Author: Yasmine Rajab

Preface

The experts and players that have agreed to contribute to this project come from varying backgrounds and have different life experiences. They have offered valuable information that helped shape my practice and this project.

It’s important to note that not all the rounds of gameplay have been recorded, for the sake of privacy and to ensure that the game is enjoyed in an uncensored way. Some of those players were however kind enough to submit their experiences on the forum (see end of page).

4.b. Prototype Trialling

The prototype was first trialled in its most primitive form: a bank of questions that sat in a Microsoft Excel sheet. It was tested in a quiet and safe environment and the players were made aware of the nature of the game and its emotional implications.

Working in a clockwise motion, each of the three players chose a question from the bank and read it aloud to the next. As the round’s transcription reveals (see following), the players followed up the questions with some of their own—which made for an engaging round.

Transcriptions:

Player 1

Player 2

Player 3

• Hope: ‘Name one thing you’re looking forward to.’

Player 1: I’m looking forward to next week because it’s player 2 and I’s third year anniversary.

• Pride in achievement, self-confidence, sociability: ‘What is your most unique trait?’

Player 2: I think a unique trait if mine is that I’ve got a keen eye for detail.

Player 1: What shoes was I wearing during our first date?

Player 2: Your black Nikes

Player 1: You’re right actually.

• Gratitude, thankfulness: ‘What is your biggest source of motivation?’

Player 3: My sense of wonder and curiosity.

• Frustration, disappointment: ‘Talk about a time when your hard work did not pay off.’

Player 1: It happened when I was in my last year of school, specifically when I was studying for my A levels. I was supposed to go to KCL but I f*cked up my chemistry exam. In retrospect, I perhaps didn’t study as much as I should’ve but I still stayed up all night. I got a C. I couldn’t attend KCL. It was unexpected. I was sad for six months. I was upset when I attended the other uni, because I felt was supposed to be elsewhere.

• Alarm, Terror, Panic: ‘Talk about a time when your gut feeling was right.’

Player 2: I had a feeling that there would be police raids in my area in [redacted] about 3mos before they happened. that’s when I stopped [redacted]. I tested negative for my [redacted] test and I was safe.

• Attraction, desire, admiration: ‘What is one thing you wish people knew about you?’

Player 1: I would say, my anger issues. I wish Player 2 knew more about it. i am aware that I get too angry sometimes, but it’s something I can’t control. You’d only understand it if you went through it. I’ve been trying to control it for years.

• Sympathy: ‘Is selflessness selfish? Discuss.’

Player 2: I think its selfish because when you’re being selfless you’re mostly likely being selfless for someone which means you’re expecting a reward, and if you’re expecting a reward it means you’re being selfish.

• Cruelty: ‘Have you ever caught yourself feeling happy about someone’s misfortune?’

Player 1: Yes. it’s an emotion we have to admit sometimes.

My [redacted] kept bragging about a holiday. Her posts always revolve around money and possessions, thousands of 100 dollar bills, within [redacted] where people are living under the poverty line. She’d caption her posts with lines like “when your parents don’t work but they still get hella dollars” so for a while I kept thinking about how she didn’t deserve it. They had a family holiday booked to [redacted] and again, she kept posting and bragging about it. The day after she posted about it they all got covid and the holiday got cancelled. I felt good about it.

• Love: ‘Recall the most romantic moment of your life.’

Player 2: It’s something I won’t forget. It’s to do with the first time we met. The first time we saw each other after we started talking. We met at downtown. She was standing there waiting for me. I was walking towards her. There was a flock of pigeons that flew between us. We looked at each other for a while as the sun was setting upon us. We looked into each other’s eyes. It’s something II won’t forget.

Player 2 to Player 1: ‘What’s yours?’

It’s the day I discovered he fit in with my family. He drove all the way to [redacted] and picked me and my aunt up and then drove all the way back. Experiencing that with my family was comfortable. He fit right in. we were all engaging in conversation. That’s when I was realised I was in love with him. You’d want your partner to fit in in your life. Our worlds collided so easily.

• Gratitude, thankfulness: ‘Name one thing you get to experience in abundance.’

Player 1: Patience from Player 2. He’s the only person who’s patient and who listens. He does it in a way that I need from people around me.

Learning Outcome:

After the game, despite knowing each other for a few years already, the players disclosed that they enjoyed the gameplay and getting to know each other in a way they hadn’t gotten to explore prior. The feedback was encouraging and pushed towards further exploration of the project.

6. a. A Professional’s Opinion (D.C, children’s psychologist)

The first professional feedback was given by a licensed and practicing psychologist, D.C. Upon presenting the prototype’s premise, form, goals and framework, D.C was pleased to give feedback, which went as such:

The inner child work is truly a healing process… I think what I would add is for some people this could really help them heal collectively. For others it might trigger wounds that they are not ready to face, if for example they have PTSD it could trigger an episode and they might not know to come back to the present from their dissociative state. In order for you to protect yourself and them, I would  suggest you mention that this project is not therapy and is intended to promote self healing through discovery and collective healing. Perhaps you can add that if someone would like to consult with a trained mental health professional contact the following organisations: (you can mention some helplines or therapy offices).

D.C on re.veil

6. b. Learning Outcome (D.C)

As D.C had pointed out, adding a trigger warning would be crucial to protect the players from an unwanted negative reaction to the game. Furthermore, specifying that this project is not a replacement for therapy is also important, and instead specifying that it could:

• be a complement to the therapy that one would undertake
• kick-start the process of seeking help
• be a way through which someone could help understand themselves and others

6.c A Professional’s Opinion (L.A.A, psychologist and special ed. teacher)

Specialising in trauma and currently mentoring children with learning disabilities, L.A.A was a good candidate for my project.

Can I just say that I absolutely love this concept! It’s such a creative way to get in touch with our past and further understand our emotions. Our past experiences shape us and we tend to avoid asking ourselves important questions, reflecting, finding appropriate ways to cope etc. It’s not an easy thing to do. It takes a lot of effort and courage. The card game is genius!! Such a good ice breaker. A fun way to engage in self-awareness.

L.A.A on re.veil

6.d A Professional’s Opinion (B.A.A, psychologist, psychiatry student and researcher)

Psychology graduate and psychiatry post-graduate student and researcher B.A.A gave thorough, in-depth feedback about the project:

First thing I should tell you is well done it looks really good. The idea is very creative, the execution is on point and the design choices are amazing which, I guess, is no surprise considering you are an expert on that. It looks really good, it’s well put together and it’s a really nice idea, it’s really impressive and I’m proud of you and I think you should be proud of this product you’ve come up with. 

Now to come back to what you specifically asked me for which is the clinical psychology angle on what you’ve made. I guess maybe a principal question to address about it is whether or not re.veil 1 or 2 [respectively, Unit 2 project and second Unit 3 project proposal] have some kind of therapeutic value or provide a mental health benefit. The short answer to that is I don’t know and nobody can know so long are there isn’t an attempt to find evidence for that through a study, such as a randomised controlled trial. Otherwise no one can really give an answer to these questions. 

The long answer – if I want to look into the idea of a potential mental health benefit or therapeutic value – one of these elements that seem to be part of this idea in re.veil is the idea of catharsis. I think you mentioned catharsis in the presentation for re.veil 2 and the catharsis theory is a controversial one, this notion that by venting, people can dissipate an emotional state or cope with it better, it’s a theory that seems very prevalent in people’s intuition, in English you have a less technical word for catharsis people talk about “venting” and have the intuition that venting is a beneficial thing for our mental health. In clinical psychology, like the scientific angle on it, it’s not as popular and it doesn’t really have a presence. It does have a presence in psychoanalysis, Freud was the first psychoanalyst and there have since been Freudians, Yungians (…) and many schools of thought. What they all share in common is that they’re not like clinical or scientific psychologists which follow evidence and take a scientific approach. Interestingly that’s not to say that psychoanalysis is ineffective or useless but that’s a whole other conversation and I feel like I’ve digressed long enough.

Catharsis is, from that psychology standpoint, lacking in evidence that supports it or validates it and one example of a study I remember that tried to find evidence for the catharsis theory yielded the opposite effect. They found that people who exercised catharsis were not less angry, in fact, they were more angry and more aggressive. The reasoning as to why that might have been the case is that through catharsis, people are in some kind of way ruminating the emotional state and that doesn’t dissipate it, it continuously reproduces it in their minds which makes them continuously experience it and amplifies it rather than dissipate it or help them cope with it.

Anyway all that is to say that catharsis theory from a psychiatric and clinical psychology perspective, there isn’t evidence that it’s therapeutic and that it offers some kind of mental health benefit. But that’s not the only thing that there is in your project as it’s not after all an exercise of catharsis it’s not punching a punching bag or screaming or having a crying session, there’s a lot more to it, it’s a layered activity, this platform you’ve made and the card game. And in that there are other things which I will mention first: in re.veil 1 the website platform I see something very valuable in it which is this invitation for people to introspect and that introspection… there doesn’t have to be evidence for the benefits of introspection… it’s one of those things that you don’t need evidence for, it’s kind of like trying to show evidence for the value of reading – you don’t need to show evidence for the benefits of reading, anyone who’s read can easily speak to the vast difference between reading and not reading for example. It’s just something that goes beyond testing hypotheses. Obviously there is tremendous value in introspecting and the fact that this basically offers an opportunity to introspect is inherently valuable regardless of whether it has therapeutic  benefits, it’s a valuable thing and it’s also interesting in that if the archive is available for people to visit it’s a way for people to look at what experiences they share with anonymous strangers, it’s a nice idea for people to relate to strangers in feeling like they have shared experiences or similar experiences that’s as far as re.veil 1.

For re.veil 2 there is also a lot else to it, it’s a great tool to like connect to people more deeply and I personally would find that a great idea if I were to go out with someone on a few dates for example and if there was chemistry it would be a good idea to play this card game so that you get to know them better, or if you’re hanging out with a group all the time but you’re not really having much opportunity to connect deeply with them, you’re kind of just having fun with this group… it would be good to play the card game.

It’s a very nice card game, it’s very well designed and to bring this conversation to a conclusion, it’s a great idea there’s so many cool things about it to list, overall, it’s wonderful. The only way in which I feel like it might go wrong, which I don’t see to have been the case was that if re.veil 1 or 2 were to take themselves too seriously as like therapeutic tools or some kind of like mental health intervention or something, but it doesn’t seem to be the case that it’s doing that from what you told me about it and what I’ve read about it and just from the optics of it it doesn’t seem to be taking itself too seriously in this way, which is why I think it’s just nothing but amazing and a very nicely done project and once again congrats on such a well put together project, it looks amazing.

