Tuesday 21 May 2013

What is good? - Website


I like the use of coloured boxes, it splits the website up into different sections. The bigger the box could be used to show the more important information.



Attariat, Cosmetics Atelier Website
By TATABI Studio

This is a good example of how you can create a website that is easy to navigate and also aesthetically interesting. I like the way they have presented the ipad on the yellow back ground which might be something to consider when presenting my website for Anapol. 







Nervo / Universal Music - Website
Filfthy Media

I picked this to show the colour scheme. I am interested in how the website is mostly blue shades with the image opacity multiplied over the top. It makes the not stand out too much. Its quite subtle which I think would suit my exhibition well. 



Saturday 11 May 2013

Context of Practice OUGD501 - Module Evaluation


OUGD 501 Evaluation


1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them:

I have of course become more informed contextually with the twelve lectures we have received. I also now know that contextual knowledge is important for my personal practice and it should help direct my development process and design decisions.

I particularly found the panopticism lecture and seminar interesting and from there decided to write my essay around it. I think it was a good choice and I think the link between the Chinese censorship that exists online was great starting point to flesh out an informed essay discussing the panoptic methods the Chinese government employ. In relation to the essay it has also taught me how to construct and essay title, which I now know, is important. Hopefully this will allow me to choose an appropriate title for the COP3 and my dissertation. After I received my first essay draft backed it allowed me to understand where I was going wrong. I analysed the analysis Richard made and bullet pointed what I should do next time to make it easier on myself. I found that I generate too much of my own content and should look to summarise more on what authors say. I also realised where I needed to re-arrange my writing structurally for example I didn't define what panopticism was in the essay as an introduction, I don't why I did this but it seemed really obvious after I received my feedback. I now know how to compare/contrast three authors using triangulation, which when introduced (triangulation) I found extremely confusing. This year I was given dyslexia software which I have utilised to help me write, specifically I use the 'Read and Write' tool which read out writing in a robotic voice. Although the voice doesn't sound convincing it does help as I can see where I have made mistakes or where the flow of my writing could make more sense. I have utilised online tools to help me with my Harvard Referencing, which makes it fairly straightforward, and I also feel more confident in finding and using quotes from authors.

I think the theory into practice task has allowed me to build upon my concept development, which Simon and Lorraine have also introduced. I can now see where I can make practical links to the theory, which hopefully makes coherent sense. I think the freedom of the Theory Into Practice tasks allows you to explore contextual subjects you are interested in. By researching the Small House Movement I found more of a focused interested within sustainability that focused on design rather then radical sustainable movements.

My ability to research has improved. I now spend much more time researching specific topics because of the way I title the research task. Linking back to titles for the essay, I’ve realised is makes it easier for yourself if you have a specific point of interest you can focus on and talk about a subject in more depth.


2. What approaches to methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process

I choose to do a publication in the form of a small booklet, which meant I had another chance to work with editorial design and layout. I inserted interactive pages and also tried to experiment with dimension. My booklet is quite small because I thought the concept of exploring the Small House Movement within a large-scale book would be ill informed. I tried to use the conventions of a book to illustrate points and examples I was making theoretically which was quite challenging in the way I had to lay certain pages out so that this was possible. This leads me on to printing. It was extremely frustrating printing my booklet off within InDesign. I ended up printing around 8 booklets just to get the layout right which is pretty off the subject I was producing for - sustainability. It ended up being more of a learning process in printer settings!

This time around I have chosen to get everything ready for hand in extremely early. I am writing this module evaluation three days before hand in so that I don't have to worry about getting it all done on the day. I learn my lesson from the responsive module when I handed in three and a half minutes before the deadline time. I don't need the stress!

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I enjoy learning about new theories and think I generally understood most theories we were presented this year. I think the fact that I have been motivated to understand and be open to discuss in seminars theories has allowed me to move foreword contextually making me more informed.

Again I think my conceptual process has improved and the way created a link between the theory and the practical work this year was positive. The fact that I even understand this is extremely important I think is a start. I will continue contextual discourse positively in COP3.

I have come to almost enjoy structured writing and doing the essay and my confidence has definitely improved. I want to build upon my new writing skills and I will aim to improve the structure of my writing next year.

