Amaya /

Rapture and curiosity. We expect both sensations when considering a book. However million of them have been published, we still want to feel utterly delighted and surprised, in a way. These books envelopes must be unique, stand out from the crowd; it is a key point in the process of catching our moody attention in the shelves of any bookstores or libraries. Once they are in your hand, it’s a balance of words, colours and format that will bring you opening it and discover what’s actually happening behind the cover.
Judith Schalansky achieved my ideal representation of a book. What her Atlas of remote islands suggests, is a total perfection, from it first idea to it realisation. Award as the most beautiful German book in 2008, it has been acclaimed for it delicacy and avant-gardism.
The subheading of the book (Fifty islands I have not visited and never will) highlights with humour the distance graphic designers may have to take with their subjects. Obviously it would have been impossible for Judith to go and visit these islands, but remains that thought which is: How can we talk about a subject we don’t know while keeping a total credibility? In information design, visual techniques of representation (eg. mapping) should be use conscientiously. And Judith takes a great care on pinpointing her island with a great accuracy. Each of them is represented on a globe, for an overall point of view; plus, she added the distance, in kilometres, from the closest countries. The visual system she uses to reflect hills and valleys, though it is fairly poetic, re-use some graphic codes we are familiar with, which makes it perfectly understandable (eg. The density of dots suggests a radical change in altitude / the thin fluo details, in contrast with the grey of the nature, represent a human activity. It could be roads, as well as habitations).
I also fancy the guideline she follows: a mixture of objectivity and subjectivity. One part is pure geographical representation of the islands, historical and social datas such as the number of inhabitants and a time-line of some main events. The other part, by contrast, is a narrative: a story about an event she picked and choose to describe in her words. However it is sticking to facts that actually happened, she gives it a touch of romantic that make it less down to Earth. Eventually her book gains a storytelling angle. It’s not anymore a simplistic representation of islands.
It’s in this field that I would like to heighten my efforts: How to create subjective mapping? Which means avoiding a content that would be purely sticking to a technical representation.
How to mix a subjective and an objective approach? Or how to condense divergent ideas about style in a single project.
How to follow a minimalist approach? Being able to convey lots of information with a purist representation.
How to build a book from A to Z? Judith did actually the whole book, from writing the stories to creating the type (Sirenne) and editing it with a great care on details (Pantone and colour settings).

John 500 words

I am hoping to make a program based around a user-controlled feed-based command system, which could be used for a variety of separate programs or apps for use with the ipad.

My project was initially about helping combat the recognized drop in reading interest experienced by children aged 9-11. Whilst researching this it became apparent that the future of the printed word is looking somewhat bleak. It also seems that in the ever expanding world of digital reading devices the ipad will *probably* come out on top, due to its ability to adapt to changes in the digital environment. It also has a sensitive and potentially multi-functional touchscreen, which can be used in a number of ways.

As previously discussed, I have ideas about implementing satellite tracking, voice recognition, multiple non-linear narratives, and a levelling-up and reward system with a view to getting kids to read. I’m happy with the way these ideas can help determine and customize the story, narrative and reading level to suit the child, but it seems a bit boring to just have the text displayed on screen as it would be in a book. Until recently I had no way of displaying text in a way that allows it to be read differently to the printed word, and, crucially, it’s important that the device is able to keep track of how much the reader has read, otherwise skipping ahead and ‘cheating’ would be too easy.

I think I can combat this with the idea of ‘strings’, in this case a string ‘feeding’ from the back of the screen (or horizon) to the front, with words displayed in different sizes according to their ‘distance’ from the front of the screen. The child could read along with their finger, following the path of the string, with the words they have read ‘disappearing’ off the front of the screen and the new word feeding in from behind. The string could loop where there are big words to make the finger hover longer, giving the reader time to read the words, or, seeing as the ‘speed’ of the string is determined by how fast the child reads, they could stop it altogether by simply removing their finger. At this point another facet of the program could come into play, breaking the word down into syllables or spelling it phonetically, if so desired.

How much the string distorts, and from what direction the reader deciphers text, could also be constantly evolving to suit the user. So far I have only thought about this with a view to presenting a new way of reading, and have not considered the implications it could have for narrative impact.

