Connecting the dots

I've been thinking a lot lately about connecting the dots, and how much connecting dots has to do with pattern recognition, and how pattern recognition helps us get through life.

We use pattern recognition everyday, especially when we read. I realized how prevalent this was when my kids received a Scrabble game from their grandparents – finding new words from the 7 letters you pick from the bag requires a certain level of pattern recognition.

Helping my son with math homework is pattern recognition: teaching him that solving the problem is a matter of recognizing the type of problem, then applying the formula.

Discussing the design of a new typographic logo with a client, requires an argument for pattern recognition – a "p" doesn't necessarily have to look like a "p," because we read the pattern of letters that create the words we read – we don't read individual characters in a word.

Even spam filtering is based on pattern recognition, just like the search and replace function in your word processing software

Not that this is ground-breaking thinking, but it's intriguing.

Where do designers fit in?

Graphic designers occupy a unique place in both society and the marketplace. We forever struggle how to articulate what we do and why we do it, yet our work influences society in ways most people are unaware of. We can articulate other's messages, but not define ourselves.

I'm always dismayed when I fill out a form on a web site that is asking for company information. When I come to the dropdown, rarely am I presented with the option of "graphic design." If I scroll to the Gs, I might see government, If I look in the Ds, I might see... no choices. See! WE could be there – D for Design.

Of course, we all struggle to fit in somewhere, whether we admit it or not.

Tag I'm it

Tag, I'm it. Frank McClung from B-L-A-N-K tagged me for the "Four Things" meme. Sorry it took so long to post.

Four jobs I have had:

1. Groundskeeper
2. Delivery boy (yes boy!)
3. Media assistant
4. Design apprentice (sans a guy with bad hair; but I have stories to rival any TV show)
   

Four things I wished I'd done earlier in life (not necessarily in this order):

1. Learned to snowboard
   
2. Learned more from my father and mother
   
3. Invested more
   
4. Found a mentor
   

Four places I have lived (do different houses count?):

1. Elyria, OH
2. Bowling Green, OH
3. Cleveland, OH
4. Elyria, OH

Four countries I'd like to visit :

1. Italy
2. Papua, New Guinea
3. Bali
4. Australia
   

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Angel hair pasta with red sauce
   
2. Salmon with orange glaze
3. Almost any breakfast special involving scrambled eggs, sausage links, pancakes and hash brown potatoes
4. A chicken burrito with green sauce and salsa from Luchita's
   

Four sites I visit (almost) daily (interesting indicator of how an individual uses the web. I don't use it as often as a source of news or information unless it's task-oriented):

1. Creative Pro
2. Let the Good Times Roll
3. Netcraft
4. LogoLounge
   

Four software applications I can't live without:

1. Entourage
2. FontLab
3. Live365 player
4. Firefox

Four things I'll never forget (again, not in order):

1. Seeing all the stars in the sky at Quartz Mountain in Oklahoma
2. Meeting my wife
3. What my children teach me about being a child to God as my father
4. How to play the violin
   

Four bloggers I am passing the torch to:
Bad: I don't know four bloggers. Someone has to work while y'all are out there writing. Perhaps Guy Kawasaki will take up the meme.

Review: Garmin Nuvi 350 vs. TomTom Go Personal Travel Assistant

Or, the TomTom Go vs Garmin Nuvi (Nüvi)

A GPS is an amazing device. Something you can hold in your hand can pinpoint your exact location within a few feet, anywhere on the planet.

Perfect if you're an explorer, geo-cacher or adventurer, but if you're a suburb-dwelling parent who simply needs to get from point A to point B, then a GPS becomes a Personal Travel Assistant (or Personal Navigation device).

{Aside} We went to a regional NAWCC meeting, and I pointed out a device on a table to my son: "Take a look at the PTA on the table over there." His confused look when he picked up the device was funny – he had never seen a vintage, Hamilton US Army issue compass.

It's my wife who mainly uses this (My wife loves certain technology, it doesn't get any better!). If she is frustrated with a device, I hear about it. So when she expressed her frustration with the user interface, the lack of internal maps and the tiny monochrome screen on our Garmin GPS, I decided to find a PTA for her. {To be fair, she also doesn't like to hear my frustration with the early Garmin's frustrating interface with her PC. She knows that if I start any sentence with "If this was on a Macintosh..."}. The device required the use of a PC, and did not have a Macintosh interface or software for downloading maps. It is decidely non-user friendly.

Enter the TomTom Go 300. A good referral from a friend who has one for his smartphone convinced me to buy one. They have cute commercials, but cute doesn't cut it with poor programming. And who wants to be lost?

A trip to Columbus, Ohio from our house covers two roads, one of which is an interstate route. We know that it takes 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Syncing up with the satellite was painfully slow. Not just agonizingly, but painfully.