Thankfully I have been really organised which has meant I haven't had so much work to do for hand in as it is already complete. The way I have organised myself in lectures and within seminars had made this process successful. I will continue to blog the lectures at the time I then find more contextual research afterwards. I will also complete the study tasks as soon as possible to the work being set. When its fresh in your mind its obviously a lot easy to complete.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future

I have procrastinated a lot more this year then last. I don't know why but I feel drained this year around and everything seems to be less of a novelty. I find blogging boring although I understand its better then using sketchbooks or power points. I think it’s down to the arrangement of posts and labels. I don't want the blogging I am doing to be a waste of time. I will try and make some kind of master order I can use throughout all modules to help organise my work so that it can be presented efficiently.

I still find when I have to present work to groups I can feel anxious and verbally not make coherent sense. I want to overcome this and I think the only way to do it is to continue to get involved more and also become more confident in my own opinion.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

Write my dissertation to a set structure. This will allow me to plan what I want to say and make it easier to triangulate. I will plan my dissertation thoroughly before starting to write. This will improve the structure.

I will finish my essay once I receive my draft at the time rather then later in the year so that it will be still fresh in my mind. This will make it easier to pick up where I left.

I will organise my blog posts better. This will allow me to document my work to a higher standard and achieve more marks.

Be confident when I present ideas concept to the group. This will allow me to appear more coherent and informed about my work.

OUGD501 Essay

Does China use panoptic methods to censor the Chinese people online?

Samuel Hoh    (BA) Graphic Design

Panopticism is the conceptualization of the Panopticon, which was a type of institutional building designed by Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century. The design consists of a circular structure with an “inspection house” or guard tower at its centre. The Panopticon allows the guards to see the inmates that are stationed around the perimeter without the inmates knowing if they are or are not being watched as the guard tower would have slats or some kind of device that only allows the guards to see out; “The Panoptic Gaze”. The cells were typically well lit and meant that the inmates had very little privacy and could always be monitored from the centre of the Panopticon. This differed from the idea of a conventional cell where the inmate was underground in the dark and was left to his own devices. The Panopticon in comparison to the dungeon - using the traditional three functions to enclose, to deprive of light and to hide, preserves only the first and eliminates the other two.  The design and key feature was the element of visibility, being one directional and not reciprocated from inmate to guard. The idea that full lighting along with the monitoring of a supervisor serves to strengthen power, rather then darkness, which ultimately protected the prisoner, visibility being used a trap.

Panoptic institutions were different in a way that there were no more bars, no more chains, no more heavy locking devices; Foucault (1975) “all that is needed is that the separations should be clear and the openings well arranged. The heaviness of the old 'houses of security', with their fortress-like architecture, could be replaced by the simple, economic geometry of a 'house of certainty'. The efficiency of power, its constraining force has, in a sense, passed over to the other side - to the side of its surface of application.” As powerful the Panopticon is as a tool of penality and punishment, Foucault comments on how easy it is to duplicate or use. The ease in which it allows automatic power is one of the crucial points he puts forward. “He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection. By this very fact, the external power may throw off its physical weight; it tends to the non-corporal; and, the more it approaches this limit, the more constant, profound and permanent are its effects: it is a perpetual victory that avoids any physical confrontation and which is always decided in advance.” Foucault describes the design of the Panopticon anthropomorphically, which gives you a sense of how it functions and how the methodology may be implemented and forced upon a subject or prisoner. Foucault comments on the subjective nature of the Panopticon with the individual’s consciousness being key to control. Foucault also comments on the fact that the perpetual victory is won without the use of force, which at the time was not the normal procedure, which made the concept so unique. Dumm also comments on the physicality’s of the Panopticon, (Dumm 2002) “The Panopticon is a building that ideally achieves the goal of perfect surveillance over those who are enclosed within its walls by bringing together in a single-space all of these modes of correction... Each person in it is isolated from all other persons, yet all are potentially visible from the central tower. The purpose of this surveillance is to disallow deviant behaviour on the part of abnormal individuals. Confined in a cell, exposed to the gaze of a supervisor,” The last point is the most relevant as it contributes to the success of the Panopticon; communication within a Panoptic building or Panoptic environment only allows one-sided communication with someone as the focus of observation by someone they cannot see or observe mutually, this creates a voyeuristic institution apart from the supervisor/observer depends solely on the fact that the subject needs to know he may be being watched. “The individual is the “object of information, never a subject in communication” The individual is seen but never sees those who watch.”
Staples describes a lantern designed earlier by Bentham, which allowed guards in dark dungeons to remain concealed but able to observe, continuing the theme of one sided observation. Staple’s reinforces the concept of Panopticism specifically commenting on the ‘gaze’.  (Staples 2000) “With this scheme, the inmates may or may not be under constant surveillance; they just think or imagine that they are. As Bentham put it, they are “awed to silence by an invisible eye.” The inmates have therefore internalized what Foucault called ‘le regard’ or the ‘’gaze’ of the authorities, and, in effect, they watch and render themselves docile. In this way, power operates without coercion, force or violence, automatically and continuously; whether or not the tower is occupied at all. With this technology, Bentham created an all-seeing, all-knowing ‘God’ that was, in reality, nothing more than a dark spot in the lantern.”