When I was thinking about strings it made me draw a comparison to the Rock Band/ Guitar Hero series of games, as they feature a set of commands on a rail, constantly moving towards the player. This made me think about how a touch screen could be used to convey this sort of ‘rhythm action’ game, and, on the ipad especially, I think it presents some exciting opportunities. Firstly, the Rock Band guitars allow for the use of 5 buttons on one hand and a lever with the other. If playing with an ipad on a flat surface, a string-based rhythm action game could have up to 10 points of command (one for each digit), allowing for a far greater scope of interaction with the game. Also, the player would essentially be tapping or dragging commands over the screen, meaning even if they cannot hear what is happening on the device, a viewer would still hear and see a coherent rhythm taking place.

Perhaps most exciting is the idea of allowing the ipad to access personal files to customize your playing experience. A series of correct notes could trigger a shape to appear on screen, then the next would make an outline appear to be drawn next to it, and eventually it would become apparent that all these elements add up to create a photo of the player (or their friends, or parents, or dog etc.) drawn from the memory banks of the ipad itself. Internet connectivity means that the ipad can recognize where the player is, take a photo of a nearby landmark from google maps and present that to them as they play. This would be especially great if playing someone from another country over the internet, and having their landmarks show up. Maybe a photo from each players ipad could be combined into one image somehow. I dunno.

As it also ‘ties’ in (arf) with the string idea, I am considering switching the focus of my project to the strings, and producing the first five chapters of a story, maybe two songs/levels of the game outlined above, and a bunch of other ideas, including a photo viewer and social networking timeline. I have not even thought about customizable strings usage, for which I’m sure there are many ideas. This way I won’t have to focus on writing a coherent children’s book, which is an MA in itself, and I can present a whole bunch of opportunities using the strings idea.

Pablo 500 words

People and objects. A special and sometimes mysterious relationship.

People has a designed life, from the moment you wake up, everything you see have been designed in some way. We use these products, we need them; but the reality is that we don’t really know anything about them.

There is a documentary called OBJECTIFIED which shows a different point of view of the relationship between people and objects. It also explains how and why these things are made. But for me, the strongest point is that the storytellers are the designer. In fact, you can feel what they are talking about.

These are some of the questions I have sometimes, or questions we should know about. I think we have a horrible education as consumers. In a way, we accept everything as normal, because we don’t know anything about the products we are buying.

– Where came they from?

– Which material are they made from? (Are they toxic?)

– Why they look like that? (Is it the best possible result)

– (If I don’t know how to use a product) Is it my fault, or is the product not really well designed?

– Are they useful or just a luxury item? (Do we really need it?)

– Why we have to buy the same stuff again and again? (Is it normal? Can they produce something better/long-lived?

–

These are two examples/ links of this documentary:

–Trailer

http://vimeo.com/2973112

–Jonathan Ives /MacBook Air

http://vimeo.com/7324647

Another point in which I’m really interested is the relationship between person and object as something really human or emotional. How an object can become essential for somebody, like a part of the owner.

I found these books really helpful for this part of my research:

–Boradkar, P. (2010) Designing things: A Critical Introduction to the Culture of Objects.

–Norman, D.A. (2005) Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things.

In some cases the relationship is really strong. Imagine an amazing car, and somebody driving it. The person who is inside is using it having a new appearance, exactly like an Avatar. In fact people can have an appreciation of this person just looking at his/her car, clothes, house, etc.

The way I’m looking at this theme make a close relation between people, objects and time, because objects and its evolution can define time. In fact, it’s known that people over 50 years tend to define their life’s based on objects they had or have.

The reason I chose this project is because, I feel I don’t have a deep knowledge in this are but at the same time I’m so implicated, I’m surrounded by this every second of my life.

At the beginning I was wasting time trying to “fight” with technology, just by looking at the past, forgetting the good things technology can do for us. So now, my new point of view is trying to use it, looking at the future and the possibilities new thing and evolution bring to us.

