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design, compromise, and my fucked up desktop
2001-10-08-11:32 a.m.
I think Diaryland seems to come and go in spurts. At least my buddy list seems to. I pick a lot of slackers for my list, but they're all really good. I suggest that if you like reading my shit, you read theirs. (My favorites on my profile) This morning I came into my office and the monitor for my voicemail server was broken. So I took the opportunity to clean off my desk completely, and I borrowed my bosses truck to go pick up a brand new monitor. I haven't installed it yet though, so my desk actually has room, and it looks so frickin' nice I don't want to put the new monitor up yet. For those of you who don't know what I do, I'm a communications specialist, which is really just a fancy name for the phone guy. I'm in charge of all they physical telephones where I work, the phone lines (over 2000 of them), the fiber network, T1's, some of the computer network, the voicemail, call accounting and billing, and any misc. technical stuff that happens here that no one has seen before or can figure out. Its a lot of work, but it's fun. Anyway what this means is that I have a big office, with a lot of complicated, expensive crap in it. So while my desk is big, even when it's perfectly straight I don't have room to set down one sheet of paper. I have my phone, two key boards, two monitors (to run 5 computers off of with a switch), 4 mouse, and 3 printers. Al of this is necessary and used day to day so I can't move much, all the shelves are full of stuff and the walls are all covered in termination blocks for the aformentioned 2000 phone lines. This may sound a bit technical to you guys, but trust me I'm trying to keep it simple. So the desk just looks pleasing without this big ass monitor and second keyboard on it. By now I know for sure you're wondering what all this matters, and I myself and asking the same question. I guess it's to say that to me, looks matter. Not like you'd normally think, as in peoples looks, but just in general. I drive a car which, while a great car in terms of quality, performance and handling, is basically just about the looks. Instead of a Bug I could have bought a Golf, they are the same but the Golf is cheaper, has more room, and is a little quicker. But it doesn't look as cool. My room would stay a lot more organized and be a lot easier to live in if I didnt try to keep it so simple and un cluttered looking, but I like it that way. I'd probably have a lot easier time getting ready in the morning if I just shaved my head and always wore the same thing, but that doesn't look too interesting and it isn't much fun. The same could be said about the place where I choose to work, the way I dress, etc... Heck I've painted a mural that takes up an entire wall in my room. It serves no purpose except for visual appeal, but when you get right down to it, that is a very important purpose in itself. So when you get right down to it, you can't say that we all don't make some adjustments to out lives in the form of appearance, but the amount is different for every person. For me it's further out there than most. Design is something that is more than just advertisements for toothpaste and Coke, more than runway clothing and car taillights, it's something you can do in day to day life, which can extend into everything you do. And it's something I'm really good at. Lately I've decided that this is what I want to go to school for, and its what I want to do with my life for the next few years to come. When I mention to people that I want to study design, they always ask what kind of design. For me there is no one kind of design, it all connects together. My overall mood and approach to life is constantly changing, and I change my surroundings to reflect that. My clothes and hair are maybe the most obvious, but my outward surroundings adapt too. Not as much as I'd like so far due to money and space restrictions, but thats changing too. Fitting things together, literally fashioning them in one way or another, redesigning, altering, re-engineering, is not just art, it's also science. Only by bringing the two together do we create something great. A great car body is useless if it just sits in a museum or doesn't keep out the rain and road noise. A functional design though, can't enjoy success without some measure of visual appeal. So both in design of specific objects, and in the design of our lives you could say we make certain concessions to functionality or appearance to create the life, or object which we desire. Where we see true artistry however, is in the successful completion of both goals, with as few compromises made as possible. This concept can apply to anything, from the painting of the Sistine chapel, to the arrangement of hardware on a desk. In the meantime, the importance of the second monitor wins out over the visual appeal of an uncluttered desktop. In the long run however, two shelves built on the wall behind the desk will acheieve both goals, while compromising neither. Guess I'm building shelves tomorrow afternoon. -- Ronnie
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