Week 10
Methodologies
Ethnographic research describes a study of people's lives of or within their community. It is about observing to gain insight and understanding of certain cultures and society with a predetermined research objective. It can help to develop new perspectives and identify patterns related to a specific topic.
Documentary film and photography are great ways to capture findings, as seen in the 'Infra' project by Richard Mosse. A stunning project capturing the the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Using discontinued infrared military surveillance technology, he explored how the medium can communicate and reveal the subject and narrative. The infrared demonstrates a spectrum of light invisible to the human eye, which is metaphorical in showing the unseen or overlooked violence and atrocities that were happening.
Auto-Ethnography
Though I am looking to utilise the method of auto-ethnography, as this is a personal project to me and I am already familiar with the place and live here as well.
Many of the resources that I reviewed when trying to grasp this method of research demonstrated how the consideration of personal experience can influence research processes. By acknowledging my standpoint, I would be more conscious of the potential influence in the development of my project and understand my own emotional attachment, whilst also recognising the need for external perspective. Connecting an intellectual and emotional approach to research challenges how we can interpret lived experience
Reading included:
The Ethnographic: A methodological novel about auto-ethnography
Qualitative Researching - Jennifer Mason
Phenomenology
A Method of Phenomenological Interviewing essay - Mark T. Bevan
This was particularly influential reading as the essay looks into the method of interviewing for descriptive phenomenological research. Engaging in a conversational approach to gain insight and clarity on the human experience and using structured questions in a way that opens up conversation and provides the potential to explore human experience.
Further Resources:
The theory, practice, and evaluation of the phenomenological method as a qualitative research procedure. - Giorgi, Amedeo
Review of research philosophies
Research Philosophies
Epistemology - Even from having researched the term prior to this project, my knowledge is still lacking. However my understanding is that epistemology Is the theory of knowledge, including the nature, scope and limits of it. How do we gain knowledge? We gain knowledge from our experiences. So, it seems that epistemology relates to how an individual researcher's views, experiences, values and knowledge influence how they construct or conclude research to gain knowledge. So research conclusions can vary, depending on the researcher's own standpoint of knowledge.
Ontology - The nature of reality. It's a question of existence.
Axiology- The philosophical study of values including aesthetics and ethics. It can help with the process of research through considerations relating to the values which should guide our research.
Redefining my project proposal
After doing some more extensive reading and research on methodologies and further research on Peterborough. I went back to my project proposal and redefined what I was trying to achieve. Below I have revised my project proposal to reflect the research that I have carried out and the shift in focus in the aims of the project. It still remains a personal project about the city I am from but with the development of research and understanding around what a sense of place really is. My thoughts about what my overall goal and ambitions were.
Project Proposal Draft.
How might a greater connection be made between people and place within this dynamic commuter city?
In what ways can a sense of place be connected through both growth and heritage in the city of Peterborough?
History and Theory
Peterborough was declared a New Town in 1967, reinventing itself from a small market town. An expansion programme was put in place by the newly created Peterborough Development Corporation to resolve the housing and unemployment problems in the city. In the years that followed, the population grew and it became a popular location for commuters, particularly to London and Cambridge, with many new brutalist structures being built to accommodate the rapid rise in population, notably Bretton and Orton townships. Commuting remains a major part of Peterborough’s culture thanks to its direct link to the A1 and its connection through a major train intersection. However, the identity of the city has been transformed with developments continuing to this day, as the final phase of the Hampton township, Hampton Water and the initial phase of the Great Haddon township taking shape. So how can local residents connect with their environment beyond the commuter label? Can people and place be connected through exploration of the city using the situationists practice of the derive? A place is individual to ones self, therefore hard to define on a mass scale. Yet, is there a way to understand it as a collective, without bias or internalised perception?
Aims and Objectives
My aims for the project are to:
Understand what a sense of place is within the city of Peterborough.
To develop a connection between people and place.
My objectives are to:
Create something that helps people to develop a connection to their locality or know the place they live better.
To encourage people to immerse themselves their city, in its culture and heritage.
Take more pride in the area and look after their surroundings.
Target Audience
The target audience is people that live in Peterborough. The project can be aimed at any age group, anyone who wants to explore within the city. Though I believe it is more suited towards adults aged anywhere between 20-80
Timeline
As I am currently on week 10, about half way through the project. I am finding myself slightly behind at this point, because of my indecision or uncertainty about where my project has been headed up until this point. Now, with a clearer idea of where I am headed, my timeline for the project has changed.
