Derwentwater, The Lake District

Today i went to Keswick in the Lake District, close to where i live. It was very cold, the lake was frozen in places and the surrounding hills were covered in snow. Here are some of the photographs i took of Derwentwater.

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After the essay

After researching the topic of identity theft and other related aspects I have leant a lot. However, there are still some questions left unanswered. For example in the journal entitled ‘Can Smart cards reduce payments fraud and identity theft?’ Sullivan does not compare the losses due to payments fraud in the United States to those in the UK. Which could be useful as the Smart card is not commonplace in the US.

As well as this it would also be useful to know how much does biometric technology such as an iris scanners cost? Is the price realistic or could more be done to lower the price of the technology? Also if the technology were cheaper would banks install iris scanners at their cash points? This could be researched using books or online information or perhaps manufacturers could be contacted. Banks could also be asked if they would trial biometric technology. Also how do the public feel about such technology? Would they be happy to use biometrics or would they be concerned about invasion of privacy or ease of use? Does the public even think there is a need for new methods to combat identity theft? Some of these questions could be asked in a public survey. The results of a public survey would be valuable to the development of such technology. Public feedback is important in order to ease any apprehension the public might have with biometric technology. The issues brought to light in the survey could be addressed and then dealt with accordingly.

Essay preparation

In preparation for writing my essay i spent a lot of time reading through my sources, making notes, highlighting and annotating the text whilst referring to the template provided. This was a time consuming process but very useful when it came to writing my essay. Below are some images.

Whilst writing the essay i had a slight disaster as half way through I went to access the electronic book ‘Biometrics’ from the university library website and found the whole source except the front page had vanished. The electronic link was unavailable due to improvements being made to the service. Not even Google books or Google scholar could save the day, as pages 70-210 were unavailable. After over 4 hours spent going back and forth between the library and downloading software to my mac i was able to once again view the source!

The analysis of two sources related to identity theft

The purpose of this journal entitled ‘Can Smart cards reduce payments fraud and identity theft?’ is to discuss the potential of Smart cards, known in the United Kingdom as chip and PIN cards, to reduce identity theft. Initially Sullivan explains how payments fraud can be a result of identity theft. The author then goes on to reveal how Smart cards work and evaluates how they could increase the security of payment authorisation. Strengths and weaknesses of the Smart card are discussed. For example, the incentives for using Smart cards and the challenges that will have to be overcome for Smart cards to become commonplace in the United States. Discussing both sides of the argument suggests the article is unbiased and that the sole aim of the article is to inform the reader. However Sullivan is a senior economist at a bank and could be influenced by what is best in terms of reducing losses from the bank rather than what is most suitable to reduce retail and consumer losses.

Sullivan looks at many issues in depth. To do this obviously a lot of research was necessary. The author drew information from numerous sources as over 40 references are listed.

Sullivan highlights that losses due to identity theft are high and something needs to be done. This is supported by the Federal Trade Commission website where it is estimated that up to 9 million Americans have their identity stolen each year (ftc.gov, no date). One of the main points discussed in this journal is that losses as a result of payments fraud are affecting not only the consumer but also retailers and banks. It is written that ‘Bank losses total about $2.89 billion per year’ (Sullivan, R, 2008 p.37) and ‘Fraud losses for retail merchants total about $15.6 billion per year’ (Sullivan, R, 2008 p.37). Consumers are also affected and ‘In 2007 out-of-pocket losses to consumers from identity theft are estimated at $5.6 billion’. (Sullivan, R, 2008 p.37) Sullivan states that the source of this information was ABA; Fabian; Pulse; “Credit Card Fraud;” Bills; Mott 2007 a; Meacham; Javelin 2008b. In the endnotes Sullivan discusses the reliability of this data, which is useful.

