VISUAL SYSTEMS BA ( H o n s ) G ra p h i c D e s i g n L eve l 5
Ásta Karen Ágústsdóttir BA (Hons) Graphic Design Level 5
Visual Synthesis
Industry Visit
Wayfinding
01
02
03
Industry Brief
Display Book
04
05
“…the systems approach involves the pursuit of truth (science) and its effective use (technology), plenty (economics), the good (ethics and morality), and beauty and fun (aesthetics).” Russell L. Ackof
01. VISUAL SYNTHESIS
Assignment brief For this project you are required to create a portrait of the AUB campus. You will be working in small groups to map, analyse and recreate the data systems of your surroundings within a set of synthesised visual systems. You will be encouraged to think innovatively about how you might find and generate data and analyse systems in the creation of new work.
Fig.1
Beginning
When considering elements to choose from to map the campus of AUB our first thoughts were to do with people. The campus is a vibrant place filled with people at almost any point of the day. Things like clothing, sizes and combinations of groups and different courses caught our attention. We also looked into more tangible things such as textures, shadows and sounds. As it was the first week of uni stress also came up as an idea, we sensed a lot of excitement for starting a new year and stress around it, students not knowing what to expect faced with a plan for a long time ahead.
Experiments
We collected textures from around the campus trying to capture the “feel” of it. Holding a paper sheet over the texture and sketching over it thereby getting the texture through it. Thinking of how to take it further we looked into clay and laying it over the textures to get a print on the clay. In the end we didn’t think that we could take this idea any further.
Stress testing Using an app on our phones that tests people’s stress levels by monitoring their heartrate for a couple of minutes, we tested a few people from different courses to see if there was a difference.
Results Our combined results from the stress app experiment revealed a noticeable difference.
Visualizations We continued experimenting with the stress idea. Trying to visualise the percentages in various ways we had several experiments. Each colour representing a specific course, we made stress balls in different sizes, balls out of clay, balloons and grouped together some smarties, where the number of smarties represented the stress levels.
Further experimentarion Thinking of stressballs and how you squeeze them tighter and tighter the more stressed you are we wanted to make a mould of the print your hand makes. So the more stressed you are the more defined the shape becomes.
Balloon popping The balloons representing how stressed people felt we tried popping them in front of people to see their reactions.
We colour coded the balloons for different courses and made them different in size for the different stress levels of each course.
You can see the tension
After the balloon pops everyone
building up in people’s faces
smiles which reminded us that
right before the balloon pops.
maybe stress is something that we make bigger than it has to be. In the end it’s just how you choose to deal with it.
Survey To gain better insight into how students felt on campus we made a short survey for them to fill out. We had over 50 responses from 12 different courses. The results showed a noticeable difference in stress levels across courses. Questions we asked were for example if they felt comfortable being alone on campus and what the main stress factors were. I found the most interesting result to be whether students found stress to be harmful for them or motivating. The results varied more than I expected them to.
Development Developing the mould idea further we made the moulds into seats and modeled them across campus. Taking something that was made as a result from stress and using it to get people to sit down and relax.
The harder you squeeze the more uncomfortable the seat gets, which represents stress well; The more you stress the more uncomfortable it is.
Video Our final piece was a video
The video was made to be
of the balloon poppings.
quite stressful to watch
It begins with four people and
The entire time you can hear the
then zooms out so you see
balloons popping like crazy and
more and more people.
in the end it all mashes together to reveal one single balloon being popped.
Reflection For this project I feel like we were too eager to find a final concept in the very beginning. Rather than just experimenting and letting it come to us while going through the process. Areas we could explore more are solutions for stress on the campus which could be developing the seating concept further. The critique we received was that the message was perhaps too clear and we were giving it all away. The video had potential it was funny, simple and charming. To develop further we could focus on photographs of people, simple clean portraits of just the honest reactions of people facing a popping balloon.
