An article in news.com about Disney designers highlight the fact that "Designers and animators should learn more about the real world before sitting down to create a fake one".

"Instead of uniting with words, we unite with the objects we're seeing," Rohde said of both kinds of virtual world creators. (...) To prepare for the design of the Expedition Everest thrill ride, Rohde took a team of designers and scientists to study the Himalayan region. In addition to examining the animal species and plants, the teams went from village to village in the surrounding areas and talked to Tibetan and Nepalese people.

Rohde stressed that pen and paper can be as important as modern graphics technology as a way to achieve authenticity. In the past, he said, technological constraints were constructive in some ways because they forced people to be both creative and collaborative, as in elaborate medieval theater. Now we have increased our ability to create and for individuals to have the power to do small things really well on their own, but we are losing the ability to do big things together, he said.

Why do I blog this? summer read.