Proposal # 1
Title:
Online Design Community
Introduction:
As a design student, it is very important to update ourselves so that we can produce
the most interesting work. Some design students tend to follow their own guts and
come up with ideas on their own in order to keep the originality of the work. Others
would use inspirational references to help them think. Neither method is wrong or
perfect. Students who follow their own guts might find out later that someone has
already thought of their ideas. Students who use references may rely too much on
other people’s work that they cannot think of ideas on their own.
There is one more important element to design students, discussion. Every critique,
every conversation tends to help us think deeper about our projects. We become
more intelligent by trading ideas with each other, and we often get inspired from
just a random conversation. It is unfortunate that discussion can only stay alive
within a small group. Eg, a discussion involves group of friends.
A discussion involving a whole school is highly impossible, not to mention
discussion over schools. This is where blog become very popular among young
adults, because they are trade & share information with a wide range of people.
Abstract:
My goal is to create a communication system that can allow all the design students
in the world to share with each other. It acts in a very similar manner to facebook,
where people can chat, and make friends. However designers can also upload their
portfolios, projects, and ideas onto the website for discussion. I’m also plan to add
tutorial programs and worldwide job board.
The Research Question:
We always know what we want to do as designers, but we are so caught up in our
own works that we rarely pay attention to other designers. Is helping each other
going to make us better designers? Or it’s only going to increase your competitors in
the future?
Audience:
Primary target are design students from all other world. Even though I want to focus
on North America, it would be more interesting if there is a mix of culture in the
system, so there are more varieties of people and design.
The Secondary target is design firm. This community system is filled with creative
designers, thus it becomes very easy for firms to look for interns that suits their
company.
Realization:
This should be a web‐focused project, since the best way of communication is
through Internet now.
There will be flash animation involved to make the site more interesting.
Branding for the website is going to take place as well. It would be great if I can
make up a brand identity for the system.
Learning Outcomes:
My biggest goal for this project is to become extremely familiar with web‐based
design, because that’s what I plan to do in the future.
Literature Review:
McDonough, William. & Braungart, Michael. Cradle to Cradle. North Point Press; 1st
edition, April 22, 2002
This book if filled with interesting ideas and thoughts. Since environmental
protection is becoming such a big part of our society, designers have to be careful
with their designs. Young designers are filled with environmental protective ideas,
because we were taught to protect the planet every since elementary school. It is
important to read this book and discuss the topic with young designers who plan to
save our planet, because they are the minds of the future.
Susan, Daffron. Web Business Success. Logical Expressions, Inc, October 10, 2006
"Web Business Success" explains the basics of how a Web site works in easy‐tounderstand
terms. It teaches readers how to communicate and negotiate when
dealing with Web developers and designers. It also includes a complete index and a
glossary of terms. It will become a handy book when I need to know something
about the web, or when I’m dealing with more experienced designers.
Proposal # 2
Title:
The “Future” of Graphic Design
Introduction:
A lot of people say that graphic design is “dead”, because it’s splitting into so many
different medias. Graphic design used to be solely printing, but now it can refer to a
number of artistic and professional disciplines, and all of them focus on visual
communication and presentation.
Personally I feel graphic design has been divided into two major categories. One is
material based, which include packaging design, stationery design, book design, and
etc. The other category is electronic based, such as websites, flash animation, and
digital illustration. Both have their strengths and flaws. The material based graphic
design can be very interactive, and it gives you a sense of ownership when you
posses them. Electronic based graphic design requires almost no actual material to
create, and it still works great, but it can never achieve the intimacy that objects
gives.
My generation (born in 1980s) is capable of adapting both type of graphic design,
but as time goes on, less and less kids will see the existence of material graphic
design, because there are only so little resources left.
Abstract:
My goal is to create a series of material based graphic design (a pop‐up book is what
I’m thinking) that is suitable for kids. It is to be interactive in a way that digital art cannot replace. The reason I want to do this is because I think the future generations deserve to know the origin of graphic design, and hopefully it will help to keep the old style alive a bit longer.
The Research Question:
How to make children become aware of the original graphic design, and how to
make me appreciate it?
Audience:
Primary targets are children of course, age from 5‐10. Sometimes kids need to be
kids, and that doesn’t mean play video game all day or chat on the phone all night.
When I was a kid, I used to tease myself with all kinds of imagination. So I want to
show them, life can be fun even without the fancy technologies.
The Secondary target is the parent. Growing up in the old world, they should know
the value of material graphic design.
Realization:
A pop‐up storybook is what I plan to do, or it can be a series of pop‐up books telling
different stories.
In order to make the thesis project more interesting, I’m planning to design a popup
book that will teach children how to make it. So they can use their imagination to
create their own stories.
Learning Outcomes:
My biggest goal for this project is to raise the next generation’s interest in graphic
design, or at least let them become aware of it.
