Project Description
Project Brief:
Mission Statement
Mission Statement
In the first stages of the design process I settled on two dogmas for the project. The project:
Must make a difference
It is not the size or the documentation of the actual change that matters as I am not trying to make a project that saves the world. What matters is that it makes some kind of difference to some.
The second dogma is that the theme must revolve around:
Exploration
Problem Formulation
At the moment I am still developing the problem formulation and will meet with Dan Overholt to discuss this. The choice of the three principles from the previous main modules which must be included will also be settled during the meeting.
Themes and Sub Themes
Themes
Exploration, life, narrative
Sub themes
Global and local, fascination, play, fun, challenges
Ideas
My conceptual ideas concern exploration of the world you live in and take point of departure in the life of the explorer, travel, to-do-lists, excitement and fascination. The questions I am moulding for the problem formulation are questions like:
- How to open the eyes of people to things they did not know about or do not normally see.
- How to make them explore the world - either the local or the global.
- How to encourage – or create – curiosity, fascination, excitement.
- How to open the eyes of people to things they did not know about or do not normally see.
- How to make them explore the world - either the local or the global.
- How to encourage – or create – curiosity, fascination, excitement.
The aim is to make a device/artefact/sculptural product/object that takes you outside, out and about, “on the hunt” by making t fun, challenging, irresistible and satisfying to do so.
The way you are taken by the hand and “into the wild” can be:
- you are told what to do or in other ways guided
- you have a goal of collecting defined items
- you must be in a certain place for something to reveal
- you must assemble pieces of a puzzle or clues
- you must waityou must be on time – be somewhere on a certain time or be timed – e.g. could be facing a deadline/countdown
- you are told what to do or in other ways guided
- you have a goal of collecting defined items
- you must be in a certain place for something to reveal
- you must assemble pieces of a puzzle or clues
- you must waityou must be on time – be somewhere on a certain time or be timed – e.g. could be facing a deadline/countdown
In terms of aesthetics and narrative I am considering looking for inspiration in the universe of “Steam Punk” – a fictional era infused with 1800’s science and technology presenting ingenious inventions and fantastic machinery with visible knots and bolts, innumerable gears, leather, glass parts and shiny brass surfaces. “The Golden Compass”, “Jules Verne” and the new movie “Sherlock Holmes” are some movies and writers who use this universe.
Methods
For the project I will take point of departure in the Six Stage Design Process (a gathering and extension of the methods taught in Design and Methodology, Art in Context and in the 6th semester elective Design and Design Thinking) and use the appropriate methods for the project – see list on the next page. The design process was presented to me at AUT in New Zealand and is the Ph.D project of Andrew Withell. It is important to me that my bachelor project is well founded in approved methods and that there is a visible professional approach to the entire project. The project should by the end have a clear narrative combining the entire execution of the product and the report and be logically founded to the choice of methods and theory – in short: everything must make sense!
In terms of theory I am looking at the Fun Theory by Volkswagen and the Flow Theory but I need a deeper insight and knowledge before I make the final choices.
List of Methods
Stage 1 – Project Planning
Overall goal setting - personal goals in relation to the project and overall goals for the project
Time management - creating overview and a workspace
Setting up a blog for the project
Stage 2 – Research
(For this project research is combined with the concept development)
Gathering of inspiration in books and online
Literature review
Surveys and Interviews (if applicable)
Stage 3 – Idea Generation
Brainstorming – emptying your head for ideas
Affinity Diagramming – grouping of ideas
Mind Mapping
Lotus blossom – association exorcise
100 ideas – getting out there
Persona Making
Stage 4 – Concept Development
Gant Chart
Goal setting of intermediate goals for the project
SWOT analysis (strength, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) of the project and my personal abilities
Rapid Prototyping
Model making
Role Play
Stage 5 – Concept Testing
Stage 6 – Communication
Presentation Boards
Story Boards
Photography
- shots of the product
- handling shots (sequence)
- narrative shot (if applicable)
Moving images (if applicable)
Final Presentation – Pretzi, Keynote
Technology
At this point I have not yet settled on a specific type of Technology. The concept is still under development and I will only choose the technology appropriate to the project in accordance to its actual function in the project, the overall narrative and the complete entity. It must make sense - clear sense.
/Anne Sofie
Hey Anne Sofie,
ReplyDeleteAndreas pointed me to your blog.
Biased by my own field of study I often think of the relevance of sound in any project I hear about.
Perhaps looking into psychological effects of sound would be interesting for you. Environmental sounds and music have an impact on our mood and general well-being. My own studies are focused on technical and physiological aspects of hearing and acoustics, so I don't know a ton about this psychology stuff; but a ticking clock can change the rate of our heartbeat, ocean sounds can change our breathing, supermarket and traffic noise may make us irritable, and we are all affected differently by different music. My guess is that short-term effects of sounds are relatively well-studied, but I'm not so sure about long-term effects of people being in "bad soundscapes" most of the time.
Julian Treasure (you can look up his videos on ted if you don't already know him) encourages us to listen more carefully, pay attention to sounds we usually wouldn't pay attention to, and try to improve the soundscapes around us in general. (you should also watch the movie Noise with Tim Robbins, not that it's that relevant)
I think studying long-term effects of certain soundscapes, perhaps improving them, and working on a way to increase people's awareness of sounds around them relate to both of your main dogmas -- without forcing them to engage in a game of some sort to benefit from your project, no pun intended : ).
Good luck!
Anders