Mythical charaters; time to change

I’ll keep you updated about the “renovate me” project. Just for your information, we have selected this character as the main persona of the project. Hopefuly, the project will end up with a performance. I will design the clothing and some accessories for our “renovated hero”!

Filed under: design, Renovate me, character, design, fashion design, hossein, islamic mythes, myth

His and Her vote

T-shirt design by NIMANY addressing the slogan of “where is my vote”. This slogan is now a symbol of Iran’s green movement and points to the fact that the government have stolen the votes of people in the fraud election.

Filed under: design, politics, behnood, fashion design, finger print, Iran election, nimany

A lesson that Iranian regim must take: fighting the battle of equals.

Lets be honest and call, what is now happening in Iran, a battle. It is not the first time that Iranians are facing such harsh conditions, facing a totalitarian government. The way that Iranian government is treating its people is  an outcome of a critical shortage in knowledge, proficiency and information within its decision making think tanks. They know how to fight the battle of good versus evil but not the battle of equals. Wining a battle of equals needs knowledge. When government finds its strategies useless then chooses violence as a tactic to pass the crisis.

In politics, an action that one side takes is not necessarily evaluated based on the intention behind it but on the basis of its results. No matter what the purpose of an action is, many factors influence the outcome and produce interpretations and effects that are out of player’s control. In my point of view, Iranian authorities are so weak in setting their goals and assessing the feedback. They set goals and take an action but come up with totally different results (e.g. from the society). When they get surprised with unexpected and unpleasant reactions then they return to their default and final tactic which is violence.

Should people take time to teach them how to fight the battle of equals? Did they take one lesson from the “silent demonstrations”? They ended up with shooting citizens. The government decreases the resolution space. Are they doing the same with their foreign policy? Are we running out of time?

Filed under: design, ahmadinejad, green movement, iran, Iran election

Paper campaign

A brilliant fashion design by Nima Behnood. The “Paper Campaign” is a set of design by NIMANY. The above picture shows a dress covered by Iranian newspapers of very historical moments of our political history. The skirt is the known as “Long” a fabric which is widely used in Iran as napkins or for very casual usages.

Filed under: design, campaign, fashion design, iran, Iran election, iranian art, nimany, paper

Culture is the collective programming of the mind

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Filed under: design, politics, Renovate me, Social networking, Stories, culture, iran

Palm Beach County Ballot

Abstract
Ballot design can support or inhibit the clarity of an election. Poor design
may confuse electors and lead to unexpected errors while filling-in a
ballot-paper.  In reference to cognitive ergonomics, this paper analyzes the
so-called butterfly ballot1, which was used in Florida in the U.S.
Presidential Election, 2000 and discusses the impact of the principles of
perceptual organization on filling-in of this ballot. We conclude that laws
of good continuation, common region and proximity are the key principles
in designing election ballots. Finally, we redesign the butterfly ballot by
applying the principles, alone and simultaneously.

Above is the abstract of a paper that my colleagues and I wrote for an assignment of our cognitive ergonomic course on the ballot design. We challenged the Palm Beach County Ballot and designed a paper ballot on the basis of our research considering the laws which are mentioned above. I have not learned how to upload a pdf file here, yet. I will send you the assignment report upon request.

Filed under: design, ballot design, design for democracy, iran, palm beach county ballot, perception laws, tu delft

Things to do

The things that need doing, that you see need to be done, and that no one else seems to see need to be done. Then you will conceive your own way of doing that which needs to be done — that no one else has told you to do or how to do it. This will bring out the real you that often gets buried inside a character that has acquired a superficial array of behaviors induced or imposed by others on the individual.

Buckminster Fuller. Letter to “Micheal” (16 February 1970) Micheal was a 10 year old boy who had inquired in a letter as to whether Fuller was a “doer” or a “thinker”.

Filed under: design, Stories, buchminster fuller, doer, things, thinker, to-do list

Strong opinions on Election 2008

This article is worth reading:  “How design can save democracy” by  Richard Grefé and Jessica Friedman Hewitt.

Filed under: design, politics, democracy, design, design for democracy, election 2008, jessica friedman hewitt, richard grefe