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.

Two events

Sent to me and might be of interest (one above seems very relevant for Cloe).

Victoria

A lecture by ANDREW WATSON
-
Andrew Watson, in his quality of photographer, developped his lecture around the notions of research, prospection and experimentation. Along his various projects remains the idea of playing with his medium and investigate new ways of using it. One of his main project have been, at a starting point, self-initiate. However, he has been able to take advantage of technical issues to develop and achieve it brillantly. Watson was looking for a new interpretation of the White Horse of Segsbury. That Iron age sculpture have been already shoot many time, but he had the feeling that his black and white photographies could emulate it a bit more. Though he couldn't expected that archeologists were actually doing some important excavations there in the same time. Frustrated for a while, he nevertheless decided to take on that opportunity. That led him to a three month cooperation and a successful final exhibition. By working in pair with them, Watson learnt another kind of process clinked to the archeologists one. He finaly decide to photograph the excavations they were creating, following their scientifical rigour and high achieving technique.
He talked to us with the maturity of a professional photographer, in term of budget, partnership and perfectionism, but also with the freedom of an artist, discernable along his carrier, by the choices of his investments as well as in the grand quality of his pictures.

Mupimup

Professional practice / 9 Fev 2011

Mupimup is a design studio focused on recycling and reusing materials. They are based in a small village (300 habitants) in the East cost of Iceland, which makes also their lives more sustainable.

Often designers think that they must be in big cities in the middle of the creative people. Well, not just designers. That’s why we assist everyday to the desertification of small villages (at least in Portugal). Young people don’t want to be there anymore. I believe that they don’t see future there. And, in a way, I agree with that. But if we look at Mupimup’s work that don’t have to be necessarily true.

The lecture made me reflect on that. I believe that if we would like to live in a smaller place we just have to be creative enough to do it. It could really improve the quality of our everyday life. Creative people could be really important for the development small villages.

Mupimup is now working in a project of reusing the building of a disabled fish factory in the village. This factory is part of the identity of the village. So they wanted to “keep the spirit of the house” and turn it to something valuable both for locals, tourists and artists looking for getting out of the city for a while. Their proposal is a creative centre based on sustainable principles in order to improve the local economy. The place would comprise fish market and restaurant, market of local products, café and creative spaces/workshops, joining in the same space arts, crafts and design.

To conclude, they believe that this project could save the village from collapse and they stressed how a creative person can have real power to be used in benefit of the community. We just have to be responsible and put our skills and energy in the right place.

Modern British Posters | Paul Rennie

Academic Practice, 2^nd February 2011

Paul Rennie is a collector who uses his posters to describe the history of British society from the beginning of twentieth century.

Posters first appeared in the end of the nineteenth century in Paris, which was at that time a culturally vibrant centre of Europe. The new urban planning of the city as well as some developments in printing processes contributed to the popularization of billboards and posters.
London also assisted to the development of this communication support at about the same time.

Besides presenting his finished work and sharing some views on the historical and social context of posters, Paul Rennie also presented part of his process.

In a very simple approach he showed how research is an iterative process, where new knowledge does not stack in layers but rather complements the existing one and helps clarifying the subject in study.
The several writings (films, experiments, etc) on a specific field establish an ever-growing “conversation” with each other. Digging into a subject discloses connections and influences between different authors and epochs apparently remote at the first sight.

Each work relates with the existing ones by opposing, reinforcing, adding points of view or presenting new perspectives that broaden the subject.
In this sense, our own work will lately be a small contribution to an ongoing conversation.

A research report is then a presentation of this dialog in a structured way. We should introduce our evidences and make it clear how they relate with each other and contribute to the subject. With this support, we should then make it tangible to others what our case is, what resources we have collected, where we are going from there and how we position ourselves and our work in the wider picture.

Rennie’s passion and continuous research is a contribution to the ongoing conversation of the history of design.

26 January 2011_“Performance & Design”_ANNA MAGGI

26 January 2011

Lecture given by Pete Brooks: “Performance & Design”

Which is the difference between dramaturgy and stenography?
Dramaturgy is the idea, the structure of a performance while stenography is everything that happens in the space: light, music etc.
Pete is interested manly in playing with stenography, because aloud him to tell different stories in the same piece of theatre.