B.A.A on re.veil

6. e. Learning Outcome (B.A.A)

B.A.A’s insight on the project and where it stands in relation to clinical psychology made sense – one cannot validate a theory without an experience. He, however, sees the value of introspection and the way that re.veil pushes towards it. Much like D.C, B.A.A pointed out that the project shouldn’t be seen as therapy or a replacement to therapy – that will be made clear.

Learning Outcomes

Interested in implementing professional advice and opinions into the design process, three field professionals were approached with a presentation that thoroughly presented de.code/re.code and its predecessor. The consensus was in favour of the game as a tool for healing and described it as an effective means to connect with oneself and other individuals. Two of the professionals stated that it would be important to disclose to the players that de.code/re.code is not a substitute for professional help and should instead be seen as a complement to therapy.

16. re.veil’s de.code/re.code forum submissions

The de.code/re.code forum is a community-driven space where players can share their answers, gameplay experiences and submit their own custom prompts.

Here are the submissions at the time of writing, shared in chronological order:

Learning Outcomes

The final prototype garnered a positive response with some players even enquiring about the decks – distributing it will definitely be considered in the near future.

I. Situate:

1. What is a Site of Practice (Week 29 Lecture)

Over the next week, pick case studies and identify their sites of practice. Examine details of culture, community (human and/or more-than-human), beliefs, legacies, external factors of time, resources, material agencies, current activities which all add to the shape, characteristics and continued potential of the sites of practice.

Site of Practice

• a sphere of activity, interest, etc., especially within a particular business or profession: the field of teaching; the field of Shakespearean scholarship – dictionary.com

• “a space demarcated by individuals and their actions, institutions & debates” – Pierre Bourdieu (1977)

Milieu

noun, French

• the conditions, scenery, etc, around a person, place, or thing; environment – dictionary.com

• “milieu has neither beginning nor end, but is surrounded by other middles, in a field of connections, relationships, extensions and potentials.” – James Corner (1999) ‘The Agency of Mapping’ in D.Cosgrove (ed.) Mapping

Situatedness

• Confronts conventions of history
• Is subject to change
• Challenges the idea of “normal”
• Demands that knowledge (and data) is responsible
• Have no beginning or end, but are connected to other middles (milieu)
• Are spheres of activity and interest, informed by discourses, institutions and debates (field)
• Find new possibilities in sometimes seemingly exhausted grounds
• Engage with publics
• What makes the behaviours of that site unique?

————————————————————–

Could the re.veil environment / site of practice be described as:

• a video game?
• a digital environment?
• a shared digital environment?
• childhood bedroom?

Where/how/when? The project is to be staged somewhere (culture/history/events)

2. Site of Practice : Immersion Tasks (Week 29 Task)

Surprisingly This Rather Works and situatedness:

• Challenges and even breaks the conventions of an exhibition
• Brings a new possibility to exhibition
• Is placed in a virtual extension/iteration of a historical site
• Brings forth new means of engagement and interaction
• Contrasts old knowledge to new knowledge by pairing up new technology (VR) with a historical site

3. Position your Practice (Week 30 Lecture)

The group session started with a show and tell of our Unit 2 portfolios. the discussions

Research team outcomes:

Despite occupying varying grounds, common attributes between projects could be found – they are highlighted on the above document.

Two-line scenario project exchange outcome:

Unit 2 Feedback Tutorial Notes:

• Pleasantly surprised
• Sequentially building up
• All really positive
• Parameters could open up and be taken further
• =/= therapeutic methods to make sure it’s authentic and rigorous
• Graphically confident
• Looks like it could work IRL
• How to go deeper
• RS w/ contributors
• The ideas found a natural home
• The objects only relate to you
• Skilled up – where can this go?
• Staging project – thinking of audience
• Very good body of work
• Specificity of what these things do / what they add
• Technical competency
• Potential options could have been shown

II. Perform:

1. Perform Lecture 1 (Week 31 Lecture)

• Work with partners
• Think of how the project manifests itself ‘outside’ (i.e. outside the university context)
• Unit 3 work is outwards facing through sites, networks and communities
• How to connect project
• Don’t hold back / try things out
• Connections between physical and virtual space?
• =/= parameters, what can I do with these?
• Site – resources – dig them out and bring them to foreground
• What new possibilities of the project have emerged?
• What are the resources/characteristics/culture/
• How to open up the possibilities to the next stage.
• Does it collaborate with something that exists already?
• Design is mutable, reacts to its surroundings, site of practice (it doesn’t just live in it) / liable to change / varying
• Design is never static, it updates and fluctuates
• As designers, we are charged with bringing new ideas forward
• World; constant multiplicity

Prototype:

• Original / primitive form / an individual type that exhibits the essential features of a later
• “Proto” (first in time)
• Suggests there’s a sequence
• Gives the opportunity to generate/share new knowledge

Paratypes

• We’ve separated utility from everyday living
• “Para” (side by side)
• Several objects placed side by side with one another

Situatedness of the Site

• Ideate: implement research into practice, scenario making, modalities of engagement
• Show evidence of something you’ve observed + how it affects the practice

How is the project evolving?

Tutorial notes

• Game – could it be configurable?
• Generational divides / deeper connection
• More capacity as a culture to expand
• Tech facilitations
• Radio vs phone: =/= capacities within the game
• Facilitating examining one childhood
• Childhood: identity formation
• General audience
• Fixed in a moment of time
• Want people to feel like it’s their bedroom
• Reconfigure environment
• Identity building
• Childhood bedroom: microcausm
• Confess in public

Initial prototype (notes)

re.veil is expanding. it’s taking on expansive forms and is relating itself to personal experiences.

VR is a way that re.veil could transpose itself into various locations, particularly those that house marginalised populations. it could push the project into a more personal and immersive direction.

• Multiverse
• 1st person POV game
• Experience several places at the same time

While the Unit 2 project focused on the re-visited childhood bedroom, this Unit’s project will be less ‘private’ (website) and will be taken out in the open; this will give it more humanity. In a way or another, people will get to visit each others’ bedrooms.

Framework:

1. Let it out
2. Find sustainable solutions
3. Build a community

2. Perform Lecture 2 (Week 32 Lecture)

• What is it? What does it mean?
• How does your performance perform?
• Performance art =/= Happening
• Performance art: artworks that are created through actions performed by the artist/other participants, may be live, recorded, or scripted
• Happening: forerunners of performance art environment, something new, with the intention of performing something, breaking down the 4th wall between performer and spectator

K.P.I : Set of quantifiable measurements to gauge a company’s overall long term performance

Build a trusted system you can go back to.

Gives a framework to evaluate if you’re meeting certain goals

Performance : Identity – if anything, re.veiling is halting that performance.

3. User Effects (Week 33 Meeting and Tasks)

• Shared values
• Commonalities between projects
• Prospects of exhibition
• =/= parts of the world
• =/= formats
• =/= places
• Transnational theory
• How does design move?

III. Curate:

4.a. Prototype Progress (Presentation Stage)

(For section 4.b)

5. Studio Feedback (Week 35 Tutorial)

In order to fulfil the project’s needs:

• The website has to be developed (could be in the form of a forum where individuals input their answers)
• One must consider the way in which the answers are captured: much like the first iteration of re.veil could they serve as, both, a point of reflection in the moment, as well as a repository for other means?
• The project must be prototyped and tested further
• Relevant practitioners must be researched

(For section 6)

7. Question Bank

The initial bank of questions was developed over the span of a few months. Upon further deliberation it seemed that cards would be a fitting format for the game and that the deck would have around 150 cards – setting those numbers helped narrow down the amount of questions per basic emotion.

Updated bank of questions:

8. Visual Language Experimentation

re.veil 2 will take on a more retro-futuristic look; its futuristic elements will aim to represent forward thinking.

Over the years, holograms have managed to maintain a futuristic feel while simultaneously being reminiscent of the early 2000s, a time when their mystique took the world (and cinema productions) by storm.

Interested in their potential implementation in the project, they were digitally created using Blender.

Wanting to create a visual language that maintains re.veil’s flare and that further reflects introspection, a Blender model of a face was combined with the holographic screen:

That animation, in itself, greatly informed the visual language of the cards.

Interested in using a typeface that reflects retro-futurism, I relied on the CondorWide font in black italics. While the mix of thin and thick lines amplify the retro feel by giving it an art-deco look, the all-caps italics lettering offers the typeface its futuristic counterpart.

The name (and logo) was conceived by layering two words: de.code and re.code. de.coding is the idea of decrypting one’s emotional phenomenology and understanding it in order to re.code it in a way that enhances one’s lived experience.

The colour palette was quickly decided to contain the holography blue.

9.a. Makers Meeting (Eddie Niles)

This meeting with Eddie entailed finding ways to get a card game printed. After a thorough presentation of the project and its precedents, Eddie confirmed that the making would be possible and redirected me to the relevant resources.

9.b. Tutorial (Week 37)

After showing an update of the bank of questions and rules, the questions that proceeded the tutorial were as follows:

• What will the wildcards do?
• How will the win/lose be framed as an act of generosity instead of a personal gain?
• Would a more minimalist aesthetic be more fitting for a theme surrounding mental health?
• Could this design language be justified?
• How will the wildcards be differentiated from the question cards?
• What are the questions that you can ask people after the experience?

I was then advised to print out several card and instruction prototypes and test them out.

10. Group Presentation & Feedback (Week 37 Tutorial)

Interested in maintaining the nostalgic feel of a classic playing card, the design included some decorative elements that are reminiscent of those classic decks. The black and white colours were chosen to represent the good and the bad, as were the symbols that dwell by the corners of the cards in the very first iteration.

The figures are covered by a see-through screen which represents the distance between the individual and their true self.

While the back of the card depicts a front-facing figure that’s overlapped by a holographic skin, the back of the cards represent a back-facing figure.

The week 37 workshop asked us to bring the final prototypes of our work. My display included two iterations of the cards:

The feedback:

• “Horizontal cards are very appealing & innovative. I would definitely play it with people I want to get to know better. Will be a cathartic experience.”
• “The visual languages are pretty cool as I can see a bit of the futurism (?) and creativity. But in terms of the colours, I would say that you can use the fluorescent green as the main colour for the card game. It’s easy to rad and I like the way of expressing different emotions with the card games, which is lovely and effective.”
• Visual language is compelling. I could also see it being stripped back + simpler? Do you ned the human figures? Pragmatically I think the (portrait cards) > (landscape cards). I would play you for sure, I think the idea is great. Just think about whether introspection requires a human face – does it have colour? 3D? 2D?

11. Website developments and production

Much like its predecessor, de.code/re.code needs to maintain its Internet presence. Interested in creating an environment that’s as interactive as it is inviting, I knew that animations and visuals would be important components of the website. That’s when the Forum section of the re-veil.net website was born. Further visual and typographical experiments took part.

After reaching out to several technicians within and outside of the university, the experts at Tadberry Everdale that Eddie had suggested had gotten back to me and confirmed that they were able to print the cards. That’s when the conversation regarding the production started; hundreds of back and forths had yet to be exchanged.

