Mar
01 How the best could seem worthless because of how it is framed
I found an interesting article and video I would like to share with you guys about the importance of framing, context, or design. It is an experiment in which they took one of the best musicians, put him in regular clothes, and had him play in the subway. It is amazing to see the effects that changing a frame has despite the high level of content that is there.
Wow, I was amazed how people just walked past him. I honestly do not know who Joshua Bell is, but if I was there, I would’ve stopped and listened. He’s an amazing violinist.
I initially thought the same, but I think one important factor is that everyone seems to be in a rush to get to work or something so they don’t have much time to give.
This opens up a great discussion. Does the context of an art medium change because of it’s environment? Can the environment diminish it’s impact or value? And if so to that extent?
I believe the environment has a large effect on how much value or impact an art medium can make. Because it is part of human nature to make basic assumptions based on past experiences in order to save time. We can’t sit there and start our judgment from scratch because there are just way too many different types of stimulus out there that we experience on a daily basis.
So in this case, most people assumed that he couldn’t be that good because if he was, why would he be in the subway playing for spare change? At that point, they tune him out and focus on their daily worries, what they are going to have for lunch, or their work.
The same effect can be seen on the internet with domain names. A website or blog won’t be taken seriously if they don’t have their own domain name, because most people assume that having your own domain name means you are serious about what you are talking about. And not having one means that you just do something on the side as a hobby.
While I like to believe that high quality content would be more important, we can’t change the fact that people operate in such a way so it’s important to pay attention to our environment. Of course having the best design won’t help you if your content sucks. What do some others think? I would like to hear your opinions.
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