Learning Objectives
- Distill your research into trends, competing projects and strategy, from the previous four weeks, to inspire the concept development of your project brief.
- Collaborate with peers, staff, research groups or industry professionals to seek advice and feedback on the direction of your project brief.
- Design and deliver a range of initial concept developments in response to your strategy and project goals.
Lecture Reflections
What methods and approaches do you take to aid idea generation?
The main take away from this weeks lecture was that as a designer, we need to learn to fail but also to evaluate and analyse what has contributed to that failure in order to grow and move on. This will ultimately result in more refined ideas and speed up the process of idea development. I believe it is good practice to also make and draw ideas in order to best develop concepts. Working on emotion and having a client in mind this approach to exploration can aid a more creative and in-depth outcome. Working as a team and learning together is also a key skill that was discussed within the lecture. I have found it difficult to collaborate with others during this process but have worked with people around me rather than online. Maybe it’s the lack of emotional connection and I prefer to talk to people face to face. Something to consider..
Design Inspiration
It had taken me until half way through this video to realise that I had watched it previously. However It had begun to spark ideas about this project. I re-watched the David Caron Ted Talk too, that also made me think about emotion and empathy within design and how I could generate a response that would focus on a calming nature and one that would not be ignored. Today I noticed that in highly stressful situations students can ask to leave the room, or go to the toilet. At times I too need time out of the class room if the tension in the room is becoming too much. At times stepping away can offer a fresh perspective that enables me to return and be in a calm, more helpful mind. Today during two year 7 lessons, where I have a select group of students who are particularly weak, needy and lack the ability to process situations or problems effectively that they are not able to offer solutions to simple problems. Square peg round hole situation.. When giving instructions and offering examples, students still continue to only select some of the information given and not always do they process all of the task. This can be highly frustrating and often leaves me thinking that it is me that is the problem. Again stepping away from the room for just a short moment can offer a break away from the frustrations of the class room. So, could I develop a visual response that offered a calming break away from the class room, away from students and other staff members. And same for students, a calming space that is away from the pressures of a class room and that is free from judgement. Where would this be. The toilet?
Talking through Ideas with Ben, we spoke about transitional spaces and behaviour of students. The expectation changes from the playground to the corridor and into the classroom. Our school has 3 100 minutes lessons a day to minimise the amount of transition time between lessons and to reduce the amount of time students are wondering around. Their lunch time is only 40 minutes and a mid morning break is 30 minutes. The strategy behind this is to reduce the time where students are free to wonder and cause mischief. However at times, 100 minute lessons can seem like a very long time for students to be sat in one place in some subjects. One of the books I have on my shelf is the Thomas Heatherwick, Making. I have been looking through this book for ideas. I was also recommended the book ‘The architecture of hope’ by Charles Jencks. This book was suggested to me after reaching out to a friend at Boaz Studio.
I have also recently watched the Abstract series on Netflix that focus on the work of Ilse Crawford and Olafur Eliasson. Both have experimented with the use of colour and the emotion that should be considered when thinking about space. Eliasson describes the absence of colour to have an emotional impact. The use of his yellow light removes colour from the eye to leave the viewer with a perception that they are monochromatic. Crawford explains that we should design spaces to evoke emotion and that it is not until recently that interior or spacial design has been taken seriously as a discipline. There has been studies within the past 10 years that have explored the development and implementation of design thinking within spacial design to improve the behaviour and cognitive development of Alzhimer pattens, Cancer patients and Adults with Autism. Sensory design aims to create a calming and relaxing atmosphere to ensure that the user is not overly stimulated and can aid recovery or care. One place that this is put into practice is the Alzhimers Village that has been proposed in France. It aims to provide a safe environment for patients to roam free and live a safe and normal life without anxiety or stress.
To best support me with this project I have reached out to a local architecture practice, I hope that they can offer some guidance or advice on my approach. I started to get something down on paper by drawing out the floor plan of the building that I work in. It is a single story with a run through corridor. On each wall is a display of students work or promotional poster of actives and clubs that we offer in the department. A recent study has show that the classroom environment has a big impact on students learning. A rise in 16% focus and productivity from desks being arranged in clusters rather that in rows. Spaces that mimic a working environment aims to better prepare learners for their future careers and offers an insight into working practice. It is fair to suggest that most teachers prefer students to be quiet, sat in one place and work on the task been given. This model does not work for all students and is not the model that we adopt in the working environment, we need to collaborate and communicate. Are teachers providing the best working environment with rows of seats and a silent room. I have written a questionnaire to hep inform my design ideas, I want to know how students feel about their working environment and how much this can contribute to their well being and health.
Workshop Challenge
I started to put pen to paper and began drawing patterns and it made me think about the pattern that I had created during unit 1. I thought that I could utilise this design within my calming space. I am still very unsure about how I will present a solution to this idea but I thought that going back to using sketch_up may help me visualise an ideal space and then I could work from there.
The two images above are of the corridor of the Technology block in the school that I work at. The White walls often become dirty from bags and coats being rubbed against them, the displays are often up for a number of years before being changed and things can become stale and old rather quickly. I believe that transforming the spaces that we teach and students learn can have a positive impact on learning and mental wellbeing within the school environment. Research suggests that colour and environment can have a positive impact on a students focus and willingness to learn. There are of course always external factors to this and I understand that not every student will have a willingness to engage because of their environments.
References:
https://www.scienceofpeople.com/color-psychology/
https://www.verywellmind.com/color-psychology-2795824
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244014525423
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/00251740610673332/full/html
Pixels and Serifs. 