COVER STORY The shapes of language FEATURE Primitive design STORY BEHIND 68 | April 2019
Six months have gone by and the second quar ter of this academic year has been full of amazing experiences. The study association went to Paris on the ExID trip, to La Foux d’Allos with SkID and to Turin on the Spring Trip. The Christmas holidays gave all IDE students some well deser ved rest and immediately after, a group of master students travelled around the Netherlands to tackle challenging cases at design related companies with the first Cases on Tour of the year. Only shor tly after, on Februar y 7th, the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering celebrated its 50th anniversar y. During the rest of the year, you can expect all kinds of jubilee festivities, a special edition of Turn The Page being one of them. The board evaluated the first half of the 46th year at ID in preparation of the second half. With the board vacation behind us, we should be ready for a lineup of activities that are at least as exciting as the one you see in the picture: IDE Business Fair 2019.
Siward Vloemans, Chairman ID
TA B L E O F 18 Feature ALAN TURING
20 08 Coverstory THE SHAPES OF LANGUAGE
12 DESIGN EVERYWHERE
14 Column KILL YOUR DARLINGS
15 Story behind THE FIRST FLIGHT
Feature 15 MINUTES OF FAME
22 Feature TINY HOUSE MOVEMENT
24 Feature GAME OF TRUST
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BEST PICTURE
CONTE NTS 28
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Feature PRIMITIVE DESIGN
B.A.B.E.
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ID PAGES
Versus HEALTHY VS. UNHEALTY BOREDOM
32 Interview EXODUS
38 42 Feature TEAMING UP WITH THE MACHINES
44 Feature
IT IS WALKING OUT OF THE HAND
46 Feature ANTHROPOLOGY THROUGH DESIGN
48 Feature TRIBAL CONNECTIONS
50 GADGETS
EDITORIAL
IJsbert Bekooy Secretary
Lidewij Muurling Editor in Chief
Zola Zwerver External Affairs
Douwe Hardon Treasurer
Wies van Wetten Chairman
Romée Postma Publicity
Gabi Verstappen Lay-out
Timothy Puglia Acquisition
Siward Vloemans Qualitate Qua
#6 8 DISCONNEC TE D 6
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B. A . B.E .
ARTSY Artsy’s agenda is all about helping art and artists reach a global audience. This app works with over 2,500 galleries, 700 museums, 60 art fairs, and the world’s top auction houses to create the largest art marketplace. Use Artsy to explore and buy over 500,000 artworks from the world’s top galleries and auction houses. Find the perfect artwork, connect with art galleries, and bid in live auctions on the go. Besides, this artfocused app offers a topnotch design. Find out in the App Store!
DEZEEN If you are an architect or designer, this online magazine is worth knowing. Dezeen curates a selection of the best architecture, design and interior projects from around the world - great for inspiring both amateurs and professionals, and is often first with industry news. www.dezeen.com
Artful Design is a book written by Ge Wang and published by Stanford University Press. It is a public declaration of how we shape technology, and a meditation on how technology shapes us in turn. The book begins with a simple question: What is design? In pursuit of that answer Ge Wang takes the reader on a journey of discovery of the nature, meaning, and purpose of design in this age of technology, and the many related questions that arise. For example: why should we design beauty into useful things?
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B. A . B.E .
KS
PPS
LOGS
VENTS
by RomĂŠe Postma
WOT H M AG A ZI N E WOTH Wonderful Things Magazine is an international print magazine. They love print and graphic design so much they keep making each issue more colourful and more impressive. WOTH shows their readers that life is not just all about things. It is thinking that ignites creativity and innovation. Therefore, each issue WOTH talks to five of the sharpest minds around: young, old, chefs, architects & entrepreneurs. Curious? Subscribe! www.woth.co/subscribe
The Hague Museum of Photography honours one of the Netherlands’ most famous photographers, Erwin Olaf, with a major retrospective. Olaf, whose recent portraits of the royal family drew widespread admiration, will be showing his photography in the form of installations in combination with film, sound and sculptures. The exhibition will focus on his transition from analogue photojournalist to digital image-maker and storyteller. www.fotomuseumdenhaag.nl
E RWIN OLAF
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B. A .B.E .
