Assignment 4 - Analysing a Book

In the book 'War Posters - Weapons of Mass Communication' the author discusses the relationship between the government and communications industries during the Second World War and how this varied in different countries. The writer appears to be asking what the differences in styles and messages are between the propaganda in several countries. Propaganda examples from Germany, USSR, Britain and America are discussed in reference to style and also how the key values of each country are visually represented and how they differ from each other.

How propaganda was created and the values it was intended to portray to the given nation are discussed in detail. The author explains how Nazi propaganda was 'openly associated with communism' it was distributed by one political party, repressing negatives of war and portraying an 'illusion of coherent reality'. It is important to note that these communist values greatly influenced the style of the propaganda displayed at the time, calculated in its messages, 'ideological' ideas and repetitive use of the swastika symbols to assert control. Advertising space was controlled in Germany and was even more manipulated in Soviet Russia, media was censored and very controlled and the author again shows how this affected the propaganda visuals.

The main point of view that the author appears to be trying to put across is how acutely different these countries propaganda could be. This is asserted when he goes on to discuss British propaganda - he suggests that the graphic design industry in Britain was part of the war effort and was there to assist , it had a much more independent voice whilst still maintaining a desire for unity. The author highlights that messages of promise and benefits were portrayed, posters were intended to "inform and instruct" people on how to behave and carry on with everyday life, encouraged but not forced, hugely different from the authoritative demands of propaganda from countries like Nazi Germany. The author supports his ideas by also suggesting although it seemed a more free type of propaganda from USSR and Germany some people may not have found it completely effective by including quotes from secondary sources such as "posters today are not pictures to sell pills, but to save civilisation and however clever, are a waste of paper unless they kill Germans" a quote from J.B Guild from and advertising company at the time, showing that some people perhaps felt the propaganda should have been more war focussed in terms of fighting and achieving.

The author also discusses American propaganda and explains also how different it was, american imagery was very patriotic, they used a realistic style, depicting photographic images of war, even if they showed defeat, it was honest and truthful. The author also again backs this up with an argument showing that although this seems like a positive way of creating propaganda, it is important to note that advertising was still a business and was still a means of 'mass communication and persuasion' just in a very different form from such propaganda like the Nazi posters.

Although the author uses many references to examples of posters and the odd quote from people to back up his statements, implications may lie in taking on board his line of reasoning as there are not many opinions on the actual propaganda from people that were surrounded by it at the time and although containing many interesting facts it seems more like a 'looking back' view of it.

Assignment 4 - Analysing a Journal

The first text I chose to look into was a journal titled "The war has turned our lives upside down" : The Merit of Commercial Advertising in Documenting the Cultural History of the British Home Front in the Second World War. The journal is focused around the idea that the striking, memorable war poster we know and associate with the second world war were not in fact the best graphic representation of life at that time. The author questions whether this recognisable and nostalgic government propaganda that is so much associated with the war time were a true visual representation of how British people acted and felt at this time and alternatively shows how commercial advertising was perhaps more relevant.

The author discusses how government propaganda was not representational of real life on the home front but rather a reflection of an almost theatrical and unfamiliar image that the people of Britain could not relate to. The author explains that commercial advertising was much more effective as it related to the people with familiar ideas and concepts that helped people adapt to the war rather than be overwhelmed by it.

Several examples of commercial advertisements are given by the author from the time that related well to the lives of people in Britain. It is reiterated throughout the article that the ads which related to everyday experiences and how to balance these with working during these hard times were most effective. An example that helped me to understand the authors point of view was the advert about " Mrs Peek's Puddings" which was promoting easy to make food - very appealing as woman had to balance working( to contribute to the war effort) as well as being a housewife, this supported the reality of people having to adapt their normal lives to the situation of war time life rather than being soupy controlled by it, people still had to get by on a day to day basis.

The views of the author are backed up by occasionally referring to secondary sources, one of which gives insight from Philip Stobo, a man who worked in advertising during the war and was part of many successful campaigns at the time. He explains that in advertising, we should look at "real living people" a point stressed by the author throughout the article about connecting and relating to your target market. It is helpful that the author makes references and includes opinions from other relevant people about the topic as it helps to back up his ideas and consolidate them.

I found it important that the author showed why government propaganda was not truly representational at the time by explaining that although visually striking the posters were generally over the top and enthusiastic, they tried to make war look appealing but it wasn't - people were depressed by the thought of war and needed advise on how to deal with it - especially in correspondence to daily life. It was also interesting to note that although commercial advertising dealt with 'the uncomfortable truths' it was effective because it was real-life and reassuring for people to know that everyone was in the same boat.

Although I do agree that government propaganda was not the the best documentation for representing the people of this era, I feel that the author could have looked into why the government used these glamourised visuals more. Although the author picks up on the fact that the propaganda 'became mythologized as a way to cope with the harsh realities of being at war' he doesn't look into maybe why they had to remain positive - could it have been because they didn't want to seem weak in the eyes of the enemy? If we take the authors line of reasoning on board, it undermines the exciting, nostalgic and memorable graphic design that we currently associate so strongly with that era. The author touched on it slightly but I feel should taken on board that these were adverts still trying to sell products, using psychology to encourage empathy in people which would cause their products to be remembered.

The overall main points that were expressed in this paper were that although government propaganda from the war time is visually exciting and well known, it is not the necessarily the best visual source we can use to learn about the time period. We can learn from commercial advertising what everyday life was like in the war and if we were to rely on government propaganda alone we would not get an accurate account of how people felt and acted, which was so important to the history of this crucial time.

