Past, future and everything between it

OK, since I was inspired by the film Mr. Nobody to talk about the flow of time and the different possibilities a person’s life can go on.

There are a lot of theories to ones course of life, there was a discussion between me and my friend about it. He states that if you could go back to the past and change the events that happened at that time, then you have altered the future.

For example, if a guy named Andy was driving on the road. Then an animal happened to cross the road and in order to avoid the animal, Andy turns the steering wheel too hard and the car swerves and falls off the road and into a lake next to it. Andy then drowns in it. If we followed my friend’s theory, if Andy had a way to go back to the events before his accident, he would have maybe taken a different road or drove slower at the part where he is going to encounter the animal or instead of turning the steering wheel, he hits on the brakes. If he had taken any of those actions, he would have saved himself from a tragic death.

However, I believe in a another theory. I believe that each person has a destiny, and they are destined to end in a way that is predestined to that person. In other words, if you could go back to the past and change events, you’re future will still be the same because it already is fixed, you only changed the course. If we follow my take, Andy could have done any of the precautions but he will ultimately face death. Let’s say he is already destined to die in the lake then he WILL die in the lake. At first he was destined to die in the lake through a car accident. If he had avoided the accident by taking any of the precautions, he may not die in the car accident, but he will eventually die in that lake in another destined way and time.

To put things into a story, Andy hits the brakes and did not hit the animal. He continues to drive away. On another day, he is driving on the same road again but it is raining heavily. He is driving too fast in the rain because he is in a hurry and somehow he hits an oncoming car and swerves into the lake and dies. This is how my theory would go, his end of dying in the lake is inevitable because it is his destiny.

People say we can work to change our destinies. I say we can work to change our paths to destiny. To go to Kedah from KL, there are many routes, you can take the bus, drive a car, fly by plane or even find a boat! We can choose/work to change our routes to Kedah, just like how we can choose our paths to destiny. It could be a straight forward 1 or it could be a long and fulfilling one. We cannot change the final destination but we can change the course.

Mr. Nobody

One day I stumbled upon a film called Mr. Nobody and I’m delighted that I saw that film because it truly is a very interesting and beautifully shot film.

Mr. Nobody is a 2009 Belgian science fiction film directed by Jaco Van Dormael. It stars Jared Leto, Diane Kruger, Tony Regbo, Juno Temple, Sarah Polley and Lin Dan Pham. Unlike typical science fiction films, it isn’t entirely filmed in space or has dozens of robots dominating the film or anything like that. It’s a very hearty film with stunning cinematography I assure you.

Here is the synopsis from Wikipaedia:

In the year 2092, the 118 year old man Nemo Nobody, the last mortal alive after humans have become ‘telomerized’ and achieved quasi-immortality, is recounting his life story to a reporter. Although less than clear, often times thinking he is only thirty-four years of age, he tells his life at three primary points: at age 9, when his parents get divorced; at age 15, when he fell in love; and at age 34, living his adulthood - all three unravelled into many other realities in a nonlinear narrative.

The plot also makes deep use of various scientific elements, such as the Big Bang theory, the Superstring theory, the Many-worlds interpretation and the concepts of telomeres and parallel universes.

Now, what intrigues me is the way the movie goes. It is in a nonlinear narrative. The story is always told by the 9 year old, 15 year old and 34 year old Nemo. He story is hand full so I will try to explain things as much as I can. The 9 year old Nemo knows the future and what will happen in his entire life. He goes by the principle of letting things happen by chance. He does not choose when faced with a dilemma, he says: “The best decision to make is to not choose” At age 9, his parents get divorced. At the train station where his mother is leaving, he is faced with a life changing decision: to stay with this father or mother?

The plot takes a split from there, we see that if Nemo had chosen to live with his mother, he will meet the love of his life and things that should happen will consequently happen. If he stayed with his father, he will meet a different girl. However, the girl does not accept him at first, if he had persistently went after the girl instead of give up there, he would have lead another life (where he meets another different girl). From there, his adult life would be different. Although whatever happens to him if he had went on to be with his mother or father, he will ultimately die in an accident. (I don’t know why they showed him dying in any accident because he lives on to be 118 years old, the last mortal in the future 2092)

The 3 girls of Nemo's love life

In the future 2092, telomerisation has been done to all human beings who live on Mars instead of Earth. This means that everyone can be immortals and stay young forever. They will not be affected by sickness, age or death. In the movie there was an interviewer who asked Nemo what sex felt like because it is obsolete in the future, so I’m guessing that the future humans have found a way to reproduce in a non sexual way O_O”

In the movie, there were various theories mentioned about the existence and continuum of time and space, namely the Big Bang theory where time and dimension was born. Time can only move forward, whatever has happened cannot be undone. Like 9 year old Nemo said, when the ketchup is mixed with the mash potatoes, it cannot be separated anymore. When smoke comes out of a cigarette, it can never go back in. However, there is a theory that at the end of time, The Big Crunch, time will cease to move forward. He thinks that time will have to go back again, moving backwards. The Big Crunch was said to happen in the year 2092 in the movie.

