Derek Lerner : tumblelog

"Advances in our understanding of emotion and affect have implications for the science of design...."

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:43:54 -0400

“Advances in our understanding of emotion and affect have implications for the science of design. Affect changes the operating parameters of cognition: positive affect enhances creative, breadth-first thinking whereas negative affect focuses cognition, enhancing depth-first processing and minimizing distractions. Therefore, it is essential that products designed for use under stress follow good human-centered design, for stress makes people less able to cope with difficulties and less flexible in their approach to problem solving. Positive affect makes people more tolerant of minor difficulties and more flexible and creative in finding solutions. Products designed for more relaxed, pleasant occasions can enhance their usability through pleasant, aesthetic design. Aesthetics matter: attractive things work better.”

- Don Norman, 2002

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was..."

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:56:35 -0400

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I’ve looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

- Steve Jobs

"You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your..."

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:45:09 -0400

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking — and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking — don’t settle.”

- Steve Jobs

"…you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking..."

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:32:55 -0400

“…you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever — because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.”

- Steve Jobs

"Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real."

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:46:26 -0500

“Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.”

- Iris Murdoch

"Worrying doesn’t help."

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:14:56 -0500

“Worrying doesn’t help.”

- Said to Milton Glaser by unknown NYC Taxi driver

"Online collaborative tools are fostering new literacies and social behaviours. In the near future,..."

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:08:00 -0500

“Online collaborative tools are fostering new literacies and social behaviours. In the near future, students entering design education will be of a generation weaned on multidimensional, interactive and participatory media, with an understanding and expectations of the world that will differ profoundly from that of the generations preceding them. This demographic shift heralds far-reaching, systemic challenges for our educational system.”

- Deborah Littlejohn

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:38:00 -0500

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

- via: Kelly Eidson on Twitter, original source unknown

"I want everything we do, that I do personally, that our office does, to be beautiful. I don’t..."

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:50:39 -0500

“I want everything we do, that I do personally, that our office does, to be beautiful. I don’t give a damn whether the client understands that thats worth anything, or whether the client thinks it’s worth anything, or whether it is worth anything. It’s worth it to me. It’s the way I want to live my life. I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares, as against ugly things.”

- Saul Bass

"not until we can meet our energy needs (which we will be able to do with nano-engineered solar..."

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:04:47 -0500

“not until we can meet our energy needs (which we will be able to do with nano-engineered solar panels and fuel cells, which can capture the only 1% of 1% of sunlight that falls on the earth to meet 100% of our energy needs in a clean, renewable fashion), overcome disease and death, overcome poverty, and a few other problems. Only technology - advanced, nanoscale, distributed, decentralized, self-organizing, increasingly intelligent technology - has the scale to solve these problems that the human species has struggled with for eons.”

- Ray Kurzweil

"Art engaged with the internet and new technologies is at the forefront of culture. It embodies some..."

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:04:44 -0500

“Art engaged with the internet and new technologies is at the forefront of culture. It embodies some of the most important ideas and challenges of our time and, encompasses some of the most original creative practices.”

- The Rhizome staff

"I try to think of a work as an idea without a shape."

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:51:14 -0500

“I try to think of a work as an idea without a shape.”

- Maya Lin

"The past is a rush of data streams cut and rearranged into a new mashup, while truth is something..."

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:15:42 -0500

“The past is a rush of data streams cut and rearranged into a new mashup, while truth is something you assemble yourself on your own screen as you jump from link to link.”

- Kevin Kelly, November 21, 2008

"I have a deep nostalgia for the future."

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:25:40 -0500

“I have a deep nostalgia for the future.”

- FM-2030

"artists are, by definition, researchers and can contribute to proposing new and different paths of..."

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:39:00 -0500

“artists are, by definition, researchers and can contribute to proposing new and different paths of innovation, introducing detours and discords in the normal processes of thought and action, contributing creativity and work methodologies and serving as a catalyst…”

- Disonancias