SOPHIE WALKER DESIGN BLOG

@sophiewalker34

350 posts

FINAL PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL

I have created miniature versions of my creative manifesto as my promotional material. Each tiny vessel contains bits of the same materials used in my creative manifesto to communicate creativity being suppressed. On the lid of every jar is a variation of one of five hand written quotes from my manifesto. These are the five points which I believe the school system should be teaching our children and our adolescents. 1. Having imagination is human. 2. Play is good for the soul. 3. Creativity is yours. It has no blueprint. 4. Don’t be afraid to be wrong. 5. Don’t be afraid to be right, either.

FINAL CREATIVE MANIFESTATION

I ended up using an elegant little jar as the glass vessel which contains all the bits of material/textures/colours, which visually and 3 dimensionally work together to communicate the key idea from my manifesto: the primary and secondary school system is teaching children and adolescents to suppress their creativity.

The vibrant colours/textures/materials squashed at the bottom of the jar represent creativity and imagination. The voluminous white fabric represents the school system pushing down and repressing it.

Woven in amongst the white fabric is a hand written quote from the first line of my manifesto: “in the transition from childhood to adulthood creativity is suppressed.”

Creative Manifestation Progress Experimenting with visual display of materials, and trying different transparent containers/vessels that will best communicate my idea.

Creative Manifestation Progress

Now that I have decided that I am going to communicate creativity being suppressed by primary and secondary education, I am going to use colour and texture (much of which I have already experimented with) to represent imagination and creativity. Here I have scored patterns in plastic and painted it with watercolour. Voluminous white material will represent the school system.

Creative Manifestation Progress - NEW IDEA All the prototyping I have done thus far has been to try and make a well crafted and easily understood model where the participants are encouraged to 1) draw something on a piece of card, and 2) thread the card through and/or behind different material layers. The objective was to get the participants to realise that creativity is all about looking at things in new ways, and that everybody has it. BUT I have had difficulties in constructing this creative manifestation. Therefore I have decided to change tack. My creative manifestation is now going to be communicating how “in the transition from childhood to adulthood the value of imagination is lost and creativity is suppressed” (from my manifesto). I will be using the same sorts of materials that I have already experimented with, trapping them in some sort of a glass vessel to represent creativity being suppressed.

Creative Manifestation Progress - Another prototype

I decided to explore looking at bending the layers around each other in a circular form. Interesting aesthetic - not sure how the drawing fits into the scenario though.

Creative Manifestation Progress - More prototypes

Following along from my first prototype I have been finding and creating layers with different material qualities - intended to distort a participants drawing in interesting ways. Whilst the overlapping of these layers looks effective up against a light background particularly a window, it does not highlight the drawing as I had hoped. The drawing is lost behind the layers and the message is confusing I think.

*Note About Final Manifesto: I put a lot of time into my written manifesto draft and I am really happy with it. For this reason my manifesto has not changed from draft to final submission. My five points on what the school system should teach us about creativity embodies what I think is important for all people to take on board. It is particularly imperative that these five things be encouraged in primary and secondary school education because these are the developmental years in which a person transitions from child to adult.

Submission A: Final Written Manifesto

I m a g i n e t h e F u t u r e

In the transition from childhood to adulthood the value of imagination is lost and creativity is suppressed.

The school system teaches us that there is always a right and a wrong answer; that there is a right and wrong way to think; that there is a right and a wrong way to behave; that we will be rewarded for being right in life and punished for being wrong. This instills in us a hunger for right and a fear of wrong. Self-consciousness is taught.

Creativity does not operate according to right and wrong; it is not compatible with self-consciousness. Creativity is carefree; explorative; it is original. Creativity makes the world a more interesting place; progresses humankind; allows us to imagine the future.

The school system teaches us to be right; to be conventional; to be sensible; to be rational; to believe that being imaginative is childlike, and childlike is wrong. It teaches us that creativity is a thing only some people have; that creativity should be reserved for the arts; that creativity has limited purpose in the real world. The school system should teach us…

1. Having imagination is not childlike. Having imagination is human.

2. Play is good for the soul. “A spontaneous, playful mindset is low in self-consciousness” ~ Zabelina & Robinson, 2010, p. 57

3. Creativity is yours. It has no blueprint.

4. Don’t be afraid to be wrong. “If you’re not prepared to be wrong you’ll never come up with anything original” ~ Robinson, 2006

5. Don’t be afraid to be right, either.

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Robinson, K. (2006). Do schools kill creativity?. Presentation, TED talk.

