Hell Yeah, Tony Hawk (Richardson)

Tony Hawk! He’s a designer. Right? Right guys…? Guys?

The Tony Hawk video was actually the second video I watched. I didn’t see it at first. I wish I had watched it first, however, because the first video I looked at (Chip Kidd) made me mad, which seems to be a trend with these assignments.

I know I complained about the production quality of the data visualization documentary a couple weeks ago, but this one takes the cake. The video was two shots: 1) a shaky two-minute shot that felt like Dad filming Billy’s birthday party and 2) one of the most backlit shots I’ve ever seen in my life. I was so distracted by the bad camerawork that I honestly didn’t hear a single word that Chip Kidd said. He probably knows a lot about design, but I’ll never know.

Motley, you said to watch three so I watched three more. I’m calling the Chip Kidd video Video 0.

Video 1: On to Tony Hawk. Tony is a smart guy. He went with the obvious choice and commended Apple for their design excellence (I happen to agree with him). I really like the point that he made about consumers being proud to own Apple products. To have customers feeling that way is a fantastic accomplishment for Apple, or any company. After watching this I found newfound respect for Tony Hawk…and I realized that none of these videos were well produced (which makes me sad).

Video 2: Emily Pilloton’s “Do More With Less.” The idea is to find maximum creativity through using minimal resources. Be the MacGyver of design. Good Stuff.

Video 3: “It’s this kind of design that I find completely fascinating, design that takes advantage of the immense complexity of our social interactions and simplifies it just for a moment so we can look at it through another lens.” -Ze Frank.

The majority of these designers seem to advocate simplicity in design, while keeping an understanding of the complexity of the user.

I like this guy for two reasons. 1) He apologizes for the crummy video. 2) He’s a frequent gum chewer. Done. And he happened to slip in a nod to Jane McGonigal.