Lecture 3: Design and Terrorism, Rip + Mix

The lecture this week by Lisa Creswell was quite interesting and I thought it was very relevant to what we are currently doing in Design Studies. Seeing how Lisa has used lots of different skills since she has graduated has made me realize how necessary Design Studies is in order to help us develop skills such as mind mapping, researching and reading around relevant subjects.

As a result of this lecture I began to see that as a Textile Design student I might never work in my chosen field. I need to be flexible and able to apply the appropriate skills when necessary. I should also be able to communicate effectively with people who I may never of met, and who may have a different background to me. It is likely that I could end up working with people who have very different skills and knowledge to myself but somehow we have to find a way to adapt and work collaboratively. There may also be language barriers to work around.

Within the lecture Lisa described some of the work she has carried out since graduating with a masters degree in illustration. She has been involved with people from other universities and government agencies working on a project to help understand and so design against terrorism. Lisa spoke of spaces such as the London underground, which can make people feel unsafe. A lack of staff presence can make people uncomfortable and wary as in the event of an emergency or even if a member of the public has a query or concern there is often no member of staff situated on the platform for example to help. Surprisingly CCTV can also raise concern as it suggests safety is perhaps a worry, cameras could be more discrete to reduce this? Poor communication can also lead people to feel unsafe, it is a problem in the underground as there is no phone signal and in many cases the signage is unclear.

After the lecture it was suggested that we considered some public spaces and what makes us feel safe or unsafe. Recently I have been making a mental note of things or places that have made me feel slightly unsafe/wary. Places that are unfamiliar, dimly lit, grotty and run down tend to make me feel less safe. I tend to wonder what sort of people I may be confronted by. Will I get mugged? Is it safe to be on my own? I have also started to pay more attention to security cameras, if there was little likelihood of any crime being committed why would there be cameras? This is similar to police presence I can’t really decide if police presence makes me feel safer or less safe. For example I often wonder why police are sometimes at railway stations, just standing watching. What are they watching for? Is something going to happen? Should I be worried? I think it is difficult to get a balance between making people feel safe and making people question their safety so that they are aware of potential dangers without being worried.

After Lisa’s talk Fraser Bruce went on to tell us about one of his projects entitled ‘Rip + Mix’. Students were encouraged to come up with totally new designs, concepts and ideas in a short time period, this meant that a lot of ideas were generated quickly. The ideas were not necessarily feasible or realistic but could be used to inspire future work. For example an etch-a-sketch newspaper was suggested, the idea was to see the next article you would shake the paper!

The second part of Fraser Bruce’s talk I found less interesting, he explained how it was possible to analyse communication and the effectiveness of communication through diagrams. The diagrams could show processes and paths between different people/parts of a company for example. In some cases it was discovered that if one or two people were to be removed from the process the whole system would fall apart and communication would stop.

Both speakers made it clear that skills we are only just developing now could be very useful in the years to come, its also essential that we are able to communicate effectively and be able apply our knowledge and skills where necessary.

Lecture 2: Service Design

Our second lecture this semester was by David Townson, who now runs his own consultancy. He spoke to us about his career, how he got to where he is today and some of the projects he has done along the way. For example he talked about work he carried out for Orange and also about a community project based around encouraging car sharing. His work seemed to be based a lot on research, investigation, thinking, new ideas, trial and error and designing with others in mind.

After this lecture we were asked to consider the different types of service we use from refuse collection, to restaurants, the university Cantina, health care, energy providers, emergency services, public transport etc. A service I use quite regularly is the train. Mainly for traveling relatively long distances. I think the majority of the service is ok for example the trains in Scotland are normally on time, the seat reservations are accurate and the staff are polite (in most cases) and very helpful. However I do have two problems with using the trains, which I think, need to be addressed. The first is luggage. Last summer my sister was traveling to Newquay and had her suitcase stolen, from the luggage rack on the train. The insurance company refused to pay out, as she was not constantly watching/checking on her case. She was unable to do this as the train was very busy and her seat reservation was for a window seat with her back to her luggage. Having spoken to numerous people since this occurred I have come to realize this is a significant problem. Often there is not ample storage for luggage and people seem to be able to steal luggage quite easy.