“We are out in a country that has no language no laws whatever we do together is pure invention the maps they gave us are out of date” Rich Adrienne

“Mortal Engine” by “Chunky Move” is a site-specific interactive instillation
using sound and light technologies. It explores the tensions between the rational world we live in and richness of our imaginations. The dancers moves are read by the software Eye Con and transformed into live graphics on stage.
Bodies become live animators.This piece inspired me more anything I have seen in quite some time.
The language of sound, movement and moving image interchange with each other and work together
to create something more powerful than either one could communicate on their own.
This piece started my investigation into how different languages work together and
when two or more languages work together does one become the mediator for the other.

This very question has been asked about DanceFilm.
Dance is a very primal language it is also a physical and interactive language.
However access to dance at the moment is quite limited especially where our education system is concerned.

‘There isn’t an education system anywhere on the planet that teaches dance
the same way we teach mathematics” Robinson Ken
DanceFilm is such an interesting format as two languages work together and at the same
time struggle with each other. Dance, a language that is so physical is translated through a flat medium.
It is a confused language however within this confused language I feel there is a way to use this mix of
languages and create a tool to help people learn or help educate.
Jason Mickelson & Wendy have already done a world of investigation into how we can use movement in
education by engaging math learners through embodied performance.
They engage the students in math using bodily action.
They are using similar technologies that “Chunky Move” use but I guess are using it more for the greater good
as opposed to using the aesthetics to help with narrative or by focusing on evoking kinesthetic empathy.
What is amazing about these experiments is that the students are making their own video’s using dance to
solve mathematical problems. They are interacting with the video working through cognitive problems and making their own video’s which they can then reference further on down the line.

I guess what my research into DanceFilm has taught me that these two languages
together can be effective tools in communication.Finding ways to also engage the spectator physically is something I am researching into. Research shows that many patients with eating problems struggle with alexithymia, a term used to describe the difficulty in putting feelings and fantasies into words (Zerbe, 1995).

A lot of movement therapy has been used to help sufferors of depression, anxiety, dyslexia, OCD.
These complex issues are often treated with cognitive therapy and it is interesting that movement
and dance has been used to help solve mathematics and has helped to put numeral cognition into a more
personal and situated context, where the numbers, shapes or equations are part of the physical world rather than a
conceptual or hypothetical world.

I have a lot of work to do and I feel I need to do more research especially
into kinesthetic creativity into participatory design.
Here are two links I feel are important to my work.

“Mortal Engine” and a talk by choreographer Gideon Obarzanek
http://vimeo.com/7711107
This essay on engaging math learners through embodied performance and visualisation.
http://wendyju.com/publications/mathpropulsion.pdf

500 words for feedback | Paula

The subject of food is a personal interest that has been evolving. Living in London and contacting with a completely different food offer and culture made me think about the motivations behind choices and habits.

My research started with the book “A sociology of food and nutrition” by multidisciplinary authors from social sciences, health, nutrition, academics, to name just a few. This book explores how eating habits are a social construction and how food production, distribution and consumption are highly determined by a mesh of contexts such as political, economical, religious, geographical and historical. The process of globalisation is also explored in its contribution to a change in what and how we eat.

There were two subjects that most grabbed my attention in this book: on the one hand the analysis of the current food system and the disclosure of the networks of economical interests behind it; on the other hand the harmful impact of this industry in several fields, such as the environment, food-related illnesses, customer choice and the future of farming itself.

Simultaneous to readings, I also watched some talks and DVDs on this subject. One that reinforced my interest in eating habits was Jamie’s School Dinners - a Channel4 series where the Chef Jamie Oliver reveals what is served to kids in UK school canteens and proposes a “revolution”.
What interested me was not his approach to the subject, or the way he tried to implement the changes. It was instead the lack of knowledge that 11-year-old kids showed regarding fresh food, not only in identification but also in the consumption itself. Both at school and at home, they were invariably eating processed and packed food (high in fats, sugars and salt) instead of balanced cooked meals from raw products. Some even confessed being eating vegetables for the first time. It was shocking to see them crying and refusing to try dishes like roast chicken and pasta, instead of the usual fast-food. The parents were also reluctant in changing their children’s habits, and kept sending junk food in their lunch boxes.

