a research brief

I can't think of a title. So I'm just call this 'Readings'

2007-05-24T23:35:00.000-07:00

I read this a while ago. But it's good. It's titled 'Expression of Australian Graphic Design.' It's an interview with Prof. Ross Gibson by Andrew Barnum, published in Open Manifesto 2.

I just want to highlight a few things Prof. Gibson mentioned. They're so obvious but I don't know if it's that obvious to everyone because there is quite a discussion over it. The discussion is 'what is Australian graphic design". Gibson points out that Australia is "an import culture rather than an export culture." A culture "that never actually sets itself and defines itself permanently." He also quote Gay Bilson, I'm going to quote a person quoting. When Gay is asked "What is Australian cuisine?" Gay's reply is "there is no Australian cuisine." Gibson also says that he admires designers that doesn't have an aesthetic style but good problem solvers.

Now I'm just going to talking about something that's not about the interview but was just triggered by reading it.

Where is the line between graphic design and advertising. They both need to think of the audience, both need to understand the company and both needs to understand the purpose of the piece they are doing. Some people might say that advertising is more idea based and less aesthetically based but I don't think that is 100% true.

What is graphic design? Designing graphics? There's so many similar job descriptions that are similar to graphic design these days. Communication design? A brand consultant?

I'm talking about this because I often find myself doing task that an advertising person or brand consultant would do. I enjoy designing graphics but I don't want to be a tool for someone but a process What I'm afraid is that graphic designer become just a tool and in order to be a process you'd have to change your job title.

There's already a lot of discussing talking about what graphic design is. What I've just said has probably be discussed a few hundred times. I blame consumerism! It's evil!

I have nothing to write about. This is a pretty bad post.

2007-05-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

I can't find any readings that I want to write about. I'm opinionated. I'm opinionated about everything. But I don't care about anything. Almost anything. Usually then not you'd find me not having an opinion to express because my opinion is just to let everything work out the they are. For example politics. I think if a government is not good then the people will vote for someone else. If a film is good it will eventually find its audience threw word of mouth or other methods.

Maybe I lied I do care about things. I care about the things that affect me directly which is probably why I've been whinging about school. I don't like dumb people. I'm a hypocrite. I just saw the movie 'The Truman Show". It was good but not good enough to write anything about. It raised questions but answered most of them. It talked about a guy living in a TV show but he doesn't know. The film's message is so obvious that it makes even the lazy minded people gets the question. Would you live in a lie but you didn't know it was a lie and the lie made you happy? I have no interest in this question. I don't want to question the meaning of life, its meaning less.

I find it so much easier to write about a reading that I disagree on than a reading I agree on. It's harder to add to a masterpiece but it's easier to destroy trash. I read an article by some UK 'think tank' yesterday. It was well written. I thought about working in a think tank, that would be nice. Get paid to think and not much else. But I remember hating to be a researcher, but I forgot why. Those two are similar.

I don't care about consumerism. It's not evil. I bought a designer perfume the other day. I haven't felt happier. Consumerism is the extension of the human mind. If you hate consumerism you yourself.

Results

2007-05-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, I’m at school and the Internet is down. Hopefully Tania will extend the deadline(if you are reading this…). I don’t want to write the report so I’ll again write something that’s irrelevant but I can argue that it is relevant.

I like level 5. It’s great! Rumour is saying we are moving next year, but still no official words! I digress. I’m also proud of my work I do on level 5. I’m also happy that I don’t work for the grades lecturers give me. Although I’ve only got one grade back since the start of the year!!! I digressed again. At a certain time in my life on level 5 I looked down on people who does work for grades but I had a second thought about it the other day. I reassessed the importance of grades and how much they actually mean.

I didn’t think much of marks because it was only one person’s opinion. I believed much of the marks came about how well I explained myself in the rationale. Then I looked at the criterion the marks were based upon. It looked like (almost) all the signs of a good designer. The criterion was about attention to detail, putting design into context and mostly how good you can explain your work. All the ingredients to sell yourself successfully to a client.

