samanthawan0714

[samanthawan0714]

Elli! This looks really awesome, and that’s really good as you have written a long explanation and tell us what the story behind your work is. So impressive as you took this photo at outdoor. Love this!

Assignment 1 : “Hello, my question is…”

Process and Review

At first, I wrote down my question of ‘design.’

What do I want to ask something about design?

I came up with elements and the process of design.

For me, the design should be aesthetic, unique and surprising to the viewers.

How do we design something? Things we’ve designed are always based on our experiences, both consciously and subconsciously. Also, It can be done by progressive processes.

But I wanted to explore more about design itself. How can I attract people by my design? Every day, new objects appear and disappear. If I make something, I want to make it fun. Also, I hope the things that I will design to give some pleasure to the viewers. Then, people would love to buy the

So I chose this question. “How can we make design fun?”

I wanted to play with some different materials to represent this phrase.

I just went around the Woolworth to find the materials. I thought a snack must be a pleasure to all. So, I bought some popcorn and m&m chocolate. I thought the shape of pop-corn and colour of m&m chocolate would be fun to craft the question. But, It was too simple to articulate this question. I wanted to create a question with deeper meanings in the material itself. On my way home from uni, I found the one balloon stuck in the fence on the Bowen street. It was not expected scene in the most unlikely place, made me smile.

Also, a balloon is a material that can be transformed easily. It is an unlimited and colourful material. It always gives pleasure.

When I made this question in the room, I felt it was not enough to deliver the playful mood of the material. (Also, Shayna told it seemed like depressed and dull ) So I went out to make this question in the same place I saw the ballon on the fence!

With using different colours, I wanted to make this question more funny and lively. Also, I tried to form a relationship between the fence and the balloons.

But I think, I would like it more if I made an experimental typeface with a balloon.

As Shayna said, the final image looked less digitally. I couldn’t get the exact point of the feedback, so I wrote a comment again… I guess Shayna must be busy and couldn’t read my comment. But I believe if I take this picture more sophisticatedly and edit it more vibrant and sharp, It maybe looks more elaborate.

[samanthawan0714]

Well done Renee! You finally did this. It’s so impressive with the black and white theme. Looks really fun as you have played with different layout! And really like the way you put the quote on the last page.  Good luck with your submission!

ZINE OUTCOME!

Seeing all the interesting works done by others, I thought I would also share what I did for my zine.

“I was fortunate. Early in life, I understood that my world was a two-dimensional one. At sixteen I knew that my work would be in black and white.”

I made my zine in relation to Adrian Frutiger’s aesthetic, I didn’t put any pictures for the zine (only a picture of Mr. Frutiger himself ) to keep the focus on the typefaces. I played with page space, font size, and typography while designing this, with each page using the typeface that is being interviewed for the texts. (The Univers page would be using the Univers typeface for all texts... etc.)

Some likes and dislikes: I really like my cover page, which is inspired by the negative space typography technique. The font used for the cover page is Frutiger, I felt like it was the best option to represent him. It became challenging in the end to come up with new layout choices with the same black and white aesthetics, but I think I pulled through! Each section of the interview gives a different vibe, they aren’t repitive when it comes to arrangement but still had harmony throughout. I still wish I had more creative ways to deliver this, however.

Feedback is welcomed and please share your zines too!

[samanthawan0714]

This looks really nice! I really like the way you play with the text and the way you put the yellow circle at the back of the person. It is so eye-catching. Good on you! Can’t wait to see the entire work

ZINE UPDATE

Finally starting to progress with my zine, and by that I mean I’ve done the introductory page… I’m just absolutely hating everything I make at the moment and am really stuck in a rut, but it’s due THIS WEEK so I’ll have to work past the creative block and suck it up. I’m not really happy with the layout at the moment but I figured if I just get something down i can go back later to fix it up. 

You can see better now how I’m gonna try incorporate my magazine collage / photo collages in with the zine. The talkshow host is made up of photos from unsplash.com (all free to use! no copyright!) and I’ll also include some of my own collage later in the zine.

again, feedback is welcome, I want to change the font of my body text as well, its too bold. Something bauhaus but not bold? Does that even exist?

[samanthawan0714]

Summary //

First of all, thanks to Andy and Karen for making so many video clips of lectures and providing much information about introducing the historical and present-day designer, designed artifact, and the design movements to us. Honestly, I enjoyed every lecture video clips that you both had produced. 