Assignment 3

As part of the 3rd Assignment we were required to meet again with our peer groups and discuss our possible topics for dissertation. We were trying to narrow down our topic to something more focused but at the same time not wanting to restrict ourselves too much at this stage. We each took turns to discuss the topic we were interested in and the other members of the group contributed to creating a brainstorm type mind map for each individuals chosen topic. It was very helpful to get other peoples input and ideas relating to my topic which I may not have considered myself.

I went ahead with looking more into environmental sustainability as my starting point. After attending the dissertation workshop however, I feel I may need to focus on something more personal, as I think this will maintain my interests more. Although I strongly believe that the sustainability of our environment is relevant and crucial I think it might be too typical a subject, I want to look into something a bit more unique so maybe I can generate some fresh ideas. What that topic is yet however, I am not sure, I'll keep you posted!

New Tattoo

I got a new tattoo last week during the reading week. It says 'love is enough' and is written down my right hand side. I found the picture online and loved the phrase and the font. I already have a tattoo on my foot which I didn't find particularly painful but on my ribs was agony, wouldn't recommend it! I am pleased with it now, I'll only ever get tattoo's that I can cover up, that you don't see that often because I like that little element of surprise when people don't know or forget you have them as they aren't on display all the time. Theres always the debate of whether people will regret tattoos as they get older but I feel that at least I love them now and I can look back and say at least I loved them for a while at one point in my life, and two I have are discreet (it looks bigger in the picture somehow than it actually is) and easily covered up.

No Regrets! :)

Assignment 1 -Environmental Sustainability & Design

For the first assignment of semester one (3rd year) We were split into peer groups, each group was made up of 8 designers from different disciplines. We were given a list of possible topics to further research and each person in the group was to pick one, ensuring that no two people within the group were going to be studying the same topic. Our group met up and we all had an idea of which topic we would like to look not, luckily we all had our minds set on different topics so it was straightforward. I chose to study Environmental Sustainability as I feel it is a very relevant topic to look at as a modern designer. We all created a mind map based on our chosen topics and met up again to discuss our initial thoughts and findings. It was interesting to see at this stage how, although we had all picked different topics, a lot of areas matched up and connected to each other in many ways.

Assignment 5A

After reading 'The Tipping Point' book by Malcolm Gladwell, I was intrigued by a concept that he called 'The broken window theory' which suggests that "If a window is broken and left unrepaired people walking by will conclude that no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes” (Gladwell 2000:141) Following on from this, I was interested by the aspect of how crime within a neighbour can affect people and this led me to conduct some secondary research on crime within neighbourhoods. The first journal I looked at concentrated on how elderly people's fear of crime can affect their social relationships within their neighbourhood (Oh, 2009). The second paper I looked at was a more focused paper that showed a case in which a neighbourhood with high rates of disorder pulled together to improve their community (Donnelly, 1998). Although quite different, both papers generally looked at how social relationships within a community affect peoples fear of crime or vice versa -how fear of crime can affect community relationships as it works interestingly both ways. To collect information for my secondary research I read the book, I used cross-search to find related journals, to analyse the information I used techniques such as mind-mapping, brainstorming and discussion, all which were helpful in developing or clarifying ideas. I have since been gaining practise in primary research methods including observation, interviews and visual association.

If I were to conduct primary research on how community relationships affect fear of crime, I think one of the most appropriate research technique to use to collate information would be interviews. Interviews would allow me to obtain a focused sample which would be beneficial in collecting information about the dynamics of one specific neighbourhood. Conducting several interviews within one geographical area would enable me to build up information on personal experience and to see how much one person's views of crime and fear within the neighbourhood may differ from another. Alternatively, since interviews can be conducted relatively easily in short periods of time, they would also allow me to compare information from several neighbourhoods to see in which ways peoples views compare or contrast in different areas. Interviews would be successful in this case as they would allow me to secure quality data from a small sample. My aim would be to discover whether people's social relationships within their neighbourhood have any affect on their fear of crime and also if their fear of crime may affect a person making social ties in a community. Asking either of these question directly would not provide me with sufficient data, instead, I would ask a series of questions that are indirect but will allow me to get more descriptive answers about a person's opinions or personal experience. I would have a pre-composed set of questions prepared for conducting my interviews to ensure consistency throughout. I would select people to interview that I did not know as a pre-existing relationship may affect my results as they might strive to provide answers they think I want, rather than honest responses. I think the best context for these interviews would be the individual's homes as they would feel relaxed and more in control in their own personal environment. Also responses to questions about their homes, safety and experiences with crime may be triggered more effectively when they are in that environment. Safety for myself may be an issue in this case, I would be going to unknown places to interview people I don't know but I could perhaps work with a partner, or alternatively book out a room to conduct the interviews in.

Another research method which could be very effective in researching community attachment on fear of crime is case study. Conducting a case study would allow me to collect a bulk of factual information, studied in significant depth. It would be focused on one specific geographical area and would be a good or possibly bad instance relating to how community social bonds influence fear of crime. Case study is ideal for creating an example from a real-life situation and can raise issues which might not be identified in controlled environments. When conducting a case study, I would have to collect background information to have a better understanding of its history, a lot of prior research would be required as my case study would need to be based on a very specific example of how people's fear of crime affects their attachments or vice versa in a real life situation. Case studies involve several different sources of data which allows for rich information to be collected, despite this however, it would be very complex, involving a lot of work therefore I could only conduct a small amount of them. It would be important to compare my information with previous studies to see how they relate as case studies are not representational and the results that I may find in one instance may not apply to others. The second journal I looked at in my previous essay gave a very interesting example of a case study which showed how residents in Five Oaks, a ‘racially and economically diverse’ neighbourhood responded constructively to an increase in crime within their neighbourhood and integrated members of the community with city officials to design a plan for the community to help reduce it. In this case the community all came together and responded positively to an increase in crime, however, I realise this is not always the case as suggested in the 'broken window theory', a neighbourhood becoming run down only leads to further decline. It would therefor be very important not to generalise my results and make sure I compare them with several other studies to see how and if my results relate to similar cases.

