Noor's blog

I’ve read recently a very interesting article by Steven Heller in design observer website. In his article, Steven Heller talks about the concept of “Culture Jamming” which was was influenced by practices of Dada, futurist and constructivist who contributed to advertisement by furthering the visual language of edgy advertisement that was later adopted by mainstream advertising.

The issue of adaptation of different ideas in design is one of the most interesting issues we face as designers, especially with the digital age where we are more exposed to what is happening around us. This article gives a clear and concise observation about the mainstreaming and it left me wondering. I think this behaviors is very much evident in the fashion industry where sub-cultures play a role in the end-products and it is quite hard to track down the source of the innovators. Staring from runways in France and Milan and into H&M shelves to meet the demand of the consumers.

As displayed above, the author of the fashion blog La Mode Tribune the fame of Balmain (a clothing brand with an average pricing scale).

What can be worse than cheap copying of brand clothes? When girl can’t afford the real, I would say, Dior bag, she goes and buys a fake one just to have her own Dior. One who is honest with herself will go to TOPSHOP, ZARA or other shop similar to them. This is more honest. I’m not sure. The reason is that too many things we see in those shops are copied in their design from what people see on the runway. Sometimes it happens that not such cheap brands start to copy famous brands to make money and become more popular.

I believe it the thinking that comes from creating an original piece is lost when taking it into a new context. It provides a challenge and an experience to do so and designers need to experiment in order to create new ideas. (La Mode Tribune)

Work Cited:

Heller, Steven “Underground Mainstream” Design Observer. October 4, 2008. Web. February 19,2013.

La Mode Tribune. “Blaine Fame” La Mode Tribune.  live journal. Web. February 19, 2013.

I believe that each designer naturally follows a process of the same phases yet has named it differently. What caught my attention after reviewing the models that Dubberly presented is him saying “Focusing on process may hinder more than it helps” now how many of us has fallen into this? I know for myself I have been caught up in a stage of my design process either not quite sure of which direction to go or continuing to sketch multiple possibilities for a model I’m working at. I have also noticed this when providing critiques on the boards, many were highlighted this point. Gradually with time and feedback we get, we learn how to manage the time we give each stage of our creative process which is very important to the overall result.

It is also important to document or review on a later stage what we did with a project that was either successful or not as much. It will help us as designers to understand where to improve within a process or how can it be better for future projects. Many look at a project just for the time-being and move to another without looking back, I believe that it will benefit us to learn to document everything we do for our reference and learn from our experiences.

Prior to reading this article, I have never heard of this term used to describe this process. I remember having those amazing experiences where everything comes to me as I worked on something and I forget the world. That state of being focused, having a good time and feeling completely in my element. Where time flies without even realizing and not minding staying more and work on it.

This process gives you a sense of rush and excitement when experienced and makes the project much more fun. It is great when it happens, on the other hand, I have worked on projects in a sort of systematic way. I know that the ‘flow’ effect doesn’t happen all the time (how great would it be if it did?) I never let that stop me from spending the same amount of excitement and focus channeled in a different manner as long as I know and be sure that the work I’ve put in is the best I can do.

It is a matter of adjusting yourself and most importantly loving what you do no matter what. We all have our good days and bad days and that doesn’t mean we do better here or poorly there. At the end of the day what matters is the time and effort put in and knowing that you are proud of what you have achieved.

I love creativity and everything that has to do with it, being creative to me is being free and loving what you are doing deeply and that will reflect in your work. During the reading Steven Johnson mentioned in his book where good ideas come from that it is necessary to have your own collection of notes, images and references. That made me think of university where we were encouraged to have our own collection of books, photos and anything that we would collect for inspiration. I have found that the more we move away from the easy clicks of the internet the more we are able to enjoy and live these moments (seen in images online) by ourselves which is a totally different experience.

Above is  a model of the steps I take with my creative process.

1. Description:

First of course is reviewing the design description incase I am provided with one or else create a description of a project that I intend to work on and this will act as a guide that I can always refer to at any point.

2. Brainstorming:

I have always enjoyed this process where anything and everything is possible and it is usually where random ideas are born and expanded into many different directions.

3. Research:

This is where I’d look up some concepts that I found in the brainstorming exercise like some links or connects and see how did I get to this point during brainstorming.

4. Refining ideas:

This process and research can happen together or one before the other, here I try to narrow my thoughts and focus on an area of interest.

5. Mock-up:

Another area I enjoy because I get to experiment and test approaches here, this is where the initial ideas come to life.

6: Critique:

I always love hearing what other people think of the mockup I put together, I believe feedback is always good. This will help understand how others view your work and gives you a better perspective of what you’re doing which will benefit the design at the end of the day.

7. Refine:

Based on the feedback, if there are any updates or changes to be made. This process can also follow up another critique and another phase of refining if necessary.

8. Execution:

Finally, getting to see the final design that I worked on is always rewarding especially if it came out of hard work and passion. It’s that sense of achievement you get after working and believing in a concept and carrying it out until the end.

The presentation was a great aid into the process of working on the literature review, It was a good excise in combing information and visuals together and testing out the flow of information. Ofcourse It got overwhelming sometimes in terms of making sure that every element fit together into informing the big picture in hopes that others see why I decided to go with this topic or why is it special to me and special to them.

This part of the process introduced me into new outlooks and new ways of doing things. I enjoyed recording my presentation although it was challenging as to make sure everything flows smoothly and my voice is clearly heard. The recording function in keynote is great and can be very useful, I never new that the process existed up to now and finally it gave me a clear vision by watching the presentation myself as to see it all come together.

I hope that whoever views the presentation is inspired in some way or learn about something they never heard about and hopefully gain perspective that will benefit them in the future.