Bent Objects: The Secret Life of Everyday Things

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Megaproject expert Professor Bent Flyvbjerg’s new book, How Big Things Get Done: The surprising factors behind every successful project, from home renovations to space exploration, digs deep into what makes major projects a success and how these factors can be replicated across any project, no matter what size. Think slow, act fast to (cause to) lean away from an upright position: [~ +object ] bent her head in prayer. [no object ] She bent over my desk to take a look at the computer. Important, timely, instructive and entertaining’ – Daniel Kahneman, bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow

Prinzmetal, W., & Gettleman, L. (1993). Vertical-horizontal illusion: One eyes is better than two. Perception and Psychophysics, 53, 81–88. Williams, P. A., & Enns, J. T. (1996). Pictorial depth and framing have independent effects on the horizontal-vertical illusion. Perception, 25, 921–926.Today, I would like to share 30 of Terry’s amazing bent objects creations with my readers. I am sure that graphic designers like me will find them inspiring to watch. Don’t forget to let me know in the comment section which ones you liked best. Avery, G. C., & Day, R. H. (1969). Basis of the horizontal-vertical illusion. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 81, 376–380. Phillips, I. (2016). Naïve realism and the science of (some) illusions. Philosophical Topics, 44, 353–380.

Rubber: Rubber's an extremely elastic material, making it a very flexible and highly adaptable resource that's used in a lot of different ways. Künnapas, T. M. (1955). An analysis of the ‘vertical-horizontal illusion’. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 49, 134–140. Understanding what distinguishes the triumphs from the failures has been the life’s work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg. In How Big Things Get Done, he identifies the errors that lead projects to fail, and the research-based principles that will make yours succeed:

For anybody who's doing a project, first sit down and ask yourself: why are you doing the project? You need to have a very good answer to that question before you start so that you actually know precisely what the reasons are. Then, after you know that, you can start,” he says. Esta oración no es una traducción de la original. Tiene cierta propensión a confiar demasiado en los demás y eso suele ser peligroso. Künnapas, T. M. (1958). Influence of head inclination on the vertical-horizontal illusion. Journal of Psychology, 46, 179–185.

Shoemaker, S. (2006). On the ways things appear. In T. S. Gendler & J. Hawthorne (Eds.), Perceptual experience (pp. 461–480). Oxford: Oxford University Press. The lesson for project professionals? By searching for ways in which to introduce modularity into your project, you will inevitably increase your chance of success. But such successes are the exception. Consider how London's Crossrail project delivered five years late and billions over budget. More modest endeavours, whether launching a small business, organizing a conference, or just finishing a work project on time, also commonly fail. Why? Finger, F. W., & Spelt, D. K. (1947). The illustration of the horizontal-vertical illusion. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 37, 243–250. Klein, B. J., Li, Z., & Durgin, F. H. (2016). Large perceptual distortions of locomotor action space occur in ground-based coordinates: Angular expansion and the large-scale horizontal-vertical illusion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 42, 581–593.

Activity 2: Questions on how materials change

Naval Terms [Naut. ]any of various loops or knots for joining the ends of two ropes or the like, or for joining the end of a rope or the like to some other object. The lattice structures are usually formed in layers, so if a force is applied in the right place, the layers can slide over each other and the material can change shape without breaking. However, the more layers that are present, the harder it is to stretch and manipulate the bonds between the layers and allow movement. This is why it's relatively easy to bend a thin metal spoon, even with our bare hands, but it's much harder to try to bend something larger, like a traffic sign. If a large enough force is used, it's possible to bend these materials, but it can be difficult to apply enough force without deforming the material's internal bonds so much that they break completely. Are there different types of flexibility?