Mi Bitácora

Key Concepts and Key Words:

#Historyoftextile #Definitionoftextile #Differenttextileexamples #Textile techniques #Textileanddesignrelation  #Textileandhumanrelation

Key Questions:

What is textile? What are the charactersitics of textile material? What is the relation between textile and humans? 

Focus of the class:

A brief history of textile

Textile materials

Textile and Human, Culture Relationship

Introduction:

Coming from a country (Turkey) which gifted the human history its beautiful and elaborate fabrics, patterns, motifs, clothing, accesories, hometextile materials, carpets and any other textile element that can be ever imagined, and from a city where most of the textile productions of today’s big fast fashion brands such as Topshop, H&M, Zara and etc take place, I always thought I know quite good about textile: the history, the types of fabrics, different weaving techniques, and different uses of textile materials. Therefore, at the beginning of the class, I was excited to see a different perspective on the things I already know and I was curious about the future use of textile materials in design. It was a little bit disappointing not to see different examples from around the world to illustrate how textile is used in a varied and diversified way. Moreover, in a class like this, it is a pity that we have discussed just briefly about the potential of textile as a future design element. Yet, there were some important points worth to be mentioned. 

Highlights of the class:

A brief history of textile

People have used textile for different purposes: for clothing, for decoration, for household items and etc. We can find the early examples of these pieces in the archaic excavation fields everywhere around the globe. In Chile for example, Chinchorro mommies could be an example to this:

“They (Chinchorro fishermen) prepared the body by removing the muscles and viscera and replacing them with branches, feathers, leather strips, skeins of yarn and other material.”

(ChileantesdeChile.com)

The fabrics and textile were so important that the humans created routes between the places where they were produced and sold. One of the earliest example to these routes was Marco Polo’s Silk Road. 

Image:Owlcation

Then appeared routes for the colorants and other materials to use in color-making techniques. Another famous route for textile trading was Spanish Manila Galleon Route.

Image:GoogleImages

The geographic discoveries had a great impact on the development of textile and clothing, so did social movements and industrialization. 

Image: GettyImages

Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a calculation machine which was able to read the patterns and weave these patterns in the loom. So that was one of the milestones in textile history. This was the beginning of the machinery production. With the help of industrial revolution, t-line production made textile one of the most profitable sectors of the time. 

Image: GoogleImages

Another important invention was velcro. George de Mestral gave a new dimension to the history of textile. 

TEXTILE, HUMANS and NATURE

As our lecturer said : “When there is textile, there is culture. Because we are all woven somehow, the skin covering our body, the hair, the organs, the systems, the nerves...”

It is not a coincidence that the word “tejido” (derived from tejer) means not only woven but also tissue, texture and textile. Therefore, it would not be wrong to say that our body is “tejido” since it contains systems and textures and tissues which are bonded and biologically woven.  

Similarly, the nature also has its own systems exemplifying textile and woven textures. The insects and bugs and animals weaving textures; the planst creating rhizome roots to grow are just a few examples to that.

Image: GoogleImages

Image: GoogleImages

We have different types of textiles all around us but we do not notice them most of the time. Even in language, we refer to these woven systems. Some examples would be:

“No dar puntada sin hilo”

“Seguir o perder el hilo”

“Ser paredo en la hilacha”

“Hilar fino”

“Textile is a dialogue with the world” 

Language is not the only concept which textile or textile systems are transferred. Santiago as a city and its systems like transportation,architecture, even social relations are vertically or horizontally woven. 

We, as humans, interpret the nature in our woven material or we look at the nature to get inspired. 

WHAT IS TEXTILE?: 

CHARACTERISTICS of TEXTILE

Physicochemical Properties:

Flexibility

Elasticity

Permeability

Solidity of colors

Tensile strength

Heat resistance

Incombustible (Fireproof)

Resistance to friction

Abrasion resistance

Static resistance 

Electroconductivity 

Texture

Transparency

Lustre

Textile potential

The textile material should be rigid (solid) but they should be also felxible enough to allow movement. According to this definition, we can say that any object or any material or surface which has a range of flexibility could be woven: therefore is a texttile material.

