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.

Design Studies: Snooping in London

Further to my recent posts about ethnography, I thought I'd explain my findings during my primary and secondary locations.

My primary location - a place in which we are unfamiliar with, somewhere we do not regularly occupy, and therefore feel a reasonable amount of discomfort in - was the London underground system, primarily in the business district, stretching into the ExCel exhibition centre. These places were locations that I felt generally out of my depth, as busy business men smoothy made the transition from work to transport with their silent unspoken etiquette. This was something a student in particular would find intimidating, as you are an amateur to their world, and feel like you are getting under their busy feet. Do I stand? Do I give them my seat? What do I do when I can't reach a rail to steady myself? How do you get across the extremely busy carriage if you find the stop's doors are on the opposite side to which you are? Do you apologise if you brush up against someone? It's all easier said than done, but regulars to this do it with ease.

Oh, and apparently nobody apologies in London.

this was just the entrance hall, mid morning!

We also had to select a secondary location - somewhere where we felt comfortable, a place that we regularly visit. For this, I selected my local bus stop - in which I visit up to 4 times a day. I understand that if an older person were to come to the stop I would allow them on first so they don't feel like they are holding up the bus by getting on last, I'd also help them with any bags. I understand that you allow the people to alight the bus before I board. I understand that you only say "you first", "no you" a maximum of twice, or the politeness catch 22 will never end. I also understand, that at an empty stop you should always sit at the waiting seats towards an end, so that others arriving can sit on it without feeling they have to sit right next to a stranger, or do the awkward slide along. Not all stops have a "No Smoking" sign - but everyone from Scotland is aware of the law stating you may not smoke in a bus stop with 3+ sides. This means a post is ok to smoke at, a side with a roof is ok, but not two sides and a roof. I know all this because over time I have absorbed the unspoken etiquette.

All of these things are learnt through doing, but how could this be made more apparent for newcomers? My primary and secondary locations have highlighted that although I find my daily routine easy, I only perceive it to be easy as I have done it for so long. A new surrounding brings new customs to adhere to, but how can you prevent that awkward "oh look, here's an out of town-er" stare? This brings me to my next task:

Relating This To Interior & Environmental Design


Signs can be overwhelming. Yes, we need minimal signage to direct us generally, and warn us of serious dangers and hazards, but bombarding a person with ways in which to behave and react would be inappropriate - in fact it would do the opposite of it's intention and leave the newcomer even more intimidated by the whole situation.

So how can the design of the location help improve acceptable etiquette in busy a metropolis? Perhaps a simple floor plan on the carriage floor may help - similar to that of footsteps found on the ground at cash points, making people aware of how far away they should stand from the user for security and privacy when access private information, such as that of bank balances.

A consistent distance away from everyone means that there's less chance of the awkward squeeze, and perhaps align these with easy access to rails for each passenger to hold on to. Footstep places would of course need to be much closer together in order to hold a similar amount of people to present numbers, but by arranging them in a more logical fashion, it would perhaps allow for a calmer organised structure of people to travel - thus making it less daunting for newbies.

Pompidou Centre

Another thing that I found was missing was clearer signage to platforms. In a large crowd, it was difficult to see which way to go when switching line at one station. We travelled a lot on the DLR to Lewisham, however several DLR lines travelled in that general direction, although with different final destinations. Perhaps colour coded lines on the ground directing you to each platform would prevent people having to scout for signs - something that slows up crowds and irritates people who know where they are going. Following a simple thing like this would make it easier for people who have never experienced such a place before to blend in with the masses of regulars. This form of direction is regularly seen in hospitals, and an example is given above from The Pompidou Centre, Paris.

As far as The ExCel goes, it was quite well laid out, and made it easy for us to make our way around. It was more intimidating in terms of the social aspect, as we were out of our depths in terms of knowledge, rather than navigation.

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!

Techmas: Jesus? Who The Hell Is He - Where's My iPad!

It seems these days people are obsessed with gadgetry. iPhones, iPads, iPods, Blackberrys, HTC handsets, laptops, netbooks, PDAs, bluetooth headsets, computer chips in your head that communicate for you from your bed...the list is virtually endless. Okay, I perhaps made the last one up, but it really is just a matter of time until that too is available.

