Design Blog | Alanah Keen

Major Charette

After receiving the brief on Blackboard I did some initial individual brainstorming to see what idea’s I could bring to our first group meeting where our aim was to develop a solid concept.  Firstly, I looked at the restrictions on the task and what we actually had to do and then branched out to make it a unique design.  When looking into unique, experiential dining experiences I found it quite hard to source inspiration as there isn’t a large amount of things that have been done.  The two main sources of inspiration I found was the representation of Australia at Melbourne’s Vue de monde restaurant and interactive, iPad like screen tables in Asian restaurants.  Not feeling real confident on my findings, I headed off to the meeting in hopes that our great team collaboration would kick in again and that we would be able to bounce ideas off one another.

At the team meeting this was successful, bouncing ideas and changing them from initial ideas into a re-iterated concept for our restaurant: GoMA 360. Collaborating with the other group members was a fundamental part of the design process as it allowed ideas to be bounced and elaborated on.  After a great group meeting with Alice, our idea was more focused and professional, enabling us to knuckle down and get the task completed well.

We allocated different tasks to specific group members in order to maintain time efficiency and to use each person’s individual strengths within the task, allocating each person in adherence with what they were good at.  The presentation was broken down into 7 parts: Introduction to GoMA, demographic, preliminary research, our concept, the prototype, marketing and the promotional video.  My key contributions were determining a way to communicate the GoMA 360 concept effectively and all the post-production video aspects. These tasks posed some challenges as well as enjoyment. Creating a succinct version of a detailed, elaborate design concept was something I found challenging. Working with a team helped this challenge immensely as it could be proofed by another three people who knew as much on the topic as I did. This once again highlighted the benefit of collaborate work to me, building on my already developed enjoyment of it.

While every group member wasn’t always able to make it to all of our meetings I feel as though we all contributed to the task equally and worked super well together doing so.  Overall, the experience of the charette really taught me about teamwork, concept iteration and presentation skills.

Watching the group presentations showed a diverse array of responses to the brief.  Many of the concepts were quite similar to one another, revolving their design around the Jacaranda tree.  I definitely liked that ours was different and unique compared to these.  Overall, I think our presentation went really well and as a group we all spoke well and delivered our content successfully.  However, upon reflection, the things we could have improved on were: • Developing a more realistic prototype - This would be difficult as we don’t have the access to projection mapping technologies, yet I think we could have put more effort into what we did have in order for it to display the experience we are striving for more than it did. • Looking further into projection mapping and the technicalities of it so that we could expand on its function and use it to its maximum potential instead of simply using it as an interactive yet flat projection. • Adding more to the concept - Our tables were well developed and explained, and whilst restricted by time making it harder to add more into the presentation, I think we could have developed our concept a little further perhaps with extended projection mapping as explained before.

Changes in the Self as a Designer

How has the definition of design changed for you this semester? Design has remained rather the same in regard to definition to me from the beginning of the semester; I still believe it uses creative thinking and application to portray a message; be it culturally symbolic or simply beauty.  However, my knowledge, appreciation and approach to design has changed - I’ve learnt the thought process behind design and how much effort, thought and iteration go into each element that is included in the design; be it a logo or an apartment building.  

What risks have you taken this semester? How did they happen? What was something that challenged you? I don’t feel as if I’ve taken any significantly memorable ‘risks’ in regard to DXB101, however different things have challenged me throughout the semester.  As I didn’t do any design subjects at school (they weren’t offered at my smaller school) learning the process of design and it’s difference to what I believed it to be was a bit of a shift.  Design and Creative thinking tutorials were very ‘shared’ in regard to sharing your work and showing it to the whole group, and being someone who hasn’t done this previously I’m quite self conscious of my work.  I’ve never been an outgoing, speak up in class person, however, doing this unit has changed my mindset to not be apprehensive of my work and opinions in class discussions.  After sharing this with the tutorial in reflection, Andy said about how his mindset has changed from when he began his course, developing from self-consciousness to being able to talk about his work for ages, as it’s his work that he has worked hard on and loves.  Growing to develop this mindset is something I’d love to do.