12. Card Iterations (Week 39 CRP submission and tutorial)

Wildcards accompany the question cards and create further engagements between the players. They are split between two genres: +cards and in-game cards. Whilst +cards (pronounced ‘plus cards’) are given in addition to a question card, in-game cards are standalone wildcards that are given to another player on their own.

The cards have witnessed a progression–here’s the journey:

The latest iteration of the cards include three kinds of visuals that differentiate the deck’s components.

The question cards‘ visual changed to a human figure that is reaching out and looking at its hand. Its figure is outlined with a holographic skin which symbolises self-discovery.

The setting cards (then called in-game cards) affect the physical setting in which a round is played. They are represented by a visual of two faces that are connected at the head by a holographic skin. The “@” symbol was chosen as those interactions bring the players back to the space in which they’re playing in and prompt them to task one another.

The +cards are represented by a phone as they usually call for the use of phones to further communicate and connect with others.

The revised cards were proposed in the tutorial. The feedback was the following:

• The text needs to be centered
• The typeface might be too wide – the vertical height is not used. Playing with leadings or fonts with more heights might be useful.

13. Further developments, printing and group presentations (Week 40)

In terms of card dimensions, I decided to choose a size that was similar to that of a classic playing card: 89x64mm

The cards had to adopt a new form that would aid in differentiating them from one another.

An array of bold 3D renders of each of the cards’ respective symbols overlap the existing visuals. Some of the decorative elements were stripped back, revealing a simpler, bolder and more concise card.

The wildcards were also worked on for the production.

After some back and forths with the experts at Tadberry Everdale, the document set up was agreed upon. 16 PDFs each containing 20 artboards were sent to the technicians.

Simple paper prototypes were printed for the group presentation using those PDFs and constituted the most physical iteration of the game to date:

A couple of rounds were played and some interesting conversation was sparked between some classmates and I.

14. Finalising productions (Week 41)

The workload this week was focused towards getting the production completed. After receiving the cards, I asked the technicians if they were capable of providing me with a box as well as a brochure for my game.

After some conversation, I was shown a fold-out brochure that they had completed for another client – I then knew that the format would work best for my project.

I was given one of those samples home and I morphed it to fit the brochure’s format and content:

As for the box, we agreed that we could conceptualise a box that was similar to one I had on hand – that of a classic playing card deck. The de.code/re.code card box would however have a much larger capacity.

Creating a filter was another way to share the questions to a wider audience. Distributing the filter to Meta apps required several preliminary steps:

• Learning how to create a random selection filter on Spark AR
• Modelling the card on Blender with correct dimensions
• Creating the fronts and backs of the cards and optimising them as much as possible
• Creating a UV shader in the required shape on Blender
• Exporting the UV shader to Adobe Photoshop and reshaping the optimised images following the shader’s dimensions
• Exporting those images back to Blender and using the Node system to shade the modelled cards with the images
• Setting up the scene and rendering the images
• Importing the images of the 3D cards to Spark AR and using the nodes system to generate the filter

Around two dozen cards were modelled using some of the key questions from the bank. Meta had to approve the filter prior to its distribution and I was asked to submit three items:

• A video of myself trying the filter (using a temporary Instagram link that allowed me to use the filter prior to its release)
• A square icon with imagery relating to the filter
• The effect as an .arexport file

The filter was approved very quickly and has since been viewed over 4k times at the time of writing.

The brochure was completed following the prototype:

Creating the 3D cards for the Meta filter inspired me to create another Blender animation. The demo entailed playing with scale, rotation and location as well as the Blender camera. The background music was created using Logic Pro and offers the short video a catchy tune.

The brochure and the box were completed prior to when I had expected it. I headed to the photography space to photograph them.

15. Graduate Experience and final touches (Week 42)

The de.code/re.code website was among the last few components that was pending completion. The website serves as a space that

• Explains the premise of the game
• Hosts a demo video of the instructions
• Offer the players a space to share their experiences with gameplay in the form of a forum

The website contains a number of visuals, interactions and sections:

A website navigation video can be accessed via YouTube here and thee Demo can be accessed on YouTube here.

Interested in implementing NFC chips and getting ahold of a pack prior to the summer break, I found a way to incorporate them in my project. Guided by Eddie, I create a sheet of stickers that would be a couple of mm larger in diameter than the NFC chips and that could be used to easily access the website.

In terms of the graduate showcase, the key images of my project images have been uploaded in the respective spaces within the Web Showcase Drive.

(For section 16)

Comfort Objects

In studying the Human-Tool relationship, in the very beginning of this Unit’s research process, several individuals were asked to submit photographs of their comfort objects. The objects that were sent were either things they’ve held onto since their youths, that remind them of their childhoods or that simply bring them a sense of warmth.

1. Their stuffed animals

2. Their necklace

3. Their tote bag

4. A recreational pipe made in their youth

5. A baguette-shaped pillow

6. The piano they’ve played since they were young

7. Their cat

Curious about the range of emotions that nostalgia-inducing objects bring to their owners, I brought out my own box of memories from under my bed.

The box contains a plethora of items that transposed me to several points in time in the timeline of my life.

Some of the items depicted times of radical change, such as immigration.

The box contained several electronic devices from the early 2000s such as a music player, a portable gaming device and a flip phone.

The box also housed several items that has been collected during past events.

Memorabilia holds the power to shift its owner to a past time. Seeing that self-reconciliation relies heavily on looking back at past events, it was important to include nostalgia-inducing memorabilia in a project that revolves around censored identities. This deep-dive into the past through old items can be seen in the re.veil walkthrough video.

Show and Tell sessions feedback

While its counterparts were still in the works, the re-veil.net website prototype was the only element that was showcased during the Show and Tells. The website was generally well received on both occasions but several comments inquired about the next steps of the project. Other comments mentioned a lack of visuals.

Audience feedback

Upon showing the website to a peer, they mentioned that the instructions section was too wordy; that was later rectified during the development of the website. The various prototypes and iterations can be found on the Unit 2 page.

The walkthrough was also shown to the peer who gave a few helpful pointers surrounding clip lengths, those comments were taken into consideration and the clips’ lengths were altered accordingly.

re.veil submissions

re.veil is heavily reliant on its contributors’ submissions. Sourcing those anonymous submissions did not only aid in building the project’s archive, as it has also helped in shaping its next steps.

The submissions’ contents carry a varied array of thoughts and emotions. Here are a few:

Bridging Activities

1. Generative texture design in Blender – Richard Smith
2. CUT>COPY>PASTE & Repeat – Eddie Niles

1. Generative texture design in Blender – Richard Smith

This first bridging activity entailed creating generative animated textures in Blender 3.0. There are infinite ways to create and alter textures by adding and linking different nodes. Here’s what I ended up with:

2. CUT>COPY>PASTE & Repeat – Eddie Niles

This immersive Studio activity explored the methodology that is referred to as “Cut Copy Paste & Repeat.”

• CUT – Removes an area/object from its original position
• COPY – Creates a Duplicate
• PASTE – Places the cut/copied item in a new at a specific location.
• REPEAT – Repeats a single element multiple times throughout an area in this case a design.

This is done to quickly create ideas and inspiration for our designs. We were given a plethora of materials to work with including old magazines and coloured papers. I used carefully selected sections of magazines to create a series of four posters that were then scanned and printed on matte and glossy papers.

These workshops will help in expanding my design process; I will aim to incorporate what I’ve learned in my projects.

Assessment Tutorial

Notes:

• The topic I have chosen is too broad: it would be helpful to funnel it down and find a specific context to work on. Design projects thrive through specificity.
• It would be helpful to use precedents (such as action groups) to inform my research.
• Finding an audience could also greatly inform my research (Who is this design intended for? Who might come across it? Who is excluded from my design process?)
• I should continue using my anger/rage as a catalyst to my project – especially when working with a topic that is relevant to my lived experience/that I am passionate about.
• If needed, the project could be rerouted towards another direction in Unit 2. I should therefore find a topic that I will enjoy working on until the rest of the year. 

Scenes and Events Framework Workshop

The Scenes and Events trial workshop called for the creation of a sequence using data that was collected in preparation for the session. Here’s what I ended up with:

Unmaking Framework Workshop : Very Advanced Technology

As for the Unmaking trial workshop, we had to team up with a classmate (or two in our case) and identify a specific problem within the area that we are interested in. We then had to imagine and prototype a ‘Very Advanced Technology’ that resolved this problem. Dhvani, Shriya and I teamed up and came up with a very advanced technology that allowed for its users to unpack and understand the emotions of everyday objects. This technology would help in creating a more balanced relationship between the tool and its user.

Unmaking Framework Task : in community with Reflection

• What did you understand about the problem that you didn’t before? 

The response to the brief is based on Dhvani Kanungo’s project. The technology we created allocates more agency and value to artefacts that we tend to take for granted. 

As discovered throughout Unit 1, humans and artefacts are interconnected through, often, unbalanced relationships. Creating a technology that helps humans communicate with their artefacts and decipher their moods will reduce the amount of unvalued human-tool connections; indeed, humans will only make use of objects that they can afford to give attention to. 

• How does this change the way you approach this problem with your practice?

My Unit 1 project explored the various ways through which women are devalued, objectified and overlooked in contemporary patriarchal societal structures. This technology could prompt individuals to consider women’s inputs on their exclusion from design processes. 

• Between now and the next Thursday session reflect specifically on how much of your past practice has been ‘very advanced technology’ and where their work has been real, connected to people and tangible contexts and understandings of problems.

1. Document the above and bring in the examples and notes

Ad-hacking entails manipulating existing public display spaces and adding alternate messaging. I’ve chosen to use digital ad-hacking methods (digital photography and Adobe Photoshop) to change the messaging of several tube carriages and stations to promote the inclusion of women. 

2. Keep a record of the reflections of the trial – and if your topic wasn’t used for the trial then apply it to your own work – bring in the example 

My Unit 1 project explored the various ways through which women are devalued, objectified and overlooked in contemporary patriarchal societal structures. This technology could prompt individuals to consider women’s inputs on their exclusion from design processes. 