I don't think observation alone would be very effective in researching how community relationships affect crime or how fear of crime affects the formation of neighbourhood ties as these are difficult to distinguish just by watching and recording what you see. Observing individuals within their neighbourhood probably wouldn't provide rich enough information as observing someone in their home area might not tell me very much about their relationships with the rest of the neighbourhood or their fear of crime. I also feel it may be unethical to watch people go about their personal business in their own environment.




Bibliography

Donnelly, P (1998)‘RESIDENTS’ EFFORTS AT NEIGHBOURHOOD STABILIZATION: FACING THE CHALLENGES OF INNER-CITY NEIGHBOURHOODS Vol 13, No. 2 pp. 189-213


Gladwell, M (2000) The Tipping Point. Abacus, London.


Oh, JH (2009) Ageing neighbourhood attachment, and fear of crime: testing reciprocal effects. JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 37 (1): 21-40

Assignment 5B

For a recent studio based project, I was asked to thoroughly research a fruit or vegetable allocated to us that is researched by the Scottish Crop Research Institute . The SCRI has "a combined objective that is key to the development of a vibrant sustainable Scottish economy in the generation of food that creates wealth whilst being healthier and safer". Our aim for the project was to produce a broadsheet with a focus from our research and also a 3D typography installation. I was given raspberry. For my research I used mainly the internet and leaflets/handouts given to me by the SCRI. If I were to do the project again, it may be useful to apply some of the research methods I have learned in design studies.

I decided to focus on ellagic acid which is found in particularly high quantities in raspberries and has cancer inhibiting properties. This fact is highly publicised on the internet and was quite easy to find a lot of information about. The SCRI has their own website which also gave me a lot of information about what they do and the fruits and vegetables that they research. I think it would have been beneficial to use cross search to see if there has been any studies done on the health benefits of raspberries as they may be more reliable than information found on websites. It would be interesting to see if any new information that is not yet very well known has been found out about raspberries. I usually always use brainstorming techniques at the beginning of studio projects now as a quick way of jotting down my initial thoughts and ideas about how I can tackle the brief and give myself options to research further.

There are several primary research techniques that would be helpful in collecting information for this project. The visual experiment technique could be effective in this case, I could use a series of pictures of things that are associated with raspberries or perhaps photographs of the different uses for the fruit, or even the variations in colours (a lot of people are unaware that raspberries come in 4 different colours). Having people interpret related pictures in their own way would likely through up some interesting information about people's assumptions and thoughts on these visuals that I would not get from health and nutritional facts.

Observation would also be an interesting method to use in this case. I could perhaps observe people within a supermarket environment to see what food stuff people buy. It would allow me to see whether certain types of people buy healthier foods or junk foods. Students are stereotypically known for having quite a bad diet but is this true? It would be interesting to see what kind of people are most likely to pick up a lot of fruit in their shopping and I would also be curious to see if people pay much attention to the packaging and the nutritional values of the food items before deciding on them. It would be good to watch people going about their food shopping in a natural setting, although I would have to be subtle and blend in so I did not make people feel uncomfortable. The problems with observation in this case is that I would only be making assumptions about people's choice of food, I would not get any facts from it, the people could be shopping for people other than themselves. Also, food shopping is quite broad and I might not get much valid information directly related to my fruit.

Interviews could also be an effective research technique to obtain information for this project. There are several groups of people I could talk too to get a range of results. It would be interesting to interview people from SCRI to find out how they begin and carry out their own research as research into how they can improve their fruit and vegetables is very key to their business. It would be helpful to interview a variety of people from the institute who are in different job positions (scientists, researchers, sellers, admin staff etc) to see whether their responses and attitudes to the questions differ in any way from each other. Again, I would create a set of indirect, open questions as this would give me more interesting answers. I could perhaps ask questions relating to their food shopping, what kind of foods do they buy and if packaging makes a difference to them. Usually packaging for fruit is transparent and very plain, would more people buy healthy fruit if it had more exciting packaging? Or does the fact that people working at SCRI know so much about the benefits already that the packaging would not make a difference to them? I would also be curious to see how people working closely with these fruits answers compare to people that have less knowledge about them, such as design students. Although design students don't have as much knowledge about the science behind breeding these fruits to perfection, they probably have a better understanding of visuals and packaging and it would be interesting to see the variations in results. I would need to keep the questions the same and the best conditions to use to conduct the interviews in would probably be a room at university as I could invite several different groups of people there to ensure consistency for valid results.

I think applying these research methods to various studio projects could be very effective. It would allow me to use information that is factual and well researched and may give me the opportunity to enlighten myself and other people with information we would not otherwise have known. I have come to realise that using research from the internet might not always be the best option for research as it might not be completely accurate and anyone has access to that type of information. If I were to conduct research myself using the methods I have learned in design studies I might get more interesting outcomes and make more of an impact with my work. If I were to conduct my own research for studio projects I might uncover some really interesting information that could make an impact on a bigger scale rather than just presenting information that is already know but in a high visual standard. After all, I want my work to tackle issues that can make an impression on a big scale, as well as looking good aesthetically.



Bibliography

(2010) Scottish Crop Research Institute
http://www.scri.ac.uk/ [Accessed March 29 2010]

Welcome to Uttzeera!

