Last Week:
So from our last pub meeting i was trying to think about a brief for what we want to accomplish and i got as far as this;
-what is our intent? ...see the venn diagram (show our work / discuss our work / talk about design / do some design)
-how will we accomplish this? ...a myraid of activties with tangible directed outcomes
-how will it be structured? ...a series of microbriefs either related to our project or not; split into timeslots over the three days
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Today:
So despite the short meeting today i think we've made a lot of progress, ive tried to collate where i think we're up to. its pretty rambling but try to read it all to make sure we're all on the same page. and make sure you email or post your opinions.
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DESIGN MACHINE 2.0 // DESIGN FACTORY // GOLDSMITHS DESIGN 09; YOU DONT CARE ABOUT DESIGN //
our refined concept, based around a metaphorical (or possibly physical) structure of 'IN' tray and 'OUT' tray - where we use our design process to move objects/concepts/ideas from one side to the other.
the whole 'design perfomance' drawing very heavily on the concepts of the DESIGN MACHINE as well as 24hr design&make
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the IN
we begin the process by bringing with us to the space an array of 'starting points' taken from our own projects process. liam will hopefully talk about this more in depth, but they might take the form of photographs, drawings, words, briefs or prototypes.
think of this as being like the 4000 plus brief...
we will then run through idea generation activties from which we hope to produce a load of post-its, which we will then combine with the other stuff we brought to make the initial 'IN tray'. i guess all the stuff could just be stuck on one wall which can also have shelves on which to hold prototypes.
these starting points then get developed into projects or artefacts which we aim to work on and explore over the next 3(?) days. hopefully shifting between the IN and OUT trays, via the third transitory space of 'PROCESS'
...like a factory line
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ITINERARY
i was thinking the 3 days might be split into an itinerary of different activties which might look something like this;
only obviously with more different exciting things on it!
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PROCESS / DICE
i think a good way of creating these activities could be through the use of special dice, which have on them different commands, split into vague areas of design like the ones shown on the timetable.
as well as the dice we have different 'devices' in order to select random post-it notes/ides/whatever from the IN tray;
so how would it work - lets say every 'preset time limit' (this could be flexible), a new 'activity' is started:
-several groups of however many is created out of the pool of us guys (and maybe participants - more on this later) maybe this process could also be automated somehow
-a concept is chosen for each group either by the members or at random or using the TOOLS which i'll discuss below..
-then depending on the time, one of the 'activity dice' is rolled, lets say the timetable says process.... so each group rolls a dice and one of them lands on DRAW
-that group would then have to draw some shit based on the concept(s) theyve chosen. lets say we have 4 groups of 4 at a time, all doing different things in the same space.
when the preset time limit is up we put what we've got on the IN or OUT shelf and start all over again. where we decide to place it may depend on a few things, or maybe we should stick to only putting things on the OUT, it depends on how much participation we get.
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the OUT
ok so this is maybe slightly different than we discussed.. but i was imagining the out tray/shelf, could be a conduit for some USER PARTICIPATION so when we feel an idea is resolved, or it maybe needs some fresh eyes.. we put it on the OUT for visitors to play around with, maybe in the same manner with dice or whatver - but it would probably need to be a lot simpler and less demanding. when the public/other designers have done what they what to it they put ~it~ back at the IN tray. feeding back into our unholy factory of design.
this OUT might physically take the form of a shelf with stuff on, which we might have to pitch to people, or get them to draw how they would use it. whatever feedback (or.. er.. design juice?) we get would then feedback into the process. likewise, when we see something interesting or when we run out of stuff at the IN box then we grab stuff from the OUT box too.
in this way the differences between the OUT and the IN box get kinda burred, its best to think of the whole process like this;
yeah its kinda confusing, i think it will feel a lot more natural on the day when we actually have concepts and shit flying all over the place and getting lost/confused with awesome design grotesques style consequences!
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TOOLS
i think it might be nice to have physical tools in the space which we can use as part of the process, like matt was saying about the spinning coffee table of post-it notes. in that way we can make it more dynamic as well as add a theatrical element for the audience; not just a room full of sweaty designers and yellow paper.
i was thinking of maybe tools for;
-ways we can generate ideas at the very beginning of the show - which we can put onto 'post it notes' - maybe like luke thompsons fruit machine spinner object thing or a random wikipedia page printer. i dunno...
-randomly select post-it notes/concepts ; throwing darts at a rotating board, or a conveyor belt or -comedy option- crystal maze style post-it note grab. another dice with audience generated post-it notes stuck on....
-tools for the public to use?
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WHAT NOW??
-so now we maybe need to think of process based activities other than -or part of- this dice method
-i was also thinking of maybe if we had computers at the IN's and OUT's so we can show videos and stuff. the ones at the OUT could maybe be on-the-fly recorded interviews with us explaining the projects we're working on diary room style. in this way the visitors will have some more media to interact with?
-we need to think of activities that members of the public can do with stuff from the OUT box, and how we can make it intuitive for them (eg a stack of post-its with DRAW HOW WOULD USE THIS OBJECT next to it, i dunno)
-im not sure about the idea of the IN space as a mini exhibition space for our final year projects... i think if people feel the need to do that we should leave the IN wall as a fluid area for the project-related starting points we bring to the show and feedback from the public and have another wall/space dedicated to explaining our personal work concisely, where we get like a foot square each?
or maybe we have to bite the bullet and forget about it entirely - just pointing people towards our websites or something if they ask us about our individual projects... we need to decide if shoehorning our projects in will work in the space or not.
-the logistics of the whole thing, i think we all need to input out 2 cents on how we can lay it all out and what we need
....ok, now MAKE IT REAL!!
A simple sketch of a way the space could work. I like the empty wall that only says process as it describes the activity and movement between the two very full walls of IN and OUT.
A possible layout for the space that has spaces at the back that describe in easy to understand instructions how to do a 'process' so that visitors could create things for the IN wall.
Work could be placed on IN and OUT walls by bull dog clips, this also allows 'projects' to go up so what's been done so far on an idea can be kept together. It also provides away for old and new stuff being placed on the wall to keep a consistent feel to the wall. Also I think we'll need to think a bit more about post-its and attaching them as they may fall off, especially if we use the OSB.