Christmas is often a time people use to get their hands on said gadgets - it's an excuse to rationalise spending £500+ on things that throughout the year they lived quite comfortably without. Now I'm sure by now the Church has been alerted through their online tabs on the sinful world (can you tell I'm both paranoid about the Church and also an Atheist? How ironic!) of my bad mouthing of Christmas, but at a mere 21 I am already sick of the tacky fiasco that surrounds something that few people care about, in it's original sense that is. Gifts were originally a gesture of goodwill, but it's now all about monetary value.

I'm aware that my above ramblings may be somewhat disjointed and out of the blue - but let me explain further.

I remember as a child looking forward to the festive holidays because you got to see your family, the whole day was a celebration and we would sit around the television watching Bed Knobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins, It's a Wonderful Life and so on. Of course as a small child I was also highly enthralled to receive my Fisher Price kitchen - with an assortment of plastic groceries, but forgive me for that - I was after all, a child.

The older I have become, the more I have become a cynic. I go into town and hear people saying "I want that" every other second and it winds me up to no end. When I had a rant (me? Never!) to my Dad about why we even celebrate it in a completely Atheist household, he said that it's more of a winter festival than a celebration of Jesus Christ's birthday. I thought that was actually a much better description. People enjoy having something to build up to and work towards during the cold winter when it's dark and miserable. It helps pass the time, and it's a chance for people to get together I suppose.

I like that idea much more.

I think people should try having a Christmas where they all spend a small set amount on each other, but put the effort in in terms of what they are giving, as oppose to how much they are giving. Then, their day would be spent less focussed on their pile of gifts, and instead enjoy the warmth, food and relaxing break from their hectic daily lives. To some extent my family have decided to do that this year, as we all collectively do not care hugely for it.

I'm going to start celebrating Steve Jobs' birthday instead - I care more about him and what he has brought to the world than I do Jesus. At least I'm being honest.

Happy Hanukkah folks!

Design Studies: Word Of Mouth Has It..

Over the past week I have been extremely busy to say the least, with ongoing class projects and the associated difficulties. Needless to say, I have not posted for a while as a result. Aside from that, I have also been delayed as there have been conflicting stories on what is actually required for the last of this semesters Design Studies assignments. Below is what I started, but I have decided to in fact use difference sources, for two reasons - one, originally I was lead to believe that we were required to write 1000 words in total for our source (500 on summarising the source, and a further 500 detailing it's link to our chosen topic which was derived from The Tipping Point). This was then to be repeated for a second source. It was then discovered that we were in fact to write 500 per source in terms of summarising, and then a further 500 words pitting each source against each other and exposing any conflicting evidence - thus totalling 1500 words. However, the two original sources I had selected do not work so well for cross analysing so I have decided to alter my selection.

Secondly, CrossSearch - Dundee Universities online journal search, with online reading facility - has decided to crash due to high volumes trying to access it. I guess it's acceptable, given it's the week before the end of semester. Alas, I do not fear as my previous in depth research into my topic has left me with various other alternatives.

Below is the beginning of my original write up, however as stated above it is no longer what I will be continuing with, but I thought I would post it anyway, as a more in depth annotation if you will.

Dellarocas, C. & Narayan, R. (2006). A Statistical Measure of a Population's Propensity to Engage in Post-Purchase Online Word-of-Mouth. Institute of Mathematical Statistics: Statistical Science. Vol 21. (No. 2.). p. 280.

Dellarocas and Narayan provide statistical evidence to support the word of mouth theory by which information regarding an object, service or the like is passed along with added opinions of their success. From this, a reputation occurs, usually either in the form of a recommendation or the opposite - advice to avoid such a item. This can be generated solely from personal opinion; if enough people recommend a product, the general consensus would be that the product is good, and someone with no prior knowledge of it would then consider buying or using such an item as a result.

Viral marketing aims to generate commotion and uproar around a selected object - with the ultimate outcome being that an explosive word of mouth epidemic radiates out from their epicentre of advertising. It relies upon not only an outlandish memorable advert and or performance to kick start such a process, but it long term relies upon the public reacting to the original incident and then passing their experience along, with an accelerating effect. This is where word of mouth statistics are highly crucial, as these must be taken into account when tailoring the perfect viral marketing campaign. It must also appear effortless; as if it was a mishap or accidental broadcast. An example of such forced accidental viral campaign is that of Threshers Christmas discount voucher. They "accidentally" released a "suppliers only" voucher which entitled the user to 40% off. The online leak caused unprecedented circulation for such a small campaign, thus being highly successful.