In five years time, what is something you want to have done in your Design and Creative Thinking practises? In five years time, I would like to be working with non-traditional technology in an aim to change society’s social dependence on technology.  I personally dislike how dependent I know I am on technology in regard to social interaction and would love to ideate a type of technology that encourages real life social interaction rather than text on a screen.  However, I also believe that doing the bachelor of IVD will teach me countless new forms of design expression that I will be interested in and potentially want to peruse over the previous idea.  I’d also love to be working or getting experience overseas, possibly in England, America or Japan.

After a short introduction of the brief by Jaz, we formed groups and went to go ideate how to respond to the brief.

Firstly, we looked at what the restrictions on the task were.  We had to: • Create an iconic dining experience • Located in the City Botanic Gardens • Combination of urban, natural, cultural and culinary flavours • GoMA “Tables” • Determine a brand, its forms and experiences and a promotional campaign This gave us parameters to follow in the widely adaptable task, allowing us to fulfil the brief correctly and successfully.  With a clear vision of what we had to pull off in mind, we went down to the Botanic Gardens to develop a clear understanding of where we could actually physically implement our version of GoMA tables.  After wandering through different garden installations, we found a large, open, long stretch of grass that could potentially cater for a large amount of people.  To come up with our concept, no methodological approach was taken; rather, we simply bounced ideas off one another and let them grow into a resolved design.  We began by connecting tables to a traditional restaurant in the sense of a culinary experience.  This led to us deciding we wanted to bring the GoMA restaurant to the City Botanic gardens for a unique culinary experience, without the tables, making it a unique and somewhat ironic experience.  This would include a canapé menu styled event where art appreciators in the young, professional adult demographic could come to the gardens on a Friday night after work and experience a live artist and their food collaboration with GoMA head chef, Josue Lopez.  We sourced inspiration from simple things, such as natural wooden finishes, lighting from lanterns and the glowing city (not direct spotlights) and the hanging forms of the structure and large trees in the Botanic gardens near where we conceptualised our design. 

Further iteration and fine tuning of details led us to our final, more realistic design concept:  GoMA tables will be an interactive campaign that integrates experience and culture through a live art creation event in the City Botanic Gardens.  Each month a new artist with innovative cultural influences will collaborate with the GoMA Head Chef to create a canapé menu from locally and ethically sourced ingredients.  The event will run on Friday evening & Sunday afternoons across a 12-month period, with a single artist only featuring for one month. The key aspect of the event is that the artist will participate in live art creation of a culturally inspired table form. Whether this be painting an existing table, creation of a structural piece or anything they wish.  Following the month their table will be put up for display in a GoMA exhibition, and following the 12-month event, all of the 12 tables created will be used to replace existing green tables in the City Botanic Gardens. This aspect ensures that the event is a permanent fixture in the environment in which it was created.  GoMA Tables is an organic and authentic experience that draws on cultural aspects to involve a local audience in a live creation of a permanent piece of artwork. There will be multiple cultural experiences available for the community across a one-year period. The brand is dynamic as it encompasses a range of different cultural influences. The name GoMA Tables is used to highlight the end product, which is a permanent installation in the City Botanic Gardens.

Once we had finalised this main part of the brief, the concept, we advanced onto things such as marketing, presentation visual aids and the promotional video.  To do this to the best of our abilities in the limited time frame we had available we allocated tasks to each group member dependant on their abilities.  Anna and Olivia have almost finished their business and IVD degrees, so they worked on branding, the marketing and the visual PowerPoint whilst Hannah and I worked on the background research content for the PowerPoint.  When that was completed we all quickly teamed up and filmed the promotional video, but ran out of time and had to leave it without sound.

Image: Marketing poster idea for GoMA Tables

Watching the other group’s presentations was one of my favourite things about the task, looking at the wide variations of answers and how diversely the brief was interpreted really showed the way in which creativity is different in each individual.  I believe our presentation went rather well, however it did provide many opportunities for constructive feedback to implement when we do the major charette.  Firstly, our PowerPoint slides were too text heavy and therefore became more of a distraction than an aid.  The video could have been explored further as a tool to tell our concept rather than a montage of related shots.  

The next major DXB101 task spanned across two tutorials to allow us to work in depth and get more learning out of the group activity.

