Project 2 Ideas...

The first thing I did to kick of this project was go out and explore with my camera; I focused mostly wherever I walked, and in the city centre, and on things I deemed to be an example of “working”.

I was to take pictures of things and then compare them as one of my explorations. Things I found myself focusing on, was the visuals of the sandwich boards, and also machines which were working to help keep order and provide services, without humans physically doing the job, for example, the parking meters, and the post boxes. This area is quite interesting because in the living sense, this isn’t working, but the lack of working, but we have create these machines so we don’t have to have a human doing the job. This could be an interesting thing to look at, particularly because I can get someone to help me as part of the story.  I am always hearing Anne’s voice saying “what it says about how we DO working”

The signs interested me for completely different reason’s, these are more interesting to compare between each other, What types of businesses have what type of signs, Are they all trying to attract a certain customer. Are the signs “working” e.g. do they bring customers inside.

I also took some shots of construction sites which was visually interesting, but more for the visual make-up that scaffolding etc makes. I’m having trouble figuring out what exactly about construction sites or scaffolding I could be interested in, or make an interesting argument out of to show a story…

Another experiment I did was focus on details and patterns. Something I found when observing was that a lot of people who are working disappears into these very tall buildings. All different styles, textures and made out of different materials, but they are all tall. This may be a city perspective on working, but as that is what I have access to this could be interesting. Perhaps, the taller the building, the more professional / groomed the person looks? I like the potential of this area, although I’d like to stay away from people all together as if we aren’t allowed to ask permission, and taking photos of people without their knowledge, where they could be identified is actually illegal, I think its easier to just leave people out all together. In that respect, the lack of people working in the first example would take any issues away.

Explorations

Differences between the signs and the machines are mainly the active involvement people have with the machines. They have buttons, are labelled, and people use them for an outcome. Generally made of metal, or steel, the machines tend to come in box form.  The sandwich boards all are rectangle, and made of plastic. The interesting differences in relation to the sandwich boards are how each place uses it. Is it just images, or just words? Is the shop promoting something, or just putting their name out there? Does the font style and images / layout chosen say anything about the type of shop it is? All interesting. For example, the MACPAC sandwich board has a chalk drawing of mountains. The boards are placed as far away from the door opening of the shop, but while still on the sidewalk

Research

So alot of the research im finding I can see really clear directions I want to go on. Much of the journal articles refer to rebellions against governments and politics, or breaking social constructs, which is showing me two seperate sides to rebellion. There is one side which is about having power because you believe in something and want to challenge what is normal, and the other is about breaking the social rules and sometimes law. Its a combination of feeling naughty, but also feeling like you have control.

Look at this...

This is great - I was scanning for awhile trying to find the article, but then realised it was this. This comes from a mathematical journal, but it so simple and completely shows a rebellion for the way writing is supposed to be written! Its confusing, but I like it.

Project Two

Alrighty so I have been sick the last four days, but still wanting to get the ball rolling with this project. After a lot of thought about option for each theme I think I am settled on Rebellion for my topic, and I will do 3 types.

Before now I was certain I was going to alter culture and perception of lipstick in order to create rebellion. Specifically I had an Idea about a Muslim woman wearing a burka of some kind, but with the bottom part pulled down to reveal a very red lips, kind of a play on the culture as it would be seen as rebellious. The only problem with this is although I can see exactly the image I could create and how powerful it would be,  it doesn't actually fit the brief. I'm sure I could spin it to work, but the brief states: by altering look, feel, taste, smell, or sound the experiment must attempt to produce one of the following moods: and it would be rebellion. So its not clearly following that. I was going to focus on different cultures, but I suspect that might be making it harder for me in the long run, so I have been doing some research and am trying to find articles I can use, and seeing if I get any inspiration there.

Hopefully I do!

re·bel·lion

 

noun

1. open, organized, and armed resistance to one's government or ruler.

2. resistance to or defiance of any authority, control, or tradition.

3. the act of rebelling.

Project 2

Another project coming up, so I have been thinking about which section I might focus on for the next bit.

The options are Glamour, Rebellion, Austerity and comfort....so its definitly harder than I thought it would be as its easy to make people UNcomfortable with lipstick and makeup, but not comfortable...

Glamour is very obvious and has a direct link to lipstick, but its almost too obvious for me. AND also, quite hard in that putting lipstick on someone doesnt instantly make them feel glamourous, it can make them self conscious, or unfamiliar, as I found out in the previous project.

I have been thinking a little about Austerity, could have clear lipstick that did nothing basically, or an extremely small amount that had to be used, at this point I havent gone super into anything non literal. I need to do a bit of research into what each of these things actually are!

Rebellion is also one of interest as you can use lipstick in rebellious ways quite well. I am determined to not make this project harder than it needs to be for me. I seem to get so stressed out on trying too hard and getting stressed, and it doesn't make my work any better (which is obvious from the last project!) so I am going to try keep it super simple this time. Simple but good. ....We'll see how that goes!

