DESIGN PROCESS. BRIEF 1. Group: cooking.

We had a lot of discussions on what topic to choose. Finally we're hopping to go with: 'How to prepare a meal without wasting time and money?' Because this topic is relevant to a wider audience. Eating is part of our human nature. We all eat, just the habits how we do that are different. We are thinking to choose students as our audience for this project. Basically because we are students.  And we all need to amke discussions: healthy or cheap? cooking or take-away? saving money and eating s**t or eating proper food?


I'm doing some research on how to save money on food. I found few useful links.

Top 10 ways to save money on food:

1. Buy local produce
2. Use compounds
3. Cook from scratch
4. Buy store brands
5. Buy in bulk
6. Make a core menu
7. Keep leftovers
8. Shop online
9. Shop using recipes
10. Make a list

Link: http://listverse.com/2008/09/12/top-10-ways-to-save-money-on-food/

If You order food You might save money as well, because supermarkets make us spend more money when we're in them.

A supermarket's job is to make us spend

Supermarkets are cathedrals of consumerism; they're almost perfectly honed marketing environments, benefiting from millions of pounds of research into how to encourage and seduce us into buying and spending more than we need.

It's one reason that if you want to teach an eight-year-old about money, the best place to start is a supermarket. Ask them what they can smell: it'll usually be bread or a bakery, as the scent makes us hungry and likely to buy more food, so the supermarket profits.

This means as consumers we must learn counter-moves. Obviously eating before shopping helps, but this is just one trick. Supermarkets' other tactics include the following:

• Sweets and magazines placed by the till
  
  These are impulse buys, so putting them near the till gives stores one last attempt to grab our cash.
• Store layouts make us walk the whole distance
  
  Regularly bought items tend to be spread around the store, so we need to pass many other tempting goodies to complete our shopping.
• Eye level products are the profitable ones
  
  The most profitable stock is placed at eye level (or children’s eye level if it's targeted at them), yet profitable goods tend not to be the best deals. The age old adage ‘look high and low for something’ really does apply.
• Sales type signage for non-sales items
  
  Seedless grapes and other attractive treats are usually near the store entrance, often below cost price, to entice us in. Similar signs and displays are used elsewhere to promote deals, even when they're not on sale. Bright colours and the words 'discount' and 'sale' make us feel good, yet the reduction may be pennies and cheaper equivalents hidden elsewhere.
  
  Also see When promos go wrong, our gallery of nonsensical offers from supermarkets. Users sent us their best spots, eg, 'Air freshener 75p each or 2 for £5!' and in best Tony Hart fashion we compiled a gallery.

Don't let them steer your trolley

The beauty of supermarket design is that it's all aimed at making us impulse spend. Almost all the techniques in this guide are designed to put you back in charge. For those on a strict budget, it's important to get in the right mindset.

Link of a Talk given by Jamie Oliver on how important cooking food is for children. The whole idea of sharing recipes and the preparing food at home is really important as well. And if we think about how not to waste time so cooking in a group and sharing your meal becomes a part of time saving. When You do stuff together with your roommates, family or friends it becomes part of socialising and it becomes fun, so to think You're not wasting time anymore on cooking because it becomes a part of something more important. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/765

It can also be a way to get to know other cultures and their dishes.

http://www.fetaarepa.com/cocinar-es-compartir-beans/

DESIGN PROCESS. BRIEF 1. Info-graphics.

On the first workshop we had to do a design sheet with 20 interesting things that we found while researching our topic, mine was 'How to chop an onion'. Than we had to do a timeline concerning our education. Finally we did an info-graphic design sheet by trying to arrange 5 things out of 20 in some logical order. I did mine by arranging the most effective ways to chop an onion without crying that I knew that work.  After all that we were placed in groups - 'cooking'. We had all these different topics and find it quite hard to choose one. We narrowed it down to 2: 'How to chop an onion' and 'How to prepare a meal without wasting time and money'. 