Robinson, K. (2001). Mind the gap: The creative conundrum. Critical Quarterly, 43(1), 41-45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8705.00335

Zabelina, D., & Robinson, M. (2010). Child’s play: Facilitating the originality of creative output by a priming manipulation. Psychology Of Aesthetics, Creativity, And The Arts, 4(1), 57-65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015644

Creative Manifestation Progress - Prototype I have been experimenting with materials that have the potential to create interesting layered distortions. I think structuring the layers as a chain of circles is quite elegant, much more so than straight edges. I found out that all layers need to have a deliberate translucent quality in order for the drawing to be seen underneath. Tracing paper and crepe paper (such as the blue one used in this prototype) prove to be the most successful, but I will need a few more. I tried tissue and plastic but the tissue was too fragile and the plastic was too thick and not translucent enough. I need to refine which materials I intend to use. Unlike this prototype, all layers will be white so that the emphasis is on the textural distortions created from the users drawing, sliding underneath the different materials. Promotional Material: The long strips of card provided for people to draw on will each have an elegantly printed quote from my manifesto on the back. This will be their promotional material to take away with them.

CCDN331 Week 10 Reflection

Sophie Walker RAP 10

The topic of designing companionship using artificial intelligence is a complex one which many people have strong opinions on. The Post-Human Manifesto for instance sees AI as “not revolutionary, but inevitable” (Posthuman.org, 1998). All lecture and reading material from this week pinpointed a “crisis in authenticity” that only seems to be growing as technology advances. This crisis forces us to question what it means to be human (Turkle, 2007, p. 502).

From my point of view to be human is to create meaningful relationships with one another of which love and trust are paramount. This is not to say that other animals cannot love and trust, but humans do so in a unique way. To reference my first RAP – I value people. My goal as a designer is to make a positive difference in people(s) lives. Therefore for me the key question is: can machines make a positive difference in peoples lives by conforming to be like us?

To a certain extent yes, machines can make a positive difference in peoples lives by displaying human-like qualities. The furbie is a prime example (Turkle, 2007, p. 503). But my personal belief is that machines can never be substitutes for real human interaction. Some research suggests that in certain situations people may feel more comfortable with a robot than another person, such as meeting with a psychotherapist (Turkle, 2007, p. 502). In this case they “did not care if their life narratives were really understood. The act of telling them created meaning on it’s own” (Turkle, 2007, p. 502-503). However I think that this scenario is rare.

In most instances humans desire reciprocation (Turkle, 2007, p. 505) and always will. It can be argued that machines can reciprocate, but only at a superficial level. They cannot feel emotions or think freely which disables them from truly loving and trusting. I want to make peoples lives better, but I do not believe that designing human-replica robots can achieve this.

Posthuman.org,. (1998). The Post-Human Movement. Retrieved 2 October 2015, from http://www.posthuman.org/page2.html

Turkle, S. (2007). Authenticity in the age of digital companions. Interaction Studies, 8(3), 501-517. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/is.8.3.11tur

Creative Manifestation Progress My manifestation is designed to communicate the interesting, explorative nature of creativity. I want to make the statement that everybody has creativity. Its not about being a good drawer. Its about seeing the world through different lenses. Playing on the idea of creativity as perception, I initially experimented with overlaying different effects on top of a quick drawing I did. It instantly made the plain drawing come to life in ways I hadn’t anticipated. Exploration. I am planning to create a layered distortion using light, silhouette, glass, and water. At the very base layer will be a simple pen and paper drawing that each user will quickly doodle. They will then be invited to place their sketch in the frame on the base layer. The layers suspended above it will visually distort the original drawing in interesting ways, changing as the user looks at different angles.

CCDN331 Week 9 Reflection

Sophie Walker RAP 9

Nature-Design has a dual meaning. One: human interference with the environment. Two: nature-inspired design. This demonstrates that humankind is both infatuated with nature and obsessed with destroying it (Sachs, 2007).