Pete is interested also in the relation between cinema end theatres. People who go to the cinema expect pleasure on the contrary when they go to the theatre they expect to discover something new: they are looking for an intellectual grown.
After the theatre revolution of Bertold Brecht (1898-1956) the story, the dramaturgy of a performance turned into an intellectual level. People were not anymore sentimentally involved, no one cried at the theatre! The illusion of the theatre is broken forever; stimulating real emotion is becoming more and more difficult.
The aim of Pete’s works is to tell stories that involve the audience not only intellectually but also emotionally. Thereby he decided to create pieces of theatre where the language of graphic animation and cinema where amalgamate with stenography. He thinks that animation could reach the gap between fiction and reality. With this new kind of stenography he is tiring to give at the spectator an emotional engaging experience.

A lecture by PETE BROOKS -

Well known in his area, Pete Brooks is now additionally teaching at St Martins, in his quality of Scenographer. He quickly dedicated himself to a post modern dramatism, experimenting via films as well as performance and theatre. In order to bring that last one to a widest audience, he tried in his way to put the pieces of fragmented culture all together. The post-dramatic landscape of 1984 have been the starting point of his carrier. In-between minor's strikes and burning discussions around an hypothetic nuclear war.

At that time theatre remained more powerful than novel or cinema. But moving images had also that huge impact on audience. As he noticed, it was rather more difficult to convinced through dramatics. Often obscure, hard to understand. In an other hand, people where expecting pleasure when going to the cinema.

Pete Brooks defines himself as a story teller. He created cinematic frames and narrative using what he called as their "substance". As an example, Hamlet doesn't have any substance. It's an idea contained in a book.
He built himself a notoriety with his radical approach of filming and representing. His Hotel Methuselah has been applaud by professionals as well as amateurs.

Since constructivists broke, in the early 20th Century, the whole illusion of theatre, Brooks have been to give brilliantly a new angle to his camera. By mapping and renewing totally the scenographic structures of his emotional narratives.

A lecture by KEN HOLLINGS -

Ken Hollings started his lecture, as usual, by drowning us in a auditive and visual document. A way of introducing a correct atmosphere. The day lecture dealt with panic and crisis.

A theoretical lecture containing a wide range of references and knowledge, from ancian Greece to Western contemporaneity, from books to branding, from science to philosophy.

The framework of his discourse was the labyrinth, it projection and it interpretation.

Thus, when Ovide explored the great myth of transformation in his book the Metamorphosis, he obviously dedicated a chapter to Dedale and his son Icare, who escaped from their own labyrinth by turning themselves into flying machines. Or how the first ingenior ever run away from a death sentence by flying-over an intricate self-production.

"The labyrinth you don't even know you are in". Of course bring us back to Plato's cavern myth, where humans deliberately choose blindness instead of the experiment of lucidity.

And that similar labyrinth we will find later-one, in a world-renown Microsoft campaign : "Where do you want to go today ?" The magic carpet they offer you to get rid of your chains, and repeat the same shema than Dedale thousands year before. Our screen will bring us overseas. Except that this last emancipation remains virtual.

But when it comes to affect people mind, Stanley Loogan process is a brilliant example of our natural insanity in crisis situations. 50% will continue until the point of extermination. What motivated us ? What would we fear the most ? Will we remains stuck in our conformity ?

Welcome to the labyrinth, this is where we are going to be for a little bit of time.

A lecture by MISCHA HALLER -

Mischa Haller is a London-based Swiss photographer. As an extremely prolific artist, he choose to build his lecture in a narrative way, from his first impacting project to his last realisation. Haller has collaborate a while with the Independent magazine. Additionally he have been part of the brand new visual identities of some of the main UK's cities.

As a photographer he intentionally tended to work in pair with graphic designers, producing some official leaflets and advertising, and fine artists (His last creation is exposed on a wall in Bethnal Green Rd).

Although we must be nothing but impressed by the quantity of projects Haller have been involved in, I personally regret the lack of diversity of his main works. He obviously worked for clients whom rigidity and conformism required a certain adaptability. Thus I have been glad to notice how he managed to offer them an alternative display. Eg, when dealing with cold season and britain landscape, he highlighted as much as possible human presence, movement, colours.

A real sensibility which embodies the humanity in his work.

