Weak 3: Medium
The Go-Between
Published: 1/24/2023
Compiled by: Andrew Neyer
The Medium is the Massage
Why is the title of the book The Medium is the Massage and not The Medium is the Message? The title is a mistake. After the book came back from the typesetter's, it had on the cover 'Massage'. The title was supposed to read The Medium is the Message, but the typesetter made an error. After McLuhan saw the typo, he exclaimed, 'Leave it alone! It's great, and right on target!' Now there are four readings for the last word of the title, all of them accurate: Message and Mess Age, Massage and Mass Age.
“Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environments.”
– Marshall McLuhan
The Medium is the Massge (1967), pg. 26
Order Matters
Simon Sinek knows that the order of information profoundly affects how we interpret media and information presented to us. Here are two videos that prove we are hardwired to resist things we feel are inauthentic and inspired by generosity.
Common Conception
Common things are known to a community. Familiarity is not a slight, but instead what common objects champion.
“A leaf is beautiful not because it is stylish but because it is natural, created in its exact form by its exact function. A designer tries to make an object as naturally as a tree puts forth a leaf.”
—Bruno Munari
Design as Art, pg. 31
Common Furnishings are familiar objects that increase comfort or utility. The material language is known. The utility is the priority.
Common Misconception
“We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”
– Marshall McLuhan
The Medium is the Massge, pg. 75
“Art is not technique, as everyone knows, and an artist can create with anything that comes to hand.”
– Bruno Munari
Design as Art, pg. 103
“Design is also cleaning and reorganizing a desk drawer, pulling an impacted tooth, baking an apple pie…and educating a child.”
– Victor Papanek
Design for the Real World, pg. 03
Common Mrs. Conception
The Gap
Becoming a mother used to be seen as a unifying milestone for women in the United States. But a new analysis of four decades of births shows that the age that women become mothers varies significantly by geography and education. The result is that children are born into very different family lives, heading for diverging economic futures.
That’s Not All Folks
Folk Design is rooted in the tradition of common people and is a reflection of their lifestyles. The Shakers are a great example of this holistic design approach.
The Shakers’ dedication to hard work and perfection has resulted in a unique range of architecture, furniture, and handicraft styles. They designed their furniture with care, believing that making something well was, in itself, “an act of prayer.” Before the late 18th century, they rarely fashioned items with elaborate details or extra decoration but only made things for their intended uses. The ladder-back chair was a popular piece of furniture. Shaker craftsmen made most things out of pine or other inexpensive woods, and hence their furniture was light in color and weight.
Tools Are Tools
“How you pick up a tool will shape how you use it and what you make with it. Pick up a tool with truth and beauty in your heart, work with positive energy and optimism. Then observe the results.”
– Alan Moore
Do Design, pg. 14
Tools are both additive and subtractive. They allow us to add and remove things from culture and shape the future.
Sharpen Yo’ Speech
Language is one of the best tools because it leverages communal terms and is built on concrete definitions. These definitions act as secure belay points. Now, we can climb and explore new ways and meanings for these terms in our culture.
Some linguists have been overly critical of English’s new evolution/devolution. They claim that texting, other digital slang, and shorthand are destroying the language (LOL, BFD). But, if you see these new communications as additive vs. subtractive, they actually increase our shared reference library, making it more diverse and faster to communicate.
If you want to make a remarkable and memorable design, it needs the right name. No one forgets a title like LEGO, iPhone, or Dr. Pizza. It is not just a calling card; it’s a ripe opportunity to create a new context. When we buy a product, we typically encounter its image, price, description, and, most importantly, its title. A good title becomes inseparable from the design, and a bad title is forgotten.
“Clear language is easy to understand.”
– Fredrick Dunlap
Context
Here are links to the media we covered in class. Please call me if there is anything you cannot find ッ
Time Is Relative
What is your inventory of productive time?
How do you want to use it?
Why waste it?
Fig. 1
4’33” 4 EV, iPhone Timer looping .gif
Everything We Do Is ♫
Fig. 2
Performance of John Cage’s 4’33” composition for any instrument.
Fig. 3
Playlist with songs that are 4:33.
Do you have a favorite 4:33 song?
Terms & Conditions
me·di·um
plural: mediums or media
a means of effecting or conveying something
material or technical means of artistic expression
go-between, intermediary
a condition or environment in which something may function or flourish
mes·sage
a communication in writing, in speech, or by signals
an underlying theme or idea
McLuhan uses the term 'message' to signify content and character. The content of the medium is a message that can be easily grasped and the character of the medium is another message which can be easily overlooked.
McLuhan frequently punned on the word "message", changing it to "mass age", "mess age", and "massage". A later book, The Medium Is the Massage was originally to be titled The Medium is the Message, but McLuhan preferred the new title, which is said to have been a printing error.
Con* Art
*Conceptual Art
an art form in which the artist's intent is to convey a concept rather than to create an art object
Once the concept is shared, the original artifact (if any) is no longer needed. That is why we can share concepts easily with very little waste.
森の木琴
Fig. 4
森の木琴
If you drop a wooden ball in the forest...will it bounce Bach?
In the video, 森の木琴 (Forest Xylophone), a wooden ball is inclined to plunk out Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. Each wooden plank is precisely cut to ring out each note in the song as the ball works its way down the track. While the concept is simple, it relies on extreme dedication to recreate a piece of music from a simple kinetic machine.
Unuseless
Chindōgu (珍道具) is the practice of inventing ingenious everyday gadgets that seem to be ideal solutions to particular problems, but which may cause more problems than they solve.
“Every Chindōgu is an almost useless object, but not every almost useless object is a Chindōgu. In order to transcend the realms of the merely almost useless, and join the ranks of the really almost useless, certain vital criteria must be met. It is these criteria, a set of ten vital tenants, that define the gentle art and philosophy of Chindōgu.”
A Chindōgu cannot be for real use
A Chindōgu must exist
Inherent in every Chindōgu is the spirit of anarchy
Chindōgu are tools for everyday life
Chindōgu are not for sale
Humor must not be the sole reason for creating a Chindōgu
Chindōgu is not propaganda
Chindōgu are never taboo
Chindōgu cannot be patented
Chindōgu are without prejudice
The Real World
Victor Papanek understands the negative consequences of poorly designed objects and overlooking alternative mediums. In 1992, Papanek gave a lecture titled “Microbes in the Tower,” talking through his human-centered design philosophies.
Workshop No. 1
Kaizen
Find a case study problem and explore its solution evolution
Document at least 3 different improvements and their effects
Here is a handy checklist:
– Simplicity
– Safety
– Quality
– Speed (manufacturing or utility)
Assignment No. 3
Play in the bumpers
Dive deeper into Context (see ◾●▲)
Everything is designed.
1. Complete Workshop No. 1
2. Send a picture of a shelf you have
3. Send a picture of a shelf you want
4. Draft an Article for your case study (Ass. No. 2)
Hint: Context is everywhere. Gather tons of Context and research your shelfies’ design and objects on the shelves. (◾●▲)
Questions You Should Answer:
– If you don’t work out for 7 days, does that make one weak?
– What do you have the most stamina for?
– What is your favorite medium?
Next Week
How We Doin’?
Next week we will dive deeper into your research, polish your case studies, and workshop how to create Context using simple techniques.
