stumbling through summer

Well, it's July.

Apologies for being rather quiet on the blogging front this past month and a bit, I been flitting around like a butterfly doing a manner of different things. Okay, I'll admit I'm perhaps not like one of those butterflies you'd see on The National Geographic "Photo of the Day", more like a busy little moth.

Aside from the various things I've been doing, including helping a friend find a new house / actually move house, visiting home for a quick catch up with family, working and spring cleaning (yes, a little late I know), camping, attending the degree show (congratulations are in order for all DJCAD graduates of 2011, more specifically IED's now former 4th years, you guys did a fantastic job!), visiting Glasgow, working for the university during graduation week and going to see the midnight opening screening of the last of the Harry Potter series... I have also been putting together some things I plan on using come September. The daunting thought of third year has well and truly set in, so I figured that I might as well use my summer months to do something useful, rather than waste them in beer gardens in the sun. Don't worry though, some hours will be spent doing just that; if the sun ever shows itself.

I've bought some new books to pour over during the next 8 weeks before term starts again as well, which I'm looking forward to. I'll post short reviews of them if they are any good.

Further to my beavering online researching various things I've realised I am getting heavily addicted to stumble-upon. I'm not sure what a user of stumble-upon is called - a stumbler? A stumble-uponer? Either way it's proving to be very useful as I've honed my interests into course related topics and has so far produced interesting pages - along with throwing in a few funny images of animals for good measure.

As you can probably derive from this post - I'm keen for term to start again, and feel quite lost without the pressures of coursework, projects, deadlines and the general buzz from IED as a whole. I guess that's a good thing, nobody gets a near 4 month break from their career unless it's forced upon them in the form of redundancy (which I hope will never plague any of us!).

Alas, just as I sit here moaning about the lack of summer weather - the sun has decided to show it's face, but for how long is anybody's guess, so I'm off out into it.

...Although I think I'll take my wellies, just in case.

Design Studies: I Propose To Look To The Future

Why

For the last leg, we had to combine our efforts throughout the year including the research itself, the methods learnt through the likes of service design tools, the science of ethnography and our investigation into semiotics as designers, and create a final research proposal; thus creating a miniature version of the journey taken when writing such papers as a dissertation. I have to say, it's not half as bad as I would of expected, and have actually enjoyed several aspects of it, particularly ethnography and semiotics. Both help develop your approach as a designer be it from any discipline, as the principle remains the same - thoughtful design makes good design, and these are the things that help you engage with the user. I have learnt so much from this perspective, and as silly as it sounds I had previously not considered the consumer and or user half as important as they are. This ironically lead me to understand that understanding in itself is absolute key when designing for anybody other than yourself.

So, throughout this academic year I have been looking at how to engage the user in terms of advertisement. As I have previously stated, I have been asked to derive a research proposal from this, with specific regards to our individual disciplines. Advertising however, is an across the board topic, so I shall take a more personal outlook on the following, rather than a generalised I&ED outlook. I have linked in my previous posting throughout, as well as at the end of each category (although renamed the postings to fit the context).

Related Posts:
Design Studies: Service Design Tools
Design Studies: Ethnography
Design Studies: Semiotics
Design Studies: Final on Viral Advertising

Who

I would seek to explore what exactly it is that gets a graduate into practise other than their qualification(s) - as due to our current economic climate, employment is becoming increasingly difficult for inexperienced designers to successfully pursue. It is common knowledge that it is extremely difficult to land an internship during their academic years, and post-graduation it is becoming exponentially difficult to achieve employment with little or indeed no experience what so ever. Practices and companies are cutting back budgets, making already employed people redundant, let alone creating new positions for inexperienced yet professional designers. So my question is, how can you combine viral advertisement and innovative marketing strategies with the lengthly task of seeking graduate employment?

During one of our lectures this year, Lauren Currie (known in the realms of the internet as @RedJotter) suggested something that has stuck in my mind. She suggested that those seeking internships should not call a practise they were interested in, but rather actively go in and ask. She proposed we ask one of the members of staff out for coffee, and be that person who goes and enthusiastically requests experience. Her outlook was to be forward about these things, and not to back down if you were shown the door.

Related Posts:

Design Studies: What is Viral Advertisement 

Design Studies: Lauren Currie

What

But what else can be done? Surely there is more to this than hopelessly doing the rounds of companies in a lottery type fashion, hoping one day your numbers might just come up. Starting off small with things such as a "blog flyer" is all very well, but I would like to investigate into what makes a person memorable, what you can do to create a stir, and how can you become your own viral advert "epidemic"? I recently did a post on innovative CV ideas, which could be an aspect incorporated into your very own guerrilla marketing technique. How do you sell yourself as a new brand that everyone needs? Similar to as described in Gladwell's The Tipping Point, how do you make yourself sticky?

