Design Studies: Summer Reading Material & Other Plans

Part of our last assignment for the year with regards to Design Studies is to identify 5 books I will read as a result of this module, 5 things I want to do to my blog etc. and 5 people I will make contact with.

These include (and have already purchased some):

- Blink - a book by Malcolm Gladwell, the author of first semesters read "The Tipping Point".

- Semiotics: A Graphic Guide by Paul Cobley, as I found semiotics very interesting.

- Designing Infographics by Eric Meyer, I have become increasingly interested in infographics and data visualisations as a result of several paths during Design Studies and would like to learn how to incorporate this clean presentation style into my future projects.

- I plan on investing in several of the books in the series for my course anyway, however Basics Design offer one called Design Thinking, which is something I need to consider more deeply, namely the user and the effect a design can have on it's surroundings as often we get caught up on the aesthetics only (stemming from reading about ethnography).

- Wordpress for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson. This sort of leads me into my next top 5 catagory of what I plan to do over summer, and as you tell, regards moving over to Wordpress very slowly but surely.

All of these are available on www.amazon.co.uk.

The 5 things I plan to do over summer are:

As I am already an avid blogger and tweeter, I have not added these to my list as it is something I already regularly do.

- I do plan however, to move from Blogger to Wordpress over summer, and archive my posts.

- Finances permitting, I'd also like to take a short trip to The Netherlands to visit, along with visiting Norway (which is already booked), allowing me to visit their Architecture & Design Museum, as well as possibly visiting a Jewellery exhibition as I plan to travel with JMD student(s).

- Complete my LinkedIn profile and begin to use this more thoroughly.

- Organise my Flickr account into a more manageable system, along with updating it with recent albums.

- And finally, StumbleUpon more things every day - and as a result try to blog about a new find at least once weekly.

Finally, 5 people I would like to make contact with:

- HKU Utrecht if I am lucky enough to be invited to apply directly to them for an exchange opportunity.

- Continue to follow people on Twitter, while always looking for new companies and designers to follow. (I currently already follow most guest lecturers from this year's lectures etc.)

- Although it would not be a new connection, I plan on staying in contact with our current 4th years, keeping up to date with their job prospects and life as IED graduates, hopefully giving me an insight into life after DJCAD.

- Aim to get published by finding an amateur online design magazine, and make contact about perhaps submitting an article.

- Get, and start using Skype - as suggested by Lauren Currie (@RedJotter) some weeks ago.