What is research?

What is Research?

Research and the way we research is not just one thing they are all interrelated through a range of different thoughts, ideas and concepts. Research allows for the development of knowledge and creates the need to experience things.

‘Process is more important than outcome’ - Bruce Mau Design in. 

When the outcome drives the process we only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there. 

‘Doesn't just straighten and clarify the world it reflects the world as we venture beyond problem solving into process, experimentation and discovery’  -Martin Venesky.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? - Albert Einstein.

Ideas are essential as research and ideas are not separate, ideas drive project forward, form possibilities that drive forward the ability to develop skills. Research is looking at everything that is already there but thinking about it in a way thats different to everyone else. 

Generation and Investigation of Ideas:

Stimulated approach:

Is a conscious or subcounsions search for inspiration from an external repertoire: in the surroundings, media, in discussion, libraries etc. The main concern here is the development of analogies and associative approaches which as further developed into individual solutions.

Systematic approach

Is based on systematic collective and modification of the components, characteristics and means of expression: such as by structure and restructuring, enlarging and reducing. Dismantle and deconstruct to see how an idea works. 

Intuitive Approach:

Development of thought process, internal repertoire of what you know creating your own practise.

What is research?

Research is the process of finding facts. These facts will lead to knowledge. Research is done by understanding what is already known. Innovative ideas come out of research which involves collecting information from a range of sources.

Types of Research:

Primary Research:

Developed or collected for a specific end use, you do and has never exists before. Data doest exist yet.

Secondary Research:

Published or recorded data that have already been collected for some other purpose. 

Analyse research to draw analogies to your project.

Quantitive research:

Deals with facts, figure and measurements and produces data which can be readily analysed. Quantitive research also generates numerical data or data that can be converted into numbers as it is objective as is can be proven. 

Qualitative Research:

Way to study people or systems by interacting and observing the subject meaning its not tangible/not necessarily provable.

What is information?

Information is the result of pressing manipulating and organising data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it, data that has been processed to add or create meaning and knowledge for the person. Information should be sufficient, competent, relevant and useful in order to create high quality research which is essential.

Digital Production and distribution

'We shape our tools and then our tools shape us'

     Marshall McLuhan 1911-1980

Technological evolution:

To fully grasp the impact of technology one must examine figure and ground together, since neither is completely intelligible without the other. We must study media in a historical context, particularly in relation to the historical context at the time of production, as where we our today wont be the end point as technology will continue to develop. The present environment itself made up of previous technology.

Introduced idea of medium and the message:

Four elements we need to look at in relation to technological progress, Enhances, Retrives (figure qualities) Reverses, Obsolesces (ground qualities). 

Globalisation of digital production:

In 1990 the first mac was released this enhanced productivity and allowed for more edibility as user could now make mistakes and correct them. The first mac retrieved individual creativity in regard to typography but made obsolete mediums such as letraset and other traditional hand made layout methods. Consequently in 2014 Apple released the iPad which enhanced individual experience and the learning environment but made obsolete old work stations and laptops. The iPad also reversed novelty, expenses and access as well as retrieving the ability for individuals to record and document their own learning in the same room. 

The New Aesthetic:

James Bridles used to refer to increasing appearance of visual language of digital technology and the internet in the physical wolf and blending of virtual and physical. Referred to as the Digital Aesthetic. The digital aesthetic is associated with the digital clock and technology which has created an environment around something that is impossible to create without technology. 

The digital aesthetic has ground out of how we respond to the world visually which can be seen in the case of Paddington bear which has grown due to digital developments as it has moved from the real world in the form of green screen into the virtual world. This change has caused blurred lines between digital and physical, nostalgia vs innovation as visually there is not much difference however technologically they are very different as original paddington was a physical puppet whereas new the paddington is purely digital. 

Print culture 2

Theory:

In recent years there has been a return back to old methods of hand made production such as letterpress as it’s more personal and rewarding than the instant gratification achieved through digital design. Consequently this return to slower methods of production is not about nostalgia but about changing society to focus on quality not quantity.