The other problem I have is with the tickets. As a student searching for the cheapest way to travel I have come to learn that sometimes booking tickets past your destination and getting off at your destination is cheaper than booking tickets to your destination (this only works if there is no ticket barrier). Sometimes breaking down the trip in to say 3 parts and buying 3 tickets is cheaper than buying 1 ticket. Also the tickets don’t always work at the electronic gates so you have to wait for a member of staff to check your ticket before allowing you to leave the station. And when I book one journey online I am sent lots of tickets. For example I have just booked one return journey and have been sent 11 tickets! 4 of which I can throw straight in the bin as they are useless- 2 tickets clarify it cost me £1 to book my tickets online, one ticket displays the address the tickets were sent to and the other clarifies I paid using a debit/credit card. Of the other 7 tickets 2 are the actual travel tickets and 5 are seat reservations. I also have to show my railcard whilst getting my tickets checked on the train. Surely the purchasing of tickets could be improved and the number of tickets needed for one journey reduced?

So what ‘keeps’ me using the train? It’s much faster and cheaper (when you know how to get cheap tickets) than driving and fortunately my town has a railway station. The bus is also not an option as there is no service available from university to my hometown for example.

A service designer needs to find out who the target audience is and assess what they need or want, in order to improve a service. They may need to take in to consideration lots of people’s opinions and decide what will be most suitable. This in a way is quite similar to textile designers. Textile designers may often need to design for someone who may have different ideas or tastes to themselves, they have to be able to communicate effectively with a client and please a client in order to gain a good reputation.

Paul Smith

I love bright colours and recently some of Paul Smiths work caught my attention when I was flicking through Elle Magazine. I like his use of bright, clashing colours and the mixture of bold prints. I think his work is fun, yet quite sophisticated due to the tailoring of the garments. The pieces shown below are part of one of his collections.

http://www.paulsmith.co.uk/collections/index/women,245,PSC.html

Assignment 2: Experiment 2E

Experiment 3

Adding Text

In a final attempt to get everyone to think of the same story i added 2 words: Travelled to the picture of the motorway and ate to the picture of the pear. Below are my results:

Clive: I travelled from work down the motorway late at night, I arrived in to my empty kitchen and ate a pear.

Mum: I travelled down the motorway, got home, went in to the kitchen, ate a pear.

Sarah: Person (Sammy) travelled on a busy road home to her kitchen and ate a pear.

Gina: I travelled home on the motorway, sat down in the kitchen and ate a pear.

Sam: The driver travelled at such a speed that there was a police officer waiting to give out a speeding ticket, the driver was rushing home in to the kitchen to do some washing up, the driver felt the need to have a healthy lifestyle so ate a pear.

Lisa: I travelled on the motorway home from work, I went in to the kitchen and ate a pear.

Jon: The old man reminisced of a time when he travelled to a kitchen where he ate a pear. It was a simpler time, a better time.

What I noticed and how this is related the 'Rhetoric of the Image' and the concept of polysemy.

In general this was a more successful experiment with most people coming up with a similar story. Sam and Jon, 2 of the 3 males i asked added more details. Sam added in things that weren’t visible in the images such as a police officer and dirty dishes. Jon on the other hand did not mention the motorway, and he talks of an old man. The women who i asked seemed to give shorter snappier answers which were all quite similar to one another. However i am not sure that it made that much difference.

Throughout the experiment some people came up with similar stories and some people seemed to add in little extra pieces of information. Perhaps this is due to the concept of polysemy people draw different meanings from within the mages as everyone is influenced by different things, aspects within an image can trigger different thoughts in different people. Because of this i agree with Barthes in that a persons background, age, interests, occupation etc can affect their interpretation/analysis of something. I also think that to some extent my investigation has contradicted Barthes as text does not always help to clarify a message. I think the use of text is sometimes necessary in order to establish something for example that the pear was eaten rather than chopped up. This experiment was perhaps the most successful of the 3, however even with text not everyone came up with the same story. Some details differed, some people seemed to add more details and information than was necessary. (There is always the argument that i chose the wrong words/the wrong story/difficult people!)

