Wednesday 30 January 2013

OUGD504 // Design for Web // Ipad apps

As i have decided to expand on the web brief and show how my website would work as a ipad app, i did some quick visual research into ipad apps. I looked specifically for apps which used a grid throughout the design and showed imagery in a set structured grid. 

I am wanted to carry out this idea for my ipad app - as the website uses the images in 3 across 2 down grid, i thought adapting this grid to fit into the ipad screen resolution size would work best for the app. Hence why i have looked into apps designed around a grid structure. 

Imagery set out into grids which change in depth throughout the app, these are set at the same size and have the same distance between each image. 

Again you can see that this layout is set out in grid. There isn't any images but you can see the grid structure throughout the page.

Here you can see a solid grid structure in place. Each image is set within the 6 columns and are the same height and width. Even the body copy beneath each photo is the same amount. This works really well on ipad and fits the screen well, making it easy to look through the pages.

Again a good structure used in the app, each image is a different size but it is all still set within the grid structure. This works good to browse through the images, but doesnt look as aesthetically pleasing as everything being the same height and width within the grid. 

Great way to show the images of publications. Here you can see the grid is split down into 3 x 3. Every image is the same size and spaced out the same. This is really effective within the iphone screen size and looks attractive too. 

here we can see that a grid of 2 x 3 has been used, this would be the same grid that i would use and even though its on the iphone screen i think it will work well within the size of the ipad screen too. This structure works best for landscape images, which all mine are, so i think i will adopt this grid and use it within my layout for the app.

Monday 28 January 2013

OUGD503 // Fedrigoni // Packaging inspiration

Now i have designed that publication and the other smaller items which will be packed with the publication, i had to think of some sort of packaging, for two reasons: firstly it needed to be able to be sent out through the post and the other thing is that with it being an item that is designed well and using the stock of the company it makes it like a limited edition publication, something that has a value to it, packaging it in a nice box, plays on this more and gives it an extra wow factor, it is also something that it can be kept in and made sure that the printer has it kept in best condition to be used over and over again. 

I have looked at a range of packaging for books which could be used for my project. 


I like the design on the front of this, it is in keeping with the style of the work i have done for this project and the packaging will need some sort of design within it. 


The bold colours and use of abstract shapes makes this packaging stand out and different from others.

A simple envelope design, but by adding the the two circle loops, it makes it more up market and design led than an ordinary envelope, also with the thicker and nicer looking stock this also adds a better aesthetic to the envelope. 

Great solid structure to the packaging, that is made from a durable material, good for posting and protection. The use of colour from the publication against the packaging colour works well and also includes a well designed design on the front. Very interesting. 


The same material has been used here again, except left in its natural form. This has the same good points behind using the material and the design is very in keeping with the product being packaged inside.

The bold striking colours, set out in the solid block shapes, makes this packaging stand out and really catch your eye.


The yellow spot colour used on this packaging, really brightens up the grey material used, with the dull background the yellow is very vibrant and stands out nicely to catch your eye. 


Good design on front which uses the space and placement well. 

The natural card stock used here looks good along with design which is a play on the packaging labels of packaging. The white stands out and makes an attractive packaging. 

I like the idea of the label being used and wrapping part way around the packaging, using this with colour can make a bold statement on the packaging. Here it works well because of the white against the natural card stock. The structure and layout of the label is well designed too. 



These two images are an emphasis on the circle loop holder to use on to fasten something closed. I really like this idea and think the aesthetic of it is strong within the product itself. I think this could be something i could incorporate into my own packaging, along with the label design i saw on the previous image. 

These images and research have given me some good ideas which i can take forward and apply to my own idea of the packaging for the publication. I know i want to create something that is in keeping with the paper craft theme and plays around the idea of unwrapping something and how the user would interact with it when it was being unwrapped. 


Saturday 26 January 2013

OUGD501 // Essay // First Draft

OUGD501 // Study Task 4 // Triangulation

I have chosen to use the triangulation task to describe the Cities and Films Lecture.

A number of authors have considered how the modern city can be an extension of an individual and how this relates to the city crowd. Susan Sontag, Walter Benjamin and Charles Baudelaire have all commented upon the fact that the body can be used in various ways to be a flaneur within the city.

