COP3 Seminar

Article 1: Graphic design in the real world

1. What is the main argument of the article?
Main argument being made is that graphic design thinks its being activist by creating visual campaigns, which are actually rooted in creating publicity and awards for the people involved. Whereas graphic design can actually allow the users to make their own decisions and be activist this way- doing something that goes against the norm.

Visual communication allows the user to decide how they want to use the information. Persuasive activism works better

2. What is the main theoretical framework for the article?
-Victor Papanek, Design for the Real World (1997)
-Nigel Whitele, Design for Society

3. What types of design do they critique?
Visual communication (posters?) which use persuasive language

4. What might you as a designer take from this? what do you do with this information
We should be able to make our own decisions in response to a design.

Article 2: The Graphic Thing

1. What is 'thingness' as it relates to graphic design?
If a poster was 3D and had 6 faces when stuck onto something, it'd become more of a thing than a generic flat poster stuck to a wall, would it be more of a thing than an object?
-'things' do not have as much context
-thingness= own existence of its purpose

2. What is the main argument? what can we take from this?
Things are what we make of them, expanding the conventions of what a thing is...

3. Can you identify a coherent theoretical framework in the article?
Not really...doesn't need to be discussing linguistics etc to explain what thingness is in relation to objects, doesn't need a scientific explanation.

Article 3: The future of print design relies on interaction

1. How does this research article differ from the previous two?
They created an actual project and then discussed it, more technique focused and design outcome focused, particularly how it relates to interaction

2.What is the main aim or argument of the research?
How the print project shows its reliance on interaction

3. Does the author utilise a theoretical framework?
yes

Re-visiting Old COP Feedback

I felt that it was important that I look back at COP feedback from level 4 and 5 in order to see what worked well and what needed improving, so that I know what I can do to improve further this year. In first year, my question was related to the history of print making, whereas in second year my question was

Feedback for Level 4 COP:

The feedback for first year COP I definitely agreed with, I felt that I really learnt a lot more about print and the history of it, this knowledge helped me with projects in second year. I also agree that in order to improve more I could have triangulated more.

Feedback for Level 5 COP:

I was quite disappointed with my second year feedback as I did feel that I didn't get as high as I should have- maybe because the tutor misunderstood the aims of the practical in relation to my essay...so to improve on this in Level 6 I need to state and make the links between my essay and practical clearer so they're understood better.

I also worked really hard on the practical and felt that the practical outcomes were to a high standard and better than my level 4 COP practical work. Maybe at some points I began to focus more on the practical than essay and this is was where I slipped?

In both years my practical outcomes involved design for production and print as I'm better at this and enjoy it more than design for screen, I am sticking to this for my COP practical work this year.

The biggest area that needed more focus and research on in both years was cognitive skills.

Areas to improve and consider to do better this year:

• Make clearer links between the essay and practical, make sure there is a clear relation between the two with relevant research behind it
• More triangulation
• Have an equal amount of focus on the essay and practical- don't prioritise one more than the other. Balance.

New Practical Idea

During the presentation I asked for advice on my practical, the feedback mentioned that it doesn't necessarily have to be a cross-cultural contrast project, but still focus on products and packaging from a specific culture.

Another piece of feedback mentioned that I should discuss in essay how things are designed to look stereotypical to that culture when they might not actually be appropriate. Amber used the example of a cactus image on Mexican food packaging and how we consume that because we think it looks more authentic to Mexican food, because of the stereotypical imagery.

I definitely want to focus on Eastern culture throughout my practical as I'll be comparing Eastern and Western culture in my essay. Also because my background is Eastern culture (Pakistani) so it's personal and relevant, meaning I know a lot about it already.

After a bit of thinking and discussions with friends, I came up with a different developed practical idea, which focuses on Eastern culture through spice packaging:

• With the visuals, focus more on the concept of process production of the spices, the history and where each spice comes from, the specific areas of Pakistan/India they come from, the plants they come from, the type of people that pick it etc. 

• Show more of the meaning and stories behind each spice, the history...a deeper meaning than the stereotypical stuff that you see on the packets and think of...like elephants, a mandala, detailed paisley pattern, a spice.