Slow food movement:

Returning to local sourced methods of production and small scale production relationships has become a global trend/following in order to rebelling against what fast food stands for within our  cultural to return to quality. 

Slow Fashion:

Further rebellion against ‘fast’ culture by coping high fashion to create cheap clothes quickly to be sold sole for profit achieved through economies of scale in order to improve economic growth for businesses. 

Slow Design:

Focus on how practise relates to other people within the world and their individual environment.

This can be seen in the work of Anthon Burrill who placed his prints into circuits of market/advertising in order to comment on publicity and society. Furthermore slow design can be seen in the Print revival project which marks a return to  old fashioned print mediums taking on digital media on its own terms.

Nicolas Bourriaud:

Believe there is a tendency in contemporary arts to move away from creating things to focus on a message/issue to make social relations happen, create networks and collaboration. 

Barbara Kruger used her work with mass media ‘I shop therefore I am’ to contradict mass media based on the Latin phrase cogito ergo sum meaning I think therefore I am.

Slow design is important as its re-humanising society that has been dehumanised due to digital age.

Post Print Culture:

Technological reproduction of art removes aura/ air of importance surrounding art to create new hand made methods of production to create aura again. Post print culture shows a move beyond print culture to potentially digital due to the capacity for computer to create still image accurately, 

JR inside out project saw large scale photographs of people of importance put up throughout the walls in a community. This allowed JR to get people involved in his work by asking them who they wanted featured throughout there community.  In New Deli students chose photography of ‘famous women’ within society such as grandmothers and mothers to be put up around their community on houses or on billboards. Showing that digital culture can compliment/highlight print culture/ hand made. 

Study Task 3: Image notes

This Girl Can:

• empowering women
• staying up to stereotypes
• changing norms 

Protein World:

• conforming to gender stereotypes 
• conforming to society 
• objectives women body
• however also could be seen to empower women as should be proud of there bodies/ what they've achieved.
• Statement creates impression that women need to look a certain way to be accepted/ wear a bikini. 

Hugo Boss:

• objectives men as objects in similar way that protein world objectives women
• targeted at women and men as women do most of shopping and find male attractive/appealing and men respond to masculinity within advert as want to be like man in advert  in the same way women respond to protein world advert.
• more subjective as doesn't directly question if men need to look that way to be accepted in the same way as protein world. 

Dove:

• Embraces women bodies and all shapes and sizes
• empowers women to accept their bodies in similar way to This Girl Can campaign.
• Ignores stereotypes that all women have to look a certain way

Victoria Secret:

• Conforms to norms that women need to be tones/skinny to be sexy/attractive 
• Implies women need to be tall, toned
• all look similar, long hair, tall, slim
• No real diversity 

We Can Do It:

• Empowers women to work during war
• shows how advertising has changed
• used show power and importance of women during the war. 

Print Culture and Distribution part 1:

Age of print began in 1450 with :Gutenburg press.

1760-1840/ 1780-1832:

Industrial revolution causes production to speed up and become more mechanised causing a shift in labour and cities grow which resulted in the need for more products at quicker rate as industry was rapidly expanding. Consequently this caused a clear segregation in class as factory owners and businessmen lived at top of city and the working class lived in poverty at the bottom. this caused a community to form among the working class who created new forms of popular entertainment which also involves the working class to begin to question social norms such as questioning social divides and demanding the right to vote causing the politicisation of the working class. Consequently this was aided by mass image culture and John Martin who bypassed traditional methods and charged people an entrance fee to see his work instead of selling it. He then made cheap engravings to sell to makes more money which gave people the ability to be an artist without state funding or by being royalty/high class giving power to the working class. Mass image culture further aided the working class as it made art available to masses,as it was no longer just kept in galleries due to developments in the industrial revolution as artist should now reproduce their work. 

Culture vs popular culture

Matthew Arnold ‘Culture & Anarchy' 

Culture is he best that has been thought and said in the world and is the study of perfection therefore working class aren't cultured and refers to working class as Anarchy. Working class culture in general is not culture properly but has political function to keep working class in their place. 