Week 10 - Primary research
Weeks 11&12 - Continue with primary research. Write up plan for the written essay. Begin development of the project design.
Weeks 13/16 – Prototypes and feedback.
Weeks 17&18 – Begin writing the essay. Continue with the design development.
Weeks 19/24 - Final developments before submission.
Individual Critical Report – Due 26 July
Secondary - A continuation of research of source materials including books, journals, documentaries. Looking into the topic of the local landscape of Peterborough and its history, as well as the topic of sense of place and the methodologies used for my primary research.
Other areas of research - Community design and sense of belonging.
Primary – I plan to undertake my own ethnographic, observational study by visiting five locations to gain personal insight into a sense of place. As well as undertaking unstructured walking interviews with local residents around the same five locations, to discuss their sense of place and gain new perspectives.
Part A – Overview of the project
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1 | Student | Name: Grace Bloye Course: MA Graphic Design Module: MA Project GDE750 |
2 | Title of the project | How might a greater connection be made between people and place within this dynamic commuter city?
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3 | Briefly summarise the project’s aims, objectives and methodology. | Aims and Objectives
My Objectives are to:
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Part B – Does the project require research ethics approval?
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4 | Does your research involve participants of any type, ie. humans or animals, directly or indirectly? Review the questions in Part C as a guide. | ❑ Yes ❑ No ❑ Don’t know If Yes or don’t know, continue to Part C. If No, the project is out of scope. Go to direct to 15a. |
Part C – Details of the research
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5 | Give a brief reflection/overview of the ethics issues in this project. | Yes, It involves gathering research from people. So will therefore need formal consent for participants to take part |
6 | Who will the participants be? Identify specifically any vulnerable groups or individuals and address any special measures you intend to take to accommodate them. | Interviews with local residents aged between 25 and 67 |
7 | How will participants be recruited and how many will be involved? | I plan on reaching out to my local community groups. To reach my target audience |
8 | What will participants be asked to do? | I plan to simply do questions and answers to gain insight into my chosen field of research. In an outdoor setting they will take the from of walking interviews |
9 | What potential risks to the interests of participants do you foresee and what steps will you take to minimise those risks? A participant’s interests include their physical and psychological wellbeing, their commercial interests; and their rights of privacy and reputation. | I will inform all participants of the project and give all information about the research I am conducting. As well as informing them how this information and responses will be used. Allowing them to raise any concerns that the have or to withdraw from the study. |
10 | Will you be obtaining personal information from any of the participants? E.g. name, personal opinions, address, recorded images or audio, date of birth, notes and observations. | ❑ YES ❑ NO If you answer ‘Yes’, please give details. In your response, please consider: How will you store and use this information during the course of your research? Securely on my personal computer What parts of this information will need to be confidential and how? I will not need any personal information of participants other than age ranges, and gender therefore they don’t need to disclose any of this information and nothing will be published. Will you exhibit or publish the information? No, I will only publish insights that I have gained from answers. Will you retain information after the research is concluded? If information is to be destroyed, explain why this is appropriate. Any notes will be destroyed upon participants request
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11 | What potential risks to yourself do you foresee and what steps will you take to minimise those risks? | I will gather notes on responses throughout interviews, therefore dont see any potential risk
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Eg. does your research raise issues for your personal safety, especially if taking place outside working hours or off University premises?
| No | |
12 | What potential risks to the environment do you foresee and what steps will you take to minimise those risks, eg. does your research involve plants or soil? | Not within my interviews, and any research that involves natural spaces will be ethnographic, therefore there is no risk |
13 | Will payments or in-kind contributions be made to participants?
| ❑ YES ❑ NO
If YES, please state amount and whether payment is for out-ofpocket expenses, or a fee |
14 | Will any restrictions be placed on the publication of results? | ❑ YES ❑ NO
If YES, please state the nature of the restrictions, (eg. details of any confidentiality agreement)
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15a | Declaration of student if activity is out of scope. | I confirm that the form is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief and it does not fall under the scope of the Research Integrity and Ethics Policy for Taught Courses.
Signature: Grace.Bloye
Date:
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15b | Declaration of if activity is in scope. |
Week 11
I started week 11 by collecting my primary research, exploring the city myself using the practice of derive and also by conducting interviews. I combined this with research of explorative design and sense of place design projects that could possibly spark ideas for my own work.