Perhaps I wouldn't say I liked the course at the beginning of the course, maybe because I didn't know what I was doing, and I didn't have much interaction with classmates and tutors from the start. Therefore,  I didn't spend so much time watching the lectures or spending time on the first assignment (sorry for saying that). But after we had spent almost half of the course time, I started to catch up with the past lectures, and I found my passion for discovering the designers and designed artifacts. I am delighted with receiving this much information from each week's lecture. Even though I haven't posted all of my feelings for the weekly lectures, but I have gained a massive amount of knowledge from the lecture and class. Besides, I can feel my improvements when I scroll through my Tumblr again and again, and I can also feel more and more enthusiasm from the posts. 

It's a bit of a pity that I didn't discover the lesson's fun so quickly. Still, I once again appreciate a lot to Karen and Andy, especially Karen, for giving me so much advice on how to improve my design. And I support what you said,  yes we should celebrate for the women designers.

[samanthawan0714]

Week 11 Lecture What’s Next Design //

In the last post, I was worried about technology in the modern-day, as well as concerning what if people don’t maintain the correct concept of developing new technology. However, the consequence is that we would be easily controlled by technology and may cause significant problems to the world. But after watching this lecture, I gradually felt reassured, especially when I listened to the story of Eye-Writer. Besides, the organization has been working on projects that have never been completed, and its goal is to change the world and create a better future that they are designed for people’s need. Thus, I felt touched by the video of Eye-Writer, and also felt thankful that it eliminated my thoughts of technology.

 A quote by the team “Art is a tool of empowerment and social change, and I consider myself blessed to be able to create and use my work to promote health reform, bring awareness about ALS and help others.” At this point, I also want to be a designer that designs products that can help with the people’s needs or the issue that people need to be aware of like the team that created Eye-Writer.

From the lecture, I felt interested in the clothes designed by the collaboration of Sosolimited with Print All Over Me and Processing Foundation. Besides, the idea of transforming customers’ search terms into clothing is super awesome. It has raised my expectation of “What’s next design?.

Source:

https://www.commarts.com/project/24652/pixelweaver

https://www.sosolimited.com/work/pixelweaver/

http://www.eyewriter.org/

[samanthawan0714]

Final update of Ask Me Anything Project //

[samanthawan0714]

Walter Gropius- Ask me anything

In the project of "Ask me anything," Walter Gropius was one of the candidates that I wanted to interview. This Tumblr post is not discussing his background. It is about a question that I want to ask him, which is "Why did you suddenly lose interest in mechanics after the First World War?". Honestly, I couldn't find much information about this question through the Internet. Nevertheless, I am still very interested in exploring and reflecting on why he felt in that way. This question is also related to our future. Especially technology in the present day is becoming more and more advanced, and we all rely a lot on technology. Moreover, some of the designed artifacts are born to satisfy the creator’s own needs or desires. To clarify, I am not criticizing all the people who can design, but we know that some people are always utilizing their knowledge to do things that harm society.

Back to Walter Gropius' story, he was worshipped to machines before the war, but he witnessed the mass slaughter by machines. In which it made him suffer mentally, and therefore he gave up on his military service. From this point, I can understand his feeling. Technology can become the most significant threat to us than the weapons of mass destruction today. 

At this point, I found a significant resonance in a movie called "Blade Runner" (1984). It was about a mighty organization that had designed and created the replicants (robots). They looked identical to a normal human being, but they have no emotions. Therefore, their existence is to work dirty outside the world for the organization. Replicants were smarter than the human being and had equal intelligence to the person who created them. At this point, I don't think what the movie showed us is far from our present-day society. If you recognize the crisis by the time, it has come closer, and technology would have already wholly controlled you. As we can see, many of us are now being controlled by mobile phones without knowing it.

I always feel weighted down when I think about this because I know I am a design student. Although what I'm learning may not seem to have anything related to mechanics, I know that design is always playing a role in influencing society. Whereas I don't want people to immerse in this such of well-developed society without knowing we are facing a big issue. Therefore, we have a responsibility to protect this planet as we utilize our knowledge and our ability to prevent the worst situation from happening. Design is our channel of communication.