Leavisism- F.R Leavis 7 Q.D Leavis:

Culture has always been in minority keeping’- believe there needs to be an educated few to maintain culture, as only a few can truly understand culture. Popular culture creates an addiction that doesn't refresh attitude to life whereas ‘art’  makes you question world. 

However due to the industrial revolution the Schools of design start to emerge which start to work towards new disciplines such as printing. Government school of design where created to create workers with skills for industrial capitalism and focused on getting people into industry. First government school of design was Summerset House and they started to move across the country. However there are only a few left today Leeds College of Art being one. Culture of art and culture of design created out of political divide between elite and working class as neither understood each others methods. This is because the elite saw art with an Aura as they believe it to be something thats  eternal and  perusing  something greater then ones self. However the industrial revolution sought to take the aura out of art by removing it from galleries something which was tighten by the age of digital print which saw the recycling of image  which further threatens the aura status of art as becomes less exclusive which can be seen in the many reproduction sand digital edits of the Mona Lisa which saw the idea of making art by using new technology to try to fight back against systems of power not just for reproduction and profit.

The introduction of new technology saw a new breed of artist show man appear in form of  Eidophusikon  who open an exhibition in lester square and charged entrance fee. The exhibition featured a set that the audience looked through as if they where looking at a painting, with moving pieces became first use of immersive sensory experience in an exhibition setting and was the first moving image within art. The use of moving image within art expanded by the use of the Panorama in London which was the use of new technology that allowed artist to create photographic mapping/panoramas which where viewed in a circular galleries above ground to create submissive experience. This lead newspapers to begin to use images within publication as people often bought the Illustrated London News 1840 for the photography and illustrations within publications causing no need to buy art, go to galleries as can gain art from newspapers which lead to the belief that anyone can be visual communicator if have access to technology. This was developed further through the use of photography as with the invention of photography there became no need for portrait paintings as photographs where cheaper and more accurate. therefore giving further power to the working class as anyone could have a portrait no longer just for the rich. 

Print Capitalism 1842:

Own culture, makes own rules and creates own markets centred around images made for purpose of profit, markets overtake traditional art distribution methods such as galleries causing culture to be replaced by popular culture as are art became generally cheap and affordable which the elitist hated as they though it to be mindless and cheap.

History of Type: Distribution and Production

Typography is a method of communication - Shelley Gruendler

Typography is a language which has developed from oral communication to visual communication in the form of type. 

1919:

Bauhaus allowed for the combination of making an idea physical and industrialising craft. This allowed new connection between new technology to be made resulting in different discipline coming together to create new ideas, trends on of which was form follow function which is still popular today. Form follows function meant that what an object  was supposed to do drove what the design resulting in a minimal approach to design. This lead to the development of promotion as the industrial aged had its own visual language and commerce started to drive design. This is interesting as it links back to the first written words which where driven by trade. Consequently showing that nothing has gone away instead we've added to and reinvented ideas, principles and practises.

1957: Modernism

Helvetica was created by Eduard Hoffman and Max Miedinger and quickly became the typeface of the Swiss Style movement due to its simplistic and neutral nature which allowed Helvetica to be interpreted in many ways which lead to its use across promotional material for mass communication. Helvetica quickly became the benchmark for modern type. 25 years after Helvetica was released Microsoft released Arial a slight variation of Helvetica. This indicated the development of type as there where now type designers who focused on finding a better way to communicate an idea. However type design was still very mechanical and focused on hand drawn type.

1990:

First Mac was now available for less than $1000 which shifted typography and the way its produced as designers now had access to computers which saw the introduction of the digital age within type design. Consequently this democratised type and design as it allowed individuals to create typefaces as the computer became a design tool. As a result type became the forefront of visual culture as it became something everyone could use. Typography was no longer a specialist practise. 

By making itself evident, typography can illuminate the construction and identity of page screen place or produce - Ellen Lupton

1990:

Tim Berners-Lee created the world wide web and gave it away for free which created a way of communicating without paper allowing for the democratisation of design and distribution. Consequently in 1995 internet explorer was released which laid the foundations fro template based layout however this also restricted design due to the use of certain templates and only 8 fonts. The creation of these templates however shaped the way we design online as people realised we read and communicate differently online causing people to stop speaking and start typing, highlighting the move from spoken to written word. This development of language has gone even further as we move from written word back to using symbols though the use of emojis which have become there own visual language. 

