Morgan Morrell - (BA) Illustration and Visual Media The idea behind my SIP is to explore multidisciplinary practice, I'm doing this by drawing and creating a body of work influenced by musicians. I've titled the project and process as Songlining. Connecting and collaborating with musicians to create visual translations of lyrics has always been a draw to me, and as of the start of this project I’m producing comics and some simple animations to expand on it. This material is something that can be used as an asset by both musicians and artists involved; it builds into my own portfolio of work as well as theirs. A key part of this project is in conferring with the musicians and lyricists, I want to find expanded information to put into my visual work that will be valuable to both me and the viewer. It's important to me that I maintain rights to use an artist’s lyrics in my work. The connection my practice has with music and lyricism has always been present and seeking some kind of consistent and co-ordinated effort. I'm pleased with the opportunity and influence this part of the course has provided me. I recognised my ambitions here by noting how I’ve oriented myself in previous experiences - I have a natural inclination to reach out to what inspires me. I was inspired by the 2019 album ‘In League with Dragons’ by The Mountain Goats, namely the strong visuals from the song ‘Cadaver Sniffing Dog’. Upon sending them my influenced illustration, I learnt much more information about the song that factored into my continued work with them, and this opened up the opportunity to make tour posters in collaboration with the band. Exploring this world was a good way to find and meet artists of similar interests, prompting research into designer and musician collaborations online - a good example being Pete Nicholson. Researching his method promptly opened up new avenues for me, such as club night / event posters, and entirely different genres to influence my visual language. I had the opportunity to talk to Pete Nicholson in person and explore the area of shared practice in this project. Something interesting that came up was the "meditative process" of drawing while listening to music, how this process is such a key aspect of what we're doing. I put this into action in my SIP by connecting with the Smiles Collective, a group of reggae performers I found regularly performing in my area. I found a way to engage and understand my process though sitting, listening, watching and drawing. My observational drawings became assets to the collective in their group and on media platforms. My process fed into my research, and I found work by Open Mike Eagle and William Child, who produced a collaboration in an animated music video. This work sparked my interest and it gave some structure to my research - the stop motion clay animation was posted on Open Mike Eagle's official platform, and I wanted to figure out how William Child found his way into this. Wanting to find this out put me onto the Production Company 'Ground Work', based partly in London and making films and visuals for clients. I think the 'Microfiche' video sets up a good example of the kind of communication and content I aspire to achieve, and gives me the chance to see how it's done. I've come across some noteworthy points through the undertaking of my SIP:
References: Peter Nicholson, Graphic Designer. www.petepicnic.design [ONLINE] - last accessed: 14/03/22 Smiles Collective, Terry Smiles. https://www.instagram.com/smiles_collective/ [ONLINE] - last accessed: 14/03/22 Open Mike Eagle - Microfiche (Official Video) [ONLINE] - last accessed: 14/03/22 Ground Work. https://ground-work.co/?anim=false [ONLINE] - last accessed: 14/03/22
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Akanksha Goyal - BA Design for Art Direction As we headed into the SIP unit of DPS, I was very apprehensive. I initially put the SIP on the back burner in terms of my DPS goals and was not very proactive with it. I intended on using the SIP to explore art and design mediums that I was familiar and comfortable with, however after watching the film Frances Ha by Noah Baumbach and being encouraged by tutors to explore and experiment with our SIP I decided to direct and write a short a film. Completely different from what I intended to do (and very unlike me to go off track) I was thrown into the deep end of film production. Initial SIP proposal at the start of DPS The story film was born out of true experiences. During the pandemic there was a strong shift in the ways we perceived our relationships and their development. Some of them such as with our families and friends became stronger, but some experiences such as romantic ones fell apart. I would always hear my friends talk about their struggles and their annoyance with their family and romantic partners and saw that there was a running theme. Despite being from different countries and backgrounds, we were all facing the same challenges. From these stories of my friends and I was born the concept of my short film, Tuesday. Since I had never undertaken a film project, a lot of learning on my feet and research were required. The main takeaway from this project was proactivity. Since shooting a film requires many roles, I had to go outside my comfort zone and find new collaborators. I was constantly reaching out on various platforms to find students or young creatives who related to the project’s theme and were interested