Another point Sullivan makes clear is that Smart cards have both weaknesses and strengths. Sullivan uses the United Kingdom as a case study as ‘the United Kingdom is notable for its commitment to this payment card’. (Sullivan, R, 2008 p.43) When looking at the effect of Smart cards it was found that ‘losses due to lost or stolen cards and card ID theft fell 50.9percent’ (Sullivan, R, 2008 p.46) which is a significant improvement. It is assumed by the author that this improvement is due to the Smart card. Perhaps it is actually due to improved facilities to freeze your account when you realise your bankcard is missing or may be the public are becoming more aware of identity theft. Some of the data is negative, for example ‘at the same time, fraud losses on card-not present transactions increased 92.6 percent (phone, Internet and mail order).’ (Sullivan, R, 2008 p.46) Losses as a result of counterfeit cards also rose.

Overall the author focuses the reader’s attention on the losses to banks, retailers and consumers as a result of identity theft and payments fraud. Sullivan suggests that although the Smart card has made some improvement in the UK there is still much that can be done to increase security and perhaps there is a better answer to identity theft and payments fraud than the Smart card.

The second source, a book entitled ‘Biometrics’ discusses at length the future, types and possibilities of biometrics. Legal concerns as a result of biometric advancements are also discussed. The main purpose for writing this book was to create a detailed one-volume resource to include everything about biometrics. The authors spent time working in biometrics and created this book as they felt biometrics would soon become widespread in our daily lives, due to a rising demand for accurate identification. An online article entitled ‘Iris scan technology yet to take off’ agrees with the authors of ‘Biometrics’ (nationaldefencemagazine.org, 2009). The book ‘Biometrics’ promotes the possibilities of biometrics and educates the reader. Biometrics is discussed in terms of increasing security within financial and business transactions, aiding the identification of recognized criminals and increasing personal security.

The authors mentioned in the bibliography (Woodward J, Orlans, N and Higgins, P) collectively wrote the book but the chapter focussed on in this essay ‘Eye Biometrics: Iris and Retina Scanning’ was written by Orlans. The main source the authors drew upon to write this book was the knowledge of others, such as Smith, R, Raina, K, Valencia, V, Stapleton, J and Libicki, M who are experts on biometrics. Gatune, J, Horn C, Thomas, A and Chavez R also helped with research and analysis. Another source used was The Biometric Consortium; this is the U.S Government’s research in to biometrics. The extensive detail included suggests that this is a factual book based on evidence rather than personal opinions.

A key part of chapter 5, ‘Eye Biometrics: Iris and Retina Scanning’ is the explanation of what iris scanning is. It is explained that ‘the iris is layered beneath the cornea and has patterns that are intricate, richly textured and composed of many furrows and ridges. Iris identification technology is the acquisition, analysis, and comparison of these patterns.’ (Orlans 2003, p.89)

Another important piece of information is learning the positives and negatives of using iris and retina scanning as a method of identification. Iris scanning is suitable for identification because the iris is unique and stable. No two irises are the same, there are even distinct differences between a person’s left and right eye. The author states that ‘all irises are unique with no detectable or known genetic dependencies.’ (Orlans 2003, p.90) Therefore false identification is unlikely. The iris is also stable from childhood until death. The author discusses the negative aspects of the iris as well for example ‘it is not immune to injury and disease’ (Orlans 2003, p.90) such as iris melanoma, which would cause degeneration of the iris, rendering iris scanning impossible. Blind people are also unable to use an iris or retina scanner and contacts for example can cause failed attempts and increase the time a scan takes, transaction time is normally around 4 seconds for trained users.

Orlans also provides evidence to show how biometrics can be useful in daily life for example ‘In 2000, the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in conjunction with EyeTicket of McLean, Virgina, piloted iris recognition for pilot access and passenger screening.’ (Orlans 2003, p.93) This is supported by an article online, which also informs us of the use of biometrics at airports (airport-technology.com, 2008).

Positives and negatives of biometric technology are discussed however the author seems to have counter arguments to rule out the negatives mentioned. This could be due to the authors work in the field and his belief that there is likely to be an increased use of biometrics in the future. Perhaps the author should consider the costs involved. Also the author assumes biometrics would be readily accepted in society and this may not be the case. Despite this there are some clear arguments supported by well-researched evidence as to how accurate, potentially useful and reliable biometrics is.