Haller, therefore, shouldn't be renown for his main production, a huge but non diverse panel of conformist photographies. Coming back to his first photo-book, we can see his ability to be a gorgeous rough story teller. A fine artists which have been corrupted by commercial works.

Mischa Haller

Professional practice / 26 Jan 2011

Mischa Haller is a Swiss photographer based in London since 1998. He talked about his career, how each work led to a new one and, the most interesting of all in my point of view, how his personal projects led to commissioned ones.

He started in London, showing a personal project of close-ups of human bodies to a magazine editor. The editor liked it so much, that wanted him to explore it and do a cover and story with it.

Following that, Mischa Haller had this idea of publishing a book by himself with small stories that he had been exploring in the year before. He took a model of it to several shops and galleries that might be interested to sell it. He got some positive answers, so he publish it. Mischa talk about this book as the best investment he have ever done, once it was crucial for the development of his career.

Mischa’s work is related with social and cultural reportage. He looks for details that can tell a story without showing everything. He argues that details make life special. These details can cover as well certain moments, unusual angles, contrasts.

He also concentrates his work on people. Because people animate the places. Therefore when Mischa needs to do some reportage, he spends some time in the place, he talks to the people until they are comfortable and let him do some photos.

On the other hand, when he does portraits, he tries to include some context. It tells more about the person.

I’ll conclude with something he said in the beginning of the lecture: “If you want to do interesting stuff, sometimes you have to do it for yourselves”.

Performance & Design

Pete Brooks / Academic practice / 26 Jan 2011

Contemporary theatre and performance tend to be more about form, while Pete Brooks is more interested in exploring the stories. Once the illusion of the theatre is broken nowadays, in his opinion, this is a way of giving the audience the same involvement that cinema does, but with a narrative on stage.

Furthermore it’s also important for Pete to play with the scenography in order to produce “scenographic methaphors”. As dramaturge, he defines the idea, the content of the piece, that is complemented by the scenography. Playing with different components of scenography (lights, actors,…) changes and creates different stories. Pete Brooks sees digital technology and motion graphics as a tool with great potential to tell stories in a different and engaging way, using visual tricks. So he talks about his later work as a mixture that is part performance, part cinema which tries give the audience an “emotional engaging experience”.

I was quite impressed by his later projects. Mainly by the beautiful composition of plans, photography, colours, interaction between back projections and actors. So I decided to include some pictures of Kellerman, one of his latest projects, with some notes from his comments that I found interesting.

He concluded with the advice: “if you are in an area that is fully occupied you have to find a niche that should be engaging in some way”.

Rapid Prototyping | Ben Knezevic

Technology briefing, 21^th January 2011

This lecture focused in technologies for model making. The processes covered were Rapid prototyping, Laser cutting and Laser etching.

Rapid prototyping is a process in which a 3D object is created in several layers, out of liquid polymer solidified by a laser beam. The process is characterized by high speed, relatively low prices, and the capacity to produce highly complex pieces with intricate forms.
The outcomes can be solid or hollow, transparent or opaque, and be composed by several pieces within each other or freely organic shapes.

The high quality of the outcomes make this technology suitable for either demanding areas such as prosthesis for medicine, or very detailed ones, such as jewelry.

This technology requires specific kind of 3D files, and its use is only justified for producing really complex or detailed models.
The future of this process might well be Rapid production, with final objects being produced in short time.

Laser cutting and etching is a process in which the laser beam burns the surface of the material to create 2D shapes. The substrates range from paper to fabrics, from wood to plastics.
These technologies allow the creation of models as well as finished productions. Laser cutting can be used to create paper models such as packaging, without the expenses of the die cut.

In all the technologies presented the outcomes are directly produced out of digital files, which allows the design to be improved and testing models to be produced in the different stages. Despite all the advantages that these processes present, their use is limited to small series or one-offs model production.

This subject is of great interest for us as designers, as it provides us with the possibility of testing our projects, presenting them to clients, or even using them as models for final production.

Mind Design

Professional Practice, 19^th January 2011

In this lecture the design team focused on showing several projects developed by the studio. The approach was not to present the final works without a context, but rather the work in progress, the ideas behind it and the overall picture.

Despite developing several communication works from print to web based, this studio has been working mainly in branding, pursuing a comprehensive approach. Their clients range from hairdressers to independent artists to restaurants, and focus on different targets.

