Beauty and Value

As I was strolling through CARGO on 13th with a couple girlfriends we came across a butterfly box. Dead butterflies were pinned in foam and mounted in a box.

"How sad," remarked one of my friends. "They kill them and them put them on display"

This statement started me thinking about the value that we attach to all the things around us.

In particular things we deem as beautiful or visually appealing. I know that I've thoughtlessly almost automatically killed countless unwelcome moths and flies that escape into the house. But never pondered why. If a butterfly were to find it's way into my kitchen, I'd probable catch it and put it back outside. Why is it that things of beauty we treat differently? What is it about something that is visually beautiful that we attach so much value to?

Someone recently pointed out that moths as opposed to butterflies are parasitic and will also destroy clothes and that's why we don't put the same value on them as we do butterflies. Yet still the question that keeps tugging at me is that do we need to see the absence of a threat in order to see value in a life form?

Don't Stand So Close To Me

Everyone has a bubble.

There is an area of space around us that invaded by another person can lead to a high level of discomfort.

For some people this bubble is rather small but its there. There is a threshold, a tipping point from which a person can move from being comfortable to being uncomfortable.

As an experiment I tested the distance of this comfort bubble. I noticed that when I got within a foot and a half of another person they moved just enough away to recover the distance. If I continued to invade the space again, they would almost immediately recover again. It was fascinating! This is not a behavior we think about, especially when wandering around a store. But it worked with EVERY person I came into contact with. I'd move in closer than a foot and a half, they moved about two feet away at least, at times even abandoning the book or magazine that they were shopping for. It seemed that Powell's doesn't sell anything interesting enough to get someone to put up with the invasion of their space bubble.

Although this only happens when there is enough space to recover the distance. When in a crowded elevator people are much closer to one another than a foot and a half. However, people still distribute themselves as evenly as possible, allowing for as much individual room as they can get.

The Pen

The pen becomes more convenient and easier to use when we are able to hang them on our clothing. (That's probably why those little clips were designed) Now clipping a pen on your clothes has become a very common and thoughtless act. We want to store the pen quickly but be able to also recall it quickly.

I've seen them in shirt pockets, pant pockets, belts, collars, on point of a v-neck etc. But I can't tell you how many times when I was growing up my father forgot to take a pen out of his pocket and his entire load of laundry was splattered in ink. Here lies an opportunity for design. Washable pen? A way to carry a pen with out hooking it on your clothes? The problem definitely provokes some thought.

Cigarette Holder

We've seen it done for decades and it still continues to be a mindless habit of smokers...

Keeping the cigarette behind the ear was a major trend but began as a convenient and quick way to grab the next smoke.

Popularized by celebrities throughout history, the act exhibits an image of being "cool". The actual function becomes secondary.

Its an ongoing behavior that makes me wonder what else we could keep behind our ears?