In conclusion these sources are very informative and support clear, factual arguments for and against a specific technological advancement. Both of the sources suggest that technological advancements have the potential to change and improve our lives, for example by improving the security of bankcards or at airports. The two sources discuss positives and negatives however the conclusion Sullivan draws seems to be quite negative towards the Smart card. He suggests that although the Smart card has made some improvements in the UK this is not the answer, and that technology has not yet advanced sufficiently. Sullivan seems to think that further development is needed in order to successfully increase security. In comparison Orlans seems very positive about the current biometric technology such as iris scanners. He suggests biometrics can be very useful in daily life and has the potential to substantially increase accurate identification for example. From this it can be suggested that perhaps biometrics or a combination of methods such as chip and PIN used along side iris scanning could be a better way to combat identity theft and improve security than the current systems in place.

Another difference between the sources is that the journal written by Sullivan contains a lot more data than the book entitled ‘Biometrics’. This may be because biometrics is a much more recent technological advancement and so fewer investigations have been carried out. Also because Sullivan is a senior economist facts and figures are likely to be his main concern.

Overall these are both very informative sources although questions are still left unanswered and there is scope for much greater improvement in the future.

Reference list

airport-technology.com (2008) Body check

Available at: http://www.airport-technology.com/features/feature41603/ (accessed on 2/12/09)

ftc.gov About identity theft

Available at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/about-identity-theft.html

(accessed on 2/12/09)

nationaldefensemagazine.org (2009) Iris scan technology yet to take off

Available at: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/ARCHIVE/2009/JANUARY/Pages/IrisScanTechnologyYettoTakeOff.aspx

(accessed on 3/12/09)

Sullivan, R. (2008) Can smart cards reduce payments fraud and identity theft?, Business Source Premier, EBSCO Publishing

Woodward, J., Orlans, N., Higgins, P. (2003) Biometrics, Osborne: McGraw-Hill

Birdsong-Sebastian Faulks

It was suggested in a war posters lecture I had a few weeks ago to read ‘Birdsong’ by Sebastian Faulks. This was the third time I have had the book recommended to me so I gave in and decided to read it. I would normally of ignored this book thinking it would be dull, boring and full of history which normally does not interest me. Having said this I am now 2/3 of the way through the book and would actually urge people to read this book. I am finding the book moving, interesting, shocking and very well written in order to captivate the reader, it’s often quite difficult to put down.

Fashion Illustrations

I really like these fashion illustrations by Phoks, an art director and illustrator, although i don't think this style would necessarily work with the samples i have created. I love how vivid and unusual the illustrations are. I think the overall composition of the illustrations with the splattered paint and text works well.

Sandra Backlund

I came across Sandra Backlund a contemporary knitter on http://monomoda.com/ which is a graphic design based website full of visual inspiration. I really like the diversity in Sandra Backlund’s work, her knitted garments are usually created using only one colour of yarn but she creates interest by using unusual structures to alter the body shape of the model. I think some of her work relates well to what I was creating in the knit workshop this week. Below are 3 images of Sarah Backlund’s work and an image of a sample I created based on a page in my sketchbook.

Useful Websites

Here are some websites which interest me and can be inspirational, although are not clearly associated with textile design.

http://www.wired.co.uk/?zed

I like to read WIRED magazine but also check the website for current news and to read further in to specific topics which interest me. The content of the site is very varied, I am normally most interested by the WIRED news, which I am drawn to by tweets as I follow WIRED UK on Twitter. Often the photos capture my attention as well.

http://www.newscientist.com/

This is another website which covers a whole range of topics from space to health, science in society and the environment. I have learnt a lot from this site, the information is clear, easy to understand and interesting. Whilst investigating the moon and in particular the surface of the moon earlier this semester for my culture project I used this website for some of my initial research and brainstorming.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

This news site is obviously a good way to keep informed and up to date with what is happening in the world on a day to day basis.

http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show

I enjoy watching The Gadget Show but find this website useful for researching particular information, some of the site I don’t really use but find the gadget news and blog interesting. It interests me to see how rapidly technology is advancing and what is now possible.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

Is a very factual, useful site. The environment section is the part i like to read the most.

