INTRODUCTION
As I postponed due to extenuating circumstances I have chosen purposefully to look for an alternative question to that posed prior to my leaving the course.
I have re-read the introductory texts and re-watched all lectures.
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THE FOLLOWING NOTES WERE MADE PRIOR TO MY POSTPONEMENT:
PHASE 1: RESEARCH & DISCOVER
– Develop and refine your project brief and research question, following a review of your work to date
– Outline the contextual positioning and reasoning for your chosen approach
– Revisit resources
– Revisit individual research and reference material
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WEEKS 1-2: - REVIEW: EVALUATION OF WORK & PERSONAL OBJECTIVES
– Identify your area of research and investigation
– Identify a clear research question
– Create a personal plan
Develop a clear research question with aims, objectives, purpose and audience:
– How might you investigate your research question?
– What else is happening / has happened historically in your chosen area of research?
– What connections can you make?
– What research methods might you deploy?
– What is your position in relation to your chosen area of research and how will this project benefit you?
– Who is it for? Define your audience.
– Is my project going to be research academic and theory led?
– Is my project going to be professionally or personally orientated?
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RATHER THAN GO INTO THE DETAIL OF THE LECTURES I HAVE JUST RETAINED MY TAKE OUTS NOTED PRIOR TO POSTPONEMENT:
PRACTICE LECTURE NOTES
Practice-themed: offering key insights from a project’s conception to delivery
ALEC DUDSON: PUBLISHING ACROSS MULTI-PLATFORMS
TAKE OUTS
– Define your area of interest
– What is your core mission and values?
– Define your audience. Who is it for?
– Is there a social need or political, environmental and cultural standpoint for doing this?
– What currently exists in this space?
– Is there a need, niche or gap to be filled?
– Ask yourself how you will achieve this?
– What is your vision plan for the future?
– How will you research the topics or questions raised?
– Define who you need to work with to make this a reality
– Who are your collaborators/stakeholders?
– What are your key roles?
– How do you monetise and build revenue to fund this?
– Who can you gain funding from that align with your core values?
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JOE POCHODZAI: DESIGN FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
TAKE OUTS
– What is it we are doing with our role within design and why are we doing it?
– Can we use design as a transformational tool to effect change within our own practice?
– What are your intentions, goals in the creation of this work?
– What is your stance/position?
– How will you work within a community and what are the ethics involved?
– How do you engage with communities to understand a specific societal or political issue?
– How do you gather data: Through archives, artefacts, language, voices and user experiences? Workshops/events?
– Who will you collaborate with to make this happen?
– How can you use the data effectively to see patterns and implement 'radical strategies' for enacting a plan/vision?
– How do you provide the tools for a community to continue to effect change?
– Is there a way you can use your own experience, story, values and understanding?
ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS:
Prior to postponement I initially found Joe's lecture was lacking in relevance to the direction I wanted to take. This however is not the case now that I have re-watched and reflected on the themes in his lecture with fresh eyes. The world has also shifted dramatically since I postponed so perhaps this is also playing a part in my feeling that design with some form of social impact is needed now more than ever before.
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BEN EVANS JAMES: ACADEMIC CREATIVE PRACTICE
TAKE OUTS
– What is your research question and does it require analysis?
– How do you contextualise this question into a structured contextural review?
– What are the key chapters/subjects you want to cover?
– Create a high end start for continued reader engagement
– Write with a narrative that makes sense
– Be critically analytical basing your writing in fact and not personal opinion
– Write with argument - what is your position and are there facts/insights that can support your argument?
– Return to your key question and points made within the text
– Use signal verbs that point to an action
– Write, iterate, conclude and reflect as part of your process
– Be grammatically correct
– Be precise in retelling the information
Ask yourself end of project questions:
– What did I do?
– Why did I do it?
– What happened?
– What do the results mean in theory?
– What do the results mean in practice?
– What are the key benefits for someone engaging with this project?
– What remains unresolved?
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ROBERT GREEN: REDISCOVERING A LOST TYPEFACE (Design Craft)
TAKE OUTS
– Use archives, diaries and contemporary stories in undertaking research
– Who were/are the parties involved
– Are their any discoveries or insights to be uncovered?
– Are their any locations that add significance in the retelling of your story?
– Are there any parties that would be interested in the outcome of your research findings?
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THEORY LECTURE NOTES/TAKE OUTS
THEORY LECTURE 1/THEORISED MAKING (BEN EVAN JAMES):
— Consider the medium/media and how your audience will view it.
— What is the narrative structure?
— What is the audience journey (Navigation, engagement and hierarchy)?
