Recently in class I have been working on creating a new website. As of yesterday it is now finished and sort of live. I have created two small flash galleries of examples of my work although I plan on doing some more. It is very simple, only one homepage - No frills! I used my existing brand logo I already had and tweaked the colours slightly to go with my blog. Have a look at it here.
I remember reading an article in National Geographic a few months ago about light pollution, and was shocked to realise how damaging the light we’re pumping into our environment is to our ecosystem and atmosphere. When I go to the countryside I am always amazed at how many stars I can see, recently while in Pitlochry for the weekend I stood and stared up at the depth and the beauty of the sky and the infinite number of stars shining out of the darkness..jpg)
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So what is light pollution? It’s the wasted light from artificial light sources like street lights, sport stadiums and shops and offices that leaks upwards and obscures the night sky. Light pollution, like other types of pollution is having a huge impact on our natural environment, and as our urban areas continue to develop and grow so does the problem of light pollution. It is causing great problems for both humans and animals, including anxiety, rise of blood pressure, headaches, fatigue, stress and even (according to Wikipedia) loss of sexual function! It’s a danger for sailors as the glare from coastlines can limit the visibility of navigation lights indicating rocks and deep water channels. For animals such as migratory bird’s problems such as flying off course or crashing into buildings, for sea turtles laying their eggs in areas which put them at risk of predators as well as misleading hatchlings into danger. Increased lighting also makes animals an easier target for predators.
Not to mention all that wasted energy. It is reported that two power stations worth of energy are being thrown into the sky every year in the UK alone, light pollution is a huge threat to sustainability yet I doubt many people realize it yet.
Dark is seen as bad, typically symbolizing evil, crime, mystery and depression. Light is seen as good, symbolizing everything that is well and right. People are afraid of darkness, the common perception is that you’re safer in the light, reducing lighting would increase crime?
However, in residential areas not having all night street lighting would surely deter youths from hanging around in the streets after dark which could lead to less graffiti. Perhaps neighbours would be more likely to see and report a suspicious light in a building to the police than if the street was always lit. Are security lights really protecting us from the risk of crime or just luring us into a false sense of security from advertisers and companies scaremongering us?
I wouldn’t like to walk alone along a dark street as I would feel vulnerable or drive along an unlit road as I would feel unsafe. I am not proposing we get rid of street lights; however research shows that in some situations street lighting can cause dangerous and hazardous driving conditions. Especially to the elderly as the glare from the light produces loss of contrast which obscures night vision.
Things are already being done to tackle the problem; the above photo shows the M5 motorway’s lighting being upgraded. You can clearly see the difference from the old lights as the glow is clearly seen on the clouds above compared to the right lane where the new lights have already been installed. The new lights are effective because they only direct light at the ground apposed to the old ones which let light escape sideways and upwards. By taking such a simple step in redesigning the shape of the “head” of the light dramatic results can be achieved. Other things such as fitting timers on lights and making sure large organisations understand the consequences of leaving lighting on unnecessarily and buildings like sport stadiums are only lit when in use.
In this garage sales increased by 40% when the old lights which gave off a glare were replaced with more efficient ones, the new ones are not only better to the environment but customers and sales too. Proving companies can benefit financially from upgrading their lighting.
Photo credit: www.darkskies4ni.co.uk
These are the outcomes from our seminar group’s brainstorming session on “The Tipping Point”
I then had to go on to reflect on what had been discussed during our group's discussions and think about issues more in-depth. I chose to look at how design can use the chapter "The Law of the Few" to help tip a product/ social trend/ social behavior.
I looked at social networking and how online networks are used by organizations to build trust and raise awareness of products and movements, how and where advertising is used to bring about change and what additional impact would advertising have made when it wasn't used but could have been.
My thoughts turned to how social networking can be used to push forward an agenda, in the recent case of Twitter being used to debate and defend the NHS from US Republicans branding it as "evil" and "Orwellian".
This led me on to thinking about the Iran Twitter revolution. In June this year when there was opposition protests in Iran the world was kept up to date in real time from a small group of Iranian bloggers and hackers who posted updates minute-by-minute. As the Iranian authorities shut down telephone networks and stopped foreign news channels reporting from Tehran they were slow to realize students were using Twitter and YouTube to reach a worldwide audience with the latest news. By portraying the turmoil in Tehran this way it sparked a solidarity movement, which spread across the web.