Each project is developed as a whole and comprises the identity itself, as well as it extension to several communication supports, namely interiors. Each identity seems to be created with a spatial or 3D existence in mind.
Many of the projects are developed in collaboration with architects, and they follow closely the contractors’ work to make sure that the best possible result is obtained.

Their projects are very elaborated and do not restrict to a logo and its application; instead, they create a plethora of visual elements related with the characteristics of the work, and generate a communication system at the same time flexible, diversified and consistent.

Each project reflects a deep understanding of the client and the field. And besides being apparent that a thorough research supports each solution, the team claims that their process is quite loose and the ideas are very spontaneous.

I found this lecture very interesting, not only for the works presented but also for the sharing of the ideas behind each and the process of bringing them to light.

Deconstructing Comics | Roger Sabian

Academic Practice, 19^th January 2011

This lecture approached the comics in an analytical way. Several aspects of content, form, structure and intrinsic characteristics were discussed, as well as some differences in comics’ culture in different countries.

In addition to these topics, also the economical context and its relationship with every creative work were discussed.

A comic is a complex piece of work. It comprises illustrations, different levels of text, page composition, construction of a narrative and characters, etc. All these elements coexist in the same place, and must also communicate the sense of time and space, convey emotions and transmit ambiances.

Despite having a sequence, the navigation through the pages is complex and not linear. The reading is active and fragmented, in the sense that the reader must connect and construct the fractions of time, space and action that compose the whole story.

Similarly to the cinema, the scenes in comics are seen from different angles and shots. This becomes more evident in the traditional Manga books, to be read very quickly page-by-page.

Comics highly relate with the cultural context and conventions, but can sometimes be also influenced by the past myths and traditions. It is then important to understand the cultural aspects behind each work, and see it against the background that originated it.

A very interesting topic covered in this lecture is the influence that the owners and publishers of this kind of book may have on the story itself.
If owned by a major group with several subsidiaries, the work is just a small part of a net of interests, agenda, and mutually supporting companies.
The creative areas are never detached from the economical and political context; they are influenced by but also operate on it.

Rapid Prototyping

Ben Kenezevic / Technical practice/ 21st Jan 2011

It’s always nice to hear someone that is passionate about its work. Even if I don’t understand how is it possible to be so enthusiastic about Rapid Prototyping, I liked to hear Ben talking about it. There was always a little proud smile when he showed some complex model he have done. I was thinking that I would like to have the same smile when I’m presenting my work.

As far as Rapid Prototyping is concerned, it was important to understand what we can and what we can’t do with rapid prototyping machines, how to do it and when to use it. There are lots of different machines, each one with its function or appropriate for a specific kind of material. I wasn’t aware of its utility for jewelery although lots of complex jewels are made since long time without its help (I’m thinking of filigree). Rapid prototyping machines are mainly worthy for difficult models, to test its efficiency or to show them to clients, so they can have a clear perception of what they will get. In fact Ben showed some impressive models, that I can’t imagine doing it with other technique.

However I’m not sure how harmful for the environment it can be, as there are lots of plastics and resins involved. I should have asked.

It’s good to know that we have a laser cutting machine in the college. Although it’s a bit expensive, it can be quite useful for future projects. The final product turns up really beautiful.

Mind Design

Professional practice / 19th Jan 2011

I really liked the work of Mind Design. But what impressed me most was their attitude. They know that their work is good but they are not arrogant about it. Instead, they confess that the development of their ideas are quite spontaneous and intuitive. Sometimes designers tend to be a bit vain when they are good. I’m sure they also do a lot of research, but the ideas are genuine and without fear of being wrong. Maybe that’s why their work seem so fresh.

We can perceive by the work and by them that they really enjoy and have fun. They do what they want, and they also suggest new things that the client may want, but didn’t asked. They don’t seem worried about how long (money) they worked on a project since it is as they think it should be. One of them said “invest in quality, save in quantity”.

Moreover, I’ve also admired the fact that each project is different. I mean, often some designers find their own “receipts”. Therefore their projects look similar. They can also argue that is their identity and authorship, and I respect that. However, I find more interesting to challenge your work every time there is a new project.

Finally, they don’t believe in internships because nowadays design industry is getting “sick” on that issue. Although they accept interns (and they pay them), their suggestion is not to do it. We don’t have to be afraid to work by ourselves. We will certainly do lots of mistakes but if we are honest since the beginning with the client, we will learn from them. They ended in a positive way: it doesn’t matter if the work is boring, we can do lots of nice design with boring stuff.