Image resource: 

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/474285404508598551/

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/09/26/walter-gropius-bauhaus-unsinkable-modernist/

[samanthawan0714]

Ask me anything- project process //

I chose the Futurist Cookbook to be my final interview candidate between Walter Gropius and it. That is because I would like to investigate an object rather than someone who have already shown us their personality. Also, this is a big challenge for me to substitute into an object and imagine how it would respond to the questions I asked. From this point, I had worked my best to bestow a spirit to this book. In the process, I had encountered many obstacles, such as imagining the way it answers my questions, how it will answer questions about the future. However, since it is not a person which means that there will be no dispute between right and wrong. And instead, it gives me more rooms to imagine the perspective when this book is responding to my questions.

The design style of the zine is also one of my annoyances. In which, I had thought of creating a collage design, but I ended up choosing to use my illustrations as a design for the zine. The major reason that I decided to use my illustrations is that I wanted to visualize what the food described in this book would look to people. Perhaps my drawings did not exactly take the food out of the writer's mind. But from other perspectives, there is no picture of what the food exactly looks. Therefore, it has created more space for the viewer or me to imagine what it would be.

Although it's not a completed design, and some details need to be modified, I wish people will like it and feel the passion that I had attempted hard to give this book a soul. It is near the end of semester one, and thanks to Karen giving me a lot of positive comments and providing me with lots of constructive suggestions.

[samanthawan0714]

End of the future //  #Premodern, Modern, Postmodern

The image above is explaining the symbol and trait in Premodern, Modern, and Postmodern. As Karen suggested in the lecture video, premodern is about the notion of sublime. Other than that, it is also about God- “Because God put it there, and that’s the way it’s always been.” According to my further research of premodern, there are different sensibilities, movements, and artists in the premodern style. For instance, a cabinet maker Michael Thonet, The Shaker, Art and Crafts movement created by a group of English designers, Glasgow School- a school that born a bunch of influential designers and artists and Chicago school- a movement of architects active in Chicago.

To deepen my understanding of modern and postmodern, this youtube video has provided excellent information and makes the information more liable and fun to comprehend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKomOqYU4Mw  

Image Resource

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/419468152772623637/

[samanthawan0714]

End of the future  #failure of modernism

The decline of modernism and the rise of postmodernism are the emphasis in the week nine lecture. Before I start off talking about my research on the topic or the reflections from the lecture, I would like to reinterpret the difference between modernism and postmodernism. Modernism is the search for an abstract truth of life, and there is no universal truth, abstract or otherwise, such beliefs in postmodernism.

Besides, Pruitt-Igoe, designed by Minoru Yamasaki, is the first example to cite a general symbol of the failure of architects, politicians, and policymakers. The fail project of Pruitt-Igoe was also a metaphor for the failure of modernism. Throughout my further investigation of Pruitt-Igoe, I can't refrain from wondering why did Pruitt Igoe fail and what is the myth behind after seeing the photograph of the dramatical destruction and highly public implosion of Pruitt-Igoe.

For the failure of Pruitt Igoe, it was caused by the rise of crime and the vacancy rate, as well as the decline of living conditions in the mid of 1960s. Apart from this, the city of St Louis admitted the failure and demolished three of the thirty-three tower of Pruitt Igoe in 1972. Eventually, Pruitt Igoe had been dismantled entirely in 1976. Except knowing what the factor of causing it to be failed is, "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth" by Chad Freidrichs is also an excellent award-winning movie to hear the voice from the narratives blamed of what was wrong with the modernist architecture at that time, attacked public assistance programs, and stigmatized the resident who lived in Pruitt-Igoe. But in this movie, it is more about "The bigger story is, in fact, the decline of the city overall." Therefore, I believe this would be a great movie for people to remember Pruitt-Igoe if next time the city changes, as well as understanding this significant incident behind the failure of modernism.Image Resource

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/apr/22/pruitt-igoe-high-rise-urban-america-history-cities

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pruitt-igoe

https://www.archdaily.com/870685/ad-classics-pruitt-igoe-housing-project-minoru-yamasaki-st-louis-usa-modernism

[samanthawan0714]

Women in Bauhaus //

During the week 7 lecture, Andy displayed the group photographs of the Bauhaus teacher. There was only one female teacher, and the rest of them are the male teachers. Moreover, most of the Bauhaus male teachers ,especially the founder-Walter Gropius, had the same opinion that they thought women could only think in two-dimensional. Men could have the ability to think in three-dimensional. Therefore, architecture got out of women's curriculum. It has struck me deeply, and I am particularly impressed by a statement by Walter Gropius "no difference between the beautiful and the strong sex." Although the declarations of gender parity already existed at that time, the “beautiful sex” was still silently limited to certain "appropriate" subjects such as weaving, ceramics and toy making. Besides, I also did some investigation on the female teacher who taught at Bauhaus after the lecture. In terms of finding out whether this was the only point of view from the Bauhaus male teacher or is that there was none of the successful women had ever been able to overturn the mind of Bauhaus males teacher. Oppositely, my research tells me that there are several excellent female designers in Bauhaus, such as Marianne Brandt and Gunta Stölz. Also, I reckon that there are many women's architects in this generation who can prove that women actually can think in three dimensions, such as Zaha Hadid.

