The New School / Parsons School of Design Students Gain a New Perspective

The following post is brought to you by LG. Our partners are hand-picked by the Design Milk team because they represent the best in design.

We’ve half-jokingly remarked on occasion that one can discern a creative’s space upon entry into any space without one word of explanation. Just look for the largest monitor in the room.

During the prescient era of CRT monitors – when a 15” desktop screen was considered ample – the largest (and memorably, heaviest) 17”-21” screens were first adopted by those relying upon Photoshop or QuarkXpress. And that hunger for ever more larger screen sizes hasn’t stopped as we’ve evolved into flat screens, growing in parallel with the demands and complexity of the applications creatives now rely upon daily. Bigger isn’t just better when it comes to screens, it’s smarter and faster for workflow. We’ve now entered into a golden age when even non-creatives demand screens pushing the boundaries of actual desk space.

Observe a designer, artist, musician, or digital illustrator switch back and forth between applications and device screens throughout the day, and the comparison to the fluidity of a DJ working a pair of turntables and a mixer becomes apparent. With the multitude of applications, pallets, images, and documents open across a screen, creatives apply a personal regard to customizing their desktop screens specific to the demands and requirements of their daily tasks, a self-optimization that has been observed to result in 52% more efficient workflow, with an average saving of 2.5 hours per day [University of Utah study]. Add that up across the average work week and the benefits become obvious, the investment in a larger screen, small.

The new trend amongst design professionals – apt to search for both the most operably efficient and aesthetically pleasing solutions – is to abandon the dual monitor setups of yesterday and migrate to an ultra-wide monitor, and more increasingly, ultra-wide screens enveloping their users with a curvature without the space required to host two screens. Their singularly enormous screen size allows for seamless multi-tasking across the cascade of open windows and virtual desktops, alongside with the benefits of ever improving color accuracy that designers and artists regularly rely upon (the expanse also provides a perceived sense of personal privacy, something not normally remarked as a feature, but an obvious benefit for creatives who appreciate privacy during the ideation phase of any project).

Leading the field in ultra-wide displays is electronics manufacturer, LG. Their new LG 34” Class 21:9 UltraWide Monitors have come to define the above mentioned trend toward wider and curved screens. Identifying the future of how we work will be defined by those just beginning their careers – or not even yet out of school – LG has partnered with leading design institutions to provide UltraWide Monitors to help students produce work that’ll transform their industries, from architecture to product design.

The different specialized schools — including institutes for photography, film and design — to receive the UltraWide Academy Sponsorship Program, both an investment and informal study benefitting both LG and the recipients.

The most recent partner in this grant program is The New School’s Parsons School for Design in New York City. Numerous LG 34” Class 21:9 UltraWide Monitors were given to students to help enable young designers to be more productive compared while also providing users sRGB color accuracy with over 99% IPS technology with factory color calibration, thus eliminating frustrating color shifting and distortion common with traditional monitors. The UltraWide monitors also offer a Screen Split function with 14 options for simple multitasking across a 34” display.

So what do these students think after becoming benefactors of such a screen?

“It’s very wide and makes it easy to 3D model things or use Adobe Creative Suite, as the screen’s big enough to accommodate all the panels.” said Lorraine, a Product Design student.

“I think the 21:9 monitor is the future of screens putting yourself inside the screen as it curves around you. It’s user oriented. It’s ergonomic. This brings full immersion, the future of virtual reality,” remarked Samuel, a student studying illustration.

“Personally I think creative professionals would definitely benefit from it,” said Joe, an illustration alumni of The New School / Parsons School of Design. “The monitor is basically the new drawing board, the color correction and what you see on screen should exactly be what you printed. And if you’re video editing, then there should be no lag whatsoever.”

Not surprisingly, 70% of students who participated in the LG x The New School / Parsons School of Design program felt the UltraWide’s expansive display made multitasking easier and improved productivity, an argument against the axiom, “bigger isn’t always better”…at least in the case of a creative’s monitor.

from Design MilkDesign Milk http://design-milk.com/the-new-school-parsons-school-of-design-students-gain-a-new-perspective/