Below are 5 websites, which are useful to me and often relate directly to my course.

http://www.vogue.co.uk/default.aspx?zed

Vogue is an inspirational fashion website, featuring news, fashion photographs and current trends. The Vogue blog is also interesting.

http://www.fashioningtech.com/

Similar to The Gadget Show website this website interests me as futuristic creations are discussed. I particularly like to see how designers incorporate technology in to their work for example the work of Hussein Chalayan who’s exhibition I saw in London this year is currently featured on the site.

http://www.fabrications1.co.uk/index.php

This is a contemporary textiles website where you can view the gallery, studio and online shop. I like this site because it is quirky and displays a range of work for example, costumes for theatre and film, interior accessories and installations.

http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/

This website is full of fashion inspiration. The site is easy to navigate and the quality of the photographs is very good. There are a lot of interesting patterns, unusual colour palettes and contemporary often bizarre fashion on this site.

http://www.inspiredm.com/

This is a site based mainly on graphic design although some other disciplines are mentioned. I find this site visually very inspirational. I have blogged about a few things I have come across on this site in the past.

I also find Blogger, Twitter and Flickr very useful on a daily basis

https://www.blogger.com

http://twitter.com/

http://www.flickr.com/

Whilst listing these websites I began thinking about some of the Magazines, Radio stations and TV shows that I enjoy and find interesting but which can also relate to or inspire my work.

Magazines: WIRED UK, VOGUE, Future Materials, New Scientist, Creative Review, Wallpaper

TV/Radio: Grand Designs, The Gadget Show, BBC Radio 4, Project Runway

Annotated Bibliography

Firstly I must say the amount of information I discovered using cross search is amazing, the vast amount of documents available online certainly surprised me. I found this both useful as I could find helpful information but also irritating, as I had to sort out everything I did find and continuously narrow down my search. Overall with a little practice Cross Search and the university library in general is a very useful resource. I have had two problems with compiling this bibliography firstly the books I was most keen to read ‘Wearable electronics & phototonics’ by Xiaoming Tao and ‘Fashionable technology: The intersection of design, fashion, science and technology’ by Sabine Seymour were out on loan from the Duncan of Jordanstone library and are not due back until December, however I have since looked at the online version of Xiaoming Tao’s book. I then went to the main library and I encountered the same problem ‘Playing the identity card: surveillance, security and identification in global perspective’ by C Bennet is also out on loan! The second problem I encountered was that one of the electronic journals I found said that the full text was available but then when I opted to view the full text it couldn’t be found, despite this I did discover a lot of potentially very useful information. Below are some of the many resources I have looked at in relation to identity theft, I have looked at electronic sources such as online journals, articles and conference notes as well as books and magazines in order to put together this bibliography. I chose to steer away from websites as I have already done quite a lot of online research and documented this previously using mindmaps etc.

Bolton, R, Hand, D (2002) Statistical fraud detection: A review, Institute of mathematical statistics

This journal goes in to depth about fraud detection, which is not necessarily the angle from which I intended to tackle the problem. My ideas were to prevent identity theft rather than detect it so this article may not be as useful as others I have looked at. This journal has a lot of figures and statistics in it this is likely to be because the journal was published by the Institute of mathematical statistics. This many statistics rather than a few key figures could over complicate my research.

Baulch, K (1994) Textiles and Technology, Cambridge; Melbourne: Cambridge University Press

This title of this book sounded promising although I found it to be very simplistic and outdated, it was of no use to me.