Relevant question for one of my candidate- Walter Gropius

1) With so many outstanding female designers in today's society, would you still agree the statement that "Women only can think in two dimensions, and men have the ability to think in three-dimensions"? Why? 

/

2) Do you agree that the successful female designer from Bauhaus changed your mind about “Women only can think in two dimensions, and men have the ability to think in three-dimensions”? Why?

Marianne Brandt

Brandt was one of Germany’s foremost industrial designers, and her design was no less radical than the males in that period. The refinement and modernity, in her design, such as the best selling Kandem bedside lamp designed by her, had become one of the most commercially successful objects from Bauhaus. Other recognizable everyday objects like her famous coffee set MT50-55a (1924), ashtrays, mythical teapot MT49 also achieved an excellent standard in the design field. Also, Brandt was the first woman to attend the metalworking studio, as well as replacing her mentor László Moholy-Nagy as a studio director in 1928. Most of her design work reflected the influence of Moholy-Nagy, and also the industrial forms which were Bauhaus’ focal point.

Gunta Stölz

Stölz was a woman who indicated to people that "fairer sex," as defined by Walter Gropius, was also available to have an excellent career at the Bauhaus. Throughout her craft, she had expressed herself a lot from it, as well as transforming them to be the home objects and becoming a modern masterpieces. Besides, I like this quote from her "We wanted to create living things with contemporary relevance, appropriate to a new lifestyle. Before us, there was an enormous potential for experimentation. It was essential to define our imaginary world, to shape our experiences through material, rhythm, proportion, color, and form."  

Perhaps, old-fashioned restrictions prevented the women from developing the scope of their designs. Still, when I look at their works, it convinced me a lot that their attitudes and talents would not be inferior to the men, nor assuming that the women could only think in two-dimensions.

Image Resource

https://www.christies.com/features/Artists-as-teachers-at-the-Bauhaus-9934-1.aspx

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/women-of-the-bauhaus-forgotten-female-pioneers-of-the-modern-movement/

https://www.bauhaus100.com/the-bauhaus/people/masters-and-teachers/marianne-brandt/

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/event/gunta-stolzl-textiles-in-space-architecture-talk

https://www.bauhaus100.com/the-bauhaus/people/masters-and-teachers/gunta-stoelzl/

https://www.widewalls.ch/artist/marianne-brandt/

[samanthawan0714]

The Futurist Cookbook //

The Futurist Cookbook written by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who was an Italian futurist and this book was published in 1932. The Futurist Cookbook is one of the candidates that I would like to interview for my “Ask Me Anything” project.  

This book impressed me a lot by what Marinetti had written in this book, including the eleven requirements for the ideal futurist meal, as well as “men think, dream and act according to what they eat and drink”. When I read this quote, I agree with this statement, and it also reminds me of what people are doing with food nowadays. For instance, people are filming ASMR food video (ASMR was made to assist people to experience a certain pleasurable tingling sensation in their brain and also head by soaking them in particular sounds), posting the “foodie” picture on Instagram and sketching a complex design on the steamed milk layer above the coffee , etc. Yes, from these actions that young people are always doing nowadays, they have many creative acts, thinking, and dreaming according to what they eat and drink. 

Furthermore, I appreciated Marinetti publishing this book during the world economic crisis. Publishing this revolutionary and tradition-breaking book required a lot of courage to accept criticism from the public, especially since people in the past were more conservative in their thinking, they were not as open-minded as we are today. In my view, our present society needs to have more people like Marinetti to care about the country more for improvement in different aspects. Despite that, innovation and breaking new ground positively is what we need for our society because it will make the community to work better and avoid the continued existence of harmful customs.

