Useful Websites:
Useful Textile Design Websites:
http://www.stepinsidedesign.com/
Monday, 22 November 2010
Assignment 3 - Looking up, Looking down
Assessment 3!
Design against Crime / Crime Prevention
In assignment two I looked at the chapter: The Power of Context which focuses mainly on Crime in New York City Subways. I then decided to look more into detail about how design can prevent crime and vandalism in areas. For example re-vamping council housing estates, to make a more pleasant and safer living environment for residents. This links to “The Broken Windows Theory” and how it is physiologically proven that this theory reduces crime rates.
Braithwaite J, (1989), Crime, Shame and Reintegration, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
This book successfully links to my topic to reduce crime rates, as it focuses on the criminological theory. It looks into both professional crimes such as burglary down to the smallest of petty crime. Braithwaite believes that it is down to shaming which make some societies have higher crime rates than others. Shaming can work well in certain areas such as if you act with respect towards the offender, you can form a sort of social control over them and hopefully shame them into what they are doing is wrong. But shaming can also be seen as counterproductive, meaning that crime problems worsening. I think this book is very successful as I can see this theory being put into other fields.
Cook, Phillip J. And Duke, U., 2009. Crime Control in the City: A Research-Based Briefing on Public and Private Measures, Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research 11 1, pp. 53 – 79.
High crime rates in the community area create a great burden against local residents who cannot afford to move area. Tackling crime control should definitely be looked more into by policymakers. Crime includes: vandalism, graffiti, violence, theft and drugs. When these areas are tackled greater opportunities open up for the neighborhood. The journal looks into how the statistics of crime rates fluctuate all the time and how policies and services play an important role in crime prevention.
Donnelly, P.G., And Majka, T.J., 1998. Residents' Efforts at Neighborhood Stabilization: Facing the Challenges of Inner-City Neighborhoods, Sociological Forum, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp.189-213.
This paper examines the response of residents, based on the sudden increase of disorder, drugs and crime. It looks at the bravery of residents of the neighborhood and how they all grouped together in developing a stabilized plan to reduce crime in their estate. The journal encourages participation, activism and commitment of residents and proves the social movement, by successful organizations
Foster, S. Giles-Corti, B. And Knuiman, M., 2010. Neighbourhood design and fear of crime: A social-ecological examination of the correlates of residents' fear in new suburban housing developments, Health and Place 16: (6) pp. 1156-1165.
The study explores the connection between neighborhood design and residents’ fear of crime in suburban housing areas. Both primary reports and second hand data were collected as part of a project called: the RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) Project. They came to the conclusion that people feel a lot safer in a pedestrian area with a higher density and more accessible space to get to shops etc. The article speaks about fear and how it creates anxiety and can affect someone’s mental health. For example small things such as litter, vandalism and graffiti can all heighten insecurities and prevent residents from wanting to go out into their own neighborhood and socialise
Milke, M., 1997. Neatness RULES! , Alberta Report / Newsmagazine 06/30/97, Vol. 24 Issue 29, pp.11.
This paper focuses on erasing graffiti and the hopes that it reduces youth crime. Naming graffiti artists “taggers”, Milke believed that “taggers” shouldn’t be allowed to admire their work and it should be removed as soon as possible. The area of crime prevention in the journal also links back to the “Broken windows theory” - buy scrubbing areas clean of graffiti and creating a nicer environment, people will avoid making it dirty again. By doing this in New York Subways, crime rates dropped by 64%.
Paul Stollard. (1991). Crime Prevention Through Housing Design. London: New York: E & FNSpon, p.90.
This very interesting book has a lot to do with what i am looking into. It is really specifically made for architects and housing managers on designing to deter crime. Even though different estates have different problems and the ways to solve them... the process which leads to solutions being made is the same. Stollard reviews different theories to prevent crime through design. It also shows how to apply these solutions in the design process.
Straw, J., 1995. Straw and Order, New Statesman & Society 9/15/95, Vol. 8 Issue 370, pp.18.
This observation, speaks mainly of the importance of tackling crime and how that looking closely into people’s characteristics and behaviours, can prevent crime escalating into something more serious. As I am focusing on how design can reduce crime rates, this paper seemed very successful in helping me as it mentions manly examples where this has work e.g. cleaning up graffiti, unemployment, homelessness, better societies and education for youth. It also looks into the important issue of how crime is linked to politics!
Welsh, B.C., 2010. Reconceptualising public area surveillance and crime prevention: Security guards, place managers and defensible space. SECURITY JOURNAL 23 (4), pp. 299 - 319
“It is important assess the effectiveness of the full range of surveillance measures that are used to prevent crime in public places.”
CCTV and better street lighting are just some of the simple things that could be done to reduce crime rates. “Surveillance measures” also include security guards, place mangers and better street spacing. There is evidence shown in this paper that by improving these areas, crime can be reduced. This journal can really help me in my studies by reducing crime by design!
Monday, 15 November 2010
Rug tackling the issue of Global Warming
Nanimarquina find that Global Warming today is being overshadowed by politicised discussions. It has been pushed off the front page of newspapers and people are starting to forget about climate change.
The rug has been made to show contrast. The rug is soft and comfortable compared to the topic of climate change which is a tough battle to concur (especially when people are forgetting all about it).
The rug features a felt polar bear on a small iceberg in a large sea of carpet, especially designed to show how tiny in comparison iceberg habitats are to the ocean.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
"Craft & Form of Capital " - Hamid Van Koten
Yesterday we had a lecture from Hamid Van Koten - Who is a training and consultancy at VKconsultants and Lecturer/ Researcher at Dundee University. He graduated from Glasgow school of Art with a degree in product design.
