Monday 29 October 2007
Thursday 25 October 2007
Thoughts from reading "the socio - cultural horizon" from the book vision of the future by Philips
My understanding of the text: The text seems to imply that fifteen years ago people were trying to cope and keep up with a rapidly changing society. Demands of modern life and an ever-accelerating rate of living meant people were experiencing time and space in an entirely new format. Technology enabled people to manage multiple tasks simultaneously and things such as work, play, education and entertainment no longer seemed strictly separated. This created new patterns and behaviours amongst individuals and in society. Moments of rest, absorption and reflection between activities were slowly neglected. As people gradually started to restructure according to new criteria, the danger of people losing sight of themselves and their roots began to emerge. The outcome of this vulnerability was a desire to try and restore the balance between activity and rest, between being swept along and being anchored. People were starting to seek meaning by looking at their own personal lives and bridge the gap between the past and the future. Such tendencies, of people wanting to clearly define their space, could be witnessed on a number of different levels. Break-up of former communist states, religious fundamentalism and people generally withdrawing into their own homes and social groups rather than participating in community activities and projects. A trend often referred to as 'cocooning'. An act of insulating or hiding oneself from the normal social environment, which may be perceived as distracting, unfriendly, dangerous or otherwise unwelcome, at least for the present.
How is this relevant today and in the future:
By looking at what people and society in the early nineties were like, considerations on how things may have changed since can hopefully help predict how things may develop in the future.
I think the principle of 'cocooning' is interesting, as this trend has continued since the nineties but also changed slightly. When the term was first used , technology was making people stay at home and become isolated, for example by watching TV rather than going to the cinema. Today although people may physically be as isolated as before, technology especially due to the Internet, has allowed them to socialise through cyberspace. Online gaming, forums, blogs, skype, msn, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace etc. are all places were people can share amongst each other, form small communities and work together. In a way, we have become more sociable, more accustomed to cyberspace and less alienated and frightened of new technologies. It seems like nothing in terms of new technology would surprise us any more, anything is possible, and we are not as sceptical as users as we used to be. Services providing easy solutions and ways for saving us time has lead us to acceptance. Most people have no issues with Internet banking, online shopping or giving out personal identification for membership purposes any more. Whether this is a good or bad thing, is saving us time or driving us into new avenues of time consumption is all a matter of debate. One thing is certain, it is the way things are going. One could argue that humans have been facing such challenges for a long time, when the bank was first introduced people would have been hugely sceptical about putting their money into someone else hand.
So how will these new ideas progress in the future? I think that now we have become used to the new pace of living, found trust and acceptance in technologies used in everyday situations and realised the potentials of improving services, sharing information and socialising in cyberspace, we will seek ways for making these more accessible and mobile. As with most things in history, different needs and desires tend to go round in circles. Now that we have been through a period of 'cocooning' in front of our screens, it would only seem natural that we would want to be more active, manoeuvrable, deeper involved, wanting to make a difference, and have options to freely use technology when wanted and needed. I suppose there are signs of this happening already in mobile technology. Blackberries are the newest in this direction, with access to emails and the Internet through your mobile. So to summarise what I believe to be the coming trends regarding future technology:
A continuing want for quicker easier accessibility in services.
Products made of, and providing, greener solutions.
A continuous desire for mobility.
Many devices brought together into a single device (less things to produce, keep in order and carry around).
More intense, realistic, immersed virtual experiences.
A continuing need for user centred products you can customise, personalise and get feedback from.
Further want for socialising in very selective communities.
Monday 15 October 2007
Guest Speakers
06/12/07
http://www.ellierees.co.uk/
Kerb
22/11/07
Alistair McDonald introduced us to Kerb an independent digital marketing agency specialising in online viral flash games. He works as a programmer amongst a team of fifteen others who have different roles ranging from animator, project manager, producer, business developer, technical director, office director and so on. Kerb has been going for eleven years and used Flash all this time. They specialise in games for the young audience. We were shown stills giving a flavour of the style of characters and games they do, these reminded me of the characters from gorillaz video, and manga animations. Kerb specialise in viral marketing meaning they purposely make games for websites that are easy to steel with the intention that they will spread their work much quicker and easier and therefore promote them automatically. This technique works brilliantly and means that often they get contacted for work rather than having to look for work. There are only two things you have to remember when doing viral advertising, to make sure you make money and that people know who did the work and can get back to you. Kerb ensures that they can check up on and measure how many play their games and nick them, the statistics are impressive. The other interesting thing about this is how long these games stay alive, as Alistair put it. "you don't expect a website to last for many years, but these games do". He also told us that these casual games are mostly played y woman in their mid twenties-thirties, this is not really what you would expect, but this is a true fact. Another fact is that around $ 2.5 billion float around the casual games market.