TEXTILE TYPES

Textile material with another textile material

Textile with non-textile material

Non-textile material with non-textile material

USE of TEXTILE 

Clothing

Carpets

Shades

Architecture

Constructions

Containers

Scenography 

Shadow display

Shades and blinds 

Agriculture

Experiments

Recycling

Technology

Health and many more

PRACTICE in TEXTILE ATELIER (UC Textile LAB)

At the end of the class, we were invited to the textile lab of the university to learn more about textile with hands on activitites.

REFLECTIONS:

At the beginning of the presentation our lecturer said that her main aim is to make us aware of the woven systems that are surrounding us and if you ask me she managed to do that. After the class, I started looking at the buildings and materials with a different eye and started seeing the vertical and horizontal textile patterns everywhere. 

Here are some photos I took remembering that textile class:

Valdivia, Museum of Natural Science and History

My Wayu bag (Colombian, handmade)

A typical wooden Valdivian Cottage (the hanger made from wooden, totally flexible)

Valdivian Cottage, from the kilim on the floor to the basket where we put the wooden to the ceiling or stairs all woven in different forms

Valdivian Fresh Market (Dried Seafood, beaded like a necklace)

Godzilla Concert (The lighting installations, the ceiling, the speakers hanging from the ceiling all are constructed imitating the textile patters)

Parque Bicentenario (The sunseats and umbrellas)

Key Concepts and Key Words:

#Historyofcolors #Colorsymbolism #Colormakingprocess #Colorapplication #Coloreffectsindesign 

Key Questions:

How do we use colors? How do we obtain colors? How do colors affect design? How colors are used as a design element? What are the color application techniques?

Focus of the class:

A brief history of colors

How colors are obtained: natural and chemical processes

How colors are used as a symbol

Color application techniques in today’s world

Color application for design projects

References: Good examples for color application

Highlights of the class:

A brief history of colors

Colors in nature have been one of the greatest accompany of the humans. Since the beginning, it is possible to say that humans were interested in using different colors for their survival and as a tool to express themselves. 

At the beginning, the colors that people could use were very limited: white, black and red. They were using carbons and minerals to get the colors and their hands to paint. They even used bone powder mixing it with animal liquid fat to obtain new colors and tones. 

With the invention of the fire, a chemical technique was discovered: burning the plants and flowers. This led humans to engage in chemical experiments to try new colors. 

The natural and chemical processes to make colors required a certain degree of knowledge of plants, minerals, chemical process and measurements. Therefore, color-making people were seen as magicians for having such a wisdom. This wisdom were being transferred from one generation to the other as a secret. 

The use of the colors:

Ancient Egyptians were widely using the colors in  architecture, medicine, fashion (the clothes), cosmetics, mural painting and etc. 

It is possible to categorize the use of colors in mural paintings in two groups:

Naturalist colors (different colors and tones without any limit)

Religious colors (only 6 strong colors)

Not only in mural painting, in cosmetics and in their scripts as well colors were used with various intentions simbolizing distictive features and Egyptians were not the only ones who had a diversified color application. 

Romans also painted their murals with colors and this were discovered when scientist found the traces of chemical and mineral colors on the sculptures and architectural excavated pieces which are seen as white and yellow today.

The colors were used to mark different classes in the Roman Society. The middle class were using limited tones of green where the high class had an access to a variety of colors and tones and blue was especially spared for the them.

The old texts also reveal the color trading between mediterenean and the rest of the world (only the discovered part).

Purple as an Exceptional Color: Purple color was difficult to obtaing, therefore, was only available to emperors and their family. It became a symbol of power, royalty and reign.