The BBC reported that only 13% of creative arts graduates found employment within the first six months of graduation.  The Guardian also reports on employment statistics for 2010. How do you ensure you fall into the right category within those statistics? In order to tackle such a never ending issue for graduates around the world from multiple industries, but more specifically those within the design sector, how would I propose I investigate this?

This is a real issue and unfortunately has real consequences, with The BBC unfortunately also reporting that design has one of the lowest employment rates, showing graduate unemployment at a 17 year "high".

Related Posts:
Design Studies: Blog Flyer
Design Studies: What Makes A Person Memorable
Design Studies: Creating A Stir
Design Studies: Creating Your Own Viral Ads
Design Studies: Innovative CVs

How

How do you extract the reasons one graduate is employed, while a similarly qualified, aged, and experienced graduate may not quite cut it? What is it that propels yourself from run of the mill nobody, into sought after fresh meat on the market? I propose that in order to find this out, studies would have to be created to analyse successful candidates qualities versus all applicants qualities, along with sought after free lance designers that provoke employers to come to them. Further to my previous research that suggests irrelevant stunt like attention seeking marketing strategies may work well, I would like to examine wether or not this would be appropriate for self supported viral marketing strategies, or if a strong brand ethic is required prior to tackling the irrelevant viral advert market. I propose that a ethnographic based survey be taken, paying particular attention to the trends seen on the likes of such social networks as Twitter.

If a selection of newly graduated design students were to be followed for the crucial first 6 months after graduation, would those who actively use their Twitter to make new connections be the first to be employed?

If all current fourth year I&ED students were to be followed for the initial period after graduation, who would be employed first and by what means?

I would also propose to contact design practises and actively seek the answers as to how they tackle the process of selecting a new employee, and the ways they instantly cut down applications from everything to the "select few". For example, Think Vitamin explains why they hired a new designer.

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.

EcoOffice: Easter Break & Deadlines

Quick update - the current project is going well.

It's now the Easter holidays, although by no means will this be a holiday as the deadline is on the 2nd May.  This means as I now plan into my final decent, I need to make final decisions upon how to present it all. We have been informed that it is not necessary to produce a scale model, but for those of us with presentations lacking a model, we must produce other scaled representations. In this case, I do not intend to build a model as my design has developed into a dense space, making a model too time consuming to do to a standard I would be happy with, not to mention being of little use as it would not be sufficiently viewable. I have chosen to provide plans that will be printed and displayed separately, along with an exploded axonometric, and an isometric showing colour coded departments.

The remainder of our materials fee which is paid annually will be put towards our printing costs, totally 2 A0 sheets, and for a small fee we can opt for a third. As I plan not to make the model, I will continue onto a third presentation sheet.

I am currently battling the baffling realm that is rendering software, which I have a feeling may continue on for some weeks yet.

Planning, I am very good at. Now however, execution is required. Thankfully Carol, our tutor, reassured me on Friday that I am further ahead than I thought I was - and in fact almost finished, so therefore should take a break. Clearly she doesn't know me very well still, because I won't be taking a break from this until it's finished and checked. And checked again. And then edited. And re-exported. And checked.

www.hku.nl

Lastly of my things to update about, I submitted my final application form for the Erasmus exchange programme just over a week ago. I spent a long time getting paranoid over my personal statement and portfolio, in fear I wouldn't do it justice and damaging my chances at such a good opportunity to meet new people and visit new places. I chose to apply to the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, with no second option as I didn't want to travel elsewhere if I were to be unsuccessful in my first choice. But alas, all is done and submitted now so lest not fret about what can not be changed. But I will fret, it's what I do best after all.

Plumen 001

Although it may sound like some kind of chemical compound used to "get rid" of foreign secret agents, the Plumen 001 is in fact a lightblub. I have come across this deisgn in several places now, namely on the Dezeen website, at EcoBuild and at the Deign Museum, along with in several design magazines. It's what environmentalists have been eagerly awaiting - a clean redesign of the energy efficient light bulb. We openly welcome you to our homes, Plumen 001!