DA ISI E Creators are at the centre of this rapidly changing world. The brand new App daisie introduces creators from all around the world, to bring new, raw ideas to life, and reignite the spark on old projects. Explore creative work in film, fashion, music, photography, art and literature, interacting directly with the inspirational people breaking grounds at the top of these industries. Share original content, learn, discover and be inspired to start new conversations. www.daisie.com
M O N E T. THE GARDENS Who does not know them: the world-famous water lilies by Claude Monet? But who has actually seen these color explosions on canvas and lost themselves in the mirrors, no longer knowing where water starts and air cease? A large part of his famous work ‘The Gardens’ has never even been shown in the Netherlands. It is high time for a major tribute in the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. In the exhibition ‘Monet. The gardens.’ no less than forty international masterpieces will be brought together. Want to buy tickets? www.gemeentemuseum.nl
SCENARIO is the award-winning magazine on trends, ideas, visions, and possible futures. It is developed by futurists from the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies in regular collaboration with the brightest minds, notorious leaders, and prolific influences from around the world. Want to get this inspiring magazine? www.scenariomagazine.com/shop
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COVER STORY
THE SHAPES OF
L ANG
Language is a powerful yet dangerous human tool. The ability to express ourselves in clear language enables us to communicate freely and create things that people never dreamed of before. On the other hand, the existence of language brings some restrictions. The use of language allows humans to directly implant their thoughts into the mind of someone else. There are sentences, even words, that can get us into trouble. Causing us to engage in an argument or even being sent to jail. Apparently the consequences of a few sounds produced by our vocal cords can be extensive. Language is used a lot to analyze your own thoughts and share them with others, but it is interesting to study language itself too. Why is just the human race blessed with the ability to communicate with language? What are the consequences of the use of language and do we really need it to communicate properly? Let us therefore dive a little deeper in the impressive world of language. by RomĂŠe Postma
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COVER STORY
UAG E SOCIAL LEARNING One big difference between humans and other living creatures is the use of complex language. Scientist still do not agree on the way language has come into existence. Some think it was created by a few accidental genetic mutations. Others assume that the development of language and speech had already begun one million years ago. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. In any case, it is clear that we distinguish ourselves from our genetic relatives, chimpanzees, by being able of ‘social learning’. It seems as if they lack the ability to learn from the behaviour of others by copying it, imitating it or simply watching it. As a result, chimpanzees are not able to improve ideas or learn from the mistakes of others. If it is up to them, they make the same mistakes
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over and over again, without changing anything. Humans on the other hand, tend to watch other humans as a form of improving themselves. We try to become aware of as much chances as possible by simply looking at each other, before choosing the best option. We take advantage of the ideas around us and try to enhance them. This so-called cumulative cultural evolution can be seen all around us in daily life. A good example is that we use ideas from others as an inspiration for new products we design. Humans have the ability to change the world alongside our changing ideas so to speak. Perhaps we can even say that the world has become dependant on our urge to learn from everything we perceive and the constant need to make a difference in everything we do.
WHY WE TALK Social learning is not the final story, it is just the beginning. The phenomenon of social learning has contributed to the development of language. The ability to build on actions of someone else has made people reflect on themselves relating to others. Imagine you have a great idea and the moment you express yourself, someone else runs away with it. That is annoying, to say the least. The worst thing is that you cannot even say anything about it. It is not difficult to assess how our ancestors would have solve that. Long ago our species was confronted with the problem to which degree it was still acceptable to copy the behaviour and ideas of another individual. Researchers state that in those days social learning lead to the social and evolutionary 1
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COVER STORY
also has to do with the fact that in the past, when the world was not yet overloaded with technology, means of communication did not extend beyond mouth to mouth.
dilemma that it can be viewed as visual theft. Our species had only two ways to deal with the conflicts that visual theft brought with it. One way was to stay together in small groups, in which thoughts and behavior remained protected. The downside of that scenario is the lack of innovative ideas that occur in small groups. If they had opted for that option, which they clearly did not do, we might still live as Neanderthals. The other choice we could make was to develop systems of communication that would allow us to let others know what we have in mind. In this way we could make visual theft open to discussion and just share our ideas. This option ensured that accumulated knowledge and wisdom would become available to every individual, something that could never be achieved from within small groups or a person on their own. We chose the perilous option to cooperate with others, even though there was a good chance that your ideas would be distributed even faster. To put all this on the right track, we needed a means of communication that turned out to be language. You could say that language evolved to solve the crisis of visual theft, which in turn descends from our ability of social learning.