With the fall of Roman Empire, much of the knowledge about color making processes was forgotten but the interest in vivid colors continued. Big traders and discoverers kept carrying spices and color powders and beautifully colored fabrics all around the world. Colombus was one of them. When he arrived at undiscovered lands he found that native people had also different colorants obtained from different plants and animals. 

In Europe these new sources of colors were welcomed with great interest. Alchemists found new ways to produce similar colors and distinctive tones. And thanks to industrilization of the textile sector, color making was taken to a different level.

Color Application in Today’s World

Today we have an access to a limitless color palette in both digital and real world yet our use of color is limited by:

Innate preferences

Cultural norms 

The purpose of the use

In design the choice of color depends on the purpose of the product, service or ambiance and the audience who will view the content. The desired feauture of the color in design is its persuasiveness. Yet, it should also be appropriate for the cultural context and it should address to:

new fashion and trends

age/gender 

personal preferences and experiences

Colors can also function as a tool to transmit a message making use of a very human nature. Our humour and psychology change with different colours. It is believed that colours represent and trigger different emotions. Therefore, they have an informative and expressive function. 

What is Correct Color or Perfect Color in Design?

Do perfect color exist in Design? I do not know. But Prof PAz said that there are some criteria that we can consider before finding the correct color for the design projects:

Expressing ideas y emotions

Transmit ideological or personal information  

Relate to the different expressions

Provoke different situations and forms of being

Evoke reactions

Fundamentals of COLOR CHOOSING in DESIGN

Knowledge of colors and color perceptions

Observation of colors and color applications

Making educated and justifiable choices for the design projects

Use of colors as a message transmission tool (discover its potential)

The majority of the chocies made to buy or not to buy a product depends on its color (be aware of it)

Colors create a personal experience and it may mean different things for different people, consider its subjectivity

There is not a specific recipe that can be applied, creativity is the key

Interaction with the color makes design more visible (interaction is a real deal)

The surfaces and materials are as important as the color itself

Color Choosing Methodology

We need a specific methodology to catch the attention of the user or the viewer by creating coherent and conceptual connection related to the message we would like to transmit.

The steps to follow to choose the right color for your design project as follows:

Creation of the color chart

Definition of basic patterns

Finding an image that represent these colors to add color chart

Practice in the class:

We were asked to pick a photograph to create a color palette (chart) for it with the tones existing in the photo. 

I picked this beautiful picturesque view from the deck. The tones were quite diversified. I love working with natural tones. So I picked some colors from the color boxes. That wasthe most difficult part. Even though there were several boxes full of different colors, you would realize that in fact the same tones were repeated so that was why it looked like there were so many colors. It was hard to find exact blue and purplish brown tones which were  in the photo.

So here are the colors I picked. The teacher said that I had more than I needed. I don’t agree at all. The more choices you have the more reflectıve your palette would be. Of course there is a limit but it is not 5 or 8, that’s for sure. I had 11 colors on my palette at the end.

I organized my color chart with the photo I picked. Teacher said that my palette was not breathing hinting that I should take off some of the tones from the palette. I can let it breathe without having to remove any colors. 

Ta-taaaam. Now my palette looks much better than ever... I am proud of my work though it was not one of teacher’s favorites. :D :D :D :D

REFLECTIONS and QUESTIONS for further investigation:

I loved how the teacher said that gettıng to know colors and dıfferent tones depended on the traınıng of the eye. I always thought the same. Some people are classıfyıng the colors ın a very generic way and I am like, don’t you see that this green is different than the other green? Not many people is aware the differences between the tones. I believe that designing a product and choosing a color for it first requires a very well trained eye. Because every color, every tone has a different character and different messages. 

I really appreciate the opportunity to listen to Prof. Paz Cox and being able to have a little practice with her. Unfortunately, I should also add that, I am a little bit dissappointed because she has not mentioned the future of colors or smart colors or color changing materials in intelligent design. I believe that it would have been really eye-opening if we had had a conversation about the future of the colors and color application in design.

