Contextual Design

Over the last few months I’ve had to attend lectures which contribute to my contextual design module at university. I was tasked with taking notes down and then writing a reflective journal. Not all the lectures were entirely relevant to me, so I will only write about the lectures that I found useful or interesting.

Beautiful losers

 In the first lecture we watched the documentary ‘Beautiful Losers’ which was released in 2008 and was directed by Adam Rose. The film follows a group of young artists during the 90’s and early 00’s. The film initially illustrates how artists’ who were initially struggling becoming successful from using inspiration from the underground culture that they surround themselves with. They hold massively popular gallery/ party events were anybody is free to create and present their work. The events continue grow bigger and bigger which begins to attract the attention of big corporate commissioners. The film portrays a huge emphasise on art being personal to the creator and that art should be your own. It’s inspiring to see a group of creative individuals do well by just doing what they love, especially considering the hardships they had to go through to get where they are today. The artists in the film do not have same luxuries that we do today such as the internet. Their fame had to be obtained entirely by bonding with the community around them rather than being able to instantly connect with people around the world like we can today. That said the sense of community that films presents is definitely desirable. It would have been great to work alongside the artists in such a positive environment. I can only hope that my career path allows me to work in similar creative environments. I think it’s safe to say every artist wants to be able to work in environment where they can leave an imprint on the things they love. ‘Beautiful Losers’ draws more attention to street art although there is a thin line between this and pop art. But the artists admit to being mainly influenced by music such hip-hop and punk rock and the culture around skateboarding and graffiti.

Design thinking

The basic premise of this lecture was to get us to think that design splits off into many different categories. I.e. graphic design can be applied to more than one thing e.g. posters or even road signs. The same can be said for other forms of design such as fine art and photography. It is useful to be familiar with different aspects of your trade if not all elements of design. Being a ‘T-shaped’ designer not only increases your skill base but also expands your employability and creativity. I definitely agree with the points put across in this lecture as I like to think I have been practising being a ‘T-shaped’ designer myself. I have sought out varying commissions from employers raging from web design to animation and also graphic design. I have found this has helped me carry skill sets into different applications which has greatly expanded my confidence and ability to complete work. In today’s working environment, it is not wise to specialize in only one subject area, as to work in a team environment you need to understand the requirements of your peers to be able work efficiently. This is true of anything, not just design. The beauty of design however is that art is all relative to the creator. The tools we use merely help us create our ideas, theoretically the more tools we have the better the potential of the final piece.  

Innovation

 I found Dan Berry’s lecture to be very informative. The lecture mainly covered how technology has affected art and design. The encouraged way of thinking was whether or not we should like the way technology has a hold on our lives, is the amount connected information that we have at our fingertips good or bad? Of course there is no simple answer to these questions as technology can be used for great things as well as bad. Take for example the internet. The internet allows an artist to easily publish his or her work online, communicate with employers and receive payment. However say that the employer wanted to know more information about said artist, they might be able to find social feeds on that person which give away unprofessional and personal information. As the internet becomes more of a social norm, it is more likely that we are to become less careful about what we post about ourselves online. Sometimes (especially on social feeds) you might have damaging information posted about you which you have no control over. It is obvious to say that with higher exposure there is greater risk of negative publicity. But the more relevant concern is the amount of personal information that we give away. Every single moment of our lives can now be recorded and published solely by using something as small as a smart phone. We can see the places a person has been, we can even see their current location if they allow it. Companies collect information about their users via their users’ interactions with the companies’ services. Those same companies are then legally allowed to sell that information on to whomever they want; be it advertisers or otherwise. I find this reality quite disturbing. That so much information about myself and others is being collected. All so that maybe I can’t get a more personalised advert next time I log into a social networking site.

Visual Music

 Music and visuals certainly go hand in hand. Animation can simulate the sound of music. Making objects react to rhythm implies that maybe those objects are making the sound, or that sounds can affect objects kinetically. It’s a very believable effect. Reacting to music is almost the same as producing music; both require movement and energy. People dance to music as if the music is directly affecting them; certain dancing techniques are more applicable to different genres of music, as the visuals of these dances tie directly into the rhythm of the music. In animation different ascetics can be used to better suit the music. It is debatable to say whether different sounds can be applied to certain colours but I do definitely think that the more percussive elements of music effect how the movement in an animation should be portrayed, as is in dancing the animation must follow the beat of the music. It is fair to say that tone and colour have an effect on our emotions. So brighter colours generally suit more upbeat music and darker colours suit more moody music. But I wouldn’t follow this as a rule.