• Make a list of the stereotypes, the do’s and don’t of each

Furthermore, this summer I designed a logo and initial business card designs for a brand called Season Yorkshire (see blog posts on PPP tagged 'Season Yorkshire'. Season Yorkshire provide hand blended, authentic spices as well as a sell out cook book.

The main aim of the designs was to communicate the Pakistani/Middle eastern culture subtly with an overall modern aesthetic. The things I learnt and research I gathered for this commission would be relevant towards my COP practical work.

COP Presentation Feedback

Today I had my COP Presentation in front of Amber, Simon and a group of my peers. The overall aim of the presentation was to communicate how my question has changed from my proposal, what I have researched over summer, the key points and arguments I will discuss in my essay, practical ideas and my time plan.

I found that the overall presentation went well and the tutors agreed that I was right to change my question from my proposal to what it is now as culture is such a wide subject. I also received a lot of helpful feedback for my practical which I needed most, I feel that I can now move forward with my practical and make some tweaks to the idea as well as more things to discuss in my essay.

Notes and feedback from presentation:

• For the question, go with the more detailed version instead of 'to what extent does culture impact design' as culture is so broad, I agree with that I should go with the second version of my question.

• Maybe don't just focus on food products, focus on different products that relate to and represent that culture...some further research

• The westernised view of Japanese design- what we initially think, very typical Japanese, is this culturally appropriate etc

• Discuss in essay how things are designed to look stereotypical to that culture when they might not actually be appropriate, e.g. a cactus image on Mexican food packaging and how we consume that because we think it looks more authentic...

• The practical doesn't necessarily have to be a cross-cultural contrast project. Still focus on products and packaging from a specific culture though.

• Cross cultural design research is really interesting, keep going with this. Look more into stereotypes etc

COP Presentation

Culture and Identity

One of my favourite and most useful books out of the books I have read specifically about culture is Culture and Identity by Warren Kidd. The book provides a solid base of the concepts that are essential for an understanding of culture and identity.

The areas I found most useful and interesting touched on how culture and identity have informed and continue to shape high, low and popular culture, class culture and media influence.

This book is useful towards my topic as a persons identity is shaped by their culture, so as a designer it is important to know this when working for other people. Also because art and design is a big part of culture and identity, art is one of the factors that shapes a culture as well as other factors such as religious beliefs, language, traditions, rituals and more.

Selection of notes and quotes from book:

-Page 28: 'Culture and identity have been key issues in sociology since its inception. They allow sociologists to discuss who we think we are and how we behave as individuals and groups.

-Page 23: Section:choosing between cultures
'One might believe that there are absolute standards of taste and that some values are better than others... some cultures and subcultures are better or more advanced than others because they are based on higher standards...’

Page 26

-What is culture:
“ ‘The way of life of a group of people’ in other’ in other words, how they live their lives”

-It’s important as a designer to consider culture and have knowledge of different cultures, not only so that we can design things appropriate for the specific culture, but also because art and design is one of the key elements that shapes a culture and represents a different way of life. ‘The way of life of a group, its culture, is the product of a massive social undertaking: the result of the collective, combined and interrelated efforts of all its members’ (page 9).

-A designer needs to know cultures as much as a culture needs art in order to be culture.

Page 9

-Page 10: ‘Culture creates the world we live in’...Page 11: 'Cultures exist both subjectively and objectively...they shape styles of dress, food, art, music and so on; and they are subjective because they are concerned with individuals' interpretations'

-When discussing the future of culture and design and the importance of keeping up with cultural design trends as a designer…’societal evolution can be divided into five key stages, through which all cultures will travel’ (page 56)

Practical Initial Ideas

I've now started to come up with some ideas for what I could design for my practical, it is important that my essay builds into my practical work- both need to have strong links between each other.

My initial ideas focus on creating designs for food packaging and branding as food is one of the biggest parts of every culture. Also, throughout my reading I came across a lot of cultural psychology theories which touch on cultural differences within mannerisms and ways of doing daily tasks, food was one of the main examples used, e.g. chopsticks vs knife and fork.

Initial Ideas:

• The practical should show an example of a product being made and designed to function appropriately for another culture...