Without the text a number of people managed to come up with the same story and probably the majority were thinking along the same lines. I think it is therefore fair to suggest that Barthes is correct in saying that images without text can be powerful in portraying a message.

I think carrying out this experiment not only helped me understand the essay by Roland Barthes better but it has also lead me to think more carefully about how things can mean different things to different people. I will also try to think more about the use and importance of text and whether text is always necessary.

Assignment 2: Experiment 2D

The fourth Image

Experiment 2

Next, we have to think of a way in which to get everyone to come up with the same story. I decided to aim for a story along the lines of the following: 'Drive on motorway to deliver the pear to the kitchen' + 'Person travels home from work goes in to kitchen gets a pear and eats it' This is because these two answers are quite simple and a number of the stories given were quite similar but had differences in the order in which they linked the images. This time I think I may add a fourth image and also ask each person to link the images in a specific order as shown below:

I was unsure as to whether I needed to specify a ‘person’ who a few people refer to or perhaps the place where the pear comes from?

I decided that since most people seemed to imagine/name/suggest a person in their story that I would clarify that person as a businessman. The story I will try and get people come up with is that 'A businessman travels home from work on the motorway, when he gets home he goes in to the kitchen and gets/eats a pear'

Experiment 2 results:

Jon: The business man is rushing home after his flight was held up. He speeds down the motorway to try & get to his wife in time. He gets to the house. His wife is nowhere to be found. The kidnappers have left a note in the kitchen. They've taken all the man's food except a single pear. It's a Sunday night, the supermarkets are all closed, all he's eaten all day is plane food, he has to eat- can he possibly trust a kidnapper's pear??

Lisa: Man drives home from work and when he gets home he goes in to the kitchen and eats a pear.

Sam: The person in picture 1 is calling to request a lift which is late, this links to picture 2 where the driver is battling through rush hour traffic, in order to finish off some decorating in the dining room before making fruit salads by cutting up the pear.

Gina: The man leaves his office late at night on the phone, finishes the conversation gets in the car drives home on the motorway (commuter) then he sits down and eats a pear.

Sarah: This is a person working in a busy city-hence the briefcase. He was using public transport due to congestion on the roads of Britain. He finally got home after a busy day and sat on a chair in the kitchen and ate a pear, essential vitamins after his day of hard work.

Mum: Solitary businessman, drives down the motorway, gets home. Goes in to his kitchen feeling peckish has a pear out of the fruit bowl.

Clive: A man leaving work rings his wife on the phone, drives home goes in to the kitchen, realises his wife has left him. (There is only one pear not a pair)

Again not everyone came up with the same story, some people seem to have more imagination than others. Perhaps this is because they see more meanings than others or have a different background, more interests for example. Only 4/7 came up with similar stories. I think this may be as a result of 2 errors. I think i may have added the wrong image, i think similar to a member of my group i should have added a supermarket or building as she had much more success. The businessman turned out to be less clear than i intended and perhaps even further complicated the story. I also may be should of asked a different set of people as i accidentally missed this point when reading the instructions. If i had asked a different set of people they couldn't have been influenced by the story they came up with for experiment 1.

Assignment 2: Experiment 2C

Once we had selected our images we decided we would each ask a number of people to look at each of the images in any order and to think about what was going on in them. Then we asked them to produce a story that links the 3 images, again the images could be linked in any order. We also made a note of everyones gender, age, occupation and interests. We decided it was going to be too difficult to do all of this as part of a group and so although we each set off with the same 3 images and asked our friends and family the same questions we used our results in a different way. This meant we were able to make comparisons between our adapted experiments, what worked and what didn’t?

Clive: Male, 54, River Keeper. Interests: Fishing, Photography, Cars

Story: Person travels home from work goes in to kitchen gets a pear and eats it

Wendy: Female, 47, Midday Supervisor. Interests: Gardening, Decorating, Travel

Story: Drive on motorway to deliver the pear to the kitchen

Sarah: Female, 19, Fine Art Student. Interests: Art, Watching Curling, Reading, Daisy chain making, star gazing, baking cakes and eating them, Seeing Friends, Family + Boyfriend, Music, 'Going on the swings really high so i feel like i am flying', going out dancing and for drinks.