Literature Review:
Jackson, Paul. The Pop‐Up Book: Step By Step Instructions for creating over 100
original projects. Owl; July 26 2001
This book is notable for its clear instructions and bright, colorful illustrations. “This book offers an instructional guide leading the craftsperson through an introductory section of basics to sections covering techniques and original design. The step‐bystep projects are exercises in technique only, with complex constructions shown as examples.” It is quite helpful when I’m searching for references and techniques that will suit my own design.
Hiram, Fitzgerald. International Perspectives on Child Psychology and Mental
Health: Development and Context; Prevention and Treatment. Praeger Pub, Feb 28
2010.
This is a very new book, the reason it is important is because child psychology is
very hard to understand. If I want to write a book that suits kids, I need to
understand what their psychology. Another reason this book is important is because
it tells me about children’s mental development, this is in direct relation with the
story, I have to be careful with the storyline, so it doesn’t affect their mental growth negatively.
Proposal # 3
Title:
The Endangered Encyclopedia
Introduction:
Animals are mistreated all over the world, yet we know so little about them. I have
always been an animal lover and I feel that it’s time to let their voices be heard.
There are many non‐profit organizations in this world, yet everyone is just doing the
same old donation campaign. I think they should have done something more
practical instead of asking money. For example, I saw this series of photographs of
bears captured in dog cages, and their paws are cut off for money. It was very
devastating and bloody, but at the same time, I feel that I just saw through the world
a bit more.
I think those kind of photos need to be revealed to the world, people only think that
bear paw is tasty, but refuse to think where it came from. If more truth like that are
revealed into the world, no one will take animal protection as joke any more.
Abstract:
My goal is to build a campaign for these poor & endangered animals, so people can
do whatever they can to help prevent from their extinction. The campaign is about
revealing the truth to the audience; I will mainly focus on destroyed habitats,
polluted animals, mistreated animals, and forbidden hunters. I think these are the
most sensitive topic when it comes to animal rights, and no body really like to talk
about them.
The Research Question:
(Main Question) How to save those endangered animals with your own hands
instead of your money?
The first question is more about us as individuals, we can start by creating less
pollution, use less paper to save trees, and etc.
(Minor Question) What can we do to help restore this nature balance, by bring
endangered animals back into our world?
This question is more about asking how to restore the environment, and
questioning whether we can live our lives without harming the animals.
Audience:
Target audience is everyone, because everyone is involved in this topic. We all can
do some parts to help prevent animals dying.
Realization:
This should be a online encyclopedia project, so that more people over the world
can look at the same time.
There will be a photo bank storing all the endangered animals and their living
conditions.
Large format posters will take place in subway stations for advertising purposes.
A small instruction manual that lists all the things we can do to help prevent their
extinction.
Learning Outcomes:
I will learn a lot more about animals by the end of this project, and I will also be
learned the art of persuasion, because advertising is the key to this project.
Literature Review:
Shevelow, Kathryn. For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection
Movements. Henry Holt and Co. Jun 24 2008
This shocking book tells the story of the brave, eccentric individuals who worked to
stop heartless animal abuses in 17th and 18th century England. This book is
essential reading for people interested in both the history of legislation to protect
animals, and animal ethics issues. It’s a good reference source.
Baur, Donald. Endangered Species Act: Law, Policy, and Perspectives. American Bar
Association, Aug 16 2009
This book explains the Endangered Species Act, its implementation, and the issues
facing the protection of endangered wildlife and its habitat. I need to read this book
in order to become more familiar with the current situation. This book also helps me
to locate the most endangered animals quickly.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Research Diary - Class Recording
The class I choose to record is Graphic Design 4, and my professor is Debbie Adams.
Through out the semester we are working on one brand redesign assignment.
We are to select an existing local or regional company based in the GTA. The company must be large enough to have a range of graphic design applications.
The project involves three sections:
1. Research: Demonstrate through practice a familiarity with the stages and strategies of development in the creation of a graphic identity.
2. Visual Mark Development: Demonstrate through practice and outcome the ability to develop and refine a visual mark.
3. Application of Mark: Demonstrate through outcome an ability to apply/integrate a visual mark on a variety of formats and media.
I listed the choice of business types to help my initial research:
Design Manufacturing: Furniture, Carpet, Kitchen, and Lighting
Non-Profit: Environmental Organization, Animal Protection Programs, and Donations
Cultural: Museum or Art Gallery
Service: Architecture or Interior Design
Manufacturing: Healthy or Organic company/product
Retail: Health and Beauty Service
Retail: Restaurant
Entertainment: Fitness or Sport Facility
In the end I decide to go with The Toronto Maple Leafs, because they have a weak visual mark, and it does not stand out from its competitions.
Section 1. Research
My topic: Toronto Maple Leafs
Reason: Their logo is too passive for a hockey team. It does not stand out among the NHL team logos.
