Monday, 30 April 2012

CTS - Design for Sustainability seminar

"the more you read the more you write"

Proposal with a theme - don't have to be married to the title.

Literature search.

- library
- internet
- google scholar
- dast dissertations


Sustainability.

design with eco or ethical concern

ethics vs profits
common good vs individual gain
(communism/socialism vs capitalism)

Green movement 1960
1987 Bruntland Report - start of sustainability movement 
meeting the future without compromising the needs of today

environmentalism - jetisen - acknowledges the flaw in society but doesn't want to give it up
ecologism - (deep green)

Green washing - peoples views of the world can be capitalised on
V. Papanek BOOK - 'The Green Imperative' - social tithe
McDonough 'Cradle to Cradle'

Spheres of sustainability (within capitalism)

Environmental//Social//Economic

eco-socio-economic

How companies focus on being sustainable as well as making a profit

Generation Press - sustainable print.

CTS - Design for Social Change seminar

8000 words.

The dissertation should be broken down into about 4 chapters, an introductory section and a conclusion.

This in mind each chapter should be roughly 1500 words long
The for chapters will also allow you to take 4 different views on your topic.

Methodologies - coherent approach - semiotics, marxist, ecological, communication theory, post colonial, psychoanalytical (different methodologies will give you different answers)
Opportunities for hybrid methodologies.

Primary research - gets you more marks

- interviews - designers, peers, professionals, art objects, logo (anything you analyse)
- empirical study - experiment - study archives (evidence gained through observation)
- own interpretation of a text is primary research

Secondary sources - books about topic - approach - primary research - chapters



Social Change.

design activism/political

BOOK - L.Baldwim 'Visual Communication: From Theory to Practice'

'all design is political'

it always supports one side of society
supporting the dominant side of society

Relations of Production
Dialectical Materialism


Base (producer) superstructure (legitimises)

Base - economical reality, technology, workforce, force of production - balance of power, black and white, gay and straight, slave and master


Design either disrupts this cycle or follows it and in that argument all design is political.

To make a social change design would have to go against one side of this cycle.

IDEOLOGY - political programme - false consciousness - set of views and beliefs

BOOK - N.Klien 'No Logo' - design for social change will break any ideologies and take off any lids of false consciousness

Ocuppy, 99%
Adbusters - culture jamming

Audience - to make an impact you need to focus on the audience (audience theory)

Subculture (oppressed - superstructure) Culture (dominant - base)

Cycle of subculture - mass media


V. Papanek BOOKS - 'Design for the Real World' 'The Green Imperative'

Social Tithe - 10% or your time should be spent working on projects that design for social change.


Feedback on idea for dissertation.

Brand culture.
Subcultural brand culture.
Big brand culture
Naomi Klien
Culture jamming
The society big brand culture creates
How big brands negotiate ethical green washing
How big brands cope with social change

Narrow it down and do a literature search.

Thursday, 26 April 2012

CTS - Follow up Dissertation Briefing

- get all the support you can
- don't be lazy
- get organised
- it starts now - handed in 2nd week of February

- choose something you will be interested in for 8 months and could write 8000 words on

- make it personal to you - its relevant to you as a designer if its personal
- case study dissertations are a good way of keeping it focused. Limited case study

Seminars.

- sustainability - ecopolitics - ethics

- consumerism - relation between designer and consumerism - some politics - culture jammers - brand - retail graphics and retail environment

- social change - politics - V. Papanek - ethics - design that improves the world

- accessibility - relation between designer and audience

- future - design building the future - predicting technology

- interaction - idents - wayfinding - design that leads somewhere - moving image

- form follows function - is it acceptable to be a designer with a style - or should you prioritise communication


CTS - Dissertation Lecture

-Choose something relevant to your practice
- forget the word count
- academic writing course - run 3 times sign up in G23
- in depth critical research (from now and over summer)
- argument/ point of view/ stand point (non descriptive)
- don't choose a broad topic it'll be too thin
- make it narrow and be really critical
- breadth of sources 30% (loads of research broad/ extensive/ exhaustive) gather loads of sources then go over them in September
- spend at least 15 minutes a day collecting things, images, articles, quotes, and it will build up
- email people you may get a response
- what sort of analysis are you going to use?
- don't worry about the working title too much
- can be an extension of something from Level 4 or 5
- draft up proposal first then copy and paste into the online form
- look at previous dissertations in the library
- 7th June deadline for proposal