In line with this, another book that caught my attention was “Eating behavior”, that focuses on the process through which we acquire eating habits. Presenting several child-development theories, the author explains how food acceptance and choices are learned in very early childhood and influence the preferences in adulthood. Exposure to novel food, memories & emotions associated to eating, incentives & rewards, observation & imitation, and the influence of “important others” are some of the key factors in food learning.

Throughout all the reviewed literature my two topics of interest – food system and eating habits – were connected with the alarming figures of obesity.

With all these in mind, I would like to explore how a transformation in the ground knowledge in childhood could improve the relationship between kids and food that remains throughout their growth. My interest is to focus in a learning process that influences positively their early experiences, memories and emotions with food and eventually develops better acceptance and habits.

Bibliography:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/jme/dvds/info/jamies-school-dinners-complete-series/100235.html
(Talk related to this subject: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jamie_oliver.html )

Germov, J. & Williams, L. eds. (2008). A sociology of food and nutrition: the social appetite. Australia: Oxford University Press.

Dovey, T. (2010). Eating behavior. London: Open University Press.

500 words essay

I started on my project with an interest in Korean typography in the globalized world and Korean typographic designer’s works.  Nowadays, various activities and discussions in Korean typography university students union “Han-ul” have been working. Diverse exhibitions have been held with an active participation as well. At this point of time, I realize that designer has an important role to arouse people’s interest as a member of society. 

I have been impressed by Sang-Soo Ahn’s work. His works have given me a good impression that makes me go deep into Korean typography for a long time. His new attempting to Korean typography allows me to discover a great potentiality with curiosity. 

Each field of society is mutually connected. Social- cultural change has an effect on typography. A high level of economic growth in South Korea has influenced on people’s living condition. It results in the improvement of social welfare, the elevation of education standards. It follows a rise in the standard of living and cultural level. As a natural result, People have gradually realized the importance of Korean culture. Also, lots of people have seriously concerned about a dominant use of english at the same time. About 35% of the world's mail, telexes, and cables are in English.  Developing countries do not dedicate enough time to the education of native language. This situation has a possibility to bring a negative effect on the development of Korean typography. 

With the advent of problems in the globalized world, a new movement is following. Fortunately, Nowadays, various activities that related to Korean Typography has been already working. we need to have an attention to the development of Korean typography with the stream of globalization. 

Moreover, I have been inspired by ‘Korean typographic designer’ Sang - Soo Ahn’s work with Korean traditional pattern. One of the most important features in Ahn’s work in which I have been interested is unpacking design. Korean typography is usually organized within a square of the same size. He developed the first ever “out-of-frame” Hangul typeface, called Ahn Sang-Soo font.

The distinct figurative characteristics and experimentations in his work is that each letter is regarded as not only a means of communication but also a formative element.  Korean letters consist of basic formative elements such as dot, vertical stroke, horizontal stroke, diagonal stroke, circle. By using these geometries, he created a unique graphic pattern. 

I’m also interested in Korean traditional pattern that is made up of horizontal and vertical rectangle, overlapped and repeated lines. when I visited a buddhist temple, I was fascinated by a delicate complexity  and  harmony of colors. Finally, I try to make a interesting experiment by collaborating on a work with artists. I want to create a graphic pattern by using a geometric elements in letters and patterns and apply them into various materials that people can use in a daily life. I believe that my project help to aware of the importance of typography that has their own social identity and encourage people have a interest in korean typography.

www.ssahn.com

http://www.culture.go.kr

Sooyoung  Hur

Critical Feedback_Anna Maggi

I would like to talk about the workshop The taste of Beirut: like salt and bread on the Green Line (2008) designed by Marije Vogelzang, a Dutch Eating Designer. Marije worked with Kamal Mouzawak, a Lebanese chef who founded in 2004 the first farmers market in Beirut. The concept of the workshop attempted to eliminate the cultural and religious differences between the Lebanese people, using food as a common ground. First she made a questionnaire, investigating which was the food they related to peacetime and secondly the one they related to wartime. Most of the participants answered bread. Marije decided to make one big piece of dough mixed with parsley juice, a typical relish in Lebanese culture. Each person made a bowl and wrote inside a happy thought using sugar. With all these different shaped bowls they made a line passing through the market creating a Green Line. People were invited to eat the bowls as if eating the Green Line, a symbol of the Lebanese’s war division. In this project she gives evidence of her particular understanding in the field. In fact she approached this concept without falling into clichés.