Foucault (1975) “The Panopticon is a privileged place for experiments on men, and for analysing with complete certainty the transformations that may be obtained from them.” The inmate being under constant observation allows the observer to collect extremely accurate information, which makes it a rich environment for experiment. “The Panopticon may even provide an apparatus for supervising its own mechanisms. In this central tower, the director may spy on all the employees that he has under his orders: nurses, doctors, foremen, teachers, warders; he will be able to judge them continuously, alter their behaviour, impose upon them the methods he thinks best; and it will even be possible to observe the director himself.” The ideas that everyone can be visible and that the Panopticon will even supervise its own operators, again highlighting the automatic functioning of absolute surveillance. “An inspector arriving unexpectedly at the centre of the Panopticon will be able to judge at a glance, without anything being concealed from him, how the entire establishment is functioning. And, in any case, enclosed as he is in the middle of this architectural mechanism, is not the director's own fate entirely bound up with it? The incompetent physician who has allowed contagion to spread, the incompetent prison governor or workshop manager will be the first victims of an epidemic or a revolt. The Panopticon functions as a kind of laboratory of power. Thanks to its mechanisms of observation, it gains in efficiency and in the ability to penetrate into men's behaviour; knowledge follows the advances of power, discovering new objects of knowledge over all the surfaces on which power is exercised.” From observing you are able to understand, and from understanding it allows you to manipulate a subject. Foucault further comments on the Panopticon being a self-regulating tool that anyone can control and implement as long as you are in the centre and not on display. He uses a quote from Bentham to suggest that maybe even Bentham didn’t realise how effective and efficient his design would be. (Bentham) "By every tie I could devise, my own fate had been bound up by me with theirs”

The Panopticon can be applied into different social contexts, for example schools and within the work place. Michel Foucault is the original theorist who commented on panopticism as a social theory in Crime and Punishment. A number of authors have also considered how panoptic methods can make individuals and groups of people sensor themselves.

In the UK the Internet is generally free and open to us, which means we can search it endlessly, trawling through content in a cumulative fashion. In China the opposite reality exist, with the Internet being heavily censored and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, independent bodies and Internet Service Providers. The Chinese government believes Internet regulations and laws should exist to decide what is deemed acceptable web content. The extent to the policing in China is considered the heaviest in the world. China also has the largest imprisoned journalists and cyber dissidents.

Censorship is the control of information and ideas that circulate within a society. Censorship targets information and ideas, which are deemed to be objectionable or offensive. Gilc.org states why and what the Chinese government seeks to target for censorship, which is traditionally similar if not parallel to the ideas of which lead to the design of Panopticon. (Gilc.org 2004), “the rationales for censorship have varied; with some censors targeting material deemed to be indecent or obscene; heretical or blasphemous; or seditious or treasonous. Thus, ideas have been suppressed under the guise of protecting three basic social institutions: the family, the church, and the state.”
On the 16th March 2002, a self-governing body called The Internet Society of China created and made a public pledge, which aimed to force self-discipline on the Chinese Internet Industry. It is an agreement between the regulators and companies that operate sites in China. By agreeing to the pledge Chinese companies agreed to prevent and identify the transmission of information that the authorities rule as objectionable, breaks the law, spreads superstition or jeopardizes state security. From 2006, the pledge had apparently been signed by more than 3,000 entities operating websites in China. The method of censorship in China is commonly referred to as the ‘Great Chinese Firewall’, just as the Chinese built The Great Wall of China to defends its citizens from external threats, ‘The Great Chinese Firewall’ thusly named because it serves the same function but digitally blocking web content, the majority of it international. The scale of censorship in the People’s Republic of China is huge. It is commonly believed that there are “more then 30,000 Internet police.” - (The Guardian 2010) their responsibilities are to fight cybercrime, enforce censorship, monitoring and also spreading propaganda.