Working Process:
1.Information Research
- Research history
- Research logo color
- Research brand identity
- Research symbolic items
- Research target audience
- Research location
- Research budget
- Research public image
My sources mainly come from the Internet, books and encyclopedias, and fan sites. All the research materials are used to prepare the logo redesign. I realized the more I learn about the company, more possibilities and limitations will occur. For example I learned that Toronto Maple Leafs is one of the original teams who started the NHL, so their logo goes a long way back. If I make the design into something completely fresh and modern, the fans might be alienated to it.
2. Visualization Research
- Collect images of the company logo
- Collect other visual references relevant to company
- Make word mapping of the company into categories (Metaphors, Symbols, Values, Emotions, Descriptor)
- Collect visual materials relevant to the 5 word mapping categories
- Collect visuals of applications
- Collect potential visuals that will inspire the development of visual mark
This part of research is to become familiar with the current logo, and further think about the brand identity it’s supposed to represent.
3. Naming process
- Analyze your company name
- Find its meaning and history
- Define your brand positioning
- Differentiate your company from the competitors
- Define emotional connection from audience
- Define the company value
- Make a list of reasons for change
- Make a list of completely new names
- Make a list of evolution names based on the original name
- Select the best name or stay with the old name
During this process, I learned that there are 6 main categories of names:
1. Functional – descriptive names that literally describe what the company, product or service offers.
2. Invented – New word names, these can be abstract, descriptive or classical based on rhythmic or memorable sounds.
3. Experiential – Similar to descriptive names, but focused on the experience rather than function.
4. Evocative – Evoke the positioning of a company or product, rather than describing a function or a direct experience.
5. Referential – Referring directly to a founder, place, character or origin.
6. Shortened – Truncated or abbreviated name, or an acronym, or initials of an original longer name.
At this point, the history research helped me a lot with deciding the name. Due to the rich history the Leafs possesses, I decided to stick with its original name.
Section 2. Visual Mark
4. Logo Design
- Create a minimum of 30 thumbnail idea sketches
- Select 4-5 ideas to explore
- Refine 4-5 ideas into trademark designs in black and white
- Select top 2 ideas & color choices
- Refine top 2 ideas into trademarks in large and small, b & w and color
- Choose the best solution
I learned that when designing a logo, it’s best to start with black and white. If it works fine, then adding color will be an easier process. I also learned that when picking out the colors, I need to consider the background color and how well it works with the logo. Logo should work in small scale as well because it’s often applied onto paper and documents.
Thi is my final design:
Section 3. Applications
- Create a series of stationery, including letterhead, envelope, business card, and shipping label.
- Make a list of all the possible applications
- Choose the top three applications that best represent the company
- Make a short film for the company
From here on everything is very technical. I have my logo now and I need to think of creative ways to use it to its best advantages. Research once again played a huge role in helping me decide the best applications.
Conclusion:
- Initial research is very important in a brand-redesign project. I need to know every aspect of the company, and use its characteristics wisely.
- Getting to know the company is also important. I need to understand the atmosphere of the company.
- How people see the company is another key point I need to watch out. When I’m designing, I need to consider from the audiences’ point of view. I need to communicate & introduce the correct brand identity to them.
- Watch out for competitions. I don’t want to create a design that’s very similar to my competitors, yet at the same time, I don’t want something that looks completely weird out.
Through out the semester we are working on one brand redesign assignment.
We are to select an existing local or regional company based in the GTA. The company must be large enough to have a range of graphic design applications.
The project involves three sections:
1. Research: Demonstrate through practice a familiarity with the stages and strategies of development in the creation of a graphic identity.
2. Visual Mark Development: Demonstrate through practice and outcome the ability to develop and refine a visual mark.
3. Application of Mark: Demonstrate through outcome an ability to apply/integrate a visual mark on a variety of formats and media.
I listed the choice of business types to help my initial research:
Design Manufacturing: Furniture, Carpet, Kitchen, and Lighting
Non-Profit: Environmental Organization, Animal Protection Programs, and Donations
Cultural: Museum or Art Gallery
Service: Architecture or Interior Design
Manufacturing: Healthy or Organic company/product
Retail: Health and Beauty Service
Retail: Restaurant
Entertainment: Fitness or Sport Facility
In the end I decide to go with The Toronto Maple Leafs, because they have a weak visual mark, and it does not stand out from its competitions.
Section 1. Research
My topic: Toronto Maple Leafs
Reason: Their logo is too passive for a hockey team. It does not stand out among the NHL team logos.
Working Process:
1.Information Research
- Research history
- Research logo color
- Research brand identity
- Research symbolic items
- Research target audience
- Research location
- Research budget
- Research public image
My sources mainly come from the Internet, books and encyclopedias, and fan sites. All the research materials are used to prepare the logo redesign. I realized the more I learn about the company, more possibilities and limitations will occur. For example I learned that Toronto Maple Leafs is one of the original teams who started the NHL, so their logo goes a long way back. If I make the design into something completely fresh and modern, the fans might be alienated to it.