The term flâneur comes from the French masculine noun flâneur—which has the basic meanings of "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", "loafer"—which itself comes from the French verb flâner, which means "to stroll". A flaneur is someone who makes observations, not just experiencing the city as a worker who is part of the machinery but instead being removed from the crowd and observing and commenting on the city.

Benjamin, W adopts the concept of the urban observer as an analytical device and as a lifestyle seen in his writings (Arcades Project, 1927–40) this is shown as a memoir with an analytical angle.

On the other hand Charles Baudelaire proposes a version of the flaneur that of  "a person who walks the city in order to experience it" this is seen in 19th century art and shown that a person can be simultaneously apart from and a part of the crowd; rather than being part of the machine can be part of the crowd and take in the scenery.

Finally Susan Sontag uses photography to record the experience of the city through the crowds and people in the surroundings, this is using the body as the experience.

"The photographer is an armed version of the solitary walker reconnoitering, stalking, cruising the urban inferno, the voyeuristic stroller who discovers the city as a landscape of voluptuous extremes. Adept of the joys of watching, connoisseur of empathy, the flâneur finds the world 'picturesque." (pg. 55)

The photographer is a type of flaneur, experiences the city by recording with a camera. The photographer is separate from the crowd. Stealing images from an environment. moments to identify with individuals in the crowd. Beautiful moment in the environment - people, architecture.

These three authors show that the body can be seen as an extension to the city. Through being an flaneur you can experience the city in a different way and see new things within the same environment you have been living in. Interacting with the cityscape using the body to experience the city will change the way that you view the city. Many other ideas and ideologies have been put into place about the modern city and the flaneur, but this is the basic understanding of it. 

 


OUGD501 // Lecture 12 // Globalisation, Sustainability & the Media




Market is more powerful in influencing decisions of the globe.
Market expand outside of just a country. desirable idea. share the wealth of the world.

Definitions of Globalisation

Socialist
The process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones. It can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and political forces.

Capitalist
The elimination of state-enforced restrictions on exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and complex global system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result


Markets become more powerful in influencing decisions about the future of the globe rather than governments...  

Markets expand outside of countries to ll over the globe.

revolutionaries wanted globalization to happen ... spread capitalism to other countries.  They believed that it would mean that everyone has a fair share of the worlds resources. 

The recent recession shows that no one can actually control the market we are in. 


‘Covering a wide range of distinct political, economic, and cultural trends, 
the term “globalization” has quickly become one of the most fashionable 
buzzwords of contemporary political and academic debate. In popular 
discourse, globalization often functions as little more than a synonym for 
one or more of the following phenomena: the pursuit of classical liberal 
(or “free market”) policies in the world economy (“economic 
liberalization”), the growing dominance of western (or even American) 
forms of political, economic, and cultural life (“westernization” or 
“Americanization”), the proliferation of new information technologies (the 
“Internet Revolution”), as well as the notion that humanity stands at the 
threshold of realizing one single unified community in which major 
sources of social conflict have vanished (“global integration”)’

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/globalization/

Because of globalization the world becomes Americanized. 
We are all now conntected via communication devices which makes globalization easier.

Mcdonaldization 

‘American sociologist George Ritzer coined the 
term “McDonaldization” to describe the wide-
ranging sociocultural processes by which the 
principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to 
dominate more and more sectors of American 
society as well as the rest of the world’

Manfred B. Steger, Globalization: A very Short Introduction, page 71

Brings American principles to other societies... 

Marshall McLuhan



Talks about the radio and invention of TV. Technology extends the capabilities of people. You can now see right around the globe. We can experience our effects on every other people in the world...
Experiencing effects of our behaviour in a global scale. Quite true!


Thought is should make us more aware of our responsibilities."Globe no bigger than a village."

Nothing is hidden and news is everywhere.
\
But the problem is it kind of hasn't brought us together and maybe in fact segregated the world and communities even more.


Hatred can be spread from behind a screen without any obvious personal ramifications of your actions.