Key Concepts and Key Words:

#Theoryoflight #Howdowesee #Lightandcolor #Lightingsystems #Lightingdesign #Lightingapplications

Key Questions:

How do we see things? How does lighting affect the color of the things we see? How is lighting used in the comercial events, advertisements and windows shops?  How does lighting design affect the architecture? What are other areas that lighting plays an important role? What is the definition of ideal lighting?

Focus of the class:

A brief history of light and lighting design

Vision and its effects

The effects of light on human body

The electric sources of light (electric light sources)

Illuminating Objects

Highlights of the class:

History of the Light and Lighting:

If we are going to talk about the history of light, we should be starting by mentioning three important names and their inventions:

Nikola Tesla, engineer and inventor, who invented gas-filled phosphor-coated light bulb, illuminated without wires by an electromagnetic field from the "Tesla Coil"

Thomas Edison, business man, who invented incandescent lamp in 1879 

Nick Holonyak, American engineer and the inventor of a light-emitting diode (LED)

There are other important names which can be considered as the milestones of the history of light and lighting design:

IES Lighting Handbook is an essential  book aims at helping  anyone interested in lighting

 A Method of Lighting the Stage by Stanley McCandless represents a another essential resource of knowledge about the approaches to stage lighting

Lighting design: The language of light  by Richard Kelly is also another important book for the historyof lighting design. In the 50s, he defined three different uses of light ambient luminescence, focal glow y play of brilliants 

HOW IS LIGHT PRODUCED?

We see as a subjective response to a physical, measurable stimulus 

Image from Google

LIGHT and VISION

VISION as a Process

In vision process there are 4 elemenmts playing an important role, the llight source, the reflecting surface, eye (as the receptor) and the brain (as the interpretor). In this process, eye sensitivity acts as a determinant factor.

Image: GoogleImages

Vision processing not only helping us to see things but also causes biological, physiological and psychological effects by stimulating the hormonal production.

Image: GoogleImages

During daytime, with the influence of the daylight, the cortisol level increases causing alertness in the body whereas at night, melatonin level increases creating a desire for sleeping. Yet, the effects of light is not limited to these two changes. The intensity and color of the light has is also affecting our humour and psychology. 

EFFECT of LEVEL of ILLUMINATION INTENSITY onVISION

Image: GoogleImages

The level of intensity affects our vision. The contrast created with the background is another factor affecting the visibility.

EFFECT of FIELD of VIEW on VISION

Image: GoogleImages

We human being have a limited field of view and this directly affects our vision as well.

ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES

Incandescent lamps and Gas-discharge lamps

LED lamps

Digital and Analog Illumination

In an analogue light source the emision of light would be 360 degree whereas in a digital source it would be less than 180 degrees.

Spherolit technology will be helping to create desired effect withthe desired level of emission of light.

High Potential LED Modules and LENSES

With the high potential led modules it is possible to project light to a wider surface creating different angles with the adaptive lenses. 

ILLUMINATING OBJECTS

There are so many changes you can create with the lighting design:

Direct the light

Vary the distribution of light (with flood lenses, sculpture lenses  or spot lenses)

Accentuate the light ( with brightness and contrast)

Define the limits of a space (marking with light)

Accentuate architectural elements

Construct functional zones

PROJECT DESIGN in LIGHTING

Successful lighting design requires effective use of natural light and control of the artificial light. This process involves different aspects such as formal, ergonomical, biological, operational, economical and wellbeing.

The process follows three importants steps:

Design

Documentation

Implementation

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

It was one of the most informative presentations I have ever watched. As the presenter showed us the modules he brought and let us interact with the content directly, I felt like I was enjoying this learning process even though the material and the topic was so uninteresting to me at the beginning. The presenter managed to keep us all interested in what he is talking about and what he is doing in his projects. It was incredible to see how much I learnt at the end of the lesson. Here are some of the things I learnt or realized by listening to Sir Douglas:

Image: GoogleImages

We keep hearing X¡ray or ultraviolet rays but I don”t know why I had always thought that they were different types of lights. Forgive me for my ignorance but I had never bothered to check what they were. But at the end of this class I know that light is light but the intensity changes its character and properties. 