There is a small issue with this though, and that is the small fortune you may have to part with to light your home with these. At a painful £19.95 each, the price is sure to be an issue for mainstream consumers. Although efficiency is something we must concern ourselves with due to the environment becoming an ever more important factor in our daily lives, the current (and often dreaded) energy efficient light bulb does leave a lot to be desired - so it seems Hulger and Samuel Wilkinson (the brains behind the Plumen 001) may have cracked onto something here, especially given that the UK have relatively recently introduced the EU ban on importing high energy filament bulbs. I guess rival designers will soon pounce on this nice little niche in the market, and come up with their own solutions to the energy efficent lightbulb - which should eventually drive prices down.

Taken at the Design Museum, March 2011

So, it would seem this is at least a step in the right direction. Yay for green design! I just now need to justify to myself why £19.95 is a reasonable price to pay for a lightbulb. Damn it.

Our Thoughts Are With You, Japan

from bbc.co.uk/news

I think I speak for every person in the world when I say it's a horrendous catastrophe when a natural disaster of this magnitude happens.

I am of course speaking about the earthquake that hit just off the coast of northern Japan, reading at a staggering 8.9 on the richter scale. This caused a series of smaller tremors to occur shortly after, as the aftermath of the initial disaster unfolded. A tsunami reaching heights of 10m waves crashed into the eastern coastline, causing unknown levels of damage. To call it a disaster doesn't come close to it - and my thoughts go out to every family affected, wether it be in Japan or families throughout the world who have relatives in the quake zone. Communication must be chaos at the minute, causing even more upset for those caught up in the mad panic of trying to locate loved ones.

I have been following the developments closely via the BBC News website - with live coverage of the affected areas.

Further to the awful events, there is growing concerns for a nuclear crisis, as three of the diesel powered cooling systems failed on shut down of the reactors following the earthquake, the BBC reports. Two of the three systems were stabilised with the use of mobile facilities, however one remained unstable, and although serious efforts were made to reduce worryingly high pressures building in the units - an explosion occurred yesterday at around 8pm (GMT). Today concerns are growing around a similar situation building in another unit. The radial evacuation precautions have been doubled.

The current future in Japan is highly uncertain as the country is in a state of emergency, chaos and sheer panic.

The media is portraying the general state of the situation as a whole, which is important when confusion breaks out during the early stages of disaster - although my thoughts go to those individual people who are disconnected from such reporting. Power cuts continue and panic must of well and truly set in, as those of us reading about the latest online probably know more about it than for example those that have had everything washed away, and have barely survived themselves. As the days go on, food, clean water and sanitary become an growing issue, amongst a multitude of other things, such as contact with relatives and shelter.

from bbc.co.uk/news

Every country unaffected by this will be pulling out the stops to send aid, although little can be done to aid the grief felt by those who have lost family, a lifetime of irreplaceable possessions, and even their own lives.

Perhaps this is an awaking to us all that nuclear energy is although a renewable source, far from being safe, clean or indeed the way forward. I vote Green at every possible opportunity as I constantly live in fear of issues such as this arising from nuclear power. I really do not understand the benefits at all.

That aside - our thoughts are with you, Japan.

Thank You, and Goodnight!

I hope!

I'd just like to take the opportunity to say a huge thanks to Jonathan Baldwin for this years Design Studies programme.

Although we joked about the annoyances of the assignments throughout and perhaps praised guest speakers more openly - I for one have highly enjoyed the module as a whole. The lectures were far from boring (ok, I maybe nodded off during one, but for JB's sake I'll say I was out the night before), and his innovative teaching methods kept us amused like toddlers at the Zoo.

The reading material (apart from the recent excerpt from Bourdieu) has been interesting to say the least - albeit perhaps not what I would have expected. In fact, I have gone on to purchase more from Malcolm Gladwell as a result.

I suppose I'm just trying to say I'm glad I had the chance to attend this module, and think it's a great shame that the changes leave a questionable future for these specific lectures. In that respect, I feel very lucky to have been part of it.

Hopefully what I've learnt this year will set me up with the skills I need to tackle the forthcoming monstrosity that is 3rd and 4th year.

Thanks again JB (and to all the speakers that have accompanied him throughout) - you the man!

although this perhaps might be too far come graduation,
well, unless I get a 1st!

In the words of David Bowie: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Today we had a lecture/meeting about the proposed changes to the DJCAD programme structure, with several members of the academic faculty present, along with students from Textiles, Jewellery and Metalwork and Interior and Environmental Design - although a substantial amount of JMD students were unavailable due to course commitments. 

Firstly I'd like to point out to those who read this who study in a different discipline from myself that I voiced several issues from the IED perspective - some of which are not entirely my personal issues with the changes, but are talked about in great depth amongst my fellow classmates during studio time. However, after kicking up sh*t for a meeting so we could all be properly informed about the changes - people suddenly lost their voice when it came to voicing these aforementioned concerns. 

