Over the centuries, we have developed nearly a cultural fear of the visual. A couple of links to past posts here and here for a bit more background. And if you don’t believe any of that, then consider what various thinkers and writers have said over the years. Gottfried von Herder was a German theorist […]
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22Dec
2014
FUZZY PAY-OFF
2014
Is drawing moribund? I thought of this question as I read a totally unrelated article about business practices. This article made a comparison between the Google of today and the General Motors of yesterday. As it discussed general business trends, various terms and phrases were tossed around. For example, the article mentioned terms that I […]
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19Dec
2014
PRESENTING ARCHITECTURE
2014
It was nice to be invited by Robert Becker over at Presenting Architecture to list Transparent Drawing at his site. Presenting Architecture is a compendium of the work of those who, well, present architecture. It is interesting to see that some of the contributors are not defining themselves solely as traditional delineators. Instead, some of […]
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17Dec
2014
REAL WORLD 2
2014
Everyone understands Transparent Drawing. At least if someone doesn’t, they have had the great courtesy to not tell me. A few months ago, I posted Real World Transparent Drawings. These are drawings that I have used to communicate and explain a design to clients who pay me to wear my Architect hat. Many of my […]
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15Dec
2014
SYMBOLS
2014
When is a drawing a symbol? Is it good if our drawings are symbols? The very use of the word symbol connotes a far higher import than does image, or sketch. Can you imagine saying to either your client or professor, “I have made this symbol of your design; what do you think?” Of course, […]
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12Dec
2014
PICASSO AND THE CHICKEN
2014
Have you heard the one about Picasso and the Chicken? If so, feel free to stop reading this and find something better to read. Our tangential introduction of slow learning does bring to mind one of my favorite design stories. Nobody knows if this story is true. And I have sort of made up my […]
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10Dec
2014
SLOW LEARNING
2014
If you have persevered thru any of Transparent Drawing, one of the sub themes that I continue to harp on is our culturally divergent approach between logical thinking and visual thinking. Quick links to past posts here and here on this general topic. I guess I take this subject very much to heart, given that […]
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8Dec
2014
STRUCTURAL ESSENCE
2014
Productive thinking. This is what we all want to do. We want to be as productive as we can when we problem solve. For the greatest productivity, we need to be thinking about the structural essence of our solutions. Structural essence involves focusing on generative and central attributes, rather than the peripheral attributes. So are […]
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3Dec
2014
PALIMPSEST
2014
Nothing is hidden in a palimpsest. Palimpsest typically applies to written pages. Some of the most famous examples are of an 800 year old Codex in which the same parchment was reused after previous writing was either erased or covered. A Palimpsest is typically defined as an artwork in which the history of the piece […]
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1Dec
2014
CHING 1
2014
Francis Ching, in his book Architectural Graphics, has been another huge influence, to architects at least. He writes that “Drawing is…a cognitive act that involves visual perception, judgement and reasoning of spatial…relationships.” page VIII. I like the combination of the terms visual and reasoning. This term could apply to architecture, product design, etc. We don’t […]
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