After this workshop I decided to dig in and analyse what IS info-graphics.  

Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. With an information graphic, computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians develop and communicate concepts using a single symbol to process information.

Reference: wikipedia 

I also took a book from the library 'Visual aid 2. You can never know enough stuff.' Black dog publishing - london.  I found it quite helpful. I understood that info-graphics is not all about numbers and facts (though it is pretty much that) but it's more about organising the information and making it easy to read and understand to others. 

I also came across this interesting info-graphics example in wikipedia: 

Also in 1972 the Pioneer Plaque was launched into space with the Pioneer 10 probe. Inscribed into the plaque was an information graphic intended as a kind of interstellar message in a bottle, designed by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake. The message is unique in that it is intended to be understood by extraterrestrial beings who would share no common language with humans. It depicts a picture of a man and a woman standing in front of a simplified silhouette of the probe in order to give a sense of scale. It also contains a map locating the sun relative to a number of pulsars, and a simplified depiction of the solar system, with the probe's path from earth into outer space shown with an arrow.

I also read a  review of 'Information is Beautiful' and there was an interesting thought about info graphics: 

I expect that any book of info-graphics, no matter how well researched and designed, could be accused of over-simplifying complex issues which often require detailed and patient reading as well as a nuanced interpretation rather than a brief, facile and aesthetically pleasing glance. But one does not thumb through a book of info-graphics looking for comprehensive essays on complex issues. The power and usefulness of the info-graphic is its ability to present information in a dramatic and effective way. 

I think there are three possible responses a reader can have to any info-graphic. Sometimes the information is already known and accepted in advance as being true by the reader and merely bolsters pre-existing beliefs or opinions, as will be the case with most Guardian readers and the climate change info-graphics. Sometimes the information in a diagram is unknown to the reader and, depending on the simplicity or complexity of the subject, the info-graphic can either form a new belief instantly or inspire one to research the topic further before doing so. For example, after finding the info-graphic on Amazonian deforestation I went on-line to see if it were true and, sadly, based on what I could find, it seems to be true and so I have formed a new opinion on this subject. Thirdly, an info-graphic may contradict a pre-existing belief. When this happens one can either deny the information altogether, dispute the reliability of the data or its interpretation or research the topic further and then, based on what one finds, either confirm or disconfirm one's prior beliefs. 

Link to the full review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/185696869

DESIGN PROCESS. Research

I did a questionnaire in facebook on our graphic design first year group and this is what my course mates suggested on how to chop an onion without crying:

A lot of pages that I visited suggested that a good and sharp knife is the best way to chop an onion. Though I found it hard to find information without visuals. 

Step 1: Top and tail the onion and cut it in half through the stem.

Step 2: Remove the papery outer skin.

Step 3a: Make a horizontal cut into the onion. Do not cut through the stem.

Step 3b: Make a second horizontal cut. If you're cutting the onion very small you can make 3 horizontal cuts closer together.

Step 4: Make several vertical cuts in the onion, making sure to not cut through the stem. Many onions have striations, these make good guidelines for cuts.

Step 5: Using the knife, cut lengthwise through the onion until you reach the stem.

Reference: http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-chop-onion

DESIGN PROCESS.Task 1

My topic is how to chop an onion? When the task was set I thought I won't be able to find any information about chopping the onion. I was wrong, there are many tutorials and instructions how to chop an onion without crying, or how to chop an onion without cutting your fingers off. I don't know much about cutting onions but I know a perfect person in everyones life that knows - MOM. So I called my mom (to Lithuania) and asked few questions on how she does that. My mom seemed to know loads of old methods of how to chop an onion without crying, some of them seemed quite ridiculous to me:

1. She always puts the knife under cold water and only then starts chopping. Somehow the water on the knife helps not to cry. (she learned this from her mother)

2. She told me about a method that her friend uses. Put some cold water in Your mouth and chop the onion. <--- ok, this one even to me is way to strange. How can that help not to cry?