Enter Shona. 

When busy people such as Andy Milligan (our head of IED) and Jonathan, along with Mike and Frances from Textiles give up time out of their busy days to give us a chance to question all these changes - why does the powerful voice heard so much in class suddenly evaporate as if it never existed? In fact, people changed their tune in front of the masses - but yet back in the studio, the same moans and groans can still be heard. It made me feel like the big bad wolf from IED in that lecture and left me less than impressed with the lack of voice when it mattered. 

Frustrating.

Although I can see that everyone stands to benefit from the proposed change (use of other facilities, and knowledge from other disciplines etc.), it will always feel somewhat of an odd choice of grouping. Yes "craft" may be taken as a term meaning to belong to a creative profession, it's just craft in it's main sense is rarely what we do. I don't know what my personal distaste for the word "craft" is, I just don't like it. Perhaps it's because I "use software or computers and stuff" - the irony of being described as that amused me, as this was said while trying to convince me IED is a craft. Furthermore, having even more people using the woodwork workshop will probably render our furniture module obsolete as space is already an issue during this project - which ironically is the IED project that has the strongest tie to the damned "craft" word that's getting banded about. 

Another thing that is bothering IED more than the other disciplines is the loss of our first year. A huge amount is learnt during this crucial learning curve, and, on thinking back to the knowledge I came in with and the level of IED we are currently at now - it is difficult to expect newcomers to maintain 2nd-4th year levels when only entering in their second year. The "T" shaped graph of knowledge that was talked about is all very well, but we struggle to get our projects complete as it is. We have for example just been given an extension over the Easter break to accommodate for the masses of work within our discipline that is due, let alone a module here and there based in other fields. I guess what I am ultimately concerned for is the final outcome of our degrees, and not just for our individual years, but the course as a whole - by giving us these new options and opportunities to learn new skills across varying areas, are we diluting our specialised knowledge and therefore jeopardising the strength and quality in each field come degree show? This isn't even just from an IED perspective, the same goes for all disciplines.

It feels like a car sales man's trying to persuade me, sell it to me, make me think it's good - when really we've all got a sinking feeling and a knot in our stomaches, wether it's voiced or not.

I'm scared all courses will end up a mish mash of several inter disciplinary modules that leave you graduating a jack of all trades, master of none - and I don't think anybody, from any field, would like this to happen to what they are passionate about.

The Curriculum Vitae & Semiotics

I was surfing the abyss that is the interwebs when I came across a few sites that listed interesting resume ideas. This got me thinking - what will I chose to do to attract attention when it comes to looking for a job that doesn't involve serving drinks to drunk students?

Here are a few of my favourites:

The Origami CV

I like this one because it is simple and unusual. Imagine receiving something like this via post - it would certainly make me smile, especially if it was in a more interesting shape that you have to unfold. Takes folding paper to fit envelopes to a whole new level!

The T-Shirt CV

This is a cool idea as again it makes for an interesting delivery, but the only problem I can see with this is if you have never met who would be reading it - you may insult them by sending a size far too small or vice versa.

That aside though - I like this idea of printing on something other than paper, which leads me to what else could you print on?

The Infographic CV

For those of you who have read some of my recent postings - this one excites me a lot!

It's simple, efficient, and interesting without being cluttered up with a lot of writing. The initial impact of seeing it makes it a very successful way to display your stats and traits.

 The Compact CV

This one is similar in a way to the origami one shown above, although is very compact. If you were to send this in a very very small box then it would be surprising to get in your in tray.

It's simple and clean, and a way of sprucing up a simple text based CV, but keeping a traditional format inside.

Probably good for those who are will to try a more ambitious CV style but not willing to risk a crazy graphic design style.

 The Whole Package CV

This one is good, although it is a lot of work.

Receiving a well thought out pack with miniature flyers, brochure of work, contact detail cards and a poster is a nice thought, and reminds me of a pull out in The Guardian or The National Geographic etc.

It's a nice idea, but as I say - it's a job in itself to make it all. I guess it depends how long you have been out of work, and how much time you have to make all of this!

The Comic Book CV

This one has a lot of impact. I like the simplicity, and the fact that you can get text on it without it being irritating - although how much text you need I guess is something I could tell you if I read more into semiotics.