Week One

We were given a brief, in short; create a permanent lunch (not seasonal) bento box to be sold at GoMA as a takeaway lunch item.  To do so effectively, it was important to have a thorough understanding of: • Who goes to GoMA • Where the box will be sold • What is unique about GoMA to represent through the bento box • What the GoMA surrounds are like (art, architecture, people interaction, demographic) • The portion size • Bento box packaging • What will make the box desirable • Who are the stakeholders • Consider interaction and experience, not just a product • Experience - technological, sensorial

As a group we initially discussed our experience whilst at GoMA and what we thought it could bring to the bento box.  I found it was quite hard to get answers out of my group this way, so we put pen to paper and completed a traditional mind map.  Through this we determined our demographic, where the box would be sold and how we wanted to represent GoMA.

Initiating the task this way was beneficial as it helped us discover that we wished to represent GoMA through architecture and location.  We then furthered this concept, developing an idea that we would mirror the floor plan of GoMA with each room being representative of the artistic culture and therefore influencing the food choice for each segment.  However, when looking into the actual floor plan of GoMA (see image) we discovered that the multiple levels, large walkway space and the lack of room enclosure made that idea rather hard to actually pull off as the segments for food do not actually exist.  

This led us to the idea of zooming out from just GoMA and representing GoMA in its relation to Brisbane in the Southbank Cultural Precinct.  This created a sense of the food being a piece of art instead of just ingredients put together.  In order to further stimulate the idea of the food being a piece of art we decided to theme the packaging around this.  As seen in the image, the top of the box would be a photo frame shape die cut to frame the food art.  The rim of the box will include logos of previous GoMA feature instillations to bring a sense of ‘memento’ to the bento box.  

To generate a better understanding of our bento box, we physically build a prototype out of play dough.  This prototyping showed how the ingredients could work together to create the location map.

We then began working on the experience to make the bento box a desirable interactive experience.  Before we could successfully ideate a plan, the time allocated to working on the box was up and we had to present our idea to the group.  As it was a very casual presentation, I think we did well as a group explaining our ideas, even though they were not complete.  The feedback we received from the class mostly focused on the areas we had not yet completed and knew needed adding to: • What is the sensory, buying and eating experience? • What are the specific ingredients? • The architecture approached was well liked. • What was your design process? From this, we learnt to really focus on the experience that the box provides and further our process on that.

Due to work commitments and holidays we weren’t able to meet up during the mid semester break until the morning of our tutorial when we would be presenting the bento box.  In this time we reiterated different ways to immerse people in their bento box experience, concluding with the idea of a sandwich bar like setup where customers choose ingredients and watch as the chefs transform their meal from their chosen ingredients to a location map of GoMA.  This option allows for a wider demographic, as customers can choose cheaper, more basic ingredient options or opt for a more expensive, luxurious menu option.  This choice of experience caused up to rethink our previous box design as it seemed quite cheap and seasonal, not adhering to the brief guidelines we were given.  With our finished concept in mind, we created an improved prototype of the box.

Week Two

To begin the second tutorial, we looked into presentation techniques and how to deliver your message to the best you can.  The best presentation I’ve seen was both a speech shown to us in English class towards the end of year 12 as inspiration for our valedictory speech assessment item.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JccudODwwY

The presentation was a commencement speech by Ellen Degeneres in 2009 at Tulane.  It was a standout speech as she engaged the audience through humour, through encouragement and through personal stories.  The speech was presented with authenticity and professionalism, making it engaging and captivating for the audience.  Each class member told their ‘best presentation’ and what made it the best presentation, collating a list that we can all take lessons from: • Having a presence • Knowing your content • Anecdotes • Visual aids • Speaking tones • Talking with conviction • Humour • Enthusiasm • Gimmicks • Gestures • Volume • Passion • Emphasise • Being relatable • Positive energy • Audience interaction • Becoming an expert on your content • Eye contact • Offering multiple perspectives • Emotion • Use of space • Rhythm

We then covered a general structure to follow when presenting a design item: • Introduction and background • Brief • Short summary • The design solution • The design process • Contextual analysis • Visual aids • Prototypes • Takeaways or keepsakes • Conclude to summarize you context

I believe it is important for a presenter to know what they are taking about and be relatable to the audience for the presentation to be truly effective, with visual aids as a hugely helpful contributor.