in working on it. Apart from that, I also researched a lot about directors and screenwriters that inspired me and contextualised their filmmaking styles. A big inspiration for me were Greta Gerwig and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, their portrayal of women film aligns very well with the “modern women” outlook. The showcase the tribunals of young women a brilliant comedic and visceral way that allows their viewers to be magnetised to the characters. Fleabag: The scriptures by Phoebe Waller Bridge and my research notes on the scripts The whole process has been a learning curve for me. Being organised was key, with a small team working on the film I had to do multiple roles apart from directing. These roles included scriptwriting and production management. Since I had a team of people with different schedules as well, it was important for us to all be on the same page with the progress of the film to keep the communication clear amongst all of us. The film brief document was like the “Bible” of the team, where all necessary information was put in and it was updated according to the progress. This brief eventually manifested itself into the production binder. The production binder would include expenses, call sheets, scripts, storyboard, permits (essentially all necessary documents required on the days of the productions). I was also unaware about a lot of technical aspects of filmmaking, such as equipment management. Having an experienced DOP work on the film was helpful to my learning process, as she would break down what all was required and how to use the equipment. Having collaborators with different skills than me helped me learn a lot from their previous experiences. I was always passionate about film: for my Year 4 thesis I wanted to explore the cinematography style of Luca Guadagnino. I was always keen on exploring filmmaking but was too afraid to do so and never got the chance to either. Using the time and opportunity for doing a SIP, I wanted to test out whether film was just a hobby/interest or something more concrete. I always limited myself to graphic design and explored moving image in a restrained sense, but with this short film I got to explore filmmaking on a whole new level. This allowed me to reflect on what my skills are and what I would like to pursue in the future in my professional journey. Working on a project that is completely self-initiated has helped me gain confidence in my own work and abilities. Having this chance to work on something that I was always passionate about has showcased that “new agency” does come with its big risks however, the reward is just as great. Research Links
10 Writing and Directing tips from Greta Gerwig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPgKRWUOZvE 10 Screenwriting Tips from Phoebe Waller-Bridge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIk5yP8zk6k How To Make A Production Binder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMfQqnalYZ4 Fleabag: The Scriptures by Phoebe Waller-Bridge Access to information is still quite restricted, maybe not in the sense of finding resources but in a way that finding data that is comprehensible to everyone is harder to observe. My initial self-initiated project was very different to my proposal. I was aiming to design a new brand of silk scarves but after doing my internship in a fashion PR and communication agency, I saw with my own eyes the amount of unnecessary production of goods. Sustainability is something that I was already conscious about, ethical production and low carbon emissions would have been primary values to the brand but in the end I think there is no need for another brand though it would have been sustainable. Not going forward with my idea was a reflective journey on our actions and how we inform ourselves. My proposal suggests an exposure of the flora and fauna, to deliver (fun) facts on it, fashion being one of the polluting industry and directly affecting the biodiversity and ecosystem it was an obvious choice to create content that would be accessible to a wide audience from different background, age, ethnicity, country, etc. It is important that my audience is large and that my sip reaches out to as many as possible to spread the importance of each living being, plants and animals. Batequila, a project I made in second year, is a great reference for myself. Not only did I discover many extinct species but found out that bats were essential to tequila production. One extinction can cause disruption in our daily life. There is a significant lack of information shared on the subject, yes there is climate protest but how do you want the society to be conscious if they aren’t facing the potential consequences on their daily lives. There could be a real consciousness on the importance of an ecosystem by showing them what they could miss as individuals not as a society. Instagram is a great platform to share this content, there is about everyone on the platforms younger and older generation and it’s a simple step to have content appearing on your feed. Hugo Décrypte, is a journalist and influence specialized on delivering daily news on instagram, he also extended his content on various support such as youtube, TikTok and podcasts platforms. It’s quite clear that his audience is varied; the ones following on the various platforms are all different profiles. The ones following on his instagram are not the same ones as on youtube. On