Restrained beauty Braun design had a beauty that was more than skin deep. It would be wrong to say that because the Braun approach spurned fashion in an ongoing quest for functional and useable perfection, it ended up with this beauty by accident. There is a very strong aesthetic sense in both the proportion and materials of nearly all the products of the Rams era. They have a ‘restrained beauty’, he admits. Braun products designed by Rams and his team have a haptic aesthetic as well: when you pick them up, handle them, and use them as the tools they are supposed to be, you become aware of the effort that has gone into making them sit comfortably in the hand, of the texture, weight and balance they possess, and of the satisfying click of the control buttons. Sophie Lovell & Dieter Rams, Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible Such an unholy alliance beautytouchtexture
This tactile form of doodling Paper clips have also served as objects of more inwardly directed aggression by providing something for the fingers to twist grotesquely out of shape during phone calls, interviews, and meetings. This tactile form of doodling may consume only a fraction of the twenty billion paper clips produced each year, but it underscores the almost limitless functions to which a single form can lead. Henry Petroski, The Evolution of Useful Things In ways you didn't anticipateAll sorts of ways to use the machineStretching the product drawingtouch
What is this static modernism? Why can't office buildings use doorknobs that are truly knob-like in shape? What is this static modernism that architects of the second tier have imposed on us: steel half-U handles or lathed objects shaped like superdomes, instead of brass, porcelain, or glass knobs? The upstairs doorknobs in the house I grew up in were made of faceted glass. As you extended your fingers to open a door, a cloud of flesh-color would diffuse into the glass from the opposite direction. The knobs were loosely seated in their latch mechanism, and heavy, and the combination of solidity and laxness made for a multiply staged experience as you turned the knob: a smoothness that held intermediary tumbleral fallings-into-position. Few American products recently have been able to capture that same knuckly, orthopedic quality. Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine The door handle is the handshake of a building modernismdoorstouchobjects
Time turned into shape A pebble polished by waves is pleasurable to the hand, not only because of its soothing shape, but because it expresses the slow process of its formation; a perfect pebble on the palm materializes duration, it is time turned into shape. Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses timetouchform
Vision reveals what the touch already knows Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses touchvision
Crown A Poem by Kay Ryan www.poetryfoundation.org Too much rain loosens trees. In the hills giant oaks fall upon their knees. You can touch parts you have no right to— places only birds should fly to. naturetreesmelancholytouch
To see, to caress A Quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The hands want to see, the eyes want to caress. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses touchseeing
Why Keep a Field Notebook? An Essay from Field Notes on Science and Nature by Erick Greene Pick one thingLab notebooksHybrid journalsA fertile incubatorBest practices
Pick one thing I recently started a field notebook assignment for my upper-level Ecology class at the University of Montana. I asked my students to pick one “thing” and observe it carefully over the entire semester. In addition to their field notebooks, the students also had to suggest at least ten research questions inspired by their observations. One brick seeing
Lab notebooks Most of my colleagues who conduct laboratory research not only keep extremely thorough and complete lab notebooks, but they teach their students how and why to keep data in them. Some labs even have friendly competitions in which prizes for the best-kept notebooks are awarded. In stark contrast to the vibrant culture of keeping lab notebooks in molecular biology, my informal polling suggested a lack of interest in notebooks in field biology. “I have a GPS for that.” “My data are in a spreadsheet.” “I write things down when I get home.” “I have a computer.” The general consensus seemed to be that field notebooks are quaint, archaic, and obsolete in field biology.
Hybrid journals The most useful and interesting notebooks of field biology are hybrids; as well as recording details and data of field research, they record the observations, thoughts, musings, and peregrinations of the author. notetaking
A fertile incubator Another value of field notebooks is their ability to serve as an incredibly fertile incubator for your ideas and observations. By jotting down interesting observations, questions, and miscellaneous ideas, your field notebook can serve as a powerful catalyst for new experiments and projects. notetaking
Best practices Use a hardbound notebook. Keep your contact information in a prominent location. Write for yourself and for posterity. Write pertinent field information with every new entry. You should enter the date, time, and location at the top of every page. Add information on your location. Record your methods. Make backup copies. If you use abbreviations, make sure there is a key in your field notebook. Don’t leave home without it. Form a writing habit. Thomas Jefferson was such an inveterate chronicler of daily events in his notebooks that he even took the time to record the weather four times on the day he helped write the Declaration of Independence. So unless you have something far more pressing than writing the Declaration of Independence, you have no excuse for avoiding your field notebook! Set up a structure for your field notebook. Create an index. Treat your field notebook like a scrapbook. You should view your field notebook as a central clearinghouse for miscellaneous information that is relevant to your research project. If there are related bits of information that you will find useful later on, sketch them, write them down, photocopy them, and staple or tape them in your notebook. Five basic rules indexes