• Branding/packaging- Indian spices packaging designed for Japanese culture vs Japanese sushi packaging designed for Indian culture- design both products. A Cross-cultural contrast project. This would show the importance that as a designer we must consider the clients' culture in order to designing something appropriate for them- this point will be mentioned in my essay.

• Examples for branding and design other than food packaging could be app design, homeware, accessories, architecture.

Below show mood boards for inspiration when starting my practical work. Mood board 1 focuses more on posters and advertising design from different cultures that I found interesting, whereas mood board 2 focuses on Indian and Japanese food packaging and branding (which is what I want to focus on for my practical cultural contrast project)

Mood board 1

Mood board 2

COP3 Module Briefing/Recap

Submission date: 12/12/19

Notes from briefing:

The essay should build into my practical work, both need to have strong links between each other! The essay must develop a coherent argument and conclusion drawing on relevant research from different medias that I have gathered. Keep looking back at my main quotes/arguments in the essay as they should influence my practical work.

• The essay must be written in third person and Harvard referenced throughout.
• Design work documented on blog. Document everything!
• 6-8 Design boards. Aim for 6 or 7.

Ethics

• Taking other people into consideration and not being offensive with design and theories 
• Appropriation in terms of imagery and typefaces etc. consider whether its worth going into legal issue areas, be aware of these things
• Ethics in Graphic Design doesn't have too many hard and fast rules but it needs to be considered if needed- filling in forms if using human participants within my research

To do:

-Keep researching/reading

-Arrange regular meetings for feedback with COP tutor

-More primary research (surveys, visit places)

-Read back at previous COP module feedback from Levels 4 and 5, what worked well and what areas needed improvement?

Presentation prep for next week:

I should outline my research over summer, mention the key points that I will mention in the essay, how my question has changed from my initial proposal, time plan, practical ideas (ask for advice on what I should design) and reading list.

Culture and Colour Research

It is important that I research into colour and culture, particularly when considering my pratical work and linking that back to my essay, as in different cultures, different colours often represent different things.

Colour carries deep meaning within every culture, so colour is an extremely important design detail to consider when creating work.

Examples:

Red: represents danger, love and passion in western culture. In India it symbolises purity. In China, a sign of good luck. But in west Africa, red is the colour of mourning and death

Purple: in Thailand it is the colour of mourning, but in the west it is associated with wealth, luxury and loyalty

https://study.com/academy/lesson/color-meanings-in-different-cultures.html :

When taking about a specific colour in my essay, use Red as a main example:

• Symbolism of colour often stems from religious, spiritual, historical or social events. e.g. valentines day is associated with the colour red to represent love. Which is similar to Indian/Pakistani culture as the bride wears red on her wedding day. However…in Nigerian and African culture it represents suffering and sacrifice

This article is good for more colour and culture examples:
https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2012/06/color-and-cultural-design-considerations/- 

Green

Article Research 2- Globalisation: Globalisation effects on design/Culture and Globalisation

Globalisation:

Globalisation= world trade

• It’s heavily based from technology suck as mobiles phones, airplanes and the internet, all about communication. 

• Making it easier to exchange information and goods more easily More affordable products are available for more people- however, not only does an exchange of products take place, but an exchange of services, knowledge, cultural goods and languages takes place... everything is shared.

• All of these link together So globalisation does and will have a huge impact on design and culture and the future of it... 

Impacts of globalisation on local culture: 

Good- Allows businesses in less industrialised countries to become part of international production, so it’s good for poorer cultures basically

Bad- Growing caps between the rich and poor between cultures... leads to cultural deterioration

Articles focused on:

1. https://www.designsociety.org/publication/19040/GLOBALIZATION+AND+CROSS-CULTURAL+PRODUCT+DESIGN

2. https://www.beautypackaging.com/contents/view_experts-opinion/2010-05-11/the-impact-of-globalization-on-design-and-des/

3. http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN011299.pdf

1. Globalisation and cross-cultural product design:

• ‘Globalisation also confronts companies to decide between ‘global’ or ‘local’ featured design of products.’

