Assignment 5 - Planning for the future

Research Proposal

After reading the book "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell back in late 2010, I chose to look more into the chapter The Power of Context (1). This was all about a man called Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York crime rates. In my research proposal I plan to explore further into how residents feel living in an area of criminal activities and how street design can reduce crime rates.

I chose to focus more on "The Broken Windows Theory" and how it links the psychological reasons behind the people who commit the crime. The theory states that by keeping an area monitored and clean, it may reduce further vandalism and the escalation of more serious crimes. So by creating a clean-up scheme and making area's a more pleasant place to live, can instantly reduce crime rates.

“Crime, Shame and Reintegration” by John Braithwaite is book I looked into which offers a perspective of crime and punishment in the US. Braithwaite believes that the current system of dealing with crime and punishment today is not effective, due to people using the shaming technique incorrectly. The book also looks into the psychology behind criminal behaviour and the reasons why people do it or in some cases do not participate.

I also looked at a journal called “Neighbourhood design and fear of crime: A social-ecological examination of the correlates of residents' fear in new suburban housing developments” by Sarah Foster, Billie Giles-Corti and Matthew Knuiman.  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.

Linking back to the “The Broken Windows Theory” this article is similar in suggesting that if areas of wider land space are created, the less crime that is going to be produced and the level of resident’s fearfulness is reduced. Same as if an area has the beginning of windows being broken, vandals will see this area as being a place excellent for disrupting even more and the criminal behaviour is continued.

I plan to investigate further into residents living in fear due to criminal behaviour and how this can be reduced through a change in street design by using a range of different methods and service design tools. I aim to find out of these residents are feeling using techniques I have learned throughout the year in design studies.

I would use interviews as my main method of gathering information, as I feel it was the most successful. I would measure the level of residents fear by myself and the ideas they have on reducing crime rates within the neighborhood they live in. This would also allow me to and interact closely with the people involved and make them feel part of the community which they live in.

Mind mapping is a technique I would most definitely use to organise and record the data gained from the interviews, to make it clear if there is a connection between how residents living in the same high crime rate area are feeling.

 Another technique I would use to collect my own opinions of the criminal activity happening is the observation tool. I first used this technique when we went to the Bingo as part of an assignment to see how people act in a certain environment. Although it isn’t the safest of tools (I would go to a neighborhood with a friend), it allows data to be collected first hand on how children and vandals today are acting within quite a rough housing scheme. By observing people and going to the areas myself I could think of ideas myself by changing the street design to reduce crime and mention these to the residents when carrying out the interviews.

 I also find it intriguing to go to an area that has already been cleaned up to see the difference for myself if the “Broken Windows Theory” really does work and that crime does reduce.  By interviewing residents who live in an area that has already been cleaned up, I’m hoping would prove to me that changing street design really can reduce residents fear.

Here are some of the questions I would ask the residents:

·         On a level of 1 to 10 how secure do you feel living in this area?

·         Do you let your children play outside and feel secure knowing so?

·         Have you ever witnessed criminal activities going on in your neighborhood?

·         Do you feel criminal behaviour has decreased or increased over the years living here?

·         How do you think that street design can reduce crime happening?

I used the brainstorming technique myself, using post it notes to come up with my own ideas of how criminal behaviour such as violence, graffiti, theft, littering and drug use, can all be reduced through changing the street design in the areas affected most.

The ideas I came up with were:

·         Better street lighting

·         Lowering hedges and fences

·         Increased CCTV

·         Higher density streets e.g. Wider pavements

·         Re-vamping the houses e.g. resurfacing, new windows and doors

·         More police checks, doing rounds of the area

·         Plants and flowers creating a more pleasant environment (linking back to the “Broken Windows Theory”)

·         Fitting houses with Burglar Alarms

By going ahead with these ideas advertises a nicer environment to live in attracting more residents to live there and hopefully in the end opening up more opportunities for the younger generation, keeping them off the streets and inspired. It makes the youth feel like they are more connected to one another and part of the community they live in. It will include showing them more authority figures and people to look up to, overall creating a more pleasant area to live in.

From using the techniques I discussed, I hope to gain a better insight on how Design really can reduce crime rates in a neighborhood and overall create a more cheerful and homely place to live in.

Assignment 5 - Mind Map

Although not many people enjoy doing mind maps, I find them really helpful for getting started in a project. As it's been a while since doing Semester 2 assignment 4 - Reading and Reviewing, I thought I'd recap Crime in general (through the use of a mind map) before beginning Assignment 5 - Planning for the future.

5 things. . .