3. Keep practising how to get specific descriptions of small parts of your projects – and sensitise yourself to approaching the complex problems as  deep understandings

https://transformyour.work/8f93b8b8eac34b219154962e0ec7468b

Unmaking Framework Task : in community with

The first Unmaking task orbited around

• finding at least five projects, practitioners, groups, communities that work towards a goal that’s similar to our own
• presenting our findings on an A3 research poster

1. lifefaker

• World’s first online life-faking service
• Users can purchase ‘ready-made photo packages’ that range from photos of perfect pets, holidays and meals to post as their own.
• All of this is done in efforts to ‘fake a perfect life on social media such as instagram and facebook without the trouble of actually living it.’
• The goal behind lifefaker is to raise awareneses about the pressures of social media, highlighting that 62% of people feel inadequate when comparing their lives to those online.
• http://lifefaker.com

2. The Gendered Project

• The Gendered Project is a growing library of gendered words in the English dictionary.
• Prior to the conception of the project, one of its creators noticed that there is a plethora of words that derogatorily describe or shame sexually liberated women and none/very few that are aimed towards men.
• This project was created to help learn about what the English language tells us about men, women and those who do not fit in those binaries. It provides ‘data to use in our ongoing dialogue about the patriarchy and how it permeates every facet of our daily lives’ and provides a space for deconstructing and examining gendered language.
• Which words or named phenomena are specific to a gender?
• What words for describing a certain genders exist in surplus or in scarcity?
• What gendered experiences do we get to create names for?
• What words have undergone semantic derogation and/or sexualization?
• In what ways and does language in structure, content and daily usage reflect and help constitute sexual inequality?
• https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/from-fuckboy-to-man-eater-using-data-to-depict-the-imbalance-in-gendered-terms-is/

3. The Online Identity Project

• Online users actively cultivate a very specific identity on their social media platforms.
• ‘The Online Identity Project was started by Virginia Streit, who has a long-held fascination for digital cultures and posthumanism. In 2015 she completed a Master’s Degree in Communication, during which her research focused on identity building in online environments’. It is a ‘not-for-profit initiative was born out of curiosity about what makes our online environments so diverse and vibrant, and perhaps as an antidote to suggestions about the negative implications of technology on our society.’
• Who are you online? Do you go by a different name? How do you express yourself? Do you engage with an online community which is different from your offline life?

4. Second Life

• Online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and have a second life in an online virtual world.
• It was developed and owned by the San Francisco-based firm Linden Lab and launched on June 23, 2003.
• It saw rapid growth for some years and in 2013 it had approximately one million regular users.
• ‘In many ways, Second Life is similar to massively multiplayer online role-playing games; nevertheless, Linden Lab is emphatic that their creation is not a game: “There is no manufactured conflict, no set objective”.’
• ‘Second Life users, also called residents, create virtual representations of themselves, called avatars, and are able to interact with places, objects and other avatars. They can explore the world (known as the grid), meet other residents, socialize, participate in both individual and group activities, build, create, shop, and trade virtual property and services with one another.’
• ‘The platform principally features 3D-based user-generated content. Second Life also has its own virtual currency, the Linden Dollar, which is exchangeable with real world currency.’
• https://secondlife.com

5. Intersectionality Toolkit

• ‘It is a practical guide for both individual activists and organisations to learn more about Intersectionality and its principles, and to provide a selection of activities to explore practice around inclusiveness.’
• It pitches the idea that ‘we – in all our diversity – should enjoy respect, and celebrate all the intersections of our identity.’
• ‘An intersectional approach recognises that these multiple intersections exist in endless combinations, and that they can sometimes lead to privilege and sometimes to discrimination. We must continually question where the power lies in different societies, organisations and groups to understand why some individuals are treated better than others, find it easier to be successful, or are more readily included. Only by doing this can we start to see who is excluded or discriminated against. Intersectionality, therefore, encourages solidarity, highlighting that all struggles for freedom from oppression are interlinked and that they can all benefit by interacting with each other. By working together we can all begin to strengthen the fight against oppression in general.’
• https://www.iglyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Inter-Toolkit.pdf

Virtual Avatar is a project that was presented by a classmate and that was reminiscent of the practitioners that I’d presented myself. It’s a website that allows its users to create avatars that are described as ‘passports to the metaverse’ and that can be customised through the purchase of NFTs.

One cannot help but allocate dystopian elements to some of those projects, particularly those that involve the use of technology to alter ones identity. The future remains uncertain but smart technology will, without a doubt, see itself developing at an exponential rate: how could one keep up and adapt with those technological advancements? How could I incorporate AI within my own practice?

Thomas.Matthews Studio : introduction to sustainable design + letterpress

Thomas.Matthews are a communication design studio that prioritise sustainability. A two-day workshop was held with the practice. The event begun with a presentation that surrounded the studio’s ethos and beginnings and prompted the attendees to group up and create a collection of sustainably-made posters that promote sustainability.

Founded between 1997 and 1998, Thomas.Matthews has been a long standing pioneer of sustainability of graphic design. The practice started in founding director Sophie Thomas’ living room, alongside her then partner Christine Matthews. The pair met in 1995 and worked on sustainability-driven projects throughout their time in University. The practice has since grown and focuses on collaborations with other designers and charities. 

The task at hand entailed using the letterpress studio – an environment that is not unfamiliar to the practice. The tools at hand were limited to waste ink and scrap papers.

Initial Inspiration

Displayed in Shoreditch, this movie brought forth a great deal of inspiration to my project. The cast UV light adds a layer of mystery to the poster.

After some reformulation and an in-depth look at my personal journey, a project concept came to light. What’s something that’s hidden within our adult selves until we shed light on it? The answer: repressed childhood thoughts, traumas, and identities.

Unmaking Framework Task : orienting

As the title of the brief suggests, this task is interested in orienting our practice into a certain direction. This can be achieved by asking ourselves the following questions:

• What do you want your work to do?
• How will you know if your work is doing what you want it to do?
• What kind of change are you interesting in making?
• What is it that you want to happen?
• What does success look like for your practice?
• How will you know if you are heading in the right direction?

The outcome of this brief will take the form of a 500 word statement that explains what we would like our work to do, and how we would recognise, measure or identify that impact.

1. Unit 1 Review

My Unit 1 research surrounded the maladjustment of women in contemporary society, focusing on their exclusion from design processes. With the aims of challenging, dismantling and restructuring the current fabric of society in a way that would promote gender equity and intersectionality, the project worked on raising awareness about the dangers of androcentrism and its effects on everyday life.

2. Next steps

I’ve been thinking about a topic of contemporary relevance that, both, interests me and that could make use of my Unit 1 research.  

I’ve written my BA dissertation about the impacts of Social Media on mental health in young adults and adolescents. The piece focused on addiction (and its mechanics), social comparison and the mental disorders that could be fostered/exacerbated through it (body dysmorphic disorder/depression…). It also mentioned some of the more positive effects such as the representation of marginalised communities.

Arguably a cliché, I’m still interested in studying Social Media as it’s a tool that’s quickly become embedded in our societal structure. I’m also deeply intrigued by the concept of the performance of identity, as I believe that every interaction that we partake in relies on a self-built (or societal-built) performance that we deliberately (or not) choose to upkeep.

I’m particularly interested in how traditional gender roles are extended/exacerbated via Social Media. Perhaps within Instagram in particular as I’ve found that visual content is easier to recall than its text-based counterpart. It would entail looking into body+lifestyle image/objectification/body dysmorphic disorder/the male gaze/constructed identities. Is there a true self?

How different are our online identities from our ‘real life’ identities?

3. The statement:

Here are some of the initial ideas that came out of this statement:

• Using invisible/UV activated ink to conceal or reveal an idea (inspired by the above movie poster)
• Finding a way to consolidate one’s online + offline identities
• Comfort objects and their significance (see Unit 2 Primary Research page)
• Safe spaces (later referred to as spaces of affirmation) and their significance
• Creating a self-censored font. This one was inspired by the coded alphabets that were created by my peers throughout my youth.

Thomas Matthews Studio : final outcomes

The Posters:

orienting : post-session notes

This brain-storming session established that:

• the bedroom is the place that holds the most authentic version of the self; it is free of performance
• many thoughts are left behind in the childhood bedroom
• the bedroom and its contents hold a large amount of memories
• healing could be done through transposing the self into the childhood bedroom
• a website can be used to collect those childhood bedroom thoughts

Readings:

As mentioned in the Unit 1: Secondary Research page, several bodies of work have continuously influenced my thought process throughout the academic year. Despite undergoing a rather drastic rerouting in terms of my project (that is applicable to both, the CRP as well as the studio project) and following a tutor’s advice, I decided to add two contemporary works to the list.

Glitch Feminism (2020)

• explains that the patriarchy takes up an excessive amount of spaces ‘as its birthright’ – this fact being especially pertinent when it ‘comes into contact with whiteness’
• offers a digital solution to out-group outcasts
• urges the reader to recognize and challenge the performative undertones that lie under gender and the other hegemonic and traditional concepts of bodies
• expresses the importance of skewing away from the white cisheteronormative ‘central reference points’ that Humans have been conditioned to comply with, turn to and cater to and that hold them back from being able to recognize and engage in themselves
• encourages the Glitch Feminist to be their own reference by moving away from the binary of the existing social orders that structure our societies
• directs the Glitch Feminist towards the digital world, a powerful human-made realm that continuously influences the human

The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love (2021)

• argues that oppression oppresses all — including those who are cast using the default mould
• recognises the modern manifestations of the in-group out-group bias
• explains that racism, sexism, ableism, homo-and transphobia, ageism and fatphobia are governmentally upheld algorithms that were created to establish social hierarchy and distribute power and resources
• describes how dismantling the systems and structures that uphold body terrorism requires tearing down the pillars of hierarchy that reside inside the individuals’ selves

Reading notes:

Both reads highlight the importance of representation for members of marginalised communities. Representation offers individuals a sense of belonging and a lack thereof could lead to alienation. Both reads also discuss the systemic disadvantages that burden marginalised communities and how patriarchal systems seek to keep those communities oppressed.

Precedents:

Websites have long been used as means for digital world-building. My research primarily revolved around queer projects:

Queering the Map (2017)

• created by Lucas LaRochelle
• website developed as an undergraduate project that aimed to explore others’ experiences of queerness
• uses Google Maps’ API to geolocate its submissions
• disallows user identification
• accessed via >https://www.queeringthemap.com/<

Unsent Project (2015)

• created by Rora Blue
• website (online archive) + popular instagram account
• initially created to find out ‘what colour people see love in’
• the project now provides an emotional outlet for those that need it
• submissions’ format is reminiscent of early 2000s phones’ instant messaging screens
• transposes its users to another time and space
• accessed via >https://theunsentproject.com/< >https://www.instagram.com/theunsentproject/?hl=en<

Secret Little Haven (2018)

• created by Victoria Dominowski
• computer game
• tells the story of a young woman’s journey of self-discovery
• storyline set inside of the main character Alex Cole’s computer in the year 1999
• at the start of the game, Alex’s online persona differs from her AFK persona: that was out of obligation and not by choice
• purchased via >https://store.steampowered.com/app/827290/Secret_Little_Haven/<

re.veil draws inspiration from all three of these works. Aiming to transpose the user to their childhood bedroom, the project aims to platform individuals who have found themselves having to censor crucial parts of their identities throughout their childhoods.