I am used to hearing about sustainable and eco-friendly design in the media. However the discussion this week has prompted me to self-reflexively consider the topic – my attitude to the environment as a soon-to-be design graduate. The fact is that the design industry is a massive contributor to the demise of this planet. This is fact. As Allan Chochinov says, “we’re in the consequence business” (2007). Whilst I think most of us young designers realize this, we do not want to know our own part in it. This is because we currently don’t really have the power to change the big things, the things that could make a difference. The nature of business predicts that most of the people graduating from my class will have a small role in a company as their first job. The small guy doesn’t call the shots.

However I do believe that if today my class learns to follow certain codes of practice, starting by stopping making crap (Chochinov 2007), that by the time we become the big guy we can improve the future of design and minimise the harm we are inflicting on nature. The negative effects on nature “are the consequence of out-dated and unintelligent design” (McDonough & Braungart, 2002). In order to stop making crap we must always consider context. Who and where are we designing for is key (Chochinov, 2007).

Chochinov, A. (2007). 1000 Words: A Manifesto for Sustainability in Design.

McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2002). A Question Of Design. In W. McDonough & M. Braungart, Cradle to cradle: Remaking the way we make things. New York: North Point Press.

Sachs, A. (2007). Paradise Lost? Contemporary Strategies of Nature Design. In B. Bergdoll, Nature design: From inspiration to innovation. Switzerland: Lars Müller.

Written Manifesto Draft

I M A G I N E T H E F U T U R E

In the transition from childhood to adulthood the value of imagination is lost and creativity is suppressed.

The school system teaches us that there is always a right and a wrong answer; that there is a right and wrong way to think; that there is a right and a wrong way to behave; that we will be rewarded for being right in life and punished for being wrong. This instills in us a hunger for right and a fear of wrong. Self-consciousness is taught.

Creativity does not operate according to right and wrong; it is not compatible with self-consciousness. Creativity is carefree; explorative; it is original. Creativity makes the world a more interesting place; progresses humankind; allows us to imagine the future.

The school system teaches us to be right; to be conventional; to be sensible; to be rational; to believe that being imaginative is childlike, and childlike is wrong. It teaches us that creativity is a thing only some people have; that creativity should be reserved for the arts; that creativity has limited purpose in the real world.

The school system should teach us…

1. Having imagination is not childlike. Having imagination is human.

2. Play is good for the soul. “A spontaneous, playful mindset is low in self-consciousness” ~ Zabelina & Robinson, 2010, p. 57

3. Creativity is yours. It has no blueprint.

4. Don’t be afraid to be wrong. “If you’re not prepared to be wrong you’ll never come up with anything original” ~ Robinson, 2006

5. Don’t be afraid to be right, either.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robinson, K. (2006). Do schools kill creativity?. Presentation, TED talk.

Robinson, K. (2001). Mind the gap: The creative conundrum. Critical Quarterly, 43(1), 41-45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8705.00335

Zabelina, D., & Robinson, M. (2010). Child’s play: Facilitating the originality of creative output by a priming manipulation. Psychology Of Aesthetics, Creativity, And The Arts, 4(1), 57-65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015644

CCDN331 Week 8 Reflection

CCDN331 Week 7 Reflection

CCDN331 Critical Writing: Updated Thesis Statement

Consumer culture + identity

New thesis statement: There is a way to live in a consumer culture society creatively and freely and it is a self-directed design practice called creative consumption (Cherrier, 2008, p. 187). The concept of creative consumption does not separate the two ideas (creativity from consumption) because it recognises that money is a resource that none of us can avoid involvement with in the modern world (Diener, Ng, Harter & Arora, 2010, p. 59). Everybody is a consumer. However consumption can be used as a tool of personal expression for instrinsic gain, and when treated in this regard everybody is also a designer.

Justification for change: My previous angle on the topic of consumer culture + identity glorified traditional times where people had a really strong sense of who they were. I found authors that attributed this grounding to a simple lifestyle. There was lots of material on how consumerism is fundamentally negative for humankind, encouraging people to be self obsessed and subsequently unhappy. However I didn’t want to write about the modern day as a negative development in human history. Which is why I have decided to argue that although consumer culture has a lot of implications which do not serve people well, there is a way to live a fulfilling life in consumer culture society, to be a consumer but also a discerning thinker and creator. I am presenting creative consumption as an attitude, a lifestyle, and also a contemporary design practice.

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