We then went through each group and presented our bento boxes with these presentation techniques in mind.  Overall, the presentation of our bento box gave all the information we had ideated about our bento box across to the class.  However, the lack of professional preparation and visual aids came across quite lacking in comparison to majority of the other groups presentations.  Our feedback from the class was mainly to do with how we presented and not the actual product: • Improve the conclusion of your presentation • Don’t use the word obviously • Use visual aids • There was a good variety of food choices in your thought to ingredient connection • Relating your concept to an everyday figure helped explain it effectively Overall, I don’t think this activity went as well as it could have for my group.  Team collaboration didn’t happen very smoothly, resulting in it being hard to bounce ideas of one another and come up with a great design idea.  Lack of preparation was evident in our presentation.  While it didn’t go very well, this task has taught me some valuable tips for whilst completing the mini and major charrettes.  Firstly, work with people who have the same motivation level and stylistic interests as you to ensure that each team member can strengthen ideas collaboratively.  You don’t get out what you don’t put in, so ensure that effort is put into making the design as best as it can be within the given timeframe.  The chance to present in front of people allowed me to see how I react to being listened to; therefore enabling me to be able to see what specific things I need to work on when talking to a group of people about my idea.

Reference List Ellen Degeneres. 2009. " Ellen DeGeneres at Tulane's 2009 Commencement Speech". YouTube video, posted May 18. Accessed May 27, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JccudODwwY

GoMA Activities

Following the guest lecture from Josue Lopez, we were given a list of hands on activities to complete at GoMA in relation to the ‘Thoughtless Acts’ online lecture.  As designers, we are designing verbs, not nouns.  We are designing somewhere to sit, not a chair, we are designing something to draw with, not a pencil.  This is something that is really important to realise when designing as simply designing a chair instead of something for people to sit on can lead to poor design choices that result in people misusing or misinterpreting the use of your design.  With this in mind, seeing someone is not the same as observing someone.  Observing someone involves detail, thought and love, which leads to the observation of ‘Thoughtless Acts’.  To do this effectively we must ‘see’ people through observing the detail of their thoughtless acts, as described by Jane Fulton Suri’s seven themes.  

‘Thoughtless Acts’  is a book by Jane Fulton Suri + IDEO, inviting readers to observe people and the way they partake in the seven ‘thoughtless acts’.  Our task asked us to observe people whilst at GoMA (or elsewhere if we run out of time) and collect two images of the seven thoughtless acts being committed.  

Reacting “We interact automatically with objects and spaces that we encounter.” L | A GoMA visitor sits on the chair in front of a film art piece. R | People walk through an oversized, interactive sculpture art piece.

Responding “Some qualities and features prompt us to behave in particular ways.” L | A person takes a photo of an admired artwork to save the memory. R | A group of people respond in admiration to a glowing art piece.

Co-opting “We make use of opportunities present in our immediate surroundings.” L | People place stickers around a room in the act of obliteration - something not normally ‘allowed’. R | People make use of free internet access.

Exploiting “We take advantage of physical and mechanical qualities we understand.” L | A person uses a water bottle as an arm rest. R | A person uses a garden edge as a seat.

Adapting “We alter the purpose or context of things to meet our objectives.” L | A person uses a staircase as a place to stop and sit rather than a pathway to go forward. R | A bike is locked to a street lamp.

Conforming “We learn patterns of social behaviour from others in our social and cultural group.” L | A row of prams all placed in a line by mothers. R | People line up to board a bus.

Signalling “We convey messages and prompts to ourselves and other people.” L | A safety cone tells pedestrians to not walk over the man hole. R | Text reading ‘NO POSTERS’ notify advertisers to not paste posters on the electrical box.

Completing this task caused me to focus more on people and their interactions in a place than the intended focus of GoMA - the art.  Observing thoughtless acts in this way enabled me to look at acts, thoughts and detail in a way I would not have noticed if I hadn’t been looking for it.   Jane Fulton Suri describes it as “visual evidence of the realities of everyday behaviour, of design in use.”   I believe she meant design in use, be it for the intended purpose or not, being enjoyed in whatever way it is being used.  