The limited colours also mean it doesn't get cluttered as easily - something I'm sure employers like. Surely there is nothing worse than trawling through hundreds (and in this climate probably thousands) of applications for a single position, and being bombarded with busy sheets and a lot of pointless text. Although as these are all for creative positions and I myself hope to also be applying to something in the creative industry - you'd hope applicants would have a sense about this given their field. You never know though - they might just be the ones without a job.



I think I would write my website address on 50 bananas and send them in a basket to whoever I wanted a job with. Overwhelm them with fruity madness!

If that didn't work, I think I would perhaps make a box of teabags - but replace all the information on the box with my information - but fill it with some nice fruity tea bags and send them to an employer. Who doesn't like tea, right?

EcoBuild: One week until LDN

Well, I have had my confirmation email, assuring me my pass for EcoBuild 2011 is on it's way!

To those who are reading this and are not in the sustainable industry, I am not surprised if you are moving your cursor to exit this post now - but don't.

Everybody is in the sustainable industry. Do you eat? Do you heat your home? Do you travel by any means other than walking or cycling? I'm going to put all my money on your answer being yes.

Without sounding like a Green Peace volunteer that chases you down the street asking for phone numbers and email addresses - protecting and reviving the environment is something we should all concern ourselves with. People seem to think (or tell themselves to ease the guilt) that it won't affect them in their life time, so why bother. It's too much of an irritation to their daily life to consider recycling that sandwich carton, or not take the plastic carrier bag for their meal deal at lunch.

Well, without harping on - it will. I try never to use plastic bags, either just using that age old technique of carrying the one item you have purchased by hand, or using reusable jute bags. It's so easy to incorporate into your lives, and, if everyone was to do this also - would make a difference. I posted a video a few weeks ago about turning off computers - something that seems to trivial and tiny, but, on mass makes an astounding difference.

EcoBuild 2010

Well, why am I going on about saving the rain forests and being green? Aside from it being a personal interest - next week is EcoBuild in London - an annual conference in which thousands of people from various industries gather to educate and promote sustainable products. It's a fantastic opportunity for us young student designers to gain knowledge about products covering a vast array of topics, including contraction materials, surface finishes, techniques, and services that are all from a sustainable background - and the best part is, it's free to attend!

There are also various speeches given throughout the 3 day event (Tues 1st March - 3rd March 2011) including several familiar names - one household name this year being Kevin McCloud - although I personally am not a fan.

This will be the second time I myself will be attending, although hopefully this year without the mix up of passes there was during 2010's event - to which we waiting in a line longer than the average street.

I will post my findings after my visit - along with any other worth while things I encounter during my visit to London.

EcoOffice: Visit to SEPA Arbroath

On Wednesday, Paula, Christina and myself took a trip to Arbroath to interview one of the members of staff at SEPA's Arbroath offices. We tried to put together a selection of questions that the brief had not answered, and although he was very helpful, we have been left with some questioned still unanswered.

One of the main aspects that we were unsure about tackling, was a potential laboratory in the fictitious Dundee branch. Unfortunately, Arbroath is such a small office, it does not have such a facility. We were told however, that Aberdeen offices had recently opened their new building, which had labs. As a result of finding this out, we are currently deliberating wether or not to visit, as time is also becoming a factor.

The building itself in Arbroath was an old doctors surgery, and was reasonably old. Due to this, there was little sustainable aspects, and pretty much what you would imagine any office environment to be like. Coffee rings on desks, paper mounting up in piles, and the odd indoor plant to brighten things up. We also timed our visit just as it was being painted, with eco friendly paint I hope!

One of the questions we asked was if there was a running theme throughout the offices, and the answer was basically they would like to have the SEPA logo colours incorporated throughout. It's a teal colour, not unlike some of the typeface on my blog. This I assume, is not difficult for us to use during the remainder of our task.

A lot of our answers were based around what SEPA do as an organisation, and not so much about design itself. Although at first I was unsure as to how much help this may be, I have come to realise that the better we understand how they work, the easier it is for us to understand how to improve working conditions - and only after this, incorporate the sustainability factor. One of the things that is a result of this was realising that office employees also have a role out with the office itself, as they sometimes visit sites. An offshoot of this is that they also use equipment on site that in Arbroath's case, is currently kept in garage space some 10 minutes away. This is food for thought, as equipment space was not a requirement of the initial brief.

A lot of the facts that we were told can be found on their website, including annual pdf reports, documenting statistical data regarding SEPA's office emissions.

All in all it was a useful trip as it let us get an insight into how they work, although ultimately a trip to their Aberdeen offices would also be beneficial.

filing space seems to be an issue

...definitely need more filing space

a bit of a theme appears to be coming apparent

recycling efforts - I'm sure we could aim higher!

as a borderline OCD sufferer for organisation - this stresses me out!

