Learning Outcomes
- Communicate with peers, staff, research groups and industry professionals to clearly define the visual direction of your chosen project brief.
- Collaborate with key stakeholders to gather feedback and ensure that your project aligns with your target audience.
- Make prototypes and user test your design developments, to ensure your project direction is clear, concise and aligns with your target audience.
- Design the direction of your project concept, utilising feedback from your prototyping and user testing results.
Lecture Reflections
From this weeks lecture I was interested in the concept of design being generated through a design input. In the examples below, the design outcome has been generated in response to code, music or algorithms that are able to take information that has been imported. There has been an argument, or conversation around this idea that design will become less of an input of designed elements but an input of data and code. I find it really interesting and pushes the idea generation to the limits. The concept here is just as interesting as the final outcomes.
Testing
Design Development
The more that I spend developing these visuals I had considered a series of rules and ideas but felt that I was not being strict with my approach to the design principles that I should create that would enable space to be developed and truly consider the needs of its users. I sat down and talked through these ideas with my students and we spoke about how they use space in classrooms or in transition. It should be noted that these students were sixth-form students and therefor use space slightly differently. Their main concern was a social space and to feel like they were not apart of the lower school. They wanted to feel like their spaces were somehow different and reflected the values of the sixth form rather than principles of lower school. This was commented on when discussing routines and how there day would look. For example lower school are expected to line up outside of the classroom and await to be invited in by their teacher. The upper school do not do this, it is less formal and students can walk into the classroom and prepare for learning in their own way. Of course there are some ideals that continue and some expectations to be upheld. When I talked to them about my design ideas and approach they struggled to see how this translates into my visuals. They argued that while the idea of design principles to design a space and my approach could enable a more inviting space, the current design ideas were no more than renderings of a school. And I must agree that the visuals at the moment do not truly reflect the ideas that I wanted to communicate. This is for a number of reasons but mainly due to the lack of focus on my part in being strict with myself about what I was designing for and I needed to refine the idea of using design principles to create spaces.
Refinement / Design principles
Balance; In design the use of balance can be adopted to create symmetry this can evoke emotions of safety, power and stability. In architecture, the use of asymmetry can be adopted to create more visually appealing landscapes, the balance between objects should be considered and used in a way to keep a form of balance and not create an uneven aesthetic. Using balance within an architectural space should be considered through the use of design features and space design. Using balance to design a public space such as a class room can be considered in the layout of the room, creating an order and system to the room that enabled learners to feel safe and stable. The space should provide the teacher with the power and control to move around and ensure all learners are on task. It should also enable opportunity to experiment with the space, create an adaptability so that learning can be more than two dimensional. Balance in the classroom needs to be considered to ensure that the space is ergonomically designed, considers actability and flexibility. There are many ways that the concept of balance can be adopted in a learning environment, one proposal in that there is a balance in the learners ability and needs. A seating plan can be adopted to pair learners in groups to aid peer support and collaboration. Using this idea learners should be seated in groups of six that incorporate two of the more able learners and a mixture of lower ability and mid ability. This ensures that all learners will be stretched and challenged. This may be in terms of peer support or thinking about the lesson in a different way. Peer support can be a useful tool to be adopted that creates a balance of the learning environment, can aid behaviour management and enable the teacher to work with groups of learners rather than individuals sat in rows. Balance of the room should also be considered, using an aesthetic that creates calming atmosphere. Learners should be guided through the space and understand the hierarchy of the classroom in terms of learning zones.