There are so many things dealt in the movie, possibility, chance, time and consequences taken from 1 action (Butterfly hurricane effect) it really is a lot to digest in 1 film. It might be confusing to those who never even heard of those theories but as the director said: “My producers don't like me saying it, but it's really a big-budget experimental film about the many different lives one person can live, depending on the choices he makes. It's about the infinite possibilities facing any person. There are no good or bad choices in life. It's simply that each choice will create another life for you. What's interesting is to be alive."

Now I can go on and on about what I think about how the course of a person’s life could go depending on the infinite possibilities and choices made by himself ( I think I might post that in my next entry..) but the director is right, what’s interesting is to be alive and live life to the fullest! I strongly recommend those who are curious about the possibilities of life 1 person can have to watch that movie. As for those who just want to watch some surreal dimension movie with beautiful cinematography, watch this movie too! ;)

Product placement in an outlet store

While on my navigational design field trip, I noticed something else that I would like to blog about here. That is Product placement in a store. I have always noticed it but never talked about the effectiveness of placing a product of the store in a way that makes you feel like forking out money to buy it, oh boy.

The model store for this topic is Brands Outlet Store which I'm sure is a name everyone knows and frequents to. They are known for their 3 for RM50 t-shirts that have funky and colourful designs and their Buy 1 free 1 plaid shirts. Now we know why it's such a favourite store for you and me ;) For your information, Brands Outlet Store is under the Padini Group, that has brought you Vincci, Padini, P&Co., Seed and others.

And so, I strolled into the store as usual and noticed the decor and placement of t-shirts on one of the columns of the store. (Note that stores dont usually welcome picture taking so I had to be discreet O_O)

Image 1

If you can all notice the row of colourful shirts placed on the column of the shop in the middle of this picture..... Ok, see it? That was what I was talking about. The colours were really striking and it really did made me want to buy some warm coloured t-shirts. In this instance, I have almost fallen into the product placement trap. (Almost because I didnt buy anything! ^^)

Image 2

Here's another column with clever placing of the clothes in the store. I find it a nice way to show what other clothes the store has to offer other than the ones displayed on models. This method of showing clothes sure beats just hanging them on racks of course. It's placed high and on the same level as the signs (Women's section, Men's section, Children's section etc.). So when one lifts their head to look for the department signs, they see the clothes on the columns too. Smart.

Image 3

On an unrelated note, I saw these mannequins while I was resting on the convenient couch at the Shoes department. A plus sized mannequin! Wow, finally clothes for bigger women. Since this store focuses on being fashionable and affordable to the masses and it does show that they cater to the masses by offering clothes for plus sized women as well as normal sized and petite women. Because this is a group of people that have been in our society all along, yes, took you some time to notice them huh? Not everyone who buys clothes are an XS, S or M, OK? They would usually have to shop at foreign brands to get clothes that fit them and Brands Outlet Store has offered a cheaper alternative to them without sacrificing quality.

And again, product placement of the clothes on plus sized mannequins not only can grab the attention of well endowed women, but it can also show how the clothes would fit/look like on them. If the mannequins are dressed correctly, it may give these women some extra fashion tips on what clothes to try and match together.

So in a nutshell, affordable deals and nice clothes aside, Brands Outlet Store is really the place to shop for EVERY SINGLE PERSON no matter what size or how deep your pockets are. ;)

Navigational design in a pyramid

So for this week, we are given the topic of Navigational design to talk about in our blogs.

From my understanding, (in the context of a shopping mall) Navigational designs are simply put, the signage that direct people to the place they wish to go but have no idea how to. For example, we normally wonder where the toilets are in a mall, we automatically put out heads up searching for the toilet signboard to find directions instead of asking people the rather embarrassing question (of course, that would always be the last resort anyway).