For my current studio project we were given an area from the shipping forecast. We pretty much had free reign to do what ever we wanted to design something for that given area. I was given 'North Utsire', an area off the coast of Norway. The area is named after the island of Utsira which is very well known for bird-watching as well as having most of their electricity powered by wind turbines. I was very intregued by the idea of a self-sufficient community. I also looked into the vikings which are also associate with the area. Combining these three aspects which i found most interesting I decided to create a communtity that is abandoning technology and resorting back to a life based on true skill (taken from the vikings) and community spirit. My target audience would be older, single people, mainly people who have been in very busy work positions all their life and have possibly sacrificed familes etc for it. The new community would appeal to people who feel lonely in this chaotic world and want to become part of a close knit community. The community works in a hierarchy of birds - each person is allocated a bird position based on their level of skill. I decided what type of bird went with what skill using bird symbolism, for example, eagles are at the top of the hierarchy as they are symbolic of power and said to be 'king of the birds' the job related to this would be the main organisers, the people who oversee everything and sort out any problems. The people who build and maintain the shelter would be geese, and geese are symbolic of safety and protection, which is what the shelter would be to the people...and so on. The 7 birds in the hierarchy are eagle, goose, crane, vulture, peacock, falcon and duck.




These would be small communities within (although no one is 'bottom of the pecking order' so to speak). They would wear a tribal style necklace so that they could identify each other. I handmade the necklaces using material, clay and wool. Me and a few of the girls went to St andrews beach to take picture of them being modelled as you can a few of them above. It was a very cold and wet day but I'm pleased with how they turned out :) I am currently making a welcome pack for the necklaces to go in to be delivered to the people before they set our to join the community life, I will keep you posted on how it turns out!

Assignment 4

Assignment 4 involved collecting information using interviews. After completing the previous assignment of observing people in a casino there was a bit of a debate whether or not people can feel relaxed within that environment. We decided to come up with a set of questions that would try to establish how individuals feel within a casino environment. Not wanting to ask the question directly we came up with a series of question which would provide us with a higher quality of answers rather than just getting a response to the question which would perhaps just answer the question with one answer, such as "nervous" or "relaxed". We wanted to find out WHY or WHAT made people feel the way they do within the casino environment as the purpose of the assignment was to obtain qualitative data. The questions we included in the interview were -


-What kind of environment/situations make you nervous?
-How do you feel when your spending money?
-How much do you generally spend on a night out?
-What do you usually spend your money on when on a night out?
-Is there anything you feel you are addicted to and what?
-What are your views on gambling?
-What do you participate in that could be considered as gambling i.e lottery, scratch cards, bingo, etc?
-Who do you generally go to the casino with?
-What do you go to the casino for?


All the people we interviewed were people we did not know, but due to time restrictions we asked only students within the art school. We had to establish whether the people we were going to interview had actually been to a casino before as asking someone who had never been would not provide useful information. We interviewed 4 people (there are 4 people in our group so we each interview one) 3 were female and one male. Generally the females were not big on gambling and enjoyed the casino as quite a casual night out with friends or family. All of the females felt nervous by similar situations, such as crits at uni. The also had very similar views on gambling, that they enjoyed it casually but would not take it too seriously as they think it can be dangerous. Two of the 3 girls said they were addicted to shopping and they all said they frequently betted on the lottery. Two of the females also made a point of saying they went with males every time, boyfriends or family members as they felt it was a more male thing to do to go to a casino, which I found quite interesting as when we did our observation there all the females there were in groups, usually with males. When we asked the females what they went to the casino for they generally just went with friends for 'fun' or just for something to do after a night out as it is open later than nightclubs. One of the females even said that she goes to the casino as she does not feel comfortable in night clubs because they are too crowded and she spends too much time 'looking after people'. The females also tended to feel good when they spent small amount of money but guilty when spending more.

The information we got from interviewing the male was quite different. He has a much more liberal approach to gambling. His attitude was simply 'go for it'. His approach to gambling seemed more serious and it was clear that when he went to the casino, he was keen to place bets. Although, interestingly when asked in what situations he felt nervous, he said the casino. I am not sure if this is because we had to ask if he had been to a casino before so we could interview him and it triggered that response or if he genuinely feels very nervous in that environment. When asked what he takes part it that could be considered gambling he quickly reeled off a list that included betting on dogs, horses and sports which in my opinion is more serious gambling than the females.

After discussion, from these findings we guessed that people who go the the casino solely to place bets or who gamble more frequently will feel more nervous in the casino environment as they go for the thrill or winning or losing money. The people who feel more comfortable within the casino environment (like me) tend to be more flippant and go just as something to do with friends or family rather than taking the gambling too seriously. Of course I understand that people can feel very nervous when betting money in a casino but I also think it is possible for people to go there and feel quite comfortable in that environment. It is actually very interesting how very different people can feel in the same environment. It would also be interesting to see of the difference in answers between the male and females would still be apparent on a larger set of results, especially since only one male was interviewed. Would other males have similar attitudes and why?

We all agreed that it would be better to interview people who are 'regulars' at the casino and place big bets, as I am guessing their attitudes would be very different from a student. It would be interesting to see if people who bet a lot of money can still feel relaxed within a casino environment. Also, if we interviewed people inside the casino, we would not have to ask them initially if they have been to a casino before, which may have affected the responses to our first few questions. Although they are very strict and may not allow it, if we had more time we would have liked to email the casino to ask if this would be possible.

Alice in Wonderland

I went to see the new Tim Burton version of the classic Disney film Alice in Wonderland today. I have to say I was a little disappointed! I have never seen the disney version but I had quite high expectation since its so well known. The film was good but i think it was thanks to the 3D aspect, if I had seen it in 2D i don't think it would have been nearly as good. It was my first time seeing a film in 3D at the cinema so I was quite looking forward to it. The costumes and effects were fantastic but the story didn't quite match up to it. It kind of felt like some bits had been left out and it was a bit rushed. The ending was kind of expected and not very exciting either. It makes me wonder...would all films like this be much more effective in 3D?