2. Visualization Research
- Collect images of the company logo
- Collect other visual references relevant to company
- Make word mapping of the company into categories (Metaphors, Symbols, Values, Emotions, Descriptor)
- Collect visual materials relevant to the 5 word mapping categories
- Collect visuals of applications
- Collect potential visuals that will inspire the development of visual mark
This part of research is to become familiar with the current logo, and further think about the brand identity it’s supposed to represent.
3. Naming process
- Analyze your company name
- Find its meaning and history
- Define your brand positioning
- Differentiate your company from the competitors
- Define emotional connection from audience
- Define the company value
- Make a list of reasons for change
- Make a list of completely new names
- Make a list of evolution names based on the original name
- Select the best name or stay with the old name
During this process, I learned that there are 6 main categories of names:
1. Functional – descriptive names that literally describe what the company, product or service offers.
2. Invented – New word names, these can be abstract, descriptive or classical based on rhythmic or memorable sounds.
3. Experiential – Similar to descriptive names, but focused on the experience rather than function.
4. Evocative – Evoke the positioning of a company or product, rather than describing a function or a direct experience.
5. Referential – Referring directly to a founder, place, character or origin.
6. Shortened – Truncated or abbreviated name, or an acronym, or initials of an original longer name.
At this point, the history research helped me a lot with deciding the name. Due to the rich history the Leafs possesses, I decided to stick with its original name.
Section 2. Visual Mark
4. Logo Design
- Create a minimum of 30 thumbnail idea sketches
- Select 4-5 ideas to explore
- Refine 4-5 ideas into trademark designs in black and white
- Select top 2 ideas & color choices
- Refine top 2 ideas into trademarks in large and small, b & w and color
- Choose the best solution
I learned that when designing a logo, it’s best to start with black and white. If it works fine, then adding color will be an easier process. I also learned that when picking out the colors, I need to consider the background color and how well it works with the logo. Logo should work in small scale as well because it’s often applied onto paper and documents.
Thi is my final design:
Section 3. Applications
- Create a series of stationery, including letterhead, envelope, business card, and shipping label.
- Make a list of all the possible applications
- Choose the top three applications that best represent the company
- Make a short film for the company
From here on everything is very technical. I have my logo now and I need to think of creative ways to use it to its best advantages. Research once again played a huge role in helping me decide the best applications.
Conclusion:
- Initial research is very important in a brand-redesign project. I need to know every aspect of the company, and use its characteristics wisely.
- Getting to know the company is also important. I need to understand the atmosphere of the company.
- How people see the company is another key point I need to watch out. When I’m designing, I need to consider from the audiences’ point of view. I need to communicate & introduce the correct brand identity to them.
- Watch out for competitions. I don’t want to create a design that’s very similar to my competitors, yet at the same time, I don’t want something that looks completely weird out.
Research Diary - Daily Observation - Websites
Lovely Package, http://lovelypackage.com/ , October 14 2010
- This is a very popular website that introduces interesting and creative packaging designs. It could be a very useful reference if I decide to focus my thesis on branding; because packaging design is a big part of branding.
Packaging of the World, http://www.packagingoftheworld.com/ , November 27 2010
- Same as Above
The Die line, http://www.thedieline.com/ , April 6 2010
- This is a website that allows designers to share interesting die lines. I often visit this site for inspirations and ideas for my packaging projects.
F. Claire Baxter, http://www.vanityclaire.com/ , December 11 2009
- I discovered this personal website while I was learning how to make a flash website. I have the idea of making myself as a thesis project. So I will be developing a brand for myself. This is definitely a great website example.
Spoon Graphic, http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/ , April 6 2010
- This blog constantly update design news and it always share interesting graphic design works. I always come here for tutorials and I learned a bunch from this site.
We love typography, http://welovetypography.com/ , April 6 2010
- This site has all the interesting typography work. A lot of them are very expressive and I just come here randomly to look for inspirations. I’m amazed of how typography can be used in so many different ways.
Abduzeedo, http://abduzeedo.com/tutorials , April 6 2010
- This is my major source of CS4 program tutorials. This site always post interesting tutorials that can be used in my work. They also provide tone of graphic design news.
- This is a very popular website that introduces interesting and creative packaging designs. It could be a very useful reference if I decide to focus my thesis on branding; because packaging design is a big part of branding.
Packaging of the World, http://www.packagingoftheworld.com/ , November 27 2010
- Same as Above
The Die line, http://www.thedieline.com/ , April 6 2010
- This is a website that allows designers to share interesting die lines. I often visit this site for inspirations and ideas for my packaging projects.
F. Claire Baxter, http://www.vanityclaire.com/ , December 11 2009
- I discovered this personal website while I was learning how to make a flash website. I have the idea of making myself as a thesis project. So I will be developing a brand for myself. This is definitely a great website example.
Spoon Graphic, http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/ , April 6 2010
- This blog constantly update design news and it always share interesting graphic design works. I always come here for tutorials and I learned a bunch from this site.
We love typography, http://welovetypography.com/ , April 6 2010
- This site has all the interesting typography work. A lot of them are very expressive and I just come here randomly to look for inspirations. I’m amazed of how typography can be used in so many different ways.