Image Sketches

The next part of the task asked us to sketch two things we found interesting whilst at GoMA.  Firstly, I sketched Yuken Teruya’s ‘Notice Forest’.  I found the thought, emotion and message behind Teruya’s work captivating, challenging and inspiring all at once; creating an effective artwork.  Making the trees out of shopping bags made a link between unsustainable paper wastage and a consumer driven society.  Upon further research, it was found that the way in which the tree was holding up and supporting the bag symbolises that the trees and their material qualities are a key in supporting consumer culture.  This connection is very obvious, yet not thought about or discussed often.  In relation to different tasks completed in another unit I am currently studying, Design and Sustainability, the artwork highlights many of the discussed points in class.  The unit has really opened my eyes to unsustainable practices and I am endeavouring to reduce my ecological footprint, so seeing an artwork that I appreciate aesthetically with a strong message behind it was something I thoroughly enjoyed observing and reflecting upon.

Secondly I sketched ‘The Obliteration Room’ by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.  I observed the room from both the viewing platform above and from within the room.  The main thing I found interesting about the room was the way in which people interacted with the room and with each other whilst in the room.  The room and it’s obliterating sticker activity bought out a sense of childlike behaviour in the majority of people in the room.  As people are raised as children they are taught not to draw on walls or damage things, so it was quite an opposite to be allowed and even encouraged to do so in the art installation.  Additionally to this, I observed that there were specific areas of the room that lots of people stuck the stickers to and areas that had barely any stickers at all.  Easy to reach areas, such as shoulder height on the walls and bench tops were the most popular, yet other areas such as small décor and bookshelves did not have many stickers at all.

Observations

The last part of the task asked us to record observations of what people are doing within GoMA, including sensorial experiences.  My initial thought was that patrons at GoMA would be primarily walking around observing the artwork.  However, I found majority (about 70%) of people were talking to friends, family members, schoolmates or the like.  My observations presented it as a social experience, with conversation fuelled by the artwork stimulus.  This is a common scene for human interactions at art galleries, as seen in the Project Gallery exhibition video.  Whilst it was social, it was still respectful of the art gallery environment as people were quiet, and courteous.  Scattered throughout the art gallery were different seating options to sit and view the artwork, however, not many people were using them to do so - rather they were used by DXB101 students filling out their journal.  The main individual sensorial experience I noticed was within the “Soul Under The Moon” installation by Yayoi Kusama where a small group of people could enter at a time.  Many people reached out to touch the hanging balls and observed what they we wearing that glowed.   It encouraged conversation between strangers in the same group about glowing clothing items and the like.  

Overall, the excursion to GoMA and accompanying tasks made me observe and be aware of ‘Thoughtless Acts’ in a way I have never been before.  This was the first I had learnt of Furi’s ‘Thoughtless Acts’, or anything of the like, so I didn’t have anything I could relate it to in my mind - it was all a new point of view.  The task however taught me about it and the importance of including it in future projects I do in order to ensure that the designed product is used for my intended purpose and not misused in ‘Thoughtless Acts’.

Reference List 

Albertson Design. n.d.. “Thoughtless Acts”. Image. Accessed May 24, 2015. http://albertsondesign.com/projects/thoughtless-acts/

Project Gallery. 2014. "Making a difference." YouTube video, posted January 13. Accessed May 22, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiXo4QTZIwI

Suri, Jane Fulton. 2005. Thoughtless Acts?: Observations on Intuitive Design. California: Chronicle Books.

Guest Lecture by Josue Lopez

Josue Lopez, Head Chef at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, gave this week’s lecture on his creative history as a Chef.  The presentation followed his journey as a chef, and his ideas on the importance of creativity in every aspect of life, especially professional.

Lopez went through his employment history and where it led him geologically and creatively.  I found it really reassuring to hear that branching out to find your creativity has no restraints, it can literally take you to any place in the world.  The endlessness of available possibilities really reminded me of why I love and chose to study design.

Lopez talked about affirmation of a person’s creativity and how it can boost their confidence, reassuring them that their hard work isn’t going unnoticed. Lopez describes food as “Delicious, passion and fuel” As a group of amateur designers that are slowly developing skills I think it’s important that we encourage one another in our work.  The tutorials do this really well, after each presentation the class give feedback on both what they liked and didn’t like about the shared topic, allowing the presenters to know what they did well and what they need to work on.  The feedback I have received from these activities are definitely things I have thought about and tried to improve on and I feel are very beneficial.