The last topic which I haven't really thought anything about is comfort. Comfort is I think extremely hard as it's different for everyone. Apart from putting the lipstick wearer in a really comfortable chair in a warm environment I can't really think of a way to make lipstick comfortable, as it varies so much depending on the person. One person is comfortable wearing bright red lipstick everyday and others are comfortable with none.

So! Research, first is definitions...

Glamour:

noun

1. the quality of fascinating, alluring, or attracting, especially by a combination of charm and good looks.

2. excitement, adventure, and unusual activity: the glamour of being an explorer.

3. magic or enchantment; spell; witchery.

Austerity:

noun, plural aus·ter·i·ties.

1. austere quality; severity of manner, life, etc.; sternness.

2. Usually, austerities. ascetic practices: austerities of monastery life.

3. strict economy.

Rebellion:

noun

1. open, organized, and armed resistance to one's government or ruler.

2. resistance to or defiance of any authority, control, or tradition.

3. the act of rebelling.

Comfort:

verb (used with object)

1. to soothe, console, or reassure; bring cheer to: They tried to comfort her after her loss.

2. to make physically comfortable.

3. Obsolete . to aid; support or encourage.

noun

4. relief in affliction; consolation; solace: Her presence was a comfort to him.

5. a feeling of relief or consolation: Her forgiveness afforded him great comfort.

6. a person or thing that gives consolation: She was a great comfort to him.

7. a cause or matter of relief or satisfaction: The patient's recovery was a comfort to the doctor.

8. a state of ease and satisfaction of bodily wants, with freedom from pain and anxiety: He is a man who enjoys his comfort.

 I just had a random thought about getting people to 'tag' with lipstick...maybe..

Whatever way I go, I think I'll be heading back to 2Cheap to get some more $3 lipsticks!! 

 

OK

SO I was really annoyed at the back of my piece, and although I could only spiral bind, I wanted to at least try and get it looking a bit better on the back. SO I got some little pins in the back. Not sure if it makes it worse of better now! ooooohhhh well. I'm stopping.

At least I like the graphics...

Photos i'm putting on R drive with the pdfs of work....

This image I have included as it perfectly shows the reflection of my cover page, and the light looks like a human face with hair. LOVE.

Oh Man

So things didnt work out how I wanted them! I didnt have enough time to get it wire bound - I toyed with using the little gold clips I bought in the punched holes, which actually looked way cooler than the spiral bind I have to get - but in terms of reading the information, it really didnt work.  So in terms of usability I had to get the spiral bind. So a bit disappointed about that!

I also didn't get to finish the back of the book. I had a strip of gold for the back of it, which helps with stability, and also covered the slightly not so clean cutting, but it has been lost!!! So I'm also super disappointed about that.

Its been a really hard out week or so, and this being the last of the papers projects to be due, so it feels good to get an outcome, but unfortunately not the one I wanted.

I really like the front cover of the book - it reflects like a mirror, but also gets  a little dirty, like a mirror does.

I'm also pretty happy that the lipstick Idea worked. the circles were hard to cut to fit, but the idea still works the same.

now for photos and hand in and then SLLLEEEEEEEEPPP! :)

Blogging!

So I realised this morning how much blogging I had not done for this! That just shows how busy I have been getting it done, too busy to blog!:)

So I think I talked about Sunday I went around to peoples houses and observed and got them to do a few things for me. So first stop was Lyall Bay with my sister, then my old flatmate in town, then my new sister in law, and then a friend from school and (yay!) her flatmate. I was planning to do Hannah, but she wasnt able to do it until Tuesday, and thank god because I really needed all the data so I could do the graphics!

So Monday I had work all day, but I spent the evening finishing a project for 233, so Tuesday morning I was up early and working on the graphics. I tried to get straight in my head what I wanted to do with presenting and how I wanted to do some cool extras.

The lipstick thing was a bit of a debarcle! I went to 2 cheap first, and they had $3 lipsticks, but I wanted ones that didnt have clear tops, or huge logos. So I moved on and asked around the pharmacies if they had some old testers and they had a few, but it didnt really work out. I wanted the lipsticks to represent stats for each sense, so getting 5 testers was harder that you'd think! Then I went to a huge makeup sale they had across the road from warehouse stationery, and the cheapest they had was $5 a lipstick.
ANYWAY! long story short(ish) I ended up going back to 2 cheap (I always do that, go back to the first place!). I have spray-painted the stick to cover the huge logo - although I liked the gold colour under it, so I tried to have some gold poking through, and did a light layer of black.


So by the tie I went back to get lipsticks I had finished most of the graphics, although I kept doing some until yesterday afternoon. When I got them printed.

I have thought about many different binding options but the easiest and I think the most professional looking is wirebind. I want the book to look somewhat like a little mirror on approach - with a reflective peice on the front, but also able to be read in that form, so having the flicking ability of a wirebind is the best option (as spiral bound isnt as pretty!)