-^ An effect of globalisation is that the design of products can lose its cultural aesthetic and authentic design as it now has to be designed to work globally instead of it just being local how it used to be (due to the growth of globalisation)

Figure 1:

• ‘It is striking that nowadays companies realize the importance of flexible and adaptive design according to local markets’ (relating to the figure 1)

• ‘A company’s failure to acknowledged cultural diversity often limits its product’s marketability’ (relating to figure 1)

The points above suggest that in today’s society in order for a company/brand to do well globally, they need to acknowledge cultural diversity so that the product is appropriate for everyone. The company’s image/the design of the needs to take this into consideration fully as this is the first thing the consumer sees.

Case study from this article:

‘Rice cooker: A medium sized domestic appliances company set out a graduation assignment because they encountered culturally different markets. The challenge was to develop a Western style rice cooker, which had to suit to the Asian market. The idea behind the design was that Asian people prefer European style appliances; for them it is a sign for high quality. ‘

2. The Impact of Globalization on Design, and Design’s Impact on Globalization (in a nutshell):

• ‘The goal is to identify the common denominators; the function and form, the desired emotional attachment to an object that link consuming humanity, despite cultural differences, around the planet.’ – This quote could be used towards the end of the essay, within the conclusion perhaps??

• ‘There has been a shift in the designer’s clientele; they are not just local.’ 

^ Clientele means ‘collective of clients’ basically, so designers now have to think of clients from other cultures due to the growth of globalisation. Maybe this suggests that designers that work for clients all over the globe do better than designers that just do work for local clients…

3. A balance of globalization with cultural diversity in civil society: Challenges to education in the new millennium

• ‘The globalization process urges men and women of the future to be more critical of, and adaptive to, economic and social transformations while maintaining national and local cultural heritage. They must be prepared for multi-cultural interaction, values changes, cosmopolitan way of life, yet struggling to maintain their own ideals and identity’

^ This quote will be useful for and relevant when discussing the loss of cultural identity and the further disadvantages/effects that globalisation will have on culture.

Ted Talks Research

It is important that I use different medias to gather research from other than reading (books and articles) so I have gathered research from Ted Talks which focus on Cultural Identity and Globalisation.

TED Talks:

1. The modern maze of cultural identity | Mashaal Hijazi 

-The alliteration of her identity after 9/11- she saw her mum change from a Muslim hijabi to a non hijabi, as the culture in America at that time became less tolerant of this (a physical/appearance design choice).

-This point links to design within appearance and how it is different in eastern and western cultures. ‘If someone would think of the ideal American, hardly anyone would think of an Indian person, a Chinese woman, heaven forbid a man of Arab descent, no one would think of these minorities unless they themselves were one of the minorities’

-During childhood in America, she had to adapt herself and her identity so that everyone else felt comfortable, so that she could fit into the norms of that culture.

-But then she noticed adaptions in her identity when she’d visit Pakistan- She’d be treated like a celebrity She even went as far as pronouncing ‘Pakistan’ wrong (by saying it the way white Americans would pronounce it) to try and hide it as much as possible- even the design of the way a word is said can be different depending on the what if more appropriate for that culture?

2. The myth of globalisation | Peter Alfandary 

-Peter is a first generation born in the UK, educated in London for 13 years, a lot of his childhood in Italy and 30 years as an international lawyer. Always been fascinated by cultural differences. 

-After his first experience in NY he came to realise that the English talk ‘in a code that no one understands’ the sentences are longer, more complicated but mostly more polite and anxious 

-Mentions that often at work he’d clock in a couple of minutes early incase the password didn’t work...but in some cultures time is more of a guideline, the world won’t end if a meeting starts 20 minutes late..

Culture and Cross-Cultural Psychology Research

When writing my proposal for my COP question, I was really interested in looking into how psychology ties into culture influences on design, particularly cross-cultural psychology as this is extremely relevant to what I am looking into.

It is important to research into different cultures and the differences between them, but also cross-cultural similarities and how this relates back to design. This links back to globalisation which I have also been researching on over summer which was advised by Pete when receiving initial feedback on my proposal (see blog post 'Article Research 2')

Below shows the research and quotes I have gathered from 2 books that I found most interesting out of the ones I have read.