Another thing I have learnt is that we have a limited ability to perceive the wavelenghts. 

Image: GoogleImages

Another thing I have realized is that museums, exhibitions, fairstands, sales rooms, shopping malls, and even streets and big boulevards utilize the tools to direct and distribute he lights on the objects to improve the visuial experience of the viewer.

Key Concepts and Key Words:

#HistoryandDesign #AffectsofSocialChanges #AffectsofIndustrialAge #RelationbetweenSocietyandDesign

Key Questions:

What is history of Design? When did design emerge as a concept? What is the best way to describe relation between society and design? How social changes affect the history of Design?

Focus of the class:

Even though, it is possible to say that history of design start with the history of Arquitecture and Art, appearance of design as a term is not as old as arquitecture and art. In this class we will be looking at the history and try to make connections with design instead of presenting a timeline for the design history.

Highlights of the class:

Arnold Hauser

Arnold Hauser, Romanian art historian suggested that art interacts with the society. He tried to explain the relation between artö society and history through a marxist point of view.

Erwin Panosfky

Erwin Panofsky, German-Jewish art historian, worked on the theories of knowledge and cultural change. Panofsky suggested a schema linking the social, cognitive and psychological practices of culture (esqumeas inconscientes, habitus and costumbres mentales) into an integrated entity. He tried to define the meaning of social art. He also mentioned the difference between iconography and iconology.

Ernst Gombrich

Ernst Gombrich tried to answer the fundamental questions of the image. visual representation. He suggested that visual representations (like painting or any other visual art) is related to cultural schema and psychological experiences of the inviduals as inspirations.

Aby Warbur

Art historian, Aby Warburg attemtep to focus his work on symbolic, intellectual and emotional properties of the image. He treated the images as a cultural material. 

The Cultural Material:

In the 1980-90s there appeared an interest in antiques, collections and museum artefacts as cultural material.

Norbert Elias

Norbert Elias’ work about the process of civilization was one of the milestones which suggested the theory of cultural forms and the relation between power and intellect, behaviour and knowledge of the individuals.

Chartier

Chartier suggested a different dimension of art as a reflection of the daily life lived by the indivudual but representing the singular comunity, and its interactions with the world.

Braudel

In Civilization, Material, Economy and Capitalism, Ferdinand Braudel suggested that cultural material represents a base upon which the economy constructs a superior floor. That way he tried to explain the cultural material as a more complex but a vivid phenomena.

Bibliography and Sociology of Texts, Victorian Things, and Des Apparences

During the 80s, this study are benefited from 

Don McKenzie’s Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts, (tipographic composition, diagram, format and etc )  

Victorian Things, by Asa Briggs (1988), 

La culture des apparences (1989) by Daniel Roche (French Revolution and change in the dresses and appearances) : Dressing as a cultural Code

As a study area cultural material como focuses on tangible things but it should be noted that ideas and practices (habitus, cultural customs and etc) are embodied as an object or circulation of the objects. 

Reyner Bonham,  studying mass production and industrialisation, tried to bring about the emergence of inorganic forms and methods in the cultural materials with the industrial technological changes and he stated this in his critiques related to architecture. 

Recent Scenes from History of Design

Renato de Fusco, marxist art historian, in his work titled Historia del Diseño (2005), focused on 4 factors presented in every manifestations of the human activity: project, production, sale and consumption. He was not looking at the relation between thinking and doing.

Isabel Campi, designer and art historian, put an emphasis on the development of the product design as the idea and the material.

Bonsiepe-Fernández (designers) tried to address the teaching and practices as the search of an autonomy in the region (Latin America) 

Verónica de Valle (sociologist), offered an analisis of graphic design with a new understanding referring graphic design as a knowing-doin which involves economic, politic, symbolic and tecnhical processes

Victor Margolin, the writer of “Historia mundial del diseño” (2015), claimed that design as a cultural activity, emerges not a product of industrial process but a respond to human needs.