My roommate lauren told me of a method she knows bur remarked that she tried it and it doesn't help at all:

1. Put a spoon in Your mouth and chop the onion.  <--- I still don't get the connection between chopping and putting something in your mouth in order not to cry.

After hearing few ridiculous methods on how to chop an onion I decided to do some research in the internet, maybe I'll find something more helpful and logical. The only problem the internet is quite  visual.

1. Over the years I've been given countless methods of how not to cry when preparing onions. One enterprising person even sent me a battery-operated fan to fan away the fumes, but I can honestly say that nothing really works. For chopping, however, food processors have made things a lot easier, and now there aren't as many tears as there used to be. If you want to slice onions, cut off the root end, then peel away the skin. Slice in whole round 
slices and separate into rings, or else cut the onion in half first and then slice into half-moon shapes.


2. To chop small (without a processor), leave the root intact, then peel away the skin from the top end. Now cut the onion in half and place each half on a flat surface, round side up. Next, make cuts vertically from the root end but leaving the root intact to hold it together.


 3. Then make horizontal cuts across the vertical cuts whilst you hold on to the root end firmly. The last cut will be the little root bit, and this can be discarded.


4. Rough chopping is as above, making about three cuts vertically across each onion and then three horizontally


http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/fruit-and-vegetables/how-to-slice-and-chop-onions.html

• Chop the top off the onion and cut in half.
• Peel the skin away - discard the brown layers until you are left with the white of the onion.
• Take one half of the onion and make about 3 or 4 horizontal cuts, then cut down vertically, holding the onion together as you chop.
• Turn the onion with the flat end facing the knife and chop downwards with a slicing motion to create a finely chopped onion. Discard the root.
• Repeat the process on the second half.

• Onion slicing is one of the most important cooking skills because many soups, stews and sauces start with this technique.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/1059/chopping-an-onion

DESIGN PROCESS. Task 1. RESEARCH.

There are few types of research:


Primary research consists in research to collect original primary data. It is often undertaken after the researcher has gained some insight into the issue by collecting secondary data. This can be through numerous forms, including questionnaires, direct observation and telephone interviews amongst others.


Secondary research (also known as desk research) involves the summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research rather than primary research, where data is collected from, for example, research subjects or experiments.


Quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships.


Qualitative research  gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The qualitative method investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often needed than large samples.


Reference: wikipedia 

CONTEXT OF PRACTISE. lesson notes. AESTHETIC.

we had a lesson with Jo and I think it was quite interesting. We did a lot of practices with small notes and one word that described the aesthetic feature of our chosen pictures. At the end of the lesson we had to go to the library and choose an aesthetically pleasing piece for our partners (suzanne) I chose from three books, three pieces:

Her five criteria:

1. tektile

2. naive

3. clever

4. attention to detail

5. texture

My chosen pieces for Suzanne:

1. 'the fundamentals of illustration' Lauren Zeegen . 'Bear and hunter'. Adrian Johnson.

http://www.bigactive.com/illustration/adrian-johnson

2. '3 dimensional illustration' Awards Anual. Paul Davis 

http://www.dorasbox.com/paul_davis.html

3. 'Neo Geo'. Natsko Seki 'music' 

http://www.agencyrush.com/Artists/Natsko_Seki/

Mine criteria for aesthetic was:

1. Geometrical

2. Repetitive

3. Pattern

4. Light

5. Colour

Suzanne found these artists:

From this book:

1.Ana Albero 'Tuberculosis'

http://www.ana-albero.com/

2. Gary Taxali ' But..'

http://www.garytaxali.com/

3.Laura Ljungkvist 'Kitchen'

http://www.followtheline.com/

4. Petra Borner 'Magnetic Lady'

http://petraborner.com/

5.Jan Hakon Robson ' Loaf'

http://www.pvuk.com/artist/jan_hakon_robson-portfolio152_1.html

6. Emmanuel Polanco 'Dad'

http://www.graphic-exchange.com/exellence/emmanuelpolanco.htm

7. Jeanti 'Twin face'

http://www.jeanti.com/

8. Olaf Hajek 'Smell'

http://www.olafhajek.de/

CONTEXT OF PRACTICE. Harvard style referencing

Bullmore J. (2003) 'More Bull More', Oxfordshire, World Advertising Research Centre.

