John Yeon designed the Watzek House in 1934/1935 for his friend and fellow Mazama, Portland lumber magnate Aubrey Watzek. After comparing Yeon’s design to a later concept by Pietro Belluschi, Watzek chose Yeon’s plan and construction was completed in 1937, when Yeon was just 26. Yeon had no formal architecture training, and the Watzek House become his first built architectural project, setting the tone and standard for modern design in the Northwest.

The Watzek House is an orchestrated environment that soothes and delights human senses in a careful and meticulously crafted way. Yeon designed even the smallest details, including light fixtures and hardware, along with furniture and storage spaces hidden throughout the home. Built for Watzek and his mother, the home provides private spaces for each and gracious yet controlled public living spaces. The entryway is a compressed height, paneled completely in wood, including the floors and ceilings. To the right is the main living space, also wood-paneled, with vaulted ceiling and hidden storage for wood (a wood lift next to the recessed travertine fireplace), sheet music (next to an area sized to accommodate a grand piano), and more. Accessed directly from the entrance hall is the library, with custom cabinetry and built-in furniture (also with access to the wood lift). To the left of the entry are the dining room, kitchen, and servant’s quarters, along with a guest bedroom and bath thoughtfully placed away from the home’s private quarters. These are accessed through the main living space, and include a large room and bath for Watzek’s mother, along with a smaller bedroom and attached sleeping porch for Watzek himself. A hall from Watsek’s room leads to his private bath and to the courtyard. Although small, the room and hall contain well-orchestrated storage. Both the sleeping porch and the access to the outdoors from the bedroom typify Yeon’s commitment to fuse the natural world into the living experience.

The home itself is situated almost completely around  a courtyard paved with reclaimed stone, a fountain, and several ornamental trees and plantings. True to Yeon’s meticulous and ingenious design sense, gutters are built into the roof overhangs and drain into the fountain. An interior planter drains out to the courtyard if over-watered. A passive ventilation system well-ahead of its time is cleverly built into hidden panels throughout the home, allowing circulation and yet another connection to the natural world.

Flow between through interior and exterior spaces are crafted to create smooth yet emotionally resonant experiences, while the meticulous craftsmanship and attention to detail creates a sense of order and care. Over its 70+ year history, the home has been primarily occupied by just two owners, which is a testament to Yeon’s ability to design human-centered environments with timeless, functional (rather than ostentatious) appeal.

Yeon was an iconic self-taught Portland architect who developed the Northwest modern style of architecture typified in his designs for the Watzek House and Cottrell House. Both homes are situated on Skyline Drive in Northwest Portland, and both are owned and cared for by the University of Oregon. During his lifetime, Yeon advocated for the Oregon landscape; he owned and protected Chapman Point on the Oregon coast (now part of Ecola State Park) and The Shire, a private park Yeon landscaped to frame the view the site offers of Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. The Shire is also owned and maintained by the University of Oregon.

View documentation of my visit to John Yeon’s Watzek House at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78471351@N00/sets/72157626515592053/

View documentation of my visit to John Yeon’s Cottrell House at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78471351@N00/sets/72157619151174954/

Learning by Design
Cognitive and Emotional Factors Influencing Informal Learning Experiences in Interactive Environments

by Nicole Leaper

Presented to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program: Applied Information Management and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science

[abstract]
This study synthesizes current literature in educational and design psychology, information design, human-computer interaction, and museum studies to identify cognitive and emotional factors that influence learning. The purpose is to produce a set of cognitive and emotional factors that museum educators, exhibit designers, information designers, and interaction designers should consider when designing informal learning experiences in interactive environments. Nine identified factor groups include affect, cognition, context, engagement, experiential learning, interactivity, narrative, self concepts, and usability.

Download white paper
Download study and white paper

Special thanks to Leo Frishberg who reviewed an early research outline, and Kelly Brown who reviewed a later draft.

During a tumultuous week each year, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (aka PICA) hosts the incredible Time-Based Art (TBA) Festival. This year’s festival offered an intensely personal and emotional series of events that reaffirmed what is meaningful about experience design. See my notes here or on the PICA’s blog .

Be sure to catch works by Storm Tharp, Charles Atlas, Christopher Miner, and Jessica Jackson Hutchins as part of the beautiful, thoughtful exhibition Human Being, curated by Kristan Kennedy, on view to the public through October 17.

September 23 – October 17
Thursday – Friday 12 – 6:30 pm
Saturday – Sunday 12 – 4 pm

Last Chance ON SIGHT Salon with Kristan Kennedy
Sunday, October 17 3 pm

Washington High School
531 SE 14th Ave. Portland OR 97214

by Nicole Leaper

[abstract]
Embedded attribution is necessary in order to place re-mixed work in a historical context, balance creator and public rights, and encourage continued adoption of Creative Commons (CC) licensing. CC licenses are often embedded directly in digital works. If prescribed by the original creator, reuse must contain attribution. However, many examples of re-mixed works (like audio files, videos, or photographs) contain attribution on a credits page or in a caption that is separated from the original digital work. CC could be improved by requiring that, when specified by the original creator, digital re-mix publications require attribution directly in the digital file as metadata.

