Aisha Yousaf - Unit 06

This blog documents my FMP project and the preparation for my end of year show. Click on the headings below to see only the posts which relate to that specific developmental stage of my project

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CITATIONS

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Ikon. 2022. Britta Marakatt-Labba: Under the Vast Sky - Exhibition - Ikon. [online] Available at: <https://www.ikon-gallery.org/exhibition/britta-marakatt-labba> [Accessed 8 March 2022].

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Ethical Considerations

I believe that I am an ethical designer for many reasons. I have a moral duty to myself and to my audience to be honest about the parameters of my research and what was involved in the creation of my product. I have undertaken research that provides a holistic approach with clear aims and objectives that credits those whose work I have researched in my learning journey. I have undertaken appropriate referencing of the work of researchers whose work was an inspiration for my work. I have acknowledged the important role that my user audience, namely my family and neighbours have played in providing some context to my idea for a game and video to raise mental health awareness. I asked consent from my user audience about whether they were happy to feature within my research project, which they provided to me though the communication that took place. I was conscious of the need for my audience to provide personal opinion in a clear and transparent manner that they found empowering, rather than judgemental.

I approached Tyseley Recycling Centre for support to source the sustainable material, namely the TV and video combi that would be the props that my game would operate on. I thanked Steve at the recycling centre for his efficient help and support in giving life to my project idea and provided him with a thank you card, chocolates and flowers for his kindness. The area of sustainability was an important one for me as I was keen to minimise harm to the environment by creating a completely new product when there were already perfectly useful products that could be utilised for my purpose. This is why I am environmentally and socially conscious in the approaches that I make and the decisions that I take in a responsible manner. I feel that we need to minimise waste and damage to the environment. The re-use shop at the Tyseley Recycling Centre is an excellent idea of sustainability in practice collaboratively operated with the help of the public. This is why I approached the recycling centre and was really impressed to learn that this idea of a re-use shop is a sustainable concept that is applied across all of the country. I sourced the props for my exhibition from the recycling centre as being environmentally aware is an important value for my long term plans. In fact I even kept my printing to a minimum and did this in black and white ink. I do not want to contribute to landfill waste, especially as we already have a crisis situation in this regard.

My work was created with a view to reinforce key values and ethical considerations that are important to me and to others giving them individual autonomy and choice. This occurred by allowing family and neighbours to speak with me on their terms, in a respectful safe space maintaining privacy, being sensitive to the generational needs and gaps and being resilient when I received feedback that I was not expecting or did not necessarily agree with. It was interesting to learn about the use of games and video’s in the 80’s and 90’s which seemed so basic, yet were considered to be very advanced for that era. I had to be respectful of the opinions about games design that different generations had and this was where being tolerant was important. Obviously post war, people did not have the funds nor the technology development to create high tech games as we have today.

I have considered accessibility of my game to my audience. I appreciate that user experience is essential to the success of my game. The feedback from my audience was to ensure that the game was simple, easy to navigate, eye catching and with characters that they could align themselves too. The real effectiveness of the game will take place through collaboration with mental health organisations like Mind or the College, who would be able to have more scope to get people to physically try it out on a pilot approach. I would be ethically bound to place a warning on my game/ video that I am not a mental health practitioner, but am keen to support those suffering with anxiety to feel empowered through the research that I have done. This honest approach would hopefully make people realise that while I want  to support them in making changes to help themselves, I cannot do this for them entirely. I would want to ‘level up’ about my product and its limitations, so that peoples expectations are manageable.

I have tried to be completely transparent in the creation of my product and what it entails. I have created it in such a way so that the scope for it to be altered and changed in a negative manner is low. However I am concerned that my product may be misused in the future. I have considered that youth may turn my product into a meme because that is what a lot of people do at the moment. This is why I do not want my product to feature on YouTube as I think there needs to be a clear demarcation line drawn that it is a serious issue and not to be joked about. There is enough on social media where bullying and joking of mental health already takes place. I do not wish my product to be socially harmful to others when its message is of love, warmth and emotional support. 

Finally I have considered how my product could be adaptable in the future to meet the needs of a wider audience. I would like to adapt my product to phones, because the user experience of my generation is that they want support instantly and want it easily accessible. I would need the financial support of a big business or charitable organisation for help to achieve this outcome.

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Reflect

Using a YouTube videos by FilmSnail I’ve had a look into how I would put my video on a vhs. It seems quite hard but I have all of the tools and material so it is doable. Will has said to me that in case this doesn’t work though to put the video on DVD (which it will be for this anyway) and hide a DVD player under the table, put a table cloth over it and pretend like it’s on a VHS, have that sticking out for the aesthetic. I’m okay with that idea but I hope that it doesn’t come to it.

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REFLECT + REASONING

For the exhibition I would like my project to resemble a home because it is a place where you can feel vulnerable. Homes are connotations of safe places and that’s what I’m feeding into because anxiety, and mental health in general is a hard subject to approach and best done where you feel safe. Which is what I’m doing, placing my animation in a safe place. The whole presentation of it is also to create a safe place for the older generation who don’t always understand newer technology. It will have an old TV in the centre and VHS tapes laying around, beanbags and pillows and a teddy.

If this animation were to go further I would want to get in touch with mental health organisations like Mind, and share my animation to help tear down the stigmatisation.

NOTE: My animation is on a memory stick along with my sketchbook and other papers

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Sketches of what I imagine my exhibition space to look like.

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Stryx is where the exhibition is being held

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Went to an exhibition kiosk and saw this. I absolutely love the design. the colours are so loud and imagery reminds me on the Mister Men and Little Miss books. I really like the way 2022 is written with the outlines. it looks raw and mechanical. 

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Started making my Carrd website

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Talk with Tamsyn. If I couldn’t get a TV for my exhibition piece Tamsyn and I came up with the idea of making a mini set. Where the TV would be my phone and the TV design would be made of cardboard and around the phone encasing it. Then all of the pillows and the beanbag would be made out of stuffing and materials. 

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What I used for my Ethics Research, 

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I printed out my cover in black and white in case it went wrong and put it in the vhs case, it doesn’t fit entirely well, but I think that’s because it would export properly off illustrator on my computer, I plan on trying it again in college

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last one :D

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These next few posts are Reels/Tik Tons I've made to spread the word about my illustration account.