So the actual physical information is shown in the diary, although the material was hard to work with to make something effective and I had a few issues, but it worked out and Im really happy with the see-through patterns.

I really wanted to focus on the patterns that our bodys leave on the lipstick, and that interaction through touch. I had the users put paint on their fingers, and use the lipstick as if they were picking it up and twisitng etc.
The patterns are extremely varied which is interesting! Everyone must do this act slightly differently.

The physical design choices like colour palette were made using the makeup colours, beigey colours for foundation, reds and pinks for lipsticks and black for eyeliner. 

I also so a visual in colour of how they wipe their lipsticks off as this too creates an interesting pattern which is different for each user.

SO I will post some pics now! I'll post the images I took of the physical data gathering.
Also below will be some of the pdfs that I will use in the book.

Although it has been a massive mission the last week with three projects due, and I have felt stressed out, i really have enjoyed this project, collecting the information was interesting (and a fun way to catch up with a few people!) and creating the infographics was fun too!

Lets just hope the rest of the day goes to plan! I need to create the back of it, print 2 more images (one replacement, and one that wasn't included in the first print) and get it wirebound, and then take some pics! Oh and do the lipsticks!eeekkk!

They wont post in order and I dont have time to move them about at the moment;)

Neglection

I realise I have been neglecting my blogging lately! It is a sign I am too busy working on the projects to blog!;)

So from the start, when we started talking about the second part of project one - I realised fast that if I didnt pick one of my activities completed in the auto-ethnography part of this project, then I'd have to do a lot of work picking another one fast. So I stuck with putting on lipstick.

A lot of options regarding what I could look at was talked about, and thought about. And although I wanted to do all the senses, I think the best option to go for was using colour and looking at patterns. Whether these patterns are the kind that our fingers do when we touch lipsticks, or general interesting facts noticed about girls putting on lipstick, I wanted to use colour and focus on them.

Originally I didnt think colour was a good way to go as I wanted to be cooler, and do something less obvious. Lipstick is colour on your lips, so I thought it too literal to focus on it, but colour is definitely the most interesting option to me. So! This weekend I went around and completed the 5 other people, and collected all my research. Now I need to figure out the best way to represent it.

Some of the research looks quite cool, but did not come out how I thought it would!

I got lucky today as one of my girls had a flatmate who wanted to also be apart of the research, this meant I could complete the collection phase today, instead of waiting until Tuesday which is when I would have done the last girl. Two days before hand in makes me nervous!

Anyway, so I asked a lot of questions and took a few videos, but generally to look at breathing and blinking. I wont put the videos up as I assured each person it would not be used for anything other than factual purposes for me.

I will upload the sheets where I collected the data shortly. Also some more pictures with my materials used and results in their raw form.

Yay! One part of it is completed! :) 

Excitement!

Oh! I forgot to post about my domain name! I am now the proud owner of

karlytheredhead.com 

Yay! I went back and forth for ages with multiple design website name options, but I keep coming back to this name. I feel it represents more of a brand. Also there is always the possibility that I could start a shop, for designs I create, and I want more of a brand name rather than a boring "karly ryder designs" or "redheaddesigns" (been done). I feel like KarlytheRedhead is unique and memorable as a brand name. Given that my life is about to head into a new section of marriage and babies - I may just need an online shop from a webpage that I can keep my creative juices flowing, and keep me sane!

The shop option I wont focus on for this course though, as currently, I just want to display works.

anyway, very exciting! ...now I just have to build a website...

Wireframing

I started having a play around with wireframing this morning - this is what I ended up with as a home page option. Obviously I don't have colour or font or anything - but I like the setup of circles - and I imagine them with zoomed in example shots of my work, but then when you  hover over the circle, it kind of greys out and the word is highlighted...an idea anyway!

Might be too hard to do!

I didnt put the green in around the edges, it just previews like that. I like that is will be simple and easy to navigate at this point!

it will be interesting to see how the little buttons are needed - e.g. a search tab is probably necessary as if people are coming to look at a particular client example that will be necessary.

A slider bar down the side perhaps (well probably not at this point as there is not enough content for me to load!)

Images version of PDF

So blogger (i think because its a template of blogger? I dont know) wont let me upload my pdf so I am going to pop images of my slides up instead so you get the gist....

Auto Ethnography
Experimental Design Ideas

Activity One

 

 

 Activity Three. (Blogger is being a bi*rch and not letting me put Activity Two in above, you get it):)

 The end.

Presentation

Woohoo! I have been fiddling around all morning with mac versions of powerpoint and word to get my presentation looking how I want it.
FYI there is not option to section break in mac powerpoint, so the landscape/portrait can't be in same PDF. ALSO when you have section breaks in word - and try to export as PDF, it seperates them into different PDFs! But hey, finally I got there. AND now the PDF link wont upload on here. I'll pop it on a USB and continue my tutorial on how to embed PDF onto blogger!:)

Random

Link I found which reminds me about the face exploration in the text....

Faces in Everyday Objects