Lopez gave creativity three figurative steps, explaining how creativity works in his mind: 1) Imitate - Look at who is succeeding and why they are succeeding.  Learning is a never ending process, therefore you are never ‘the best’ at something; be humble. 2) Succeed - Creativity cannot be taught, it is intuitive.  It is not about what you did, but how you did it.  3) Create - Know your personal parameters.  Find inspiration: from both within your own industry and externally to it.  Finally, he reminded us to take ownership, to be proud of who you are and what you’ve done and created as a designer in life.  

Lopez discussed his mindset of making his passion, cooking, fun.  He showed his favourite example of this, a video of a plate-less chocolate dessert.  Highlighting that striving to make what you do fun as an essential philosophy reminded me of the units I am taking for my Bachelor that I do not enjoy as much as others.  Demonstrating that making what you are doing fun by choosing topics that you are passionate about within uninteresting situations is something that I will definitely adopt during my course to ensure that I get the most learning out of each task I can to benefit myself.

I enjoyed the guest lecture very much and found it inspiring to think about creativity and how I define it myself.  I have always regarding cooking as a high form of creativity so it was interesting to see the way in which Lopez conducted this, and what he sourced creative inspiration from (plate-less chocolate dessert video).  I found it reassuring when Lopez explained that creativity is imitation, to get good at what you do copy those who already are.  Every time I designed, I always made effort to make it somewhat dissimilar to what it was inspired by.  This was also seen in ‘Everything is a Remix’, a video reading for DEB100, and being reminded that again is definitely something I appreciate and will take on board whilst working.  Agreeing with Lopez, I believe that it is important for us to take ownership of our creations and display them with pride.  If this is done, it encourages creating of things that people are proud of and are willing to share.  

Overall, this lecture taught me that: creative passion can be followed around the world without borders, creativity can be found in everything - especially food, encourage others in their creative journey, creativity is intuitive, imitate succeed and create, and to be proud of your work and its achievements.  

Blog Reflection 

To begin this week’s studio session, all the blogs posted in the Blackboard Discussion Page were opened and explained by the author.   I found this really interesting to view other people’s designer sandwiches and hear their explanations for why they chose to include each ingredient.  I find looking at other people’s work a way in which to improve on my own as it highlights various aspects of the same task I hadn’t thought about when doing it myself.

Design Task

In order to develop fast paced teamwork skills that will be used for our charade assessment towards the end of the semester, the class divided into groups, choose a designer, and proposed a rebranding of Brisbane City Councils ‘The Edge’ in their chosen designer’s perspective.  The group I was in chose to do the task in the view of the designer Stefan Sagmeister.  Sagmeister is a New York based typographer and graphic designer, working at Sagmeister & Walsh, a design firm co-founded with fellow graphic designer Jessica Walsh.  

We believe the current problem with ‘The Edge’ is the lack of advertising it has done for itself.  I for one have never heard of it, and would be the same for many others.  The branding for ‘The Edge’ is very simple, adhering to the designs of the connecting library.  This does not appeal to the majority of the target audience, and therefore needs to be rebranded.  Therefore, in order to fulfil the brief and rebrand ‘The Edge’ successfully, heaps of more energy should be spent on advertising and transforming ‘The Edge’ into an enjoyable space.

In order for our group to work out what approach we believed Sagmeister would take to rebrand The Edge, we looked into his background, education, awards and designs.

Sagmeister’s work for ranges from clean, minimal, digital aesthetics to bright, bold, photography work.  In order to create a fun, funky space our group decided to opt for the bold design take.

This colour pallet includes shades from Sagmeister’s previous work that compliment each other, and adhere to the bright lively approach we are taking to rebrand ‘The Edge’.

Unlike other groups, we didn’t design a mock-up logo, because as ‘The Edge’ is aimed to be a creative hub for young designers it would be great to leave to logo design up to them.

I found it really interesting and inspiring to research an unknown to me designers work, putting myself in their shoes and thinking as they would regarding the design brief.  Group-wise we worked together really well.  Our presentation to the rest of the class did all that it needed to, however my presentation skills could definitely be improved on for future similar tasks.

Sandwich Task

My designer sandwich would be eaten by Sagmeister in his studio at his New York Design firm after a long, unproductive morning.  It would be made more out of procrastination and searching for inspiration, rather than as a conventional meal.  The ingredients are all different textures and colours, similarly to Sagmeister’s work.