The Internet - 
We live mythically and integrally... In the electric age ,when our central nervous system is technologically extended to involve in the whole of mankind and to incorporate the whole of mankind in us, we necessarily participate... in the consequences of our every action. (1964: p.4) 
‘Electric technology... would seem to render individualism obsolete and... corporate interdependence mandatory’ (1962: p.1)

Through economic means and through land grabbing and war capitalism swallows up the rest of the world..

Because the market is expanding globally and they are multinational they are unaccounted for by any government. Starbucks is an example of this as they said they are 'based' in another country so don't need to pay taxes.

‘Does globalization make people around the world 
more alike or more different? … A group of 
commentators we might call “pessimistic 
hyperglobalizers” argue in favour of the former.  
They suggest that we are not moving towards a 
cultural rainbow that reflects the diversity of the 
world’s existing cultures.  Rather, we are
witnessing the rise of an increasingly homogenized 
popular culture underwritten by a Western “culture 
industry” based in New York, Hollywood, London 
and Milan’

Manfred B. Steger, Globalization: A very Short Introduction, page 70

Cultural Imperialism 

If the 'global village' is run with a certain set of values then it would not be so much an integrated community as an assimilated one.
Key thinkers- 
Schiller
Chomsky

Another form of imperialism - creating an empire. Taking over empires and controlling them.. 

In the modern era imperialism is not for traditional means but actually for changing the way people think so the become more like your own culture... Western America culture mind set spreading over the world.





Time Warner

All the subsidiaries that Time Warner owns. 
Most multi media companies come from North America.
Being constantly bombarded with Western ideas, it is natural that it will begin to change the people in the rest of the world.  

US MEDIA POWER CAN BE THOUGHT OF AS A NEW FORM OF IMPERIALISM 



An American way of thinking and American ideas of consuming things. 

Big Brother has spread from western culture to the rest of the world.
You create a product in the rest, re-package it and send it round the rest of the world... 









He controls a third of the market. He boasts that whoever the Sun says the people should vote for will win the election. 
Murdoch is explicit about having the power to control the way people thinks.

You can only report what you are aloud to report.  If you accuse Barack Obama of war crimes ou would have to be very nice to him otherwise you would never get an interview with him again. 





The more you look at newspapers it is actually the advert that controls the news. bove the right hand side advert shows how an advert controls the news itself.

Flak

US-based Global Climate Coalition (GCC) – 
comprising fossil fuel and automobile companies such as Exxon, Texaco and Ford. The GCC was started up by Burson-Marsteller, one of the world's largest public relations companies, to rubbish the credibility of climate scientists and 'scare stories' about global warming.
flak is characterized by concerted and intentional efforts to manage public information.

This company brought out loads of positive stories to make their companies look like they are not harming the planet.



Manipulative system. The media can shape peoples lives and the way that they think... Politicians are now becoming very media savvy because they know how powerful the media is.

Inconvenient truth 


Release less CO2
Plant more vegetation
Try to be CO2 neutral
Recycle
Buy a hybrid vehicle
Encourage everyone you know to watch

Flat Earthers 

Jim Inhofe ‘Global warming is one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetuated on the American public.’

Nigel Lawson ‘It is a propagandist’s term. It trips off the tongue nicely’

Competitive Enterprise Institute







Erin Balser, 'Capital Accumulation, Sustainability and Hamilton, Ontario: How Technology and Capitalism can Misappropriate the Idea of Sustainability'


BIOX Biofuel plant, Canada
Alternative ‘clean’ fuel
Renewable
More expensive to produce

Bio-fuel plant in Canada. It is more expensive to produce so people aren't prepared to buy it. When they built the new factory to make bio-fuel they built it in the cheapest part of Ontario, This caussed loads of niose pollution the off shoots were pumped into 


This is when a company tries to re brand them to make them look like they are better for the environment.




‘Most things are not designed for the needs of the people but for the needs of the manufacturers to sell to people’


‘Most things are designed not for the needs of the people but for the needs of manufacturers to sell to people’ (Papanek, 1983:46)


Adbusters attempt to make sustainable product above by creating a trainer made from used tires...


Artwork used within newspaper


Shepard Fairey using his work to try and spread the need to be sustainable to a wider audience..