Dyer G. (1986) 'Advertising as communication', London, Routledge.

Pratkanis A. & Aronson E. (2002) 'Age of propaganda. The everyday use and abuse of persuasion', revised edition, New York, Owl Books.

Robinson J. (1999) 'The manipulators. Unmasking the hidden persuaders', London, Pocket Books.


Stoklossa U. (2007) 'Advertising: new techniques for visual seduction', New York, Thames & Hudson

DESIGN SKILLS.BRIEF 5. MESSAGE AND DELIVERY. RESEARCH.

I researched how the most common british cars look like. I printed these pictures out on a4 and traced them. 

 This one I used to trace on the illustrator my final image for the final piece that is on the front of the flayer. And by opening up you crack it up. So as if it is broken. 

I googled: mechanic tool kit to try to develop my idea further, because when we had a session with Amber we all had to dress up as our occupation, I only brought some tools that i found at my house and people knew that I was a mechanic, that's why I chose a tool kit box as part of my design, because it's clear of what am I trying to say. 

DESIGN SKILLS. BRIEF 5. MESSAGE AND DELIVERY. RESEARCH.

After the first crit I got really worried, because basically I had to change my idea. Now when I think of it, It really didn't make sense. I had a crit with Jo. And everybody on the table had the same problem, the idea wasn't as strong and it didn't really link with the proverb . Jo was happy that I had a visualisation of my idea, just the whole idea sending an invitation to NASCAR mechanics that were chosen for the hall of fame wasn't that good as I first thought it was. Basically my proverb is EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING so I wanted to use that and rephrase it EVERY CAR NEEDS A GOOD MECHANIC ( I did use this sentence in my final piece) and I research the most famous mechanic in the world, but obviously not a lot of people knew it, only mechanics. Anyways I found this hall of fame, that I was eager to use as my mailing list source, but it turned out to be unsuccessful. After a big disappointment I kept thinking how to link these two things (proverb and occupation). Exigently I remembered 'Forest Gump'

I know it's just a movie, but actually this phrase was used for car insurance company and it was very popular as a bumper sticker. Then I had 'it'. Shit happens, but every cloud has a silver lining. That's how I can use my proverb and connect it to my idea. S**t happens, but every cloud has a silver lining - that's why every car needs a good mechanic.  

It's an informational leaflet for students in Leeds who have cars (why students? well, the one's who live here already have their mechanics, but the ones who just came here might be a bit worried where to find a good mechanic in leeds(cheap one as well)) where to find a mechanic in leeds. It has the name of the company, postcode so You could track it on your gps and a telephone number or a website. 

found out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shit_happens

The information I put in my design is from this website that has all the leeds mechanics ranked:

http://www.qype.co.uk/uke42-leeds/categories/41-garages-and-mechanics-in-leeds

CONTEXT OF PRACTICE. LECTURE NOTES. graffiti - street art

CONTEXT OF PRACTISE. LECTURE NOTES. postmodernism

CONTEXT OF PRACTICE. LECTURE NOTES. modernism

DESIGN SKILLS.BRIEF 4.MESSAGE AND DELIVERY. RESEARCH

My pro-verb: Every Cloud has a silver lining. I did some design sheets. I'm a bit late with this project, because I've got really sick. That's why now I'm working double, trying to catch up. I did some basic idea sketches. That I photographed and scanned.  I still don't have a

LECTURE NOTES. FILM THEORY 1.

