pretty clippings, tho. that is one disadvantage... what I keep now is a notebook of calendar of activities, a reminder... I draw on them, when designing expressing what I want to build (a room, furniture, house repair, a task)... now, do I still want a physical notebook? tough question.

And the main lesson for today, from Mark Twain...

Life is short. Break the rules.
Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly.
Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably.
And never regret anything that makes you smile.