In an insomnia-inspired research binge this evening, I was inspired by an article entitled Ever Notice? on the AIGA website, presenting an insightful conversation on developing one’s “super-noticing power” by Steve Portigal (my new hero).

So what’s having me kicking myself is the sheer simplicity of the task of documenting observations with the tools at my disposal (iPhone, digital cameras, blogs, etc.) but the lack of discipline to do so on a consistent basis. Since childhood I believe I’ve always been keenly aware of patterns of people’s behavior, objects, environments, affordances, goofy or trivial information that gets my brain jazzed up and thinking. Coupled with an empathetic spirit, maybe I was born to be an ethnographer…

Besides inspiring me to document life daily (a la Gary Winogrand, my documentary photography hero), the article also dovetails nicely in my mind with another great book from renowned IDEO CCO, Janet Fulton Suri: Thoughtless Acts? Observations on Intuitive Design a compilation of photographs illustrating how “we adapt, exploit, and react to things in our environment; things we do without really thinking.”

Although I could spend weeks or months feeding this fascination with observation and design, perhaps what may be most fulfilling is to do it vs. read about it. If life permits, I’m looking forward to adding more of this type of journaling to this site.

Found this documentary on Gary Winogrand on YouTube. Gotta love the web.