How could graphic design use advertising and social networking to help tip the Iran twitter movement so it was recognized not only online but in the general public. One of the most successful twitter reporters, TehranBureau, who was seen by the Iranian authorities as a major threat, and who had his website shut down only had 20, 934 followers on Twitter which isn't very many on a global scale. With Iran arresting foreign reporters and limiting news getting out, Twitter was a vital part of keeping contact with the rest of the world.
But it could of been bigger.
I have created a mind map/ poster to collect and organize my thoughts.
I am a fan of a themed wallpaper and found these at Pixelgirl Presents which has loads of great wallpapers for throughout the year too.I have always looked at Graphic Design as an art from, no different from sculpture, illustration or textile design however after completing work placements last February with two different highly regarded design agencies in Edinburgh I came away feeling slightly disillusioned. I had witnessed that the industry can be no more than another nine till five job with little room for creativity and individual thinking. Everything felt corporate and formulaic, I knew I still loved the graphic design area but also knew I wanted room to experiment and learn more before joining the industry myself. This is why I chose to continue studying at Duncan of Jordanstone.
So far Design Studies has challenged what I saw in the industry. Design shouldn’t only just be about making something look pretty, designers have become obsessed with “Good” and “Bad” design, I know I have. I have been conditioned into thinking because something had garish colours and cheesy typography it is automatically bad design and have neglected to think about the needs of the client. A fast food restaurant does not need a classically designed menu; it needs something that is going to convey “This food is cheap, fast and easy”. In other words the customer needs to know what they are going to get, and as a designer I have to realize that communicating the brand is more important than simply making the design nice to look at.
“Good” and “Bad” design goes so much further than many designers think. Many different factors need to be considered when designing a product and not just about if you’ve got your em and en dashes mixed up. I do not just want to become a “Mac Monkey”, churning out generic and soulless pieces of design, too engrossed in kerning, stock photos and Photoshop retouching. I’m aiming higher.
It is important to understand the world’s needs and how it operates; it is too easy to lose perspective in our own design world bubble. Every so often we need to take a step backwards and realise the only way to advance it to understand the needs of others and their social and economical needs. We need to realise that what we do has consequences and it’s not just about the visual, when we fully understand this, then we can start designing “good design”, even if it’s just a humble pizza flyer.
Something that I’ve noticed over the last few months is companies not putting their web addresses on their advertising publications or bill boards.
I first noticed Samsung doing this in their magazine advertising for their new super slim LED TV. This is similar to the advert with the humming bird which has recently been on TV; unfortunately I have not been able to find a copy of the advert.
Instead of cluttering up the ad with long web addresses often including forward slashes, dashes and all sorts of unreadable and hard to remember squashed together words, there is now a trend for simply putting “Search online for…” in it’s place.
This looks much more elegant and also negates the question of do you include "WWW." before or simply just add “.com” when adding a web address to an advert, something when I was designing my editorial adverts last year at college received some debate from industry when I came to present.
I think it makes the company look smart and self assure about the strength of their product or service. I am not sure how many people remember web addresses on adverts but am sure people are more likely to remember a name or phrase related to the product.
Personally I know if I saw an advert for a restaurant which contained information of its name and location and also a website address, I am more likely to remember the name and location of the restaurant when I came to Google it than the web address.
Am I a designer of
No. I am a designer of the world. And I need to “Design Big”.
Mike Press gave a lecture on Friday morning titled: Design in the Age of Knowledge, Experience and Terror. It was all about having big dreams, designing big and living a big life. He showed me that I should never doubt my ability, limit my imagination or fail to take risks. He spoke with such passion and enthusiasm about what we could achieve if only we think big that as I left I could not help feeling elected about my future.
Design is only about how things look, yes?
No. If we only think about what how it looks then the product will fail in other areas. We have to understand people’s needs, identify opportunities, develop ideas and communicate values as well as thinking about reducing costs, adding value and improving productivity. If we want to design a “big” product we need to think on a “big” scale.
Today in
As a designer I need to “ride the wave of diversity” I need to look at the world and question how I could solve some of its problems? I need to understand that we live in an ever changing world, understand I have to be flexible within my field, and I have the ability to adapt accordingly. I need to stay ahead of the game, stay connected with the rest of the world and think openly. If I wait until point B to realise what I could have achieved at point A it will be too late.
Think big you will have a big life.