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If time is the medium of experience design, time-based art is an experience designer’s map of possibilities. Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (aka PICA) hosts the energetic, challenging, and always inspiring Time-Based Art (TBA) Festival throughout the city for an intense week each year. This year’s incarnation moved, ate, sang, and shocked it’s way into my heart. It’s all a blur now; good thing I took notes. Favorites include Ethan Rose’s Movements, Daniel Barrow’s Everytime I See Your Picture I Cry, and Hitoshi Toyoda’s NAZUNA.

by Nicole Leaper

[abstract]
Humans exist in an environment flooded with products and information. How do we find what we need and want amid the chaos? Businesses and designers must look beyond a single product or piece of information and consider a holistic view of their consumers (or brand participants) and the way these participants experience products and content over time. Both human relationships and brand experiences are complex and emotionally driven. Humans are fundamentally social creatures who are seeking brands they can identify and interact with on a personal level. Design research, including ethnography, can help businesses and designers understand brand participants. Businesses can use design research insights coupled with business needs and technological understanding to create experiences that engage and delight their participants.

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John Yeon designed the Cottrell House in 1951 for George and Margaret Cottrell and their family. Yeon was an iconic self-taught Portland architect who developed the Northwest modern style of architecture typified in his designs for the Watzek House and Cottrell House. Both homes are situated on Skyline Drive in Northwest Portland, and both are owned and cared for by the University of Oregon. During his lifetime, Yeon advocated for the Oregon landscape; he owned and protected Chapman Point on the Oregon coast (now part of Ecola State Park) and The Shire, a private park Yeon landscaped to frame the view the site offers of Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. The Shire is also owned and maintained by the University of Oregon.

The Cottrell House is an excellent example of a modern home designed for the experience of family living in Oregon’s forested landscape and wet climate. The home is perched at the top of a steep, wooded incline and is built with access to the outdoors from almost every room. Light and air fill the house via large windows and specially designed ventilation screens situated beneath the windows, allowing airflow even in wet weather. It struck me that space is very generously allocated to the tasks of living that might be considered chores but can also be pursued as craft; the home includes a woodworking shop, photography studio, and a sewing/laundry room.  The kitchen is designed for function instead of show. Two sinks at opposite ends of the room each overlook banks of windows. Steel cabinetry provides timeless and efficient storage.

Flow between the areas of the home is easy and gracious. The kitchen can be entered indirectly from the front entrance, from the dining room, or from the garage via a mudroom and that also leads to the laundry and sewing room. The dining room and living are connected at an axis and glass doors open onto grassy lawns from each room.

The Cottrell House is a beautiful example of design for living. The Cottrell family inhabited the home for 49 years, finally donating the property to the University of Oregon in 2000. Timeless, functional design choices are apparent from the very few changes the family made in surfaces and storage. The children speak of the home as if it were part of the family; they say it is was filled with life – a testament to Yeon’s talent for creating living experiences through design.

View documentation of my visit to John Yeon’s Cottrell House at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78471351@N00/sets/72157619151174954/

View documentation of my visit to John Yeon’s Watzek House at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78471351@N00/sets/72157626515592053/

Information architecture thinking encourages a systematic approach to creativity. An information architect (IA) begins a project with a wide view of a problem and then uses research to further define and elaborate on the problem. Once enough background is gathered and the IA understands implications of the problem for all involved, an informed creative process is possible. This kind of thinking is beneficial both personally and professionally for problems where it is difficult to know how or where to begin. Building an understanding of the true parameters of the project and the needs of everyone involved is an ideal starting point for creativity. Outcomes from this approach are both considered and creative, allowing strategic innovations to emerge.

Big-picture, inclusive thinking that respects the needs of all stakeholders is an important way to approach any complex problem. IA thinking balances user, business, and technology needs to create an optimal outcome. This same thinking model is important on a global scale. Only by acknowledging and balancing human, economic, and technological requirements we can begin to solve challenging global problems.

A professional information architect (IA) can add value to an information system development team by putting an emphasis on creating systems that are scalable and flexible. A skilled IA takes future growth into account, saving resources by planning ahead. When changes are necessary, an IA should survey what already exists, and use what is working. According to Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld, project teams often make the mistake of “throwing out the baby with the bathwater” during re-design projects (Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, p. 346). IAs can alleviate this problem by researching existing systems, then testing to discover what works, what is broken, and what is missing.

An IA can also add value to an information system team by functioning as a user advocate. By performing user tests and doing user research, an IA can understand the user in ways that business or development team members do not. Bringing this understanding to the design table can change the focus of the project and re-align user and business needs, making sure both are considered. An information architect is interdisciplinary team member who balances user, business, and development requirements.

IAs save businesses time and money by being big-picture thinkers, considering today’s project needs along with past and future needs. IAs can also increase a project’s potential for success by understanding and advocating for users. An investment in information architecture today can pay off in time and cost savings tomorrow.

A recent delve into research about the data mining life cycle led me to CRISP-DM (that’s “CRoss Industry Standard Process for Data Mining”), a gold-standard process method published in 1999 (v1.0). CRISP-DM is the backbone of the data mining field, and a ten-year standard (v2.0 is in the works) is amazing considering technology’s evolution since 1999.

Although CRISP-DM v1.0 includes a few diagrams, it is absent a comprehensive visual overview. After a fruitless search for a single document showing all the steps of the process, I designed a visual guide to CRISP-DM methodology.

If you find my visual guide useful, I’d love to hear about it. Also, please feel free to make suggestions for improvements – I plan to update the design as needed.

Happy data mining!