The re-veil.net website’s anonymous submission format, geolocation feature and nostalgic spirit and interface draws inspiration from both, Queering the Map and The Unsent Project. The anonymous submissions are archived in what looks like an on-going conversation; that representation could help start a conversation or aid someone who might be going through similar hardships.

Meanwhile, the re.veil walkthrough draws inspiration from Secret Little Haven; particularly in its use of older computer interfaces.

Digital world-building and self-acceptance through inner child healing

So far, the research can be summed up using the below diagrams:

As Sonya Renee Taylor had mentioned in The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love (2021), dismantling the systems and structures that consistently bring down othered bodies requires practicing radical self-love and acceptance on an individual basis.

Following conversation with a professional in psychiatry surrounding repressive childhood environments, it was established that guilt, shame and fear are the primary emotions that lead to turbulent adult relationships (with the self and others, that is). Healing the inner child requires a deep dive into the individual’s past.

If achieving self-acceptance on an individual basis is needed to create a harmonious and accepting community and healing requires time traveling, then it could be said that the release of repressed childhood thoughts could lead to healthier communities and environments.

The above glossary contains the terms that are most relevant to the project.

re.veil website process and prototypes

Glow in the dark stars are considered to be staples of childhood bedrooms. A lot of our days’ processing occurs in the night time, whilst looking at the ceiling. Emulating a childhood bedroom feel on the re.veil website was of upmost importance as it would help in hosting its visitors in a safe and nostalgic space.

Finding a typeface that reflects and communicates the feel of the website required scrolling through endless galleries and using keywords. Ultimately, OmnesCyrillic ended up being a good match, as it oozes playfulness, friendliness and trustworthiness; much like a good a friend one could have confided in in the 2000s.

I chose to use Wix as a website builder as I had previously used it.

Contrasting the stars to a dark background was key in imitating a night-time feel.

Straying away from using black as a background colour, the colour that ended up being chosen resembles the shade a bedroom would take on during nighttime (#131117) and the text colour was a bright almost neon yellow (#CCFF00) that is reminiscent of glow in the dark stars (that colour would later change).

The typeface colour was changed to achieve a shade that’s more green to match the LCD banner and the 3D rendered devices’ colours.

re.veil 3D render experiments

In parallel with the website’s creation, 3D models of nostalgic devices were created using Blender.

Inspired by my own past devices (see Unit 2 : Primary Research page), I created several devices from scratch that adhered to, what would then become, the re.veil aesthetic:

Those devices were then included on the website as well as in the walkthrough.

re.veil walkthrough

Creating an animation using Blender was challenging but rewarding. The polished colourful outcomes made up for the unreliably long render times.

The animation is a walkthrough of what would have been an interactive game. The storyline, available in full detail in the studio portfolio, takes the player back to their childhood home where they are greeted and guided by an AI that encourages them to consolidate their relationship with the younger version of themself.

The AI communicates with the player through text on a computer and tablet screens and the player responds back using options on pop up windows.

The set in which the scene is held was first drawn using AutoCAD 2023 and then modelled using Blender. It draws inspiration from conventional British homes as well as the layout of my own childhood home.

Filming the various scenes required moving and rotating the Blender camera in various angles and locations.

Documentation of tasks that precede the CRP Outline

14 October 2021 : Six Degrees of Separation

Following the introductory CRP session with Margherita Huntley, each student was assigned an image that is extracted from one of the three platform themes that will be guiding us through the research paper. This first CRP Task entailed finding 5 images that connect to the assigned image. Through connection, nothing that exists in isolation.

The assigned image (top right) evoked a sense of familiarity in me — I realised that the distorted script looked a lot like the ones used in CAPTCHAs (or Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart). Consequently, the first image I chose is a gif of an online CAPTCHA. I related that gif to the second image; a poster of the movie her, a movie in which the lead character and his AI device develop a romantic connection, an otherwise exclusively human experience (so far, at least). The third image depicts a cameraperson on the set of a movie and the fourth image depicts a person putting on a contact lens. The fifth and final image is one of an Iris, a genus of flowering plants — it is widely different than the given image.

21 October 2021 : Personal glossary of Keywords

The second CRP task entailed gathering at least five words from the proposed research themes and defining them, to the best of our abilities, without having to rely on existing definitions. The outcome of the task is a thematic and personal glossary of words.

Glossary:

• Anti-hero

Not quite a villain, but just not the hero you were expecting to idolise. This individual does not add much thrill to the plot but instead, navigates through the story using a moralistic approach.

ex. Meursault, the main character of Camus’ book L’Étranger (or, The Stranger) is famously known for being the epitome of the Anti-hero. The character navigates the reader along his journey through a detached lens.  

• Diaspora

A population that migrates from its place of origin due to unfavourable living conditions.

ex. The Lebanese population has witnessed several waves of migration. Long-term political instabilities have rendered the country unliveable and the diaspora has made its way to various regions of the world across several decades.

• Re-territorialization  

The act of reclaiming a (material or immaterial) territory.

• Transhumanism

A state of being in which an individual acquires and embodies qualities that are beyond human limitations.

ex. The 2014 science fiction film Lucy follows the story of a woman who experiences the activation of the otherwise obsolete parts of her brain and in consequence, gains and exhibits transhuman and psychokinetic abilities.

• Unorthodox

A state in which a subject does not conform to a given set of guidelines, but rather expresses itself in an unconventional (and, sometimes, blasphemous) manner.

28 October 2021 : Comparative Case Studie(s)

The third CRP task entailed:

• Fully immersing ourselves in the Platform Theme that we’d chosen (I have chosen the Proximities and Encounters Platform Theme)
• Exploring the case studies that are presented within the Platform Theme
• Choosing a case study that interests us (Somebody by Miranda July)
• Choosing a case study that is outside the Platform Theme (The Unsent Project by Rora Blue)
• Conducting a comparative study that compares and contrasts both case studies

Here are my findings:

During the CRP session, we were paired with another person on the group. We explained our findings to our peer and then presented their outcomes with the rest of the group. We got to explore and discuss several projects between each other and with Margherita’s guidance.

04 November 2021 : Mapping your interests

This week’s CRP task entailed creating diagrams that represent potential themes for our projects. Here’s what I came up with: 

11th November : From Description to Analysis

For this week’s CRP task, I grouped up with Dhvani and Shriya to discuss a reading from the platform theme. We chose chapter 2 from Are We Human? (2016) by Colomina and Wigley (>https://moodle.arts.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/1227600/mod_tab/content/41067/The%20Plastic%20Human%20.pdf<).

What does the text invite you to think about? Does it remind you of anything?

The text prompts the reader to question the relationship between objects, their creators and the environment they dwell in. It also sparks curiosity about how frequently humans use certain objects and how that contributes to human adaptation. It challenges the definition of Human and it also prompts the reader to question the legitimacy of the idea that humans have agency over artefacts – it is an illusion.

What are the key points in the text? What is the author arguing (for or against)? Pick out a few important quotations or excerpts.

The author is arguing that the object cannot be isolated from its creator and the creator itself adapts to its creations. The evolution of design is not as black and white or as linear and uneven as we categorise it to be. It makes us question who really is the creator – the artefact or the human.

“The human is inseparable from the artefacts that it produces, with the human body having the extended shape of all the artefacts it has made and each artefact being an intimate part of its biology and brain.”

“In the sense, histories of the human are histories of artefacts and the interactivities between artefacts, seen as potentials rather than accomplishments, as if the earth is a vast design studio in which human capacity is being tinkered with in unexpected ways.”

What wider themes does this text connect to? Find some related secondary sources to back this up (ie books, websites, journals, films etc)

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman relates to the theme of how we are completely suspended in design. This concept is prevalent in the text as well as this book. The book talks about adaptation and focuses on the interplay between artefacts and human. One theme it connects to is the idea of personifying something that is scientifically non existent.

One example can be found within the 2014 film Lucy, in which an AI device embodies human emotion. There is evidence of personification of an otherwise inanimate artefact.

Object Oriented Ontology by Graham Harman can also be connected to the text as it encompasses the personification of objects. It challenges our perception of objects and their universe beyond the conventional understanding.

What do you think is the motivation or intention of the writer? Why do you think it has been written in this particular structure / format / writing style?

We think the author intends to challenge the notion of progress as something that humans have the ownership of and take pride in, by being ‘self congratulatory’.

Furthermore, we think that the author questions whether or not the Artefact is the link between the interaction of Earth and Human… or even a catalyst, rather than being its own entity.

Is there anything your group disagrees with in the text?

The last paragraph aroused conflicting thoughts within all members of the group. Isn’t the mentioned ‘question mark’ what leads us to make sophisticated capacities, linear or uneven? Perhaps it is naive to think of it being a linear progress as we better our relationship with the Artefact. But with apparent uneven progress that goes in different directions and also includes loss of capacities, the question mark (that we assume refers to curiosity) is the starting point of this entire process. The history of Design resides in curiosity but the history of curiosity is the ‘uneven progress’. If it is hard to differentiate between Human and Artefact, it should be equally hard to differentiate between the question mark and the history of Design.

How could you use the writer’s approach in your own work?

The objectifiction of Human, the personification of Artefact, as well as the otherwise unconventional use of Scale in the synopsis offer a rather unique and fresh perspective. This broadened our horizons by prompting us to question our relationship with the everyday objects we interact with and by pushing us to re-examine the influence that these objects have on us. This dynamic, inward and outward relationship will inspire our writing process.

‘Women’s identity is not fixed by destiny, anatomy, genes, biology, or DNA. Rather, it is capable of change, fluid and malleable. Once it is admitted that women’s physical, material and biological nature does not determine them, but social trends, customs, beliefs, and prejudices limit and prescribe their roles, then the door is open for re-education, transformation and social change.’ (Chanter, 2007, p.14)

Quantifying the Invisible

In her 2007 book Gender: Key Points in Philosophy, feminist author Tina Chanter points out the extent to which women’s crucial role in society has long been disregarded and excluded from analyses of production. Indeed, apart from being active members of the workforce, women have long provided domestic work — within the social unit of the nuclear family and outside of it— that has not been accounted for in patriarchal systems.

The question of unpaid labor that Chanter touched upon was also acknowledged by British feminist author Caroline Criado-Perez in her 2019 book Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. The book explains that between housework, child and elderly care, globally, women do ‘three times the amount of unpaid care work men do’ (Criado-Perez, 2019, p.40) – this unpaid care work is often times compared to a job shift.

Looking to explore the relationship between individuals and Invisible Work (or house/care work that is unaccounted for), I took it upon myself to create a survey that I then sent around.

Link to survey

>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Wq7tNN7Gndki4diVcRTKohbQUdYY_9N9mwwyD_VH–U/edit?usp=forms_home&ths=true<

The survey did not garner a large enough audience to be valid, however, here are some of the questions and responses:

Do you feel like you have enough time for your career, hobbies and aspirations?

