typography journal 3.

Stefan Sagmeister whole talk was about real moments of happiness and proceeded to talk about happiness when experiencing design or about being happy when designing.

So should a designer value happiness just as much as simplicity and functionality when designing an object?

Theo Jansen had an amusing presentation on these creatures he is designing to self sustaining, wind energy eating beach creatures. They are made of piping tubes; they have feathers which fuel them by catching wind and have feelers which show them where to go when they touch sand or the water. 

Jansen creates these creatures with his "new wheel." It can carry heavy loads and will soon be able to fully function themselves. One of his beach creatures can detect a storm and hammer a post into the ground so it will not blow away due to the storm. 

J. J. Abrams was the most amusing of these designers. His presentation was on the "mystery box." When he was young he got this box at a magic store and hasn't ever opened it. This is where he began to think about the mystery of the box and how there are mystery boxes everywhere. They give a "sense of possibility."

In design our blank page is a mystery box. The blank space is a challenge; it gives us a sense of possibility to what we could design. 

J.J. Abrams created shows such as Lost and the new Star Trek series. He talked about how stories are nothing but mystery boxes. They give you little cues and hints and they create hope and possibility in the viewers mind. 

Another part of this magic mystery box is how it withholds information. In some movies we love a part because of what we may not have been told or cannot hear. 

Abrams tells us that there is a mystery box in all of us. The mystery is what comes next. There is so much opportunity, no longer is the technology open to just the elite. Everyone can create something impressive; there is so much possibility.