live theory : critical selfie : stage one

After going over the readings for this course, I was still quite unsure about what my design perspective was. Because of this, I decided to set off on to the streets with my camera and just capture whatever caught my eye. Here's my initial shoot:

Surprisingly, I gravitated largely towards buildings and the spaces and shapes of them rather than people which I thought was my main area of interest. These are my eight favourite images that I captured from this shoot.

 I like this image in the way that the upper level of the building seems so detached from the lower half.

I find this space interesting as there is this random natural growth in the middle of a predominantly man-made environment.

 I find the odd spaces in between different buildings such as this quite interesting. I would like to further explore spaces like this.

The negative space in this image is what I find the most interesting about it - how the buildings create different shapes.

I'm not extremely happy with my initial shoot as I didn't have a really clear idea about where I was going with this project. However, now that I have done some exploring and research, I feel as though I have a lot stronger idea about what I want to do and how I can communicate these ideas through a photo essay.

The perspective I am taking on for this project is how although designers create the spaces and objects surrounding individuals everyday, it is actually the user who decides how these things will exist in their lives. While designers do create with the user in mind, the role of the user needs to adapt in order to facilitate them as designers themselves, allowing for adaptable and personalized design.

This perspective was influenced from the Urban Future Manifestos reading and the Significance of Theory, where the ideas that how environments are utilized are different for individuals.

Haiku Attempts:

We design spaces

for people to exist in.

Really, they make them.

This haiku is questioning the role of designers and users, and how design can actually facilitate a role switch where users become designers, questioning the need for adaptability and personalization in design.

Design shapes the world.
So who is the designer?
Is it them or you?

This again questions the role of the designer and user and the relationship they have.

live theory : RAP 2

This week I found the lecture quite interesting and feel as though it related quite well to my own perspective on life and on design. While I have always been very aware of my surroundings, studying design has really prompted me to examine my environment in lots of detail and encourages me to find the unusual in the known and the known in the unusual. To me, this is what the Flaneur. While the concept of a Flaneur is quite radical, I think if people were to take on this role even in the smaller way, they would be able to see the world in a new and more interesting way. This is something that I hope that my own design ideas will achieve.

live theory : RAP 1

I always question if I actually am a designer - I don't physically design much and I concentrate on more of the critical and creative thinking of it. This first lecture has shown me that this sort of thinking is design and that I do design by applying these thoughts to other aspects of my life; that design isn't just about making but a lot to do about thinking too.