Setting up the TomTom was daunting. There are so many configuration screens, it will take you a week to remember where you last saw a setting you want to change. I'm an expert computer user on two platforms (Macintosh and Windows), and a user interface designer, and I found it confusing.

Yet, no matter how we tried to configure it (again, not well thought out for the average user) it inisted that the trip would take over three hours. The route included getting off of the highway to take back roads that ran parallel, and getting back onto the highway.

The TomTom Go is shaped roughly like a wedge that could be used to prevent your car from rolling away if it was stuck under a tire. Has anyone at TomTom ever hear of product design?

Two more experiences with destinations closer to home convinced us that the the TomTom Go 300 was either faulty or poorly programmed. We took it back and instead purchased the Garmin Nüvi 350.

The Nüvi 350 is a delightfully small, portable GPS navigator, traveler’s reference (Thousands of restaurants and places in its database, and digital entertainment system (plays audio books and MP3s), all in one. The Nüvi provides automatic routing, turn-by-turn voice directions, and finger-touchscreen control. Technically it is a Personal Travel Assistant, as it doesn't display the same info as a GPS most of the time.

While not perfect, the Nüvi is simple to program, and for the most part has so far taken the logical route we would have chosen without it.

Settings include Map (View menus), System settings, Time, Display, Navigation, and Language. Simple and effective.

Main menus include Where To (Address, Food, Lodging, Fuel, My Locations and a menu to spell a name to search. (Searching is a bit slow, but given it's searching a DB of all the continental US, we'll be patient. It would seem logical for it to search the given region it's located in by default. Ours is set that way, but it's not clear that it was working that way.

The Travel Kit feature allows access to an

• add-on language guides (Words and Phrases and bilibgual dictionaries, Travel Guides, and Savers Guide)
• MP3 Player
• Audible Book Player (the Nüvi has a slot for an SD card)
• Picture Viewer
• World Clock
• Currency Converter
• Measurement converter
• Calculator
  

It's main flaw is its lack of Macintosh compatibility. We had to use our office PC to download a map update, and install it via USB. C'mon Garmin, get with the program and hire a Macinstosh programmer!

Simply put, this is a sound (albeit pricey) device. In a sense it's already paid for itself by enabling us to get where we needed when we needed to. It gives clear directions, and so far has been simple for my wife to learn and use. I highly recommend it.

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Addendum: We just spent three days in Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach/ Miami area, and the Nüvi worked incredibly well, ALWAYS getting us where we needed. We simply entered the address as a destination or waypoint, and we were there.

Battery Life: We didn't take our car power adapter, so we were reliant on the internal battery. It seems like the battery lasts about 4 to 5 hours, depending on use (we only used for navigation, not audio playback). Battery life could be improved, but for most users this should be fine.

Since we were traveling, we were trying to pack light, and also had adapters for two mobile phones and an iPod. Oh, and the clunky adapter that ships with the Fuji FinePix F10. (What was Fuji thinking?!)

Now if they could only do something about the amount of traffic in Florida...

a designer's call to altruism

After a recent conversation with the communcations director of a global manufacturing company who also runs a non-profit, I've been thinking lately about the designer's obligation for altruism.

This particular individual runs a non-profit on a budget of under $100,000.00, rehabbing homes in the inner city. It's a worthwhile cause, since their consitituents are on fixed incomes and can't afford to fix up their homes.

His concern is that even though they are on a small budget, they would like their communications to be professional. Well-designed and not looking as if anyone with a copy of a Microsoft publishing product and an image gallery had put it together. Or even an easy-to-maintain web site with a small content management system. (essentially what Blogger is).

I suggested that perhaps there should be a "buddy system" within AIGA, matching small, under-funded non-profits (the majority so it seems) with a designer or design firm who would adopt them. The designer's obligation would be to provide them design services on a pro bono level or at a substantially reduced fee (and I mean substantial).

I think this initiative should happen without the organization of AIGA. And I'm certain it does happen much more than any of us are aware. It just needs to happen more.

As a believer in the values taught by the Bible, I think it's a designer's obligation to support a non-profit or ministry. After reading Loving Monday by John Beckett, I realized that I don't own my business (even though my name is on the paperwork). The business belongs to the Lord, I and my partner are the stewards of this business, to do with it as He desires.

Of course, to feed our egos, we might ask for creative freedom when we donate our services (one of our conditions in doing so). But the client has the right to make certain their needs for clear and effective communcation are being met. At that point the spirit of humility will kick in and everyone will work together toward a common goal.

Every designer has a cause or a ministry or a non-profit that they would like to support. Every designer has gifts that are given to them by the Master of creativity (whether they are aware of this relationship or not).

I think that every designer needs to use those gifts to give something back.

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Brian Sooy & Co. gives back to:

• Wigs for Kids
• Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio