Assignment 5 - Part 2

One of my studio briefs this year was titled ‘culture’. I chose to look at culture in terms of architecture in Dundee. Looking back at the project I am definitely not satisfied with the research that went into it and if I had the chance to do it again I would definitely make changes to how I tackled the research part of the project, especially after experimenting with different research methods in Design Studies. In the future I will try to incorporate these methods into my studio practice as I feel they would give me a better understanding of the topic I am studying and therefore give me a better outcome.

The research work I did for this brief consisted of taking photographs of different parts of the city, drawing buildings and skylines and looking at various artists that used cityscapes in their work. This was clearly not enough to understand the city landscape in terms of how the culture has changed, I only got an idea of what was happening at that moment. If I was to start the project again there are several things I would do.

Firstly I would use interviewing to ask members of the public what they thought of how Dundee has changed and how it is changing at the moment.

The wind turbines are quite a prominent and new feature of Dundee’s skyline. I think they would be a good starting point for getting different people’s views about the changing skyline; whether they like how they look or not and if they think they are a good addition to the city. Just typing ‘Dundee wind turbines’ into Google has given me access to opinions about plans for two more wind turbines for the city. This is a very current issue as being ‘environmentally-friendly’ is a large part of our culture and it would be interesting to compare the views of different generations about these changes.

Primary research to investigate this further could be interviewing Dundee residents and using surveys to find out general opinion about various features of the Dundee skyline. I feel that interviewing older people to find out how the city’s architecture has changed over a period of time could give me some interesting information. I could also ask for opinions about the plans for the future of Dundee (the Victoria & Albert museum and the two wind turbines for example).

I could use the secondary research skills developed in semester one to look in the library for any research already undertaken about the city’s architecture as well as the plans for the future. It would be interesting to see the building plans for prominent parts of Dundee skyline from the past and compare them to how they look in reality.

There are massive plans to completely change Dundee waterfront by 2030. There is a video available on the internet showing how Dundee City Council plan to completely change the look of the city over the next twenty years to connect the town centre to the waterfront. Showing the public this video and asking for their opinions could give me a good idea of how people feel about the changing face of Dundee.

I could also use a picture time line to show how the city has changed by looking in the library for pictures of Dundee from across the Tay at different times in the past, my own photographs from right now and then continue it on using the building plans for the work that is to be undertaken over the next twenty years. It would be interesting to compare the older photographs to what was happening in society at the time and see if there are any cultural links between the buildings and what was going on.

After looking back at the ‘culture’ project I feel quite annoyed at myself for not seeing the potential in the topic I had chosen.

For level three I feel I am better equipped to handle research and I think I have a bit more confidence to ask questions to people I do not know well and get information first hand instead of relying on other people’s research.

I think the assignments we have been given and the books we have been assigned to read have changed the way I think about design in general. When I thought about what design was I would think about researching a topic, pulling out interesting information and making something out of this within my discipline. I definitely now see design in a wider sense due to the wide variety of lectures on the course as well as the assignments.

For example our third assignment this semester was about observing a public space, paying attention to what was happening around me, how the space was designed to function and how people were acting. This has definitely made me pay more attention to my surroundings, questioning them and considering what my discipline can do to improve situations and spaces.

The way I think about what I do has also changed after seeing how designers do not necessarily stick to their specific discipline from lectures. I feel like there are many more options for me than being a fashion or interior textile designer. I have never thought of myself specifically as a textile designer. Since starting this course I have thought of myself as an art student, with textile pieces as the outcome from a body of drawing and visual research.

When I started the culture project I do not think I appreciated how important the research part of the design process was. I went straight for drawing and development into samples far too quickly and would really have benefited from using the research techniques I have now learned to get a better understanding of my topic. In level three I intend to do much more extensive research when starting a new project using these skills and hopefully by developing more ways to get information.

Assignment 5 - Part One.

Over semester two I have been taught to observe closely and to gather information through first hand research. Our first four assignments asked us to look at people, objects and environments and ask why they are as they are as well as how design could improve situations. In semester one I studied sustainable textiles and the current culture of consumerism including the ‘fast fashion’ trend by reading journals and parts of books written about the subject. To research this further I could use some of the primary skills acquired in semester two.

The research I looked at showed that ‘fast fashion’ has become a big problem – people buy lots of cheap items, dispose of them and buy new items at a fast rate. This has lead to a huge increase in textile waste in the past five to ten years, which is bad for our environment. It looked at the nature of shoppers and the lack of information available about the problem. The stigma has been removed from buying clothes from ‘value’ stores and new styles come into the shops every two weeks for people who want new clothes often, so there is a large amount of clothing being thrown away even when it is in good condition.

The next step for me after studying other people’s research about sustainable textiles is to get my own primary research by speaking to members of the public. I could ask about our current consumer culture and look at how we could become more environmentally friendly with our attitudes to shopping and textile waste in the future. I would also like to look at what contributes to the way that we consume in terms of advertising and the media.

To carry out the research I think each of the assignments undertaken in semester two could be useful.

The first and third assignments were about observation of a space. The first one made me look closely at another design students personal possessions and gather information about them based on these items. The other one made me spend time looking at what was going on in a public space in more detail than I normally would and question why certain things were happening. From this I got a lot of notes about how comfortable people were, how people were acting and how effective the layout of the shop was. I think these assignments were meant to make me open my eyes to detail and think like a designer instead of as a consumer. This approach to information gathering would be useful for looking at shopping habits. I could ask clothing shops if I could observe shoppers behaviour and take notes to understand the way in which people shop at the moment. This could help when thinking about how we can change our shopping habits and when thinking of how to sell more sustainable products.

Another of our assignments was about how images can have more than one meaning. It made me think about advertising and how it manipulates people to understand a certain message from a picture. We were told to experiment with a series of random images by firstly getting stories from several people through linking the images then adding text and more images to try and make other people get that story when they looked at them. This could be useful for me in a few ways. By examining fashion magazines, television and internet adverts I could get a better understanding of how these things affect the public’s taste and the way that we buy things by portraying a specific message. This assignment showed me how much power the media gains through using pictures, they could have a big role to play in raising awareness about the sustainability issue.

Our last assignment, interviewing with questions based around one main question, allowed me to experience interviewing someone and showed me the difficulties in being selective and steering a conversation to get the right information to answer specific questions. The topic I chose to interview about was ‘how do people accumulate stuff?’ In this I asked about shopping habits so this information could already be useful. Interviewing members of the public could be the most important part of this research. I would firstly ask about peoples shopping habits at the moment: how often people buy new clothes, if they keep the items for long and how they dispose of their unwanted clothing. Using this method I could also find out more about how much the media effects what people buy and look for links between the magazines people read and how much they know about sustainable textiles.

It would also be useful to find out about different members of the publics current awareness about textile sustainability. I could do this by interviewing a wide variety of people from different age groups. This could help to see what could to be done to raise awareness in some age groups. From the research I studied in semester one it was shown that the problem mainly lies with young consumers who want new outfits regularly.

I think questions about materialism and sentimentality could help to show how people look at their possessions and how meaningful different objects, or items of clothing, are to them to show how disposable people think their clothing is.

I also found in my research in semester one that convenience is key for recycling, I could therefore try to find out what would make people want to recycle their clothing and textiles and how to make this more convenient.

Using the skills learned in semester two to further this research I think I could get quite a lot of information. I feel it would also benefit this research to create a survey to get information on a wider scale. From my previous research I saw that environmental problems have increased in recent years and so has general interest in recycling so it would be helpful to get a survey to see how much the public knows about sustainable textiles compared to other methods of recycling.

Using the skills acquired in the research parts of the semester two assignments as well as by creating a survey I feel I could build up a large amount of first hand research information.

Future Craft Lecture & Exhibition Opening

After our lecture about 'future craft' we were invited to the exhibition opening in the Matthew building. With out the lecture it would have been difficult to fully understand the pieces shown, and with out going to the exhibition it would have been difficult to understand the lecture!

