FRINGE
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Product Design
Year 2 Icebreaker
19.09 to 23.09
Redux
26.09 to 28.10
Fringe
14.11 to 9.12
Responsive Environments
9.1 to 3.2
Live Project
20.02 to 24.03 3.
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Contents 6-7 - Brief 8-9 - Character Profile 10-11 - Group Definition 12-13 - Contextual Aid 14-19 - Research 20-21 - Media 22-25 - Design Discoveries 26-29 - Final Design 30-33 - Design in Context 34-35 - Reflections
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Brief You are going to tap in to the world of a particular fringe group, focusing on the needs, desires and fantasies of people often ignored by mainstream design. You will engage with your chosen fringe group to understand not only what each activity entails, but also the factors that motivate them, gaining insight into how participation in this pursuit fits into their lifestyle. Building on this knowledge- drawing inspiration from their associated values, rituals and artefacts -you will design a product or service for your user/s that somehow enhances their experiences of the ‘fringe’ activity.
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FRINGE FRINGE FRINGE FRINGE FRINGE
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Daniel Bryan
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19 year old student Grew up in suburban Glasgow Commutes by car to university, parks in city centre daily Skier, mountaineer, free climber
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Urban Climbers night climbers / city scapers / fence jumpers / scaffold scalers
The term applied to represent those who climb buildings, scaffolding and public/private spaces of the urban environment. Always undercover, often under darkness, these predominantly young people, many with a strong grasp of photography, break in to and climb beautiful buildings.
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Daniel fits in to this adventurous community of people. Prior to our meeting he had climbed a number of local cranes, towers and buildings. His most ambitous climb being the Finnieston Crane, an old relic of shipbuilding located on the Glaswegian riverside.
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Cultural relevance and motivation The film “The Walk” by Robert Zemeckis, starring Joseph Gorden Levitt A French tourist travels to New York in hope of scaling one if it’s many skycapers. Successfully mounts wire between twin towers, tightrope walking countless times between and staying in the air for a 45 minute performance
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These act as contemporary reference points from popular media My subject, Daniel, can find an affinity to the characters in these stories. A young boy, raised and residing in the concrete jungle, monitored and regulated by superiors. He finds freedom and joy in conquering the city; by not feeling controlled and oppressed but capable and strong.
“Watch Dogs 2� video game released 2016 The player acts as a hacker in San Francisco, traversing the city, taking down advanced surveillance systems as part of cyber/physical collective. Nothing out of bounds, no system unbreakable
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I accompanied Daniel on the research stage of his climbs, a necessary part of the process prior to every new site, a morning you could call the
SCOUTING MISSION Starting location: 145 Buccleuch Street, Garnethill, above the Tenement House
Prior to our meeting Daniel had used Google Maps 3D view as a tool to look at the buildings he was interested in.
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A high concentration of buildings were congretated in the city centre. The potential buildings we visited in the west end were more sparce and widely spread
The Route We Took
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This building in blythswood square would be an easy climb. With a jump over the front fence you can be on the first level and then all the way up to the top by ladders. Daniel said on this building that he would go and research the roof on google maps to see whether it was suitable to be scaling across. I didn’t meet him after but these are the images he might have gathered on looking in to the rooftops
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A great deal of looking can be done just from the vantage point of the car. This is another ‘simple’ straight up the scaffolding to the roof job. Daniel is the sort of person to always be looking up at rooftops when travelling around the city . He drives to university every day from East Kilbride so spends a lot of his time in his car moving and parking around the city, a lot of opportunity for finding climbing routes.
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Daniel’s greatest and most ambitious idea is to scale the GSA Mackintosh building. He’s been analysing it for weeks as he walks past, looking up at the scaffolding and potential routes. He has identified that there are motion sensors, and a 24/7 security team, but also the fact that this team regularily takes cigarette breaks. This site is one where it’s possible to be looking at it in depth and not seem suspicious, as it is a well known site visited by tourists and art enthusiasts regularily. From this visit, Daniel has identified a weak spot at a corner of the building, whereby with some freeclimbing he can avoid the detection of both the motion sensors and security cameras.
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I spent a great deal of time accompanying Daniel on his climbing excursions. This allowed me to become a participant in the activity and therefore better understand its nuances and rituals. The images on the left are stills from a short film of mapping the entirety of a climb from preparation and journey to conclusive endpoint, the final image being shown on the opposite page. The images on the right are from Daniel’s ascent of the famous Finnieston crane, of which I edited and built a well-received short film.