— Parafictions can be used to reveal facts/truths about the times we live in. These are "Fictions that artists or designers introduce into the world as facts." Carol Lambert
— When creating a parafiction an audience should be able to discover what is or isn't true.
— A documentary approach is usually informed by personal representation and fiction
— Engage with different mediums/media.
— Your practice should be a direct response to your research.
— Co-creation/collaboration adds richness to your research.
— Your research should be a direct response to your research question.
— The act of making adds to your research and can reveal new insights.
— Define your theme/approach.
— Is it necessary for your audience to engage with the work on a visual and verbal level?
— Is there a user journey?
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THEORY LECTURE 2/RESEARCH LED REPORT: TOWARDS A WORKERS ENQUIRY (SUZANNA EDWARDS, CHRIS LACEY & BETH WORTH).
— Critical discourse and reflection important.
— Ethnographic approaches used by both in the study of the industry.
— What is your place within the industry and how do you operate within it?
— Unionised design is based in craft based practice.
— Your design report is a first person narrative analysis of your subject matter (with or without contextualising with questions).
— Ethnographic (human) experience often reveals more than pure statistics.
— What already exists within your field of study. Where are the gaps/patterns?
— How do you investigate your own place/position within the industry?
— Where are we going and how do we plan for the future?
— Statistics and data is constantly changing and tends to out of date by the time of publication - especially where statistics are concerned.
— Contextualising data (Ethnographic and Stats) builds a richer, deeper analysis of your field of study.
— Create a wider context: Conversations, first hand experience, interviews etc.,
— A wider context creates a picture of your narrative: Family, working conditions, updaid work vs paid, perceptions etc.,
— How did you get here and what is your working practice?
— Who are the participants being surveyed?
— Are they relevant to your research?
— What change can you effect?
— Who is going to continue to drive this change? (Responsibility and ownership).
— Understand the environment you are moving into.
— Who will fund this work? Stakeholders such as Institutions, Universities etc.,
— Address structural inequalities or conditions.
— Be truthful and transparent about what these changes could potentially mean.
— Is membership of a union necessary?
— Explore different industries/experiences.
— How can you intervene in real spaces to expand the conversation and effect change?
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THEORY LECTURE 3/PROFESSIONAL STUDIO/CREDENTIALS ORIENTATED/REPORT (ALEC DUDSON)
— Clients are our audience when creating presentation documents.
— Make your decks easily accessible. (Open access).
— The interactive and digital space is becoming ever more important.
— A project proposal deck can be non-visual (HAWRAF example).
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THEORY LECTURE 4/BUSINESS PLAN (ALEC DUDSON)
— Business plans are used mainly for securing funding and for presenting entrepreneurial ideas.
— Executive summary (synopsis of your business, your customers and why existing businesses fail to meet their needs).
— How is your business different? (USP).
— How would you describe your company/practice? What is your mission statement? (Business purpose and intent).
— What is your company history?
— Are you purpose driven and responsive to changes in the world?
— Use SMART.
— Market research: What are the customers you expect to have?
— Look at 3 sector case studies. What are their character traits? Who is their intended audience? What brands do they work for?...
— Competitor analysis: Who is in your space? What do they look like? What do their services cost? What is the percieved value?
— Ask others within your industry.
— What are your products or services? What are its benefits? What processes do you employ? What does the team look like? What are your overheads and expenses? Do you have repeat custom/client retention built in?
— Marketing and sales strategy: Summarise your value proposition, target markets, customers. A targeted markey=ting strategy can be used to lanch, grow and retain clients. Cost up where your offering will be seen (Social, TV, Websites, Press etc.,).
— Business Financials: Include your income, profit and loss, balance sheets, cashflow forecasting , invoice terms, net income, liquidity (how much of your money is available).
— Organisation and management: Who are your team members? What are your credentials? How do they bring value? (Experience, awards, companies worked for).
— Funding requests: Be clear about how the money will be spent. Be specific and transparent.
— Appendix: Keep investors requests, licences, IP, legal documentation, tax details, memberships and accreditations.
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WEEKS 1-2: - REVIEW: EVALUATION OF WORK & PERSONAL OBJECTIVES
Identify your area of research and investigation
Since postponing my study I have thought in-depth as to how I can maintain interest and motivation over a 24 Week period responding to a set of questions posed by myself which will result in a 'substantial body of work'. I am still interested in the area I chose last time around 'How will AI shape the future of graphic design practice?', however I think there are other avenues I would like to consider before finalising my research question.
These are centred around the following subjects:
What are the environmental impacts of AI?
This would not necessarily focus on what we already know but try to unpack in more detail such as social awareness of the environmental impacts and what political changes are being made to combat this. How do we offset the impact of data centres and what effects are they having on resources and land? What actions are providers taking to offset and reduce environmental impacts? How does the building and placement of data centres affect communities? Is it a more positive move towards employment? What is in place to protect communities and their own environment? This would be Ireland focussed or even just Dublin itself.