Lecture: Tweeting, blogging, and getting yourself known!

Lauren Currie (@Redjotter), a former MDes student here at DJCAD gave us an inspiring lecture today with regards to service design.

Although she came from a Product Design bachelors background, I can see that every aspect of design is related. It's like one big pot of design, swirling in a vortex with all of our different disciplines competing in an olympic fashion - although I don't fancy the image of me in a swimming cap, sporting the I&ED team colours.

Service design is something that's been simmering in the back of my noggin since last years lecture on the same topic. I have since opened up a folder that I store all my ideas for fourth year, masters or future projects - wherever the wind takes me, with a hind of service design cropping up regularly. Something I'm very interested in developing is flat-packed care. Not just for the elderly, but for people suffering disability (short and long term), and those suffering injury. The environmental aspect of I&ED is getting to me quite a bit too, and have become very aware of my footprint. This is something I would also like to incorporate. Green DIY care. Flat-packed eco hugs. Making people feel better, and making the environment feel better at the same time - it's a nice thought anyway.

It was so good to see such a positive outcome from the simple things such as tweeting and blogging. I am quite an avid fan of both of these routes, as well as LinkedIn and Skype. I was astounded to find that when I started following the likes of The Guardian, BREEAM, and various magazines, people from the same industry began following me. Although I am somewhat of a small presence online, I can only imagine what I will be able to gain from persevering over the next few years as an undergraduate. I'd love to get even one of the many opportunities Lauren has got through these means. I've already taken on her advice about having a consistent image - although I change the hue for each network.

...and be controversial! (GFDA)

My only gripe is not with the lecture today (it was very good after all), but with the lectures in general. Us in Interiors get forgotten! Every time an example is given it's "if you are in jewellery", or "as a textile student", or "for example, if you graduate in graphics", and so on. We feel a little invisible. Will there be any future talks given from MDes students who are post grad I&ED? Or perhaps post grads in industry? Even a small specifically relevant part? Please!

But apart from that - another good week for Design Studies. All these people who moan and groan about having to do all these "chores" don't seem to get that it's all to aid their future.

They don't hire average joe, after all.

...And just to finish off, I thought I'd leave you all with a website I have been on recently: Good F*cking Design Advice. It's motivational yet light hearted - but perhaps NSFW. None the less it gets you back down to earth. Get fucking inspired!

EcoOffice: Materials Documents

Below are a few of the pages from the pdf I am currently putting together, documenting all the materials I plan to use throughout my building renovation. It will read as somewhat of a brochure that has been specifically put together with this building in mind, and include as many sustainable products as possible.

I plan on gaining most of my knowledge base for this aspect of the project from EcoBuild at the end of the month, which is held annually in London.  As I develop these ideas, I will add the relevant pages as and when they are created. 

Save The World, Turn It Off

Here is a motivational animation I found while surfing the interwebs, which I tweeted. Statistics don't half make you feel guilty.

So help save the world, and turn it off!

EcoHouse: Go Green!

By not driving, and turning electrical items off properly rather than leaving them on standby, I have reduced my footprint below the UK average. It feels good! 

Currently we are researching in small groups, as a small mini project before beginning "EcoHouse". I took a short test to see my Carbon Footprint, which you can take on The Guardian's website.

We are in the middle of creating a presentation, trying to condense the term "green design" into a concise definition - something that sounds simple but is quite complex once you start digging into the terms sustainability, eco-friendly, zero emissions, and carbon neutral etc. 

I used my new app "MindNode" to clean up our mind maps, which if anything, show how exponential it can get. I hope to post our final definition on Monday, as presentations will be held on Tuesday. 

There is more to be added - we broke it down into the following: architecture, energy, interiors, product design, furniture, health and materials - which have been delegated amongst us to research further over the weekend. I will be looking at architecture and energy.

Life: How Far Around The Globe Can You Push Design?

My aunt's tent in Antarctica (not for the whole duration of her stay, I may add!)

Recently, I have been suffering quite severe anxiety attacks, which, for those of you who are unaware of how these can affect people - cause pent up anxiety to overwhelm you at any point, without warning or any provoking, creating a state of confusion in the victim leading to difficulty in concentrating, along with headaches, dizziness, slowed reactions, numb limbs, and, during prolonged states of anxiety can cause insomnia and loss of appetite. It is far from a pleasant experience. You also become your own worst enemy as you start to dread the onset of another episode, which ironically - can cause it. It's just something that you learn to deal with, as it tends to re-surface periodically throughout your life.