When I started my research this project was one of my main inspiration.
I was particularly interested in the way this project embraced communication, cultural issue, social issue and methodology. Furthermore, Marije used food as medium to communicate a social message; she utilised it as a symbol rather then nourishment.
During this period I have tried to understand why I have been so attracted by this particular project compared to others eating design workshops.

I have analyzed this project for months and every time I understood something new. At the beginning of my research, I was interested in communicating issues related to food through eating performances. For example, doing a workshop to raise awareness about food diseases or about the importance of sharing food. But these findings didn’t satisfy me and I started to research in a different direction.

Finally I understood that for me the nitty-gritty is to find other ways of communicating.
I strongly believe that nowadays people received too many messages and it’s difficult to reach their attention. This is why I think that active communication/performance or experience design is a possible way to solve this concern. Furthermore I believe that food it’s a strong communication medium but I’m not concerned only in food-related issues!
Analyzing again The taste of Beirut, it was clear to me that Marije used food to communicate social issue like war and racial discrimination. The answer has always been there!

Now I understood that my challenge is to communicate social issue in alternative ways (food could be one medium) and to use performance to engage people.

Here you can see my last project “Special J” in which I tried to put into practice my ideas.

And this is the link to the project of Marije.

500 words for critical feedback – Rita

As everyone knows I am working on Alzheimer’s disease and if communication design might improve the perception of the disease by the general public, raising awareness and supporting patients and carers. I am also interested to approach information design, because I believe in its power to enhance understanding.

Instead of choosing some beautiful piece of information design, I decided to share with you my views on the short-film Ex Memoria, by John Appignanesi.

Based in personal memories of the director, the film tries to look at the world from the patients’ point of view and make us feel their experience. Just in 15 minutes, it manages to cover different aspects and issues of having dementia. Besides that, it comes with additional information and advice for family and carers, what I found really useful.

Eva is a Polish old lady suffering from dementia who is no longer able to distinguish past and present. She constantly recalls deep memories related with the war. The film starts with a scene from the past, when she was young, helping us to understand some of her current attitudes. She doesn’t recognize her family (daughter and grandsons) or the nursing home staff. She keeps on misunderstanding people, asking them “weird” things related with her past memories.

In addition, the film presents the scenario of living in a nursing home, where there are no references and the will to go home or to go out (probably in the pursuit of something they recognize). Also, sharing spaces with others at this age and condition might not be easy. Furthermore, the fact of being far from the family makes it more difficult for Eva to identify them and for them to understand her or know how to talk or stimulate her. It refers as well the difficulty to let other people help them with tasks they cannot perform anymore, like personal hygiene.

Although symptoms vary slightly from person to person, I recognized there the situation of my grandparents. It’s impossible not to compare to what I know and what I feel about this situation.

The film touches important topics that open reflection and discussion about the condition and about the way support is being provided. It also suggests how important is to know the past of the patient in order to understand and help him/her better. That’s why family’s support is also important.

I found this way of presenting the disease really inspiring. It gives a clearer notion of what it really is. In my opinion, for example, showing how the Alzheimer’s brain looks like doesn’t add any knowledge for someone that has to deal with the disease.

This film reminded me why I am doing this project and pointed out some possible approaches to raise awareness in a different way, maybe making them more sensitive. Besides a more “informational” approach that I still want to keep, I would like also to do some experiments exploring visually to communicate how people with dementia might feel, taking this film as an example.

here you can see 2min of the film: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Public-engagement/Funded-projects/Profiles/WTDV030205.htm

www.exmemoriafilm.co.uk

www.ritabranco.com

Viva presention:

Chloe-Critical Feedback

Recently we have had the honor to listen to Sam Winston’s talk at CSM.

We unanimously agreed that it was one of the most inspiring lectures we have had since the beginning of the year.
To me, it was particular relevant as Sam Winston’s practice is exclusively crafts drawing and poetry.
He is totally passion driven, and, in a way, one of the last idealists in the design world. 