Or how about when we need to quickly get to the ATM machine to withdraw some money for the last pair of shoes in a shop. Again, refer to the dutiful sign boards above our heads to find the ATM machines. And when we cant remember how to get back to the previous shop after getting the cash, look to the sign board again!

Those 'life saving' sign boards are designed to navigate shoppers to the places of convenience they need to go to. It really saves a lot of effort and time. Some people may just be shy to ask or even have no clue where the information counter is. And believe or not, not all the staff in a shopping mall know exactly where all the shops are anyway.

To research about this, I went to Sunway Pyramid. Obviously from the name, it's a concept shopping mall with an Egyptian theme. Here are the signages:

Image 1

These are taken at G floor. There are about 4 levels for shopping in Sunway Pyramid and another 2 levels above for parking.

The signage have hieroglyph inspired graphics in the background that gives a continuity to the Egyptian theme of the shopping mall. These boards were taken at the Orange atrium, hence the sign boards are orange. They show directions to basic facilities like the toilet, ATM, Exit, escalators and elevators.

Since Sunway Pyramid is a big shopping mall, the sign boards would also show directions to different departmental stores in the mall (Jusco and Parkson) which is very useful since those stores are also located each with an entrance to go outside of the mall.

Image 2

These were taken at LG floor.(*except for the bottom right corner) To distinguish the different sign boards at different levels, these are in red with the same basic template of a hieroglyph patterned background. As for the picture at the bottom right corner, this was a sign board above an exit to a car park at G floor. Outside the entrance, there is also a toilet, therefore they distinguished the directions before people exited the glass doors. A handy direction of the Autopay station is also shown for people to pay their parking tickets before leaving the mall.

Image 3

Another signage of a store in the mall. In a way, it's an advertising space and navigational design for the particular store. These stands are usually located near the escalators since it's a place people WILL and MUST pass by frequently. Again, they added a touch of hieroglyph patterns on the metal part of the stand. I think that they made the shape of the stand rectangle to make them look like a tomb stone, another touch of Egyptian themed decor.

Image 4

Of course, like all shopping malls, there will be a Directorial board at every floor of the shopping mall. They are usually found near the escalators as well. The board is designed to be slanted so that more people can refer to it easily. It's like a giant book that people can comfortably lean over and search for the destination of choice. The left and right panel of the directory board will list all shops available according to type (F&B, Fashion for Women, Fashion for Men and etc.) The centre panel would show the layout map of the shopping mall and where your current location is.

Image 5

Here is an interesting navigational design found in Sunway Pyramid. The mall has another outer section of restaurants. Shoppers inside the mall would not notice these restaurants, especially those who enter from the parking lot entrances/exits instead of the main entrance. For example, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restuarant has made a sign board of some sort at one of the columns inside the shopping mall. The sign leads people to a shortcut/walk way to the restaurant's location. Along the walls of the shortcut, Bubba Gump has decorated the walls with their restaurant decor which is a nice touch of 'extending their restaurant out' to people. We can get a glimpse of how the restaurant is like and go on ahead to it. It created a desire and navigated people to their restaurant, effective navigational design, indeed!!

All in all, Sunway Pyramids' navigational design is very good and sticks to one theme that reflects the identity of the shopping mall itself. Not only do they have good navigational functions, but the various signage also double as an advertising medium for the shops in the mall. Now, no one would ever get lost in Sunway Pyramid or wonder what to eat/how to get the restaurant anymore! ;)

Introduction to Immersion of dimensions

Hello all, I'm a student in Gamma year in her 1st semester. This is my blog for the class Environmental Design MMI 1023.

Obviously, this is going to be a blog for academic purposes, follow if you're a classmate/interested in what I have to say about advertising using environmental media!

So, why Immersion of dimensions? From my first class, we were emphasized on the word 'immersive'. What does that word mean to us in terms of environmental design? I guess it's a way to let us be surrounded and submerged in a place of content, information and persuasion. Get it?? Let's say that we are in a hall where a cosplay convention is taking place. Every corner we see someone in a costume, we see a booth selling anime memorabilia, we see another booth with possibly a video console station for people to play at. We are surrounded by the features that make up this Japanese inspired culture and submerged in its surreal atmosphere. We are immersed in it. You dont realize that you're in a normal convention hall anymore, you are in another mental dimension.

That is the power of environmental design. And hence, that is the name of this blog.

I hope you will find these posts intriguing as I'll TRY to post up relevant stuff in the course of these 8 weeks!!