3D Typography Exhibition Photographs :)

Assignment 3

For assignment 3, I was asked to go to an unfamiliar place and observe the behaviour of people in that place. Me and 3 other girls from Graphics decided to go to the new casino in Dundee as none of us had ever been to a casino before. The only knowledge I had of casino's prior to going was what I have seen on tv or in films, usually quite scary, high energy las vegas scenes! We unfortunately chose a very windy, rainy night to go so we were freezing by the time we got there!

Luckily, the bouncer on the door used to do security at my work so I know him relatively well, it made it instantly more relaxed as he explained what we had to do, where to go etc, which I would not have known otherwise. We first had to get our photo's taken for our membership cards as you require one to get into the casino. It was quite invasive from the get go, they asked for our names, addresses and quickly took a photo, it was almost as if they were taking note of who you were right away in case you cheated or such like.

After getting our membership cards we headed into the main part of the casino. It was reasonably quiet, unexpectedly as from my pre-conceptions of casinos I thought they would be busy and high energy, but it was actually quite relaxing. One of the first thing we noticed was the colours and lights. Red was a re-occurring colour throughout, the staff were all dressed in a deep red and a lot of the decor was of a brighter shade. I looked up what the colour red evokes to see if there is a reason for this choice and I discovered that red is "considered an intense, or even angry, color that creates feelings of excitement or intensity" which possibly means it could encourage people to feel more excited and possibly spend more money or get more into the action. Red is also "associated with warmth and comfort" which helps to create a relaxing atmosphere, again encouraging people to maybe be more forthcoming in spending their cash. There was also a lot of dazzling lighting, bright and colour changing which added to the feeling of excitement.

We sat down at the bar and tried to subtly observe what was going on around us. The majority of people in the casino were male. Most of the females that were there were either in groups like us or accompanying a partner. Most of the men were quite casually dressed, a few wore suits but the majority were not 'dressed up'. Pretty much all of the females made more of an effort and were more dressed for a night out, possibly as they more than likely intend to go out after. The females that we seen were generally quite young, and looked around our age. The males were generally more middle aged, and many of them were Chinese and most of the males appeared to be there alone.

The atmosphere was quite quiet and relaxed, not what I expected. Most of the noise came from the waiting staff who chatted and joked around a bit. The staff at the betting tables were more serious. They were dressed in deep red shirts, but not too formal. The staff seemed focused and concentrated on the job, they were quite different from the waiting staff who were more relaxed and playful. The waiting staff often came over and asked us if we needed any drinks etc so it felt as if we were being looked after which was quite nice.

Since I knew the security guard he introduced us to one of the members of staff who showed us how all the betting machines worked and explained about minimum bets etc which was very helpful as otherwise I wouldn't have a clue. There was information leaflets available but we didn't think they were that helpful to someone who had no prior knowledge of the games. If we had not had someone showing us the ropes it would have been a lot harder I think and we probably would not have placed bets at all. The betting machines were not busy and it was the only thing we put money on.

The betting tables were busier. Most of the people at the tables seemed to be there alone and they sat away from each other, hunched as if it was quite intense. There were several spectators around the tables, the vast majority wearing jackets which seemed to suggest they were interested but wanted to show they were not staying for the game and could leave whenever. there was a cloakroom at the main entrance which was free and it was warm inside so it was strange they all seemed to keep their coats on. The people watching seemed very close as if they wanted to be part of the action but at the same time they were uninvolved in terms of placing bets and had jackets on as a kind of defense which was quite interesting. When we went over to the tables to watch however, it kind of felt like the staff kept watching us and it made us feel very uncomfortable.

Although you are pulled in by tables having minimum bets of 10p. You have to put at least £5 into the machine. Once you begin playing it doesn't seem quite real that you are spending away and all of us got quite caught up in the thrill of the game. I can see why people get quite addicted and why people move on to place bigger bets on the table.

When we left the casino, we were again treated very well. As it was raining we were given ponchos and another member of staff pointed out that we could have a taxi phoned for us. The staff at the door said bye and were friendly as if they were encouraging to come back. As we waited for our taxi a man rushed past us and quickly stormed out the door. The staff had a bit of a joke about how people are quick to leave once they lose which is quite interesting because it seems like such a nice, entertaining place, but only if you're winning.

I enjoyed our trip to the casino. I had a good night out without taking it too seriously and it was interesting just to watch people subtly in an environment that some people do take very seriously. The security guard I know informed us that there are many 'regulars' who often don't place bets lower than £500, showing that for some people it is a very serious game, where there is a lot at stake where as for us it was just a bit of fun. The staff and interior of the place definitely try to make you feel more relaxed as this probably makes people more likely to spend money. I think the experience would have been slightly different if there was not someone there I knew because I might have felt a bit more nervous and unsure but on the other hand all of the staff seem quite eager to help so I think if we stood around looking confused for long enough, we would have been shown eventually.

The Origin of Food.