Although 30,000 Internet Police officers seems like a tremendous amount of manpower capable of enforcing the Internet laws of the PRC, it wouldn’t be if the Chinese people didn’t actively regulate themselves as well. China has more then 500 million Internet users online and rising and it would be impossible to censor the Internet if the Chinese didn’t generally comply. (Farivar and Cerf 2011), “The Chinese system relies on a classic psychological truth: self-censorship is always far more comprehensive than formal censorship. By having each private company assume responsibility for its corner of the Internet, the government effectively outsources the otherwise unmanageable task of monitoring the billions of e-mails, news stories and chat posting that circulates every day in China”
Farivar and Cerf begin to answer the essay title, unravelling some of the Panoptic methods the Chinese government uses. Mason further comments on the Panopticon, reinforcing the efficiency on the design. (Mason 2002), “The fact that the inmates know that the supervisors can see what they are doing, that enables the panoptic institution to effectively control a large mass of people.” (Farivar Cerf 2011), “There’s a randomness to their enforcement, and that creates a sense that they’re looking at everything.” Farivar and Cerf further explain the fact that the Chinese government can and do ‘turn every rock’, the idea is set in the internet user that potentially that are being watched, even when they are not.

Foucault again comments on the efficiency on the panoptic method, which you can apply to the PRC. (Foucault 1975), ‘The ideal point of penality today would be an indefinite discipline: an interrogation without end, an investigation that would be extended without limit to a meticulous and ever more analytical observation, a judgement that would at the same be the constitution of a file that was never closed”
The defining mechanism on panopticism is the enigma of surveillance. It is no mystery to the Chinese people that the Internet they use is heavily censored and monitored rigorously. The government doesn’t hide the fact that they penetrate every aspect of the PRC’s Internet but instead seeks the opposite, they rely on the PRC knowing they are being constantly analysed and studied with nowhere to hide online. This is a more productive method of administration.

Min Jiang (2007), Foucault (1975) and Zhiqun Zhu (2011) comment on the equilibrium of power. Zhigun Zhu (2011) p232-234, “While Chinese authorities are typically unable to take down content posted on overseas web servers, they alternatively have been able to pressure local web companies and internet service providers to keep “undesirable” content off the web as much as possible… Chinese web companies have been willingly or unwillingly following the “guidance” of the various governments agencies simply because the government ultimately controls the fate of these companies.” In other words they either obediently do whatever they are told to do by the government or they simply face being cut off.  What option do businesses and agencies within the Internet industry have apart from to obey or face the consequences of their actions under the current government ideology? It is understandable why they would co-operate and it reinforces the idea of the infinite power that Foucault’s panoptic theory comments on.
(Foucault 1975), “The relation of each individual to his disease and to his death passes through the representatives of power, the registration they make of it, the decisions they take on it.” This creates an institution that ultimately multiplies the authorities power. (Min Jiang 2007) “Automatic functioning of power. So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in its effects even if it is discontinuous in its action; that the perfection of power should tend to render its actual exercise unnecessary;” In China this could further the support the efficiency of censorship implementation online. Automatic functioning power which actually makes implementation not always necessary, instead the government scare people into thinking they are being watched when they might not be, this mimics the idea of the lantern and the dungeon. (Foucault 1975) “That this architectural apparatus should be a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it; in short, that the inmates should be caught up in a power situation of which they themselves are the bearers.” This is another explanation of why the Chinese engage in self-censorship and in cases actively partake in the censorship of other Chinese Internet users.

Internet, companies have the power to monitor us; generally this is for the purpose of advertising specifically to sell us new products that we might potentially buy. This is achieved by analysing the data we input through websites such as Google. The chances are if you have been searching for a certain type of wrist watch for example, there is a strong possibility that somewhere on a webpage that you visit in the near future there will be an ad at the side of the page is somehow watch related.

