Design Studies, Good/Bad Design.

After Friday's lecture on Good and Bad design by Jonathan Baldwin, there was one element in particular that grabbed my attention.


Jonathan asked the entire lecture theatre to count the number of times a ball was passed between those wearing white t-shirts in the following video:


[Click on the link below to watch the video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo&feature=player_embedded



However, BEFORE showing the video, Jonathan stated that 'women can't count.'


I immediately disagreed.
I was also appalled that he could make such a statement.


The more Jonathan insisted that the females in the room would fail on this task, the more determined I was to correctly count the number of times the ball was passed by those in white t-shirts.


When watching the video, I was so focused on counting the number of passes, that I completely missed the appearance of a gorilla.


I couldn't believe I missed A GORILLA.


To my surprise, I realised a lot about myself after this task.
I realised that when I put my mind to something, I close down anything else going on in my mind, as a method of increasing my concentration. 
In some instances, this can be a positive way of working, however in the design world, there is potential of this having a detrimental effect on the process of design development, or possibly on design success.


I have realised that I need to expand my creative mind and be willing to LOOK AROUND ME at the obvious.  Sometimes thinking too much about a design can hinder us as designers...