When this does happen though, I have found that perspective is very important when it comes to snapping out of it. And I don't mean an isometric perspective, I mean a perspective on life - that you, as an individual are a mere pin prick on the earths surface. Something you may consider mammoth in your life - doesn't even scratch the surface of the world. It's nothing. A mere spec of dust. I don't mean to get philosophical - but it's hard to comprehend until you start to really appreciate that you make up a mere 0.00000005% of the world. Even then, that's only out of humans, there's then other mammals, plant life, marine life, birds, reptiles, insects. Species that have since become extinct, whatever may be out in space, and so forth. I know we, as designers, are supposed to aim to beat the statistics that are against us - be the ones to make the difference, but when I sift through images on the National Geographic it's only then I realise what we do doesn't even come close to impacting on the tranquil places around the world. The tranquil places that most of us will only ever see photographs of. How for example, does cutting edge interior design impact or improve life in the Peruvian Inca communities? How would fantastic thought provoking graphic design influence Sri Lanken farmers? The answer is, 99% of the time it doesn't. Blissfully unaware of these things means communities such as these around the globe have a totally different perspective on the world, and the significance of design is minimal.

That, is what I think of anyway, when I find myself in a state of panic and anxiety.

Humpback Whale Breaching - ©National Geographic 

I got a similar engulfing feeling when I went on a trip off the coast of Cape Cod to see hump back whales. They were so elegant and graceful for their size, you were unbelievably overwhelmed by them. They said usually you would only get a short sighting of perhaps 1-2 in total - however we came across between 9-12 whales, 2 or 3 of which bonded with the boat and breached closely - something the guide had never seen in 20 years. There's something magnificent about when a whale of that magnitude breaches and sinks their tail in the effortless way they do. Like I said - it makes you feel like an ant, a mere insect to the vast world out there. You suddenly want to dis-concern yourself with trivial local issues that are minor in the grand scheme of what is out there to be discovered.

Furthermore, my aunt is currently in Antarctica for a year. Blissfully unaffected by social chaos. No public transport delays. No Royal Mail muck ups. No complaints to be made at customer services. No waste.

Just silence. Endless silence that stretches for what may as well be eternity. Untouched landscape, that's not polluted by engine fumes, nor litter. No signs enforcing society's rules upon you. No smoking ban. No traffic jams. Just absolute, perfect, clean, uncontaminated, blissful, silence. There must be something appealing about it - given that this is her second trip there. Sometimes even the biggest of city slickers like myself, yearn for peace. 

But, as there is no rest for the wicked - it's back to the studios tomorrow.

Ding ding ding, round two!

Mac Update

I recently updated my MBP after continuously declining, and came to the inevitable conclusion that I was eventually going to have to accept a software update.

Included in this, aside from changing my iTunes logo (to my annoyance) was the new addition of the AppStore in my dock. It's quite a nice feature really. I'm currently in the process of downloading the Twitter app to allow desktop updates - along with a feature that allows control-click tweets from anywhere.

While browsing the free app's catagory, I noticed the top rated one was "MindNote". This is a nice little app to create mind maps with, so will be downloading that when I remember my AppleID login - which amused me, as you are redirected to "iForgot" to reset your details. Lolz.

DJCAD: New Studio Space

We have been told that DJCAD is set to be going under serious renovation over the next few academic years. As exciting as it is, it causes almost immediate disruption to the Interior & Environmental department as our current studio space inhabits most of floor 5 in the Matthew Building - which is set to be developed into the new cantina area. As a result of our current area being designated to other uses, we are being moved up stairs to the top floor - level 8 - over the next academic summer. Such upheaval has caused a mixed response within our department, leaving a lot of us a little perplexed at the thought of getting ready to move. There was a lecture provided to explain what exactly will be happening, however it unfortunately landed during the critical height of our projects, so few people made it. Nobody seems to be sure of how it will pan out - as the layout on the floors above is somewhat different, meaning we will have to alter our working layout. 

Currently there is a large studio housing first through third year, with two a-joining critique spaces, allowing us to showcase work and conduct meetings during group work. We also unofficially inhabit the gallery space on level 5, allowing us to mark out large spaces during early development work. Fourth year are housed opposite in a long private studio, with an additional crit space at the end, which can also be used by all years. All in all, the current layout works well, and with the main studio acting somewhat as a "hub" for the bustle and energy, allowing fourth year to continue in peace. I&ED is after all, renowned for their nursery like ways - paper planes and paint everywhere. 