Community projects and a sense of place projects
Hefin Jones worked with local communities, instigating placemaking processes that are responsive to a local area. In his Cosmic Colliery Project he worked with communities of Rhymney Valley, South Wales to reimagine the industrial landmarks of the abandoned coal mining industry as an astronaut training facility. It was interesting to hear how he used a fictional topic to implement conversation and give more people a voice within an area and provoke discussion. The project wasn't about achieving a training facility but about creating a scenario that involved working with the community in exploring future possibilities for the area. This process can help to bring about change, by changing people's views and their relationship with a specific place, opening up new avenues for exploring ideas.
The book 'In Loving Memory' by Craig Oldham is a lovely example of how written communication and design work together to express personal and social issues. The book is a visual record of the miners strike 1984-1985. Its about giving a voice to the people and showing the trials that the miners faced through a visual design, inspired by banners, placards and other visuals seen in the rallies and demonstrations held. Incorporating coal dust from the Barnsley main colliery in the limited edition sleeve, is a beautiful way of bringing to life the message and communicating the overall language through the production of the design and increasing the reader's sensory experience, as well as giving the visual language an overall sense of place.
I found this Ted Talk by Rob Forbes particularly interesting as he talks about how he walks around different places looking for design in the public sector. He talks about how design is free and can be seen everywhere we just have to open our eyes and look. Pavements have patterns, the textures of bricks, the placement and angles of bollards; something so unthought about, so irrelevant to our everyday lives, yet it is beautiful in its own right. In his photography he tries to capture simple use of colour on form, not overcomplicating the focus of the everyday. He said that design is first and foremost to serve a public focus. What is it that design does for us? Repetition of something is what captures our attention, a pattern that we can see, yet should we open our eyes and look for that which is hidden or silent?
Olga Ezova-Denisova - Forest Lino Printing
This series of Lino cut illustrations by Russian artist Olga Ezova-Denisova was particularly interesting. By gathering branches, leaves pinecones etc, from her local forest she preserved their appearance in intricate little stamps. She speaks about the project in a very personal way showing the connection that she has with the place, which is captured through he design. I think the personal element works really well with this project as its not something you would initially tie to a specific location as these plants grow all over. However if you understand the area and have a personal connection to it, these prints could spark an sense of place and understanding with the local forest.
Studio Twelve - Sainsbury's
The design studio Twelve, created a series of unique illustrations for Sainsbury's showing showing various heritage stories. The narrative for each of the stories is linked with the history of the brand, as well as the geographic location of each store. With each illustration they attempt to draw parallels with the Sainsbury's brand whilst demonstrating the heritage of a place. I really like this project as it works as a cohesive piece of design when all together, yet each illustration includes local heritage.
Lauren Jefferis- Student project
Illustrating 1960's Leicester
I really like this project and think that it works really well. It achieves the overall concept to create a sense of place and to inject the history of the place within the modern setting. The project's aim is to engage people's curiosity of the place and investigation into its history. It is a fun and colourful project which creates stories thought the use of characters and city architecture. Local people will have a connection to the area which in turn can capture their interest of the installation; wanting to know more. I think the project works well as an installation as it is an unknown to intrigue people about why it's there. Though I find it has less impact as a mural as it's something people could simply walk past, Somewhat lacking that question of interest.
Stella Murphy - Illustrations
Murphy's illustrations capture scenes and characters from her local community. I think her work is very playful and fun. Working on commission I think her work in more tailored to individuals than community-based. However there is a real characterisation that is involved. It demonstrates an individual perspective and reaction to specific scenes. It makes me question whether my own design needs to be so focused on capturing something that everyone can understand visually or whether it simply needs to be a feeling of place.
Our Place - place identity
Property firm, 'Our Place' developed a visual language inspired by the people and place. It was developed from an understanding of the local architecture, the needs of the community, and local infrastructure.. the design is all about making sense of place.
Robert Lomas - Art Trail
Manchester based designer Robert Lomas developed a mural project that gets an entire community involved. it is an art trail made up of six large murals on walls and buildings around Old Trafford, that people can enjoy and explore. a series of black and white sketches were handed out to residents, giving them the opportunity to draw their own murals expressing their view of the place and what the area means to them.
This project showcases Chinese calligraphy as part of the spirit of the culture. The calligraphy is interpreted as a sense of place within this project, in relation to ecological, social, economic, cultural, aesthetic, historical aspects of Chinese culture when experiencing the typography. It can almost be interpreted as the genius loci. In a way it demonstrates how typography holds significance and power to showcase place.
Explorative Design
With the method of research being a very explorative approach, I looked into designers who use exploration as an approach to their method of design. This encourages new perspective and insight, opening up possible new ways of thinking and seeing.