Further development Wanting to improve our project and taking in the feedback we got from the critique we decided to retake the pictures. We left out the balloons this time and used a black backdrop for a more dramatic appearnace. That way nothing distracts from the reactions people have.
“I feel the designer’s role has changed in recent years from one of creating beautiful forms or clear identification for brands to one where the designer himself visualizes the possibilities of an industry.� Kenya Hara
02. INDUSTRY VISIT
Fig. 2
The Company Strawberry soup is an ideas led full service digital agency which was founded in 2005. It started with just two guys in their shed and has now grown to 40 people based in 3 different locations. The name strawberry soup is just random. They’re currently based in Bournemouth, Chichester and Shoreditch London. They have 12 graphic designers, working there today and are currrently working on around 30 projects. Some of their clients include; The Body Shop, Kenwood, L’oreal, Me to You and UK Cycling Events.
The Beginning Growing from a 2 person company in a shed to what Strawberry Soup is today, our contact Neil told us a bit about his background. He doesn’t have a degree in Graphics but majored in IT he was always interested in the creative side and took on all the design work in the beginning.
How they work The main creative teams are Graphic Designers, Creative Directors and then they hire on an ad-hoc basis Illustrators, Photographers and Copy Writers. A lot of them are their friends so they’re happy to help. “It’s more about who you know than what you know.” Neil said. Most of their work is design-based so when they have a need for Copywriters, Photographers etc. they outsource them for specific projects.
Fig. 3
Projects The company does a lot of pitches, either clients approach them or they approach a client. A great deal of time and money goes into the pitches and they can often get rejected. When asked if they would ever reject a client he replied that they would “ if they thought they were too much trouble and if they didn’t really have a clear view of what they wanted also if the budget doesn’t fit.” Their most recent projects include a complete rebranding for an independant bookstore in Bridport called The Book Shop. With the new logo they wanted it to have a more traditional feel with the spine of the book but also engage the younger audience with a bright modern colour.
Fig. 4
The Body Shop Their most recent project with The Body Shop included a Facebook app which helped you to find your perfect scent asking users questions about themselves, their environment and favorite scents.
What we learnt/Reflection Portfolios should display a range of work that demonstrate a good understanding of the industry/software skills, should be commercially applicable and should demonstrate good attention to detail. It´s a collaborative industry, designers work side by side with management. Working hours are usually long, not an everyday 9-5 job due to the nature of the industry; some client projects require more time than others. The transition from university to having a job isn´t that big of a step as we previously imagined - the industry seems less daunting. Coding programs are used widely in their projects, so it´s quite important to have an understanding of it. I could imagine myself working in a place like Strawberry Soup for some time, I think it would be a good experience. The work environment seems relaxed and casual. I also like the work they have produced, although it is quite commercial.
“To design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit: it is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse. To design is to transform prose into poetry.� Paul Rand
03. WAYFINDING
Fig. 5
Brief description “For this project you are required to work in groups to design a Wayfinding System for people with dementia living in care-homes. This must demonstrate ease of navigation, encourage independence, while at the same time be a pleasing environment within which to live. In your groups you will identify a specific location or sets of locations within a care-home environment, and use the creative strategies within visual systems to produce a comprehensive wayfinding system for your users.�
Fig. 6
Dr. Jan Weiner’s presentation Humans navigate in many different ways. They have tools to support navigation. There can be 40.000 possible ways to visit 8 different shops in a village. For navigating from A-B there are 6 steps: 1. Know where you are 2. Plan route and memorise 3. Notice environment around you 4. Monitor 5. Recognise places 6. Find way back.
