Projection Ideas

During our discussion dated 12th March, we discussed the possibilty of some sort of 'projection' featuring in our final presentation of work, we all seemed to agree this could be a effective way to communicate our ideas. I recently came across the eco initive 'make a forest' created by Anne van der Zwaag and Joanna van der Zanden.  In an attempt not to create a solution for deforestation, but to use art art and design to question whehter the use of one artificial tree could have an impact on a local area, they created artificial trees.  The initive itself was fitting in relation to sustainable design for the future, however it was the way the art was conveyed that caught my attention....
... A series of sketches of trees made from everyday objects were made, and then photographed. They were then exhibited as a series of 'lightbox installations'.  The images below illustatre how these illusions appeared.  To me they are extremely effective, maybe we could present our final concept in this way in the space provided??

(http://www.yatzer.com/vow-45-Temporary-Trees-by-Raw-Color-and-Mkgk)

Alan Holmes

Alan Holmes gave an interesting insight into 'what it means to be a designer'. He explained the process of 'observation - transaction - production' in terms of the design process, to communicate our story, however highlighted that in reality it is always a backward and forward process, and that turning issues into 'stuff' is vital.
He expressed that when designing for the future it can be useful to base ideas around 'fiction', as we are to a degree, unaware of what will happen ahead of time, and speculation can therefore be key. He presented the work of a selection of textile designers who challenge the preconceptions of what a designer is, create work that will have positive impacts for the world we live in, and garments that can inform us what's happening to our planet. He left me considering the following questions ;

What additional things can textiles do?

New technologies? Can we design for them?

Why do we have clothes?

Can we design for well being?

What is the job of a designer?

Colour expressing Culture

Whilst searching the dutch design blog 'design:nl@ I came across imagery that expressed culture in such a vibrant manner.  The extract 'the colourless dutch' continued to highlight how colour has specific, cultural and symbolic meaning in India. It also explained how a particular season, fertility or  festival occasion can influence the use of colour in indian design hugely.

To what extent will we consider colour when developing our concept?

 

 

  http://www.design.nl/item/dutch_designs_lack_of_colour?searchField=dress

Group Development

 Today we developed our 'patchwork culture' theme, the image below illustrates the areas of Manchester we will initially research, considering; people, pattern, colour, shape, texture, smells and history, in order to present to our group for Thursday.
Going forward we aim to decide whether our work will 'solve a problem' or ' make a statement'. In order to do this we will consider WHO we are targeting.
Questions to consider whilst researching...
. Are we going to celebrate how different people are? ( highlight the cultural clashes)
.will existing minorities become the majority?
.will we aim to solve the problem of cultural segregation, I.e bring people together??, or do we not see this as a problem?
.will certain cultural references loose their symbolism in the future?
 

Concept Ideas

 

 After reflecting on our previous group discussion were we considered the clashing of religious identities, I came accross the widely distributed facebook presentation 'Joseph Kony 2012'.  Produced by an advocac group, 'invisible children' the film calls for local celebrities and politicans to boost the hunt for the war criminal, who has continued to capture young children in Uganda for the past 30 years.  The campaign is a case study which tackles how the web is changing political campaigning, and within the film appears a list of the 'most wanted criminals in the world'.  In terms of creating a concept, we could consider the idea of 'exposing such criminals', making each one 'famous'  in order to increase global awareness and to accelerate the prevention of such devastating happenings. 

 

Tuesday 6th March Dave Haslam Lecture

A local DJ, expressed the importance of small scale, marginal creativity in relation to the music scene in Manchester. Having worked in the town for many years , he continued to recall the rise of the band Joy division, that in his opinion came from the margins, and went on to influence the music industry massively. He Stated 'cultural significance is not how many people know about an idea, but what affect it has on culture, challenging us to define the alternative, and to question everything. He gave a interesting insight into the history of Manchester's' music industry from an acute angle, and asked us to evade the mainstream when considering our creativity in developing ideas

Group 5 Rules