Story: Person (Sammy) is going on a journey on a motorway to her granny’s in the countryside where wild pears grow, they have tea and cakes in a nice wee kitchen.

Gina: Female, 18, Student (school) Interests: Music, Festivals, Travel

Story: Just left home where were sitting at the table, grabbed a pear got in my car and off I drove

Sam: Male, 21, Social Work Student. Interests: Football, Music, Tv

Story: A person was rushing home from work to finish refurbishing the dining room, but on the way stopped for some fruit.

Lisa: Female, 19, Biomedical Science Student. Interests: Formula 1, Music

Story: The pear moves from where it is grown to the supermarkets where it is bought to the home it is eaten in, travelling via the motorways off the world.

Jon: Male, 19, Osteopathy Student. Interests: Sport, Music

Story: A family has gone to an awards show but has to leave suddenly. They realise they have left their pear out in the kitchen. They’ve got to put it in the fridge quickly before it goes rotten. No one else can help them. Will they make it in a race against mother nature?

What I have noticed so far for Experiment 1

Most people imagine someone in the story

2 people mentioned work

3 people mention eating the pear

3 people mention travelling

Jon, Sarah and Sam tend to go in to greater detail than the others i asked.

I am unsure of the 'correct' number of people to ask although i think 7 is enough information to be working with for now and some people are already coming up with similar stories.

Assignment 2: Experiment 2B

After reading the ‘Rhetoric of the Image’ by Roland Barthes we were asked to do the following tasks in order to understand the 'Rhetoric of the Image' and also the concept of polysemy better. First we were asked to select 3 random photographs and ask family and friends to come up with a story to link the images together. We selected our images by using http://www.sxc.hu/ to generate random images. The first 3 times we pressed the 'randomizer' button on the website photographs of landscapes were brought up, however we discarded these. Partially out of curiosity to see how random the 'randomizer' is and also as we thought people are unlikely to come up with a story about 3 landscape photographs. The next 3 images we generated are the ones, which we chose and are shown below:

Assignment 2: Experiment 2A

'The Rhetoric of the Image' by Roland Barthes

For the first part of Assignment 2 we were asked to read the ‘Rhetoric of the image’ by Roland Barthes. I struggled with the text although having read it a couple of times and looked up a lot of words I think I have managed to partially understand some of the main points. To begin with I think Roland Barthes is talking about the power of an image. He raises the following questions: How much can an image say and how is something said using an image? How does an image have meaning, how does it represent something? I think he goes on to say that some of what we understand is related to our life experiences but the power of an image and how we understand an image is disputed. Meaning behind an image is often weak and unrecognised. However, in advertising an image is meant to mean something, the image is relevant and important. Signs in an advert should be clear

I think he also goes on to say that the advertisement discussed within the chapter has 4 signs, which I understood to be:

1.Liguistic message.

2.Culture affects the interpretation of a message

3.What is pictured gives a message, the arrangement of identifiable objects/overall appearance of an image affects the message. ‘A message without a code’

4. The literal message

All the elements within an advertisement are intended to signify something:

In this case the colours and text signify Italy

Overall appearance looks like that of a still life

However an image can be polysemous which means it has many meanings.

Roland Barthes discusses ‘The 3 messages’ as each image contains different messages. (Not sure if this is correct)

The 3 messages are:

A linguistic message

A coded iconic message

A non-coded iconic message (literal/denoted)

Barthes then gives and order for the messages: Linguistic, non-coded, coded. However I struggled to understand whether we naturally read an image like this or we should read an image like this.

The linguistic message

Things to consider:

• Is there always text in the image/surrounding the image. Where is text in relation to the image?
• The structure of an image can be analysed once the text is removed.
• Does the image say the same as the text does? Or does the text add new information?
• Text is commonly seen with an image. ‘We are still, and more than ever, a civilization of writing’

What I understood about the linguistic message is that there are two functions of the linguistic message one is ‘relay’ and the other ‘anchorage’. Anchorage means that the text identifies the image and draws together the contributing parts of the message. The text focuses not simply the viewer’s gaze but also the understanding of the viewer-provides clarification. The text makes the viewer think what the advertiser intends, not what you may interpret without the text. Relay is a less commonly used, it can be seen in cartoons and comic strips where little snippets of dialogue are used. The image and the dialogue are intended to compliment one another, meanings that would not otherwise be seen in the image are explained, the text also provides a sequence to the images, which is very important in film. In film the ‘relay’ function is commonly used.