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“We have the skill to combine a set of words or sounds to express our thoughts and use them in creative ways� THE CONSEQUENCES OF LANGUAGE Once we had language at our disposal, we could put our ideas together and cooperate to attain a level of success that would not be available without language. We have the skill to combine a set of words or sounds to express our thoughts and use them in creative ways. This is one of the reasons our species has flourished around the world while the rest of the animals still imitate each others behaviour unconsciously, without learning anything. We use language not just to work together, but also to dissociate our group from others, to retain identities and protect our knowledge and skills from others. Language initially arose from the urge for communication, but there is a human restraint to simply share everything we think. It may well be that this behaviour arises from the idea of survival of the fittest. The more knowledge you have got, the better your advantage. This survival mode can be the cause of all the different languages spoken throughout the world. Of course this
Nowadays the different languages that have emerged from these motives slow down the flow of creativity, innovation and cooperation. Humanity is communicating more than any time in the past, but nowadays these different languages raise a burden on globalisation. For example: the grammatically futured languages, like English, distinguish between the past, present and future. On the other hand the grammatically futureless languages, like Chinese, use the same phrasing to describe the events of yesterday, today and tomorrow. This linguistic discrepancy is not only accompanied by difficulties to communicate clearly with people who speak another language, but also by major economic differences. Futureless language speakers are 30% more likely to save money for later than futured language speakers. Because when we speak about the future being more distinct from the present, it feels more distant and because of that, we are less motivated to save money now in favour of having it easier a few years later. This example shows whether we can really afford to have all these different languages and the difficulties that they bring with them in this interconnected world. It may even make communication with others unnecessarily complex. It can be said that language is something that distinguishes us from other species, but at the moment the variety in languages
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COVER STORY
can be a reason for the feeling of paradoxical disconnection between our species. NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION So far, we have only talked about language as a means of communication. However, mankind is more and more aware that communication is not just a matter of language skills, but a mental and psychological process as well. Explaining something to someone is not only a question of choosing the right words, but especially of constantly assessing whether the other person understands the explanation or not. The striking thing is that nonlanguage parts of the brain can make this assessment on their own, without analyzing the words themselves. Neuropsychologist Arjen Stolk did a study into nonverbal communication. He put two experimental subjects in front of their own screen, while they could not see or hear each other. One subject had to carry out a kind of tic-tac-toe. The other subject was tasked to explain the rules of this game without using words. He could only draw a circle on the other person’s screen as an instruction. The MRI scans of Stolk showed that only two areas of the brain were active in this process of explanation and reaction. When intensifying non-verbal communication, there oddly is an increase in activity in the right temporal lobe, where knowledge is stored. This knowledge has surely enough not derived from language but has been acquired from the other person during nonverbal communication. Our brains
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are therefore not only focused on separate communicative actions such as words and gestures, but seem to take into account what we think the other person knows while observing his actions. This experiment shows similarities to the aspect of social learning that we discussed earlier. Apparently our non-verbal communication has no direct link to language, because we extract information about others from the part of our brain that is not language related. This nonverbal communication is therefore supported by existing knowledge we have gained our whole life through social learning. In the experiment we use the knowledge we have gathered by watching others to determine if the other person ultimately understands our actual intentions.
