This is the piece that I showcased at the Graduate show 2011, I enjoyed the show, but found it to be less than productive in talking to industry people and creating contacts as there was a mixture of parents, students and industry people. It was not clear as to who was who and I believe that caused some confusion within everybody, but on the whole I think the event was successful and I wish everyone taking part in new blood the best of luck.

I decided to place a culture jam into the show to take away the focus of me as a designer but as a person who believes in design, a person who has the design skill and knowledge to continue to grow and form opinions about design and current issues. I pride myself on being honest and clear and in that want my designs to be the same, I recently had the pleasure of meeting new design people that reinforced the very reason I love to design. It seemed that the course that I was on was overrun with people that want fame, fortune and exclusivity in their career (all the things a design school wants their students to want) but meeting these new people gave me the optimism that there are agency’s and people working in the same or similar style and have similar morals as me and that is completely refreshing.

Without Uni I would not have been able to stand on my own two feet and sort my life out, have complete control of its mould, learning about mistakes that I should have made to make me learn and never forget. Remembering that Uni is something more than studying, it is a life decision, because your life is never the same afterward.

Uni overall has been a great experience, like many other people I have had a lot of ups and downs over the past four years, but I have come out of it knowing who I am and what I want from life.

This piece of culture jamming is aimed at the way in which some people use facebook, creating an alternate self. Moving away from their real personality and towards how they would like people to perceive them. This is in no way a criticism of facebook but is a criticism of those that use it.

I stumbled upon a website showing artwork by Ben Hein. I was transfixed by these photos/drawings and the inspiring creativity that was so clear throughout.By merging these two techniques you can gain a extended sense of fun.

I really enjoy these pieces because each picture I look at shows a different aspect of how to combine these techniques. At the same time, each image I look at I am already thinking of the next and what else could be done in the same way.

Here is a link to the site:

http://thewondrous.com/amazingly-creative-drawing-vs-photography/

The project has finally been handed in, it was a lot of hard work and effort to gain the stunning result I had in mind when I first started the project. I cannot believe it is now finished, it does not seem that long ago that I started it. 

Due to the nature of the project and target audience, the project and outcomes were defined as non-visual but still has a beauty that sighted people can admire. Despite this fact, a high level of design was still required to complete the project, although it was necessary to design using alternate methods and practices than more mainstream design. In order to create an informed and suitable design, I needed to adopt co-design and co-creation, researching in depth the practicalities of what I was trying to produce. Learning to adapt design skill and knowledge was a key factor within this project, enabling me to focus on different parameters of the project to develop concepts and design in different ways, but at the same time still exercising the design process. The project’s target audience was implied within the set brief and therefore in order to ensure I understood the target audience as best I could throughout the project, I visited a centre for blind people in Headingley. Talking to blind adults as research helped me to focus my project and question existing products and communication methods for blind people.

An illustrated book for blind children was an appropriate outcome when designing to expand experience for people without sight. A book is simple, but has many underlying factors that affect people, for instance a book gives people independence, it encourages imagination, and it has an educational value. In general books for the blind consist only of Braille, therefore with written information only, or are very gimmicky and over loaded with textures. Many books for blind children were originally designed for sighted children, then at a later date have had Braille added to make the design more inclusive. While this demonstrates a recognition of the need for inclusive design, perhaps the inclusivity needs to play a part in the beginning of the design process, rather than as an after thought. As well as producing an illustrated book specifically designed for blind children, I also produced a set of direct mails that are jointly focused towards blind children as well as adults. The book is designed to be opened until completely flat (concertina), creating a sense of journey and interaction for several blind children to read it together.

The project overall was successful, the outcomes are professional and of a high standard. The manner in which the project was produced was precise and professional, showing my ability to time manage and reach a quality result, both in design and finished piece. The project has a lot of undertones in terms of message and focus and this could have been a downfall within the project as it may have distracted my attention away from the importance of creating innovative non-visual design. A strength of this project was time management. All the practical details of this project were micro-organised, from the way files for cutting out the illustrations were named, to the way in which each illustration was packed into their separate bag to make construction easier. The organisation of the project enabled me to plan enough time to successfully finish the book and direct mails to a high standard, allowing for potential mistakes, which I would then have time to rectify. Other strengths within the project was my ability to design a non-visual end result, effectively designing without using my eyes and instead concentrating on what the piece feels like when you hold it, touch it, the weight of it and the size of it. All the design decisions within this project were based on the user being blind, therefore the weight of the book itself, or the weight of the envelope that the direct mail arrives in, was all designed with the overall experience of the product in mind.

There is just a few weeks left of my final year at University and my focus is on my Disability project.

The project is a designed and illustrated story book for blind children. The reason you might ask? Well, sighted children have the ability to extend their imagination through sight,  memories, and using image references. But the majoirty of blind children(if born blind) have no perception of light and with that no image references.

Thus the point of this book is to extend the experience of a story or book for blind children, creating new experiences, new thoughts and references that are  not based on gimmicky tricks such as fur and fabric.

I have chosen the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, why? Because after visiting a few blind adults at cohearant vision in Headingley Leeds (which is due to shut down in June – But that is another story)http://www.cohearentvision.org.uk/, I was inspired by some of the comments made by individuals about certain books, experiences and textures. The excitement  became about sounds and smells and so this set me off on a journey to create a real multidimensional and multi-sensual experience for blind children.

This project has had many strengths, but there have been obstacles to overcome, for instance, convincing other designers that blind people deserve to be designed for was a breathtaking experience for me and has driven this project right from the start. Sourcing the paper, binding materials, finding the right techniques to produce such a book as a one off or as a commercial project, realising the time constraints and developing a sense of double message towards blind people and children, as well as targeting designers to think more about the way in which they look at design and the act of designing.

The book has about 25 pages and within that about half is braille and half is illustration. I am very excited at the prospect of the finished book, as I have worked very hard to get this project to a point where it has an established design, structure and commercial standing.

The project hand in is the 13th May 2011, more about the project development and finishings soon.

This piece of animation, not only includes great little character movements, but simply creative props and sounds. It really works.
here is a link to how the video was created.

http://motionographer.com/2011/03/06/lucas-zanotto-creates-live-action-animation-for-tui-2/#more-36452