Blog Post 1: Museum of Awe
I found David Delgado and Dan Goods approach to design really unique, but at the same time it's not-- it just so perfectly executed, you don't see projects like that every day. They take something that is data-heavy-- like the amount of data they receive from all the space missions in the control room and they create a visual for it. Not just an infographic, a living, a physical structure that is communicating in real-time to us a complex or maybe for some boring, narrative. By creating installations like the shell or the sand representing our universe, we get to interact and the data becomes personal. They do a brilliant job of bringing the story to us. I'm not a scientist, I don't really like or understand it, but when I see a comet up close with its tail growing, I'm interested, I want to know more because now I'm a part of it.
The comet installation was one of my favorite works by them, it takes something fleeting, far off in space, streaking through the sky for only a second, and put it on the ground. They give us an opportunity to interact with it, to engage and learn something about our favorite thing when gazing up at the stars. I loved how they focus on the human interaction with it, the way we can get up close and be submersed in the comet's tail. It's not just a fun animation that lasts 30 seconds, it's an experience that will leave a lasting impression.
As I go through school I think about how I can make my design bring the user in. Delgado and Goods put their audience at the center of the experience, it's about the audience being delighted, curious, and engaged. That's what I want my designs to achieve. To do this I think about what I like, my habits, what interests me, what would get me to stop and take a second look. Maybe a well-designed infographic would keep my attention for a moment, but something I get to be immersed into will leave a lasting impression. I dream big, maybe it's unachievable right now, but someday I don't want to be constantly thinking too small.
To me, a "moment of awe" is those precious seconds where this new idea consumes you. It might blow your previous conventions about the world out of the water, or it might shake your frame of mind. Delgado and Goods created moments of awe that would shift your perspective on the world. Suddenly you don't seem so important when a small hole drilled into a piece of sand that is one grain in six rooms filled with sand is the whole known space. You might ask: "How could my problems with my job be significant then?" or as Goods suggested you should feel special to exist at this moment because the world and time are so vast you need to enjoy your corner of it.