My "new and improved" summary of:

Hill, S., Provost, F. & Volinsky, C. (2006). Network-Based Marketing: Identifying Likely Adopters Via Consumer Networks. Institute of Mathematical Statistics: Statistical Science. Vol. 21. (No. 2.). p. 256-260.

Godin, S. (2005). Purple Cow. London, UK: Penguin Books. p.7, 31-32, 79-80.

Dorrian, M. & Lucas, G. (2006). Guerrilla Advertising: Unconventional Brand Communication. London, UK: Laurence King Publishing. p.54-101.

Kirkby, J. & Marsden, P. (2006). Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz and Word Of Mouth Revolution. Oxford, Great Britain and MA, USA: Butterworth-Heinmann of Elsevier.

will follow shortly.

Thundersnow!

Tweet

Wow. The ludicrous actions of the general public never cease to surprise me.

To explain - we have been experiencing some drastic weather as of late. The media is of course blowing it out of proportion, but to be fair it has caused quite a lot of disruption to daily routines - such as bus services being reduced to minimal routes, if not cancelled completely, trains being cancelled, schools and universities closing and some local amenities closed until further notice. Roads are blocked quite badly with only main roads being cleared properly, and several cars have been stuck in my street. The latter however, has been enjoyable for me from the warmth of my house - as I have been stuck at home with no transport, and university and work closed.

It has also been the source of the explosive term infecting every corner of the internet at the minute - "thundersnow". As we have been experiencing heavy snow, it has caused thunderstorms to occur as well. It is unusual, and a first for most people, but the reason I think most people are so animated about it is because they just like saying it. Most people didn't know what was going on during the night when it first begun - I myself woke up confused, genuinely thought it was the apocalypse and went back to the sleep with the attitude: well I'd rather be asleep for this anyway - it's not like I have an arc to safely save all species in. A similar incident occurred when the snow slid off the roof and past my window. The building shook and I couldn't see a thing out the window, which left me in a state of panic for a moment or two!

For you lot who enjoyed geography at school - get your teeth into this one: 

Thundersnow: it got so badass it even struck the Police HQ! 

So, thundersnow aside (even I can't stop saying it), I went to my local supermarket today - as the buses were running for a short period - to get some vegetables to make some nice homemade soup. Nothing wild. I wasn't panicking. I was cold, sure, but not losing my mind. With layers on similar to what my Aunt has to wear while working in the South Pole - I ventured out.

Well. On arrival to the supermarket I realise that I am quite alone in my calm shopping technique. 

The shelves were bare. There was virtually no bread. The vegetable aisle was derelict, with all produce long gone. I half expected tumble weed. People had panic consumed the whole shop, and probably stolen the toilet rolls from the customer toilets as well. 

Social networking sites have been ablaze with stories of the psychotic antics of the public in and around Scotland during these arctic conditions, which provide quite a lot of hilarity and amusement. There have been sightings of people taking sledges to the local supermarket in Dunblane, as "they got milk delivered". 

I myself, don't understand this hysteria. It's as if it's an apocalyptic freeze over - the start of a new ice age. It's quite insane. Common sense has been completely lost, and panic consumerism has taken over. Even if you wiped the milk shelf clean out, buying 150 pints of the stuff - it would still go out of date in around 5-6 days. Logic has been catapulted out the frost covered window, not unlike a snowball.

If Tesco were a cartoon character - it'd have dollar signs in it's eyeballs right now. I'm not sure when I became such a cynic but I'm convinced they will be sneakily raising their prices to get more out of this somehow. Cue supermarket mavens, swooping in like the unappreciated superhero. 

But alas, it won't go on forever. Eventually normality will be restored and albeit it will remain cold, I will be able to continue with my normal routines. Studio, work, a quick bite to eat then sleep, repeat.

In the mean time, a good snow ball fight is on the cards - and lets face it, nobody gets too old for that. 

TechnoPanic

"NOOOOO!"
*slow  motion run for charger*

My internet has decided to break.