Braddock Clark, S, O’Mahony, M (2005) Techno textiles 2, London: Thames & Hudson

I find this book really interesting, it gives an insight in to the possibility of technological textiles for example in order to protect the wearer or store data. I was particularly interested in the electronic textiles chapter and how computers/GPS/identification etc could potentially be incorporated in to textiles. I came across a potentially interesting idea when skimming through the chapter. The idea is for a prototype of a garment to protect the wearer from high levels of pollution and also to warn them of dangerous levels of pollution. The garment is called ‘Chameleon Jacket’ and is designed by Daniel Cooper. This sparked an idea that perhaps we could get an item of our own clothing such as a jacket fitted with two panels one that glowed red when money was being removed from your bank account and one that glowed blue when money was going in to your account perhaps this could help detect identity theft?

Carleton, U (2008) Identity theft and the care of the virtual self, EBSCO Publishing

This journal article investigates what the individual can do to reduce the likelihood that they will be affected by identity theft as well as what major institutions are doing to help individuals. Unfortunately when I requested the full text for this journal it could not be found, the abstract alone will be of little use to me.

Jain, A (1999) Biometrics : personal identification in networked society, Kluwer

This is one of the earlier electronic sources I came across but after reading the abstract decided to look at some of the more up to date sources instead as in terms of technology I imagine a lot can change in 10 years also any data included would be out of date and so irrelevant now.

Jayaraman, S (2006) Intelligent textiles for personal protection and safety, IOS Press

This is an electronic book, some of which could be useful although from briefly looking at the paper much of the information seems to be looking at protecting people from terrorism. Conventional, nuclear, biological and chemical threats are all investigated and there is very little mention of identification. Overall this information is mostly irrelevant.

Sivy, M (2005) Toddler Fraud The fastest-growing group of ID theft victims is children, EBSCO Publishing

This journal particularly interested me as I had never heard of toddler fraud theft until now! It is a very short article (500 words) and not very useful to me it is basic and simply outlines the dangers of social security numbers being given to newborn babies.

Sullivan, R (2008) Can smart cards reduce payments fraud and identity theft?, EBSCO Publishing

This journal is about reducing the likelihood of criminals being able to make a payment etc with the cardholder’s personal details by means of using a ‘smart card’ in America. The card has already been introduced in some countries. The smart card would have an in-built programmed computer chip to improve security. This source looks over a range of ideas quite quickly but nothing seems to solve all security issues, but perhaps the card could improve security rather than stop identity theft. Positives and negatives of the smart card as well as the cost and other methods of improving security are mentioned. Facts and figures are included and the reliability of the figures are discussed which could be particularly useful. This source is easy to read and understand although goes in to some detail and considers a number of problems and solutions, it is likely to be quite useful to me.

Tao, X (2005) Wearable electronics & phototonics, Woodhead Publishing, Limited

This book seems to be very optimistic about the future advancement of technology although thinking about it technology does seem to develop rapidly. I think the contents of this book will be very interesting and useful to my studies. This book to me suggests anything is possible. Some of the things mentioned are electronic clothing with computer systems that act like personal assistants, clothing with sensors that can read environmental and biometric data and clothing that assist us with monitoring our health and navigation. I think the most useful chapter of the book is likely to be chapter 9 entitled ‘Wearable computing systems-electronic textiles’.

Woodward, J, Orlans, N, Higgins, P (2003) Biometrics, Osborne, McGraw-Hill

This electronic resource goes in to great detail and much of it will not be necessary, however part 2 called ‘types of biometrics’ and chapters 3-5 within part 2 could be very useful. Chapter 5 I skimmed over as it is likely to be the most valuable to me, the chapter is entitled ‘Eye biometrics and retina scanning’. Iris scanning is discussed in detail but the information is easy to understand and very useful. How iris scanning works and the technology behind it is discussed as well as the positives and negatives of iris scanning as a means of identification.