However!!! Moohahaahahhahahaha

I failed to see any distinct criteria for talent. Perhaps you can’t measure talent or maybe talent is subjective thinking. However it seems that level 5 is still attached to the Mr-Nice-Guy model of high school, awarding effort more than talent. It’s a dirty job nobody wants to do, telling someone they have no talent. The realisation is hard hitting, brutal and heart breaking. But the sooner the person realises it the better for the person. I’m going to go even further (but I don’t care). Of course there are also financial reasons for the schools not to do it. The income of the school comes from students. One less student one less income (a lot less income if it’s an international student). The school prefers to view the situation as “everyone has their own unique talent” rather than “some people are more talented than others”.

If I offend anyone with this then I apologise I’m mainly writing this for the 300 hundred words. But how the truth can offend people is beyond me.

The medium is the massage that is actually sexual intercourse?

2007-05-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

Reading "The Medium is the Massage" by Marshall McLuhan is like watching "Donnie Darko". Clues are encrypted in words and it's as if the author doesn't really want you to understand it. Both pieces requires further exploration on the Internet in order to get the grips with it.

I found a good interpretation here. It sounds right because it's what the book could've been, nice & clear. But who am I? I'm one of the few people that didn't enjoy Donnie.

According to the site "the medium" in the phrase is not actually the mass media but the extentions of a person. An example given there is a news report. It says the actual content of the news doesn't matter but it's the influences of the news as a whole that matters. But I would argue that if that's the case then isn't the content important?

The book is a quicker read than it looks mainly because it has lots of pictures. I can't help but feel that McLuhan is writing it out of fear. The fear of technology, fear of the young and the fear of change. I also find him contradicting himself. If he says new technologies are extentions of ourselves then aren't we just fulfilling our biological needs due to evolution? McLuhan explains how new technologies will change our actions of our lives but doesn't really talk about the ultimate consequences of those actions.

I also read about 2 pages of "The Gutenberg Galaxy" also by McLuhan mainly because of Irma Boom's monograph called "Gutenberg Galaxy II". So far I haven't understood a word of it but I'll try to keep trying.

Groups

2007-05-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

Groups comes in all types and sizes. It can be a family, a sports team, colleagues at work or in the case of level 5, a group of communication design students. Group work is encouraged on level 5. Many briefs given to the students are required to done in groups. So what are the benefits of working in a group? It is a generally believed that a collective of people will get more work done than a single person. Groups are also beneficial for generating ideas, sharing ideas and improving ideas. In theory being in a group is the busy way to share thoughts, knowledge and resources to come up with a better outcome.

However!!! moooahahahahhahaah

With such a massive proportion of our briefs to be done in groups, it is surprising how little students are being formally taught about the social knowledge that will unlock the potential of working in a group.

So I went and did a bit more research in a our handy dandy library and there are many books on it. Too many! But I found a good summary in one book! The following is from the book "Group Work - Skills and Strategies for Effective Interventions" by Sondra Brandler & Camille P. Roman (second edition).

Exhibition time! (almost)

2007-05-21T05:33:00.000-07:00

I have a very simple goal for the exhibition, to learn from other's work and to let others learn from my work. I'm hoping other groups' goals are very similar to this so I can learn lots from them. I must say I'm looking forward to the exhibition. Everyone's work (well almost everyone's) looks very interesting.

However! Moohahaha! You really didn't think I would write something nice, did you?

I feel there's an invincible force that's making groups wanting to create something ground breaking mostly in terms of the format of display. I'm not 100% sure if I'm right about this but I feel some of my fellow students are wanting to push the envelope in what they are showing at the exhibition. I certainly hope in doing so they are compromising the amount of information to be shown.

I will reveal a little secret about my group's exhibition piece. It will be a alternate version of the report. It will most likely be a poster-like object. Of course I'm not saying this is the best way to present everything but I'm really hoping if any group's exhibition that lacks a lot information from their group report, may I suggest having a copy of the report avaliable for viewing at the exhibition.

That's all.

The Business of Consultation 2: The Curse of Keira Knightly

2007-05-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

Hello!

After a busy period with a few deadlines I've finally gotten around to cleaning up the mess I made earlier. Although the discussion have moved beyond its starting point I just want to clear a few things up on what I wrote. (I'm also writing this for those 300 words.)

First of all, I think needless to say I'm surprised by the amount of attention and responses that came after my original email. If I knew the magnitude of the explosion then I surely would've worded it better. The title "The Business of Consultation" was decided in about 5 seconds and it's probably inspired more by trashy media works than the writing itself. It is nice to see that new titles have been created as a sign of progress. I used the word "teacher" rather than "lecturer" because I seem to have the habit of mistyping the word "lecturer".

Many people have asked me why I wrote the email in the beginning and I wish I can copy Mr Hawking and say because of "The Big Bang". There are probably many reasons. One is probably because a classmate asked why I consult so little even though I've made a decent financial investment.

I must admit I don't consult very often but that's doesn't mean I think it's useless. As I said in the first email I think consultation is the second most important thing after self-motivation. Personally, I will try and improve this part of my study.

Another reason why I wrote the email is because I wanted to make people think more. Hopefully I've achieved the better part of that. I did NOT write the email because I want to attack anyone or our education system. Hopefully not many people interpreted it that way.

I'll finish this off in response to Kees Dorst's 'Understanding Design', other than an interesting author's name, keys and doors, I love this question from the extract Tania scanned. "What can you do about a student that is just very uncertain?" I think Keys Doors' answer to it was generally a bit too nice. I'd like to hear other people's answers.

Survey

2007-05-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

The debate is! talking about whether the surveyor should have the power to control the order of the questions people answer in. I hope you can hear tom's voice.

Why I don't care about global warming.

2007-04-22T02:32:00.000-07:00

The following piece of writing probably has nothing (or almost nothing) to do with the media project. I wrote it mainly because I am suppose to write 300 words a week and I can't really think of anything else to write. The actual focus of me and my group mates' media project is about persuasive techniques against moral values. So if you happen to find any link between the following and that please tell me!

I'm also going to use a lot of I's in it, so it is very subjective and I'm NOT trying to persuade you in anyway I'm just telling you what I think.

Okay, so why don't I give a crap about global warming. Well, I suppose I do because I'm writing about it but I suppose why do I care so little about it? The short answer would be I believe in nature. I'll turn that short answer in a long one very soon.

Let me just state a few main reasons why people expect other people to care about global warming. People care about global warming because global warming is a danger to the survival of mankind. Global warming will raise sea levels and cause natural disasters that will kill many people. Even if you are not killed your quality of life will almost certain to deteriorate. And even if this does effect you because you are too old it will certainly your kids, which you surely love very much!

Hmmm... I think that was actually quite convincing for people to do something about global warming. But let me tell you why I still don't care. People are worried about global warming mainly due to selfish reasons. Most of us probably are not worried that global warming will also kill many other species.

But that does not mean global warming will kill every specie on the planet and there will be nothing left on earth after it.

I believe new species will emerge and be fully integrated into and be nourished by a new natural system. I believe nature has a leeway for a certain specie (human) due to evolution to damage (unbalance) the natural system. Humans have evolved to the way we are today because nature has allowed us to. Global warming is part of the nature way to re-balance the system.

So now I am faced with a decision of whether to care about the survival of mankind and other species that will suffer due global warming or the future species that will benefit from global warming.

(Sadly?) I choose to care about the future species just because I can, because the evolution of mankind by nature has allowed me to choose this way.

2007-04-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

rough outline

Read this and you probably don't have to read the book

2007-03-20T03:09:00.000-07:00

Chapter - Introduction

The first few pages of this introduction basically says whatever you are doing now you are harming yourself because of the chemicals you are using and also that this book uses synthetic paper which is good! Then the book gives a background of the authors, Bill, an architect and Michael, a chemist.

