Jumping straight into Honours after more or less half a year in holiday mode is a shock to the system. After today's Studio, I'm honestly pretty scared and nervous, but thankfully also pretty amped and excited about the year ahead.
Coming straight off a flight, there are a lot of things I have to catch up on (already behind *sigh*...), such as the Time Management Workshop and O-Week exercises. I would like to have those down before Studio 2 on Wednesday.
So, the first Studio of Honours 2020 has just finished, and I'm trying my best to digest everything and adjust to a mental space best suited for this intense program. This first blog post seems to be more on the casual side, and I think I'm fine with it, for the time being, since it's more important to be taking part in these exercises consistently in a timely manner instead of filling out these all at once... Or something. Action over decision paralysis. In the end, hopefully, it will all make sense.
Now onto my first 'Seminar Summary'.
_____
Research Through Design
From today's Seminar, while in the midst of getting myself sorted and acquainted with this cohort, there were a few things that jumped out at me.
research through Design and Design As Research (notice the 'Rs')—From what I have come to understand, the difference between the two is subtle but significant. The difference is the goals and outcome between the two. In simpler terms, the intent to produce research when designing. The former refers to the informal, fundamental creative explorations that generate knowledge during the practice of design. The latter aims to address both the brief and also a larger set of questions, simultaneously. The value of these formal investigations is to advance the scholarship of the principles that make up design.
This brings me to a small but, personally, interesting thought: what is "an overall question that I, as a designer, will keep trying to chip away during my career?" I don't know yet, except that I'm fascinated by the ideas of Time and Space—how do we visualise it, how are we travelling through this vortex that we call 'time', is time really the fourth dimension, how do we go backwards, why does time seem to change speeds, and Carl Sagan's retelling of the story of Flat Land; Death—how we respond to it, how others respond to it, what it means to die, Andy Weir's The Egg, and the last thing I would give anything to convey; and how the structures that are built around us are a symptom, an artefact, of our condition.
Repertoire—As a designer, I've often found myself in a position where I would prefer not to disclose all my research/experience/work to a fellow designer, or even someone outside my field. I often regarded this as a flaw in myself as a designer, since I have come to admire designers around me who are always enthusiastically sharing knowledge and collaborating with each other to create great work. However, after Zoe introduced the term 'repertoire' in this context, I have somehow become able to rationalise my behaviours regarding sharing knowledge. Of course, throughout this year, I want to improve on being more open and collaborative in my process, asking for and offering assistance with my peers.
Shareable and transferrable
Pitch vs Research—The difference between a pitch and a piece of research is the purpose (kinda obvious). It is this purpose that validates the kind of wording and information a designer provides to their client/audience. As a pitch is a little spiel to get investors/clients to approve a project and give the go-ahead, it'd be in the designer's best interest to word it in a more persuasive manner. On the other hand, a piece of research is open to scrutiny, aiming to contribute to disciplinary knowledge. As a result, it is in the designer's best interest to reflect on their methods more critically, and objectively disclose this information.
Question your practices Critical practitioner
The First Things First Manifesto
Coming straight off a flight, there are a lot of things I have to catch up on (already behind *sigh*...), such as the Time Management Workshop and O-Week exercises. I would like to have those down before Studio 2 on Wednesday.
So, the first Studio of Honours 2020 has just finished, and I'm trying my best to digest everything and adjust to a mental space best suited for this intense program. This first blog post seems to be more on the casual side, and I think I'm fine with it, for the time being, since it's more important to be taking part in these exercises consistently in a timely manner instead of filling out these all at once... Or something. Action over decision paralysis. In the end, hopefully, it will all make sense.
Now onto my first 'Seminar Summary'.
_____
Research Through Design
From today's Seminar, while in the midst of getting myself sorted and acquainted with this cohort, there were a few things that jumped out at me.
research through Design and Design As Research (notice the 'Rs')—From what I have come to understand, the difference between the two is subtle but significant. The difference is the goals and outcome between the two. In simpler terms, the intent to produce research when designing. The former refers to the informal, fundamental creative explorations that generate knowledge during the practice of design. The latter aims to address both the brief and also a larger set of questions, simultaneously. The value of these formal investigations is to advance the scholarship of the principles that make up design.
This brings me to a small but, personally, interesting thought: what is "an overall question that I, as a designer, will keep trying to chip away during my career?" I don't know yet, except that I'm fascinated by the ideas of Time and Space—how do we visualise it, how are we travelling through this vortex that we call 'time', is time really the fourth dimension, how do we go backwards, why does time seem to change speeds, and Carl Sagan's retelling of the story of Flat Land; Death—how we respond to it, how others respond to it, what it means to die, Andy Weir's The Egg, and the last thing I would give anything to convey; and how the structures that are built around us are a symptom, an artefact, of our condition.
Repertoire—As a designer, I've often found myself in a position where I would prefer not to disclose all my research/experience/work to a fellow designer, or even someone outside my field. I often regarded this as a flaw in myself as a designer, since I have come to admire designers around me who are always enthusiastically sharing knowledge and collaborating with each other to create great work. However, after Zoe introduced the term 'repertoire' in this context, I have somehow become able to rationalise my behaviours regarding sharing knowledge. Of course, throughout this year, I want to improve on being more open and collaborative in my process, asking for and offering assistance with my peers.
Shareable and transferrable
Pitch vs Research—The difference between a pitch and a piece of research is the purpose (kinda obvious). It is this purpose that validates the kind of wording and information a designer provides to their client/audience. As a pitch is a little spiel to get investors/clients to approve a project and give the go-ahead, it'd be in the designer's best interest to word it in a more persuasive manner. On the other hand, a piece of research is open to scrutiny, aiming to contribute to disciplinary knowledge. As a result, it is in the designer's best interest to reflect on their methods more critically, and objectively disclose this information.
Question your practices Critical practitioner
The First Things First Manifesto
Be excited! And fine for the blog to be super casual. It's for you to record your experiences and experiments, you can work on the wording later, just get stuff out for now!
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