Deconstructing Comics

Roger Sabian / Academic practice / 19th Jan 2011

This lecture was a surprise for me. I’m not so into comics, but I really enjoyed this lecture. I’ve never thought of analysing comics and the way that Roger approached the lecture was quite engaging. It was good to have the American comic in our hands and analyse it ourselves.

There’s so much to “see” in comics and what is beyond them: format, content, target group, historical context, economic context. All these aspects are equally important in the creation of comics. For instance, the agenda and the owner of a character, as superman, have a great influence in the design and stories shifting it from comics to cinema, toys, TV and so on.

Following that, the format is also quite crucial economically. Not only because of the amount of paper and ink spent, but mainly the possibility of being suitable for collection. This influences the story, that should have continuity between issues. Therefore there is a intricate relation between all these aspects to consider in comics.

It’s interesting how the differences between cultures – Europe, America, Far East (Japan) – are so easily perceivable the and how it shape the stories, the designs, everything in comics.

Moreover, comics also comprise comix (underground comic from the 60s, with themes like drug experiences, sex…), graphic novels (book format) – that are thought to be the most promising future of comics –, small press comics (homemade, photocopy), e-comics (still a lot to explore in this area), manga (Japan).

Comics are an art form, and that makes them special. They can be flexible in space and time, and the structure in panels and gutters makes it possible.

Also, another interesting curiosity: cinema, in the very beginning, got some influences in comics and not the contrary.

We’ve got lots of new references and I’m looking forward to reading some of them.

Rapid prototyping

-

A lecture by Ben Kenezevic

Rapid prototyping is a pre-production of rapid manufacturing, also known as the layer technology, the freeform fabrication, or the 3D printer. That time compression process uses additive manufacturing technology, which consists in joining materials layers upon layers to create a 3D object.

It was originally invented in 1980 to create models and prototypes. However it promptly became the cheapest and quickest way of producing high-complexity objects. Rapid prototyping is nowadays renown for 3D constructions, and used by technicians, designers as well as fine artists. 30% of his worldwide production is used by the car industry. But product, medical and aerospace design remains main producers of that layer technology.

It permits to realize shapes which would ordinary be impossible to create. It has no geometrical limitation. Undercuts, hollow forms, thin wall castings…

That fully automated process is everything but time-consuming (70% quicker than any other technology), which helps reducing from half the cost productions.

The stereolythography, the fused deposition manufacturing, the 3D printing or the laminated object modelling are part of a wide range of additive technologies (using the layer system), which means, declensions of rapid prototyping process. Each of them use very specific material: metal, plastic, polymer, paper or even wax.

Except for the 3D printer, they all produce unicolor objects. However it remains possible to inject colours in the resin, and give the illusion of another material (e.g. Metal). A CAD file (computer aided design), which should use vectors, for a fine result, should be saved in .STL before being proceeded by the machine. Everything is automatic, and contingent on the complexity and the size of the object, the process could take from few hours to some days.

Rapid manufacturing is a technology that leads to astonishing results, due to his various applications. From solid to flexible materials, from simple to intricate shapes, used as well by artists and scientists, that cost-friendly process should remains for a while the leader of the pre-production area.

_________________________________________________

Visual complexity and crime prevention

-

A workshop with Paul Ekblom and Reading University

In education, a workshop is a brief intensive course, a seminar or a series of meetings emphasizing interaction and exchange of information among a usually small number of participants.

Last Thursday, Sadhna Jain and Annegrete Molhave, a former Phd student of St Martins, introduced us to Paul Ekblom, expert in crime prevention. The purpose of the workshop, in addition of meeting the Information design students of Reading University, was to try a representation of the complexity, through Ekblom researches.

The main idea was for him to condense all his researches in a web-based site or in a DVD.

This multimedia application should have contained: Knowledge about crime and safety, knowledge about what works and how to make it happens, and more than all how to involve people in implementing the action.

He introduced us to SARA, a problem-solving model which could be applied for any kind of issues: Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment.

Ekblom actually developed and went deeper in that process by creating the 5Is.