Chapter one - A Question of Design

This chapter begins by using the Titanic as an example to show why the industrial revolution is shit. And it gives a history of industrial revolution, which basically says what we have now is because henry ford invented how to do things efficiently, but he forgot about the rest, for example, resources, waste, pollution etc. It also says that back then, people thought that "nature as a dangerous, brutish force to be civilised and subdued" and also resources were limitless.

Then they gave examples of cradle to grave stuff. And then also how they thought why the Bauhaus and the international style were bad because they made everything the same all around the world without considering the surroundings.

And they talked about humans like to use brute force.

And then in a section called "activity equals prosperity" they said that a temporary economic benefit does not mean long term environmental benefits.

Then they gave examples of products that are bad and recycling is just downcycling.

Chapter Two - Why Being 'Less Bad' Is No Good

Basically this chapter continues to say that recycling is pretty much downcyling. It talks about eco-efficiency which is not good, because basically they are say using if you damage the environment at a slower rate you are still damaging the environment.

Chapter Three - eco-effectiveness

The chapter begins with three examples of book a crap book, an eco-efficient book and an eco-effective. Eco-effective basically means that it does not do damage to the environment what so ever and the materials used can be infinitely recycled.

Then it talks about the 'cherry tree' which basically says how nature is so good at using all the natural resources and wasting none, how everything works together to keep the cycle going and we should copy nature.

Then it gives an example of eco-effective building.

Then it says stop wasting money on conquering other planets, use that money for the environment!

Then it uses a donkey joke to say that we must be smart at using resources when doing business.

Chapter four - Waste Equals Food

Chapter four begins by continuing to say that nature is cradle to cradle and some time in history some parts in the world some group of human were cradle to cradle too but now everyone is cradle to grave.

Then it gives an example of monstrous waste, particularly shoes!

Then it tells us we should think how we put away our sewage!

Then it says people should believe in reincarnation.

Again it goes we must do cradle to cradle.

Then they gave an example of this fabric manufacturing process. The made a fabric that was bad chemical free. But more interestingly when regulators came to check the effluent, the water coming out of the factory, they thought their instruments were broken because the water was just as clean as the water coming in.

Then it keeps on saying that industrial mass should be "specifically designed to retain its high quality for multiple uses."

"Automobile manufacturers would want people to turn in their old cars in order to regain valuable industrial nutrients."

Then it says that we should design shoes so that it rubs nutrients on the ground.

Chapter Five - Respect Diversity

It begins by saying we are making everything the same and are not adapting to different environments.

Then it says we have to be fitting. Us humans! Fitting like a piece of the puzzle and the puzzle is nature.

Then it says we should use local material. Don't import or export, that's like invasion. Like the toads that was introduced in Australia.

Then it got boring so i didnt read anymore

Some thoughts on the brief

2007-03-06T02:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's almost a week since I got the brief, as the brief says I better put in something on my blog. Some good 300 words worth of it. So here we go.

Let me just write what I do understand from the brief.
What I have to do is examine the history and find out why the issue of enviromental constraints on human growth has not been a major issue on the lips of the public until recently. Along the way I would have to do some related readings. Comment on those readings. Write reflections. In the end present what I have learnt in an appropriate form.

Now, I just want to question some parts of the brief.
1. I don't understand the problem. The words under the heading 'the problem' just seems to be a very brief history of our enviromental studies.
2. The sentences following the heading 'what this brief is' seems to be very vague.
"An opportunity to make a real difference in one small corner of the world." Now, this sounds like we have to change our daily habbits and save a certain amount of energy we use everyday. This also seems to be the main topic of the text 'Cradle to Cradle'. How is this related to the brief?
3. Under the heading 'working in groups', I don't understand why we have to choose a topic. Doesn't everyone have the same topic?

This is a really like an email to Tania, but it's around 300 words, you know?

EDIT. I already asked Tania about point 3 and I understand it now! Thank You!

2007-02-27T16:53:00.001-08:00

I got the brief today!