the streaming platform, youtube, you need to go and look for the info, that audience is willing and intentionally wanting to listen to his daily news; On the social media, instagram, the audience is interested but does not necessarily want to make the effort go and look for his daily content, they may even skip it. Here I brought up an important concern, yes they follow you but do they actually read it? It issomething I’m conscious about and really hope the audience will take the time to inform themselves. The previous case study is based on daily rhythm, unfortunately that will be realistically not possible for me to achieve. I will be looking at an instagram account such as still here still life who are posting weekly still life drawing challenges. Another significant aspect of the account is the interaction with their audience they are engaging every week. Later on in my project, if there is a small audience growing, I would like to engage them, I think it is primordial. To end my thinking process, I would like to talk about the name of my project, “Scotch why are you a dog?”. It refers to a little girl who approached me asking for my dog’s name and then addressed herself directly to scotch asking her why she was a dog. We don’t wonder enough anymore. Elisa Jonckheere Written by Natasja Derry Definition of Diabetes: Diabetes is a condition where there is too much glucose in the blood because the body cannot use it properly and the glucose builds up in the blood. If the glucose level is monitored poorly, the patient can experience a hypoglycaemia which can lead to death. Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children or young adults, starting suddenly and getting worse quickly. My name is Natasja Derry and I’m studying Design Management at University of the Arts London. In August 2021, I moved to Copenhagen to start my placement year as I was eager to transform those theoretical ideas from the classroom into practice, and so far, it’s been the most influential, educative year I’ve experienced. As a Design Manager and student at UAL, we are encouraged to have a human-centered approach to our work and to create something with a positive impact to our society. This year, I’ve focused on improving my skills in film production and I hope to incorporate the UAL mindset through this media. It’s an area which I haven’t explored in my course, however as a DPS student and a TV broadcasting intern, I’ve been able to explore a new media and since realised that it’s an area I’m passionate about. My self-initiated project I’ve decided to create a short documentary film putting focus on the challenges and stress Type 1 Diabetic children and their parents live with on a daily basis. I wish to portray how medical alert dogs can help reduce those challenges significantly. Living with diabetes means a constant 24 hrs alert on the balance of food, exercise and injected insulin inside the body of a diabetic, therefore the theme of the film is about how the medical alert dogs help the diabetic keep the balance between life or death. I wish to focus the film on following how man’s best friend also becomes his number one protector . For my SIP project, I will be producing a trailer/pitch and then the goal is to finish the film throughout my final year of study in 2022/2023. My interest behind the project Jessica Walsh, creative director at Walsh, believes that the best concepts for self-initiated projects start with the question ‘Why?!’ and that pain, anger and frustration is where the best ideas are born. From a personal incentive, I’m producing this film for my brother, Alexander, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 12. I’ve seen how he’s struggled with diabetes growing up and how it affected my parents – this is their first born and while they were learning how to be parents, they were also learning how to control a life-threatening condition. Why is this film important? Cost on NHS In 2014, Diabetes UK estimated the cost of treating diabetes year and its complications would rise to £17 billion by 2035, however the NHS is already spending a total of approximately £14 billion pounds a year. That’s 10% of the NHS budget for England and Wales (Diabetes, 2022). For type 1 diabetes, the problem lies with poor monitoring of blood glucose levels and education. Type 1 diabetics need to know their blood glucose level so they can adjust their treatment accordingly, and in failure to do so, can lead to short-term complications such as potentially fatal diabetic ketoacidosis and hypoglycaemia. In the long term, high blood glucose levels can lead to serious and expensive complications such as retinopathy and kidney disease. There’s still a cost associated with training diabetic alert dogs; however, it would help monitor the patients’ levels and therefore decrease the costs of treating the complications. Ethnic problem The National Paediatric Diabetes Audit showed children from Black, Asian and mixed ethnic backgrounds have less access to diabetes technology (such as continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps) compared to white children. Studies have also shown Black people were 50% less likely than white individuals to be prescribed newer medications that are used to lower blood sugar (Bloomer, A. 2019). I’m intrigued to ask Hypo Hounds, the organisation I’m working with for my SIP, what they are doing in response to this issue and how their selection process is designed.