The point of this explanation is to conceptualise the idea of a government that is fundamentally involved in a similar but far more extensive process of online analysis for the key objective of controlling its citizens. (Foucault 1975) “The practice of placing individuals under ‘observation’ is a natural extensions of a justice imbued with disciplinary methods and examination procedures” China is the largest exporter in the world with a prosperous economy based upon hierarchies both in the workplace and socially. The people who manufacture goods exported abroad operate under the exact regime of floor worker-to-managing directors (skipping the other positions); Internet Police officer to the man who makes the decisions; consequences to floor worker. This structure parallels the system in place which is censorship online, a flow of data forming information, (Foucault, 1975), “The surveillance is based on a system of permanent registration: reports from the syndics to the intendants, from the intendants to the magistrates or mayor. At the beginning of the ‘lock up’, the role of each of the inhabitants present in the town is laid down, one by one; this document bears ‘the name, age, sex of everyone, notwithstanding his condition”
(Taras, Bennet and Townsend 2004) “Information technology makes possible new degrees of control by management over the worker, affords new ways through which the least movement of the worker can be monitored.” With technology advancing so quickly people are left at the mercy of the developers and administrators. There is a level of trust that that generally exists between the two - in the UK , but in China this is not so. This is supported by (Jiang 2007), “Foucault’s concept of the Panopticon, when applied in the Internet environment, alerts us to the fact that the Internet can be used as a mechanism of surveillance and control contrary to the conventional wisdom that the Internet liberates. In the authoritarian context, the mechanism of government control may be enlarged.”

Zhu (2011) p232-234 “Content filtering is not only implemented at the “national gateway” level, but also throughout the public Internet access facilities in China. In 2003 alone, for example, the internet police closed down almost half of the country’s 200,000 Internet cafes and installed surveillance cameras and filtering software in the remaining establishments.” The surveillance, methodology and collection of information in the PRC sounds exactly like the Omni presence Foucault suggests within ‘Discipline and Punish’, which you cannot avoid or ignore utilising an incredible budget and hands on implementation.

(Foucault 1975), “While, on the one hand, the disciplinary establishments increase, their mechanisms have a certain tendency to become 'de-institutionalized', to emerge from the closed fortresses in which they once functioned and to circulate in a 'free' state; the massive, compact disciplines are broken down into flexible methods of control, which may be transferred and adapted.” This could explain various technology driven methods, regulating body’s use; one technique they do use is simply blocking search terms and deleting content. This manages both international and domestic websites. Politically sensitive words for example ‘Tiananmen Square protest’ (student-led popular demonstrations in Beijing, spring of 1989) will provide no results. The end of Foucault’s quote might be another explanation of the extensive success of implementation of panoptic methods by the Chinese Government. “Sometimes the closed apparatuses add to their internal and specific function a role of external surveillance, developing around themselves a whole margin of lateral controls. Thus the Christian School must not simply train docile children; it must also make it possible to supervise the parents, to gain information as to their way of life, their resources, their piety and their morals.”

Censorship and panopticism go hand in hand with the ultimate purpose being to terminate or correct certain behaviour. In relation to the Internet in China, censorship is used to filter ‘abnormal’ information. The Chinese government relies on self-censorship and the panoptic theory. The Chinese Internet is the 21st century platform that was once the late 18th century Panopticon, replacing the guard in the central tower with a guard that may or may not be behind the screen.




Bibliography

gilc.org/. (2003). Censorship. Available: http://gilc.org/speech/osistudy/censorship/. Last accessed 24th Jan 2013.

N/A. (N/A). Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China. Last accessed 24th Jan 2013

Jonathon Watts. (2005). China's secret internet police target critics with web of propaganda. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2005/jun/14/newmedia.china. Last accessed 24th Jan 2013.

Farivar, C + Vinton, C (2011). The Internet of Elsewhere: The Emergent Effects of a Wired World. USA: The British Library . p159.

Mason, G (2002). Spectacle of Violence. London: Routledge. 14-15.

Farivar, C + Vinton, C (2011). The Internet of Elsewhere: The Emergent Effects of a Wired World. USA: The British Library . 159.

Foucault, M (1975). Discipline & Punishment. France: Gallimard . 195-228.

Zhu, Z (2011). The People's Republic of China Today: Internal and External Challenges. Singapore: World Scientific Publication Co. Pte. Ltd.. 232-234.

Foucault, M (1975). Discipline & Punishment. France: Gallimard . 195-228.

Jiang, M (2007). Citizen Interaction with Chinese government Networks. London: ProQuest. p44-48.