I was also interested by an advertisement I saw in the latest issue of WIRED UK for the LG watch phone (pictured below). The LG watch phone not only tells the time makes phone calls and sends texts but has Bluetooth, a camera, voice-recognition and many other features. If a phone with this much technology can be incorporated in to a watch now in years to come could an iris scanner be incorporated in to a watch so that you could access you online banking via your watch? Perhaps a far-fetched and unrealistic idea but would it increase security?

Felix's Machines

I came across this video on YouTube. This machine is a mechanical music making sculpture with many individual moving parts, the machine looks complex and I imagine to watch in reality it would captivate the audience as they tried to figure out how everything connects and works together to create music. The use of lighting within the machine is also interesting and I think this machine could easily work as a gallery installation. I like the composition of this video as we see the close up working details of the machine but are not really sure of the overall appearance of the machine until right at the end of the video. To me the machine looks like an overly complex drum kit.

Engraving

Earlier today Core 77 tweeted about www.engraveyourtech.com/ I really like the idea of engraving artists work or custom designs on to laptops, notebooks. iPhones etc. I think I would personally quite like to have a design from within my sketchbook engraved on the outside for example and I often think my Mac looks quite plain. I would always wish to have my own design engraved so that it was personal to me, however from the website I particularly like the design by Justine Ashbee. Shown below. I think the design is quite simple yet interesting and rather sculptural.

Back to 'The Tipping Point'

Last week I was brainstorming ‘The Tipping Point’ by Malcolm Gladwell in relation to design. In particular we discussed how the spread of disease could be controlled using design and also how crime could be reduced. I decided to further my research by looking at crime and in particular identity theft. However reading this months issue of WIRED, I came across an interesting invention to reduce the spread of AIDs. A syringe that breaks after a single use. The designer is Marc Koska from East Sussex and here is a link to the WIRED website where the syringe is discussed, although I cannot find the same article I read in the magazine.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-08/07/one-use-only-the-syringe-that-can-save-lives.aspx

Martin Wilson

Martin Wilson is interesting because unlike many photographers today he does not use a digital camera, or edit his photographs using Photoshop, what he does do is make EVERY photo count! To create his work he takes each photograph in a specific sequence to make an overall work of art, none of his photographs are removed or deleted from the sequence if he makes a mistake he starts again. For a better explanation of this see his website: http://www.martinwilson.net/

Below are some of my favourite pieces of Martin Wilson’s work.

World War One Posters

The topic of a recent lecture was partially based on world war one posters, which although I may be familiar with have never considered in depth before. Previous to the lecture I never thought about the number of meanings a single war poster could have or the differences between the German and British posters. When looking at the design of the war posters we were told to be objective and understanding of the cultural and political status. We also need to remember the audience, for example pizza fliers will appeal to ‘ordinary’ people rather than designers.

What was generally found when discussing the posters is that the German and Russian posters were perhaps more idealistic in comparison to the more realistic images portrayed by the British. The German and Russian posters also seem to be more ornate, compared to the bold images and simple text of the British posters.

It was also very interesting to discover that in the days of world war one British people were somewhat ashamed of being commercial artists. It was seen as a poor profession and something to be kept quiet. Many of those who produced the posters were untrained apprentices working for printers.

Below is an image of one of the war posters we discussed. This poster could have many meanings also suggested below.

• Perhaps the girl is asking the question ‘Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?’ and the father is looking away to portray that he didn’t sign up-regret, that he has let down his family, won’t be his children’s hero any more?
• The poster also perhaps challenges the father’s masculinity, as sitting talking to your children in those days was a woman’s job. Men dealt with politics and worked to provide for the family. Perhaps the poster suggests that real men sign up.
• The poster also suggests this family is quite wealthy, higher class.
• The toy soldiers the boys is playing with could suggest again that the boy looks up to his father, his father is his hero or that the boy could be the next generation of soldiers.

This lecture has made me consider wether something may have more than one meaning depending on the viewers race, class and gender for example. Many things are also likely to be more interesting than I originally think they are, also research in to areas non-specific to my course can be very interesting and useful.

Could the internet make you rich?