What are the effects of AI on intellectual property and how can we protect original thinking and design?
This is an ethical approach: We already know that there are ongoing discussions about how LLM's are trained and on whose content. There are also discussion around ensuring that providers highlight their source material. However I am more interested in unpacking how this impacts us moving forward. What protections need to be in place and do they go far enough? Do we have an option to opt out of having our work mimicked or are we too far into the evolution of AI in practice? Are we moving towards a model where design is service based only and designers become operators?
What are the affects on my local community with the oncoming gentrification of the area?
This is an extension of a project I started 'in Noticing the Ignored'. This would take the form of a deep dive into the actual planning for the area and how this affecting the community. A SWOT analysis could be good for this as well as talking to stakeholders on both sides to unpack social impacts, political agenda's with the aim of providing the local community with a voice in the planning and reconstruction of the area. What are the perceived threats and how are these concerns being addressed? Are people being asked to leave the area? Will there be any green spaces? Which businesses are directly affected by this development? Will this action further increase the cost of living? Who are the groups involved in the discussion that represent the community?
What is the collective experience of freelance practice in Dublin?
This jumps off from Alec Dudsons own questions surrounding internships. What resources exist to help the freelance community? Is there a freelance community? What are direct concerns for freelancers? Are their any government initiatives in place for freelancers? If not, why not? Should there be?
What lasting impacts has the destruction of an ancient viking settlement had on todays society?
This is an extension of a project started in GDE720 Week 8. Going beyond my initial research which was more descriptive and editorial, I would like to go deeper into the subject matter and talk directly with those involved and affected. Activists, Archeologists, Museums, Architects and Archives could come into play as both stakeholders and resources. The aim would be to try to frame this history with a fresh perspective while at the same time reviving the subject for debate and discussion.
I would also like to refocus my approach to hand made design craft and towards my practice working in the Arts sector which is my ultimate ambition and purpose for doing the MA.
All the questions posed above are roughly worked out and will be refined during the research process.
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IDEAS WALL
I have booked a tutorial with Ben for next Tuesday to go through the outlined concepts to see if any of them have legs.
Identify a clear research question
Initial question:
To be determined.
Revisiting resources & course progression in creating a personal plan
REFLECTIONS 0N GDE710-GDE740 LEARNINGS & RESOURCES (NOTES MADE PRIOR TO POSTPONEMENT)
In reading through my submitted work and blog posts to date I was pleasantly surprised in how much I have grown through this process and the amount of information I have retained and implemented into my daily practice. However, I think my greatest failure has been in areas such as collaborative and ethnographic practice.
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In reviewing this body of work I have highlighted some areas which will be may be implemented as part of my process:
PHILOSOPHICAL STANDPOINT:
Philosophy: Empirical (rational and fact based)
Methodology: Epistemology - Theory of knowledge itself (origins, validity, methods, scope and limitations)
Ethics (Axiology):
– The ethics of collaborative/ethnographic practice
– The ethics of AI: Social, Political, Cultural, Technological, Environmental
– Codes of practice
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OBJECTIVES:
– What are my aims, meaning and purpose for creating/curating this work?
– What will the project effect/change?
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RESEARCH (Areas for investigation/This depends on my chosen research question which at the time of writing is not decided):
– Origins
– The cultural landscape
– Economics
– The social landscape
– The political landscape
– The cultural landscape
– The technological landscape
– Environmental concerns
– Competitive Landscape: Who is working in this field of interest?
Resources: Libraries, Online, Archives, Research Bodies etc.,
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DATA GATHERING (Quantitive Research without using Bias):
– Data Sets
– Fact Based Stats
– Context
– Trends
– Personas
– Research Bodies
– Analytics
– Interviews
– Questionnaires
– SWOT Analysis
– Case Studies
This data could be presented in the form of editorial, image and/or information graphics
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COLLABORATIVE PROCESS (This depends on my chosen research question which at the time of writing is not decided)::
– Stakeholders: STEM, Data Analylists, Statisticians, Colleagues
– Co-Creative Process
– Fundraisers
– Feedback
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VISUAL WRITING:
– Compelling Narratives/Storytelling
– Elevator Pitch
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ITERATION (Speculative/Non-Speculative)
– Research, Design and Prototyping
– Risk Management: SWOT Analysis
– Mood Boards
– Design Iterative Process
– Prototyping
– Application
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FINANCE
– Does the project require funding?
– Is their potential to monetise the project?
– Cost Analysis
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METRICS
– Effectiveness
– Reflections and Conclusions