It even happens in NYC

This isn't exactly a grouping of cups, but it was heartening to see the same starting point of how cups collect on things happens across the pond as well as in the UK. This was found in the heart of New York.

a full day of indulgence

I took this a good few weeks ago now. I found this one particular interesting and hoped the story was as follows. Gentleman buys two cans of special super strong tenants beer, full and by now quite drunk. Man needs to come around and needs a strong cup of coffee to get him back on track.

You can see other articles about this here

Public spirit

After the exploits of igfest (which I still need to blog about), I decided to go climbing to stretch out the muscles. I was not looking forward to it as I thought it would be a rubbish session, in the end though got up a fair bit and felt alot better for it. When I finally came around to catching the bus home I saw the ticket stuck on the window of the bus stop.

I already had a day to go so couldn't use it, but it did get me thinking about this and whether it is a good or bad idea etc. If for example someone developed a system that openly tracked where tickets were people could exchange tickets all the time bringing travel costs down massively. However the reverse of this is that this would in turn increase the original ticket price. There is something to the social idea of it and how people can exchange rather than sell.

Other collections

This is a slightly different 'grouping' than the previous ones, and I must admit I didn't see it at first. This is a signage post near sophia gardens. What I find interesting about this along with the normal grouping and acceptability of stickers is the further development of the stickers. In particular the PAC MAN which is from Cardifferent. This sticker as you can see has been further enhanced by the chewing gum to create an even more emotional response. The need to these emotional responses is hugely important and has been looked at for decades both in design and in psychology. Further to my last articles on this subject, there are things that need to happen to use this type of work in successful design situations.

- We need to create environments that involve people in bringing people or objects together.
- We also need to allow people to adapt or alter in creating emotional involvement within it.

A little vague but it's coming along.

urban psychology part deux - best things come in threes

I have written about social attraction and leaders forming paths for others to follow in a previous blog. I have been on the look out for another example and came across this (you can see another shot here) tonight in the pouring rain. For me these are the fascinating parts of society and how we interact with our environment. It leads me to thinking about the concept of bins again (a recent obsession), and what in some peoples eyes what bins represent. Is it that by using bins it is a sense of being conformist and so people rebel? or is it just plan being lazy?

NOTE TO SELF: I must do something with this.

social design

social design, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

I have been meaning to post this image for months, never seemed right until now. With the my recent involvement in ARK being more aware of social design and how people affect people. This image is taken in the middle of Cardiff City Centre Just by where I live. For me the interesting thing about it was the story. When leaving my flat there was one item of rubbish carefully positioned on the door frame, walking past it I thought then that it was strange to see an item of litter there. When I got back about an hour later I saw that there was a second piece of litter now on the door frame. So from never seeing any litter there before suddenly in one day there are two items.

This is really where the story starts for me as I believe it relates to urban psychology and the fact that people are sociable beings. The argument therefore is that without the first putting the rubbish in that spot the second person would not have even dreamed of doing so. I a similar way it's why groups of people in a wide open space will generally inhabit places near tall structures such a sculptures and trees. Ultimately it's how trends start the first leads the way with the other following. I think Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping point is a must read if anyone is interested in this topic. For me though I am wondering how this could be used almost in reverse in a positive none littering way?