http://kerb.co.uk/
Semiconductor
01/11/07
Unfortunately I missed this talk but have found some information on their work through their website.
www.semiconductorfilms.com/
Soheila Sokhanvari
25/10/07
Soheila is an artist originally from Iran but currently living and working in the UK. She studied science, but later did a masters in Art. Her work has been influenced by her mixed eastern and western upbringing. Through her studies, she specialised in the subject of how we relate to others with an emphasis on eastern and western views of each other. She told us that at Chelsea Art College they were always challenged to do work that they wouldn't usually do and think about new ways of presenting their work. In her case she was encouraged to think about art through drama and performance. She talked us through her final piece for her MA which was an installation, in the form of a game, that played with the audience reactions to powerful war images. The idea was to present images, that we normally see in the media but have become desensitised to, in a new way that somehow would confront us differently. The installation consisted of a small dark room with a scent of gunpowder and florescent light glowing from the wall and floor. The audience would enter the space in pairs of two and be greeted by a games master explaining the rules. Soheila was also in the room wearing a full costume also painted with florescent light. The game involved the participants shooting, if they wished to, on to the war images which were projected one by one on the wall. If they did shoot Soheila, who was their attacker, would start shooting on to their chest plates to try and drop their health and her health would equally drop according to how many images the players hit. The game would go on until either she or the participants ran out of health. The audience reactions were mixed, a lot of people didn't want to shoot on to these images but others were keen to win the game and didn't seem to care too much about the content. Weather you chose to shoot or not you were confronted with some horrific images in an environment you wouldn't normally experience.
The second project Soheila talked about involved a miniature gallery, inside an old sewing box, placed on the London tube. Travellers on the tube could look at it and use the attached headset to listen to happy music at the same time. The idea was to break the usual awkward atmosphere you get on the London underground. This worked a bit like a social experiment, testing peoples curiosity and reservations towards each other. Soheila was sitting a little distance away from the gallery pretending she didn't know what it was. A friend of hers was also on the tube, and every time a stranger had gone up to look at the gallery the friend would offer them a sweet. After a while everyone started chatting to each other and slowly it transformed into a little mini party on the tube.
Some notes from this session:
Every element is important in your artwork
As an artist you really have to think bout how you can present your work best. How can you get the strongest reaction from your audience.
The artist becomes the audience, the audience become the artist.
Simon Morse
18/10/07
Simon introduced us to his art works by explaining his long grown interest in systems of viewing the world. His artwork is very much influenced by this way of thinking and as h
http://simonmorse.co.uk/
Dan Mellor
15/10/07
Dan introduced us to his work by showing us his very impressive show reel. He works as a freelancer in 3D, After Effects, motion graphics and animation. He originally studied sculpture, then worked on props and finally became a freelance web designer. Before becoming a freelancer he worked for a TV company where he got involved in big projects including a viral campaign in 2000 which was quite a new thing at the time. Now as a freelancer he get a lot of his work through pitching. He showed us some of the work he had done for a pitch and gave us some advice on how to go about it. It is a risky but equally exciting way of finding work and it sounds like you learn a lot from it. It is a fine balance determining how much work you do for a pitch in case you don't get the job. Dan gave us a realistic insight into the industry by letting us know that it isn't always as fantastic and romantic working in this field, it is hard work and there is a lot of competition in this industry. You also have to be careful with back pain and RSI if you are working long hours in front of the screen. Another aspect that was mention about this industry, is that it is important not to under value the prices for paid jobs. If graduates don't charge enough for the work they are doing the are bringing the standard of the industry down in price which is harmful to professionals. Finally we were shown some work done for the arts council in Brighton this involved big projections on to houses.
http://bliink.tv/
studio@bliink.tv
Some notes from this session:
- Petes plugins - free to download (kaleidoscope)
- WiredSussex - really good for freelance promotion
- Brighton and Hove arts council - artists news letter - they have money left over to donate to artist who will come up with ideas for projects that involves getting the community together.