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Design Discoveries I
What you see What you you see see What What do you see when you walk the streets? For the urbanclimber; in building sites they see playgrounds; in barriers they see opportunities; in advertisity they see potential. We all walk past the same architecture daily but for this group they interpret the city in a totally unique way.
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What II see What see
Tools of the trade?
The Toolkit The Toolkit
A dark balaclava to hide identity, to become as dark and unidentifiable as the night. A spraycan to mark your territory and tag your successes. A mobile phone to track your way around your city and share photos of your climbs.
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Inspired by Tron: A simulation transferred in to real life
“Tron: the legacy” pictures a virtual world; information is digitally displayed by a strong and distinct use of light. Lines of light carve out tracks behind the wheel of a motorbike, a permanent light trail of distance travelled.
Inspired by Tron: A simulation transferred in to real life
Inspired by Tron: A simulation transferred in to real life
-Climbers give off a light trail in the same way as the bikes in Tron -Mapping out their route -Light acts as history of their movement -Players moving within real life grid -Visible only to those within ‘the game’
Design Discoveries II
-Climbers give off a light trail in the same way as the bikes in Tron -Mapping out their route In the context of urban climbing, this would translate into a virtual tracker, -Light acts as history of their movement mapping out a history of their route; the moving through a real life grid. By -Players moving within realplayer life grid becoming a member of the community may access ‘the game’. -Visible only to those withinyou‘the game’
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The bat signal
The bat signal
The batsignal, is a mark of territory, an assurance of the presence of a hero.
For the urban climber, it is a mark These public building illuminated by huge oodlights of achievement, a celebration of of a climb to be seen provide a perfect platform to completion send a message, just and appreciated by the passing like a bat signal. public.
The climber could carry their small template and light Illuminated by floodlights commonly up the sky with it’s shadow when they complete the found on the rooftops of public climb and reach the summit buildings, the only requirement is a small template, by which any powerful light can become a positive weapon.
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Branding & Identity This project’s preliminary solution lay in solidifying an identity for the group. A common design language was created by which the community could adhere and recognise
A colour pallette of purples, blues, greys and blacks; the cloudy Glaswegian sky shrouded in mist and illuminated by streetlight.
Also: a communication system. A problem of this community is the lack of platform for sharing information. Might a physical language system be a good manifestation?
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The Final Solution The Final Solution results in a system present in both the physical and digital worlds. Promoted, regulated and built by the climbers themselves, the responsibility remains with those who demanded it. The climbers’ toolkit consists of a set of business cards and stickers. The business cards are extended as a means of invitation to a potential new climber, providing the access link to an online cache of information, unique to the city in which it has been found. The stickers, left at access points to successfully climbed sites, function as QR links to a sneak peek of the climber’s experience; lovingly and teasingly crafted by the climbers themselves; a message for the public.
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find everything you need at http://bit.ly/2hiaN5I
night climbers
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A Kit of 3: A Poster A Sticker A business card / an invitation
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Enter
night climbers Access Sites
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MacKintosh Building, Renfrew Street
Office Construction, Kennedy Street
VITA Students, Beith Street
Kelvinbridge Subway Tunnel
MacKintosh Building, Glasgow School of Art, Renfrew Street •Motion sensors, •24/7 security team, this team regularily takes cigarette breaks. •Possible to be observe in depth and not seem suspicious; well known site visited by tourists and art enthusiasts regularily. •Weak spot at a corner of the building, avoid the detection of both the motion sensors and security cameras.
the website
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Reflections This was a greatly enjoyable and fulfilling project. Freedom to choose an interesting subject paired with the convenience of local accessibility proved a strong outcome to the project. By choosing something in which I was greatly enthusiastic I was consistently exploring the activity with zeal, and maintained a good relationship with my point of contact. This project in particular focused heavily on design of a service and required a lot of flexiblity in documentation and photography. It was refreshing to be out on the streets as a requirement and encouraged to go exploring. I feel I gained a lot from this project: in designing an identity for an undefined community, striving for strong and accurate experience documentation as well as maintaining a fluid design process.
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In a broader context, this project coincided with the submission deadline for this term’s Design History essay. It was a project that demanded time management and compromise when it came to workload. This was handled reasonably effectively, though it must be admitted time was given to research and writing of essay work.
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