THE CHALLENGE In the field of Industrial Design Engineering, you are often assigned to a group of people you do not know very well yet, but with whom you need to collaborate to achieve results. Sometimes it is difficult to estimate what your fellow students actually mean. Words say a lot, but
“You have to put your knowledge from language and social learning together” you cannot always deduce exact intentions from words alone. Being able to learn from the behaviour of someone else is useful, but discussing it is more difficult in that respect. To get a good idea of what your fellow students mean, you have to put your knowledge from language and social learning together. In this way you can really find out someone’s intentions and come to new insights. The fact that we can combine language and knowledge we gain from social learning, means that we are able to solve complex problems, communicate with others at an extremely high level and change the world by innovating exceptionally fast. Language has indeed been necessary to get to where we are today, but it is still undefinable how far it will take us in the future. It is hard to capture language in words, but let us take the challenge to start having more conversations about language and find out. 3
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DESIGN EVERY WHERE
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DESIGN EVERY WHERE
DISCONNECTION FROM DESIGN The products European designers create to fix our problems, do not reach all around the world. People who might not have the money for fancy designer solutions or in their culture it might just be more common to fix things with DIY solutions they made themselves. This man, who does not use a high tech pest control device to scare away a monkey, but instead made a simple catapult. On the one hand you might say they are disconnected from design as we know it, but on the other hand they are all designers for themselves. 3 picture by Wies van Wetten | text by Lidewij Muurling
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ID PAGES
E XID Despite the political affairs and demonstrations in the streets, a group of first- and second year students set out for Paris. During a lovely weekend in December, they visited some of the city’s finest locations, cultural hotspots and hidden gems.
CASES ON TOUR 1 CoT1 visited two companies: Kopper t biological systems mainly sells bumblebees to farmers worldwide as a replacement for toxic pesticides and Ahrend is a company that designs business furniture, which you can also find ever ywhere in our faculty.
PARENTS DAY Saturday Januar y 12th the IDE faculty opened its doors to all first year students and their parents. Almost 600 guests got hands-on experience with digital modelling, design drawing and a design case, which ended with a thrilling competition between the parents!
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U PCOM I NG EVENTS 8 M AY
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Pluim Awards
IDmelvaart
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IO Festival
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12 JUNE
Cases on Tour 2
Summercue
ID PAGES
MEDIA DILEMMA
Events like IO Festival, IDE Business Fair and Freshmen Weekend seem like a guaranteed sell out every year. However, without proper publicity even these events would not be as successful as they are now. Facebook is one of ID’s largest means of communication for all sorts of events and with recent research showing worrying statistics about the platform, we should start thinking about the future. by Siward Vloemans
THE NUMBERS
WAYS TO ROME
Media has discussed Facebook and its scandals extensively. Over time, we are star ting to see this negative exposure taking effect on the users. Dutch National Research shows a heavy decline in user numbers, while overall social media use is still growing. Well over half a million Dutch Facebook users stopped using the platform in 2018. Interesting is that especially teenagers abandoned the medium, which is exactly ID’s target for promotional material in the future. It seems Facebook is not cool anymore. The fact that the average user is 40 years old does not help either. One thing is clear: ID needs an alternative. So what is the next step here?
The same research mentioned before also presented figures about competitors. In shor t: Instagram and Pinterest are booming at the cost of Twitter. Those leaving Facebook are generally shifting towards Instagram, so they are not leaving social media altogether. Interestingly enough, Snapchat is also losing popularity. Apparently its popularity was a hype rather than a true success. WhatsApp is most popular, but is generally used for different purposes. However WhatsApp Business, introduced in 2018, might provide an oppor tunity. After all, this is the main form of mobile communication. The movement towards Instagram occurs mainly
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among younger people. Already ID is seeking potential here, with a thousand followers and special accounts for IO Festival and IDE Business Fair. Still it lacks the detail that Facebook events provide, but perhaps there are some creative ways around that. ZUCK ERBERG CONCERN Considering WhatsApp and Instagram, another issue arises. With users leaving Facebook due to trust issues, we are still looking at alternatives owned by Facebook ’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg. His scandals did not go unnoticed, especially the involvement in the US elections and Trump’s campaign. He allowed Russian
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ID PAGES
propaganda to spread across Facebook and fake news about Democrat Hillar y Clinton. The impact was heavy, losing 16 billion US dollars in 2018. One may wonder if this will affect the success of WhatsApp and Instagram. Interestingly enough, it seems these mediums are not showing any of those signs currently. Despite being owned by Zuckerberg, the companies operate somewhat individually with their own respective CEOs. Carefully assuming Zuckerberg’s ownership will not affect WhatsApp and Instagram in the near future, we see two promising candidates. TO THE ROOTS On the other hand, until now we have only looked at alternative
social media. However, more traditional alternatives are all around us. Think about posters, flyers, stickers, banners and all other sor ts of physical promotion. They have been around forever and ID is using them as well. You can find posters all over the faculty and the pillar in the hall. On one hand this might be the future, considering a movement away from digital media. On the other hand this might head in the same direction as Facebook. After all physical promotion is not quite environmentally sustainable, a topic that has never been more relevant than today. And as concluded in the previous issue of Turn The Page, ID should always embrace the innovative nature of IDE students.