As part of my latest studio project, I was asked to investigate a product researched by the SCRI (Scottish Crop Research Institute). The SCRI is a company based just outside Dundee which specialises in improving aspects of fruit and vegetables not using GM so they can be grown and produced more successfully. In usual graphic design style we each picked a fruit or vegetable from a hat, I received raspberry. For the first part of the project we were asked to thoroughly research our product, obtaining as much general facts about it as possible as well as looking at the work done by the SCRI on the specific given fruit or veg. After collating all the facts on raspberries I was asked to focus on something that interested me and create a broadsheet which explained it. I decided to focus on the fact that raspberries are the fruit which contains the highest levels of ellagic acid of them all! Ellagic acid has been proven to inhibit cancerous cells in animals and could potentially have similar result on humans if consumed over time. I focused my broadsheet around the fact that raspberries are a "cancer fighting fruit" and was quite pleased with the final outcome. Interestingly, the 2nd part of the project was to create a 3D typography installation to be exhibited in the university. I decided to continue with the fighting theme for my installation as it works well to show that raspberries have great benefits but also relates to that fact that raspberries are and aggressively growing plant as well as cancer being an aggressive disease. After throwing a few ideas around I decided to make a boxing ring which would contain my 3D type. I research a lot of boxing language and in particular phrases said by Mohammad Ali to see how I could use or edit them to fit in with my research contained on my broadsheet. I decided to go with 'Raspberry swings with a right, what a beautiful swing, and the punch raises cancer, clear out of the ring' which is an edited quote from Ali about an upcoming fight. I sculpted the letters from clay and painted the first two lines red and the other two blue to show the opposing sides. We had to produce our work for the exhibition in a very tight timescale but seeing everything set up together when the exhibition opened on friday made the stressing worthwhile. It all looked great and I think everyone who took part made a fantastic job with their piece :) Well done guys, we rock!


Pictures to come!

Queuerious

I have worked in a department store now for almost 3 and a half years but only recently have I noticed something very interesting about how people queue to be served. Over the past month or so as the store has become quieter after Christmas, I have noticed that people seem to herd together to queue. The pay point can be deserted for long periods of time and then several customers seem to all come at once, causing them to have to stand and wait rather than coming when there are no other customers at the pay point. I always think of queues as something to avoid, I personally hate waiting around standing in a queue to wait to pay for things. But do I subconsciously rush to join the queue when other people go? Does everyone? Because it happens every single time as i have observed at work, I can stand around for up to 30 minutes sometimes at the tills serving no one then as soon as one customer comes over they are subsequently joined by a queue of others. Its really interesting to see that people kind or herd together like sheep towards something you would think people would try to avoid. Do people feel they have to get there as soon as possible to avoid getting stuck in an even longer queue? But it is interesting to see that within a space of seconds there can go from being no one around to a formed queue of impertinent customers moaning about having to wait around. Some customers seem to get very irritated and moan about having to wait in a queue which could really been easily avoided if people didn't herd together all at one time. Once the queue clears it can be dead again for ages before it happens again. Its strange to think that people wander around and possibly don't go to pay until they see a queue forming when surely it would be more appealing to get served right away at a free pay point with no queue. I do not believe people are aware that they do this but once I noticed it, it becomes almost laughable as it happens all the time. It would be interesting to know if there is more psychology behind this or if it is just sheer coincident so if any one else has noticed this or has any insights please let me know!

Image Experiment - Assignment 2

For the first part of the assignment, I was asked to obtain 3 random images. I then had to ask a range of people to construct a story using the provided images, I asked people to keep the stories brief and the pictures could be used in any order.

The images I used are the last 3 above.



Here are a few example of the stories that people came up with using the images I gave them, I also took note of their ages, gender and occupation -


Gender: F
Age: 22
Occupation: Journalism student - Edinburgh Napier University

Three bears were totally bored one day, so decided to get off their rock and go somewhere beyond fun. They ended up at the beach. Yet, because they were bears the human people were scared of them. So they got captured and locked up in a room. Poor bears!



Gender: M
Age: 21
Occupation: Shop Assistant, graduate in Media.

After endless hours of staring through the hole in the three bears realised they were actually outside looking in. They were cold and hungry on the outside and could see goldilocks eating and sunbathing through the hole. If only they could get in they’d teach her for eating their breakfast!



Gender: F
Age: 20
Occupation: Receptionist and Textile Design student

There was a family of bears stuck in the zoo, when they looked through the barred window of their enclosure they could see the sea and dreamed of being free and swimming in it.


Gender: F
Age: 21
Occupation: Media, Culture and Society student- Dundee University

'The bears are encaged and isolated within a cage which is meant to provide them with security from the wild(pic 1), Through the iron bars they see potential dreams of freedom to live outside their current environment (pic 3). However, the iron bars both metaphorically and physically represent that they will not be free unless they go beyond the metal bars(pic 2).




Gender: M
Age: 24
Occupation: Sales Assistant

The bears were glad in the end. Although they sat, bored and sleepy they were ultimately glad that the wall at the far end of the enclosure was so tall. It was tall enough to keep out the shimmering blue sea which, the previous night, had threatened to sweep them all out to their death! At least with the window in place, they could still see the fantastic horizon.



Gender: F
Age: 20
Occupation: Geography student - Dundee University and Sales Assistant


Daddy bear, mummy bear and baby bear longed for freedom. Their zoo was small and people pointed and stared at them everyday. One day they combined their bear brains and climbed out of the little window in their pen. the bears had always loved the sea, after just one bus trip they were soon on course for Brazil in a little yacht and off to see their bear friends abroad.




Fot the second part of the assignment I was asked to select one of the stories and add a forth image that related to that story. I picked the story I thought was most realistic as alot of the stories I got back were quite silly! The story I chose was-

There was a family of bears stuck in the zoo, when they looked through the barred window of their enclosure they could see the sea and dreamed of being free and swimming in it.

This was to be my 'target' story and the forth image should try to help people get a similar story. The forth image I chose was the one of someone swimming (first image above) as the story mentioned that the bears wanted to swim in the sea.

I asked a new set of people to make up a story with the addition of the forth image using the same procedure as before -

Gender: M
Age: 23
Occupation: IT Engineer

A woman was swimming in the sea, she was caught up in the current and eventually washed up on shore. curious, she approached the nearest building and peered through the window, where she saw a family of bears.