There were three speakers: Tim Parry-Williams, Drummond Masterton and Hazel White.

The time and physical work put into Tim Parry-Williams' weaving is amazing, since the pieces are hand woven. When i think of weaving I think of the horrible, lumpy samples I made in semester one. I know how much time and effort I put into those so to see such perfect pieces of cloth amazes me.

Looking at the pictures of Drummond Mastertons work I assumed the pieces would be massive, however they were quite small and intricate. I was finding it difficult to understand what they actually were during the lecture, but seeing them in real life really surprised me, they are detailed, beautiful pieces of work.

Hazel White has given us a lecture before so I recognised the photographs of her work that she showed us. It was fantastic to see them in real life, to interact with them. I find her work quite inspiring and I think it shows what could be possible in the future.

I also enjoyed Frances Stevenson and Georgina Follett's work.

I love interactive art and I think it was a fantastic idea to allow the viewer to build an outfit on a mannequin using Francis Stevensons prints.

The exhibition opening was absolutely packed so I don't think I had enough time to look at the pieces properly. There was also quite a lot of writing so I think I will go back and take a longer look around.

Falconry

Drawing at the falconry was great, the people were really helpful and allowed me to take photos, draw for hours and take home lots of feathers. Dad pointed out that people do want to help and tell you what they are doing, you just have to ask.

New project!

For my self motivated project I have chosen to study birds and flight. I love life drawing, especially really quick sketching so I think it will be very interesting

I went up to museum services with Jacqui who is also doing birds and managed to borrow some stuffed ones to draw and take photographs of:







Also just got an email back from Fife Falconry and I'm going to draw some birds of prey this weekend!

Interview assignment

'How do people accumulate stuff' is the question I chose for assignment 4. I asked nine questions about where people shop, what they keep for certain periods of time and which items they collect. I also asked about holidays and what people bring back from different types of holidays because I know that a lot of the stuff in my room is from family 'cultural' day trips and holidays.

Firstly I asked Jacqui. Jacqui shops mainly in retail shops, buys on trend clothes, which she does not keep for a very long time and buys new clothes quite often. Her last holiday was with friends in Ibiza. She brought back a jumper but no sentimental items. However Jacqui does keep some things. She collected 'me to you' bears when she was younger and still has them as well as 'cherish' teddys and 5-pound coins from when she was born. Finally I asked if she had any items that she thought she would keep forever and she told me that she will keep her Grandmothers jewellery forever and has it safely hidden away.

I think Jacqui is quite a sentimental person but definately not a hoarder! She holds on to a few items that are emotionally attatched to her or have a high value.

Heather was the next person that I interviewed. She told me that she shops in a mixture of places: chain stores, boutiques and antique shops. She likes 'cosy' shops. Heather comes across as quite a homely, sentimental person. Her last holiday was in America with her family where they went to Orlanda. Though she brought back a lot of clothes she also brought back 3000 photographs, park maps, brochures and tickets. Heather says that she collects 'pretty things' like old bottles and shoes. She has a memory box full of pictures, cards and impressions of hands and feet. She also has lots of childrens toys from when she was younger, though she gave some of them to family members with children. They items she said she would keep forever are pictures of her grandparents and parents.

Heather appears to accumulate stuff at quite a high rate! She holds on to lots of items for the memories attatched to them.

Finally I interviewed Mhairi. Mhairi normally shops in retail and charity shops. Her favourite scarf is from a charity shop and was £2. She mostly spends her money on comfortable clothes but trys to update her old wardrobe with the new things she buys. Her latest holiday was to Zanti with friends. She brought back small gifts but it was really more of a party holiday. She collects 'junk', china and teapots. Quite a few people have given her tea cups and pots and her boyfriend gave her a teapot necklace for Christmas, which is one of the items she says she will keep forever, the other being her grandmothers jewellery.

I think this interview has shown differences between different people and their habits. I think it has shown that some people hold onto memories and emotions through items and others don't as much.

I don't really know what to take from this assignment, but it was a very interesting and slightly scary first attempt at interviewing.