Reference List Sagmeister, Stefan. 2015. "Fugue". Images. Accessed March 18, 2015. http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/work/project/fugue-identity/

Sagmeister, Stefan. 2015. "Aizone". Images. Accessed March 18, 2015. http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/work/project/aizone/

What is Design? In order to design well, one must first understand what design actually is. As a group of amateur designers beginning our specialised learning we all have much to learn about design, what it is and how to do it well.  In order to get us thinking about ‘what is design’, everyone formed a pair and created a definition of design.        “Design is a the planned process of creating artwork with visual meaning.” Groups of four were then formed, and collaboratively made a merged definition.        “Design is a product that is created in order to portray a message through visual elements.” Finally, groups of eight were formed and definitions were refined once again.  The final definition from the group I was a part of was:        “Design is using creative thinking and innovation to construct of create; whether it is an idea or tangible object.  Design is in every aspect of life, portraying a message through both man made and natural components.” Design is more than it seems to be; the finished product never quite encapsulates the time spent pouring over countless design aspects to get it to where it is. It is a process of refining decisions over and over until the desired final result is reached, not just a momentary burst of inspiration resulting in an effective design.  To me, design is all these things and more.  When done well, it is something to be appreciated.  It is something I have always had an interest in, and one day a career.

Who am I as a Designer? What kind of Designer do I want to be? As a designer, I am a beginner.  I am learning; acquiring skills that will help me discover what I am good at and what I enjoy - teaching me what kind of designer I want to be.  I am currently more interested in visual design: layouts, typography, web design and the like.  However, I am keen to learn about interactive design and see what aspects of it I enjoy, moulding what kind of a designer I want to be.  I have collated a few images of various designs I find mirror the kind of designer I want to be.

Important Skills a Designer needs to have • Creative thinking • Ability to make idea’s become reality • Empathy • Ability to maintain a balance between designer’s vision and client’s ‘needs’ • Adaptable • Innovative • Collaboration • Analytical • Flexibility • Creativity • Patience • Persistence • Imagination

I found it really interesting to hear what other people thought were ‘essential skills’ for a designer to have.  The initial three skills I thought of were the ability to think creatively, the ability to work in a collaborative environment and the ability to maintain a balance between what you want as a designer and what your client wants.  I hadn’t thought of designers needing to be empathetic, which was interesting to think of the ways in which it would be needed in a design situation.  As a designer, I believe I am good at making my idea’s become reality, however, I am not very patient.  Overall, this activity highlighted different design skills that I will focus on becoming better at.

Logo Design In the tutorial we were asked to create a tutorial that represents us as a designer.  I decided to base my logo around my initials, as that is who I am.  I began playing around with very geometric, structured typeface’s but thought it looked too angular and harsh to describe me. I decided to play with a different media, getting a Copic Sketch marker to create a hand painted look.  I felt this made my initials seem more personal and relatable.  I then teamed my hand painted initials with a constellation like pattern to symbolise connectivity with clients, collaboration with other designers and reaching out to as far and as best I can.  

Design Sandwich I kept my sandwich simple (and entirely edible) to represent my like of minimal, simple designs.  I chose flavours (pear, sauce, turkey, cheese) that complement each other harmoniously to display I like to research and know what works well together, and what doesn’t, when designing.  Lastly, I included lettuce to symbolise my upcoming knowledge of traditional design concepts (lettuce is a traditional sandwich ingredient), and that why these skills are widely known they are still fresh.

Reference List Antonio, Marco & Valdés, Castillo & Sanchez, Dagoberto Rodriguez. 2013. "Los Carpinteros". Image. Accessed March 11, 2015. http://www.thejealouscurator.com/blog/2013/11/05/im-jealous-of-los-carpinteros/#comments

Cheng, Jennifer. 2011. "Resume". Image. Accessed March 11, 2015. http://cvparade.com/post/9293899145/jennifer-cheng-graphic-designer

Dowling, Jasmine. 2015. "No Rest for the Wicked Print". Image. Accessed March 11, 2015. http://shop.jasminedowling.com/product/no-rest-for-the-wicked-print

The Task

You will produce a series of weekly writings responding to selected topics provided at the beginning of the semester. Your text should reflect and be supported by the theoretical and practical contexts of the design practices covered during lectures and studios, and through the recommended readings.

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