Assignment 5B

Design Essay Part 2

The brief taken from textiles which I intend to relate with design studies techniques is a brief on ‘Trend Forecasting’. In this brief we had to research new trends for 2010 and 2011 for male, female or children’s wear. There is a magazine in the library called the ‘Textiles View’ where we all chose a trend and had to research from there. I felt design studies made a difference to my way of researching as I did a mind map of all the different things I could look at and where I had more branches, I decided was the best idea. I also learnt from design studies that discussion with peers would help me gain information. Every week we have a seminar with a tutor and 8 other peers where we would talk about our work, and everyone would discuss each other’s work. This helped me a lot with my project. Out with the seminars I would ask people who aren’t art related to view my work and give their opinion to see what they think as I feel a wider audience will give a fresh look to the subject and may give interesting suggestions. These discussions with people are useful but very limited. From all the research methods I have learnt from design studies I would like to incorporate them with my future projects. Another method which was used in our studio was a brain storm of 3 titles, 1 being ‘what do you perceive textile research to be?’ 2’what is your understanding of the design process?’ and 3’what are the skills and knowledge which are different to other students in other disciplines?’ This was very helpful as my peers where pointing things out which I wouldn’t have thought of. Short discussions on each point was also useful because everyone interpreted the points differently also therefore having different points of view on a subject gives you a wider horizon to work from.

Techniques that I used similar to design studies, and carried out from the beginning and throughout my projects, was to look up books in the library for inspiration to see what other people have done. For the trend project in particular I found looking up books, magazines and the internet was very vital in getting the project right because trends are already made up therefore its your own interpretation on the trend which counts. Fashion trends can also change up to four times a year so the internet is a great tool to keep up to date as information online is constantly updated. A technique which I could have carried out was the interviews as I felt this would have benefitted my work. I would have carried out an interview at the beginning of the project because I would have liked to find out what females from the high street would like to wear in the future and to see if they follow trends. I would have a few trends in mind which I would show them as visuals and get them to choose the one they liked best. Using these visuals is a similar idea to the culture probe technique which I haven’t tried out yet, this technique requires making up a pack which could have coloured pens and paper, you would hand them out to people and get them to interpret the subject, and then collect this pack after they are finished. This is a good technique as the participants would have their own space and wouldn’t feel under pressure, it also gives a true reflection of the subject. After the interviews I could take all the common answers and work from that. This technique is very useful because finding first hand information and testing the public makes the project more interesting and gives me a better understanding of the subject. I think interviewing is the best way I can get first hand source on a subject because other techniques such as discussions wouldn’t give you an answer as accurate, it would be more of a guess of what other people might say. Although interviews are not 100% accurate for the whole population, I think combining it with secondary source from books and internet will give me a close indication of what I am looking for. This project is very open for the ways to research the project. Other ways I would gather information would be observation because I could sit and observe people coming out shops or going in shops, what people buy, their body language and listening to what they might say to friends while they are looking at a garment. Groups of people would be very good to observe because in the book ‘Tipping point’ Malcome Gladwell mentions that an observer in London saw a group of people in a flashy place in London wearing shoes by Hush Puppies which made them a new trend. So observing groups of people and what they wear might indicate if something might be the next big trend. After observing these groups of people I could make another set of interviews for groups of people and see what trends influences them and why they buy things.

From this information I would go back and have a discussion with peers to see if new points might be suggested and things I could change or try again.
From all these techniques which I have mentioned, I feel that I could use them throughout all my studies, especially in my dissertation as I have all these techniques behind me to help me gain first hand information. Interaction with people will enhance my interest on a subject and I feel this is very important. The most effective method I find is the interviews because I can adapt and choose questions and participants to suit my area within design. It is also important to know what the participant may feel when you are asking these questions which I have learnt in one of the tasks within Design Studies. This helps me word my interviews so that the participant doesn’t feel uncomfortable or reply with little information. Methods which have been learnt from design studies have been used regularly in the studio as my peers and I have tried out using brainstorming and regularly discuss our work and help each other out and it will continue with in the later years.

Bibliography

M.Gladwell, 2000, The Tipping Point, United States, Little Brown

Assignment 5A

Design Essay Part 1

The topic, in which I am going to explore more fully, is Advertisement. I have chosen this subject because I feel as a designer, our work has to be advertised to be noticed and if new ways of advertisement were to be introduced then advertisement of work will be much more powerful. In order to understand advertisement, many ways can be used to research and analyse it. So far I have researched some literature on new 3D technology and the effectiveness of advertisement. In some of the journals, which I have read, they mention that they have taken out some experiments, finding out if music was an important factor within design, and how big of an effect advertisement has on consumerism. Finding out other people’s research and analysis is not enough to understand a subject. I feel there are many other ways that can better the understanding of advertisement such as primary research. This means I can have first hand information and be involved in the researching, making my subject more valid.