Foucault, M (1975). Discipline & Punishment. France: Gallimard . 195-228.

Foucault, M (1975). Discipline & Punishment. France: Gallimard . 195-228.

Taras, D.G + Bennett, J.T + Townsend A.M (2004). Information Technology and the World of Work. USA: Transaction . p107.

Jiang, M (2007). Citizen Interaction with Chinese government Networks. London: ProQuest. p44-48.

Zhu, Z (2011). The People's Republic of China Today: Internal and External Challenges. Singapore: World Scientific Publication Co. Pte. Ltd.. 232-234.

Michael Wines. (2009). A Dirty Pun Tweaks China’s Online Censors.Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/world/asia/12beast.html. Last accessed 24th Jan 2013.

Michael Wines. (2009). A Dirty Pun Tweaks China’s Online Censors.Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/world/asia/12beast.html. Last accessed 24th Jan 2013.

Zhu, Z (2011). The People's Republic of China Today: Internal and External Challenges. Singapore: World Scientific Publication Co. Pte. Ltd.. 232-234.

Thomas Dumm (2002). Michael Foucault and the Politics of Freedom. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield. 106.

William G Staples (2000). Everyday surveillance: Vigilance and visibility in postmodern life . Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield. 28.





Wednesday 8 May 2013

COP2 Practical Response - Contextual Research

Linus Bronge

I found these on Behance. I think it's a really interesting way of approaching work with this process of adding bleach after the books had been bound. It a good idea. You can see how the process was informed also ad the concept was to achieve an eroded, weathered look to reference the passing of time.






I am not sure who this is by but the production of this as you can see is really simple but the concept is clever. I really like this for its simplicity and effective subliminal communication that I guess everyone would understand.




livre opéra by Helmo
I choose this because I like how Helmo has made it slightly interactive by allowing the user to open the small spread. Its just a bit different to what you usually see which is always good. 





Wednesday 17 April 2013

Responsive - Heliski Design Research

I took on this project thinking about how I could simplify the topics Heliski provided as starting points. The starting points were brown bears, volcanoes, skiing and helicopter rides; giving me an opportunity to explore the idea of simple symbols that could easily be put on to a T-shirt. 

I took inspiration from Joe Warburton's 'design a day' project. You can see these symbols work really well. I want my symbols to be slightly more detailed then these. These examples could work really well as website icons. 




Responsive - Hadlee Drylining Research

I managed to find some interesting more creative examples of business cards for people in construction. As I mentioned on my design practice, it is a fine balance between a creative business card and a pointlessly over designed one in this context. Hadlee didn't want anything to 'flashy', which is fair enough. He will be handing the cards of to mainly contractors.

This is simple but effective. It's one colour which will also make printing the business card cheaper. 


This stands out amongst the tide of shit construction template business cards, but at the same time I count alone three processes. I think this will be too expensive for Hadlee seeing as he is still an apprentice. 




This works well in terms of standing out but still looking industrial  Black on yellow stock which also means its cost effective. Again Hadlee will be handing a lot of them out so its more quantity rather extreme print quality in this instance. Really useful to see what you can do within the construction context though. 


Sunday 14 April 2013

Theory into practice - Design choices

Now I understand what my content is going to be I can start to think about how I will influence the design according to the small house theory.

Some points I think could make relevant starting points for a graphic investigation.

Architecture 
Relevance of Architecture is fairly self explanatory within the topic of small houses. I will look for typefaces and publication styles which would fit under the heading of architecture.

Interior Design
The interior design is key to a successful small house project. I was watching one short video about how glass and use of minimal materials can create the sense of infinity within a space.

Sustainability and the environment
The ideals of this philosophy will effect the final product in terms of questioning the relevance of design choices. For example will it be necessary to full colour print every image in full CMYK or digital print; would it be better to screen print certain parts of the publication?

Social impact
By reducing the size of your house it will inevitably have an effect on you socially. So will consider the social impact and responds to it graphically. An example would be the idea of reusing materials or buying materials to last.

I will need to understand the visual language of these themes with idea of a finish product that creates unity between them. I will dissect each theme to fully understand it.

Finish product

I think the main theme that will be apparent in the design of the publication will be the use of space and resolution. How can I maximise what I have to work with, for example some kind of accordion. below are examples of my design sheets.