I needed to talk to someone who shared my views about design, who was ready to defend books and drawing in the digital age, and he did vigorously demonstrate that drawing is still one powerful sensitive way of communicating ideas.

In the end of the presentation I asked him what is the difference between being a student on an MA at CSM and a freelancer?

Instead of answering directly he asked the others in the assistance to find the pros and cons of freelancing and studying. And one of the things that came up of that exchange was: in both cases Future is uncertain.
 I was expecting that answer and wanted him to help me understand how to cope with this uncertainty as it is my essential weakness, and the major obstacle stopping me from being wildly creative.  
He asked the audience again to help him answer my inquiry.
In the end he said that the solution is: confidence in what you do, and obsession for planning and organization. Although the outcome is never certain you need to feel what you have to do step by step to get to it. He also said to be hard on ourselves while we are in the production phase, but be gentle and proud once the work is done.

In a nutshell, his work in essence was a reference as it is close to my area of practice and interests, his argumentation is a reference pedagogically speaking, and his ability to create interaction between us was also a reference as it allowed us to give general critical feedback to ourselves in a moment where everybody needs it .

Chloé 

500 words essay

The „thing“ I would like to introduce to you as being very essential to my project in many ways is Ken Robinsons TED-talk about „schools kill creativity“. I think most of you have watched his talk as it was recommended to us on one of our briefs of the first term. I, at least, have listened to him many times and still find his speech entertaining and inspiring. I even went to a talk he gave on March 13th in Convey Hall, where he presented his new book „The Element: How finding your passion changes everything“. I am so inspired by what he says that I have often recommended friends to watch his talk on TED. I am really not trying to sell anything here, but if you haven‘t watched it, you should definately do that!

As the titel already indicates, the talk is about the way our education system currently functions and how it leaves the creative aspect aside. Ken Robinson says that all children are creative but grow out of it, or rather, get educated out of it. One thing he mentioned is that young children are not yet afraid of making any mistakes. They are more willing to try out new things. Furthermore he says that all school systems educate more to the „one“ side – the left side of the brain – which is the logical side of the brain and is used for maths and languages. The creative subjects like music and art are little or not taught at all. Ken Robinson indicates that creativity should have the same importance as literacy. He also says that intelligence is diverse and dynamic. Creativity comes through interdisciplinary interactions.

When starting my project I was very interested in the mistake aspect of his talk. Mistakes are generally seen as something bad and we get educated the way that we should avoid them. However, when working creatively, mistakes can be very valuable and useful, not to mention that you can learn from you mistakes. Nevertheless, mistakes sounds very negative and I decided to rephrase it and therefore asked myself the question which I also presented at the viva: „Is striving for perfection a barrier to creativity?“ Altough my interest in this question is still very big I figured that it is a highly philosophical question with no real answer to it. I also felt that I didn‘t want to stay that theoretical but also use my visual skills. That is when my project evolved for the second time.

As Ken Robinson was saying, educational systems concentrate more on subjects for the left side of the brain and neglect the right side of the brain. However, I think we should start using our whole brain. This is why I thought of combining logic and creativity in my project. I would like to use a mathematical approach to design (probably typography, where I would like to use the grid as well as the golden section as tools for design.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

http://cargocollective.com/marthariessland

Follow-up tasks from action research workshop

Many thanks for taking part in this action research.

Here is the outline of tasks:

1. Write a blog entry (minimum of 500 words) - by 30th May

Select one book, article, artist, film, object....etc. which resonates with your project in some way. Explain why you have chosen this and how/why it has influenced the direction or development of your research project.

Include any useful links to the chosen work or to your work that would help the reader understand better what it is you are undertaking in your research project.

Put this on the blog by Monday 30th May at the latest.

2. Write 2/3 questions - bring to group 1st June

Each student should read the blog entries for all the other students and write 2/3 questions or comments about each blog. Bring these written questions to the tutorial on WEDNESDAY 1st June. This will replace the normal tutorial on Thursday 2nd June. The tutorial will start after the lecture, so about 11.45.

If you are doing the research workshop on Thursday then you could select a smaller number of blogs to read, but choose at least 4 entries and write questions about these.

