Week 1: Two Cultures



Vascular Dynamics, my dad's company, has a hypertension device.
My mom with her painting 
As the daughter of an accountant-turned-artist and an engineer, I have grown up with two very clear examples of the two cultures that Snow discusses. My mom loves painting, while my dad is passionate about building medical devices to help save lives. I often joke that I missed the “art gene” from my mom, as I cannot draw well and was never very interested in art, but I do enjoy science. I am a Cognitive Science major with an Entrepreneurship minor, and my goal in my career is to build intuitive products using my understanding of how people think. Until this summer, when I worked at ZipRecruiter as a User Experience Research Intern on the Design Team, I never thought about the artistic, creative side of product development. Surrounded by graphic designers and art majors, I realized how important aesthetics are to customer satisfaction with a product. 
The ZipRecruiter website - each job is on a "card" to use the "Grouping" Gestalt  principle  |  ziprecruiter.com

 Not only was attention placed on artistic elements of the ZipRecruiter website like font and color, but also on the science of human perception, as Gestalt psychology was used to make decisions about feature placement, using the brain’s natural tendencies to create more intuitive user flows. Here, I realized that I actually did possess an eye for art and creativity, something I believed I lacked my entire life. My experiences working at ZipRecruiter gave me the ability to understand the “third culture” that Kelly describes. The rise of technology has created an environment where artists and scientists collaborate to create something that is both beautiful and useful, creating more positive user experiences. When art and science don’t work together, we see poor design – doors that are ambiguous as to whether they should be pushed or pulled, or instructions that don’t convey enough meaning (Norman). Although, as Pinker notes, there is a great divide between the humanities and the sciences, it can only benefit us to bridge that gap (Vesna), creating not only better products (as in my case), but also a better human experience.
This door actually opens via a handle on the outside of the door - you have to put your hand through the window to open it! | https://normandoors.tumblr.com


References
beautyandtruth09. "SEEDMAGAZINE.COM Two Cultures Steven Pinker." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 18 May 2010. Web. 4 April 2018.inker." Online video
Kelly, Kevin. "The third culture." Science 279.5353 (1998): 992-993.
Norman, Don. The design of everyday things: Revised and expanded edition. Basic Books (AZ), 2013.
Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.
Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a third culture: being in between." Leonardo 34.2 (2001): 121-125.




Comments

  1. Jennifer LathropApril 10, 2018 at 9:49 PM

    I thought it was very interesting how you related the readings at first to your family, and then to your work life! It goes to show how these topics can be applied to many aspects of our life. I also enjoyed your attachment of the door photo, it gave a very practical view of the subject.

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  2. Levina LinApril 13, 2018 at 6:22 PM

    It seems you were able to be exposed to both cultures of art and science while growing up, and I think it's interesting that you are now blending them both together as you pursue your own path. I enjoyed your discussion about your experience at ZipRecruiter; you were really able to illustrate how art and science not only work together, but are also indispensable to each other, as well as the role of technology in bridging the two. I especially liked your point about utilizing Gestalt psychology concepts to execute design elements - it made me think about how an understanding of human perception is truly at the essence of art. And in the same way, your door example illustrates how the application of scientific concepts must blend together with artistic creativity in order to succeed.

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