The denoted image

In advertising there is always text, never only an image.

I really struggled to understand much of this section. Here are some of my guesses:

• Analysis of an image is objective, affected by society, background, age, and gender. If we are given an image with no hidden message, we try to find something/interpret, find hidden meaning. This is due to the way the human mind works.
• Lines, colours and form are easily identified and with intelligence information can be gained from this.
• Photographs do not have a code. Photographs record, mechanical process. Surely the photographer still chooses what to photograph and what to crop out?
• Drawing does have a code? Only certain aspects are drawn, what is selected and why? The creator selects the angle, point of view, scale etc of a drawing. All drawings have a style.
• Drawings transform what we see in to a pictorial representation.
• This sentence caught my attention ‘The more technology develops the diffusion of information (and notably of images), the more it provides the means of masking the constructed meaning under the appearance of the given meaning’, although I am unsure as to what it means and I am yet to find anyone who could help me out.

Rhetoric of the image

The variations in reading and understanding the image are due to different kinds of knowledge – practical, national, cultural, aesthetic. Each person is likely to identify different things although one person might have knowledge in all these areas.

‘Scattered traits’ are likely to be discovered between what meanings different people find within an image.

How does this relate to Textile Design?

In design perhaps we need to be aware that text is not always important or required with an image. Barthes seemed to suggest that a lot can be interpreted from an image with no text, but perhaps key words/phrases are necessary if we want to make certain our work is received as we intend it to be. If no text is included our work could be interpreted differently to how we intended due to peoples knowledge, background, age, gender, interests etc-would this be a problem? On the other hand not including text with an image could make the viewer look at our work longer as they may need to search for clues if they are going to understand what the piece is about? Text gives the viewer instant answers and direction without much personal thought.

Tentsmuir and Tayport

Last week I explored slightly more of Scotland with my flat mate, we went to Tentsmuir and Tayport close to Dundee. I took numerous photographs of the harbour in Tayport and also did some sketches of the landscape at Tentsmuir beach. This day out was a source of inspiration for my current Fashion Forecasting project, ‘Stripes from the sea’. It was a very cold wintry day, as I think is visible from the very grey tones of the sea and sky in my photographs. As a result of this my sketches were executed very rapidly. Below are some of the photographs I took.

I have also included images of some of the pieces inspired by the boat masts. I used black Quink ink and bleach to create these images.

Alexander McQueen

I have always liked a lot of Alexander McQueen’s work as much of it is unusual, colourful and very inspirational but this is not why I decided to write this blog. I decided to write this blog as recently everyone from my mum and my friends to people on the train and even my grandma has been talking about those ‘ridiculous shoes’! Yes I do think to some extent they are ridiculous, but do I hate them? No I don’t, I love them. Perhaps they are not the most practical shoes and I don’t know that many people could actually even manage more than a few steps in towering 12inch heels, but is everything that goes down the catwalk practical? Will it actually be mass produced and affordable for the average customer? I love these shoes as they make a statement they are quirky, new and very eye catching. Below is a video of the shoes on the catwalk:

The Consumption of Design

Assignment 1-What did i learn and how is it relevant to Textile Design?

I found my first assignment at university this semester quite challenging. (See blog posts- Assignment 1: The Consumption of Design 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D) We were asked to do a number of tasks our first to read chapter 4 of ‘The culture of design’, a book by Guy Julier. Similar to many of my colleagues I struggled to make much sense of the text and what in fact the purpose of reading chapter 4 entitled ‘The consumption of design’ was. However after a recent seminar I am pleased to say I feel somewhat enlightened!

So what have I learnt?