So as part of Assignment 5, we have been asked to plan 5 things to do/change that is linked with design studies, which can be completed over our Summer holidays!

5 changes I will do to my blog:

• Create a new layout
• Find more interesting designers Blogs to follow
• Add my Twitter account to my Blog page
• Add more photographs of my own work
• BLOG more!

5 book (linked to design studies) I will look into:

• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. This book looks into why spontaneous designs can be the best of ones. Compared to long thought out processed ideas.
• Design Thinking by Thomas Lockwood. This book looks into design for innovation, service design and meaningful customer experiences. It looks interesting because it is full of case studies giving examples.
• I miss my pencil by Martine Bone and Kara Johnson.This unusual book looks into the journey of a designer. It's not about the final product, the process or the design legacy but the communication in modern day's like today... In order to achieve success.
• Outliners: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. "Outliners" is again about the process and factors of becoming successful in what you do and how you cannot do it alone.
• In the bubble: Designing in a complex world by John Thackara. "In the Bubble" focuses on why people are becoming so obsessed in modern day with technology and just "stuff". Thackara describes a transformation that is taking place.

5 designers I will try to get in contact with:

• Egle Petrauskaite. Egle graduated at Duncan of Jordanstone with a Textile degree in 2008. She is now based in London where she takes on Projects. Although she specialises mainly in Print, It is her drawing technique that I was drawn to.
• Joyce Forsyth - Scottish knitwear designer (Based in Edinburgh). Joyce has her own shop on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh which is very handy for me to visit. I love her fantastic choice of bold, exciting colour in her knit pieces.
• Patricia Brown. Brown specialises in crochet, felt making and knitting but for absolutely everything... ranging from installations, fashion accessories and exhibition pieces. Some of her pieces are sea-like themed which is the theme I chose for my self motivated project, so it would be interesting to see her pieces.
• Catriona McLaughlin (Wildcat designs).. Another interesting young knitwear designer who specialises in a lot of different areas. Her pieces are dainty and work intriguing.
• Kate Samphier. Kate Samphier is a contemporary textile designer specialising in the design and creation of knitted accessories for women, babies and the home. Her scarfs for example are handmade, beautiful and soft.

Assignment 4 - Interviews, but not as we know them.

In assignment three we went to the bingo and watched how people act and interact in a certain environment but in this assignment we are the one's who have to interact with people through the form of an interview. I decided to chose the question: "How have stundents' dress sense changed this they left home?". Mainly because i know that my dress sense has changed and I feel it is a question where younger people can relate to.
After I chose my topic, I created a mind map on dress sense in students and if it has changed. A lot of different factors can affect someones dress sense, ranging from: budget, the course they study, upbringing etc.

We are not looking for statistics but descriptions and explanations from the people being interviewed. The questions i decided to work from are: 1) Has your dress sense changed? How? 2) What influences your dress sense? 3) Does money affect your style? 4) What course do you study?

The people I interviewed are all students at Dundee University and all do different courses. The majority of people i asked are a friends flatmate who I do not know well.

There are three main types of interview's: 1. Structured - following a set list of questions 2. Semi-structured - you follow a plan but can deviate to follow up on interesting comments 3. Unstructured - Informal and basically making it up as you go along. We have been asked to follow along a semi-structured interview.

The first person I asked was a male, 19 and studies politics. He said that his style of clothing hasn't changed at all but budget does come into affect. Having a year out allowed him to work and have more disposable money but now that he has to be more independent and cover costs for food etc, he cannot go clothes shopping often. Nothing really influences his choice of style and he said that if he sees something he likes he just gets it.

The second person was male, 19 and studies business. He said his style of clothes hadn't changed either but he has a lot more "casual" and "comfy" clothing because he has his own flat, he likes to laze about, especially since his course is more theoretical and completed on a laptop. He says that the people around him influence his choice of clothing but again money is tight so barely ever goes clothes shopping.

The third was a female, 19 and studies psychology. This girl said that her style hadn't changed much either but she does go shopping a lot more due to the fact the high street is on her doorstep and she is more independent being away from home. The only thing that has changed is she has more " going out clothes", again being away from home and living an active social life. The things that influence her style is magazine trends and what the other people around her are wearing.

The fourth person i interviewed was 20 and studies animation. In contrast to the other she said her style changed quite a lot in first year at art school. She said that because she is in Uni a lot she like to be comfortable and doesn't really care too much about her image when going about the Campus. As the same as me she used to wear jeans quite a lot casually but now prefers a skirt and tights mainly for comfort reasons. The people the influence her are her friends and noticing what other people are wearing around the art school.