Why does navigation fail and when? There are systematic distortions in our spatial memories… Most people would say that Montreal is North of Seatlle for example, it is not. Spatial memory is not a flat map it is hierarchically organised. Cells in our brain located in the hippocampus code spatial information. It is the inbuilt map in the head of an animal. Taxi driver’s brains “grow” on the job. As people get older they tend to avoid unfamiliar routes, worried they will get lost and not find their way back. Place learning, route learning and path integration are all affected by cognitive ageing. In carehomes distance to communal areas have an impact on daily tasks, people living further away participate less in activities. Therefore missing out on important socialising. Avoid repeating floorplans - it confuses patients and makes it less rememorable Have clutter-free hallways - avoid overstimulating environments Landmarks - patients tend to remember that their room was to the left of the table with flowers on it for example Circular/Rounded walls - patients have to make fewer decisions of where to turn Safety but visual appearance - People do not want to live at a hospital, has to feel like home Visual cues rather than maps - Subtle yet clear signage Give residents a voice: “ I’d like a round communal area with all our rooms coming from there that sort of idea”
Floorplan Making a simple floorplan allowed us to visualize the carehome more and think about how the patients get from one place to another. We made the common room circular, as one of the patient’s dr Weiner talked to described as her ideal carehome. We had all the patients rooms coming off from there. The walls around the common room would not be full length so it would be quite open. The idea was for patients to be able to see into the common room from their bedrooms yet still have something that divides the areas.
Research
Signage system We wanted to make a signage system that could go around the whole carehome, something that looked simple and straightforward. The continuing lines could lead them to the place where they wanted to go, having the logos inbetween to remind them which lines they are and where they lead to. The lines would either get thicker or more condensed the closer you are to your destination. They are at a height where everyone can see them, taking in consideration wheelchair bound patients.
Tutorial feedback The lines on the walls could make it feel like it were a hotel or an official building. We should look into something more subtle, think about wayfinding in different environments and seek inspiration from there. For example in supermarkets where the scent of freshly baked goods is pumped into the entrance to lure customers to the bakery area. This got us looking into scents and how or if at all they affect dementia patients.
Fig. 7
Further research Some further research into smells led us to an interesting piece of writing in a book about the Proust effect. Where a Flemish artist designed a smell installation in a nursing home.
The Proust effect is what happens in your brain when a smell unleashes a flood of memories, taking you back to a particular time and place. (Smells can trigger emotional memories, study finds, 2012) Among the five senses, smell has the strongest and most direct connection to memory. With the ability to conjure quite distant—yet strikingly vivid—memories, smell can be a powerful memory stimulant for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. (Help for Alzheimer’s Patients, 2004)
“Fragrance can transport us to a time or place or moment more vividly than a photograph or song. Our sense of smell is our greatest tool in evoking memory; it is linked to our brain’s center of emotional perception” (The Fragrance Foundation) According to the Sense of Smell Institute, “The sense of smell helps us respond to those we meet, can influence our mood, how long we stay in a room, who we talk to and who we want to see again.” (Scentair Mena, 2011)
Visualization We wanted to create a sculpture from which we thought scents could be released at certain times to get the patients to come out of their rooms for example. Maybe a scent of flowers or freshly cut grass would remind them to visit the garden or the smell of freshly baked bread that it’s mealtime. Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Software exploration We tried our hand at Cinema 4D to make sculptures in 3D. In the end we didn’t have enough time to learn how to use the program properly and make them look good enough and didn’t think they fitted in with what we were trying to make.
Air Fresheners For our final piece we made air fresheners which emit scents at certain times encouraging people to come out of their rooms and socialise. The timings encourage a healthy routine and give people a sense of purpose which is something that is very important for dementia patients. We looked into having various smells so it wouldn’t always be the same one. Some examples that came up when we researched memorable smells from the 1950’s were; coffee brew, pine tree, freshly cut grass, sea air, flowers, peppermint, popcorn, mother’s perfume, chocolate, sawdust and freshly baked bread. (BBC Science: Human Body and Mind)
Further feedback The scents could be a little too vague it would be better to have something more tangible for people to see and find their way around. Something that could work alongside the air fresheners. We decided to bring back the lines idea but change them around a little, making little signs so the lines could be continuous without any interuption. We expanded the air freshener idea and made reed diffusers to have around the carehome as a gentle reminder.