David Carson
I have seen a lot of David Carson's work before his designs were really leading and innovative. I really like hearing his opinions and the idea of emotion being a driving force behind the interpretation of typography; from simple placement or font creating different feelings. He speaks a lot about legibility and that something doesn't necessarily need to be legible to communicate a message. We are able to unconsciously attach a perceived notion to something simply by the way it looks. Therefore reading becomes a secondary notion.
Bruno Munari
Can Bruno Munari's work really be defined? He had such an eclectic way of thinking and looking at the world working with an array of mediums. He sees design as a form of art and experiments with use of shape, colour and material to convey an idea or emotion. His work encourages thought and has a child-like sense of play. His range of books called 'Pre-books' are devoted to texture and material making them both book design and interactive.
Alan Fletcher was a highly regarded graphic designer of his time, with much of his work still in use today. Over the course of his career he wrote a number of books exploring graphic design and design thinking, the most notable is "The Art of Looking Sideways'. I have spoken about this book before as I think it is a really good resource and challenges your perspective effectively. It is a uniquely explorative book that doesn't need to be read in any sequence. I think Alan found a gap in the market where he could push graphic design thinking and our design process into a fun and interactive experience, whilst sharing scientific facts, anecdotes and quotations to really engage an audience. This was a project that took him many years to complete. Having seen many interviews of him speaking about his work, prior to this week's challenge, I felt that he is a designer, author, entrepreneur, director and producer. He has a real enthusiasm and unique way of thinking that is demonstrated throughout his practice and that is authentically demonstrated within this book.
Radiohead's KID A MENSIA
I really enjoyed playing through this exhibition; it is an exploratory journey through the album. The user can explore individual rooms at their own leisure and take in the music. Each room having its own visuals and motion that is indicative of the song playing. I really liked how it explored multiple senses in engaging with the feeling of the sound.
It's almost similar in creating a sense of place, engaging all the sense into an immersive experience.
Paula Scher
I did some research about Paula Scher; she finds her environment extremely influential as type is everywhere, giving momentum to the concept that ideas can be triggered from the most unlikely situations. She creates design to raise questions, not to solve them. I think this is a very unique perspective as many designers create work for the purpose of problem solving. Raising questions through design really pushes the idea that design can have a greater impact when you question people's perceptions and their understanding or experience of something.
Type can be many things. Just one letter can be altered and manipulated into meaning multiple things through shape, placement, weight, etc. It can be very free and expressive or functional and condensed. I am intrigued by the ability of people to interpret partial shapes into something they are familiar with.
Alex Trochut
Trouchut's Motto is 'Easy is boring. If you aren’t having fun pushing yourself, you aren’t doing it right.' He allows the concept of play to drive his work. Human creativeness and inventiveness is continuously evolving and no two people are the same. So it is with typography. It is continuously changing and evolving with new technological developments, print methods, etc. and no character is the same, they are all unique in their own way. It is a tool which we choose or create to best suit the narrative and message of a project. He describes the design of type as 'Clothing for text - To choose the correct attire for each occasion.' His work is very intricate and experimental, working predominately digitally, exploring use of kinetic, animated type, though he also experiments with handcrafted typography. Truly working in this realm of play and creative exploration to dress the typography in a way that best suits each individual brief.
Marian Bantjes is a designer, typographer and illustrator. Her work often combines type, material and illustration. There is an innate exploration within her work that creates a sense of wonder. In her Ted talk she speaks about wonder as a driving force behind much of her work and the connection between art and information. It is interesting to hear her talk about her perception of the written word and how by combining type with a unique visual element can evoke further curiosity and convey meaning further than that of a simple word.
Stefan Sagmeister has a unique approach to typography, using unconventional materials to create visual narratives. Blurring the boundaries of typography as more of an artistic expression, inviting people to engage and connect with his work on a more personal level. The article Unveiling the Artistry of Stefan Sagmeister’s Typography Style explores a set of fundamental principles to define his approach to typography:
Experimental Typography: Similar to Marian Bantjes work, there is a sense of wonder created through the experimental nature of the typography, the forms it takes and the materials used. each project offering a new challenge and need for a unique perspective.
Handcrafted Elements: Sagmeister’s typography often combines digital and handcrafted elements creating a blend between organic and digital outputs. The hand crafted elements offer a tactile element to his work that viewers are able to engage with.
Storytelling Through Type: His work has the ability to convey a story, transforming words into an engaging narrative. Typography shouldn't just be about conveying the word that is written, it should convey meaning.