-Intelligence

-Intervention

-Implementation

-Involvement

-Impact

Follows a wide choice of innovating solutions

A huge process, which had to organize, represents all his ideas, and which should be both interactive and user-friendly.

He asked us to look in representing an appropriate complexity:

“Theories should be simple as possible but not simpler”, Einstein.

A free-access database website may helps reducing the impact of crime and disorders in the communities.The result of the day was a wide range of approaches and solutions developed by each group, and a nourishing debate with Ekblom on our ideas and a possible sustainability of the projects.

Cultural Probes

Dr Claire McAndrew / Academic Practice / 12th January

It was useful to learn about culture probes once I’ve never heard about it before. In my opinion it’s a curious way of researching because, from what I understood, not only it can get results in order benefit design approaches to some problem but also the research is designed in a way it can give the desired type of answers. Therefore cultural probes can have different characters. They can be open-ended, they can create situations and provide choice. From cultural probes we can get resourceful stories, unexpected and deep responses, that wouldn’t be accessible with other method of research. The case studies were crucial to understand better the importance of the pack, how do cultural probes work and what we can get from them. However, I’m not sure how to engage and get people to participate. Moreover, it seemed difficult to do the data analysis. It’s not a quantitative analysis, but more a qualitative one, once we are dealing with real responses from real people. These are raw materials that should be kept raw, and interpret them every time we look at them. Also the issue of not knowing exactly if cultural probes can be really informative or more inspirational.

Finally, I must say that this lecture was hard to follow for me. Maybe it was the first lecture of the term so my ears were not adapted yet to English again, but also because the presentation had lots of blocks of text and made it difficult to understand the concept of cultural probes. I confess that just got it in the middle or the lecture.

Adrian Shaughnessy

12th January / Professional practice

I was looking forward to attend to Adrian Shaughnessy’s lecture, because I had already read his main book “How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul”. It was interesting and useful, very easy to read and, in my opinion, a good approach for a “advice/manual” book for recently graduated designers. As I imagined, the lecture was coherent with the book. Interesting and useful, easy to follow. Although I knew that Adrian Shaughnessy have done some important work related to music, it was nice to get to know more of his work, and mainly the way his career naturally developed and changed.

The “second part” remembered the book, but in a more interesting way, once he talk about a general scenario of being a designer nowadays and gave some advices based on his experience. Today is very different to work as a graphic designer. In some ways it’s easier and more exciting. We can create our own studio just with a laptop and an Internet connexion. He stressed about the importance of being entrepreneurial and proactive. We shouldn’t just wait for the next client, because we are capable of doing more than we think we do. He focused the relationship between client and designer. Usually the problem is not in the client but in ourselves. He also mentioned the importance of having verbal skills and being capable of talking about our work. Being humble and listen to the people we work with it’s also valuable.

Finally he concluded that although we are in the middle of a difficult financial crisis, it’s a great time to designers because there’s a need for visual culture, as well as for design thinking as a potential tool to be applied to social concerns and not just reducing it to nice visuals.

Printing

Adrian Sleeman/ Techincal practice / 14th January

The lecture about printing focused two different aspects that were important to me: how we should deal with printers nowadays and the current trends in print technology.

At present printers have a non-intervention policy in the designers work. Which means that on the one hand we have more responsibility to give things ready to print but on the other hand we have more control of the production, being able to do things better. The lecturer stressed that every printer have its particular expertise, so some printers are better for some type of job than others. For instance, digital printing is ideal for short jobs but a wrong choice for big ones. Having the control on the design production and being capable of choosing the right printer for the right job help us to close the gap between the client expectations for the final product.

Furthermore, I was willing to know more about how can we be sustainable in printing. Usually I prefer printed work. I like the touch and the smell of the paper. However I’m worried about the damage it can cause. I already knew that recycled paper wasn’t a good choice, but I never understood why. The amount of solvents and energy used to produced it and turn it white are less environmentally friendly than others. So the better choice is the certified papers from FSC, who ensure the responsible management of the world’s forests. I was glad to hear that nowadays inks are not so harmful to the environment as they were before, once there was a big technological development in order to discard some pollutant components. Still, digital inks are not as friendly as the offset ones.

It would be nice to have the possibility of being in touch with Adrian Sleeman for some questions that may emerge through our projects. Although we haven’t seen the power point presentation due to technical problems, it would be helpful to have it to learn the terms that differ from language to language.