• It’s either one or the other. Time slips through, I never have enough time to do what I want to do. I end up having days/weeks where I’m working and neglecting all of I want to do on a household labor (&hobby) front or only doing household labor (and a bit of my hobbies). I don’t know why it takes me so much time, other people always look like they manage.
• I would feel better if I had more time for exercising and enjoying a healthier lifestyle
• I have 2 full time jobs. Managing and caring for others, including doing the household labor leaves me with little time for leisure activities and hobbies
• I’m retired so I have time
• The overwhelming amount of work doesn’t allow any “me” time which is equally important
• I usually do my part of house work during my free time

Do you feel like the Household Labour (housework and care-giving) you provide is recognised and appreciated?

• It’s difficult living in a flatshare. Household Labour/caring is a strange one when you live with strangers.
• Occasionally recognized by my daughter only
• I give more than I take

The Underrepresentation of Women in the Media

As mentioned by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley, in their 2016 publication Are we human?, ‘human dimensions become the dimensions of the designed world’ (2017, p.150) By extension, it would then be difficult to achieve a gender equitable societal model in a world where half of the population is consistently underrepresented (and misrepresented) in popular media.

In her 2019 book Invisible Women : Exposing Data In a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado-Perez states that ‘women make up only 24% of the persons heard, read about or seen on Newspaper, television, and radio news’ (Criado-Perez, 2019, p.11)

Curious about the figure, I acquired one of the daily newspapers that were displayed at a local store to analyse its ratios of man:woman journalists and man:woman subjects.

The Daily Express is a conservative tabloid magazine in the United Kingdom with a high daily circulation rate. Political tensions were on the rise during the week in which the newspaper was acquired. Irregardless, the figure that was proposed by Criado-Perez seemed to be fitting as the results stayed consistent past the pages addressing those tensions and through the various sections of the journal. The journey was documented on video (>https://youtu.be/Z_9iqCxLRmo<).

I would like to re-create this experiment. For any future attempts I would like to pick out newspapers that pose themselves across various points of the political compass.

The Misrepresentation of Women in the Media

An array of pink-coloured mainstream lifestyle magazines occupy the vast majority of the magazine shelves in corner/book stores in London. According to Vevila R. C. Dornelles and Edward Wigley in their 2021 research article Blue is for boys: postfeminist continuations of gender, body and hue in UK magazines, those mainstream lifestyle magazine – much like other mass medias – ‘play several roles in capitalism, one of them being the assertion and reinforcement of the gender roles and relations sustaining it.’ (2021)

In their article, they expand on the various ways through which those magazines reinforce and sustain the primitive gender roles that hinder the process of gender equity within our society, notably:

COLOUR SYMBOLISM AND ASSOCIATION

‘The association between gender stereotyping and hue or colour is firmly established and can be seen regularly in everyday life, most notably in the deployment of blue to signify boys/men and pink for girls/women.’ (2021)

Nearly all of the covers of lifestyle magazines that are intended for women’s consumption contain vivid pink hues.  The colour ‘pink is consistently linked to femininity and exposed to girls from an early age, as products such as toys and clothes marketed to girls, continuing through adulthood.’ (2021)

This persistent association of colour with gender reinforces gender norms and ‘evidences a subtle yet stubborn refusal for change in attitudes and associations’. (2021)

ETHNICITY

Several feminist theorists that I have studied throughout Unit 1 (c.f. Secondary Research page) have established a link between inequalities in race and gender (Firestone), some going further and taking on an Intersectional standpoint and stating that all modes of discrimination and privilege are directly interrelated (Chanter).

FINDINGS IN LOCAL CORNER STORE

The magazines that are displayed in my local corner store:

Of of all the magazines at the store, nearly all of them mentioned weight-loss and age/age difference (which exacerbates body dysmorphia and insecurity) as well as violent wording. The media often relies on scandalous stories and shaming which further pushes dangerous stereotypes (e.g. dramatic, insecure and subservient).

Bibliography:

• Chanter, T. (2007) Gender: Key Concepts in Philosophy, 1st ed. London: Continuum
• Colomina, B. and Wigley, M. (2016) Are we human?. 1st ed. Lars Müller Publishers
• Criado-Perez, C. (2019) Invisible women. 1st ed. London: Penguin Random House UK
• Edward Wigley & Vevila R. C. Dornelles (2021) Blue is for boys: postfeminist continuations of gender, body and hue in UK magazines, 2009–2018, Gender, Place & Culture, DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2021.1891864
• Firestone, S. (1970) The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution. 1st ed. United States and Canada: Bantam Books

The Catalysts of my Research

Four texts have primarily catalysed this research: The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (1970) by Shulamith Firestone, Gender: Key Concepts in Philosophy (2006) by Tina Chanter, Are we human? Notes on an archeology of design (2017) by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley, as well as Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (2019) by Caroline Criado-Perez.

The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (1970)

• submits the idea that the social class system that impedes equality in society is rooted in the biological reproductive differences between the sexes
• conceptualises a post-revolutionary cybernation in which technological advances are utilised to eliminate ‘sexual classes’ and conceive an equitable structure that is freeing to both sexes (1970, p.202)
• ‘requires the revolt of the underclass (women) and the seizure of control of reproduction’ (1970, p.11), which entails threatening the ‘social unit that is organised around biological reproduction and the subjection of women to their biological destiny’: the family.’ (1970, p.206) 
• calls for the creation of tools that would dismantle the nuclear family and by extension, the patriarchy
• is written at a time when racial tensions ran high and brings forth the ‘intricately interwoven’ relationship between ‘sex and racism’ (Firestone, 1970, p.105)

Gender: Key Concepts in Philosophy (2007)

• addresses contemporary questions of gender and sexuality 
• questions the relationship between Marxist/Psychoanalytic Theory and Feminism
• reformulates questions of power and ideology
• emphasises the importance of intersectionality
•  quotes Feminist French philosopher and theorist Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) which highlights the extent to which ‘maleness is understood to be the norm’ within our societal structures (de Beauvoir, 1949)
•  submits the idea that the ‘conflation of universality with masculinity’ extends to several modes of discrimination and privilege, including race, class, sexuality and gender
• points out how women’s crucial role in society has long been disregarded and excluded from analyses of production
•  describes how ‘social trends, customs, beliefs, and prejudices’ ‘limit and prescribe’ Woman’s role in Society (2007, p.14)

Are we human? Notes on an archeology of design (2017)

• discusses the omnipresent nature of design
• sheds light on the malleability of human identity
• explores the maladjustment between human, tool, and environment 
• discusses how design ‘routinely contracts radical inequalities’ as ‘the expansion of the capacity of one group’ is always ‘done at the expense of another.’ (2016, p.70)

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (2019)

• shows how globally, women do ‘three times the amount of unpaid care work men do.’ (2019, p.40)
• expresses that in a world largely built for and by men, women, which represent half the population, are being systematically ignored
• shows the ways in which invisible bias with a profound effect on women’s lives
• illustrates the hidden ways in which women are forgotten, and the impact this has on their health and well-being

Initial set of Visuals

The initial set of experiments in my Portfolio was inspired by an article written by Caroline Criado-Perez for The Guardian (>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/28/invisible-women-by-caroline-criado-perez-review<).

Titled The deadly truth about a world built for men – from stab vests to car crashes, the article criticised how mens’ lived experiences have been taken to represent those of humans overall – thus ignoring half of the World’s population. This female-shaped ‘absent presence’, as Criado-Perez describes it, is the gender data gap. The consequences of this gap range from uncomfortable to deadly.

Despite being less likely to be involved in car crashes, data shows that women are ‘47% more likely to be seriously injured’, ‘71% more likely to be moderately injured’ and ‘17% more likely to die.’ That’s because cars have been designed using car crash-test dummies based on the ‘average’ male.

It is not until the mid 2000s that female crash-test dummies were introduced and even then, the female dummy is not representative of the female anatomy as ‘It is just a scaled-down male dummy.’

1. Women are Not Scaled Down Men is a quote by Criado-Perez (quoted above)
2. One-Size-Fits-Men is the title of a chapter in Invisible Women by Criado-Perez
3. OMEN represents the marginalisation of women in our contemporary societal model
4. WO MEN emphasises androcentrism
5. Represents the exclusion of women
6. DUMMY represents two dolls in a car; a crash test dummy as well as a sex doll. This piece represents, both, the trivialisation of women’s wellbeing as well as the objectification of women.

Contrasted against a black background, the capitalised bold white text sends out a plethora of important messages. The red accents represent power and passion.

In commerce, a level playing field is a concept about fairness, not that each player has an equal chance to succeed, but that they all play by the same set of rules. In a game played on a playing field, such as rugby, one team would have an unfair advantage if the field had a slope. (Level Playing Field via Wikipedia)

This visual represents the unlevelled playing field that contains men and women. The grainy green background is overlayed with faint white text to emulate white paint on grass that would be found at a professional sports playing field. The tennis court is distorted and the man is serving in what seems to be an unfair game. The woman is weighed-down by the burdens of her everyday life.

Unfolding Connections: Koto : What is Branding?

This Unfolding Connections lecture was given by Deanna German from Koto. 

Koto’s design process can be boiled down to the following four steps:

Research: understanding

Strategy: substance

Identity (visual & verbal): inspiration

Delivery: implementation

Fundamentally, a brand is made up of: 

• Brand identity: The core elements that define how a brand looks, sounds, behaves – logo, colour palette, imagery, typography, motion, illustration etc
• Brand strategy: The vision, mission and positioning of a company, how it’s placed in a market, what makes it different
• Brand personality: The emotional qualities we associate with the brand/its overall tone
• Brand communication: How the brand lives across marketing and comms (adverts, brochures, app and website etc.
• Brand experiences: The physical interactions people have with the brand (customers/users/team members)

According to German, a graphic designer is ‘a person who assembles images, type, and/or motion graphics together to create a piece of design.’ A brand designer however, ‘assists in assessing and defining a brand.’

The Paradox is a satirical representation of a woman that is unable to reach the kitchen cabinets. In a world in which women are consistently taking on 3/4 of the World’s care-taking responsibilities (see primary research folder), one would hope that kitchens would be accommodating to them.

Addressing androcentrism

Based on Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, this set of drawings aims to show that male centrism marginalises other individuals and identities.

This series is heavily inspired by a chapter in Are We Human? (2016) by Colomina and Wigley. Indeed, in the context of architecture and design, Colomina and Wigley state how ‘human dimensions become the dimensions of the designed world’ (2017, p.150) That claim has consistently proved itself to be exclusively valid through the lens of the average caucasian man. Aiming to remove these ‘maladjustments between human and environment’ (2017, p.156), human-centring architectural systems (see Kiesler and Le Corbusier) have long been developed to dimension ‘the designed environment on the basis of an idealised “normal” male body.’ (2017, p.157) If design encompasses the capacity to grow the highly-malleable species that is Human (2017, p.23, 205), then design that habitually centres one half of the population must hinder the marginalised half’s capacity to flourish.