Exploration of Unconventional Materials and Techniques: Sagmeister’s belief is that 'typography is not confined to the page but can transcend into the realm of three-dimensional art.' using unconventional techniques and materials such as the human body, metal, currency and more can push peoples perception of what design can be and what it can do.
This made me think about my previous research on Psychology typography, when fonts hold a significant power over words and people have a tendency to anthropomorphise things that aren't human by connecting human emotions or characteristics to them, in this case fonts, therefore unconsciously provoking reaction to a word. The emotion attached to a font should be well considered when choosing which fonts to use. 'Picture Superiority Effect' is a term which essentially explains that humans engage more with visual content than written content. So you can enhance the emotion or message conveyed by a font by adding certain colours or textures, so the style of font reflects what we are expressing. A good resource that demonstrates how we are unconsciously affected by the look and feel of typography is Sarah Hyndman's Ted talk called Wake up & smell the fonts. Thinking further towards the collaboration of type and image we unconsciously make connections between things such as colour, material, words, and this can help in conveying the narrative of a project. So what about psychology in design itself? I think this is one of my main interests in design. How it is we interact with design, its capacity to connect with people, make us feel a certain way, bring back memories, push our boundaries of thought. A resource from the very beginning of the course 'Intel Visual Life - Michael Wolff' explores the idea of three different muscles; curiosity, appreciation and imagination, which all lend themselves well to the process of design. From being curious and questioning why things are a certain way, through appreciating what is already in front of us and drawing inspiration through other people's forms of expression, to simply being able to take in everything around us and draw from it to create our own work. There's a very internal perspective given in terms of expression and design. We ourselves see the world one way and others see it differently, this ties in with what David Carson said the the resource materials this week, 'that we should utilise who we are within our designs.' yet we design on experience and the world around us and build connection to colour, forms, shapes to help in developing emotion and feelings for others to connect to.
Week 12
I had conducted my first round of individual data collection of the locations: The city centre, Orton, Hampton, Stanground and Werrington. I spent 3 hours in each location after work to see what was about and what I would observe . I intend to go to each location again for an hour or so to see if my perception of place changes in any way..
I have found that on my first observations my sense of place hasn't shifted in any way. I still have the same emotions and feelings linked with the city. I collected my thoughts whilst I was out and about and made a mind map of each location.
I also began my walking interviews this week asking participants the following questions:
Do you find that Peterborough has a different atmosphere about it compared to other cities? Can you describe it?
What cultural elements does Peterborough have to offer? And are they unique to this city?
From your experience have you seen any changes to the locality?
Do you feel connected to the city in anyway, would you be sad to move away from the city?
What does a sense of place mean to you?
Can you describe the sense of place here?
Do you think heritage and origins of the city contributes to senses of place?
The interviews were very conversational and it was a really helpful experience in understanding what a sense of place is. I think there is a real difference in reading about it to experiencing it. Coming from the position of lived human experience a sense of place is entirely individual, yet it can be shared and communicated to others. New perspectives and narratives can alter how we see things, which I think is reflected in John Berger's way of seeing, in the sense that we only have part of a picture and how we understand something is based on what we see and experience. By sharing insight into another's experience we develop new ways of seeing opening up the possibly for our perspective to shift.
I haven't included my interviews and findings on my blog to maintain the anonymity of the participants.
Week 13
I was just about finishing up with my primary research at this stage. My primary research was a turning point for me with this project. I think previously over the course of the project so far I had just been researching and looking at lots of different resources trying to grasp what I was doing. Having conducted my own research I think I finally understand a sense of place. Having previously only really experienced my own perspective on the city, or had people reinforce my thinking, hearing about other people's stories and narratives really opened my eyes up to just how individual a place is to someone and it's a sense of belonging and attachment that really develops that connection to a place. It is the people that I have interviewed that have really informed my project. It's about engaging with people by spending time with them, talking with them and listening to them, allowing those interactions to give rise to the questions that are being asked without imposing your own views, creating a better understanding of the community and the area for a structure to emerge.
Idea generation
For the remainder of this week I spent time trying to generate ideas on the outcome of the project and the design development, figuring out how I might go about answering my research question.
Phase 3 Reflection
I think I finally have a focus and clear idea if what I am doing for this project, though maybe I'm quite a bit behind schedule. I have really struggled with finding a direction up until this point as reading and research isn't something I would say I am particularly strong in. However conducting my primary research really helped in discovering new perspectives on a sense of place as, up until this point, I have only ever experienced my own.
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