Week 1 - Brief Analysis
- Tramaine Berry
- Sep 16, 2022
- 9 min read
Updated: Sep 27, 2023
This week, I need to create a brief for a self-initiated project, which will explore my interests, experiences and identity.
The lecture touched on a few things that I will need to consider over this coming week:
Funding - With the cost of living crisis, if I want to place my project into the outside world I would need extra funding for marketing and production. I think doing this would challenge me since all my previous MA projects have only been concepts rather than finished pieces, and it will also encourage me to create a business plan that has a concise estimate of what the project is worth versus material costs. James Stringer used Art Council to help fund his 'Sovereign' video game, whilst Christoph Miller aimed to sell a small publication he did about the first hoax.
Process - I liked how James Stringer's 'Sovereign' idea started out as an old novel project, which was then adapted into a different medium to suit a target audience - and then using the release trailer as a way to research his target audience before he finalises that project. Before my development stage, I think it would be helpful to create a teaser/prototype and get feedback from my target audience. I also liked how Vince Frost didn't stop with a final product - he saw his book as a brand and used other media (road-shows, talks, monthly de-frost events) to interact and help the community solve specific problems in their life.
Collaboration - James Stringer collaborated with people outside his studio to produce the video game. If I were to do this for my own project, I could use CoLab, which communicates with students from different departments - not sure if I would need to consider funding for their work?
Interests - Vince Forst published a book called 'Design your life' as a way to use design principles to solve problems in everyday life such as mental health, alcohol abuse or eating habits. This seems to be a reoccurring theme in my own projects because my projects always start with trying to solve problems that I have had in my own life.
Vince Frost - Design your life
Vince Frost is the founder, CEO and Executive Creative Director of Frost* collective based in Sydney, Australia. He has been designing for over 30 years and extremely passionate about designing a better world.
His book was inspired by a talk he did with Sydney Apple Store in 2011 because he was getting tired of talking purely about his work and started focusing on his life and work as one. And this was designed for designers and the general public.
Book
In frosts book, he talks about how moving house is redesigning your life rather than just you living space...it makes you more aware of what you have around you and what is weighing you down...its a physical and mental cleansing.
I talked about the idea of redesigning a living space...what if I created a manifesto that tells designers how to have a healthy mindset or maybe a set of rules on how to not lose your creativity in the city. (Look at other manifestos..they all have a set of mini projects in reaction to the manifesto. Create a workshop, use collab. Research how to build a manifesto)
Gabriela Rosa. How do you train your mind and body to be present....reduces anxiety. How to be in the moment? Creativity comes naturally to kids
Dr. Norman Swan thinks there are too many help books out there and life shouldn't be treated as though there is a simple recipe to life's problems, although contradicts himself when he explains how to live a long and healthy life. For context, he is a medically trained journalist and hosts the ABC Radio National's The Health Report in Australia.
An interesting point he made was how our environment influences our health choices. The food industry makes it difficult to make healthy decisions. Work life has become more fast paced, which increases stress, ages us and draws us onto convenient food and transport methods. Winter seasons make it difficult to walk home due to darkness.
However, praises the society's response to education because it helps them stay informed about what they are putting into their body and the effects it may have on them. Additionally, he goes on to say how people staying in education pre-longs their life because it reduces the risk of dementia and their is more control over their life with a higher income.
Since Covid, there has been a high rise in mental illness and people are starting to become more aware of their mental health, however, he goes on to suggest that people are fixating on being 'well' everyday: 'How do you know you have had a great day without experiencing the bad ones as well'. After all, crying once in a while helps reduce stress and anxiety.
Reflection on First Module
Week 1
Case studies such as the Non-Format studio showed me that remote/freelancing was trending. I was talking about how important it was to me to stay within a small community rather than a city such as London because the town environment is more likely to influence healthy mindset and creativity.
I liked the idea of freelancing because you can get a variety of projects. Could my brief be a series of mini projects or maybe one main project that expands into multiple projects like Frost has done with his book.