Female, 18 and studies Anatomy. This student is only in first year and says that her style of clothing hasn't changed one bit. She is more style of comfort and likes to make an effort when going out to lectures etc. She doesn't get too dressed up for going out though. Her parents still give her quite a bit of money so she buys the latest trends. Everything around her influences her dress sense, friends, magazines, celebrities.

The sixth person i interviewed was female, 20 and studies Law. Her dress sense hasn't changed either. The only thing that has changed is as she has a more active social life, she a lot more " going out " clothes too. She said that she has her own style and nothing really influences her that much.

And the last person I chose to interview was male, 21 and studies sports science. He said that his style hadn't changed at all and doesn't ever go shopping. Simple because he doesn't like it and money is tight so he would rather spend it on socializing and food. But agrees that the friends around him are the people who most influence him.

The conclusion I came to after completed these interviews with different students is that not many people change dress sense but definitely have more ' going out ' clothes because of the increased social life. My dress sense has changed quite a lot since i left home and moved to University, especially at Art school ( a practical course) , where it really is like a class environment again so your constantly around people. Rather than jeans I also prefer to wear more comfortable clothing like skirts, leggings, tights etc. The dress sense of more theoretical courses barely change at all because they only attend lectures for a couple hours a day.

Here is a website of ten student essential items of clothing: http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/fashion/ten-student-clothing-essentials-822375.html

I have to say I was quite nervous interviewing people I didn't know well but doing so in a flat environment it was more relaxing and made the interviewing technique definitely "semi-structured" and quite informal.

Seminar! 10.03.2011

Every fortnight we meet up with a design studies tutor to discuss the weeks assignment and how we all got on - and if we need any help!. As our last tutor Lesley McGee is moving to Wales, we have two new seminar leaders: Lisa MacLean and Kate Pickering. Lisa McLean graduated with a Masters in Design at Duncan of Jordanstone and is is co-organiser of JUDEmagazine. It was weird having a seminar with Kate Pickering because we received a lecture from her a couple of weeks ago and it was like sitting next to someone famous! They were both really down to earth, up for a chat and helpful! Instead of sitting and chatting we got separated into groups and were asked to design a product for something we noticed in assignment 3 - Design safari. It was a good laugh but at the same time made us realise that we do both textile design and DESIGN STUDIES... we can go onto designing anything we want and don't need to stick within our chosen discipline. As four of my friends and I went to the bingo the week before we decided to design more of an event! Looking around the Bingo hall, we noticed a lot of the older generation sitting alone. They had all their pens lined up ready for the game to begin, which let us know that they were definately locals there! So why sit alone?! We came up with the idea of dating bingo.. A normal game of bingo would be played and player would move around and play contability bingo, marker the person across from them out of 10. At the end, the players who have matched each other win a meal for two!.
We also chatted about our next assignment: Interviews: but not as we know.
This assignment asks us to interact with people in the form of an interview. We carry out the interviews by ourselves but can also work thro brainstorming and interpretation ( look at sevice design tools).
We have to chose a topic which we have looked into, since summer e.g. What do people treasure?, What jewellery means to people?, Do magazines influence you?, Has your dress sense changed since you came to university?, etc.
Although I'm not 100% sure what one I'll be picking yet, I like the look of the dress sense one because I can interact with younger people. I'm not a very confident person at all, so this assignment shall definately be a challenge to me! Hopefully I can find some friends of a friend to help me with my assignment :)

BINGO photo's!