This body of work was created using Adobe Photoshop by overlaying drawings on a textured surface to emulate the feel of Da Vinci’s piece.

Caroline Criado-Perez: Gender Data Gap

In her 2019 book Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado-Perez mentions the various areas in which women are ignored. The marginalisation of women is evidenced accross several realms that are represented in this labelled riso print:

Exhibition at the Hayward Gallery : Mixing It Up: Painting Today

 This art exhibited contemporary painters whose works are drawn by contemporary political discourse.

An empowering piece by Lisa Brice was particularly interesting to me. Brice reimagines paintings of women from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by liberating them from the restrictive male dominated art history.

‘Sometimes the simple act of repainting an image of a woman previously painted by a man can be a potent shift’, Brice observes. In this painting representing ‘female artists and models in studio settings’, the subjects are said to be performing for themselves and one another and not the male gaze.

Exhibition at the V&A : Bags : Inside Out

This exhibition was attended with the intent to explore the Human / Tool relationship, particularly in the context of women and purses, a long-lived historic relationship.

Described as both an ‘everyday necessity’ as well as a ‘style statement’, bags have been considered as a ‘private possession and a public statement.’

Whilst the (highly ad-placing) exhibition displayed a creative array of bags, I would have hoped that it would have mentioned the sexist undertones that lie under the history of bags.

A 2016 BBC article by Catherine Snowdon titled The hunt for women’s clothes with pockets discusses the aforementioned. Snowdon states how, during earlier days, women relied on their husbands to carry money and other necessities which rendered pockets as unnecessary. During the second World War, ‘women were encouraged to wear trousers and more practical clothing as they went out to work to replace the men who had been sent to fight at the front – this meant pockets became more the norm.’ (2016) In the aftermath of the war, there was a rise in the desire to be ultra feminine; that’s when populations witnesses the disappearance of pockets.

In contemporary times, there are ‘concerns about pockets affecting the lines of the garment, making it sit strangely on a woman’s figure’ (2016) which means that, for women, aesthetics are considered more important than utility. This topic has been brought up by Caroline Criado-Perez in her book Invisible Women (2019). Criado-Perez also states that one of the reasons that women carry bags is because of their inadequate pockets. (2019)

Unfolding Connections: Protest Stencil : Subverting the City

A non-televised, immersive Unfolding Connections lecture was given by a designer from the collaborative political graphic art project Protest Stencil (est. 2016). The group’s projects usually entail creating public-space interventions (or subvertisements) that protest against injustices. Often ad-hacking advertisement spaces using radical messages on carefully designed posters, the lecturer gave interesting pointers on various points of their process.

• Ad-hackers do not require formal art training – anyone can do it
• Simple bold graphic design can garner a lot of attention / legibility
• Ad-hacking can be used as an attempt to democratise public space and take it away from corporations
• Globalisation in the context of ad-hacking: standardisation of products around the world simplify the process
• Ad-hack manifesto is readily available via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U64SvPXUAo8
• Subvertising is less illegal than other kinds of street art as it does not require any damaging

To amplify the voices of the voiceless, Protest Stencil aims to work as closely as possible with the groups’ they subvertise for.

BIOLOGICAL DESTINY : a series of abstract hand-made visuals

The root cause of the exclusion of women from contemporary society can be traced to a universal and rigid societal structure that routinely excludes women and places reproductive differences at the very core of its beliefs. Achieving the full immersion of Woman in contemporary society entails freeing her from the shackles of the patriarchal societal unit that confines her.

This first piece represents the hyper-sexualisation and shaming of women. It depicts a young person getting undressed. The green background colour represents youth. The word ‘shame’ is labelled several times over the piece of clothing that is being removed. In appealing to the male gaze, there is societal-induced shame.

The eyes in the above piece represent the ever-present male gaze. The audience in the bottom is witnessing the societal links between the woman and the biological destiny (represented by the egg) that has been ascribed to her (Shulamith Firestone). The contemporary newspapers aim to represent contemporary society.

An unstable societal structure is represented by a game of Jenga. The structure is held by women, who are both, misrepresented and underrepresented in the media.

Feminist Breakthroughs and Protests

In her 1970 book The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution, American feminist author Shulamith Firestone conceptualises a post-revolutionary cybernation in which technological advances are utilised to eliminate ‘sexual classes’ and conceive an equitable structure that is freeing to both sexes (Firestone, 1970, p.202). The creation of this structure requires the ‘revolt of the underclass (women) and the seizure of control of reproduction.’ (Firestone, 1970, p.11)

Feminist and women-lead protests have lead to several breakthroughs. Those breakthroughs are documented in the Feminist Breakthroughs in the United Kingdom publication (c.f. portfolio PDF).

Some of these revolutionary strikes/protests include:

• The Matchgirls’ Strike at the Bryant & May factory where women workers fought against the dominating, patriarchal world of matchstick making. 

Outcome: ‘abolition of the system of fining workers for being late, deductions from wages to cover cost of paste and brushes and the recognition of the Union of Women Match Makers by management.’ The strike also lead to several more strikes that aided in the ‘rise of New Unionism.’ (Source: >https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/history/2018/03/21/women-work-and-health-the-match-girls-strike-of-1888/<)

• During the 1968 Ford Strike, Ford sewing machinists halted production at all Ford UK plants to fight for equal pay

Outcome: the 1970 Equal Pay Act that ensured that women were paid the same rate as men for the same work. (Source: >https://www.citywomen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/gender-equality-timeline.pdf<)

Conceptualising an Impactful Protest Sign

Inspired by the Subverting the City lecture as well as by the ideas posed by feminist theorists, notably Firestone and Chanter, I took it upon myself to create protest signs that would, at least, raise awareness surrounding the aforementioned feminist issues that I had been researching.

Creating an impactful protest (as proposed by Digital Content Strategist Brooke Tully via >https://medium.com/brookes2cents/how-to-design-an-impactful-protest-sign-2d12965f684<) entails:

PLANNING 

• What is the protest fighting towards?

The protest is fighting for the immersion of Woman in contemporary society

• What are the posters’ message approach?

Different approaches, as proposed by Tully:

1. call-to-action approach: clearly informs the audience on what to do/what not to do (eg. ‘Keep your laws off my body’)

2. make-a-stance approach: states why you’re at the protest and why the issue matters to you (eg. ‘Fighting for the rights our mothers won’)

3. get-attention approach: ‘utilises humour, wit, recent events/pop culture, shock value, etc. to get noticed and stand out.’ (eg. ‘Pussy grabs back’)

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

• Conceptualising the poster on paper or digitally

DESIGN

• Considering size, colour, font, spacing and busyness

For the above step, I referred to the Protest Stencil lecture.

Making an Impactful Protest Sign

The making process proceeds the conceptualisation. The posters were printed on glossy A3 paper (much like most of the protest signs I’d seen) at my local print shop.

Material to create handles were purchased from the UAL arts shop. They were trimmed to a desired length using a scalpel and a metallic ruler.

The materials were then put together using glue and double-sided tape.

The Protest

All whilst taking precautions, photographs of the signs being held were captured in Leicester Square’s streets.

Faking an AD-HACK

London is overwhelmed by advertisements. Inspired by the Protest Stencil lecture (see above), I captured a series of photographs of public places in which ads are exhibited. I then relied on Photoshop to ad-hack those public spaces.

Unfolding Connections: Greg Bunbury : Design on Purpose

Given by Greg Bunbury, this engaging Unfolding Connections lecture surrounded the topic of social-focused advocacy in design. Bunbury shared ethical ways in which designers could navigate their realms and, taking on an intersectional standpoint, pointed out the importance of acknowledging one’s set of privileges when designing. ‘The value we possess as designers comes from what we think, not what we do’ and ‘what we do impacts what we believe.’ Bunbury encouraged the audience to create and use tools that enable a positive impact on the world.

Bibliography:

• Chanter, T. (2007) Gender: Key Concepts in Philosophy, 1st ed. London: Continuum
• Colomina, B. and Wigley, M. (2016) Are we human?. 1st ed. Lars Müller Publishers
• Criado-Perez, C. (2019) Invisible women. 1st ed. London: Penguin Random House UK
• Firestone, S. (1970) The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution. 1st ed. United States and Canada: Bantam Books
• Snowdon, C. (2016) The hunt for women’s clothes with pockets. [online] BBC News. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37084813> [Accessed 15 January 2022].
• Tully, B. (2017) How to design an impactful protest sign. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://medium.com/brookes2cents/how-to-design-an-impactful-protest-sign-2d12965f684> [Accessed 15 January 2022].

Synopses

– MA Research Methods – 01 October 2021

Introduction to MA Research Methods and What is Research and Research Design

This first MA Research Methods session elucidated the lecture series; indeed, over the span of 10 weeks, an impressive array of speakers are going to be discussing the importance of research in the context of design. 

During the lecture, Dr Danah Abdullah explained that whilst primary research is collected by the researcher, secondary research is data that has already been sourced and that can be found by said researcher. There are also several means to go about gathering primary and secondary research. Dr Abdullah also explained that there are two kinds of data that can be acquired: qualitative data focuses on characteristics and descriptions whereas quantitative data relies on measurable variables.

Research Design is the plan that the researcher comes up with to conduct a study. It implicates an objective, a research question, as well as the types of research and data that will be required. 

– MA Research Methods – 08 October 2021

Literature Review and Research Question(s)

A literature review is a text that ‘describes, summarises, evaluates, and clarifies the literature’. It is a body of work that is edited and iterated throughout the writing process. It offers insight on related studies and establishes the relevance, context and importance of the research. Furthermore, it helps ‘articulate the relationship between the literature and the field of research’.

Research questions take on different forms, depending on the information that they aim to distribute (how, what, why…). Good research questions are open-ended, evolving, and draw attention to the significance of the research.

Exercise: Take the work of a contemporary designer you are interested in and construct a research question regarding their work.

The contemporary design team that I have chosen is Koto Studio; a branding agency that I got to discover through a GDC professional talk at Chelsea College of Arts. The team has worked with a wide range of clients of various sizes and prides itself in its optimistic character.

The research question that I have formulated is the following: 

How do contemporary social issues impact Koto’s creative decisions?

– MA Research Methods – 15 October 2021

Mapping & research methods

This week’s MA Research Methods lecture was delivered by Peter Hall. Mapping is an engaging way to present information and can be utilised across several domains including politics and psychology. 

– MA Research Methods – 22 October 2021

Introduction to practice-based research ethics in art and design at UAL

Delivered by Tim Stephens, this week’s MA Research Methods lecture surrounded the topic of ethics, particularly in the context of writing a post-graduate research piece. Stephens explained that whilst most student-lead projects do not require an ethics form, ethically complex projects might require one. 