Project Reflection A very important factor for people living with dementia is to feel like they have a purpose and a big part of that is to have a routine, which provides them with a sense of comfort. Having something familiar in their daily lives is crucial, especially since they are living in a new environment perhaps for the first time in years. (Agingcare, 2014). Having familiar smells around could not only bring them back to their memories but also encourage them to venture out of their rooms and socialize at certain times would help with that routine. Reflecting on the project and thinking how we could improve it I think we could research further into different scents, the strength of the scents and the actual placement of the air fresheners. Whether they would be in the patients rooms or just outside their doors. An important thing to keep in mind is to not make it feel like they are being bombarded with all these different scents that go off multiple times a day. It needs to be subtle and at the right concentrations. Another thing to keep in mind is that not everyone likes the same types of smells so we would have to look into and choose the scents carefully. In regards to the signage system on the walls we would need to look further into colour theory as it has been shown that dementia patients tend to feel uncomfortable with bright reds and greens.
“There is a better way to do it. Find it.” Thomas A. Edison
04. INDUSTRY BRIEF
Fig. 10
Background South Coast Roast is a coffee house on Richmond Hill in Bournemouth. It started 8 years ago in 2007. The owners are local and felt there was a shortage in good quality coffee in town. They traveled around South America and Australia searching for ideal coffee beans. Today they roast their own coffee, having recently opened up a roastery in Bournemouth.
Fig. 11
Branding South Coast Roast is all about good quality
The brand has a rustic/retro feel to it.
while still maintaing a non-corporate feel. The
Packaging needs to be cost effective,
target audience is both someone wanting to
sustainable and environmentally friendly.
go out of their way for a better quality cup of
The company just switched to green
coffee and someone who just wants something
energy, they are very ethically conscious.
easy and accessible.
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14 Fig. 15
Logo The first thing we looked into was the logo. We wanted to take a simpler approach giving it a cleaner look and moving away from the kind of skateboard-vibe it had.
SOUTH COAST ROAST EST. 2007
20
SOUTH COAST ROAST
07
S OUTH COAST ROAST
SOUTH COAST ROAST
Materials We wanted to have a couple of different types of packaging which depending on your needs you could choose from.
The first type would be a simple brown paper bag you would use once and could then recycle.
The second one would be for returning customers, they would be resealable and could be used up to 10 times. The idea being that you could come in again with the bag, fill it up and receive a 10% discount off the coffee.
The third and last type would be a tin can, customers could buy it for 2 pounds and bring it in again and again to fill it up and receive a discount for the coffee as well.
Stamp with logo For a cost-effective yet clean solution we made a mockup of a stamp with the logo we made. The idea would be to have a sticker for the front and back of the packaging and then simply brand the bag with the stamp.
Mock-up We recreated their menu with the logo and tried it on a few other things. The sleeve around the plastic coffee cup is made from seed paper which is paper infused with seeds. After using it you can recycle the cup and simply plant the sleeve into some soil and it will grow into a plant.
First Design After researching suitable bags for the second idea we found non-bleached recyclable paper bags which had a zip at the top so they could be resealed. The inside of the bags are non-waxed.
BRAZIL
BRAZIL
Country colours As they have six coffee types we had
ROASTER:
six different colours to represent
COUNTRY:
the countries from which the coffee
VARIETY:
beans come. On the back label you
EXPECT:
could simply fill out with a pen further information about the coffee.
FARM:
PROCESS:
COLOMBIA
ROASTER: COUNTRY: FARM: VARIETY: PROCESS: EXPECT:
Second Design For the second design we wanted to give a rougher look and feel. Going for a more neutral color palette, we wanted it to be about the coffee. Still with the same packaging, only the exterior differs from the first design. All materials are recyled and non bleached witht the exceptiong of the tote which is only made with recycled cotton. Each costumer would select which bag to take home, if any. As with the first idea, the packaging for the coffee would be re-sealable to ensure the coffee beans don’t spoil and are not affected by other food smells. And to top it off a mug, with the familiar coffee beans.