The auteur moodle

Andre Bazin and the tradition of Realism: 

http://understandingfilm.wetpaint.com/page/4.+Andre+Bazin+and+the+Tradition+of+Realism

Safety First USA 1923

Utamaro and His five women Japan 1955

Alfred Hitchcock(1899–1980)

“What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out?”

"Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.”

“I am scared easily, here is a list of my adrenaline - production: 1: small children, 2: policemen, 3: high places, 4: that my next movie will not be as good as the last one.”

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000033/

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (translated as Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror; or simply Nosferatu) is a classic 1922 German Expressionist horror film, directed by F. W. Murnau, starringMax Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok. The film, shot in 1921 and released in 1922, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel (for instance, "vampire" became "Nosferatu" and "Count Dracula" became "Count Orlok").

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017075/

Suspense is generated when the audience can see danger his characters cannot see…

"There's no terror in the bang of the gun, only the anticipation of it."

his earlier work could create vivid terror in the mind of the viewer with very little spatter on the screen.

Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas.Expressionist artists sought to express meaning or emotional experience rather than physical reality.^[3][4]

Expressionism was developed as an avant-garde style before the First World War. It remained popular during the Weimar Republic,^[1] particularly in Berlin. The style extended to a wide range of the arts, including painting, literature, theatre, dance, film, architecture and music.

The term is sometimes suggestive of emotional angst. In a general sense, painters such as Matthias Grünewald and El Greco are sometimes termed expressionist, though in practice the term is applied mainly to 20th-century works. The Expressionist emphasis on individual perspective has been characterized as a reaction to positivism and other artistic styles such as naturalism and impressionism.

SummaryThe paper presents an interpretation of Hitchcock's Vertigo, focusing on the way its protagonist's drama resonates with the analyst's struggle with deep unconscious identifications, with the impossibility of maintaining detached objectivity or guaranteeing one's role as a reparative good object, and with the dangers of grandiosity, omniscience, and illusory control. The protagonist's 'countertransference love' crystallizes around a rescue fantasy, in which he is Orpheus, striving to bring Eurydice back from Hades; or a Knight, determined to behead an obscure Dragon endangering Beauty. Initially these key roles are sharply differentiated, through splitting and disavowal, which deprive the participants from their conflictual three-dimensionality. Eventually, however, the valiant Knight turns out to be as helpless and lonely as his Beauty, and in the final scene - as ruthless and lethal as the Dragon. This interpretation is compared to numerous other views of the film offered in the literature. The survey and comparison of the various views leads to fundamental issues in the psychoanalytic study of art. Interpretations can be seen as unavoidably coloured by the (counter)transference of viewers. It is suggested that a film has no hidden true meaning, and a new individual significance emerges in the transitional space opened up by each viewer's encounter with the emotional universe of the film. A defensive emphasis on the pathology of artists and their work may alienate us from art, and blind us to to ways we could learn from it, as persons and as analysts.
Just as, in the end, the detective is revealed to be the criminal, the doctor-therapist, the would be analyst, herself turns out to be an analysand. The Turn of the Screw in fact deconstructs all these traditional oppositions; the exorcist and the possessed, the doctor and the patient, the sickness and the cure, the symptom and the proposed interpretation of the symptom, become here interchangeable, or at the very least, undecidable. (Felman, 1982, p. 176)
This paper offers a psychoanalytic exploration of Alfred Hitchcock's film, Vertigo (1958). I will start from my own view of the film, continue with a review of the extensive literature debating it, and conclude with a discussion of a few issues related to the way Vertigo has been understood, and of some fundamental dilemmas in the psychoanalytic study of art. 


http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/epff3/berman.htm

In theory: The Death of the Author

Kicking off a new occasional series about the most influential literary theory, Andrew Gallix revisits a classic essay by Roland Barthes:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/jan/13/death-of-the-author