Bilingualism and how it affects how we think of things

This is an example of how my brain works independently of language.
I was raised bilingually (Irish / English). I assume that my way of thinking of things has been influence by my bilingualism. I don't think in terms of words necessarily but, rather, in terms of things.
For example...
I wanted to describe my diary/notebook, how it looked. Here is a picture of it:

"it's black with an orange...[?]..."

I couldn't think of the word.

"Rib?" Is it black with an orange rib?

I knew that was wrong.

I could picture this bone-like thing. And was trying to think of the English word for it. Rib was wrong. Bone? A part of the body? No it wasn't a "back" because it was a kind of straight line bone the entire length of the body (well not quite entire length of the body but length of torso anyway).

Spine!

I don't know if this is due to bilingualism; if bilingual people think like this. That our brains our geared more towards context and objects and ideas than words...? The look of it, the feel of it, the "it" of it more than the word. So that's what I was doing, searching for the English word that fitted the "it-ness" or the "thing" that I had in mind.

As designers, involved with things and objects, I think it's important not to get too caught up with words. Not to be anglo-centred. Or indeed any-language-centred.

Ivar v Hejne

I've moved house 6 or so times in the past two years. When I was moving first, I needed to buy shelving. I knew that it was likely I'd be moving again so the shelves I bought had to be capable of moving with me! And boy, was I right about moving again...!
I dismissed the idea of buying Ikea Billy shelving - bookshelf units that seemed permanent once built. And bulky to move.
So I narrowed the choice down to Ikea Ivar or Ikea Hejne.

Hejne was sooo much cheaper. And they won me over. I bought three Hejne units and 1 Ivar (for testing purposes!). And what am I left with? 0 Hejne + many more Ivars that I've bought over the years.
I didn't like Hejne at all. They were flimsy and cheap. No choice in height. Supposed to be adjustable but really the adjustable heights were so wide apart that the options were limited. I think there was a deep/narrow shelf depth option. I used them both in my utility room and in my sitting room. They didn't look well in the sitting room, the books were never the right scale on the shelves. The utility room was a bit scary cos the shelves didn't feel sturdy enough for all the paint and tools piled on, but then I didn't attach the shelves to a wall which would have provided sturdiness. I thought it would be handy to have four stand-alone posts at the corners that could be used on narrow or deep shelf depths but I think the stand-alone posts caused some of the wobbliness and lack in firmness.

Whereas, Ivar, I love. Very easy to deconstruct and reconstruct. Easy to move (well, with a big car for the super-tall side posts!).
In order to change the shelf heights of Hejne, the unit had to be moved away from the wall to access the allen key screws at the back (and an allen key had to be located) whereas with Ivar, the pins can be pulled out of the holes and the shelf heights adjusted without moving the shelving unit.
Dunno if I'll have them forever and ever, if they'll last *that* long. But they've lastest the 6 moves so far and there's more moves on the horizon.

Moon-reactive street-light

These winter months, I am walking home in darkness from college. There is one particular patch on my walk which is quite precarious as it is outside a building site. The rest of my route is well-lit. So I particularly notice when the moon is out because a full, bright moon makes this section of my walk easy to navigate.

Streetlights can turn on/off in daylight when they are not needed. Why couldn't streetlights turn off at night time too - on those nights that are illuminated by the moon? How much energy would be saved? Surely a minimum of 12 nights per year, i.e. 1/40th. But every watt of energy saved is a drop of oil still in the ground or an ounce less carbon in the atmosphere, eh?

So for the purposes of this blog, I did a bit of googling.
"Lunar-resonant streetlights". They exist!
 Designed by Civil Twilight Design Collective. The lamps use led bulbs and respond to moonlight, dimming according to the level of lunar brightness.
A book reference which may potentially provide info on calculations etc: Light and Color in the Outdoors By Marcel Minnaert

Size, scale: earphones

How and why do some things get used and work... and others don't?
The latest example of this in my life is earphones.
I got a gift of these large pink earphones for Christmas a few years ago (not these ones but similar).

And since I started walking to college last September, I used them nearly every day. Apart from the fact that they blocked out the sound of traffic and were comfortable, the size of them meant that I found them in the mornings, stored them in my college locker during the day, and saw them again in the evening to remember to bring them with me on the walk home.

But they broke. Dunno how. The sound stopped working.

So I sourced a wee pair of earbuds that I had lying around.

Disaster.

The size and scale of the earbuds in comparison with the large pink headphones meant that I was always leaving them behind, putting them in pockets, losing them behind things in my locker. They weren't effective in my life!

I think it's interesting regarding design and intuitive design. And designed objects that get used.

Cloone co-op building

When I lived in Leitrim, this building was at the top of my road.

It was a pity it was empty and boarded up. Because I am sure it was a thriving place for community business.

Cooperatives were a big thing in Ireland, for farmers and maybe groceries too.

Vacuum cleaners and stairs

When I was hoovering my stairs recently, I took this photograph because I remembered a cartoon from a lecture in architecture school.

The cartoon showed a stairs and a hoover or vacuum cleaner which reached halfway and an exasperated housewife.
The question the lecturer posed was - which comes first - the length of the stairs or the length of the cable / hosepipe of the vacuum cleaner? Maybe the point he was trying to make is that architects can't be responsible for everything; the cart does come before the horse. Or maybe he was trying to suggest that a socket point halfway up a stairs wouldn't go amiss - if designers of electronic equipment can't be trusted then the architect should provide solutions for the domestic delight of housewives.
When I did a google search of "cartoon vacuum cleaner stairs", I didn't find the image I remembered but I did come across this ingenious solution!

A backpack vac.

Coffee cup waste bin

Spotted in DkIT college in Dundalk:

 

This bin is designed uniquely for the disposal of coffee cups. There are a number of round openings in the lid for coffee cups to go in and be stacked on top of one another. One of the round openings is for liquid disposal.