Design Principle / Project 2: Sense Of Place

19.10.2021 - 29.10.2021 // Week 9 - Week 10
Yong Li Qing Vernice / 0352288
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Design Principle

Project 2// Sense Of Place

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Researches
Idea Inspiration
Progression
Final Outcome

LECTURE 7- Sense of Place

In this week lecture, Ms Jinchi introduces what is the sense of place and the importance of observation. As miss Jinchi said a designer's role is to solve problems with effective visual communication. By the dozen of problems that we as a designer will need to solve are from the range of personal achievement to world-changing projects. For example, the app interface that used related elements to the design; Some posters are designed to send important messages to a certain place or for the whole world.

The Importance of observation is to understand our surroundings, notice the details there and investigate what causes them to form today. Besides that, Ms Jinchi also said that it's a way for us as designers to find ideas for our design work. Some sources of observation we can found from are physical objects or things that happen in our surrounding daily life. Some designers used the same characteristic of nature and apply to their design, like The Bejing National Stadium (Fig 1) the concept of this design came from the idea of a birds nest (Fig 2). Next, the sense of place also can be applied to fashion design (Fig 3 & Fig 4). Moreover, the velcro (Fig 5) that we usually used actually came from the idea of a plant named Acacia (Fig 6). It is a kind of plant that includes many tiny 'hooks' over its self and it will hook on someone clothes across them to help spread the seeds.

Fig 1 Bejing National Stadium

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Beijing_national_stadium.jpg/300px-Beijing_national_stadium.jpg

Fig 2 Bird Nest

https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/real-empty-bird-nest-on-600w-71952832.jpg

Fig 3 Fashion Design

http://static.demilked.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/contrast-fashion-nature-liliya-hudyakova-10.jpg

Fig 4 Fashion Design

https://www.handimania.com/uploads/1-250.png

Fig 5 Velcro

http://n.sinaimg.cn/sinacn/20170803/d3b8-fyitamv4725316.jpg

Fig 6 Acacia

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBPAb7wynqD1eIlgHc9NB4GFuYHYL2TTSWVGZHuf_UiRrIKIM0hShvvkVK1WX_hCa1aoQsSkikNgz9jd1yWpIUa7nOr31g4MaCKgup1WbK-CVpg3egYzD77eYLx0tCWFo3ugekQZQluo8/s1600/2020041440.jpg

Next, Ms Jinchi shares a video with us on ways to improve our power of observation. It shares with us the 8 steps to improve our power of observation whenever we get lost in a blur of some thoughts and miss some important information surrounding us.

Know your Subject - We will be more sensitive to things that happened to our surroundings when we recognise them better.
Slow down and look outward - Using a mental state achieved to emphasise our emotions, feeling, sounds in our surroundings.
Try something new - Find an activity that will captivate our senses and raises our understanding.
Improve your concentration by cutting out distractions - By temporarily staying away from our phones and when to a place that makes us feel relaxed or undisturbed.
Challenge Yourself to a mental workout - A brighter and active brain will help us to observe with a better perception.
Test your observation by playing a memory game - Memorize the list of things in our room or describe a photograph as detail as possible without looking at it.
Record and consider your observations - Noted down the smells we smell and sounds we heard, other than the things we see from.
Stay inquisitive - Asks questions on our observation and look for answers to make ourselves more valued.

8 Ways to Improve Your Powers of Observation

https://youtu.be/ucmurASGjLE

Hence, Ms Jinchi briefed us on our second project - Sense of place. Sense of place can be a place we presently visit or a place that created an unforgettable memory for us. In addition, she shares some examples to help us know more about the project.

Mr Charles shares some other ways to get ideas for this project, so even though we couldn't or needed to go places while we are in the pandemic by watching 360° visual videos on Youtube.

Reference: 360° VR Spacewalk Experience | BBC HOME

https://youtu.be/hEdzv7D4CbQ

Reference: Maldives VR 360 - 4K Video

https://youtu.be/MgJITGvVfR0

Reference: Virtual Nature 360° - 5.7K Nature Meditation for Oculus Quest

https://youtu.be/7AkbUfZjS5k

INSTRUCTIONS

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k-Co7LxSOjSpydYstVr9VJNsA5bA4BL9/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

PRACTICAL - Project 2- Sense Of Place

Research

In this design, I would like to try making a sculpture and I was inspired by the design of stone sculptures, paper layers art and mixed media artwork. In this case, that all these artworks are using multiple materials to complete the work, rather than only one material as well as based on the topic - Sense Of Place everything to show everything has a strong connection to one another to make the viewers understand what does a designer see, feel and think about the subject matter from the eye of a designer.

Reference: Tree Wire Bonsai Forest handmade by Steve Bowen

Source: https://imgur.com/96YFr5O

Reference: Monika Duchowicz "Mystical forest book"

Source: https://www.pinterest.es/pin/456693218451241583/

Reference: Paper Sculpture Forest 7

Source: https://webneel.com/daily/7-paper-sculpture-forest

Reference: Robert’s Truly Magical Indoor Miniature Water Gardens

Source: https://minigardener.wordpress.com/2019/02/15/roberts-truly-magical-indoor-miniature-water-gardens/

Idea Inspiration

In this Project, I came out with a mind map for my sense of place based on one of the most unforgettable memories I have was in the year 2018 when I was travelling in Japan with my family, in meantime, we went on hiking and the scenery was fascinating. It made me feel calm and relaxed in that environment with the accompany of my beloved family member. The power of nature has temperately made me put down the stress from and embrace mother nature.

Fig 7 Sense of Place · Forest_Mind Map

This mind map, it represents the memory I remember while I'm travelling there: The Sight, The Smell, The Feel, The Hearing, The Touch.

👀 The Sight, there are rocks on the ground, trees as high as that can cover the sky, stairs that are long and steep, leaves are turning red as winter is coming.
👃 The Smell, the refreshing air blowing from the wind, the soil smell even obviously after rains, the sweet scent is not like honey or sugar but it is the kind that only can be found in the forest.
😌 The Feel, the environment there make me feel tranquil, the harmony and calm form of mother nature, the warmth of the sunlight melts me from the cold weather, at the same time it makes me feel warm in the heart.
👂 The Hearing, birds chirping in the forest, leaves creaking while walking on them, water flowing gently in the river, the wind blows in the air and whisper through my ears.
✋ The Touch, the rough surface of a tree trunk, the slippery road I walk, the smooth stone by the side of the riverbank, the wet leaves beside the stairs.