DR&T

Audience

If I had to sum up the audience for this ted talk, I’d say designers. It seems to appeal more to a more mature audience, rather than it being fast paced and energised it was slower and thought out. He brings up historical philosophers like Socrates to bring up deeper topics and more critical ways of thinking, instead of the philosophy of “art for arts sake”. I think that these are more adult subjects, he’s definitely not trying to give this talk to a bunch of 5-year-olds.

Language

It’s not everyday dialogue, it’s planned out, he has a script that he is following so that he has a clear subject matter and does not go off on a tangent, he keeps it concise. The language he is using is not over complicated, I fell like the average Joe could hear it and understand it.

Content

Deterding is trying to be thought provoking, he’s not selling a product or giving a speech on his life, he is talking about ideas and concepts and trying to draw a deeper meaning in design, using philosophical quotes throughout, he is posing a question to the audience every other slide. He references other people’s thoughts with a picture of them, or a marble bust alongside their name. He does reference the images using the web URL throughout the talk. I don’t think he is using any evidence, as previously mentioned it’ trying to promote thinking, so it’s not necessarily like he is saying a fact and then trying to back it up.

Visuals

He uses simple imagery, possibly because he does not want to distract from what he is saying or over complicate his overall presentation. Although he is talking about design it is not necessarily the product itself that he is talking about, it’s more the concept and thought going on that produces the work. I think they’re appropriate because of what I have previously mentioned, it doesn’t distract because of the simplicity.

The Blogs

Audience

Again, I would say that these publications are aimed at designers. The first one talks about the design of the iconic orange scissors and the other brings up different events celebrating past pieces with different exhibitions happening. These sites feel a lot more social network site friendly as it’s informal, bite size no topic or discussion seems to go in too deep on that matter, they’re like bite size pieces of information that’s easily digestible and full of fibre.

Content

As previously mentioned, the first blog is purely about a pair of scissors, the history of the design and a short snippet of the process behind designing them. The second blog seems to be celebrating all the latest events and ideas in design, promoting them and suggesting that people go to them with sub-headings like “must-see”. The second site has an article called “How green is graphic design” talking about the sustainability of it all and so there could be some more thought-provoking ideas there other than just talking about exhibitions that are happening. In the first article there is some evidence, hyper links within the text that take you to separate pages related to the subject matter of that paragraph. Though I only skimmed through some of the articles from the second site there was no evidence but because it wasn’t necessary, it was promoting, it was not retelling a true story or presenting fact, purely promotional material.

Other stuff

Online Magazines

I’m seeing a pattern with the audience, designers. Feel like Deign Observer is more for a younger audience, because in some of the podcast pages it mentions the trials and tribulations of being a student. People who are interested in the world of design from architecture to statues, to magazine covers.

I don’t think either site is trying to sell anything, it’s more aesthetic appreciation. Again, the first website is promoting exhibitions happening across the design world. The second one, at first glance, seem to cover more different areas across the design world, from podcasts, to essays as well as writing about art shows. Dezeen’s evidence stems from pictures taken at the exhibitions and quotes from the people hosting the shows. Some articles contain links to other articles containing information about the artist, which could be used as evidence. Deign observer also follows when spotlighting individual artists. But, when it comes to the essays as they are not the academic type there are no references as such, there some pictures thrown in. From the couple I skimmed through they show biases as well and feel more like a journal entry instead of an academic piece of writing.

Language wise they feel a lot more journalistic because they are reporting on subjects and sometimes contain short clips of interviews using quotes. Design observer gave me Gonzo journalism energy because it was people reporting on stuff and then reflecting on their experience of it.

For the images Dezeen seems to use either portrait or landscape images and occasionally some articles contain square images. The images are placed after every paragraph inline with the text, the images of course relating to the subject matter. Also, every now and then they use another photographer’s work.

Documentaries

I don’t know why or how I’ve come across the lawn video before. As for its audience I feel like I have no idea, it’s more of a short insight into a world where it has a book of unwritten rules. It could be aimed at people who question trends and are curious about society, maybe.  After watching the second video (which again, funnily enough, I have seen before) I can see that these both cover different cultures. So, people interested about learning other people’s culture and the world. The second video I would say was aimed more at young adults as it looks at the evolution of culture and trends.

I’d say the language in the former video is more informal than formal, but it’s not necessarily how you would talk to your bestie. The language in the latter video is very informal, with use of explicit words and even Chinese. It also uses common slang, like the word “dope” meaning good.

The first video is about front gardens and how there is this unwritten book of rules and how everybody tries to keep there’s tidy but not for themselves but for others because no one spends anytime in their front garden but people in the community see it regularly. The 2nd video looks at how China is using VPNs to access culture that is blocked by Chinese internet service providers. It looks at the pioneers pushing the culture forward in a restrictive society.

The first video shows footage of green land and lawns with some footage of people enjoying themselves in their back lawns. The first video shows footage of people they are talking about, photos of past events that they attended and some location shots of the area that they are in, like alleys ‘n’ stuff. I’d say they suit the video and improve the whole storytelling aspect and gives context.

I liked the videos, the imagery used, the voice overs and the documentary feeling. I love videos, very entertaining way of spreading information or stories, there’s something to look at and hear, probably why people enjoy watching videos, from movies to TV shows and even short tik tok videos because it’s stimulating in more than one sense. I also enjoy putting together videos, recording thinking of cool shots and how to tell an over arching story.

FINALLY the last websites. They remind me of the other websites, aimed at creatives, celebrating the arts, they even share an article with the same subject, graphic design in relation to radio. I’d say the first website uses a lot more imagery which is a nice change of pace from the others that usually have paragraph picture paragraph picture paragraph picture.

I haven’t decided on my topic. I’m more interested in the gender related stuff so far, just because I like the idea of how fragile masculinity is and how so much of gender roles are just socially constructed, girls do this, boys do that. When really nothing is stopping either party from doing anything other than what the population may think of you.