My hope is to create a piece of work which leaves a positive impact on our society - whether that's supporting the NHS and increasing funding for charities such as Hypo Hounds, or even just educating society on what diabetes is and the impact a diabetic alert dog can have on a patient's life. Reference list
Filip Havlena
GMD The experiences acquired during my DPS year at LCC are the building blocks for my agency, and as a result, will shape the direction of my career. My SIP gives me a chance to partially reflect back on my DPS experience but also think ahead and consider my future plans and ambitions. I am starting to work on my SIP as my first DPS internship came to an end and another one has just commenced. Therefore, I am naturally reflecting at this point in time on all the learnings and takeaways from my past internship at Superhero Cheesecake. The internship and other professional experiences have definitely influenced my SIP or at least the decision to go in this direction, both creatively and professionally. During the internship, I have realized the importance of collaboration and understanding of key design principles. What’s more, the experience has also shaped the view of my future practice by helping me understand the importance of acting in accordance with my own beliefs. I simply have to do the work that I believe in. This goes for the work itself but also the clients I am working for. This is reflected in my SIP, for which I will be designing a visual temperature map. The map will be used to convey temperature data in an unconventional way and try to challenge the user experience of weather apps and sites. During the project, I will be exploring the different insights from my Internship. Having witnessed and participated in the process of building multiple web based projects, I will take what I have learnt and follow a similar process when creating my project. Having the opportunity to work on this self initiated project helps me understand myself as a designer and my agency as an emerging practitioner. To add on, having other practitioners around myself and being in a studio environment is a great way to steer my ambitions in the right direction. Throughout my DPS year, I was fortunate enough to be mentored by amazing practitioners. My mentor at Superhero Cheesecake was Joris van Raaij. Although having the title of a Motion Designer, he was skilled at many other things. Besides having outstanding knowledge of After Effects, he was also very knowledgeable in other areas like code, 3D and music. His multidisciplinary skill set was something that allowed him to be a valuable part of the studio and to work on different projects in different mediums. This is why choosing to step away from 3D and focus on other areas for my SIP will allow me to develop my multidisciplinary skill set in order to pursue my future ambitions of being a well rounded designer. For the second practitioner, I have decided to not refer to a specific person but to a studio as a whole. Accept & Proceed, the current studio I am interning at, has worked on a range of projects, designing packaging, branding, digital or retail space. In an industry where specializing is very common, my experience at Accept & Proceed has made me realize that I can pursue a career where I can work on a very diverse range of projects. This has cemented my decision of focusing on a different area of interest in my SIP. UX Design Milena Cywinska In my Self-Initiated Project I have decided to tackle the question of HOW IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT, SCARY AND URGENT PROBLEM AS A CLIMATE CATASTROPHE STILL AT THE EDGES OF EVERYONE’S ATTENTION? The project is inspired by my own observations on how everyone seems inert (unfortunately, me included) to such a serious topic as climate crisis. I came to this realisation during the Dutch Design Week 2021, where most of the exhibitions focused on the topics like ecology and sustainability. While those issues were known to most of the Dutch, whose environmental awareness had been shaped since childhood, to me they were not. I have struggled for a long time already to get myself take action about the environmental issues. Topics such as recycling, veganism, eco- friendly products, and slow fashion seemed to me a trend rather than the long-term necessities they are. I thought ‘is my lack of interest completely my fault’? What if it is the way the information is conveyed that makes it come across less strongly than it deserves? The climate crisis is real and it really is terrifying. Is it so difficult to show the terrifying in a terrifying way, the way it really is? It is not. Why is then no one doing so? Something must have been going wrong this whole time, that all these ongoing protests and social movements are not being heard enough. I turned my attention to how the information is presented to the masses. Green and blue colours and a slogan ‘eco-friendly’ - oh come on, is that how we are fighting such a threat? The true effect of such design choices is that they make the issue seem childish, pleasant and unserious, and I believe they are one of the reasons of why it so overlooked. The whole topic is framed around the slogan ‘eco-friendliness’, while the products called eco-friendly are often eco-neutral and do just a bit less harm than their counterparts. How do we think of an unprecedented crisis and end up using words like friendly and green & blue colours to describe it? Why don’t we label all the other products detrimental and harmful instead? That would be bad for the business, right? Is that why the whole topic is so sugar-coated? Is that why when we think of a climate crisis, we see a happy Earth icon when a catastrophe is so close? We all know that but still do not do enough. Even looking at the most recent events – the global