Abduzeedo, http://abduzeedo.com/tutorials , April 6 2010
- This is my major source of CS4 program tutorials. This site always post interesting tutorials that can be used in my work. They also provide tone of graphic design news.
Research Diary - Course Reading Summaries
Course Reading 1
The landscape of graphic design education (Meredith Davis)
- What is going on in this plethora of programs?
- How are they alike and different in the ways they address issues regarding the profession of graphic design?
- And what challenges do they face in educating students for the 21st century?
- A discipline is a branch of learning that has a body of knowledge, modes of inquiry, and historical and critical perspectives on both as they relate to the subject.
- A profession is an occupation that involves the application of knowledge and training in the discipline.
- The role of colleges and universities now engaged in professional education is to develop students with respect to both the discipline and the profession of graphic design.
- Healthy professions transform themselves over time.
- They anticipate and respond to changes in the social, technological, and economic context by developing new knowledge, modes of inquiry, and critical perspectives.
- Changes in graphic design come from forces outside the field.
- AIGA & NASAD suggest we must move the relationships of general education to design courses from one of proximity to integration
- National Association of Schools of Art and Design
What is research? (Leedy Ormrod)
- The word connotes finding an item of information or making notes and then writing a documented paper.
- It also refers to the act of informing oneself about what one does not know, perhaps by rummaging through available sources to retrieve a bit of information.
- Merchandisers sometimes use the word to suggest the discovery of a revolutionary product when, in reality, an existing product has been slightly modified to enhance the product’s sales appeal.
- But the above three are not the true definition of Research.
- Research is not mere information gathering.
- Research is not mere transportation of facts from one location to another.
- Research is not merely rummaging for information.
- Research is not a catchword used to get attention.
- RESEARCH IS A SYSTEMATIC PROCESS OF COLLECTING, ANALYZING, AND INTERPRETING INFORMATION (DATA) IN ORDER TO INCREASE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHENOMENON ABOUT WHICH WE ARE INTERESTED OR CONCERNED.
- Research originates with a question or problem.
- Research requires clear articulation of a goal.
- Research requires a specific plan for proceeding.
- Research usually divides the principal problem into more manageable sub problems.
- Research is guided by the specific research problem, question, or hypothesis.
- Research accepts certain critical assumptions.
- Research requires the collection and interpretation of data in an attempt to resolve the problem that initiated the research.
- Research is, by nature, cyclical or, more exactly, helical.
Graphic design education as a liberal art (Gunnar Swanson)
- Not only increase the augmentation of design training with more liberal studies, but also reconsider graphic design education, as a liberal arts subject.
- Graphic design is not education.
- It is vocational training and rather narrow specialized training at that.
- Design should be about meaning and how meaning can be created.
Course Reading 2
Investigating Design: A Review of Forty Years of Design Research (Nigan Bayazit)
- Design research is systematic inquiry whose goal is knowledge of, or in, the embodiment of configuration, composition, composition, structure, purpose, value, and meaning in man-made things and systems.
- Design research is concerned with the physical embodiment of man-made things, how these things perform their jobs, and how they work.
- Design research is concerned with construction as a human activity, how designer work, how they think, and how they carry out design activity.
- Design research is concerned with what is achieved at the end of a purposeful design activity, how an artificial thing appears, and what it means.
- Design research is concerned with the embodiment of configurations.
- Design research is a systematic search and acquisition of knowledge related to design and design activity.
- The objectives of design research are the study, research, and investigation of the artificial made by human beings, and the way these activities have been directed either in academic studies or manufacturing organizations.
- The sciences of the artificial
- Designer has to start by analyzing human behavior, from which he could derive “quantities, qualities, and relationships”
- User involvement in design decisions and the identification of their objectives were the main characteristics of the second-generation design methods.
- Most design research studies were made in architecture because of the requirements of the societies after World War II.
- Another area of studying design research is the utilization of the methods of disciplines in such areas as psychology, social psychology, management, economics, semantics, and ergonomics.
Method Designing: The Paradox of Modern Design Education (Jessica Helfand)
- Engaging the audience might be said to characterize the designer’s goal as well.
- Train young designers as thinkers, and not merely as service providers.
- Seek references beyond the obvious.
- Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art.
The Problem: The Heart of the Research Process
- The heart of every research project is the problem.
- It is paramount to the success of the research effort.
- To see the problem and to state it in precise and unmistakable terms is the first requirement in the research process.
Course Reading 3
Investigating Design: The review of the literature (Bell)
- Review literature is a part of academic development, of becoming an expert in the field.
- Some researchers already had extensive knowledge of their topic before they undertook the work involved in their article and they were able to produce an exhaustive review of the influence of age, gender and subject of study on academic attainment.
- Other first-time researchers though they knew a great deal about issues relating to their work and had identified a topic of interest very early in their studies, they did not have the advantage of a firm knowledge base about previous research.