Edenspeikerman mentioned the importance of maintaining a sense of humour in the studio/office because it improves focus, memory, decision making and productivity. I think psychology and creativity has been a main interest to me throughout this module because of how complex it is.
Social Design was also a key interest of mine. In fact, when I was trying to explain 'who' I was as a designer, I found that my personal brand acted as a back story to why I have certain design principles; it's inspired by a campaign I made for Student Wellbeing President. So the key outcome of any project I choose needs to contribute towards someone's wellbeing in a positive way.
Week 2
Studios - Made Open, Two, Leap
Humanist graphics
Week 3
Data Visualisation - printed by Parkinsons and most dangerous street
Design for change - Tampon Book
Week 4
I was questioning whether our identity is truly our own since we as unconscious beings are drawn to the familiar and the environment we are in influences how you grow as a person.
Week 5
How music affects the brain (improves learning and memory)
Daniel Eatock uses negative energy in his creative process 'alarm dance'. Shelley Carson describes as transform brain-set, which is a state of inner focus and transforms negative emotions into creative output. See below my interpretation.
I was also looking into how minimalist buildings have a negative influence on our mood and state of divergent thinking (touches on how our environment affects creativity).
Week 6
Using your environment in your design process (using it as a design grid)
Texture and layering
The unconscious. We don't take notice of things unless it's a sign with bright colours. I was interested to see how behaviour can be changed like 'fun theory' or 'conscious crossing'
Week 7
How senses can influence memory/naustalgia.
How senses can influence the creative process. Wassail Kandinsky and Melissa McCracken explores a synesthisal approach towards art.
Week 8
Dyslexia & the creative process. Exploring my own journey and learning the negatives and positives that contribute towards the creative process.
Week 9 & 10
Dim lighting nudges our minds into exploratory mode and bright places are restraining the thought process.
Anthony Burrill used coal from Australia's fire in his posters, which raised money for the charity.
Illustrative type
Reoccurring Themes/ Interests
How does our environment influence the creative process through different factors (mental health, architecture, society, work life, senses, transforming negative energy into art)?
Using our environment to influence the creative process
Behaviour change - turning off autopilot mode.
Wellbeing - final outcome needs to have a positive impact on someone's wellbeing.
Design for Change / Social Design - a social issue that is current
Like Frost, I tend to use design to solve problems that are happening in my own life: week 8 was a design process that explored how my dyslexia works in the design world. So if I were to pick a topic that was present in my life currently, it would touch on mental health and creative thinking.
Questions
1. How can we create a town environment in a city?
2. How does our environment influence our creative process?
3. How do we design a healthier city?
People living in cities are more susceptible to mental illness than their countryside-based counterparts. According to Vince Frost, every decision making process we make in our daily lives is an act of design, so using this philosophy, I am going to design a healthier city. The final outcome should improve the mental wellbeing of people living in a chosen city.
Design a city that captures a thriving community, improves mental health.
Redesign a freelancer's home to promote wellbeing
Turning off the unconscious / autopilot mode
Redesign the workplace
Music for improved creativity
Building a sense of humour in the office
4. How does mental health influence creative thinking?
Transforming negative energy into creativity
A manifesto that tells designers how to have /sustain a healthy mindset in the workplace.
5. How do you be in the moment?
Chosen question
People living in cities are more susceptible to mental illness than their countryside-based counterparts.
According to Vince Frost, every decision making process we make in our daily lives is an act of design, which is a philosophy I am going to explore further in my research phase.
The final outcome should improve the mental wellbeing of people living in a chosen city but can touch on different categories such as society, architecture, the work place,etc.
Mental Health & Cities
Health is more than healthcare
Like Dr. Norman Swan was saying at the beginning, it is becoming difficult for people to stay healthy. According to Tolullah Oni (Wired Magazine, pg.50), over 80% of the factors that influence our health are outside of healthcare: 'they live in the food environments that inform what we eat (...) in the air we breathe (...) in what determines how much sleep we get (...) these are the factors that really determine our health'. She goes on by bringing up a case study that improved the quality of Wales social housing, which reduced emergency hospitalisations in the space of 10 years by 40%!