The points which authors made about advertisement, ‘if music has an effect on advertisement’ and ‘if advertisement is a big factor in consumerism’ To further research these points I would carry out 2 separate interviews which will enable me to engage and interact with people and ask them questions such as the type of music they listen to, and if that type of music was played on an advert, would it make the advert more appealing. As these questions are just mock questions I would make up a series of questions and have a pilot interview with somebody semi close to me as they are more likely to give me a more accurate account on the subject, also doing these pilot interviews will help me test my wording to see whether I’d get a one word answer or a fuller answer. Doing an interview is a very good technique to find out a certain subject as I feel it is more personal and gives it a sense of truth and validity. I would carry out these interviews on a cross section of people through age and gender as male and female perceptions on a subject may differ. Age is very important to understand in an interview especially if you want to find out about a subject such as advertisement because youths listen to different music to elders and have a different effect on them. Therefore doing these interviews on more than 4 participants will give me a better idea of the range in answers and the common points which are made between the participants. After gaining all this information, Market research would be included because advertisements are aimed at a certain age group therefore doing research on a certain age group to see what would appeal to them would make an advert more effective. Information within the interviews will help the understanding of advertisement that only interviews can show because other primary research techniques such as observation wouldn’t give me the same solid answers and watching someone doesn’t give you a full picture of what is going on in someone’s mind. I wouldn’t rule out the observation as I feel the body language of a person and the way someone dress tells you a lot about someone. If you observe someone while walking past an advert on a wall, their body language could show their feelings towards it, such as an advert with bank interest rates wouldn’t appeal to a young child but would appeal to an adult. Observation is more visual than an interview so I feel it has an advantage in that way. Visuals can also be used in an interview as I could ask someone to describe a poster and different people will see different things. I feel the combination of both these techniques will enhance my understanding of advertisement. After gaining all this information I would put it into a mind map and discuss with peers or people with more understanding to advertisement than myself to see their views on the subject. Talking about the information may add new ideas on the subject and going back to the idea of different people see different things, maybe my peers will see advertisement in a different way to myself. Brainstorming these new ideas with peers will be helpful as it will give me a chance to review what I have learnt and maybe I could repeat the techniques with a few new questions and see if I would get different answers. To further my understanding I would take these new points and use cross search to see what other people have said on this subject. This might answer my raised questions or make my points valid. A technique which I learnt about experimenting with pictures might not work as well as interviews and observations but shouldn’t be ignored because experimenting with a poster with words and no words will show if an advert is successful in conveying its message and what changes could be made to a certain poster. I would also be able to find out what people find interesting and could enhance it by adding or taking away a factor (music, text, imagery)

The techniques that I would carry out to understand my subject are a combination of Observation and series of Interviews and carrying out experiments with visuals. I feel all of these techniques are very useful in getting first hand information. Also being involved in researching is very interactive and gives what I’m trying to find out an importance. I feel making an interview makes me think about a subject deeper and having discussion with peers helps me analyse the information. The use of primary resource and secondary resource is very important in researching a subject because finding out what others have said through their research expands the knowledge of the subject. This also adds an importance or makes my information valid if someone else has found something similar. I feel all these techniques are equally useful in gaining information and I would use them in most research-based subjects in the future. As a designer I feel my main focus is Textiles but techniques which I have learnt in design studies can be related to all areas of design, it also allows you to work in a cross section of design areas rather than just your specialised area. In this subject I am writing about Advertisement which is more related to Graphic design but is interesting to see how advertisement is related to different areas of design.

Bibliography
Morris. JD, Boone. MA, 1998, The Effects of Music Emotional Response, Brand Attitude, and Purchase Intent in an Emotional Advertising Condition, Florida, University of Florida.

Long. P, Wall. T, 2009, Media Studies: Text, Production and Context, Harlow, Pearson Longman.