Firstly this chapter tells us we consume because we need, want or desire things. Secondly consumption can be directly linked to culture. For example our culture affects whether we need or simply want things. In third world countries, people have to consume, as they need clothes, food and other such basic necessities. Many people in the UK are fortunate enough to fall somewhere between the ‘want’ and ‘desire’ to consume. This is due in particular to wealth and design. Due to the amount of wealth we have we are unlikely to need to consume. We simply want and desire things partially due to design. A whole range of things such as advertisements, celebrities and peers influences us. We buy to fit in, to fit in to our culture and also to form an identity. What we choose to own to some extent defines who we are.

This ties in directly to the next part of the assignment where we were asked to analyse photographs of a person’s home, belongings, friends, family etc who we did not know. From what they chose to own we could make assumptions about the person, their tastes, culture and their identity for example. But we could only access what the person wanted us to, we can only find out about them through their appearance belongings etc what they chose to own. This is where part D of the assignment came in and we were asked to look at ‘The Johari Window’.

How does this relate to Textile Design?

In the UK the majority of people are driven to consume due to the desire to have something. They often want it but don’t actually need it. For example many people want to have the latest clothes, designer shoes, accessories etc to fit in. People are continuously buying to fit in and have the appearance they desire. According to Julier in the book entitled 'The culture of design' Haug 'argues that artefacts in the market have to promise a use-value once they are sold: they have to appear to be useful before they actually are'. Many people have a need or desire to keep up with the latest trends and so see a use of new clothes even if they may only wear them one or two times. As designers should we be happy that we are constantly giving people an excuse to buy new clothes? Designers have the power to make people keep buying in order to be fashionable. This keeps designers in a job and also affects the economy. For example a recession can be caused or the affects increased due to decreased consumption. Or should we think about the environment, all the resources that are being used up and all the waste. How many items of clothing are thrown out every day in the UK? Is it really necessary? What about the people in third world countries who need clothes?

Mind Map of The consumption of design

Assignment 1: The Consumption of Design 1D

Finally for part D of the assignment we met up and exchanged thoughts on each others photographs. When I met up with Karen to discuss what we had discovered about each other I think we were both quite surprised to find out that we had quite accurately analysed each other’s photos. We had only got little things wrong. Karen told me that she is in fact neat and tidy as her room suggests and this probably was influenced by her home, which as I predicted is close to university. I thought Karen probably lived close to uni as she has relatively few possessions in her room in comparison to me, I rarely go home but Karen is able to go home every weekend. I don’t think I did make any observations Karen hadn’t discovered before but I think she was definitely surprised by how much I did find out about her from some photographs.

When I saw Karen’s photographs I thought she might struggle with what I had given her, as I didn’t include any images of my bedroom or possessions. However, quite surprisingly Karen was able to summarise a lot about me under the following headings: tastes, influences and possessions. What she had managed to draw out of my photos was very interesting to read about. Below are Karen’s initial thoughts in response to my photographs:

• Active Lifestyle
• Fitness
• Sociable
• Team player
• Supportive
• Close relationship with friends/family
• Likes to try new things
• Competitive?
• Spent a lot of time with family/trips/outings
• Seen places
• Nice house/middle class
• Wore similar clothes to sister
• Animal lover
• Knows lots of people
• Member of different groups/clubs
• Dependable
• Developed own style/accessorises through scarves, belts earrings and glasses
• Holiday with the girls
• Enjoys nights out/having a drink/dance
• Relaxed
• Not a show off
• Self-assured
• Natural
• Artistic
• Rural

Were Karen's observations of me accurate?

Much of her findings I think are very true; I tend to exercise as much as I have time for. I especially like to go to classes at the gym, I occasionally go swimming and I also play hockey for Dundee University, so this also makes me a team player. I am quite competitive although less so than many hockey players, winning is not very important to me but I like to enjoy life and meet my own goals and targets. I am very close to my mum, and my mum’s family. My dad I tend to speak to less and over the years I have grown apart from my sister, we are very different now although do still have similar tastes in clothes. It is also very true to say I like to try new things, and visit places. I always like to be busy doing something. Lazing around all day watching TV for example bores me. I do really like animals, especially my dog Roy. It is true that I like to accessorize my outfits with scarves and jewellery as I wrote in an early blog post!