Angie Taylor
11/10/07
Angie mainly works as a 2D and 3D animator in After Effects. She originally did a BA (Hons) in Sculpture in 1986. Since then she has moved around working in many different fields such as prop making, Dj'ing, music & technology, demo work for Adobe Apple and more recently as a freelance AE animator. She has also written books on After Effects.
We were given some tutorials on multipass compositting and expressions in After Effects. Angie also advised us o find an area of Multimedia that we are good at and show this as our specialist area in our portfolios.
http://www.creativeaftereffects.com/
Some notes from this session:
- LUA - creativecommons.org - to distribute your work
- bliptv/angietaylor - for tutorials
- creativeaftereffects.com - for tutorials
- Book - How to cheat in Photoshop
- JJ Gifford - Good for expressions
- aenhancers.com
Rona Innes
11/10/07
Rona creates storyboarding, illustrations and 2D animations. She showed us a selection of her storyboards and other pieces of work. The work range from content for e-learning, viral campaigns for organisations such as Greenpeace and one-off commissions for museums and shop windows.
In storyboarding you usually work as part of a large team alongside programmers, animators etc. Ronna explained in further detail two interactive pieces she was commissioned to do for the Churchill Museum Cabinet War Rooms in London. She did a ballot box with projected comments sliding into a slot and a video installation with original footage from 1946. This was a huge project, with lots of artists responsible for making different pieces for the museum.
She showed us photos of some of the installations, and explained the whole process of being involved. We also talked about how to go about setting up as a sole trader freelancer.Moshimachine.com
Some notes from this session:
- chimwag - good agency for jobs
- koniti - creative catapult. A new scheme with workshops for graduates on how to "pitch". New coarse starting in December.
- UHC - a company that only works for ethically sound companies.
Mike Blow
08/10/07
Mike works as a freelance 'creative technologist' with an interest in art and science. He showed us some of his projects from both the past and more recent years. Most of his work seems to be closely related with ideas and observations found in nature and biology. In my opinion these projects and ideas seem quite unique simple and appear to be more concerned with the process of discovering and making, rather than perhaps the end results. He also presented us, in more detail, with one of the latest projects named 'Machines for Singing'. This project was a physical installation where one could hear and experience the sounds from within a building in the same way as the building would hear it itself. This involved acoustic sensors placed around a building to pick up various sounds that we wouldn't normally pay attention to, including the ones out of our hearing range. The result was a rather gloomy sounding piece. One thing I found interesting about this installation, was the unexpected reactions of the audience. Mike said that they had deliberately made the space as empty and simple as possible to avoid any distractions for the visitors allowing them to just absorb the sound and atmosphere. The room only had a small circle of seats, with a sub woofer in the center,
placed in the middle of the room. The idea was that people could sit with their back to the sub woofer and look outward and experience the sounds coming from around the room, however mike told us that a lot people decided to face inwards and place their hand on the subwoofer to feel the vibration. This was an unexpected reaction, and shows how people in general likes to have some way of interacting with a piece more physically. www.evolutionaryart.co.uk
Some notes from this session:
- Karl Sims, William Latham & Stephen Todd
- Arduino & Phidgets
- An issue with interactive work is that often too much is distracting from the actual point / essence of a piece
Sam Butler
04/10/07
Sam Butler works as a visual designer for a web company in London. He introduced us to the work environment and the different roles involved in web design. A thorough breakdown into the process of making a website was presented, from meetings with clients to working in a team with different responsibilities. An IA (Information Architect) is responsible for the feel of the site not the look. He/She will produce a flowchart to organise the pages and use wireframes as a layout template to organise the positioning of every element within the website. Wireframes consist of boxes and the size and positioning of each box will often determine the importance of this information. A Visual Designer is responsible for the look of the website. He/She will have a meeting with the client to form some ideas about the style they want. Following this, the Visual Designer will produce some mood boards so the client can choose different things within these that they like. From this information three designs are produced, and the client agrees and signs for one design to go ahead. The Visual Designer then makes all the pages and passes them on to the rest of the team. A design handover guide with instructions is also produced and given to the client. A site may also need a CMS Content Management System to allow client to update information regularly.