Postmodernism: 

1997: 

Jamie Ried created the visual culture that surrounded punk by not conforming to modernism, getting rid of the grid. His destructive approach to modernism has become embedded into a language style that can be reused in contemporary design to reference a point of defiance/rebellion. 

1979: 

Barbra Kruger started to look at a modernist view to communication in the style of form follows function as type moved across into the gallery system. She explored the relationship between feminism and commerce using type to communicate her message. 

1992:

David Carson had a modernist approach to redefining typography that representing surf, music culture in America by undermining the grid and how that reflects subculture within music scene in America. His ideas our based on heritage dating back to Bauhaus showing different ways about thinking about type and design resulting in aesthetic evolution. 

Typography now works across a range of disciplines and products as there is no longer one single approach to design. Design is driven by what we can do and how we choose to distribute this which begins to shape our individual practise which shapes the visual culture everyone engages with as well as how they interpret the world.

The History of Type

Type is a form of visual language which is very powerful and is influence by many different factors such as social and cultural developments as well as production methods. This can be seen in the case of hieroglyphs from 7000BC which is the earliest physically identifiable language that has been written down. This is interesting as this is the first recorded use of the written word which wasn't descriptive but driven by trade as a form of recording transactions between people. Most early forms of language such as hieroglyphs and ancient hebrew are all phonetic alphabets meaning symbols created from the letters within a word are used to represent certain words. These alphabets have later developed to form modern languages as as some point they have merged with other languages under the basis that certain symbols or letters will mean one thing which is essential for any form of language or communication. Further more this adds to the fact that theres not just one origin/history of a language as many languages have developed from others such as most western modern languages have developed from the latin whereas most easter languages have developed from cyrillic alphabets. 

Consequently we are now able to understand these languages due to the Rosetta Stone (1799) which was the first point in history we could create a direct translation from other languages featured on the stone which where Greek, Egyptian and Demotic. This is significant because we started to understand how language was used at different times. This also links to physician script which consists of symbols in the form of the object they are depicting which later developed into greek and then roman.  

Due to the development of type and our ability to understand type we can even understand text when words are not written correctly as long as the first and last letters remain the same. This is due to our cultural understanding of type and also allows us to edit type and for it still to be recognisable. 

 The development of production methods has also caused type to develop as some early forms of phonetic type are very geometric as they could be made using tools and clay or stone and chizzle. Whereas in the east brush based letterforms and symbols aided in the development of type as paper and ink where available to people. Consequently in 1436 Johannes Gutenberg produced the first movable printing press which had only just become available to western culture but had been used in China for 600 years. This development marked the start for mass production of type as it allowed type to be produces more quickly and on a large scale. This also marked the start of moving away from the written word. Mass production of type was significantly influence by the Elementary Education Act in 1870 by William Foster who made it compulsory for children to go to schools. Consequently there was greater demand for type as more people could read and want information. In 1919 type was further developed by the industrialisation of type through the Bauhaus as it merged type with art and craft which consequently informed mass manufacturing of type. Consequently allowing modern type to develop causing designers today to not just look at one aspect of typography but all aspects to understand and develop type further.  

Study Task 1: Quote

Society:

Jansson-Boyd, C. (2010) Consumer psychology. New York: McGraw Hill Education.

'Many studies have found that both women and men do not believe that their current body form is attractive... Research has repeatedly found that physically attractive individuals are perceived by most to be socially more desirable than those that are perceived as being unattractive, something that is likely to have been reinforced by consumer societies…’

I have chosen to base my context of practice essay on the quote due to my interest in how the media portrays men and women and the effects this has on us socially as a society in relation to what is deemed to be physically attractive and the expectations of men and women in todays society and how this effects consumer societies and behaviours as well as how this has changed over the past few decades.  