- It is sufficient for them to produce a relatively brief account of the selected literature and to draw some conclusions where possible, beaing in mind the care needed in making claims.
- Evidence of reading will always be required in any research
- Researchers collect many facts but then must select, organize and classify findings into a coherent pattern
- Framework will not only provide a map of how the research will be conducted and analyzed but it also give you ideas about a structure for your review.
- Literature reviews should give a picture of the state of knowledge and of major questions in your topic area.
- Ensure all references are complete
- Watch you language, make no claims which cannot be justified
- Examine sources critically before you decide to use them
- Always compare like with like
- Include differing reports
- Start first draft of your review early in your reading.
Know it all Wikipedia (Schiff)
- Because the world is radically new, the ideal encyclopedia should be radical too.
- It should stop being safe, in politics, in philosophy, in science.
- The greatest achievement of Wikipedia is the creation of a community.
- What can be said for an encyclopedia that is sometimes right, sometimes wrong, and sometimes illiterate
- Wikipediea is a combination of manifesto and reference work
Out of Print (Eric Alterman)
- The rise of internet has made the daily newspaper look slow and unresponsive
- Newspapers have created websites that benefit from the growth of online advertising, but the sums are not nearly enough to replace the loss in revenue from circulation and print ads
- Consumers nowadays want news on demand, continuously updated. They want a point of view about not just what happened but why it happened.
- They want to be able to use the information in a larger community.
- Huffington Post makes a come back
- Newspaper tends to stand by its story on the basis of an editorial process in which professional reporters and editors attempt to vet their sources and check their accuracy before publishing, the blogosphere relies on its readership for quality.
- Mullet: business up front, party at the back.
Course Reading 4
Graphic design Thesis (Vanderbyl)
- Designed to define the complex intersection between personal voce, conceptual understanding, and the ability to conduct and use research effectively in the service of creating a compelling, finely crafted public communication.
- The thesis proposal is a proposition or argument, usually based on an original observation, which you intend to support through research.
- Research will form the backbone of your project. It is the structural support on which your design flesh will hang.
- The thesis project is a proposition or argument explicated by design and supported by research.
- The process book is a bound record of your thinking and design process.
- Strategies’ goal is to elucidate an original observation about your topic, to make audience reconsider the topic or see it in a new light.
Design and Faux Science (Drentel Helfand)
On Bullshit (Design Observer)
- So into this vacuum rushes the bullshit: theories about the symbolic qualities of colors or typefaces; unprovable claims
about the historical inevitability of certain shapes, fanciful forced marriages of arbitrary design elements to hard-headed
business goals. As Frankfurt points out, it's beside the point whether bullshit is true or false: "It is impossible for someone
to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction." There must only be the desire to
conceal one's private intentions in the service of a larger goal: getting your client it to do it the way you like it.
Course Reading 5
Why designers can’t think (Michael Biernut)
- American programs seems to fall into two broad categories
- Process schools and portfolio schools
- Process school’s goal is to duplicate the idealized black & white boot camp regimen of far-off Switzerland.
- Portfolio school has a more admittedly mercenary, aim to provide students with polished “books” that will get them good jobs upon graduation.
I come to bury graphic design (Kenneth Fitzerald)
- Design’s first concern is reproduction
- A broader and deeper appreciation of design can, and should only lead to its demise as a specialist profession.
- Design constructed itself as professional service, formal speech to commune with industry.
- Design must join the culture and abandon attempts to seduce, party with, or ride herd on it.
Course Reading 6
The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in Action (Donald Schon)
- Universities are not devoted to the production and distribution of fundamental knowledge in general.
- “While I do no accept your view of knowledge, I cannot describe my own.”
- The professions had come to be seen, as vehicles for the application of the new sciences to the achievement of human progress.
- Auguste Comte
- Three principal doctrines of positivism
- 1. There was the conviction that empirical science was not just a form of knowledge but the only source of positive knowledge of the world.
- 2. There was the intention to cleanse men’s minds of mysticism, superstition, and other forms of pseudo knowledge.
- 3. There was the program of extending scientific knowledge and technical control to human society, to make technology primarily political and moral.
- By late 19th century, positivism had become a dominant philosophy.
- Following WWII, the U.S. government began an unparalleled increase in the rate of spending for research.
- This research spending was first dramatic, and visible, in the field of medicine.
- In real world practice, problems do not present themselves to the practitioner as givens.
- They must be constructed from the materials of problematic situations, which are puzzling, troubling, and uncertain.
- Reflecting in action – If common sense recognizes knowing in action, it also recognizes that we sometimes think about what we are doing.
Semiotics: A Primer for Designers (Challis Hodge)
- Semiotics is the study of signs.
- Signs in a broad context that includes anything capable of standing for or representing a separate meaning.
- It allows designers to gain insight into the relationships between signs, what they stand for, and the people who must interpret them.
- Semantics focuses on what words mean while semiotics is concerned with how signs mean.
- Semiotics teaches us as designers that our work has no meaning outside the complex set of factors that define it. These factors are not static, but rather constantly changing because we are changing and creating them.
