MASTER DEGREE DESIGN STUDENTS LECTURE!

In last weeks lecture we had two master design degree students who presented there research which they are each doing in their course. This was one of my favourite lectures and was very inspiring to see what their thoughts and views were. Firstly Bruno was trying to push the boundaries and ask how can blind people use other senses to there full advantage to communicate? Also how can design help a disability? He made us aware that only 10% of blind people actually know braille in the UK. Thinking about it how do blind people actually know when there is braille around? Surely there is an easier way to communicate with the use of another sense. Bruno showed examples such as the six speaking chairs which is used for people who have speech problems so that they are able to communicate better. Could there be an easier way for blind people to find there way around.


http://imd.dundee.ac.uk/sixspeakingchairs/about.html

Maria McLennan was researching into how jewellery could identify people in disasters. She explained how there is primary evidence such as DNA, finger prints and dental records but what if you where unable to find out any of this. These are effective ways to identify people but in certain situations this isn't possible. There is then secondary evidence such as clothing, passport, tattoos and jewellery but this may not be still on the body. Maria is now trying to design jewellery for this which I feel is a huge challenge. She is going to have to design something which is always on the body - cannot be moved and something which is made of a strong durable material which can with stand pretty much anything.


These projects interest me a great deal as they are actually dealing with real situations which could change a lot in the world for the better and have a real stamp on the design industry.

WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR TASTES AND VALUES?

In last weeks lecture Jonathan Baldwin asked us to think about who influences our values and tastes. Where do our good and bad opinions come from? Is taste in-built or is it acquired from the environment around us? Personally I feel that I am influenced by a number of things such as friends, family, tutors, experiences that I have had and the world that I live in. For example growing up I have always looked up to my parents and older brother and sister who have influenced me in everything but I'm sure the majority of people are influenced by their family at that age. Through the years after leaving home I haven't changed at all, apart from becoming more independent I still have the same tastes in music, T.V programmes, fashion, etc and the same values. In the lecture we were asked to write down our top 5- films, albums, classical composers and designers. We were then asked to discuss with one another our answers and to come up with top 5's for our group. Its amazing how many people write down very popular answers that are more seen as "cool" than actually being truthful about there answers and telling us there cringe worthy love for Dirty Dancing or Boyzone.
        After that we discussed our opinions, why should we have an opinion on an artist/ designer if we have hardly any knowledge of different artists to begin with? A person who is a professional probably has a more accepted opinion on something as they have more knowledge of it. These opinions are also written in Understanding Pierre Bourdieu where he discusses his views on what makes art, art? Is it the person who has most knowledge in the field such as art critics or can anything be classed as good art- such as a child's painting? I personally feel that the professionals know best but I feel that taste as well plays a big part in this too. Pierre Bourdieu isn't interested in the aesthetics of the visual world but more interested in the social dimension. Growing up I  made friends with people who are quite similar to me, without really thinking about it or meaning to. I feel that you are more interested in people who are similar to you because someone say who was dressed in outrageous clothing I would feel that I couldn't relate to them at all but other people may feel that they could relate to them. It's amazing how you go through life and don't think about what influences you especially when it's to do with your tastes and values.

HOW DO BRANDING AND ADVERTISMENT INFLUENCE CHILDREN?

In Fridays lecture with Jonathan Baldwin we discussed how branding and advertisement influences shopping decisions. Advertisements don't make people want to buy the certain product, they are shown so that when you go into a shop and are wondering which product to buy, you always buy what is recognisable to you, which most of the time is something which has been advertised.

We also watched a panorama programme which highlights the issue of how influenced children are on branding. It was astonishing to see young children only picking clothes which are branded as they wanted to fit in at school and not get bullied for being different. For me when I was growing up I didn't care about branding I was more interested in being a kid- climbing trees and playing in the back garden with my siblings.

We are now living in a very materialistic world where the pressure for parents to buy expensive brands is sky high. To accommodate to there child's needs they are working more hours to buy brands but is it really worth it?

Here's an article from the Daily Mail about how branding effects children:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1043473/School-children-called-geeks-wearing-cheap-clothing.html

SELLING WAR LECTURE

In yesterdays lecture by Jonathan Baldwin we were discussing how visual language communicates to the viewer. We looked into war advertisement in Germany and Russia and compared this to the British advertisement. It was made clear from the images of  German & Russian advertisement that they used visual artists to design there posters and were aimed at a certain target audience were as the British were very direct in there approach to communicate to the viewer and there posters were simple and more effective as they were aimed at everyday working class people. 

                                                               

 We were also shown artwork in which war artists were sent out and embedded with the troops and painted what they saw there, these for me were very powerful. You are shown a glimpse of what it's like to work in those situations in Afghanistan where photographs are not allowed. For me this lecture made me understand how much impact advertisement and artwork has on viewers.

FURNITURE & TECHNOLOGY

After last weeks lecture on make things make sense I decided that I would research into how technology and furniture could work together as my latest project is to make a contemporary piece of furniture. I found some interesting pieces of furniture. One which is a rocking chair that comes with a built in speaker system that will rock your body to the sound of music stemming from your home theatre. This also has a concealed iPod dock along with dedicated controls and a display on the arm rest.Whats really interesting about this chair is that you can use it in a variety of ways for watching DVD's, listening to music or playing computer games.

Another great invention is this book light which works very simply- when the book is on the light the light goes off, when you remove the book to read it it lights up so you are able to read your book. I thought this

was a really great idea as it is very practical, easy to use and would work well in many homes.

Finally this  funky light seat which I found very eye catching by Kiwi & Pom, I could imagine this piece in a contemporary student space or at a funky disco bar. This illuminated piece of furniture is constructed from over 200 linear metres of elecroluminescent wire.

I feel that last weeks lecture has given me a greater understandment and a different outlook on design and technology working together. This is a great way of looking at design which I will carry on exploring through my projects in the future.

MAKING THINGS, MAKE SENSE!

During yesterdays lecture we were asked to look at design and technology hand in hand and think about how this could integrate into our lives. There were quite a few interesting projects which Hazel White has been involved in. One which really interested me was the charm project in which she got a variety of individuals and gave them each a piece of jewellery, a pack of different charms and a book to log their responses. This was interesting how different people interacted in different ways to the piece of jewellery which they had and also the emotive response they had towards these pieces. We also looked into technology and the human form and how jewellery tells a story. Personally I feel that yes its an interesting avenue to explore for designers but also technology can be lost in translation and be hard to interact with without instructions which for many people such as the elderly who haven't always had technology around can find it hard to follow.