10 years ago, this would of been a mere annoyance, given that you would have to phone up, be left frustrated hanging on hold for endless eternity and the nuisance of an engineer coming to your house. These days, however, there is a whole other aspect to the dodgy internet scenario: panic. 

I went online (when it seldomly decides to work) to look up "how to live without internet". What did I find? Not how to live without it, oh no, that would be unthinkable, I found out how to get internet if your internet is not working. eHow's first piece of advice is to locate free WiFi spots, not: just get on with life offline, you pseudocode-ing binary addict!

This is the society we live in today. We need it, like an addiction to cake or worse, heroin. It's insatiable. I'm not sure what it is we're addicted to on there, be it social networking or our hungry appetite for information. Gossip, gaming, education, stuff. Anything it would seem. I know I, myself, have a sick addiction to Wikipedia. Literally name anything, and I think I'd of read about it on there. (And yes, I am aware it is not reliable before anybody comments - but it's addictive none the less). What's not to get addicted to? An entire collection of random, entirely useless trivial knowledge that leaves you slightly perplexed, yet still googling away for more. Perhaps I'm more of a collect-o-maniac than fact-o-maniac. Hoarding trivia until one day I can pipe up with a fact or figure and get little to no kudos for knowing it. Inside however, I'll be smiling.    

Our digital obsession doesn't even end there. The same delirium would break out if mobile phone signal were to die, or even worse, if your battery were to die - cue tension building orchestral music. That sheer un-contactable panic. I know I've felt it myself while travelling and thought: this is when I'll die, nobody will ever find me - I'll die right now, here, alone, and never be traced because nobody can contact me. But with hindsight, I'm not sure who I would call if I were to die, or what I'd say. "Hi mum, just a quick voicemail to say I've died, bye!"

Silly really isn't it? 

Juteopolis: Urgh

This is going to be a big post, so brace yourself. I need to get it off my chest.

Tonight, it was my leaving party shenanigans from a much loved job in a bar. I'd worked there a little over two years, and loved (nearly) every moment of it. I've met some of my closest friends there and the rest of them, well, they aren't so bad either. Being a sociable bunch, a slightly raving mad bunch, and a general good laugh, I had looked forward to going out with a bang this evening, as I am one of the more colourful members of staff, so to speak!

However! Due to University commitments I left the celebrations, well, early to say the least. I caught the bus at 10.55pm. How Rock'n'Roll of me. I'm just so wound up about deadlines, sketches, images, research, books, images, deadlines, presentations, scans, deadlines, did I mention...DEADLINES?

"I want my presentation to be good,
and I want it done NOW!"

There was an old lady on my bus on the way home, who was crying. I felt so bad. Then I wondered what I would be like at her age. I wondered if she was crying because she messed up a project at University, which lead to her not getting her exchange opportunity, therefore employers didn't see anything extra special such as an exchange on her C.V. - so due to all that, was doomed to a life working in a bar in Dundee, and retiring with her free bus pass and hating her life. Life can snowball like that, after all. Right now, I know I'm being a melodramatic drama queen, but it's how I get things done. Assume the worst, over anticipate, over plan, and it works out. Because it has to.

1. Make list
2. Tick off making list
3. Tick off, ticking off making list..

I tried to take the bull by the horns early on in this project to make sure things were delegated into manageable task loads, thinking that, in the long term things would pan out evenly, allowing for a smooth decent towards the presentation. Boy, did I get that wrong.

See, I always make lists. Plans. Lists of what to eat this week. Lists of things to remember the following day. Lists of things around the house needing done. Lists of lists. And so on. This usually means I can calmly manage my time and not worry about my deadline so much. In fact, the last project during the previous term, I was completely finished and had my presentation pinned up 2 whole days in advance, leaving some relaxing time for a pint.

Clearly, this is not common practice.

"I want 10 new strands of these
tiger hairs sewn in, or Rocket Man
is coming off the set list! "

I feel like Elton John, taking a hissy fit and refusing to go on stage because the lights are not the correct angle, or I have 3 (of my 12 actual) strands of hair out of place. But jokes aside, I really am so stressed. I'm getting bitter, nasty, snappy, bitchy and the rest. It's like trying to keep a lid on an extremely volatile can of worms, and I'm terrified of the inevitable explosion. It's not a matter of if, but when.

The clocks ticking!

kaboom!