Alignment; is used to create a centre or justify objects within a space, adopting the grid system of graphic design we can create layouts that have order and considering the design of spaces, this can create a flexibility of the space. Thinking about eduction and acknowledging that every teacher approaches things definitely and that every teacher has a view on homework or behaviour policy, or even the marking policy it is understandable that learners can feel that they are receiving a mixed message. We are all human and can have off days or feel overwhelmed but I believe that education should change to better support and enable teachers to become aligned in their approach to teaching. Align themselves and unite their approach to behaviour management and adoptions of policy. A school is not entirely a democratic place, sometimes it is more of a dictatorship where policy is written, sometimes with little consideration of the impacts it can have on teacher work load. But if we, as professionals are more consistent, and promote the same principles in the same way, learners are more likely to not feel confused or frustrated. Expectations from one teacher to the next can widely differ but if a school is the stable environment and the one constant in a child’s life then schools should aim to be more consistent and stable in their approach. This comes down to individual teachers actively working towards the policy put in place. However it is also the responsibility of the senior leader team to work closely with teachers to develop policy that is accurate and meaningful. It should be implemented to better support learner experience and development, not to please Ofstead or the Department of Education.
Emphasis; in design focuses on the importance of single elements. In this context of better supporting learners I believe emphasis can be placed on the support that is available to learners. Within my place of work, the support available to learners is vast, there are opportunities for learners to get involved in clubs, groups, discussions and access support. There is an opportunity to promote clubs and support available in school to the learners. Often a single email or an excel spread sheet is posted on the schools website with clubs and support on offer to students. As teachers we must realise that it is the repetition of information and a connection to this information that learners then can access it. If they are hearing of a new club for the first time during tutor time when they are talking or with their friends they may not fully absorb this information. Notice boards in schools too can become cluttered with information that is not relevant to 90% of students. There should be an emphasis of the support and opportunities that are on offer to learners.
Proportion; Teacher well being and work load is always a contentious subject, schools and Ofsted maintain a stance that they aim to improve workload and allow for teachers to maintain a healthy balance between teaching and paperwork. It is not enough sometimes to just teach, there is an exception for staff to take on extra responsibility, sometimes at no financial gain to the individual. There should be clear guidelines that aim to better support staff and ensure they are not in fear of burning out. Individuals should consider their ambition to progress but should not confuse this with a hinderance to do so. Teachers focus should be to teach and should extra responsibilities be taken on there needs to be a proportionate amount of time to do this, not an addition to the responsibilities already outlined as a teacher. I believe that there also should be a consideration of proportionate level of extended learning outside of the classroom, a more rigorous timetable of work to be completed by each subject, should aim to provide more emphasis on key subjects at lower school and pedagogies should consider the ability of learners. There is also a need for a consideration of the proportion of time spent in class and the amount of time given for lunch and breaks. I believe that within this there is also a need for contrast in the type of learning that we are delivering to our students. A concern of students for generations is that school does not provide substantial support or prepare learners for the real world. Schools aim to deliver a curriculum that supports further education and enabled students to have a benchmark of learning. However when some learners fail to meet this benchmark and do not go on to further education, they can be left with a feeling of neglect from the educational system that has not provided them with the skills for real world. I believe that schools should create spaces and environments that aim to equip learners with key skills such as growing and cooking their own food. Design and Technology subjects are no longer compulsory, these subjects offered a hands on approach to transferable skills that could equip learners with valuable experiences to take into the real world.
Movement; when considering the design principles to create a better learning environments movement was one that resonated with me and our learning environments. I started to think about current classrooms and barriers that are placed within them. Movement of learners should be encouraged and should consider the learning environment a more three dimensional space. At can be difficult to move an entire classroom around to make space for activities where learning can take place away from a desk. If we are considering the needs of industry and the work force, we should consider that collaboration and team work is an essential skill that should be embedded into the learning experience. There is also a notion that pairing learners up and working in small groups can provide a more constructive learning environment. for these reasons I propose that desks should be re-designed to be adaptable, movable and encourage collaboration. When we also consider the movement within a school we should consider the patterns of movement and how a learners journey can be better designed to reduce the frustration and confusion we often see at the door of the classroom. Students will turn up to the wrong class, have the incorrect equipment and are not ready to engage, creating spaces and planning students movement can minimise these stresses.
Pixels and Serifs. 