Service Design Tools - Design Safari

This assignment is all about the observation of people and using this to understand design - mainly because we often spend too much time focusing on an object rather than the way it eddects people's actions.
Firstly we were given the choice to go to the casion, a football match or the bingo. All places which i would find very intimidating (especially at a younger age).
There are many different tools when doing design research. A number of them are listed on this website: http://www.servicedesigntools.org/.
There are two which stood out to me: Mind-mapping and Storyboards.
I find mind-mapping most useful at the beginning of a project where it helps me look at all area's of the chosen subject. The lines and arrow connecting words, show the system of thoughts i go through, around the starting point. Storyboards I use at the end of a project to show the journey i went through, through a sequence of pictures and drawings.
We decided to go to the bingo on a Thursday night as it was free night! We actually had a really good time and never spent a penny (although none of us won).
When we first arrived the old man at the door could clearly tell none of us had been before and took the opportunity to come over and act like he was older and knew better and id'd us all right away. Once we filled out our membership forms and were handed our cards we walked out of the foyer and into the main building. At the next desk we were handed a book of ten free games and a FREE BINGO PEN! As we arrived late for the first game the hall was deadly quiet when we walked it. I was shocked at just how large the hall was. I didn't really know what to expect to be honest. A small helpful, cheery woman met us at the door and went away to find us a large table. She was so chatty and seemed excited that it was our first time to the bingo. The most surreal experience was just walking in! Even though the game had started people still found the time to look up and glare at us. It was like they knew that it was our first time and didn't like the fact we were a lot younger.
When we were seated the woman stayed with us through two games to make sure we knew what we were doign and if we had any queries, which was really helpful. Even just after one game, I could feel myself getting more and more competitive at wanting to win.
It was like a game was split into three parts: the quiet stage when the numbers are being called out, when you get a fright because someone has shouted out 'bingo!', and the stage when every groans because they have been so close to winning. I also noticed the sighing got louder when there was more money involved.
Although no one actually spoke to us. I noticed that the more middle-aged people were those who stared the most and seemed annoyed we were there and new to it. An old man sat two table across from us would hold and and point to the game next being played, enjoying the fact that he was teaching us. It must of been pretty obvious we didn't really know what we were doing.
There was an interval between the two free games tat was filled with smaller games of bingo were it was "only" 50p or £1 to play and they seemed to rattle off the numbers more quickly.
Glancing around and the players it definately looked likes they had ALL been before. There wern't many big groups or couples playing but mainly people in two's or by themselves. To the left was a large older man sitting by himself, behind us were two old men, a couple older woman playing alone, a old man playing alone, and two or three sets of middle aged women. I got the impression that the older generation playing alone were perhaps windowed. All the old women seemed to dress the exact same: wearing bright cardigens, gold earings and rather than drinking tea, were nibbling on crisps and drinking fizzy juice.
The nice woman who helped us came back over at the end of the game and handed us all "five pound off vouchers for our next game, from the manager". I'm not sure if the woman was glad to see young people playing and wanted us to come back or if it was to try and get us back to spend out money... even though we spent none. She did seem really genuine though. When leaving through the front door it was like she had spoke to the manager about us and he was chatting to us whilst leaving, asking if we had won anything and to come back soon! Which was really nice too.
Although i have to admit it was quick scary and i did feel uncomfortable for the majority of the game, we all had such a good time (especially for spending no money) and although none of us won, we would like to go back sometime just for the fun of it.
I also decided to take some notes when waiting for my train home on Friday. Even though i was with someone at the time and have been there many times before, i don't know why but i still find it quite an intimidating place. Everyone who is normally by themselves and sitting waiting on a train coming like to have a stare at new people coming in. I can't really say anything because i do the exact same thing. When we finally got on the train, we were sat next to perhaps a travelling business man, alone, sitting with his ipod in ( the ticket man actually had to tap him on the shoulder for his ticket), two teenage girls who were chatting quite loudly, so everyone could hear what they were saying, an older woman who was sleeping on and off and a family who were constantly keeping the little boy amused by pointing stuff out through the window. I don't really find trains very relaxing. I'm not sure if it's a younger generation thing but I'm always petrified i miss my stop. I also like to have my ticket out and ready instead of rumaging through my bag when the ticket officer asks for it. The week before i got the train back to Dundee alone and i really don't enjoy it! I feel like people are staring at you even more and I'm scared that my music is turned up too loudly so people can hear it.
Although of course you know when you are feeling uncomfortable but you never really think about the people around you and trying to look closer into "I wonder why they are here? Or where are they going? Have they been before?"

Semester 2 - Assignment 2, What Images Mean?

Semester Two – Assignment 2... What images mean?

In this assignment, we were asked in groups to find out if there is a link between the imagine that is being used in an advertisement and the thing that is being advertised.

Firstly, we were asked to read through the chapter the “Rhetoric of the image” by Roland Barthes. Barthes discusses the important concept about the relationship between images and text. He also subjects an advertisement to a semiotic analysis. In the essay Barthes suggests there are three types of message in advertisement: the text, the symbolic image and the non- symbolic image. Barthes comes to the conclusion that images have more than one meaning and once one meaning is discovered it ‘unlocks’ another – finding more out about the image.

 We will test this theory through an experiment. We chose four advertisement images/posters and then removed any logos or text off of them.

Image 1. Dettol Sanitiser

Image 2. WWE South American Deforestation

Image 3. Sharpie Permanent Marker Pen

Image 4. PSP

This assignment offers an opportunity to try an experiment to test the concept of polysemy. Firstly, we asked the people how the image made them feel, or what they made them think about (they should be describing the image, not guesses what they are advertising just yet. It is the way they interpret the images that it important). After noting down their answers, we finally asked them what they thought the poster was trying to advertise!