pandemic, a war in the Ukraine – we are capable of gathering our strengths and working together, and these are good examples. Once the war struck, looking back at my home country - Poland, but other nations as well, the response of the masses was immediate. Everyone was eager to help and let go of their own problems to help the Ukrainian refugees in whatever way they could. So, we can do good, we can sacrifice, we can work together in the face of a threat. Why is it then so different when it comes to the climate crisis? The project is to propose a new, strong, bold, provocative, and even aggressive view on the topic of climate crisis - the way it has deserved to be presented from the very beginning. As UX Design is about accessibility and experience, I am to present a new and effective way of addressing this issue. I will start with looking at slogans to analyse and label the way it is usually done. I will pay attention to colours, mediums and the way it is being voiced. Looking at photos taken during climate strikes - I can see a lot of people trying and wanting to do good, but as for me, many are doing it wrong. Let’s take a closer look at the slogans. ’Earth is changing – why aren’t we?’ Good question, indeed. ‘There’s no planet B’. Sure, we do know that already but why would I need a planet B. Surely, the answer is that Earth is about to die, but even that statement is more affecting one’s emotions. Let’s take that further, when is it going to die? ‘Save our planet!’ But why should I do so? What should I do? ’Ahh, it’s too hot!’ Is it really? I haven’t observed any difference. Even if I did, we do all like hot summers, so why should I complain. ‘Public campaigns intended to ignite widespread change frequently fail because they don’t address the psychological “barriers to action”. In other words, if you want people to change their behaviour to become more environmentally friendly or push for political change to that effect, you have to understand why they don’t respond as you would like. While we can talk about why people don’t act as they should, those reasons often obscure the real barriers, which can be far more complex than the surface reasons.’ (https://medium.com/the-infinite-universe/people-are-too-scared-of-climate-change-to-do-anything-about-it-8dc8f51f86ed) These are creative and smart indeed, but way too far-going. From a UX designer’s perspective, you need to know who your end-user is, who you are addressing. This must be the starting point of any campaign. If you are addressing the public and want them to pick (as much as I hate this phrase) ‘eco-friendly’ products, consider why with all the options available they are not doing so yet! Do they not have enough money? Maybe it’s the lack of education on the real consequences that is to blame. Make sure the slogans respond to the real reasons of why people are inert. Make the slogans clear and specific. Unless you give them a clear idea of what there is to be done and what they will get out of it, there is no way it will work. These considerations are just a starting point to presenting a whole new redefined idea of ‘eco-friendliness’. Through the project, I want to take the blame off of the usual target - the uninformed people, and shift it to the design. Hi! My name is Ke Yue, I am a student study in Graphic and Media Design in LCC. This blog is mainly talk about my SIP, some ambitions of building my own brand. This term I start my first internship in Shanghai. I’m really glad to have the opportunities to work on projects for various brands. As the company focuses on digital visual interaction and spatial installation design, I'm able to get involved in areas that are different to my major and learn a lot about spatial design and visual expression. SIP is a project that requires me to squeeze in free time from a busy full-time internship, which is a huge challenge for someone with less than stellar time management skills. But I also knew that SIP is a chance to explore new areas and technologies, and that it would be useful for my fourth year and my future plans, thus I wanted to create a commercially viable and sustainable brand through my SIP. The field of mushrooms and fungi has actually interested me since a long time ago. I saw an exhibition called Mushrooms: The art, design and future of fungi at Somerset House in 2020 and I was very impressed by it. This exhibition brought the works of over 40 leading artists, designers and musicians, presented the role of mushrooms in art or the different roles of mushrooms in art, and finally explores the use of mushrooms and fungal mycelium materials in architecture, textiles and packaging. Each of the works is an interesting presentation and artistic expression of mushrooms. Mushrooms and fungi are a very large system of organisms, with over 14000 species of mushrooms having been discovered, and they are useful in many fields, including food, medicine, beauty and now, increasingly, new materials for mycelium. So creating a sustainable brand of mushroom is definitely a great choice. So after I started my DPS, I wanted to incorporate mushroom and fungal elements into my SIP. However, due to the time limit of the DPS, I decided to start with the diversity of mushrooms and design a product could be made easily and be productive. Since I love to draw illustrations, I decided to design a mushroom guide booklet or a calendar to showcase the diversity of mushrooms with lovely illustrations. After that I watched a number of documentaries on mushrooms including BBC's The Magic of Mushrooms (2018) and Fantastic Fungi (2019) and follow a number of professional mushroom bloggers, I really enjoyed reading their popular science on mushroom species and some very beautiful photographs posted on their channel, the diversity of mushrooms and the unique appearance and