3. Meet in pairs - between 3 - 8 June

Anna/Carol Pablo/Rita

Amaya/Martha Soo-Young/Grace

James/Chloe Paula/John

Arrange to work together to develop/improve your presentation in advance of 9th June practise presentation. It could well be that you decide to meet again, before the whole year presentation, but this is up to you.

4. Practise presentation - 9th June

Show your presentation to the tutor group. Each of you will be asked to assess each presentation using set criteria and give your written feed back to the individual who presented.

5. Complete a brief questionnaire about this research - date to be confirmed

Thanks again.

Workshop

-

Action research > come up with a question and have critical feed back from other people.
Encourage more in-depth critical constructive feedback between students.
A questionnaire is gong to be send: Useful?
How many people here are giving feedback to other students during there presentation?
Why won’t you give feedback?

>Too big group for effective feedback.
>More time in small groups.
>Confidence
>Lack of specialisation / qualification
>We can critic the process (communication design content), but not the content > What are they talking about?
>More attentive and awake in smaller group
>I’ve got nothing relevant to say
>Gap between pathway (Graphic design/ Performance/ Typography)
>Gap of language. Communicate properly is already a challenge. >Confidence when speaking.
>Not enough specific feedbacks. The course orientation is too wide to improve our personnal skills.

It is worth speaking. Part of your learning skills is about contributing.
Speaking slower and clearly.

-Write 500w. about an object that has an influence you on the development of your project. (Could be an evant, book, extract of book, piece of Art, graphic design, performance, EVERYTHING, as long as you feel that it’s in the perspective of your project.) Find a resonnance, something directly linked to your project. Get something that gives the others an insight about your work.
>To be publish on the blog by Monday 31st May
Including a link to your personnal work.
>>The importance of student peer learning (book to read)

-Meeting Thursday 1st June. Bring written questions (2/3) for everybody else, based on the published article on the blog.

-Thursday 9th June, Rehearsal for the presentation.
On the week before, meet in pairs, and critically evaluate it.

Anna/Carol
Pablo/Rita
Amaya/Martha
Sooyoung/Grace
James/Chloe
Paula/John

-On the 9th, have to fill a questionnaire about the presentation.

Thank you very, very much.

website

http://www.carolbreen.com/

Workshop this wednesday

I hope you will all come to this workshop on Wednesday about how to encourage critical feedback among students.

There is a brief TEDx meeting after the lecture, so I hope we can start around 11.45am.

Thanks

Sam Winston

18 Mar 2011 / Professional practice

Sam Winston describes his practice as fine art through design skills, using words, typography or books. Thus he uses design creative practices to do something else, not design.

For him, commercial work is boring. Usually, when working commercially, people arrive to a point where they don’t learn anymore, where they have to comply with the client and that means that they are just working to earn money. For Sam, this is not the main goal of working. He mentioned three main influences for his attitude to work: Alan Fletcher who defended design as authorship, where the designer has a voice; Ken Garland, the author of the manifesto “First things first” and Ron King from Circle Press. The work should have some meaning, should always teach something. Therefore his practice is based on self-initiated projects and handmade experimentation, allowing “mistakes” to take part of it. He sees that as “the poetry of my body”. He mentioned that the more he was asked to work digitally, the more he created handmade briefs for himself. Intuition also plays an important role in his work, as it’s a very interesting way of learning. Everything is part of the learning experience.

Sam is passionate about words. So he decided to make a living out of that, exploring and engaging with language at different levels. “Language isn’t solid”. He plays with the meaning of words or ways of communicating, whether is the concept of dictionary, as the container of everything you can say or write, or the internet where knowledge is superficial and based in links between words.

When at first we look to his extremely beautiful works, there is no apparent logic or reason behind it. But after observing them deeper there are always stories to read, conclusions to take, something to find. Sometimes it's also partly information design.

Finally he pointed out the importance of structure and organization when working alone and always reflect on what and why we’re working on.

“My practice is my end goal because I learn from it.”

http://www.samwinston.com/

Jonathan Rez

11 Mar 2011 / Professional practice

In this lecture about wayfinding, Jonathan Rez pointed out the fact that designing wayfinding systems is more about functional solutions and constraints rather than providing experiences to who is using it. He started with some examples of mistaken, funny signs, showing how careful people designers should be, once it really affects people’s life.