I watched quite an interesting programme last night on Tonight on ITV the question they were investigating was ‘Could the internet make you rich?’ The answer is yes it can but on the other hand it can also loose you a lot of money. All businesses can go bust. To be successful you need a combination of many things such as a good idea, a target audience, a niche market, the ability to take risks, a unique selling point and a sticky website. The mention of a sticky website instantly made me relate it to the ‘Stickiness Factor’ in ‘The Tipping Point’ by Malcolm Gladwell.

The range of ways to make money on the internet are vast for example on the show we were told about Lauren Luke a woman who began by selling make-up online and showing videos of how to apply the make-up on YouTube. Now she has her own make-up range, a newspaper column and has released a book. You can find her on YouTube, VideoJug, Flickr, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, another family have made a lot of money on YouTube by posting a video of their children, which became very popular and they now make money from advertising that appears next to the video. Others have set up online businesses selling baby shoes, hoover products and car parking spaces on peoples drive ways near to airports. The possibilities I suppose are endless, watching this show once again hi-lighted to me the importance of getting online, showing my work on Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, Blogger etc.

Here is a link to the show if you would like to watch it:

http://www.itv.com/ITVPlayer/Video/default.html?ViewType=5&Filter=107694

Mixed Media Inspiration-Shizuko Kimura

Shizuko Kimura creates work using hand embroidery, working directly from life models. The variation of mark making with thread is very interesting. I think this is something I may attempt in the future. Below is a piece created by Shizuko Kimura.

Mixed Media Inspiration-Claire Coles

I discovered Claire Coles when looking through a wallpaper design catalogue, I love her beautiful embroidered/collage wallpapers. Some of the work I created only a week or so ago is quite similar in that I used a range or materials and machine embroidery to create a sample based on research in my sketchbook. Below is some of her work.

Mixed Media Inspiration-Alison Willoughby

Alison Willoughby is a textile designer, who creates mainly skirts as well as some other garments and installations. I feel her work is quite unusual, I like her use of appliqué, bold prints and bold colour pallets. I particularly like the two pieces shown below. The first because it is very vibrant, very textured and an unusual mix of materials. Although perhaps it is not so practical. The second piece I like because the combination of print and sewn circles all on a diagonal is interesting.

Textiles in Practice - Mixed Media and Weave

Every week at university is different for me at the moment as we are doing textiles in practice. This means I am spending each week doing a different workshop. The idea is to translate images in our sketchbooks in to fabric samples. So far I have done mixed media and weave. I still have print and knit to come. I really enjoyed mixed media and felt like the week flew past. Below are some images of the samples I created and what inspired them.

Whilst creating these mixed media samples I was inspired by the work of Alison Willoughby, Claire Coles and Shizuko Kimura who I have also blogged about.

Weave I found slightly less enjoyable than mixed media, I feel my work progressed quite slowly and I think that what I have produced is less successful than the samples I created using mixed media. Despite this it was a good chance to experiment and practice. Below are some photographs of my weeks work, I produced one sample based on the fruit and vegetable section of my research and the other black and white sample is based on the surface of the moon. Whilst creating my first sample I concentrated a lot on the colour palette and the amount of each yarn I used, to create the second sample I used only black, white and grey yarns and aimed to produce a much more textured piece.

Culture Project 3

Since I last blogged about my culture project I have been working on the third section of my project based on something my dad wants to be. My dad wants to be rich! I began looking at warm, rich colours. I collected colour samples from magazines to build up a palette for this section of work. I also looked at ornate patterns as well as objects of material wealth such as gold, pearls and other jewels. Below are some images of the research I have done in my sketchbook.

Fashion Show 2009

On Thursday night I went to the STAG (Scottish Textiles Academic Group) fashion show in Edinburgh. The show was set in a beautiful converted church and I found the evening to be very enjoyable and inspirational. Students from 13 Scottish colleges and universities were showing their work, some of the work was very unusual and more suited to the catwalk, other garments were more mainstream such as little black dresses I could imagine seeing in high street stores. Below are a few photographs I took, unfortunately the quality is quite poor.