mechanisms of the different species is very appealing to me. And I started to try growing my own mushrooms at home, my first one was a brown oyster and I took some photos of it while it was growing, I wanted to try growing another variety and try to take stop-motion or time-lapse films in the next term, it was fun to watch the mushrooms grow and I think the mushrooms I grew tasted better. But in the course of my online research I also discovered that there is very little knowledge about poisonous mushrooms. I've asked my friends and family around me and half of them still has the idea that all colourful mushrooms are poisonous, which is completely wrong. In fact, most poisonous mushrooms look very common in colour and appearance, even the Amanita, which has a record of causing over 90% of deaths in the world, is basically pure white. Because of this phenomenon I thought it would be meaningful for me to tell people about the types and characteristics of poisonous mushrooms through my work. I have collected the types of poisonous mushrooms online and in books, and selected 12 typical and common mushrooms with different types of poisoning, including liver damage, psychotropic hallucinations, haemolytic and gastroenterological symptoms. Then I did some Marketing for illustration styles and printing products, just some simple drawings of mushrooms might not be very interesting and due to the prevalence of cartoon character mystery boxes among young people especially in China, I decided to design 12 cartoon characters based on 12 types of poisonous mushrooms. The characters are also sustainable designs for a brand because I can make dolls to sell after the DPS. I am also very curious about mycelium materials and I have a plan to explore sustainable mycelium materials for printing and 3D printing in the future. My name is Rosie Mitchell, and I am studying the course, Design for Branded Spaces. For my SIP, I have curated a podcast in collaboration with another student on the DPS year. We are going to create a minimum of 5 episodes, with a 20-minute duration. The concept is to pick a current trend to discuss, that’s topical amongst young people. We will then link it to a current or recent exhibition or installation space, that we can advise them to go see or read up on. We will also create an Instagram that will give details on the space we are discussing, and correlating artwork designed by us. Power, G & Mitchell, R. (2022) Mood board for Instagram Page There has been an influx in merging younger audiences into immersive spaces but we want this to be a permanent change and for younger people to discuss the space and develop their engagement on exhibitions/installations for the long term. I recently did a V&A course, they categorised age ranges into different types of audiences. The Ultra Socials and the Cultural Explorers are the younger audiences, these are not repeat customers. Sophie Rowse (2021) explains “many of them have an outdated version of who the V&A are and like the most newest and innovative things”. Therefore, by creating a platform to engage discussion about cultural immersive spaces, hopefully will make them understand that these kinds of spaces are wanting a build a lasting relationship. Coming from North Yorkshire I can understand the perspective some younger people may have. If I think about the Museums and interactive spaces in my local area at home, they are very traditional and do not necessarily relate to my interests, especially when I was younger. There is not the same approach to how they output their information, comparing to recent installations and exhibitions. In doing this podcast we can research in depth a large scope of current topical subjects that younger people are discussing. Such as gender fluidity in clothing. You only have to look at the past couple of years and see big celebrities such as Lil Nas X and Harry styles who have brought this to the foreground. They “have inspired people of all genders to dress how they feel.” (Maguire, 2021). This topic directly transcends into the current V&A exhibition Fashion Masculinities: The Art of Menswear, were Harry Styles is centre stage on the campaign poster. I have learnt that through the podcast we can examin new structures and wisdom for a pre pandemic world by promoting this ideology via conversation. It would be interesting to see this ideology applied across the whole design industry. WSJ. Magazine. (2021) Gucci/V&A, PA Media Mitchell, T. (2020) Vogue, December Issue Developing technologies is a reoccurring topic amongst young people. The 180 the strands recent exhibition Lux: A New Wave of Contemporary Art, showcased emerging technologies and how they have been transcended into the art world. People are wanting a hybrid between physical and digital, art, fashion and spaces. When we produce this episode of our podcast it will discuss how the exhibition showcased this future. I believe these technologies will be intertwined in the new normal of design. Hems, J (2021) Universal Everything, The Transfiguration This research generated our interest in creating a podcast for young people. We hope to raise the discussion for them to understand how artistic spaces can resonate with their interests. Reflecting on are current research we want to create an episode around public artwork as well to advertise all aspects of spatial experiences. In this new normal the way we interact with spaces has changed and I am enjoying discussing these changes through the medium of speech. I was initial trepidatious about using a podcast as the medium as its new territory. However, it’s given my practice more distinction and purpose as I have been able to improve my conversational dialect on my disciplinary interest. This is something which I didn’t make much time for before this project. The SIP has allowed