Lauren Hyndman: Final Year of Design Degree

.... and I am not impressed!!

Well, now that I have finally got my competition crit out of the way, I can catch up with my dissertation. And first things first, I need to write up my last tutorial with Wendy which was last week. So here goes...

Wendy took a look at the draft of my introduction and decided that it was more or less complete, but may need reviewing later on.

I explained that I had been readin and finding useful onformation on design and emotion, such that I can now start to draft out the theory section. I am aware that I have still some more reading to do.

Wendy would like me to start testing out how easy it is to analyse / interpret / discuss my 2006/07 survey results in terms of, e.g. Norman, Crozier, Human Givens, at the same timeas learning more approaches, but to keep in note form for the time being (semantic differentials - internal concepts that motivate people to and away from things).

e.g. Negative attributes -

My next tutorial with Wendy is on Wednesday 19th December at 11am. I should email her my draft theory section a few days beforehand.

Oh and I need to look at Maslow's hierarchy too.

What my tutors had to say about my presentation:

Rupert

* "Very good method".
* "Lots of interesting developments".
* Need to experiment with different materials, something closer to the plastic/rubber feel of the current Heinz squeezy bottles.
* Combine three of the concepts into one at this stage, making a more sophisticsted model;
          - the fail-safe mechanism.
          - the squeeze mechanism to operate.
          - the 'ears', the shape of the latest squeezy bottle.
* Test these concepts on children (and adults) to see how they hold the bottles or aerosols.
* Experiment with variations on the form and look into 'skinned' foams.

Pam

* Material specificiation is crucial to generate the 'squeeze' factor.
* The forms need more refinement in terms of transparency, rigidity, flexibility, etc.
* Consider the production process for the external / internal components (contact Peter).
* Can the sound factor be part of the design, 'splat, 'splonge', etc.
* Book a tutorial with Peter regarding the product modelling aspect and the progressionof details and mechanisms.

My competition brief will form as one of two studio projects.

Just a reminder of my work from last year for the quantity and quality of the work I should be presenting in the crit tomorrow for the yearly third year competition...

"A work-in-progress set of sheets/experiments with a clear sense of where the project is heading." - Pam.

I am planning on taking my competition brief further to become my supporting studio project so at this stage I am just presenting my work to the tutors for them to see how far the project has come in the past ten weeks.

Trying to use the Heinz brand using one of their graphics as a starting point...

A couple of pics from our recent meeting, taken by Aneliese for our proposal to the Head of School for funding towards our exhibition at New Designers in London in July 2008.

Today Joe, Natasha and I baked cakes for our Christmas themed bake sale to raise money for New Designers. The cakes are Christmas themed...


...and now it's nearly 1am so I am going to bed!!

I have spent time reading books about emotional design and packaging design that relate to my dissertation and my studio projects over the past couple of weeks. I am finding out a lot of interesting information that can help me in my writing and designs. I will continue to do this for a few more weeks.

I have a tutorial with Wendy tomorrow to discuss my dissertation and the progress that I have made. I emailed her my introduction earlier this week. The introduction I finally settled with was about my sixth attempt at it. I don't wish to put this on my blog though. I also intend to show Wendy what I propose to include in my Design and Emotion section of the essay.

I have been allocated a timeslot for my competition crit. So next Wednesday I will be presenting my design concepts for the aerosol project to Pam and Rupert. I have emailed Pam asking exactly what is expected from me at this stage.

I have done some research for the packaging design studio project, although the majority of my focus has been on my dissertation so I need to prioritise my work a little better as I should be focussing on each project equally.

As well as all this, there is a meeting arranged for tomorrow regarding the New Designers exhibition in which we need to discuss the bake sale which we are holding next week and payment for the stand. We also need to discuss the stand's design. Lots of work still to do and lots of money still to raise.

Better keep plodding on... but maybe at a little faster pace!!

Earlier today I took a break from writing my dissertation and watched a documentary about a design graduate.

Designers Under Pressure

Monday 03 December
1:30pm - 1:45pm
Channel 4

"Documentary following a rising young British designer as he takes on a commission that could make or break his career. Christopher Pearson's degree show idea so impressed one London restaurant that they commissioned an entire room of his digital wallpaper. With just six weeks to deliver a much larger and more complex version of his degree showpiece, can Christopher deal with the pressures of his first commercial commission?"

It was nice to know that no matter how good a design is, the designer often still has to cope with a great deal of stress when tackling deadlines, detail problems and lack of sleep. I don't feel so alone anymore. Ha ha.