- Reality not only depends on the intentions we put into our work but also the interpretation of the people who experience our work.
The landscape of graphic design education (Meredith Davis)
- What is going on in this plethora of programs?
- How are they alike and different in the ways they address issues regarding the profession of graphic design?
- And what challenges do they face in educating students for the 21st century?
- A discipline is a branch of learning that has a body of knowledge, modes of inquiry, and historical and critical perspectives on both as they relate to the subject.
- A profession is an occupation that involves the application of knowledge and training in the discipline.
- The role of colleges and universities now engaged in professional education is to develop students with respect to both the discipline and the profession of graphic design.
- Healthy professions transform themselves over time.
- They anticipate and respond to changes in the social, technological, and economic context by developing new knowledge, modes of inquiry, and critical perspectives.
- Changes in graphic design come from forces outside the field.
- AIGA & NASAD suggest we must move the relationships of general education to design courses from one of proximity to integration
- National Association of Schools of Art and Design
What is research? (Leedy Ormrod)
- The word connotes finding an item of information or making notes and then writing a documented paper.
- It also refers to the act of informing oneself about what one does not know, perhaps by rummaging through available sources to retrieve a bit of information.
- Merchandisers sometimes use the word to suggest the discovery of a revolutionary product when, in reality, an existing product has been slightly modified to enhance the product’s sales appeal.
- But the above three are not the true definition of Research.
- Research is not mere information gathering.
- Research is not mere transportation of facts from one location to another.
- Research is not merely rummaging for information.
- Research is not a catchword used to get attention.
- RESEARCH IS A SYSTEMATIC PROCESS OF COLLECTING, ANALYZING, AND INTERPRETING INFORMATION (DATA) IN ORDER TO INCREASE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHENOMENON ABOUT WHICH WE ARE INTERESTED OR CONCERNED.
- Research originates with a question or problem.
- Research requires clear articulation of a goal.
- Research requires a specific plan for proceeding.
- Research usually divides the principal problem into more manageable sub problems.
- Research is guided by the specific research problem, question, or hypothesis.
- Research accepts certain critical assumptions.
- Research requires the collection and interpretation of data in an attempt to resolve the problem that initiated the research.
- Research is, by nature, cyclical or, more exactly, helical.
Graphic design education as a liberal art (Gunnar Swanson)
- Not only increase the augmentation of design training with more liberal studies, but also reconsider graphic design education, as a liberal arts subject.
- Graphic design is not education.
- It is vocational training and rather narrow specialized training at that.
- Design should be about meaning and how meaning can be created.
Course Reading 2
Investigating Design: A Review of Forty Years of Design Research (Nigan Bayazit)
- Design research is systematic inquiry whose goal is knowledge of, or in, the embodiment of configuration, composition, composition, structure, purpose, value, and meaning in man-made things and systems.
- Design research is concerned with the physical embodiment of man-made things, how these things perform their jobs, and how they work.
- Design research is concerned with construction as a human activity, how designer work, how they think, and how they carry out design activity.
- Design research is concerned with what is achieved at the end of a purposeful design activity, how an artificial thing appears, and what it means.
- Design research is concerned with the embodiment of configurations.
- Design research is a systematic search and acquisition of knowledge related to design and design activity.
- The objectives of design research are the study, research, and investigation of the artificial made by human beings, and the way these activities have been directed either in academic studies or manufacturing organizations.
- The sciences of the artificial
- Designer has to start by analyzing human behavior, from which he could derive “quantities, qualities, and relationships”
- User involvement in design decisions and the identification of their objectives were the main characteristics of the second-generation design methods.
- Most design research studies were made in architecture because of the requirements of the societies after World War II.
- Another area of studying design research is the utilization of the methods of disciplines in such areas as psychology, social psychology, management, economics, semantics, and ergonomics.
Method Designing: The Paradox of Modern Design Education (Jessica Helfand)
- Engaging the audience might be said to characterize the designer’s goal as well.
- Train young designers as thinkers, and not merely as service providers.
- Seek references beyond the obvious.
- Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art.
The Problem: The Heart of the Research Process
- The heart of every research project is the problem.
- It is paramount to the success of the research effort.
- To see the problem and to state it in precise and unmistakable terms is the first requirement in the research process.
Course Reading 3
Investigating Design: The review of the literature (Bell)
- Review literature is a part of academic development, of becoming an expert in the field.
- Some researchers already had extensive knowledge of their topic before they undertook the work involved in their article and they were able to produce an exhaustive review of the influence of age, gender and subject of study on academic attainment.
- Other first-time researchers though they knew a great deal about issues relating to their work and had identified a topic of interest very early in their studies, they did not have the advantage of a firm knowledge base about previous research.
- It is sufficient for them to produce a relatively brief account of the selected literature and to draw some conclusions where possible, beaing in mind the care needed in making claims.