These are the questions that I have thought to ask my candidate- The Futurist Cookbook:

1. What prompted you to be born?

2. Are there any differences between what you are explaining now and the future

3. Have you regretted publishing the expression of the opinion about “pasta”  during the world economic crisis?

4. Do you think the concepts listed in the book will affect the future society?

5. What do you think of the futuristic culinary revolution?

6. Does your existence help design studies?

7. What is your ideal futuristic menu?

8. Do you think is that there a similar community nowadays ?

Act Festival 2019- Food Hack (link to now) 

As the title of this festival, it is the theme that focused on “food.” It illustrates to the viewers  what the present-day artists think about food, as well as the ideas to help environmental pollution. In this festival, there was an activity called Aerobanquets RMX based on The Futurist Cookbook. It was held to provide an opportunity for the viewers to experience mixed sense, such as vision, taste, and touch. The inspiration for the collaboration between the artists introduces a novel, multi-sensory dishes, and chef Chintan Pandya is from the futuristic food. 

Resource:

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/act-festival-2019-foodhack-asia-culture-center/uAIigSuFAhZ8LQ?hl=en

https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/21c47718-6825-436f-aa58-a12dfd590a5b/botstory-the-futurist-cookbook

http://www.openculture.com/2017/04/11-rules-for-the-perfect-italian-futurist-meal.html

[samanthawan0714]

Collage Workshop //

A collage workshop was held in the week 9 class. I was assigned to be a group with Christian, Lockie, and Serrine. We were using the pictures from the old newspaper or magazine and formed the word “TYPE.” It is a good opportunity for us to approach making the collage, as well as providing us an idea that we can create the collage design in the project of “Ask me anything.” For the strengths, I consider that we had done a great job of using different things to form a word like food, knife, people, tool, building, etc. For the aspects of improving, we can indicate the letters more clearly. 

During the class, it was interesting to know a designer called Richard Prince. When I looked at his work, it reminded me a lot on my study of design during high school. I had made many mistakes in my design works at that time. One of them was the design of a static image for a competition. In the process of developing this static image, I just “imaged tracing” different pictures from the internet without making any changes and formed all the things to be the “designed” static image. At that time, I felt thankful that my teacher told me  the fact that I had appropriated others’ work, and therefore I recreated the whole design. Luckily, I got a first place after I had changed the entire design. Since then, I always keep this in mind and pay extra attention while I am using the pictures from others. 

Making minimal changes or without making any changes ≠ your work

[samanthawan0714]

Triadische Ballet //

Triadische Ballet is founded by Oskar Schlemmer in 1922. Schlemmer is a Bauhaus painter,  sculptor, and designer. He was interested in the relationship between space and figure, as well as how costumes affect the movement. It caused him to turn to choreography. Even now, I don't think that I have a reason not to admire Schlemmer's work. From the 30 minutes clip of this ballet, everything is still seemingly modern that this ballet is almost hundred years. It makes many people feel unbelievable in the same way that it was produced in the early time. "Dancers only a painter could have choreographed." by Jack Andersen, who wrote in The New York Times in 1984. I agree with what Andersen had mentioned in the article. In fact, it is an unprecedented work in which Schlemmer applied the concepts of "Apollonian" and "Dionysian" to his work, as well as combining elements of painting with the element of drama.

As the title suggests, the idea of the ballet was based on the principle of the trinity- three actors, three dancers (two male and one female), 12 dances, and 18 costumes. Also, the scenes are divided into three colours, including lemon yellow, pink, and black. The background colours are eye-catching, and the use of colour is an excellent match with the simple pattern on the costumes that the dancers were wearing. Overall, it had created a strong and out-standing view as it had been shown in the video of this ballet. 

We might not understand and feel weird about this production at first glance. But after we know the fact that it was produced in that early time and we still think this work looks so modern, it turns out making people consider that Schlemmer is a sophisticated person. At the same time, Germans actually changed the world aesthetically, and they were always ahead of its time like magic.  

Image source

https://gfycat.com/orangeblaringcleanerwrasse

http://www.cocosse-journal.org/2013/07/triadisches-ballett.html

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/863143084816870038/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3M21tYbQQM

https://giphy.com/gifs/aris-bauhaus-oskar-schlemmer-dia-triadische-ballet-3o6MbpMdYQhl1wDsBO

[samanthawan0714]

Pangram noodle activity- second attempt

I hadn’t worked well while using that kind of instant noodle in my first attempt for the pangram noodle activity. So I used another type of instant noodle for the second attempt. Comparing between the first and second trial , it indicated an excellent improvement and the letter shaped in a better way.

[samanthawan0714]

Pangram noodles activity- first attempt

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Poor Kerning