Karen wrote a great deal more about me and I found it all remarkably accurate, but she didn’t reveal anything I hadn’t considered. Karen also did get a couple of little things wrong. My favourite colour is not purple, I don’t think I really have a favourite colour. If I had to, I think I would say blue is my favourite colour but really I like all bright colours. Also I don’t choose to wear glasses, unfortunately I cannot get contacts suitable for my eyes yet. Karen also rightly suggested I played an instrument when I was younger however this was a lucky guess. The piano she made this assumption from was actually in the house when we moved in, none of my family can play an instrument other than me and my sister. We learnt the clarinet at school.

Did anything make me uncomfortable? How did I feel about thinking about other peoples private lives and being a research subject myself?

At first I wasn’t so keen on this task because childhood images, images of our possessions and environment are quite personal and in a way our privacy is being invaded. I could easily understand how some people may be unhappy with doing this task, perhaps their childhood is upsetting or they are worried other people may judge them. I also think the way each person goes about the task could affect how their partner found the task, degrading comments would be unpleasant. However I found the task interesting and I learnt a great deal.

‘The Johari Window’

Below is a diagram of The Johari Window

The diagram explains that it is only possible to obtain some information about any given person, you can never know everything about them. It is also impossible for anyone to know absolutely everything about himself or herself.

From analysing a persons photographs it is likely I would discover information about the ‘open self’ and possibly about ‘the blind self’ but I cannot know about their ‘hidden self’ unless they tells me, then it would become ‘open self’. Neither of us will ever know about their ‘unknown self’.

Assignment 1: The Consumption of Design 1C

Next for part C of the assignment we had to analyse the photographs we were given in exchange for those we had collected of ourselves growing up. Karen gave me mostly photos which I imagine she took over the Christmas break of her home, university accommodation and a couple of her with her friends, perhaps in their late school years.

How did I feel analysing the photographs?

I struggled at first to pick out useful information and make assumptions but as I progressed I began to find it easier, looking for clues about Karen’s possible tastes, influences, possessions and environment was very interesting. I felt a little like I was digging a bit too deep and making some wrong assumptions. I think the task is quite invasive of peoples private lives.

What did I find out about Karen?

I made a lot of notes about Karen, below is a summary of my observations:

Tastes

Books: Jodi Picoult, there is books by this author both on the bookshelf at home and in her university bedroom. Perhaps a favourite author?

Leading brands: good quality, expensive products that you don’t purchase frequently

Likes reds and pinks? Bright colour? Colour of necklace and scarf and also the wallpaper and bedding in another photo.

Sky dive: Outgoing, adventurous, for charity? Daring

STA travel: Likes travelling, may be holiday with friends at uni / from school? Gap year?

Fancy Dress: Fun, sociable

Influences

Home/Parents: Karen’s room is neat, tidy and organized like her home

Friends: Lots of photos of friends suggest she is greatly influenced by them or perhaps does not see them often

Looks like she has a good group of girl close girl friends

Like to be sociable, having a good time

Enjoyed a girls summer holiday, end of school perhaps?

Possessions

Laptop, Books, Timetable: Intelligent, hardworking, Facebook is on the laptop screen. Karen probably has Facebook and uses it regularly to keep in touch with family/friends

Friends forever picture frame: Close friends from school, gave it to Karen as a gift

Jewellery: Quite bold, couple of hearts, girly, feminine

No7 products: Looks after her skin, likes to look nice.

Theme park Photo: Likes theme parks, adventurous, fun, daring

Water bottles: Healthy, goes to the gym? , Refills them-environmentally conscious, recycles?

CD player/Radio : Likes listening to music, perhaps whilst working

Environment

University bedroom: Quite sparsely decorated, suggests she lives close to home and goes home often

Drawer not fully closed: Left open in a hurry? Busy lifestyle?

Timetable on her bedroom wall: Organized

Tidy: Practical, organized – work and books neatly laid out, neat, conscientious

What I found particularly interesting was the similarities between Karen and me. For example on both our shelves are books by Jodi Picoult, we both have the same brand of laptop, makeup and hair straighteners. Also we both seem to have mostly pictures of friends, (including pictures of fancy dress costumes and girls holidays) rather than pictures of family. We both also have a caricature in our bedrooms at home and a picture of us taken at a theme park!