An engaging conversation with an interviewee might entail asking questions that might come off as direct, complex or challenging. Setting boundaries is a crucial preliminary step to the interview process; participant information and consent form might be helpful in setting the level of involvement that they might be willing to have in one’s project as well as the rights that they hold (recordings/data is management…). 

Values, beliefs, morals, principles, duties and ethics all play a role in the interview process. The hierarchy of these terms is personal and their involvement in a project might be conjured up during the interview. Stephens offered an interpretation of the terms — whilst principles add a level of formality to the work, morals are negotiated and agreed upon. Ethics were said to be the most important as they provide the framework of the other notions.

Dialogues help clarify ethical issues within projects. Within the University context, the dialogue process is presented as the following:

Ethical Concern -> Dialogue with Tutor -> Tutor dialogue with CL (Course Leader) -> CL dialogue with PD (Programme Director) -> PD sends to EESC (European Economic and Social Committee)

Finally, a project’s standard of ethics might be dependant on certain factors such as time, available resources, knowledge, and modes of representation & experiencing. Whilst most practice research dose not involve significant risk, some subjects and modes of speech/behaviour must be avoided (i.e. hateful, exploitative, obscene and indecent speech/behaviour). Some courses include risk-taking as part of their learning outcomes as it might help exhibit a sense of originality that might otherwise not be displayed. 

Manage risk and be ethically mindful and aware.

– MA Research Methods – 5 November 2021

 Visual research and Deconstruction

This MA Research Methods session was delivered by Caryn Simonson and Dr Sian Weston and touched on the complexities of visual imagery within creative practices — particularly its production, reception and interpretation. 

Visual analysis can help amplify visual literacy: visual imagery does not exist in a vacuum as it usually comes in the form of a ‘product of cultural construction’. Regardless of its form (e.g. an advertisement or a film), the visual imagery that surrounds us is, most often, carefully crafted to send a specific message. Imagery viewers have an active role to play: ‘using critical analysis and theory to uncover underlying potential meanings’. Visual analysis is therefore heavily reliant on the viewer, their ‘bank of knowledge’ (as referred to by Simonson). As previously mentioned, imagery does not stand in isolation: the viewer is constantly referring to other images, be it consciously or subconsciously. By deconstructing an image, one can find a lot about a brand’s record, ideologies and identity.

– MA Research Methods – 19 November 2021

Making and Prototyping

This online MA Research Methods lecture was given by Simon Maidment. Maidment touches on the topic of Intelligent Making which is defined as design that takes into account a material’s values, properties and capabilities. Existing methods of making can be deconstructed, applied in various ways and contexts and can lead to exciting results. Knowledge surrounding materials can best be acquired practically, by working in close proximity with them.

– MA Research Methods – 26 November 2021

Researcher Participant Place

This week’s lecture was delivered by Luise Vormittag and surrounds the topic of ethnography; the depiction of individuals within their cultures and environments. Often assumed to be a neutral act, writing about others is embedded with subjectivity and can only be considered a partial truth. Being mindful of biases, partial perspectives, and working closely with the individuals that one may be writing about helps in telling their story.

– MA Research Methods – 10 December 2021

 Data Analysis

This week’s MA Research Methods lecture was delivered by Dr Danah Abdulla and surrounded the topic of data analysis. Dr Abdulla kick-started the session with a reminder of the two main types of research that we can source for our research: quantitative data and qualitative data. Data presentation takes on several forms (e.g. research design, literature review, raw data) and can be sourced from traditional (e.g. letters to newspapers) or non-traditional (e.g. videos) sources. 

Analysing data requires a plan:

• Data Collection and Management
• Organising and Preparing Data
• Coding and Describing Data
• Classifying, categorising, identifying themes
• Connecting and interrelating data
• Interpretation, creating explanatory accounts, providing meaning

The researcher has to be selective in choosing data – the research might otherwise be too overwhelming. Analysing data early on helps the researcher understand if they need to collect more data to help them further in responding to their question. It also suggests whether or not the data is relevant or if they might have any questions that surround the topic. It is important for the researcher to be transparent with the reader (sample) and inform them;

• how/why they’re collecting the data
• what type of design they’re using and why

There are several tools & techniques for collecting data (e.g. recorders, cameras, notebooks, observational drawings, recording body language) It’s also important for the researcher to validate the accuracy of the information that they source and share. In terms of structure, on should be able to justify why one method/strategy is better/more efficient than another. 

Last but not least, it’s worth noting that writing is a reflection of one’s own interpretation based on several factors such as culture, social class and personal politics. The writer is conscious of the biases, values, and experiences that they bring to a study.

Printmaking Workshop with Eddie Niles

This workshop first entailed using tag-making techniques to create a symbol of our choice…

… that would later be scanned into Adobe Illustrator and printed on a Vinyl sheet…

… and painted on using relief inks to create the prints.

Screen printing Induction

Dhvani, Shriya and I teamed up and booked a screen printing induction. We first created a black and white design on Illustator that was later printed onto an A3 sheet of paper. The screen printing technician then processed the design onto a silk screen.

I later also received inductions in ceramics, woodwork, and riso printing.

Animating using Adobe Premiere

Letterpress

‘One-size-fits-men’ is an expression that was used by Caroline Criado-Perez in her 2019 book Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men.

I then edited the outcome using Photoshop to create a title that was more suitable for my project, One-Size-Fits-One.

Layering experiments

I was able to create depth in my pieces by layering newspaper and acrylic paints.

3D Modeling on Blender

Learning by following a series of Youtube tutorials by Blender Guru

This process rendered me capable of modelling and animating the following video: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXHxKEC8f8c<

The first four weeks of Studio entailed tackling rapid 3-day briefs that employ 4 dynamic Research Strategies that would later be applied to our individual projects. 

The 4 Research Strategies are as follows:

• Scale
• Territories
• Flow
• Knots

The Monday morning online sessions were used to introduce the Research Strategy, lightly tread by the upcoming week’s brief and assign homework that is related to the brief. The Tuesday Studio sessions were usually kickstarted with the introduction of the week’s Research Strategy brief as well as a group task (e.g. brainstorming) and ended with the 3-day brief that we’d have to work on for the upcoming Thursday’s Studio session. Thursdays were divided between CRP sessions with Margherita and the Studio briefs’ presentations with Jack. 

The outcomes of these highly interactive sessions can be found below.

Scale

The term Scales usually implies the use of numbers. The Monday morning session introduced the notions of quantitative and qualitative datasets as well as the idea of ordering data. During the Tuesday morning session, different groups were assigned an instrument of measure — the group I was part of was assigned the word Bandwidth. Each group was sent to explore and discuss the possible uses of the assigned term: we found that the Bandwidth scale entails various concepts, variables and thresholds.

Afterwards, on an individual basis, we were asked to alter the parameters and functions of our assigned scale and find an inventive way to create a communication method for the new version of the scale.

Bandwidth can be defined as the ‘energy or mental capacity required to deal with a situation’ — below is my interpretation of this definition in the socio-political context of Lebanon.

Territories

The second week of the course surrounded the notion of Territories. On Monday, we were asked to assign ourselves a term of the following list:

• Your workspace
• Shorelines
• Ports (Airports, Docks)
• The Camberwell Library

The research process begun on Tuesday: we brainstormed ways to ‘explode’ or ‘exhaust’ our territories with the aim to produce a new index/map that represents our territory.

The term I opted for is shorelines, particularly the shoreline of a[n unnamed] city that has strict dress-code rules. The piece, titled Censorship, represents a gridded map of this city; whilst the areas in which ‘immodest’ clothing are permitted are overlaid with a photograph of a person dressed in swimwear, the areas in which ‘immodest’ clothing can lead to prosecution are left bare.

Flow

The third week kickstarted with a pair signup: each pair had to find a myth or legend from their cultures to explore. The week’s task was to find a way to spread the myth — we had to ask ourselves whether or not that would entail implicating individuals, a situation, or an audience. The outcome of the task would be a ‘situated symbol’ that could take the form of a ‘photograph, a flag, a sticker, a forged document, an activity or event situated in a specific context’.

Hannah and I chose is the superstitious act of ‘knocking on wood’ — an Apotropaic tradition that is believed to repel negative or evil energies or influences. Attributed to Celtic or Germanic origins, the myth is said to have originally been an appeal to tree-dwelling spirits to ward off bad luck and an expression of gratitude for good fortune. 

Through further research, we found that the myth is found among several cultures around the world. Despite having similar objectives, the myth is iterated differently within those different countries. 

With the hopes of extending and consolidating the myth, we came up with a board game titled Knock on Wood.

The game prompts the players to reflect on their lives and can be interpreted as an analogy to life: one is only as lucky as the cards they are dealt. 

Knots

The fourth and final week of the Research Methodologies series surrounded the topic of Knots. As a pair, we had to choose one of the following ‘knotty’ notions:

• Artificial Meat
• Click Farm
• Bitcoin Mining
• Nationalism 
• Space Tourism
• Deep Fake

In the very beginning of the Tuesday session, we took an hour to produce and present a poster that visualises our chosen notion, Deepfake. Generally understood as media that help impersonate individuals, Deepfakes can take on various forms ranging from the audio to the video. Here’s what we came up with:

This poster displays several Deepfaked iterations of the same initial image and aims to show how easy it is to create a fake version of oneself. The tagline Be yourself, be someone else further pushes the idea that the online world allows for individuals to choose the identities that they display to the world.

For the main task of the brief, we had to represent deepfakes in a way that would implement sequence. As instructed, Camila and I sought to create a deepfake graphic sequence. Through research, we found that deepfakes can and have been involved with several domains including: 

• Politics
• Entertainment
• Pornography
• Celebrity culture
• Fraud

We designed and crafted a piece that allows for the viewer to embody known individuals from these various domains. When extended (see below), it reveals a series of hollowed out faces that reveal a reflective surface — the user sees themself in lieu of the face of the celebrity they chose. 

Territories: Rupture NO 1: blowtorching the bitten peach — Heather Phillipson (an exposition at the Tate Britain)

Installation analysis in the context of the Territories Studio Methodology

• Colours: cool and warm, contrast
• Soundscape: wind, water
• Materials emulating: technology and natural systems
• Feel: eerie, claustrophobic, being held accountable for the destruction of the planet and its non-human inhabitants

Flow: Synthetic Imaginary Workshop

This collaborative Studio activity involved collaborating with Machine Learning Models. It entailed collecting data (in our case, images) to train a model to generate morphing animations. Each of the tutor groups agreed on a subject for their animations and collected an array of relevant images that would then be used to create the animation. 

The tutor group that I’m in (Sadhna’s) was inspired by the idea that motherboards, when inspected from a close distance, can be reminiscent of cityscapes:

Each member of the tutor group collected 100 images that were later formatted by Jack. This is a sample the outcome of our work: