I was absent for this class, but from what I've heard this class was essentially a review and a chance to check what needs to be done
in the next couple of weeks.
I have been spending many many hours on the computer preparing two childrens books. Queenie and my book displays are fairly simple and only really require a plinth, book stand and a screen.
Reading Quiz - John Maeda, Laws of Simplicity: Law 10 – The
One
1.
What does Maeda call the 3 keys?
Away - more appears less by
simply moving it far far away
Open - openness simplifies
complexity.
Power - use less, gain
more.
2.
Describe how you have used these in your work towards the exhibition? Give at
least one example of each key.
Away
Although our exhibition
piece is a book, we will also have it displayed on computer screen. Rather than
flipping through the pages of the book, people can stand back and watch it on
the screen, turning pages automatically.
Openness
Both Queenie and I have
been open to suggestions from each other as well as our teachers and other
students. We have taken on board a lot of suggestions and I think we have
produced a book that children would love. Not sure if this relates to Meada definition of Opennes though?
Power
The power went off the
other night while I was on the computer, reading my captain Ron story to
Captain Ron on the home phone (portable), when suddenly the power went
off.Thank goodness for battery back up
my lap top, and mobile phones (although I was still reading for a minute or so
before my husband rang be back on the mobile)!
3. Describe
an incident in the production of the exhibition where technology has been an
enabler.... and another where it has been a disabler!
Enabler – using Illustrator and Indesign we have
been able to produce some great bright colourful pictures, that hopefully
children will enjoy.
Disabler – Illustrator kept crashing on me when
doing the Brownie book – I lost hour of work a few times! It seems to be
anything that has a lot of hair or fur or lots of paths in the design.
4. At this
stage in the exhibition process you are all working on some element or process
for the big event. List 3 things (in your current project) that you could take
away to simplify and one thing you could add for meaning.
Nothing really, our display is pretty simple and
meaningful. I guess we could do away with the screen display and just have the
book – bit boring though.
This website publish articles that are informative, thought provoking, articles that take an in-depth look at design. I might look at this a bit more when I get time.
Discuss
these questions in relation to a group creating a design in collaboration
01 – What
are the 3 best things about your efforts for this year’s exhibition?
Learning more skills in Illustrator.
Getting faster with each page.
Collaborating with other students.
Here is a video about Effective Teamwork and collaboration. Its a little bit long but has some great little drawings to go along with the tutorial.
02 – Did
you manage time well?
I seem to have spent every spare moment illustrating the
brownie book, the captain Ron book and blogging. I’m running out of time for my other assignments
though.
03 – Did
you manage materials well i.e. test prototypes?
Yes. I printed the book out on normal paper as a
prototype and had a look at the paper stock at the printers before I had it
printed
04 – Have
you researched installation methods?
I’ve had a look at some plinth and book stands on the
internet, and have some ideas, I like a pure white background rather that a
brick wall.I like a book stand that
attaches to the wall – (can the exhibitionist do this) – if not possible just a
plain white plinth with a table top stand (white or clear Perspex). Had a look
at some plinths in this building – need a paint job.How do we do the sign/plaque thingy.
I had a look at some display images on the internet.
05 – Have
you made a shortlist of the essentials for the last WEEK?
No.
06 – Have
you made a shortlist of the essentials for the last DAY?
No. haven’t even finished my books yet.
Using Failure
In regard
to creative collaboration & the exhibition: Discuss these questions - write
a paragraph on each and use examples
1.List and
describe 2 areas of failure in your preparation for the exhibition
Not taking time of work to work on projects! – TIME. Its
crazy working full time and studying part time. I wish I had taken a year off
work to do this certificate, rather than trying to do it part time over several
years. Anyway – nearly there!
2.Describe
how you could realistically improve on this next time you exhibit
Make
sure I am not working on too many projects at one time.
Using the student exhibition as an example,
describe an aspect of your work or something you have worked on, where you have found a
symbiotic relationship that is both complexity and simplicity
Complexity and
simplicity is always around.
I recently was
drawing a page in a story book about a teddy visiting the butterfly farm. I
wanted to draw (in illustrator) the butterflies enclosed in a cage, but after
hours of attempts realized it wasn’t working. Things got too complex and
decided to take the simple approach and not have a cage at all. The time factor
also came into account here.
Provide a conceptual example of a situation
that has arisen during this project where you have had a return on failure?
Originally we were going to do a teddy bear story and the adventures he
had on a trip to the shop. We realized that there are already so many teddy
books around, so we changed the story to have more of a Darwin flavor – the fun
teddies (or children really) can have in Darwin on school holidays.
Provide a short explanation and example of
how FAILURE can be turned around using the law LEARN. Describe how this relates
to the TIME law.
Learn from your mistakes – make sure you save a copy of any illustrator
images before you flatten them.
If Illustrator keeps crashing make sure you save your file regularly and in two different places!
Make sure you print
your finished product out with plenty of time to spare to allow for any
problems that might occur with the artwork. Don’t finalise the story (text) too
late, give yourself plenty of time and get it proof read early, a change in
story can affect the image layout and vice versa.
Lets hope that this business learn from this experience - Poor font choice/kerning!
This is a really bad layout. The placement of the womans head and the green label really change the Magazine name drastically. Hopefully the designers learnt from this. OR - was this a ploy to get attention and thus publicity?
This video shows some tips when designing book covers. It says to make the Authors name quite prominent (tip 1), in my recent book cover designs - although I did have the author name in the bottom right hand corners, I believe the colours, fonts and layout that I used made it fairly prominent. It also says no clutter (tip 2) - I believe I got this right on the Brownie book, nice and simple, not too many images, but it clearly shows what the book is about, not sure if I got it right with My Captain Ron book as I have every animal on the book covers - but I think it is well spaced out and looks good. The last tip (tip 3) says don't use a standard font - I think I got this right I tried to choose a font that had the right look and feel to the story.
How are you using the laws in relation to
your contribution to The Ten Squared exhibition? Provide a short explanation
and example for TWO of the laws so far. Use your work towards and your
examples..
Originally I was just using the pen tool in
illustrator to create images, however Paul showed me this great tutorial using
the brush tool. This method saved me time and I learnt a new method – um so I
guess that’s the TIME and LEARN laws covered.
No
not normally, although I have recently done up a status table for our Brownine
story of what has been done and changes I’d like to make to some images.
When is the best time to reflect?
At
night or end of the working day with a nice glass of wine.
Do you compare your work to work by
your heroes?
Sort
of.
How do you benefit by comparison?
You
can learn other techniques from others that you could incorporate into your own
work.
A
benchmark – a standard
What can be a disadvantage of
comparison?
Comparisons
are odious. You might presume they are superior and be inhibited – you need to
believe in your own abilities.
Moving On /
Encouraging solutions
Are you brave enough to move on and
adopt new and unexpected ideas?
Yes.
I am a big believer that feedback from others enables idea development.
Describe how you have encouraged
others with a solution to their design problems.
Reading Quiz - John Maeda, Laws of Simplicity: Law 8 – Trust
Provide an example of a situation
where you have to have trust – in the same vein as the author in his swimming
lesson example. What made you trust in this situation and how did you feel?
The
trust we place in the delivery and course content of this unit to enable
students to collaborate and deliver exhibition pieces at the end of the semester.
Where in our exhibition do we need to
instill trust? Give examples. How are we going to achieve this?
Trust
the events management company will meet requirements.
Do
the best you can do and put in the effort.
What strategies are used to instill
trust? Examples? Where do we need to employ this in this year’s exhibition? How
are we going to do this?
Will
need to let events company know of our exhibition requirements – equipment
needed, space etc.
Promotion
of the event is instilling trust to people so they know what to expect at the
exhibition.
If you could “undo” any aspect of the
preparation for the exhibition to-date, what would you “undo”? With this in
mind, what wouldyou change now in your
preparation strategy to overcome having to “undo” anything?
Perhaps
would of changed to a less time consuming project. Would of liked to have
started work on project earlier. I should of tried to take more time off work.
How are you using the laws in relation
to your contribution to the student exhibition? Provide a short explanation and
example for each of the laws so far.
Reduce
– The simplest way to achieve simplicity I through thoughtful reduction.
Organise
– Organisation make a system of many appear fewer
Time
– Savings in time feel like simplicity
Learn
– Knowledge makes everything simpler
Differences
– Simplicity and complexity need each other.
Context
– What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
Emotion
– More emotions are better than less.
Trust
– In simplicity we trust.
Failure
– Some things can never be made simple.
he
One – Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.
Have you had to abandon any exhibition
design concepts so far?
Yes
changed story to have a Darwin flavor
If so, was it hard?
No.
I like getting feedback from others to enable to do better designs.
Do you think it is easy to miss a
better idea if it is not the first one?
Yes.
Sometimes a better idea comes along when you are to far into the project and
don’t have enough time to start again.
Do you have any techniques for
creating unpredictable ideas?
I
like getting comments from several people – it helps to come up with ideas for
a better design.
Is logic the best way to attack a
design problem?
Yes
– need to convey the right message.
What other problem solving methods
could work?
Emotions
created. Blur concept. Research, talk to people.
Do you ever doubt your design
decisions?
Yes.
Sometimes clients come up with ridiculous ideas for a design but I somehow have
to incorporate them with my ideas to come up with a suitable design.
Do you ever consciously put on “another
hat” to get inspiration?
Probably
not consciously, but you need to consider all the risks, constraints, resources
and parameters when designing.
Describe somebody opposite to you in
relation to their design approach?
I
don’t really know too much how others approach their designs but probably Paul,
he comes up with such great ideas and is so knowledgeable, it is great to pick
his brains.
Could you imagine designing like them?
One
day.Queenie has come up with some great
drawings also, and I love some of Katelyn designs also.
Blog
Exercise – Encouraging Solutions
Describe how you have contributed to
design solutions for other group members
I Suggested
Darwin holiday events that children may enjoy – from this
we both contributed to the story and illustrations.
Describe how you have challenged
designs by other students in your group
I
want to change our jumping crocs leg – it just looks wrong, I need to talk to
Queenie about it.
Are you flexible when others suggest
design improvements / changes?
Very
flexible – unless it is a really stupid idea.
This Youtube clip cracked me up. When starting a job for a client, you need to get a clear picture of what the client wants. Sometimes clients can be a bit vague and not really know what they want - your brief might be just be creative and come up with a funky design and not really provide alot of useful information.
Choose a design that group input has
changed radically. Post before & after images.
When
I did the picture at the butterfly farm, the class suggested I make it more
real, like the butterflies are in a cage/shade house. I’ve tried this but haven’t
got it right – need to work on it more – don’t really know how to do it, will
work on it more when I get time or get some ideas from others on how to do it.
Reading Quiz - John Maeda, Laws of Simplicity: Law 7 – Emotion
When Maeda uses the “Feel, and feel
for” principle, he is drawing on peoples connection to a very personal
experience: feelings. List 3 ways that would make use of this principle to
visitors of your exhibition.
·Layout
of the exhibition – the way objects are displayed – not to cluttered.
What is animism? Why do you think the “Tamagocchi”
craze of the ‘90s became such a craze? How can you apply this to your
exhibition?
·Belief
everything inanimate has spirit.
·Animism
– the feeling that an inanimate object is alive ie Dolls and Teddy bears.
·Tamagochi
appealed to people to care for an object that yearned for human attention.
·Appeals
to need to nurture emotion.
·Companionship
– human connection – relationships.
·Emotional
investment in life.
Our
childrens book may appeal to parents to show how much fun can be had in Darwin
on school holidays.
Name 2 products that you have
purchased that gave you that feeling of “Aichaku”. What feelings did those
products evoke? Was it the feeling that sold the product to you?
Sense
of attachment one can feel for an artifact.
I
once bought a Faux fur blanket, same colouring as my dog and also soft and
fluffy. I Love my dog, I love my blanky! – bit weird though!
How do the references to emotion
relate to the simplicity/complexity relationship discussed in Law 5 –
Differences
A
design needs a balance of simplicity and complexity to provoke a favourable
emotional response.
The
simple design of the iphones which can be accessorized by bright and colourful covers.
Discuss these questions in relation to a group creating a design in collaboration
Are you capable of being vain about your art & design?
More proud than vain. Generally if I like something that I’ve done, I will say I think its good but won’t prattle on and be annoying about it.
Do you have a healthy ego?
I think so, sometimes I can lack a bit of confidence.
What defines an unhealthy ego?
Negative or positive all the time.
When pride gives way to vanity.
When others want to change your ideas, do you get offended?
Not really, only if that person has no idea or knowledge on the subject.
I like getting other people’s ideas.Sometimes you need a fresh set of eyes to look at your designs. Its good to see how people react to your designs, to see if you have succeeded in conveying the right message.
Sometimes a customer might think something else would look better, even if you do not agree, you’ve got to give them what they want.
When you are asked for opinions on other’s work, do you compare it to your own?
Mostly not. It is what it is.If I like it, I might ask them how they did it and try and incorporate some of their methods into my own.
When you are asked for opinions on your work, do you compare it to others?
Yes, If I was influence by other people work.
If somebody plagiarised your work, would you be proud?
I’d be angry that they stole it or didn’t offer me any money.
What is the difference between pride in your work, and vanity about your work?
Pride – justified feeling. Vanity blowing ability out of proportion
Do you expect others to listen when you speak?
Yes, its polite.
When somebody else speaks are you thinking about what you are going to say next?
Sometimes, but you wait until and appropriate time to say it and not just butt in.
Do you form opinions about others quickly?
Yes.
What percentage of your judgements about others talents are right?