Tin Can For the tin can concept we wanted to take the idea of owning a container and getting it filled up again further; by using tin cans (with lids) costumers can keep them for longer periods of time. Simultaneously, they wouldn’t need to buy a new package every time or every five times, hence avoiding wasting material. Both the inside and outside of the can, are lined with recycled paper to ensure the metal doesn’t affect the flavour of the coffee beans, while still keeping it fresh. Each can is around 80p when bought in bulk, so retail price could be between £2-£3 to generate a profit. The outside would reqiure stickers to brand the packaging and maybe a stamp on the lid to further distiguinsh it.
Presentation day with the clients Josh and Jake
Presentation and reflection We took a slightly different approach to other groups I think. Our idea being quite polished and maybe having a slight cosmetic look to it we were trying to reach a new and wider group of audience. We received good feedback from the clients they felt the packaging looked friendly and appealing, they liked the idea of the refillable tin cans and how we made cost plans for all the packaging. They were also interested in the sleeves made out of seed paper and had never heard of that before. In reflection we could have done more designs for the seed paper sleeve and actually made the packaging so they would have been able to see it in real life. I really enjoyed this project and I think it provided a valueable insight into the industry and how live briefs work. The short period of time we had for it motivated me even more I think as it felt like we were doing something that could actually be used one day.
“The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice.� Josef Muller-Brockmann
05. JOURNEY BOOK
Assignment Brief Produce a journey book that communicates the journey of your Visual Systems unit. Consider carefully how you document the development and realisation of your work. Tell the story. Think about the narrative of the elements that you include. Be selective. You are encouraged to evaluate and edit your work. Include key research, insights, design thinking, testing, experiments, critical analysis and all material that is relevant to your creative process. This should also include photographed pin-up reviews and prototypes, iterations of key design elements and reflections on your design development.
“To present a sense of authority and focus attention, less is indeed more. Space allows the viewer to concentrate.� (Tondreau, 2009)
Book Size I looked into various book sizes and eventually decided on having it 21cm x 25cm. I thought that the height of an A4 was too tall for what I wanted and would make it seem too spaced out. I found that the width however was just perfect, so I just made it a bit shorter and kept the width.
Typography I used the typeface Fira Sans throughout the book. Going for a clean quite minimal look I wanted to use a sans serif font. Fira Sans is simple yet still has character.
Choice of Grid For the grid I chose a six column one. The reason I chose it is so I could have more options, I could easily organise and divide between 6, 3 or 2.
Unit Reflection The projects in this unit were very diverse and challenging at times. They went on for a short period of time yet a lot of research and work went into them. The first one was very open ended and could have gone in countless different directions. I think that our group answered the brief in an innovative way, portraying something less obvious and making a system out of it with colours and ballon sizes. The result was something lighthearted and fun which is why perhaps it lacked more of a conceptual basis. Contacting industries in London where I wanted to go as my first choice proved to be more difficult than I thought. After sending emails to four different agencies and receiving no reply I ended up going to a local one in Bournemouth. The visit to Strawberry Soup turned out to be very insightful and a valueable experience for the future. Making contact with people that work in the industry, seeing how they work, learning about their different backgrounds and seeing how and if I would fit in that environment was very interesting. While the wayfinding project was completely different from the first one we still had to work out, in a similar way, a system we wanted for our design. Researching into something as heavy as dementia was thought-provoking I think it was excellent to have such varying projects. Although it was hard to properly dive into the extensive field that is dementia in a short period of a few days. I feel like our final result needed more research behind it and more thought into the actual execution of the idea. Overall I am happy with the concept behind it and think that it has potential. For the industry brief I signed up for South Coast Roast. I chose that because I really like the branding of the company and I knew that they are both environmentally friendly and ethically conscious which are both veryy important to me. I really enjoyed making packaging that I know will be both sustainable and renewable. I think our final piece answered the client’s wishes well in that way. Design-wise we wanted to reach a more diverse group of clients, which I think we achieved. The final project of the unit proved to be more time consuming than I thought it would be. Designing a book requires a lot of thought and consideration to details. I would like to have done a hard-cover case but overall I am happy with my journey book, I think it shows the journey well and in an honest way.
