Good Design

I've been trying to think of the world lately more in terms of design. That includes day to day strategies. "Is there a better way to do this" is a great question to ask about the most basic assumptions to improve the functional design and quality of your life. Good design usually adds something new so that question of asking if there is something different (and better) is a great question. I've thought of ideas of how to organize my room and even asked myself whether or not to eliminate all books and get an amazon nook. All the newer technologies like ipads and kindle fire has too many features that act as distractions. Simplification is important in design.

I've started to even consider determining if there's an optimal amount of calories, minerals, proteins, and so on that can be consumed through liquids and whether or not you can then  have an optimal ratio of groceries so that they don't go bad before consumption and so that immediately when you buy them, you can blend up everything, liquify them and put them in a water bottle for however many servings you need. This would allow you to only prepare it once for potentially 1-3 dozen meals and then once you are ready for a meal, you simply grab & go. The unobtrusiveness or in this case time saving nature aspect is good design. additionally, the idea that one design can last you a long time is good design. That would be very useful in saving time. Usefulness is important in design.

The problem with this of course is good design has to meet all criteria. It has to taste good. vegetables may have good amounts of vitamins and minerals per calorie, but doesn't meet calorie requirements. Fruit has Fructose which is okay if you don't have too many or aren't on a keto based deit. To meet diertary needs is one thing. There may be some benefits for liquids to give digestive system a break but I don't know that it should be permanent all of the time, So instead you have to probably have to have a few solid meels a week at least.You would then have to consider adding fats and that may not taste okay with everything. You also might need proteins. You could certainly liquify a soft boiled egg but that has a limited shelf life and may not taste good with whatever you are mixing. Soy doesn't have much of a taste but the texture isn't the best. But supposing you could get the right mixtures optimized for time of day and taste, you could have a very aesthetic look to have a frige with bottles on the one side of the fridge and 3 different shelves of food, each representing different meals. If one of those meals was to be solid, then perhaps you'd use the 3rd shelf for a snack or between meals and you'd also have to add some pure waters, or perhaps water with coconut oil. Good design is pleasing to the eye.

You might have additional functions that you have. You have the ability to cycle between keto for 6 days a week and then load up on healthy carbs and starches like yams, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, pumpkin, etc. You could have these in liquid format or for part of the solid meal but one day a week could be all starches since your body will have to not be in ketosis to get the right amount of carbs, but spending the least amount of time not in ketosis may be best. Alternatively you can have periods of 1-2 keto meals and 5-6 mediterranean diet.Either one allows you to cycle between resting digestive system and altering between ketosis and the opposite (I believe it's burning Glucose rather than ketones and is called Glucosis or something like that). At any rate, despite being simple in how to function, good design is also very thorough and good design must also work for the customer or target audience.

Aside from the bold points, Good design is also said by Dieter Rams to be honest, understandable and environmentally friendly.

I've also been rethinking about design in terms of strategy. One strategy to keep room clean is to straighten three more things than you made messy each day. Or get rid of 3 for every one you add. IN practical terms you might forget a time or two so that's why 3 instead of 2. But a more dramatic rebuild would involve getting rid of everything. Thinking from scratch is useful because many times if we knew what we now know when we first started, we would've designed it differently. Rather than an ad-hoc make shift idea, sometimes starting from scratch is a better option.

Elimination is probably the premier value of good design for a lot of people. Steve Jobs loved aesthetics and everything came in 3s. 3 is simple. He also liked the number one. The first mac mouse had one button and many subsequent products have one push button and maybe other sliding or rotating or touch screens that can function like buttons. If I had to define good design in a single word it would be "Radical Simplification" or to simplify to a single word elimination. Specifically Elimination of that which doesn't work.

To reorganize folders on a computer or apps on a phone you may want to consider usage first. You have the apps you use daily. If you are using them but it isn't adding to your life or isn't useful, maybe delete them. But if you do... you could maybe pick 1-3 and not have these in folders. And then everything else. Everything else can go into a folder. Within that folder you can come up with sub folders.

Alternatively, you could only use folders and you could name each of those folders the same as an affirmation you find useful. That can be a reminder to say it when you are conscious of them but when you are scrolling through the folders or checking the time on your phone, you also have a passive access to it annd one heuristic your brain uses is "recency and availibility" which means your brain first thinks of information that is most recently available. 

I've been thinking also about design as it relates to aligning the conscious and subconscious for purposes of living a better life... but that is for another time.