Book: Design, Creativity & Culture, an orientation to design
Authors: Maurice Barnwell

Page 15:

• “His award winning Skycap, the first helmet designed for snowboarders, sold well in North America but not in Japan…This was more than a matter of price or aesthetic; it was a matter of size- the helmets did not fit.” – this is relevant as it is a literal biological difference between the cultures, a western designer wouldn’t have even thought about it. 

^ From that project came SizeChina, which is a organisation tries to make things for accessible and workable to Chinese people in the way that its designed…
This could relate to how western and eastern design has become more similar and adaptable to more cultures through time…a positive way of  making design and function work across different cultures. (page 16 and 17)

Page 153:

Cultural Ideology of design:

• “Understanding culture is essential to the process of design. Culture is a lens through which we view what is happening in our world” – this could be used around the intro section, when talking about how important culture is towards design and how much impact it has had on the development of design through history.

• “Design gives identifiable form to the iconic beliefs and values of a culture"

• “When we eat we have to ‘interpret’ the designed environment” as in how do we eat when were there, how do we greet, how do we buy a bus ticket- each culture has a differently designed way of behaving…this ties into social cultural psychology?

• “When I was a student at Birmingham College of Art in England, it was fashionable to consider ourselves as Buddhist…we were fascinated by Zen but our ‘understanding’ was very superficial” this could relate to a case study about design and cultural appropriation…how you have to be careful when adapting a different cultures design/fashion/trends into your culture…is it culturally appropriate? 

Page 156:

• “In western clothing the fabric is cut precisely to the body shape and then sewn” Whereas in Eastern clothing (Pakistan/Arab countries etc, my nan even) the clothes are cut more loosely to the body, less tight…in order to look more modest and minimal, this plays on how religion and beliefs play such a huge part in the differences in design across cultures. Fashion/clothing differences and comparisons could be one of my case studies?

Book: Cross- Cultural Psychology 
Authors: John W.Berry, Ype H.Poortinga, Marshall H. Segall, Pierre R. Dasen

Page 73 (Gender behaviour):

Gender and culture could be one of the case studies/theories discussed in my essay- as gender obviously plays a big part in design…

• ‘girls are generally are socialised more towards compliance (nurturance, responsibility, and obedience), while boys are raised more for assertation (independence, self-reliance, and achievement)"

^ – In different cultures this will be true to certain extents, and obviously this will have an impact on design of certain products- i.e. in Asian culture, the design of a women’s shalwar kameez is to be modest and cover most areas of the body whereas there isn’t as much emphasis on men looking modest in Asian culture. But whereas in western culture, women can often dress more freely and revealing if they like and they can even wear the same clothes as men and often do e.g. a shirt and jeans.

Could this point above relate to how often Asian/eastern design (clothing, accessories, house decorations, pillows and blankets, cutlery) are very detailed, feminine, patterned, experimental as they’ve been designed by mostly women, as jobs like these are associated with and given to women in eastern culture, whereas typically men are expected to do more hands on jobs which require bringing most of the money in for the family.

Article Research- Impact of Culture on design/Differences Between Cultures

Articles focused on:

1: https://uxplanet.org/impact-of-culture-in-modern-design-techniques-1405d30663e3
2. https://www.designswan.com/archives/difference-between-eastern-and-western-lifestyle.html
3. http://creativeword.uk.com/blog/localization/culture-influences-design/

1: Impact of culture in modern design techniques:

This point could be mentioned near the introduction or when writing about a specific culture/country, at the beginning of the topic:

• ‘The designs are inspired by the culture and religion of a country. The graphic design origin from different countries has different values when presenting information, applying colors, the hierarchy of information and what the designer is going to present. If you are a designer who does designs for international clients you first really need to understand a few things.’ 

– This could be an example/point to mention that it is extremely important for designers that often design for international clients (which a lot of freelance AND studios do), so it is important to have relevant knowledge on the specific culture of where the client is.

More things to consider when designing for international clients would be how the graphic designs in that culture/that country changes, stay up to date with their changing design trends!. Also need to consider how visual language changes from country to country.

Following this…look into Indian graphic design and European graphic design or Swiss design. Compare the differences and state how the specific design they use is appropriate for that culture.