80%
Idea Evolution
Do you have a strong belief in your personal ideas?
Yes, especially if I have a lot of knowledge or experience behind me, which contribute to the idea.
How do you evaluate your personal ideas over a period of time?
You may have what you think is a great idea overall, but sometimes after a bit of research and fact gathering, the idea may not be so good or achievable.
How flexible are you in changing your mind about the value of your ideas?
You may have an idea, but someone else could provide information or good advice which could change your idea altogether.
How flexible are you in changing your mind about the value of others’ ideas?
I may think someone idea doesn’t work, but I’m open to hearing their ideas on why they think it works.
Does hanging on to your old ideas block new ones?
Yes, you need to move on and try other things to be more unique, or vary your designs.
Are you slow or fast in moving on when an idea has burnt out?
A bit slow, sometimes your just don’t have enough time to keep coming up with new ideas and re-use the same idea.Sometimes you could mix elements of different ideas and come up with a new idea.
Meada states ‘Science holds that entropy in the universe is always increasing.’ Meada uses the example of a child finding and empty page in an illustrated book and filling in the emptiness.
The empty space invites chaos, similar to a countertop at home collecting change, mail, keys, and so forth. The more space filled the more chaotic and disorganized.
If you are attuned to everything around you, does it help you deal with what is in front of you and why or why not?
Sometimes, if you are attuned on all that is around you, you may lose focus of what is in front of you.Sometimes you need to stop focusing on what is in front of you and look at the big picture and pay attention to other issues.
How is this different from FOCUS?
Focus is concentrating on one particular aspect – you might miss other important aspects.
You need to pay attention to other design areas to make the whole end product successful
Being “comfortably lost” is a balance between what 2 feelings?
You need a balance of simplicity (being found) and complexity (being lost).
Describe a recent scenario when you found yourself to be “comfortably lost”. Did you enjoy the sensation?
Recently whilst using Illustrator, with which I am fairly comfortable in using some tools (mainly the pen), I have just been teaching myself how to use the brush tool a bit more. Previously I tended to stay away from this tool as I didn’t know how to use it, but after learning about it (tutorial), quite enjoyed using it and with more practice will be able to use it more effectively with my designs.
If you couldn’t hold back the urge to write on the “don’t write on this page” page – what would you write?
‘Why not.’ Or perhaps summary notes to simplify this chapter!
Lateral Thinking Discussion
Edward de Bono’s “6 Thinking Hats”
White – Data, Red – Intuition, Black – Critical, risk assessment, Yellow – positive – strengths, Green – creative, Blue- Practical.
Which HAT best represents your group?
I think we effectively used elements of each group
Why?- see the following 6 labeled (6 hats) paragraphs on our groups progress.
Describe an Exhibition Group meeting where you may adopt the BLACK hat
In our group project, our initial story was of a teddy bear and his adventures when going to the shop. One of the weaknesses of this project was that teddy bears stories have been done so often, so we decided to give the story a Darwin flavor and showing the fun Teddy can have in Darwin on his holiday.
In your blog write 6 labeled paragraphs on your group’s progress to date, using each of the 6 hats as a perspective.
White Hat:(Information available and needed, facts, data) We had to think of a design piece to produce and exhibit at the end of the semester. We looked at what skills we both had that we could use to produce an exhibition piece. We both are doing the hand illustration class and I have a bit of experience in publication layout (indesign).As Queenie is better at hand drawing than me, we decided that she would do most of the hand illustrations, although I would have a go at drawing some of the images also.I will then scan the images into Illustrator and manipulate to improve colour and layout into a children’s story book.
Red Hat: (Intuition, hunches, feelings, emotions) We have both contributed ideas for the story and discussed how best we can work together to achieve the result.
Black Hat: (caution, difficulties, risks, weaknesses) Our initial story was of a teddy bear and his adventures when going to the shop. One of the weaknesses of this project was that teddy bears stories have been done so often, so we decided to give the story a Darwin flavor and showing the fun Teddy can have in Darwin on his holiday.
Yellow Hat: (benefits, value, positive aspects) Having changed the story line made the project much more valuable in that the story shows some of the things for children and families to do in Darwin on holidays. It can be of interest to local families with young children on school holidays or visiting families with young children.
Green Hat: (create ideas, alternatives, possibilities) We have now drafted a story, which now enables us to create the illustrations for the book.
Blue Hat: (managing the thinking, focus, summary) We decided that it will be a real struggle to meet the deadline with the product so we decided that rather than illustrating each page by hand in great detail, we would just illustrate the major characters and components using outline and then scanning and enhancing on the computer. Hopefully this will be the quickest way.