CHILE It is still a fresh concept, design as a cultural material therefore there is not much bibliogrphy about it. However, there are other resources on brands, products, patents and etc. And there are some important names like Mauricio Vico, Nicol Crispi, Simone Malaquini, and Alejandra Neira.

Books of the Presenter on the Subject : 

Puño y Letra (2006)

Escuela de Artes Aplicadas (2010)

Escuela de Artes y Oficios (2014)

Personal Reflections:

I would personally prefer to see a well-constructed timeline of the emergence of the design concept in Chile and around the world then to make connections to the different social and economic theories. The presentation was difficult to follow and the ideas and concepts were difficult to classify and categorize, yet there is a great dealof the information about design as a cultural material. 

The best thing the presenter said was “Historia del diseño, fracasos, fallas, no solo los éxitos.” which can be translated as  “history of design, defects and  failures, not just success stories”. As it happens in every human activity, the evolution of design is an alive, ever-changing and vivid process. Therefore, the trial error process should be considered as a fundamental part of its nature since it is a human activity. 

Key Concepts and Key Words:

#Communication #Visual communication #Visual language #Visual message #Technology for editorial design  #Methods to create a difference in the meaning through visual design #Tipography 

Key Questions:

What is visual communication? What is visual language? What is the best way to create a visual message? How do we turn ideas or concepts into a visual message?What tools and methods do we use? What is the role of technology? What does it mean to design? How does visual narration differ from verbal narration?

Focus of the class:

Visual Communication means ideas developed by humanbeings for other humanbeings through visual aids.

Highlights of the class:

Inspirations:

Functioning efficiently, looking beautiful and non-ordinary (not necessarily extraordinary), understandable, making you feel good about it (makes you feel good even when you look at it, amazes you, startles you, makes you wonder, makes you think, puts you at ease for a second or longer) and preferably easily accessible / affordable. That is my definition of a good design. They say design is not about what it is, it is about what it does. Yes, it is about what it does but that is all about what it is. If this does not sound good to you it is just because as the designer of this text I didn’t do a good job and I didn’t create a text which serves for its function. If this is the case, I owe you my sincere apologies but I am still learnin. 

This week, I learnt a bit about how texts and images can cooperate or sometimes replace each other or overlap each other to create a meaning. A message, a mystery needs to be solved in the eye of the viewer. 

I haven’t thought that I would be this much delighted by looking at an ordinarily created (just adressing visual learners) presentation, for about two hours. It was not about the presentation or presentor. It was the content itself which was presented making me enchanted: Visual Communication.

I have always known that I am a very visual person; but I like to see the intelligence merging with visuality. Otherwise it would be just about decoration or esthetics. I like the smart beauty or beautiful smartness. That is exactly what the presentor was showing me. 

Look at this Ozone poster (on the top of the post), prepared in 1996 for the Ozone Preservation Day (?).OZONO, is ozone in Spanish. The Venezuelan Artist is playing with the very nature of the letters, the size of the letters creating some kind of depthness, using an image as a letter to enrich the context, and contrasting background and the letters to create the sense of hanging in the air to relate it to the meaning of the word. So many functions created with just 5 letters and a little bit of play with the size. Smartly thought, beautifully created, and perfectly doing its job. I can’t believe that I am only talking about a poster:) But we should be apreciating this kind of works so that people get inspired for better. We keep seeing the word and image salads everywhere. Eye-tiring, not centralizing on the message, failing to serve its function but yet decorating everywhere. The bad examples are not dificult to detect. In our house, on the book covers, on the packages, on our bed sheets, clothes, food, furnitures, in the streets, on the cars, in the metro, on the billboards, on the shopwindows... We are exposed to them everyday.  

