Watercolours

So I did as I thought. I spent a good while trying to decide on a different technique for making my final D&AD boards. I wanted to experiment with something new, other than CAD or photoshop, that would make my presentation different and somehow unique. I believe, the third year, it’s high time to figure out what kind methods and tools fit me best, so I can practise them before the final year project.

I finally decided to paint my boards with watercolours. The effect, that can be achieved with the subtle, fresh and slightly blurred colours seemed to be just right to express the tone of my project. I settled on the composition and palette and…well, it all looked great in theory, but the practise wasn’t easy at all. Especially as the last time I really painted was… 3 years ago, I guess… Apparently watercolours are one of the most challenging painting techniques. Mostly due to the fact, that there is no white paint, so once you put darker colour there is no chance to erase it or paint over. It also requires a lot of patience as each layer has to dry completely before applying the next one. It basically makes it impossible to see any immediate effect and got me really frustrated. I came to the point when I was ready to abandon the whole idea of this ‘artistic rebel’ and put a few vectors in solidworks or illustrator and have the whole thing ready in half hour. Luckily I had support from certain artist from upstairs, who helped me out and gave some motivation. To be fair, I was pretty satisfied with the outcome. Unfortunately getting the digital version of the image turned out to be quite problematic too. As watercolour paints give very light colours, many delicate shadows (which I gave so much attention) were lost while photographing or scanning, so I spent another couple of hours trying to photoshop them back (still not quite there – the image on top)

What’s the moral of the story? Well, it’s hard to be creative .

D&AD boards

The last couple of days everyone from Product Design (I wish I could say IPD) have been stressing out about the d&ad boards. What we actually have to do, is to design four A3 presentation boards explaining our ideas and referring them back to the brief.
Those recent days I have seen a lot of example boards, that are sort of guideline of what we are expected to deliver – like what are the correct layouts, fonts, colours and so on.

Looking at those boards, I realised how little they differ from each other. They are all following the same pattern - a big rendering on the rationale board, little drawings of hands on the interaction board, 3-4 pictures of insights on the research board… They are all telling same boring story. Well, the truth is, that the boards need to fit the criteria of d&ad, which sets limits for the content, but still, there must be a way to do something different and fresh. And I’m going to find it! We’re designers – creatives, which means we shouldn’t be encouraged to follow the same matrix. Well, yes – it is the content, that matters the most, but as we are asked to present it in the visual form, I reckon the presentation does play an important role.

Unexpected visual feast

Yesterday I watched Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and I must say this was the most beautiful film I have seen for a long time. All the scenes, shots, colours were composing such a wonderful pictures, that I couldn't stop staring at it (even the closing credits were so beautifully crafted that I watched them all). All details - objects, costumes, surroundings, fitted so well into convention and together created unbelievable, fantastical world.

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Dear Blog...

Today's morning mini-lecture Pete gave us, was about blogging. It reminded me of my poor, neglected blog, lost somewhere in the web... As Jon said, blogging is one of the forms of presence in the social networking community, so hip and desired in today's world. It made me feel guilty, that I didn't blog to much so far. As always - I was super-enthusiastic in the beginning, when I started and then I lost it.

When I come to think of it, well, blog doesn't really fit into my lifestyle and way of working and thinking. It's too structured and organised. It requires constant updating and the way the information is presented doesn't give much flexibility. It doesn't seem mine. I remember my past diaries, that I kept in junior-high age. They were so much more personal and creative. What made them special was all the junk I was pasting, scribbles, drawings, pages uneven from tears. This form allowed me to express my thoughts and emotions better.

I mean, I understand that this form needs to be a compromised for the sake of technology... Or does it? That's the problem that guys doing HP brief are trying to solve, isn't it?

Anyway, I was thinking maybe when I finally get my own website (I'm getting there, again I'm struggling with lack of enthusiasm...) I will try to develop some creative (unstructured) tool of expressing thoughts. One thing I know for sure - there won't be any dates, so that I'm not stressing out! I really liked the idea of hyperlinked design process maps as a way of communicating progress in a visual way. Maybe that could be a start...

Back in Dundee

So I'm back. It is really amazing how nothing changes. I mean, being away for half year and having so many things happening around me, makes me expect that whole world would somehow change. But it's not. Dundee's the same - grey, rainy and depressing. Why Scotland is not in Spain. I mean it would be so much nicer, seriously.

A last pretty picture from Valencia, for consolation...


and now welcome back Scottish stagnation....

Design for All

La accesibilidad al medio fisico, la inginieria y el diseño (3-6.11.08)

Last week I have been attending the conference about accessibility design (La accesibilidad al medio fisico, la inginieria y el diseño). It was quite a challenge as the lectures were five hours long, four days in a row. And they were all held in Spanish.

The buzz phrase for all of the lectures was 'Diseño para todos' (design for everyone). It was said, that about 40% of the world's population has somehow reduced accessibility. Mainly due to their age (children, elderly), disabilities (handicapped, mental impaired) or temporary states (pregnancy, injuries). Many environments and products are not suitable for those people and create obstacles in their everyday lives, which is twice as unfair, as their lives are quite complicated anyway.
The current trend is to design with the consideration of users with reduced accessibility. 'Trend' is not the right word. I would say it is a necessity, that is strongly supported by European and Spanish legislation (every single lecture started with quoting the Spanish 'ley 55/2007 de 28 de diciembre' - I know it by heart now...).
I believe the matter is really important. And design is only one aspect of the problem. Looking at the bigger picture - it is a social challenge: to change the perception of the people, who are now seen as 'abnormal' and include them back in the society. And certainly it does not mean designing special objects/services for them, which would only exaggerate the difference, but creating universal things, that are equally attractive and accessible for all users.
Sounds so good and noble... and unfortunately very utopian.

Piracy

Funny, YouTube on it's main site recommended me to watch this video and it turned to be very interesting and so true. I don't know how did YouTube know I would like watch this one. Modern technology amazes me...

It's a talk of Larry Lessing about the copy write law, we have nowadays and which doesn't really apply to the internet reality and it makes everyone a pirate. I think I am a pirate. I'm never 100% sure when I post some content in the Internet if it's legal or not. For example when I copy my friends pictures from facebook and post them on fotolog, is that steeling. Well, they are in the internet anyway... And all the downloading... everyone does it.



I remember the other day, we wanted to go out in the evening with some of my Polish friends and we had to wait for one hour for Meggi who is addicted to House and had to see the new episode that was aired on TV that night. Everyone was quite annoyed and we said to her why didn't she download it from the internet so that she could watch it the other time. Then Meggi said she can't do that because it's illegal. Everyone gave her a weird look and laughed. It sounded so ridiculous. I think no one treats this law seriously.