- Evidence of reading will always be required in any research
- Researchers collect many facts but then must select, organize and classify findings into a coherent pattern
- Framework will not only provide a map of how the research will be conducted and analyzed but it also give you ideas about a structure for your review.
- Literature reviews should give a picture of the state of knowledge and of major questions in your topic area.
- Ensure all references are complete
- Watch you language, make no claims which cannot be justified
- Examine sources critically before you decide to use them
- Always compare like with like
- Include differing reports
- Start first draft of your review early in your reading.
Know it all Wikipedia (Schiff)
- Because the world is radically new, the ideal encyclopedia should be radical too.
- It should stop being safe, in politics, in philosophy, in science.
- The greatest achievement of Wikipedia is the creation of a community.
- What can be said for an encyclopedia that is sometimes right, sometimes wrong, and sometimes illiterate
- Wikipediea is a combination of manifesto and reference work
Out of Print (Eric Alterman)
- The rise of internet has made the daily newspaper look slow and unresponsive
- Newspapers have created websites that benefit from the growth of online advertising, but the sums are not nearly enough to replace the loss in revenue from circulation and print ads
- Consumers nowadays want news on demand, continuously updated. They want a point of view about not just what happened but why it happened.
- They want to be able to use the information in a larger community.
- Huffington Post makes a come back
- Newspaper tends to stand by its story on the basis of an editorial process in which professional reporters and editors attempt to vet their sources and check their accuracy before publishing, the blogosphere relies on its readership for quality.
- Mullet: business up front, party at the back.
Course Reading 4
Graphic design Thesis (Vanderbyl)
- Designed to define the complex intersection between personal voce, conceptual understanding, and the ability to conduct and use research effectively in the service of creating a compelling, finely crafted public communication.
- The thesis proposal is a proposition or argument, usually based on an original observation, which you intend to support through research.
- Research will form the backbone of your project. It is the structural support on which your design flesh will hang.
- The thesis project is a proposition or argument explicated by design and supported by research.
- The process book is a bound record of your thinking and design process.
- Strategies’ goal is to elucidate an original observation about your topic, to make audience reconsider the topic or see it in a new light.
Design and Faux Science (Drentel Helfand)
On Bullshit (Design Observer)
- So into this vacuum rushes the bullshit: theories about the symbolic qualities of colors or typefaces; unprovable claims
about the historical inevitability of certain shapes, fanciful forced marriages of arbitrary design elements to hard-headed
business goals. As Frankfurt points out, it's beside the point whether bullshit is true or false: "It is impossible for someone
to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction." There must only be the desire to
conceal one's private intentions in the service of a larger goal: getting your client it to do it the way you like it.
Course Reading 5
Why designers can’t think (Michael Biernut)
- American programs seems to fall into two broad categories
- Process schools and portfolio schools
- Process school’s goal is to duplicate the idealized black & white boot camp regimen of far-off Switzerland.
- Portfolio school has a more admittedly mercenary, aim to provide students with polished “books” that will get them good jobs upon graduation.
I come to bury graphic design (Kenneth Fitzerald)
- Design’s first concern is reproduction
- A broader and deeper appreciation of design can, and should only lead to its demise as a specialist profession.
- Design constructed itself as professional service, formal speech to commune with industry.
- Design must join the culture and abandon attempts to seduce, party with, or ride herd on it.
Course Reading 6
The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in Action (Donald Schon)
- Universities are not devoted to the production and distribution of fundamental knowledge in general.
- “While I do no accept your view of knowledge, I cannot describe my own.”
- The professions had come to be seen, as vehicles for the application of the new sciences to the achievement of human progress.
- Auguste Comte
- Three principal doctrines of positivism
- 1. There was the conviction that empirical science was not just a form of knowledge but the only source of positive knowledge of the world.
- 2. There was the intention to cleanse men’s minds of mysticism, superstition, and other forms of pseudo knowledge.
- 3. There was the program of extending scientific knowledge and technical control to human society, to make technology primarily political and moral.
- By late 19th century, positivism had become a dominant philosophy.
- Following WWII, the U.S. government began an unparalleled increase in the rate of spending for research.
- This research spending was first dramatic, and visible, in the field of medicine.
- In real world practice, problems do not present themselves to the practitioner as givens.
- They must be constructed from the materials of problematic situations, which are puzzling, troubling, and uncertain.
- Reflecting in action – If common sense recognizes knowing in action, it also recognizes that we sometimes think about what we are doing.
Semiotics: A Primer for Designers (Challis Hodge)
- Semiotics is the study of signs.
- Signs in a broad context that includes anything capable of standing for or representing a separate meaning.
- It allows designers to gain insight into the relationships between signs, what they stand for, and the people who must interpret them.
- Semantics focuses on what words mean while semiotics is concerned with how signs mean.
- Semiotics teaches us as designers that our work has no meaning outside the complex set of factors that define it. These factors are not static, but rather constantly changing because we are changing and creating them.
- Reality not only depends on the intentions we put into our work but also the interpretation of the people who experience our work.
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