TED: David Carson on design+discovery

Designing is a field that doesn't have a criterion precedent to follow. It's a filled with sense of humor and creativity to grab attention of people. David Carson shows myriad slides to introduce the world of designing and its characteristics in a very doggerel way. And when watching the video, it reminded me of a book Put on an Engine on Creativity by Hyunwoo Lim, which is a book about using creativity; especially on advertisements and designs. 


Design sends "message that's sent before somebody begins to read, before they get the rest of the information; what is the emotional response they get to the product", according to David Carson's speech. I think it is true. There are some designs that touches me even without making me to try to figure out what the design is about and what it is telling. Designs and advertisements are very ephemeral. People flip them over in very short time. So prodigal or esoteric wordings will be futile and mundane. Leaving a strong impression concisely is important, therefore the importance of emotion in designing augments.

David Carson gave an example of smoke-free design that he created. In small letters, it says, 'If tobacco companies can lie, so can we.' It's very humorous, but it looks very gravitational and professional as the design is in black-and-white color. When people first see the advertisement, they will worry and throw away their cigarette, as the advertisement looks very serious. And when they read the advertisement again, they will laugh at the humor that's hidden inside, and remember the danger of cigarette that is tacit in the advertisement, as the creativity leaves strong impression, helping the people to remember 

In the book, it showed a WFP's picture on Times, by Rein Skullerud. The picture illustrates a terrible repercussion of tsunami. Even among all the broken furniture, there's one tree alive that shows the hint of recovery and hope. When people first see this picture, they don't read the caption under the picture written in infinitesimal letters about the hope in the terrible scene. However, they get the lucid impression of hope by the standing tree itself. It shows that even in such a horrible situation, there's still something that's not lost. And it helps people to overcome.


At his closure in the video, he defined a good job, and it really hit me. He stated, "if you could afford to--if money wasn't an issue--would you be doing that same work? If you wouldn't, what the heck are you doing? you're going to be dead a really long time." I think this statement was for young people who are afraid to jump in and dedicate on the field of designing . However, it hit me too, as I was also worrying that what I want to do aren't revered in the society and it doesn't guarantee me of nice future. However, if I'm working on the job only because of money, then I'm not living my own life or living alive. I want to live genially, so I worried living a miserable life out of lack of money. However, a life only for earning money is more terrible. It might be a hackneyed dictum, but my own definition of a good life is that if I don't regret anything when I'm dying; it was a good life. And after I watched this video, I thought that to live an un-regrettable life, I should jump on to what I really want to do. Like the David Carson, who devoted on designing.


The video didn't states his one strong idea and espoused, but showed his small and many ideas of living and designing. And most of his ideas impressed me. I strongly recommend this video, as it is very humorous yet has significance that has power to change and inspire people. Also, the book carries the message that emphasizes the importance of creativity and audacity. So I recommend to read the book after watching the video.