Hamid Van Koten was trying to get the message across between the difference of Art & Design and Craft.
What is Craft?
Craft started a very long time ago, back in the BC era where people would use only materials such as beads, shells and stone to create products. Pottery also was a large area of craft for example Zuni Potts.
He talked about architecture in craft and used The Angel of the North in Newcastle and The Sphinxes in both Turkey and Egypt. Were these built as pieces of Art or Architecture?
"In European decorative art, the sphinx enjoyed a major revival during the Renaissance. Later, the sphinx image, something very similar to the original Ancient Egyptian concept, was exported into many other cultures, albeit often interpreted quite differently due to translations of descriptions of the originals and the evolution of the concept in relation to other cultural traditions."
- Wikipedia
I enjoyed looking at the slide of a lace chair, interior and industrial designer Marcel Wanders created using hardened lace therefore making it a hollow object.
But my favourite area of the lecture was looking at the group "Cast Off", Who are a social knitting group and encourage people to join them where ever they are. They even managed to create a whole wedding based on knit (even the confetti).
As a textile designer these parts of the lecture stood out to me most because that is what i enjoy learning about. Next week we even go onto a week of knit which I'm highly looking forward too.
Hamid Van Koten was trying to get the message across between the difference of Art & Design and Craft.
What is Craft?
Craft started a very long time ago, back in the BC era where people would use only materials such as beads, shells and stone to create products. Pottery also was a large area of craft for example Zuni Potts.
He talked about architecture in craft and used The Angel of the North in Newcastle and The Sphinxes in both Turkey and Egypt. Were these built as pieces of Art or Architecture?
"In European decorative art, the sphinx enjoyed a major revival during the Renaissance. Later, the sphinx image, something very similar to the original Ancient Egyptian concept, was exported into many other cultures, albeit often interpreted quite differently due to translations of descriptions of the originals and the evolution of the concept in relation to other cultural traditions."
- Wikipedia
I enjoyed looking at the slide of a lace chair, interior and industrial designer Marcel Wanders created using hardened lace therefore making it a hollow object.
But my favourite area of the lecture was looking at the group "Cast Off", Who are a social knitting group and encourage people to join them where ever they are. They even managed to create a whole wedding based on knit (even the confetti).
As a textile designer these parts of the lecture stood out to me most because that is what i enjoy learning about. Next week we even go onto a week of knit which I'm highly looking forward too.
Monday, 8 November 2010
The Tipping Point Poster!
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Friday 5.11.2010 Brainstorming
On Friday after lectures, Viv, Kirsty and I went to Braes to do some brainstorming on our chosen topic of The Tipping Point - Power of Context. I feel it was very successful and it has made me realise that i much prefer discussing idea's with other people first to help me get started on assignments, and i like hearing other people's points of view as well.
We found it difficult at first to try and relate The Power of Context in to design but once we got started the ideas starting flowing. Next I'm going to make an A2 poster of our ideas.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Friday 05.11.2010
Since going into second year textile design i have been given the great opportunity to hear from numerous well known designers and how they fit into the design business and it has really made me think that it could be me one day doing speeches to students, from where i started off.
For example today we had a lecture from jewellery and metal designer Hazel White. She completed her first degree of English and History at Edinburgh University but also graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone with a degree in Jewellery and Metal Design in 1993.
She spoke about a lot of different fields that she had looked into ranging from bling Philips and Swaroski USB pens, prayer beads, domesticating telecare and charm bracelets.
I found two areas of the talk most interesting. The first part was about how she designed a sort of memory box mainly marketed for those who have long distance relationships with relatives e.g. people living in the Shetland Islands. In the Shetland Island most of the younger generation leave to study at universities but do not return due to the lack of job opportunities. Hazel White designed a simple wooden box that contained a built in i phone which was set up to the web page flikr. There would be small knitted cushions in the box, each resembling a different family member. When a cushion was placed onto an area in the box recent photographs come up on the i phone. This design is perfect for the elderly who want to keep contacted with family members.
The piece of information i will take away from the lecture is thee quote White spoke saying: "Design things fast, so you can move on". I often find within my textile work that the pieces i complete which are most successful are those which took least amount of time. I find that i also prefer the one's which i don't think into to much.
For example today we had a lecture from jewellery and metal designer Hazel White. She completed her first degree of English and History at Edinburgh University but also graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone with a degree in Jewellery and Metal Design in 1993.
She spoke about a lot of different fields that she had looked into ranging from bling Philips and Swaroski USB pens, prayer beads, domesticating telecare and charm bracelets.
I found two areas of the talk most interesting. The first part was about how she designed a sort of memory box mainly marketed for those who have long distance relationships with relatives e.g. people living in the Shetland Islands. In the Shetland Island most of the younger generation leave to study at universities but do not return due to the lack of job opportunities. Hazel White designed a simple wooden box that contained a built in i phone which was set up to the web page flikr. There would be small knitted cushions in the box, each resembling a different family member. When a cushion was placed onto an area in the box recent photographs come up on the i phone. This design is perfect for the elderly who want to keep contacted with family members.
The piece of information i will take away from the lecture is thee quote White spoke saying: "Design things fast, so you can move on". I often find within my textile work that the pieces i complete which are most successful are those which took least amount of time. I find that i also prefer the one's which i don't think into to much.
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