Research + Poster

After much research and deliberation I have decided to base my poster on a combination of ideas I have had to potentially reduce identity theft, but here are a couple of other interesting crime combating creations I came across along the way.

Personal Safety

A jacket that can be charged up to give an attacker an electric shock:http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2003/05/58914?currentPage=all

An Armani phone with a built in rape-alarm, a stun pen and safety Aphrodite platform shoes:http://www.womenlifestyle.com/entry/use-technology-to-be-safe-rather-than-sorry/

Vehicle theft

Design to reduce bicycle theft: http://www.thersa.org/about-us/media/press-releases/design-directions-2008-2009/new-designs-join-the-fight-against-bike-theft

How to reduce supermarket trolley theft: http://www.itabmk.com/Products/Trolley-Security1/

Design in relation to 'The Tipping Point' mind map

I wanted to combine all of the ideas i had as well as those which i found particularly interesting during the brainstorming session in to an easy to understand and follow diagram so i produced this mind map

Brainstorming + Discussion

I found brain storming the Tipping Point in relation to design interesting, we discussed mainly crime and spread of disease but found some areas overlapped with one another. Lots of interesting ideas came up and there was much discussion about whether things would or would not work and how they could work better. Bouncing lots of ideas around lead us to build on one another’s ideas. For example starting a car using voice recognition was suggested to reduce the likelihood of car theft I then suggested a pin number could be entered. Later we came back to this idea when discussing identity theft, I know of someone who recently got contacted by the bank as someone was trying to illegally use her card details to top up a mobile phone. The bank were suspicious as this was an Orange phone and the account had a direct debit set up to O2 to pay a monthly contract so the top-up was disallowed. Somehow this person had got hold of all of the necessary bank details in order to attempt to use money from an account illegally. Getting rid of the bankcard could perhaps help reduce identity theft as even though pin numbers are used it is sometimes difficult to shield the keypad when entering your pin number and online banking could be made more secure. Could details be made more difficult to obtain from a bank card? Could a fingerprint scan or iris scan could be used instead? Other interesting ideas ranged from the activation of hospital and school doors by dispensing antibacterial hand lotion to the re-design of a hospitals layout, alcohol allowance cards and drive in wheel clamp parking spaces.After the brainstorm I felt we had come up with many ideas but the discussion definitely helped to develop my thoughts and ideas. I felt it made sense to combine all of my own thoughts and many of those we discussed in a mind map. I thought briefly about design in relation to the law of the few, the stickiness factor and the power of context but concentrated on crime and the spread of disease, which were the two areas in which we had discussed and I was most interested. After the discussion and compiling all of my ideas I was most interested in researching more in to crime and how crime could be reduced using design and in particular textile design. Initially I thought it was quite a daunting prospect. But I began to research car crime, personal safety and identity theft.

My main interests range from creating a protective garment to reduce the likelihood of mugging/rape/stabbing etc to the installation of iris scanners in stores and at cash points to confirm that the identity of the cardholder matches the details on the card in order to reduce identity theft. Researching the possibilities of a drive in wheel clamp car parking space to reduce car theft could also be interesting. My only problem is deciding which idea to go with!?

Below are some images of the brainstorming session.

Carolina Melis

Carolina Melis is an interesting animator and illustrator that I came across during a seminar this morning. I discovered her work in a book entitled ‘Illustration Play’. The book is packed full of very inspirational work from a whole range of artists from around the world. I feel the book shows a very experimental, unique approach to illustration and includes embroidery, paper cutting and origami. Some of Carolina Melis’s work looks like it has been created very spontaneously but yet it works so beautifully, also the vivid colours she uses and her interesting use of embroidery caught my attention. The work visible on her website is quite diverse and well worth a look at.

Below I have included a link to her website, some images of her work and a couple of videos of her work which i particularly like.

http://www.carolinamelis.com/

Carolina Melis 1
Uploaded by echymose.