creation of a new agency within my discipline. I have realised how successful museums produce exhibitions with certain character profiles in mind, but make sure they incorporate all audience segmentations. Recently, with my mum, I went to Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature at the V&A and then Faberge in London: Romance to Revolution. Even though me and my mum are from two different character profiles we were both able to enjoy it with our different interests in mind. For my next research trip with my colleague, we can investigate how young audiences will be appealed to the exhibition/space compared to other demographics. Bryony Shepherd who is the head of interpretation at the V&A discussed that “design is a full narrative environment and interpretation works closely with the designers.” Developing my knowledge of young audience participation and interpretation, now, will greatly benefit my future ambitions of working in an in-house design team at a museum or a design studio, as well as my thesis on fashion museology. Philip Hughes an exhibition designer, with an MA from the Royal College of Art, describes the importance of engaging audiences correctly, “visitors may stay away from an exhibition if they feel it does not relate to them, or that they do not “fit in.” For me the importance lies in thinking about the “duality of the audience” (Shepherd, 2021), therefore making people feel they can relate and “fit in”. I can see an opportunity to look further into how this can be approached through other areas of spatial design. Bibliography
Gucci, (2022) Harry Styles for Gucci, Gucci/V&A, Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/fashioning-masculinities-the-art-of-menswear Hems,J(2021) Universal Everything, The Transfiguration, Available at: https://www.factmag.com/2021/09/21/lux-new-wave-of-contemporary-art-180-studio/ Hughes, P. (2010) Exhibition Design, Laurence King Publishing, London, pg 34. Maguire, L. (2021) Vogue Business, Fluidity, glamourand pop culture: The top trends of 2021, Available at: https://www.voguebusiness.com/fashion/fluidity-glamour-and-pop-culture-the-top-trends-of-2021 Mitchell, T. (2020) Vogue, December Issue, Available at:https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/harry-styles-gender-fluid-fashion-stylist Power, G & Mitchell, R. (2022) Mood board for Instagram Page Rowse, S. (2021) The Principle of Exhibition Making [Recorded Lecture] V&A Shepherd, B. (2021)The Principles of Exhibition Making [Recorded Lecture] V&A WSJ. Magazine. (2021) Available at: https://www.fashionotography.com/lil-nas-x-wsj-magazine-november-2021/ Maddy Boyd The goal of my SIP is to bring a sense of interactivity, playfulness, and a renewed sense of purpose to photographs. I was interested in the topic because of the lifespan of silver gelatine prints, which come from such a detailed process and painstaking hours to perfect a single one - then to live in a box or in a frame, which I would argue feels like a very sudden end to a very personal work of hours work of thoughtful, carefully considered technical work. I considered how this ‘end’ could be expanded not only to include the creator, but to involve the viewer afterwards. My first outlines for this project were for a book. Maybe incorporating relevant textures, adding elements of physical perspective, or creating a space for the entire process to live from notes to trials to the final print itself. Becoming more of a personal project, I considered focusing the ‘book’ on a certain location where the majority of the photographs I planned on using are focused on. Due to time constraints and an unfortunate lack of outside material to include this iteration of my SIP became too big to be able to be able to embark on and complete to a standard I would aim for. Looking back back at the original intentions for this project, I realised the most important element to include was to invite the viewer to join in on the process to reaching the final piece. Using personal material that would require further explanation, while showcasing the beauty of a secluded location of historic interest, is not the accessible angle I was going for from my first planning stages. Yes, it can be appreciated, but what does that connection look like after the content has been viewed? How can that impact be furthered and expanded? To keep a long story short: How can I include everyone in this experience? Allow a viewer to include their own personal photographs. Everyone has photos they go back to for the breathtaking scenery, which a photo on a phone never seems to be able to do justice to a place or time you would love to visit again and again. My primary focus is sunsets (a hashtag used on instagram 300M+ times), you know the ones with the gorgeous cotton candy clouds, otherworldly colours of the sky, and the world bathed in golden light? Let’s preserve that moment, but make it something that can be replicated and enjoyed more than on social media.