But then,we spot a smartandbeautifulvisual communicating its aim purely and we feel we have to take another look. The visuals making you look at them twice or just a bit longer than normal are worth your apreciation, praise and applause. Find the artist, check the publisher. In a world full of average designers, it is still difficult to find a great visual design. 

So I should be thanking Ximena who came and showed me some beautiful examples of good visual iages and projects. 

Examples from the class:

1) Moon Project

Moon Project was created by Ai Wei Wei and Olafur Eliasson in 2013. You can go and check it in www.moonmoonmoonmoon.com. It is a creating itself canvas accessible to anybody around the world. It is hard to describe yet so easy to understand. These two humanbeings gave the world an empty canvas in the shape of a moon in 2013 and the people keep sketching and leaving their marks on it; hence, contributing to the world’s second biggest collective artwork. (The first one is the earth itself).

Foto taken from : MoonMoonMoonMoon.com

"Turn nothing into something—make a drawing, make a mark. Connect with others through this space of imagination. Look at other people's drawings and share them with the world. Be part of the growing community to celebrate how creative expression transcends external borders and internal constraints. We are in this world together. Ideas, wind, and air no one can stop." 

Foto taken from: MoonMoonMoonMoon.com

2) Books with Different Bodies

There were some other examples of great visual communications illustrating the power of the visual elements on creating the message on the audience’s mind through sensorial awakenings. And this can be done employing different things. Anything can be your tool. A great example to this would be Irma Boom, who uses the body of the books to give her messages, creating textures, playing with the size, adding shocking colours...

And here is a great talented Chilean Artist doing a similar work yet in her own beautiful way, Maria San Martin. Her award winning work: In Their Memory: Human Rights violation in Chile  (1973-1990)

Fotos of Maria San Hartin s Work were taken from Sandy Gallery.

OBJECTIVE of THE COURSE

This course is supposed to give an opportunity to the Master of Advanced Design students a chance to get to know some basic concepts related to design such as color theory, history of design, illumination and editorial design and etc. We will be asked to write a paper at the end of the course on a topic we choose related to basic design concept. Isn’t it a great chance to publish a  paper. If not publishing, at least learning how to write an academic paper which is great in both ways.

So, at the end of the course we, as students, will be able to:

1. Demonstrate ability to write for an academic audience on a topic which we will be presented during the first part of the semester employing an academic language and format, with apropriate citation style including parenthetical, in-text citation and works-cited pages after a thorough investigation process including evaluation of sources for relevance and reliability. 

TOPIC CHOICE

The topics that they will be presenting each week seem to be too generic but we can choose any subtopic we like as long as it is related to design somehow. It is scary a bit because we will be presented a different topic everyweek but if we wait till the end to pick there won’t be enough time to focus on the investigation and the drafts. Thus, I am planning to start thinking about what I would like to write.

THIS WEEK’s FOCUS

This week, we were presented the writing process rules. Academic style, tone, language, avoidance of plagiarism, citing, creating apropriate bibliography and etc. To be honest,  the presentation was a bit toolong and too plain. That is such a  disappointment for me since I thought that Master in Design would be super cool, full of interesting themes/topics and hands on activities and full of valuable interaction, and much more student oriented. Yet, here we are, sitting 3 hours watching a person talking about how to write an academic essay without bringing any examples of it. (Maybe it was just me thinking this way because I took academic writing courses at the university while studying Teaching English so I was familiar with the topic already. )

KEY WORDS - KEY CONCEPTS

#Academic Writing #Investigation #Citation #Avoiding Plagiarism

Highlight of the week:

The most interesting thing about this week’s class was the image they used at the very beginning of their presentation. This installation belongs to a Mexican artist, Damian Ortega. You can see the image at the top of this post. Isn’t it so poetic? What a wonderful way to show something so ordinary yet in a very inspiring way. Maybe that was the lesson we needed to learn. We are expected to create something unique and unexpectedly inspiring out of something too generic and ordinary...I like to think this way and I choose to be grateful for this opportunity to discover this little beauty.