WORLD WIDE WEB Back to screens. Digital publicity seems to be the future. Reaching the age of thir ty in 2019, the world wide web is used more than ever. All of the previously discussed social media are online, yet ID also has its own website. One that was renewed fairly recently. The website holds more information than all the other mediums together, but it is hardly as popular. But why? You do not even need a new account to log in. It seems like mobile compatibility might play a role here, since most social media use is on a smar tphone. That leads us to a new possibility: a mobile application. It may include all the features the website has, in a more user-friendly inter face. An application will require a lot of work, but who knows? It might be the solution. THE FUTURE With Facebook likely leaving a spot to fill for the future of ID’s publicity, we have looked at some possible alternatives. Considering other social media, WhatsApp and Instagram quickly come to mind. With a large user base and rising numbers, these two seem promising mediums. At the same time these companies are owned by Facebook and might suffer from the same controversies, but up until now there are no signs of that. Traditional publicity like posters, flyers and stickers is an alternative, though one that is quite environmentally unsustainable. ID’s website might not be the solution either, though presenting it like an application might present an oppor tunity. It seems the next step is not so easily made, but one that is quite necessar y. Still this is not an obstacle for ID, rather a challenge. A challenge that can be tackled in the time to come. 3
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GADGE TS
!n ¿î
by Zola Zwerver and Lidewij Muurling
ZOX: INSPIRING BRACELETS Zox releases wristbands that are basically little parties for on your wrists. Every bracelets features a cool design that makes you able to express yourself on the outside. The inside of every wristband has an inspiring word or quote written on it, making it not only a cool accesory, but also a positive reminder of all good things. The soft, elastic bands are produced in small runs of 2000, making every design limited edition. So get on and start collecting your Zox today! Price: from $8,95 ) www.duo.hym-originals.com
THE SLATE 2+ BY ISKN Drawing tablets are very popular among designers. They make it easy to digitalize your ideas and create beautiful graphics. However, they can be frustrating when you can not seem to be able to create the same things as you can on paper. The Slate 2+ fixes this problem. Click some paper, or even your favourite notebook, onto the tablet and you can start drawing! You can use the iskn Pen or add the iskn Ring to your own favourite drawing utensil to use that. Your drawing will be shown on a device of your choice in real time. It is also possible to take the Slate with you and draw on the way; your drawings will be saved and you can view their digital versions once you get back home!
Price: $179,) www.iskn.co
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COLOFON
Official body of ID Volume 18 / Issue 68 April 2019 Turn The page is issued four times a year. Contact ID study association Landbergstraat 15
PEEQO - THE HACKABLE ROBOT THAT RESPONDS IN GIFS & VIDEOS Meet Peeqo, a delightful, little, personal robot that responds entirely through GIFs and videos. Peeqo is truly one of a kind and is designed with one thing in mind; providing little moments of delight and entertainment to get you through your day. You get to build Peeqo yourself. An affordable and easy to assemble DIY kit is the the most suitable gadget for people of all ages and skill levels, who would like the experience of building their own robot.
2628 CE Delft +31 (0)15 2783012 www.studieverenigingid.nl Comments, questions, compliments and remarks can be sent to: turnthepage-svid@tudelft.nl Issues 7500 Copies Press
Price: $220,) www.peeqo.com
Quantes - Rijswijk TTP Thanks Roselyne van der Heul Henk Jan Oudenampsen Subscribe/ad Members of ID receive Turn The Page free of charge. A yearly subscription costs â‚Ź9,50 (4 issues). Want a subscription or publish an advert? Send an email to turnthepage-svid@tudelft.nl Copyright The committee has strived to own the copyrights of the included texts and images. However, if you believe you own the rights to a piece that has been used, we request you to contact us. Nothing from this issue can be reproduced. The committee claims the right to shorten, alter or refuse submitted pieces. The Communication department of the IDE faculty and the Alumni Association have contributed to this Turn The Page.
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Invisible threads are the strongest ties