Being interior students, we had to investigate our to-be studios. Upon conducting our  investigation upstairs, we were a little surprised and found that it was a totally different atmosphere to what we were used to. I can't help but feel that when I step out the lift, I have just entered a floor of The Overlook Hotel: 

And having an overactive imagination such as I do, it means I then expect to return along the corridor to be confronted with the iconic blood elevator: 

But as I say, I just have a terrifying over active imagination. 

I hope something interesting is done with regards to the studio spaces, as it looks as though we are going to have two studios - perhaps splitting first and second year from third and fourth. This may work well, as it allows the latter stages to bounce ideas off of one and other, as they are more developed in the course. 

I do hope the orange doors are painted, or removed altogether - it's currently a Stanley Kubrick nightmare. Bare breeze-block is bearable to an extent, but I find the whole attic like space quite terrifying. I can't imagine I'd be staying behind late on my own, in the winter, and snow...it's sounding more and more like The Shining. 

On discussing this with fellow classmates, Ross suggested it may be good to incorporate "Idea Paint" into the new studios - a paint that once dry acts as a drawing space that may be cleaned and reused. This would be fantastic for group work and brainstorming - and even mind maps! I'm unsure as to the expense of such a product, but it is surely within reach. I hope sustainability will be high on the agenda as well, as I would feel awfully hypocritical to study sustainable building in a space that contributed hugely to waste!

Although it will be sad for us to leave what we have considered a home from home over the (almost) past two years, in a way, it will be a nice thing to happen...as what is more interesting to an I&ED student, than a studio refurbishment? 

...just leave out the horrid carpets, please. 

*Shudders*

Reduce|Reuse|Recycle: New Year, New Project, Re[new]able Energy!

First of all, let me just wish everybody a Happy New Year and all that! 

The festivities are over once again, that is of course, until the inevitable giant magical revolving calendar door does a full circle bringing us into 2012 - along with the Olympic Games and the end of the world (if Nostradamus is anything to go by). But enough of the apocalyptic chat.

On a lighter note: I got a morph in my stocking! YAS!

After a much needed rest after first semester - I'm more than recharged for jumping back into the deep end with my forthcoming project: sustainability. There are a few aspects to this project, but from what I have gathered from last years briefs which are still available online, we are required to consider (but not solely limited to) the following: 

1. Investigate and question what the journey is surrounding books, including their content and presentation. What makes a book? Concern ourselves with the art of book binding, and the creation of precious texts and so forth. 
2. Sustainability within design. How does the environment influence design? What products have been designed specifically with the environment in mind? What must we be taking into consideration when designing for the future?
3. Locating possible job positions that we would like to consider as a graduate - what would we consider as a derivative position from the course content?

From the above background research, we are asked to then create a book with green content in small groups. As a result, we will have an upcycled handmade book - that is, to recycle and reuse existing products and waste materials into something of equal or better quality and therefore reduce the need to manufacture brand new products (to downcycle is to create new products that are inferior to the original)(McDonough & Braungart, 2002). 

Further to the aforementioned pre-project tasks, we are then to carry on our findings, progressing onto redesigning and upcycling an existing 2‐storey dwelling with attic extension incorporating living/working accommodation for a client, Emma Fraser, who is a book conservator in the University of Dundee. 

We must accommodate for our client’s requirements, including: a space to cook and eat, a space to bathe, a space to entertain and/or relax, 2 spaces to sleep one for Emma and one for visitors, a space to work (40m2)(24m2 studio – clean space, 10m2 dirty area and 6m2 storage), and a space for outdoor living/working.

art is what you can get away with, after all

I've already downloaded the plans and printed them, and even got on with some preliminary SketchUp ideas - I was after all feeling like I needed to stuck in with something new. I've also just ordered my Design Studies books, as the snow's melted, and deliveries are now possible again! Whoopie! 

I got several things this Christmas that will be joining me in the studio when we return; including a Morph in my stocking which will join me at my desk, as well as origami post-it notes! My favourite silly gift is still an Andy Warhol "inspiration box" that houses a miniature Andy Warhol to help inspire me when it's rainy and windy and not very pleasant - so that's daily really. 

It will soon be time to visit EcoBuild in London again (I've ordered my pass already), but this time I think it will be much more valuable - as our project is more concerned with these aspects of building. Sustainability is something we should always concern ourselves with, as it is our future. I'm gathering a library of ecological materials that I will research into further in time, but for now as it is still the holidays - they can continue to gather dust in my Eco bookmarks folder, while I continue to add more as and when I come across them.

See you all soon, folks!