Oscar Ling-Cottey - Illustration & Visual Media With the ever-growing popularity of NFTs, it is becoming increasingly difficult to deny their importance and validity as a product. Not only are they an exciting innovation in e-commerce, they are also beneficial to creators in the context of sales. Unlike the traditional method of selling your work for a single sum, a percentage of each transaction after the first NFT sale is allocated to the creator, allowing creators to potentially earn more for their work (Chapman, 2021). Based on this notion, for my self-initiated project I proposed to produce a collection of NFTs, but under my personal brand, ONE BAD DAY (Figure 1). While this may look like a cash grab, this project is actually part of a bigger plan as I intend to sell my collection in the hopes of earning the necessary funding to launch my own clothing brand, also under ONE BAD DAY. Creating a clothing brand has been a long-term goal of mine for many years, but funding has always been an issue from the start, and having noticed how lucrative the crypto market can be, it would be wasteful not to seize such a golden opportunity. Figure 1 - 'gull attack.' by me (2021) Once completed, the collection will comprise at least 1000 NFTs, all of which being unique variations of the character, ‘Obdob’, from my ONE BAD DAY illustrations. While creating 1000 images seems like a lot of work, which it is, the process is not as laborious as you might think. Large NFT collections are made up from hundreds of individual interchangeable images called “assets” that are combined through coding to form whole images. For example, an avatar NFT, such as a ‘Bored Ape’ (Figure 2), will consist of assets such as a base figure, background, eyes, nose, mouth, clothing and accessories. As someone who has never coded before, the idea of coding is daunting, but it is a necessary challenge to overcome as it will make the project more time efficient and adds another skill to my creative roster. Figure 2 – ‘Bored Ape #6309’ by ‘Seneca' (nd.) Since NFTs are a relatively new entity, with Kevin McCoy of the artist duo ‘Jennifer & Kevin McCoy’ being the first to produce one in 2014 (Wong, 2021), the research I have gathered is strictly from online sources. I found Twitter to be one of the most abundant sources since it is constantly being updated with new information on current and upcoming NFT projects. Based on this notion, I conducted an experiment, where I followed 1 small-scale NFT project on Twitter, ‘Robo Ramen’ (Figure 3), over the span of a week to gauge how often they tweeted (posted to their feed) to understand how it affected their audience growth. The account’s follower count increased from 2,297 to 3,157 (+37.44%) by tweeting 20 times over the course of the week; an average of 2.86 tweets per day. Through this experiment, I learned that having a consistent online presence is a key factor to audience growth and is something I need to implement to my own project to increase my chances of success. However, this does not account for other possible factors, such as Twitter’s recommendation algorithm, where the app will recommend tweets and Twitter accounts based on your search history and who you follow. Unfortunately, it is not possible to go into this level of detailed research as you cannot access Twitter’s algorithmic data. Figure 3 – Untitled Robo Ramen by @Berkawii (2022) Since cryptocurrencies have already proven to be a negative impact on the environment, it was imperative for me to understand the carbon emissions I may produce through completing this project. For example, the University of Cambridge estimates Bitcoin to consume 126.12TWh of electricity annually (University of Cambridge, 2022). To put this into perspective, if Bitcoin was a country, it would be the 27th largest consumer of electricity in the world (University of Cambridge, 2022). To offset any carbon footprint I may incur, I will donate a percentage of the profits to Cool Earth, an environmental charity funding projects that tackle the root causes of deforestation and protect vital carbon sinks (Cool Earth, nd.). As an additional measure, I also will ensure that each first sale transaction will be made via the ‘Polygon’ blockchain, a far more eco-friendly option in comparison to the most popular ‘Ethereum’ blockchain, which has an estimated annual energy consumption of 106.12TWh (Statista, 2022), compared to Polygon’s estimated 0.00079TWh (Polygon, 2021).
Throughout my research, I noticed that the vast majority of NFT projects I have come across are illustration-based. This alone conveys just how important the medium of illustration is because without it, all of these illustration-based projects would not exist. There would be no ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club’ without illustration, and so having it as a skill gives purpose to my creative practice and makes me a more rounded creator. Bibliography: @Berkawii (2022) Untitled [Digital Image]. Available at: https://twitter.com/RoboRamenNFT/status/1502468545740828677 (Accessed: 5 March 2022). Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) (2022). Available at: https://ccaf.io/cbeci/index (Accessed: 6 March 2022). Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) Comparisons (2022). Available at: https://ccaf.io/cbeci/index/comparisons (Accessed: 6 March 2022). Chapman, A. (2021) ‘How NFTs are Benefitting Artists & Changing the Way We Sell Work’, Urth Magazine, 24 November. Available at: https://urth.co/magazine/how-nfts-are-benefiting-artists/ (Accessed: 3 March 2022). ‘Why We Exist’ (nd.) Cool Earth. Available at: https://www.coolearth.org/why-we-exist/ (Accessed: 4 March 2022). ‘Ethereum energy consumption worldwide 2017-2022’ (2022) Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1265897/worldwide-ethereum-energy-consumption/ (Accessed: 7 March 2022). Ling-Cottey, O. (2021) gull attack. [Digital Image]. Available at: https://oscarlingcottey.com/one-bad-day (Accessed: 5 March 2022). ‘Polygon: The Eco-Friendly Blockchain Scaling Ethereum’ (2021) | Blog. Available at: https://blog.polygon.technology/polygon-the-eco-friendly-blockchain-scaling-ethereum-bbdd52201ad/ (Accessed: 6 March 2022). Seneca (nd.) #6309 - Bored Ape Yacht Club [Digital Image]. Available at: https://opensea.io/assets/0xbc4ca0eda7647a8ab7c2061c2e118a18a936f13d/6309 (Accessed: 2 March 2022). Wong, B. (2021) ‘The History of NFTs & How They Got Started’, Portion Blog | Blog. Available at: https://blog.portion.io/the-history-of-nfts-how-they-got-started/ (Accessed: 4 March 2022). |
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February 2023
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