Tuesday 9 December 2014

BRIEF ELEVEN - YCN - BRIEFING

Today, a lady from the YCN team in London came into university and gave a short talk that introduced the 'You Can Now' creative network. Also discussed were the specifics of the 'Student Awards' such as how brands are chosen, how submissions are judged and what the benefits are of entering. 

Notes taken during the briefing are displayed below; 


Thursday 4 December 2014

PETER & PAUL - BRIEFING

Today we were briefed on the specifics of the Peter & Paul project.












Notes taken during the briefing - 


Tuesday 2 December 2014

BRIEF EIGHT - DESIGN PUBLICATION - METHODOLOGY REFINEMENT

At the end of the session with Ben he suggested that we should review our methodologies and refine them where appropriate.

Therefore, after the session with Ben I decided to review and analyse the methodology presented so that I could start to refine it, ensure that it is completely relevant to my practice and restructure the defined process to ensure it can be applied to all briefs.

Before progressing with the brief and refining my current approach to collecting research I reviewed information detailing the specifics of research methodologies. By examining this information I will develop an informed understanding of what a research methodology is and should achieve and in turn improve my own methodology. 







DESIGN RESEARCH THEORIES -


  • Ethnography is a design research approach which aims to understand cultural phenomenon - Very similar to my outlined approach.



REMEMBERING ETHICS - 





After collecting the research I started the process of analysing and refining my methodology by ensuring that it is relevant to my personal interests and design practice. Therefore, on a spider diagram I listed my personal and professional influences that impact my design work.


RELEVANT POINTS -
  • Visuals - Images (primary & secondary).
  • Visuals - Primary sketches.
  • Visuals - Collected printed media.
  • Outdoors - Getting out the house/studio.
  • Nature.
  • Sustainability.
  • Travelling - New cultures encountered.
  • Travelling - Inspiring individuals met.
  • Travelling - Architecture & other definitive visuals.
  • Hands on creation.
  • Sketching/Drawing - Method of recording. 


COMPARE & ANALYSE -

Using the list created detailing my design influences I reviewed my current methodology to see if has relevance to my practice.

  • Gonzo style research will get me out the house/studio and involved in the culture or subject reviewed - In turn this will help me create informed insight & innovative ideas.
  • The research methods listed are all quite social and will engage me with a range of new individuals, activities and take me to a range of new places - relates to my adventurous nature.
  • The hand bound sketchbook proposed as a method of recording information while collecting research is relevant to various aspects of my design influences and passions such as; sustainability, craft and my hands on approach to working. 
  • PROBLEM - One problem that was identified during this process is the fact that the research methodology is only suitable for collecting socially relevant information, any scientific or strictly data specific research would need to use a different methodology.  



REFINING THE METHODOLOGY -

Once I had reviewed the relevance of the methodology I progressed with refining its process to ensure it is applicable to all of my future briefs. To do this, I simply defined important aspects of the process that had not been included in previous renderings of the methodology. Aspects included, reading and analysing the brief and collecting some brief internet based research to form a base knowledge of the subject. 




BRIEF EIGHT - DESIGN PUBLICATION - WORKSHOP TWO

Today we had our second session with Ben from Ditto Press in which we presented our progress with the brief so far. 

After starting the session it was made apparent that Ben wanted to see a physical start to the brief such as a methodology diagram illustrating the individual stages of our personal research approaches. Unfortunately, due to confusion with what was required for the session nobody had brought anything physical to talk through, and so we were given 20minutes to generate something to present.

Luckily, I had already defined the specifics of my personal methodology and so just needed to quickly illustrate my approaches and illustrate the method defined to record information. 




PERSONAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY -
  • Style of research similar to Gonzo Journalism - Hunter S. Thompson.
  • Gonzo Journalism immerses journalist in culture reviewed - insiders perspective.
  • Relevant method to me - Gets me out the studio/house.
  • Relevant method to me - Creates a balance of visual and written information.
  • Methodology - No particular order, depends on subject.
  • Observations, primary images, conversations, interviews, intervirews, listening into peoples conversations, attending events, sketches, recordings, collection of printed material. 
  • Idea - Hand bound sketchbook - would be taken while researching and used to record.
  • Would be produced from recycled papers and hand bound - relevant to my design practice. 
  • Relevant as I miss using sketchbooks and the hands on approach used to record information within them. 


After each person had presented their idea Ben gave feedback to the group;
  • Good ideas, some need more development than others.
  • My method needs naming.
  • Refine and structure the methodology.
  • Put into practice.
  • Have something more physical to show for the next session.



Friday 28 November 2014

BRIEF SIX - FEATHR - WATERCOLOUR STUDIES

Watercolour mushroom studies developed from the identification book purchased specifically for the project.