There are a few areas/topics I plan to research into further:

• Gender representation in media, how men and women are perceived, expected to look like and behave. standard? unobtainable? under-representation of sexuality, race, religion, gender identity. 
• How different styles are represented and how they represent target market within fashion and society. 
• What different men and women find appealing/ attractive personally- how are these quantified to define physical attractiveness in mass media or is it personal to each individual. 
• How media shapes the way we look at men and women/ what are expectations are in relation to physical appearance and the relationship between others. 
• How expectations are effecting the way men and women see themselves potentially causing mental illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia, depression. 
• Relation with bullying and cyber bullying on growing number of social media platforms such as Instagram and twitter due to societies preconceptions of how men and women should look/act.
• How expectations effect men and women differently and to what extent are women supposedly more effected by expectations than men due to the stereotype that men are supposed to be strong and women to be sensitive and concerned with looks to gain attention.

20,000 year non-linear history if image.

In this lecture we explored the power of image throughout time such as with the cave painting in the Lascaux caves in France which are the earliest reported uses of visual imagery to try to communicate but not just to record everyday activities but its believed to try and communicate with a higher power. Therefore signifying the power of visual image as people in the modern world are trying to decipher what the drawings actually mean and who they where trying to communicate with. The power of visual image can also be seen in the case of artist Mark Rothko as it can be said that his work is emotive and powerful as it’s supposed to create a feeling of looking into the darkness or unknown as there is no reflection on the paintings which almost creates an illusion of light being sucked into the paintings allowing the audience to have an emotional connection and experience with his work. This can be countered however by the belief that visual imagery is not genuinely powerful on its own but that institutions add importance and power to certain visual image by collecting pieces and adding importance to them to create an air of importance around their institution in order to ultimately make more money as seen in the case of the Mona Lisa.

Power of visual image can also be seen within politics such as in the case of he CIA’s use of Jackson Pollocks work as a cultural symbol for freedom against Stalin who banned abstract expressionism during the Cold War as he believed it was the product of sick decedent western culture. The power of visual image can also be seen in Shepard Fairies Obama campaign posters which aided in his election. However fairly changed the poster after Obama was elected in protest as he released he had been used for Obamas political gain. This highlights the power of visual image as it can be used as a symbol for protest and rebellion in order to change politics and peoples minds as shown Nick Ut iconic photo of a little girl after an attack during the Vietnam war which dwindled support within the US and strongly contributed to the US withdrawing from the war. 

Consequently I believe visual imagery can be powerful on its own but I also believe that institutions attach meaning and importance to certain pieces of visual imagery in order to create an air of importance about their institution and potentially to make more money. 

Context of Practice: The Language of Design

Throughout this lecture we explored different forms of visual communication which is based on the principle of sending and receiving a message using image and type. This is based on the idea that there is a shared understanding of what certain symbols stand for such as the sign for male and female toilets or the sign for help/first aid. Visual literacy is the ability to understand and construct meaning from these symbols and images in order to be able to interest there meaning contributing to the idea that pictures can be read. This as a graphic designer is very important as it allows you to send out a message that is universally understandable and accepted. However the effectiveness of a design can also depend on the context the symbol is set in as certain symbols can have more than one meaning such as the + sign which can mean addition on its own but when the colour is changed it can mean both first aid or the sign from the British Red Cross when in reality its just a vertical and horizontal line. 

Visual literacy also relies on an understanding of visual syntax and visual semantics. Visual syntax is  an image that refers to an image/symbol and visual organisation of elements. It represents the basic building blocks of an image that affect the way we ‘read’ it such as font, framing, scale and weight. Visual semantics is how an image fits into the cultural process of communication such as social ideas, religious beliefs and iconic forms such as road traffic signs. Consequently this links into semiotics which is the study of signs and sign processors including non-linguistic forms of communication through sign systems, visual language and visual literacy. Semiotics can be seen in the Apple logo as the you recognise the apple as a symbol for the company as it signifies the brand as the logo is a symbol/sign for the brand. Visual synecdoche also links to semantics as it is a symbol used to represent something as a whole such as the statue of liberty which is used to represent New York. I a similar way a visual metonym is a symbol used to reference to something more liberal such as how a yellow taxi cab is used to reference New York.