In his opinion, the more correct word for describing wayfinding systems should be wayshowing.

In a wayshowing project the first step is to identify destinations and popular routes in order to find decision points where directions are needed. And then which signs are more suitable to each purpose. It’s essential to compile a destination list. This can be provided by the client or by different stakeholders. Otherwise designer can also do it, based on field/primary research.

It’s important to talk with different people in the area, both residents and visitors and ask them where they want to go, why they want to get somewhere. Like this, we can have a bigger picture and create something that is really focused on the users. Of course, not all the desired destinations will be covered. People have often very specific needs.

Following that, Rez argues that it would be actually important in some cases to reframe wayfinding as thingfinding. And that is where service design can make a difference, once it’s a user-centred approach.

Besides designing the signs it’s also important to provide an overall experience in delivering directions/information, considering pre-visit, travel, arrival, on-site, destination and egress. Making sure that the information at these different stages is coherent help to provide a good service and a good experience to the user.

online portfolio Chloé BELLOIN

http://chloebelloin.blogspot.com/

WEBSITE / ONLINE PORTFOLIO /

http://amayadelmas.free.fr/

www.ritabranco.com
http://chloebelloin.blogspot.com/
http://www.carolbreen.com/
http://cargocollective.com/marthariessland

******* I think you can edit this article, and put your links under mine! ******

Lunch Lab

http://www.clerkenwelldesignweek.com/haworth-uk-ltd/

Might be of interest

New series on BBC starting monday All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace "which examines how we've been beguiled by computers and how the myths we've woven around them have had a world-wide impact on economics, ecology and science" http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/05/all_watched_over_by_machines_o.html

Correct schedule for summer term - ignore previous

Thanks Rita and Martha highlighting that this term only has 8 weeks. I don't know what I was thinking!

Here is the amended schedule.

Thursday 19th May (week 3)

Small group tutorials.

Thursday 26th May (week 4)

Whole group discussion of the exhibition, issues or information relating to your own research project and to the many other projects you are involved with.

2nd June (week 5)

Group exchange. You will get the chance for input for your project from other tutors. More information about this to come.

9th June (Week 6)

Practice presentation to the group plus discussion about exhibition.

16th June (Week 7)

Whole year 3 minute presentations

23rd June (week 8)

Exhibition and individual tutorials.

Please make sure you amend your diaries. And apologies for the confusion.

Victoria

Thursdays this term and next week's groups

Here is the schedule for next week and the remaining weeks of term.

Thursday 19th May (week 3)

Small group tutorials.

This is the chance for you to present your project, to the others in your small group. This is work in progress so questions, concerns and challenges are inevitable and expected. Each of you will have about 20 minutes so look to present for around 7 minutes and then use the remaining time for feedback and discussion of issues that are important for you.

Your presentation should include a summary of the project at the moment and the reasons for developments or changes in focus, what you intend to do over the remaining weeks of the term and over the summer and your plans for how intend to use year 2. Please come with visuals to show us. You should be prepared to be honest both in your presentation and in your critical comments about the projects of others. In this way everyone will benefit from the time. Thank you for agreeing to have a tutor from the Postgraduate Certificate observe me during one of the tutorials on Thursday.

Times

10.00 – 11.30

PABLO

PAULA

RITA

SOO-YOUNG

12.00– 13.30

AMAYA

ANNA

GRACE

MARTHA

14.15 – 15.45

CAROL

CHLOE

JAMES

JOHN

Thursday 26th May (week 4)

Whole group discussion of the exhibition, issues or information relating to your own research project and to the many other projects you are involved with.

2nd June (week 5)

Group exchange. You will get the chance for input for your project from other tutors. More information about this to come.

9th June (Week 6)

Suggest small group tutorials.

16th/23 June (7/8)

Developing and presenting project and exhibition.

30th June (week 9)

Whole year 3 minute presentations

7th July (week 10)

Exhibition and individual tutorials.

Let me know if there are any problems with this.

Thanks

Victoria

Event on Thursday this week

two events in May

Hope you are looking at blog or I am talking to myself!