Gender: M
Age: 27
Occupation: Store Manager

I was on my holidays when i looked out of the window into the sea, it was a cold October morning, and you could see the frost in the distance you could see 2 polar bears lying on the shore to the side, and there were people swimming in the sea, even though it was freezing


Gender: M
Age: 20
Occupation: Animation student - Dundee University

While Barry struck a pose of grandeur for the audiences, Bert and Brian really could not be bothered with the incessant crowds at the zoo and decided to look at the square TV that the zoo keepers had installed onto the wall. “Seawatch” was on.
The program detailed that a giant crocodile had already claimed several small, white, boats on the horizon in the previous weeks indiscriminately. They were immediately distracted, however, by a woman falling sideways over the barrier and into their drinking pond.


It seems that adding the image of the swimmer did not help in getting people close to the target story as the actual swimmer was focused on rather than the actual act of swimming and this related to the human rather than the bears. The bears were no longer the main focus of the story in most of them like they was in the first set. Although one person did still seem to include the bears in an enclosure type scenario in thier story, it still wasnt very close to the target story.

For the next part of the assignment I put the photos in order and also added a word to each to see if this might help people get closer tothe target story. I added "family" to the picture of the bears, "enclosure" to the picture of the barred window, "free" to the picture of the sea view and "swimming" to the forth image. These are the 3rd set of stories I recieved after making these changes -

Gender: F
Age: 22
Occupation: Textiles student - Dundee University

A family of large bears were kept in a small enclosure and longed to be set free so they can swim away from their torture.

Gender: F
Age: 20
Occupation: Shop Assistant

A family of bears were stuck in an enclosure and were then taken to the seaside and set free and they swam away to a free life.

Gender: F
Age: 20
Occupation: Textiles student

A family of bears were enclosed in a small area, they were then released and went swimming.

Gender: F
Age: 20
Occupation: Shop Assistant

A family who are at a zoo appear to be looking at a family of animals who are kept in enclosures. The family kidnap some water animals and went swimming with them.


As you can see adding the words definitly helped people get closer to the target stort. 3 out of 4 of the stories in this part of the assignment were loosely similar to the target. Adding text cleary had an effect as people used the words and focused on them probably even more so than the images themselves.

Although I still find the Barthes essay quite confusing I think I understand what he is saying about the linguistic messaage and how the addition of text to an image can alter a persons perception of what the image is portraying. When text is added it restricts a persons thinking and the thoughts on the image become much more focused. Especially in advertising which is closely related to my discipline, its as if we are being told how to percieve it rather than having free reign to do so.

As a graphic designer I feel it is important to consider exactly what message you are trying to get across to the viewer, its important to consider how a wide range of people might interpret an image rather than getting caught up in your own interpretations. I had my own instant idea of how the story would go using these pictures and words and it was so interesting to see how completely diffent some other people read them. I would have liked to ask a wider range of people from different ages and occupations to see how that might affect my results, but due to time restictions I stuck to people I know.

Roland Barthes - The Rhetoric of the Image

I was asked to read 'The Rhetoric of the Image' by Roland Barthes as part of this weeks design studies assignment. We were told in the assignment brief that it would be a difficult read and that was an understatement. I found myself having to read over it several times and still coming away with very little understanding of what the essay was actually saying. The words and language used were unnecessarily complicated which make it extremely hard to follow as half the time I was trying to figure out what the words actually meant before continuing with reading!

After a classmate recommended I looked up summaries of the text online I began to get a better idea of what it was about :) I gathered that the text was mainly about how we interpret images. Barthes explains that there are 3 significant levels when visually analysing an image. The first is the linguistic message which is how the text affects the interpretation of the image in the picture shown in the essay, the style of the text helps towards portraying an Italian feel as well as stating the name of the company. The second is the coded iconic message which is the overall assumptions you make from the appearance of the image, from what I understand things that do not need to be stated by text as they are obvious, for example in the image the vegetables and pasta are ripe and fresh (wouldn't want to show rotten food). The third is the non coded iconic image which is simply what you see in the image, what is actually in it. There are implications when analysing an image, such as cultural differences, how one person might perceive an image might be completely different from another depending on aspects of their culture. Although the addition of text in an image can help to convey a clearer, more specific message when applied to the image.

After reading (and attempting to understand) the Barthes essay we discussed in a group what we thought about it and how and if it related to our discipline. We all agreed that it is very relevant to Graphic Design, after all visual communication is what it is all about, especially when it comes to incorporating text. I believe that text can make an image and by this I mean it can convey exactly what you want to say, which might not be clear with an image alone. Especially when it comes to advertising, it is important to obtain an instant visual comprehension and the inclusion of text is important in doing that. When an image is alone with no text it is free to the interpretation of the individual, they are free to take from it whatever they want which can potentially be different from one person to the next, but applying text also applies constraints, which is helpful in advertising as it is usually a very specific message that is trying to be conveyed.

The other side!

Ailsa's blog can be found here - ailsamccreadie.blogspot.com/ If anyone is interested in reading about the findings from her point of view :)

Making Assumptions (Assignment 1C and D)

The first Assignment for Design Studies in semester 2 involved swapping photographs with a student you did not know well or at all from another discipline. The photo's were to be of either a selections of rooms from your home before anything had been tidied away, or a range of photos from when you were growing up. I received photo's from Ailsa, a textiles student. There were about 7 or 8 photo's from her childhood. We were asked to look closely at the photo's and try to make guesses about this person's life, their possible influence, tastes and try and make guesses about what their possessions or other things in the photo's say about them. I found it quite difficult at first as in the photographs that I received Ailsa was no older than about 4 or 5, therefore making assumptions about her current tastes etc was not easy. I had also given Ailsa a set of photographs of the rooms in my home and after both taking several notes on each photograph, we met up to discuss our findings.