We also talked about Web 2.0 styling, which is a guide to web design where the focus is on the user experience rather than the designer showing off. Usually the philosophy of this is lees is more. We looked at examples where web 2.0 was applied and where it wasn't.
Some notes from this session:
- Jesse James Garret - The elements of user experience
- Stock Photography - isostockphoto.com or stockexchange for free images
- To make stock images more interesting crop them.
- webdesignfromscratch.com - useful site with info about web 2.0 styling
- N.M.A - New Media Age Magazine + Website - good for jobs, look for top 100
- Jacob Nielsen - Graphics are evil
Daniel Pryde - Jarman
01/10/07
Dan introduced us to his gallery Grey Area, a small independently run art gallery tucked away in a dark cellar near Brighton Station. He put forward some of his own thoughts about art and culture in general and presented us with some of the work that has been displayed in his gallery previously. This led to a discussion in class where subjects such as high & low culture, online galleries, street art and conceptual art was discussed. Some interesting points were raised, is the Internet a good or bad way of displaying art? In a real gallery an artist can control precisely how his work is displayed whereas on an online gallery the control is taken away from the artist because screen sizes, colours and lighting will change from different computer monitors. The general belief in class was that some art was more suitable for an online environment than others. The Marchel Duchamp, fountain 1972 was talked about, some thought it was reasonable to call this art, others didn't except this as being true art.
One thing I noted down from this session is the term pooterism, which from what I understand means something self-indulgent, dull and mundane. I am planning to look up more about this term, as it seems to tie in with some of the ideas I have for my dissertation.
http://www.thegrey-area.blogspot.com
Some notes from this session:
- Robert Smithson, Cultural Confinement.
- Kasimi Malevich 'Non - objective art & suprematism 1919
Friday 12 October 2007
The possibilities of Mobile Phones
The future of mobile
Mobile phone technology is advancing rapidly, but what can people expect to be using in 2015? What will their mobile be able to do and what will it look like? Nokia has collaborated with Industrial Design students from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London to come up with some ideas.
Nicola Reed
It aims to get people to be more green. It collects information on how much electricity and gas you use, how you get about, the type of products you buy and how you dispose of waste. It works on a reward system and you can earn free calls and texts by being environmentally friendly, like walking to work instead of driving.
Ik-Soo Shin
The aim was a user friendly product that gave an emotional relationship, like a friend. A new generation of mobiles with Artificial Intelligence will be able to express a user's feelings, such as anger. The phone will also automatically recognise the voice of the user, allowing communciation between them and their mobile.
Monday 8 October 2007
Project: Design Futures Sep. - Nov. 2007
So... just over one week into the current project, Design Futures. We've been asked to come up with a concept that addresses the future and the use of new technology. This could be in the form of a product, tool or service and should have a defined rationale behind it. Initially this sounds pretty straight forward but in actual fact it's quite hard and requires a lot of broad research. It seems that one has to consider a lot of facts about where we are currently in our society, to come up with a concept for the future, that is both realistic and potentially successful.
I have started the project by looking at areas in society where technology is most likely to change and improve things in the future, such as in entertainment, health, education etc. One thing I realised when brain storming today's culture in relation to technology is that most things overlap somehow. Where ever possible we are trying to melt things together to gain quicker and easier access to information. Another thing that is noticeable is a desire for quite self-centered activities such as facebook, YouTube etc. However these are also examples of a growing trend for sociable experiences, where you can communicate and share with others. With this in mind I looked into how GPS on mobile phones could provide options for sociable networking within some communities. Parkour would be the obvious circle where it would be useful to be able to track down where these activities were happening out on the street at any time. However GPS as a tracking devise on mobile phones carries some dangers concerning stalkers.
I have especially been looking into new possibilities for mobile phones, I think we could have a lot more options to control things from these, wherever we are, in the future
So far I have looked at:
-Newly emerging technologies
-Technologies that help organise, structure & simplify daily tasks
-Ideas about the future
-Different Design Principles
-The potentials & issues concerning GPS on phones