Bibliography Tondreau, B (2009) Layout Essentials, 100 Design Principles for Using Grids: Rockport Publishers Inc.: United States Agingcare (2014) Why a Daily Routine is Helpful for People with Dementia. Available from: https:// www.agingcare.com/Articles/daily-routine-for-people-with-dementia-156855.htm [Accessed: October 2015] BBC Science: Human Body and Mind, Sniffing The Decades. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ science/humanbody/mind/surveys/sniffingthedecades/results.shtml?voteval=1&age=&gender=&occupation=&education=&decade=1950s&smells=1950s&choice=1950sYes [Accessed: October 2015] Help for Alzheimer’s Patients(2004) The Power of Smell to Evoke Memories. Available from: http:// www.helpforalzheimersfamilies.com/alzheimers-dementia-dealing/capturing-memories/smell-memories-alzheimers-patient/ [Accessed: October 2015] Scentair Mena (2011) Scent 101 Available from: http://www.scentairmena.com/scent101.html [Accessed: October 2015] The Fragrance Foundation, Ying Chu - On Scent Available from: http://fragrance.org/library-categories/article/ [Accessed: October 2015] Smells can Trigger Emotional Memories, study finds. The Telegraph Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9042019/Smells-can-trigger-emotional-memories-studyfinds.html [Accessed: October 2015] Fig 1 http://media.studylink.com/provider/pid-mi-gb-4854/profile.jpg Fig 2 https://unsplash.com/photos/6PF6DaiWz48 Fig 3 http://www.strawberrysoup.co.uk/new-branding-for-the-book-shop/ Fig 4 http://www.strawberrysoup.co.uk/the-body-shop-fragrance-finder/ Fig 5 https://unsplash.com/photos/OokBLPrkCNk Fig 6 http://amilla-kid.gr/%CE%B8%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CE%B6%CE %B5%CF%8D%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%82/ Fig 7 Fig. 4 The Proust Effect: The Senses as Doorways to Lost Memories (2014) Smell and Colour in Nursing Homes. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wtbQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=proust+effect+for+dementia+patients&source=bl&ots=Hv_nK2Reb-&sig=ggbQ4FFnP12E1JprcGa_b7K0qZk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAmoVChMI95KznaPZyAIVQuYmCh2eWAS3#v=snippet&q=smell%20dementia&f=false [Accessed: October 2015]
Fig 8 http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/f2/ ff281755-8bea-5789-8d7e-a07c1ca0f22e/502166fb6378d.preview-620.jpg Fig 9 http://www.bronzesculpture.co.nz/photos/abstract/Eternity.jpg Fig 10 https://images.unsplash.com/32/Mc8kW4x9Q3aRR3RkP5Im_IMG_4417.jpg?ixlib=rb-0.3.5&q=80&fm=jpg&s=c761d576c676730196f008878f349908 Fig 11 https://instagram.com/p/9IbbF2nagh/?taken-by=south.coast.roast Fig 12 https://instagram.com/p/6pzdIQGOIj/?taken-by=cafeboscanova Fig 13 https://instagram.com/p/4EayfMmOPy/?taken-by=cafeboscanova Fig 14 https://instagram.com/p/9TCbOWHar5/?taken-by=south.coast.roast Fig 15 https://instagram.com/p/5UuEslGOKI/?taken-by=cafeboscanova