Fourth Year: Week 12 in Pictures

A slideshow of some of the work that I had done during week 12. I will save a round up of the weeks events until the week 12 summary post which I will hopefully post next.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fourth Year: Idea Three

The third idea of the five that I have taken forward from the 100 ideas. This one has remained unchanged from the initial idea generation session a month or so ago and was the inspiration behind calling it Avoiding Temptation.

The basic premise behind this idea is a robot that will run away with your phone or other piece of technology if it makes a sound or if you try and pick it up. It is saving you from yourself in a way. Another idea which this could be turned into instead of a robot is some sort of arm that holds the phone and whenever it goes off, it moves the phone further away from you and once it reaches a certain point it will drop the phone into a conveniently placed bin. A little drastic yes, but it is the same sort of idea that occurred in the second idea too where if your phone went off a certain number of times, it would turn red, this one will drop your phone into the bin.

This is a very simple idea and would do as it is supposed to and would be obvious, but on the other hand it might be too simplistic and there are similarities behind this one and ideas from previous years. But it is a possibility and it can be developed.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fourth Year: 100 Ideas

The latest task we have had to do was a biggy. Just before lunch on the Monday of Week 4, we were told that we were to try and get 100 ideas to do with our project to try and find someplace even deeper in the grand scheme of things to be focussing on in the year. We also had to prepare and come up with ten insights that our ideas were to revolve around.

The proper work started after lunch and by the time I left the studio at just after 5, I was half way there. I had 50 ideas, most of them rubbish I should admit, but I wasn’t discounting any at the time. Any idea goes just as long as it roughly has connotations to light and colour relating to sleep.

A long night lay ahead and by the time I got into the studio in the morning, I was stumped at 80, but at least it was a decent amount. From what I could tell, no one got up to the 100 mark, but it didn’t matter. Some of the ideas generated, did help to focus the mind on what we actually wanted our project to do, but I will say more about that in another post.

Fourth Year: New Project Direction

This is an every week occurrence so far this semester. I just can’t seem to find the right project direction, but I think I have something this time:

Using light and colour to try and improve (or remove dependance on) the way people use technology in the sleeping environment to ensure better quality sleep. The idea could be applied to other areas such as the office or driving (and the distractions technology may cause)

Fourth Year: Week 3 Summary

This is going to be a difficult summary to complete. I can’t really remember what happened in week three to be honest as doing work for this week (Week 4) has taken over. However I shall try my best and try and remember.

• Monday:  The work that we had to have completed for the start of the week eventually went to waste. We had to come prepared with photos and quotes that encapsulated our project. No less than ten minutes into the class we were asked to go and take one image and one quote and put them together in a similar style to the haiku the previous week.
• Tuesday was a very boring day. It was spent just sitting around waiting to be seen to. It did however mean that I got a chance to go over my project and try and decide the direction it was wanting to go in. At the time it was using colour as a signifier but there was no specific area that I wanted it to go in any further at the time.
• Wednesday: no great deal of work happened. The second draft of my dissertation was all but finished and time was spent just taking it easy and fine tuning what I had written for my second draft.
• Thursday: I attempted to start the work that was set on the Tuesday for the start of Week 4, but failed miserably because no one was told the same thing and no one else had an idea of what they were to do. In the morning I had a dissertation meeting with my advisor who gave me some feedback on my first draft and gave me some food for thought on the matter.
• Friday: Unfortunately no university work was done as I was in Aberdeen getting my MacBook fixed. However, I did get a reply to the email I asked the lecturer about the work for Monday, but as it was still a bit of  riddle, I spent the train journey trying to figure it out.
• Saturday. The afternoon was spent working on the things for Monday, but work was slow. I took time to consider all my options and information closely. I was on the right track though.
• Sunday: Most of the day was spent in my room working on the things for the Monday. I did a huge mind map/spider diagram thingy trying to figure out the direction that I wanted my project to take. It went off in two directions on one side it was using light and colour to affect things such as sleep, on the other side it was light and colour as signifiers. I kept going until the two started to join together and I came to the area of using light and colour to help enhance or deter the use of technology in the sleeping environment.

That was the week. It was busier than it seems, but already I can tell you that week 4 has been much more labour intensive.

Fourth Year: Week 2 Summary

Here we are at the end of the second week back at Uni, how time has flown by. I say that, but in all fairness it has not gone by that quickly at all in terms of the amount of work that I have had to do.

Monday consisted of basically pinning up on the wall what we had to bring in, so our character card and our journalistic article. The majority of the remainder of the day was spent going round everyone asking what their article was and how it related to the area of interest. This is one of the biggest wastes of time that we have to endure for almost every day so far we have been in a timetabled studio day. I don’t get anything from it and from what I have been told, neither does anybody else, but nobody says a thing. Time would be better spent doing one to ones so we could at least be given better feedback.

Tuesday was another dire day. In the morning we were required to all stand up again and show the photograph and haiku that we had to put together in less than 24 hours as we were given it just after lunch on the Monday. Luckily after lunch, it was one to one tutorials but as is always the case, or so it has been in the two weeks we have been back, feedback or input regarding my project would be better given by a dog gnawing away at a keyboard. I get nothing back from the lecturer. No comment on whether it is a good idea, bad idea, just a general generic comment whereas others get information given to them in droves. They get the input, I get the long awkward silences. I don’t want them to tell me what my project is going to be, or do, I just want input.

Over the course of the week, we were required to try and make contact with people for research regarding our project and to find images that could be used as insights in the design process along with inspiring quotes. These will be posted in a later post.

Wednesday was the day I took a break from the main coursework and started back on my dissertation. Something that I hadn’t really spent much time on over the previous couple of weeks. Over the course of the day, sitting in a rather cold DJCAD library, I rearranged what I had written in the first draft to make version 2.0. In the latter part of the day, time was spent commencing the first proper redraft in the form of version 2.1. This version incorporated full referencing and drastic removal/rewriting of various parts.

Thursday. A day very much spent the same as Wednesday, but the library was only visited after Lunch with the majority of the morning spent working on the dissertation in the comfort of my room. Almost all of the remainder of the second draft was completed minus a quarter of the fourth chapter and the conclusion. A piece of time was set aside in the afternoon to contact the found contacts for the main project.

Not much happened on Friday. I didn’t really spend much time doing Uni work due to it taking over and I just wanted a break before it consumed me. I did take some time to trail through old Aperture libraries looking for photos that could be used for my project and idea generation. It was relatively successful, but no one really knows what we are to have completed for the start of week three. In all honesty the course is a bit of a sham at the moment.

The weekend, as per Friday, didn’t feature much work getting done. Loose ends were tied up in regards to what I think we were to have done for the start of week three, but nothing major. It isn’t always possible to work non stop for a whole week and this week has definitely proved it. I’m already looking forward to this course finishing just so I can get away. I know it isn’t really a positive blog post this one, but I think I deserve a slightly grumpy one every once in a while.