• ‘The most important thing is that we do a design which is relevant and talk to the people we are designing for.’

2. Difference between Eastern and Western Lifestyle

These points could be mentioned late introduction/middle when going deeper into social differences and when discussing social psychology- how the cultural lifestyle has a big role in influencing design in that country:

A) What I can gather/relate to from this is that in western culture explaining your point is a lot simpler and easier, were as in eastern culture its harder and more complicated as if feels like there is a lot more to consider, more people to consider, where you are, what you’re doing etc, in a lot more depth.

B) The image above links to how western design is often more minimal and sleek than eastern design- which is often more busy, but exciting and vibrant- this is clear to see in even social situations in eastern and western culture, the way we line up! Even the way we line up looks and is designed different (without us realising it obviously)

C) The differences in design through each culture is shown even through what we wear and the colour of our skin: white bikini on dark skin makes a tan stand out more which is seen as more attractive. Whereas, in eastern culture (Pakistan, Bangladesh, India) it is seen as more ‘attractive’ the fairer your skin is (this is what I have experienced and seen through my own upbringing) – so wearing darker colour makes you look paler because of the contrasts

3. How culture influences design

• ‘Where do you eat dinner? How do you sit? Do you speak while you eat? Who do you eat with? What do you eat? How do you eat? Do you drink with dinner? Only after? Do you like hot and spicy or sweet?’

-The point is simply that there is design in every single thing that we do- we do things differently through each culture, through the way we speak, eat, think etc. These every day activities impact how we see design (whether we think something is good or bad design, aesthetics, scale etc…

The quote below could be used when discussing how we do everyday activities in a differently designed way, because of our different cultures and what is appropriate to that culture:

• ‘As a result any design around the themes of dinner would be very different for both cultures. Would you use a knife & fork as imagery to sell dinner wares to a Japanese audience? Or would chopsticks be more relevant?’

Email from Pete

Email back from Pete regarding my COP proposal:

I found Pete's advice useful and will take it all on board. I mainly need to keep researching widely over summer as culture and design is such a wide and interesting topic, I feel like restricting it too soon would make it too difficult and not as interesting as there is a lot to research when thinking about design and culture. I'll also look into globalisation as I can see that there would be clear links and arguments for this regarding cultural influences on design and the future of design.

COP3 Proposal

COP3 Proposal Briefing

1) Produce a COP3 research proposal using the following sections:

1. RESEARCH QUESTION

2. RATIONALE (Why do you want to research this topic? What impact will this have on your practice?)

3. CONTEXTS (What are the immediate contexts in which your theoretical and practical research will be

situated? Political? Social? Technological? Aesthetic? Cultural?)
4. THEORETICAL APPROACH (Identify no more than two potential theories that will help structure your
research – must be appropriate to the theme/question)

5. METHODS (Secondary: theorisation, semiotic analysis, textual analysis, content analysis, discourse
analysis / Primary: surveys, interviews, focus groups, creative method, observations)

6. PRACTICAL OUTCOME (what do you plan to produce/develop?)

7. RESOURCES (what resources will you need to access?)

8. SUMMER READING LIST (find 5 books that you will endeavour to read in preparation for CoP3 - related to
either 3 or 4 above)

9. TIME MANAGEMENT (Plan of actions from now)

Compile your proposal into a (minimum) 10 slide presentation.

Tips and Advice:

• Choose your research topic VERY carefully. Don't attempt to tackle something that you have no experience or knowledge about- I should base it on something that I am passionate about or something that is personal to me.
• Don't forget about the practical brief!!! don't not aim to finish the essay before I start my practical, this will not work!
• Choose a topic that will help me and my practice. Make the module meaningful in relation to my overall development
• Use theory meaningfully but don't over theorise
• There are no "off the shelf" methods of structuring an essay

Other subject areas that we draw on in design subjects might be:

• Media Studies/audience studies
• Cultural studies
• Pop culture
• Celebrity studies
• Poststructuralism
• Gender studies
• Sociology
• Psychology

Areas that initially interest me:

Study Task 9- Final Outcome and Production Evaluation Design Boards

Study Task 8- Initial Ideas and Development Design Boards

Study Task 7- Rationale and Research Design Boards