Interview

'What does the way someone decorates their living space tell you about them.' This was the topic I chose to carry out an interview on. I got together with a group of girls in my Textiles class where we all brainstormed some ideas for the interview questions. Some headings which we came up with were, Generation, Influences, Space, Colour co-ordination, Use/sustainabilty and Taste. We thought that maybe Age or Childhood would play a big part in the way people decorate their space. The choice of decorations could be influenced by many things such as friends and family or TV, Magazines or personal interest. We thought this would be very suitable for finding out about someones personality.


Writing my own questions for the interview was quite hard as I had to word it in a way so that I wouldn't get a one word answers and had to make sure that the interview flowed. We were asked to make a semi structured interview which meant that I could add in questions if something interesting popped up during the interview. I asked a variety of age groups to try and get the sense of 'Generation' and time. These age groups varied from early 20's to someone in their 70's and were of both gender.



An interesting interview was of a couple who stayed in the same house. I asked the same questions to both people and the answers reminded me of Jonathan Baldwin's Lecture on 'Taste'. He did this little experiment on 2 people who got asked the same questions with the other out the room, The male gave short answers whereas the female would go into detail such as ' I have a comfy sofa with big fluffy cushions' My interview with the couple was also interesting as they both had similarities in their answers but different views on their living space. For example they both thought their house was homely, relaxed and comfortable but they differed in answers when I asked what their favourite item in the house was. The male said 'iPhone' which is related to technology and female said 'her wedding ring' or washing machine for practical reasons. She also mentioned she didint like technology in the sense of computers and phones. This shows that there is a balance in consumption as people buy to consume the latest and some buy for practicality. 'The culture of Design' by Guy Julier refers to consumption to 'need' and 'want' which relates to my interview of consumers buying because they 'want' something(iPhone) and buying because they 'need' something(washing machine)



The idea of taste can be influenced by generation or by Childhood experiences. In a few of my interviews when I asked the participants about the colour co-ordination of their space and why they colour co-ordinated, they said it looked nice and it was influenced by their parents. One male said there was no colour co-ordination at all in his childhood home but mentions that his Friends decorate their homes in the same way as his current home. This may mean that his taste has been influenced by the people around him therefore colour co-ordination became a theme throughout his house. In my interviews I also asked how they came about decorating their place whether they used Magazines or watched decorating programmes on Tv and a lot said they looked at magazines for inspiration and one interesting lady said she used mood boards and swabs of colours on different walls to see what they would look like in different lights. This was to do with her personal interests as she mentioned she was a collector of antiques which was the main theme throughout the house. She decorated her space accordingly to her ornaments and furniture. She was influenced by antiques as a child where she developed her own style and refered to magazines for ideas. The collection of these antiques shows that she does not consume new products, the sense of sustainabilty is captured here as old furniture or ornaments have stood the test of time.

Design Issues in Starbucks

Is Starbucks a higher classed franchise?

How do Starbucks expand their empire?

These are the two questions which I am going to explore. After a discussion in my seminar last friday, I am still confused to whether Starbucks is a higher classed franchise than likes of McDonalds or other fast food shops. In the seminar we were saying that Starbucks is aimed at a higher classed market due to the layout, atmosphere, and the type of people who go to starbucks. The layout of the starbucks is more inviting than mcDonalds as it has the comfy couches which makes a customer feel as though they are at home. The atmosphere was quite calm while i was observing it, although it was very busy. There wasnt enough spaces and the place was quite crammed. The tables were mainly for groups of two which is very inconvienient for families who have children or parties of more than 3. Maybe Starbucks designed the layout this way for people to come in smaller groups such as business type people and for people who want a space which is more peaceful. When I think of starbucks I think of people in Book shops or libraries with a cup of coffee and a book. This may be the reason why people think that Starbucks is aimed at the higher classed. Altough it may seem that Starbucks is aimed at a higher market I feel places like Mcdonalds all serve the same purpose therefore I dont feel that there is a market difference between them. There is a difference which I could compare in the two businesses which is the age market because I think it is more likely for someone in their late teens to drink a cup of coffee than it is for a child/toddler to do so.

How do starbucks expand their empire?
Starbucks uses many different ways to make their business grow. The theme within all the Starbucks is the same. The general atmosphere and lighting is warm and inviting. You could go in a starbucks in Scotland and go in one half way across the world and it would still give you this feeling. The recurring colour of green appearing on all their products and even the aprons which the employees wear makes Starbucks instantly recognisable. They provide a fast and efficient service which is very appealing for take away service for people on the go or people who want to sit and enjoy their coffee for hours. They provide internet service making it convienient for business men on their lunch breaks. All these points show why Starbucks is so successful in expanding their empire.