In many of Ailsa's photograph's of her as a child she was with a man who I presumed was her father, there was only one picture with her mother so I therefore guessed she may be a bit closer with her Dad. Her dad also seemed relatively alternatively dresses in the pictures, in checked shirts and leather and also on a motorbike, I thought maybe Ailsa was influenced by him in some way involving this, possibly music taste. All but one of the photograph's were outdoors, from this I suggested she might be quite into being outside - at the beach etc as opposed to spending a lot of time indoors. From what I could see of the area in the photographs I guessed that she grew up in a quieter town rather than a busy city as the surroundings in the photographs always seemed to be in spacious places (the beach, park, garden) There was one photograph where Ailsa was with an older man and woman who I assumed were her grandparents, she seemed very happy in this picture, this was also the only photograph that featured another child. From this I guessed she was quite close to her grandparents and was possibly an only child, as all the other pictures (mainly with her Dad) were of just the two of them.

It was very interesting to discover that all the assumptions I made were correct. Ailsa told me that she did feel she was closest to her Dad and that her music tastes have been influenced by her parents, she listens to a lot of 'older music'. She also agree'd that she likes to spend time outdoors and grew up outside of a city. She informed me that she is in fact close to her grandparent and that she is an only child. Obviously it was difficult to know exactly where the photograph's were taken and who was in them so it was interesting that Ailsa explained the exact details of them all to me :) she told me about how she lived in England when she was a baby and that the other child in the photo was her cousin who she was very close in age to and gets on very well with.

I was also intrigued to see what Ailsa had assumed about me from my photographs. I guessed it would be difficult for her as my Mum is extremely house proud and even without tidying up beforehand the rooms are very tidy and there is not much possession on show. Despite this it was interesting to see that Ailsa has still made correct guesses about many aspects of my life. She obviously guessed that the house was kept very organised and tidy, likely by my mum which is right. She guessed I was influenced by this and was similar as my bedroom was also relatively tidy, which is spot on! She guessed from a photo of the dining room with a large table and chairs that I am quite a family orientated person, that we are close and eat meals and things like that as a family, also right. She also picked up on the fact that I have a brother who is a similar age and is very into music (his room is full of cd's). Ailsa also picked up on small things in my bedroom, such as two cuddle toys on my bed which she thought might have some sort of importance since I dont have much stuff left out in my room - one is a gift from my mum and the other from my boyfriend so both are special to me :) There were some details that we guessed that were a little off but generally the guesses we both made were pretty accurate.

I found it very interesting how much we both guessed right just from 6 or 7 photographs. Ailsa even picked up on things from my photo's that I never even noticed myself but were spot on. Although it was interesting, it was initially made me very uncomfortable making assumptions about someone's life when I don't really know them. I was a bit worried about getting it totally wrong or possibly offending her. I was also even more uncomfortable letting someone judge me - my home and making guesses about my life. It made me think about first impressions - I guess I am quite bad for making judgements when first meeting people at making instant assumptions about the kind of person they are but at least in this way you seem to be able to paint a reasonably accurate picture about that person and get insight into them and their life without ever really knowing anything about them originally. Overall, a little invasive but very interesting assignment!

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

I started a project the other week which asked us to tell a given story or fairytale using a pictorial/visual language. The story I was given was Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. As the story is about two sides, good and bad, I decided to look at the city of Edinburgh. It is well known that Edinburgh has two distinct sides - the new town and popular tourist areas and the underbelly, dark old town side. As i began to research I was intrigued that this one city has such distinct difference. I decided to use tourist maps as my method of visual communication as i thought it would be a good way to show several things in a city over a given area. I decided I would have one map with the attractions that people would like to visit in Edinburgh mainly at day time, and another on the underside of the map showing the more seedy places that are likely to be visited at night (Jekyll turned into Hyde and got involved in bad behaviour at night!) I began trying to find opposites, good and bad, from each other to put on both maps, for example red light areas against 5 start hotels, libraries against x rates magazine stores, tea at Jenners against shots at a cheap club. I thought the best way to represent these things would be to take the widely known public symbols found on current maps and alter them slightly to best represent the given place. I am currently in the process of designing the symbols and maps so i'll keep you updated on the progress :)

While creating the maps I was looking for a good way of finding colour schemes that represent a particular thing (i.e I wanted a 'gothic' colour scheme to use for the underbelly map) and i came across this great website where you can type in a word and it comes up with related colour schemes! It can be found here http://kuler.adobe.com/#

MyPolice

http://www.mypolice.org/?page_id=4

Lauren Currie kindly wrote up a blog post on the mypolice website about my research assignment into how community relationships affect fear of crime, check it out! :)

Winter.

I haven't posted anything on here in a while! Its been nice just to give my mind a much needed rest over the festive period, chill out, see friends, open presents, its been great! What hasn't been so good is the cold, I normally love the snow and the fact that it was pure white everywhere on Christmas day was lovely but im definitly fed up of all this ice, snow and cold and definitly want to see the back of it! Boo for snow now! Im hoping that this means we might get a really nice summer but its probably unlikely!
I spent most of last week in London. I love it there the atmosphere, the underground, the shops but I was really taken back by how rude the majority of people seem to be there. No one holds doors open, people bang right into you and dont apologise and what annoyed me most of all was how huffy the shop assistants were, no hello's or thank you's! It is a shame to tarnish all people there with the same brush and all but I honestly thought most people were like this in London and its a shame. I considered that maybe just because London is such a big place people just becomes so used to the chaotic busyness that they dont think to say hello or sorry but surely it doesnt take much time or effort to say sorry if you nearly knock someone over or hello if your serving a customer in a shop.
I loved being in London though, it was great to see it at Christmas covered in snow and I went to see the musical 'We Will Rock You' which was brilliant but I was glad to get back home. I might come from a small town with a rocky reputation but its home and I love it, at least the majority of people here have some manners! :P BAH HUMBUG!