Click image to be redirected to YouTube lecture 'Public Health, Architecture and Urbanism Dialogues #02: Prof. Tolullah Oni'
This has nothing to do with my proposed idea of improving mental health, although one can argue 'healthy body, healthy mind' or vis-versa, which was originally coined by The Roman poet Juvenal. Neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki supports this in her research as movement has a protective effect on the brain, which makes it less susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases and normal cognitive decline.
Additionally, this has also made me question how wide I should go with 'improving mental health' because mental health isn't just about the emotional diseases, it's about the health of the brain, which is weird since the brain is an organ - why isn't brain health classed as physical health. Although the mind and brain have been argued over the years to be separate because the mind is a form of consciousness, whilst the brain is the material that allows our body to function. Which only leads me to one question - what is the difference between mind diseases and brain diseases?
Moving back to my original point, the impacts that our environment puts us through first affect us physically and then mentally. Research suggests that air pollution creates high risks of dementia, reduced intelligence, depression and anxiety.
Factors in cities
Sleep
https://www.ox.ac.uk/research/research-in-conversation/healthy-body-healthy-mind/russell-foster
Keio University sociologist Junko Kitanaka first started to study Japan’s culture in the 1990s
More need for transportation
Neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki - movement has a protective effect on the brain, which makes it less susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases and normal cognitive decline.
Air pollution
Food Industry
Society
Lack of meaningful connections
Over Stimuli
City dwellers are overexposed to audiovisual stimuli compared to our countryside counterparts, involuntarily construct psychological walls to our surroundings, which makes life feel less worth living.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6430180/?fbclid=IwAR2PL4U96V0K4xR2haD93 8klANiE0T8CoU2xK1AjvoAW9_qbJxtenIg6OsQ This article from PMC PubMed Central suggests in-vehicle technology such as the GPS creates visual competition, which drives less attention to their periphery and causes danger to pedestrians. Additionally, there is a high risk of accidents due to inattention blindness caused by visual clutter, attentional demands and fast-paced urban lifestyle. City stress may be reduced by spending time in a non-urban area or natural visual stimuli.
Overworking
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Labour Organisation found that 745,000 people died in 2016 from stroke and ischemic heart disease as a direct result of having worked at least 55 hours a week. In Japan, the word 'karoshi' means death by overwork.
Premium Friday is where people can leave work early at the last Friday of each month. It was developed in Japan to prevent burnout.
996 in China means working 9am until 9pm, 6 days a week. Factors that motivate this way of living include high salaries, social status and being a normality in society to work those types of hours.
Top most overworked city is Dubai, UAE, whilst places like Oslo, Norway & Bern, Switzerland are ranked the best work-life balance.
https://www.fm-magazine.com/news/2022/jul/burnout-talk-more-prevalent-earlier-pandemic-period.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337029405_The_psychology_of_workplace_design
Final Project Brief
Project Question
How do we design a healthier city?
Aim, objective, critical context
People living in cities are more susceptible to mental illness than their countryside-based counterparts.
There are many factors that contribute towards mental health within urban settings such as overworking, lack of sleep, over stimulation, air pollution, lack of exercise or dependance on transportation, the way society interacts with each other, and much more; however, I have refined my project to a specific factor that would be achievable within a limited timeframe.
Over the next four weeks, I will be investigating the mental health effects of visual overstimulation within cities and then apply a design solution to a chosen city.
Audience
City dwellers
Anticipated final outcome
The final outcome should aim to help improve the mental wellbeing of people living within a chosen city. There is no limitation to the format of this project.
References
Magazines
Wired Magazine: September 2022 Edition. Wired Health - It's time we reimagined cities as spaces that have health and wellness built into their every element by Tolullah Oni (Pg 50)
YouTube
Public Health, Architecture and Urbanism Dialogues #02: Prof. Tolullah Oni'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQgKV5ViRKQ
The Extreme 996 Work Culture in China. https://youtu.be/l8wWoQ3_F00
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