realization today

Have you ever wondered why someone likes an open clear sky? Or a flower, a garden, a beach, jogger’s park, the woods, hill stations, late night long drives; the terrace, veranda, balcony, the malls, open roof cars? Have you ever given a thought as to why someone prefers sitting beside the window while travelling? Or why someone favors The Guardian (newspaper) or typefaces like Univers and Helvetica? Why are Facebook and Twitter attractive and easy to use? 

We all stay in communities, but why does a crowd seem claustrophobic? Why can we not travel in a crowded bus? Why does going to the temple or the church or the mosque on Sundays seems slightly irritating?

Do these things have some common link? Or, to be more precise, do Architecture, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Product Design, Publication Design, Type Design, Typography, Interaction Design, Web Design, Music and everyday life have anything in common?

What is that one thing that brings them all together and narrows them down to a single word?

Let us clarify how the very first aspect of Design, eliminating all others is – Comfort.

Architecture:

What is the reason behind having a really high ceiling at a railway station platform? Why are most of the famous temples, churches, mosques huge?

>  More the people more higher the ceiling requires to bring in more breathing space so that presented people feel comfortable.

Why does one admire an old houses / palaces more than most of today’s residences?

> It’s the space what lets you breathe there and makes you feel comfortable. Most old houses has high ceiling.  

Product Design:

Why do products that brands such as Braun and Apple come up with seem so fascinating?

What is so classy about them?

> They let their products breathe as their appearances do not dominate our day to day life.

Publication Design:

What attracts us in the design of a book or the layout of a newspaper like the Guardian or any well designed newspaper for that sake?

> Layouts basically provides hierarchy to the content. If we elaborate more, it is about dividing the content into space according to its importance. 

Type Design and Typography:

What is a good typeface?

A good typeface are the ones which are open because that’s what makes them legible from a distance and makes them readable at smaller point sizes. (Though there are many more factors involved other than this)

How does it relate to space?

End of the day when you recognize a letter, subconsciously you are recognizing the space which is created and divided by that form on a particular surface.

The same way while reading, one does not see each letter on the page and read. It is the combinations of letters what makes a visual texture which is called ‘gray’. That is what makes you read and go through quickly.

Examples: Devanagari is the script which is in use by lot of languages. One who is used to seeing Devanagari for the only language Hindi will when see Devanagari text set in Marathi will quite instantly realize and feel that this does not seem like Hindi.

The same way it is with Latin. We most of us are used to see Latin for the language English but if one will see the German text set she/he will find something weird about it since she/he is not used to that typographic texture/patterns or to be precise space.

The point here is that all the language has their own combinations which creates some typographic patterns/texture even if that particular script or font is used by couple of other languages.

Interface Design:

What is so nice about the Twitter and Facebook interface? Or looking at a larger perspective, the operating systems iOX (Apple) and Windows?

All these designs that we encounter today, are not the results of a first attempt. They have taken shape over time due to their step by step improvements.

If you compare all these examples with their primitive versions, you will realize that the main thing that has been given the most attention to is the Breathing space / White space and Typography.

Conclusion:

One experiences breathing space differently by all their senses.

Examples: Breathing space by your eyes = Visually;
by your ears = Hearing, Sound;
by hands = Touch = Different textures.

So end of the day, every living thing seeks for a Breathing space, the place who lets him breath. It is as important as food and water for their survival, probably more because it is a constant need for them. Wherever they are, wherever they go and in whatever they do.

It is the biggest surprise I have come across.

so, MAKE THINGS BREATH, LET THINGS BREATH, PERIOD.

Breathing Space (Rough Draft)

A colloquium paper by Parimal Parmar, UG0814.

D J Academy of Design 2008–12

let the tree talk

Juhu

Wishes to be that piece of wood which is floating in the middle of the sea while looking at stars in the clear dark sky.