Person One: The first person I asked studies Politics at University and when first asked how the image made him feel or if it was telling a story, what would it be telling? He explained the first three images in a political state and in the last picture linked speed and drug taking together. When I explained that each image was an advertisement for an object or company he managed to guess all correct (what was being sold), apart from the last time (PSP advertisement).

Person Two: This person was along the correct lines, with every image (apart from image four again), when trying to explain the image being shown. After I told her the images were part of an advertisement, she got all correct again apart from image four.

Person 3: This person realised quickly that the images were linked to advertisement after seeing image 2. Getting the deforestation of South America correct first time and also new in image four that it was advertising something but when it came to saying what the advertisements were, he only got the deforestation and permanent marker pen correct.

From carrying out this experiment, I gained the knowledge that there is a big relationship between the understanding of an image and if text is present or not. I completely understand now that an image has so many different meanings and when telling a person a small bit more information on the image, it unlocks another meaning of it. All three people I questioned were able to guess a lot easier what the image/poster was trying to convey, after finding out it was an advertisement. This proving that text in advertisement is hugely important.

Lauren Currie Lecture - Red Jotter.

Lauren Currie is a Product design graduate from Duncan of Jordanstone Art College, Dundee. She fully graduated in 2009 with a masters degree in Design. The lecture was split into three parts: 1) Studio Unbound - helping you design your own network 2) What are you going to do when your graduate? 3) What Lauren does for a living - Service Design.
Although with her knowledge of product design, Lauren specialises in Service Design. This considers planning the infrastructure and communication of a service and trying to improve its quality: ranging from altering services such as the NHS, Education, Policing and Charities companies into making the service work better. Socially focused into making the world better!.
She is now in business with her co-partner Sarah Drummond who graduated from Glasgow School of Art. Snook is the name of their company, and it is now well known and very successful.
I feel like the main point conveyed in the lecture today was to emphasise clearly to everyone, to get ourselves out there in as many places as possible (especially early in our university life), to boost our advantage of having a successful career when we graduate.
Lauren spoke about how she came about becoming so popular by acting confident and  believing from the beginning in her work and ideas. I am not afraid to say that today's lecture was the most thought provoking and useful lecture i have ever sat through. I think when it is a younger speaker who has recently went through the same things we are going through right now, it helps get the message through clearer that we can do anything we want to, if we try! I came out of the lecture theatre thinking that I'm better making mistakes now and learning from them, than sitting back and not doing anything at all. I have to admit that I'm not a very confident person but after hearing Laurens speech it has definitely helped boost my confidence because at the end of the day everyone is in the same boat! I just need to think: What makes me a better textile designer?

Semester 2 Project!

Trend Forecasting!:)

For this project we were asked to research what trend forecasting is, pick a trend, research all about it then produce out own samples (either in knit or print).
Fashion trend forecasting resources help predict trends in the fashion industry. They go by seasons and are released 18 months in advance! They should provide a clear and concise message into the lifestyle and culture of that trend and each trend should contain a colour palette to go with it as well.
I decided to look into 'Relaxing: the beauty of the natural' - Summer 2011. It could contain:

• colour which are fresh and intuitive
• glowing and healthy tones
• unfussy - respect to nature
• basic, uncomplicated and basic

My colour palette should be earthy, organic, fresh, clean cut and neutral.
Mixed media will contain, weaving, dry plants, crispy, rugged, textural and stitched materials
My garments should be, simple, loose, unstructured, airy, unfitted and uncomplicated.

For a source of Primary drawing I am planning to look at fields at different times of days and the natural beauty of them and how I could translate that picturesque view into a textile.

I am seriously looking forward to getting stuck into this project rather than last semester, as we are all doing our different trends. I enjoy researching artists, designers and ways in which they can inspire my own work!

Lecture 04.02.2011

On Friday, we had a very insightful lecture from Kate Pickering and Fraser Bruce.
Kate Pickering is a graduate of Jewellery and Metal Design at Duncan of Jordanstone and completed a Masters of Design at Dundee in 2009. I feel as though I could relate to her as she was in the same position as me not that long ago. I enjoyed hearing about her determination to get to where she wanted in life and how he eventually got it. She got to where she is now by taking risks and I feel that that is what I really need to do in my Textile course. Just really go for it because that's all i can do, in succeeding. Kate has now set up her own intuitive, made to help Jewellery students into what they can expect and aim for once they have graduated and help the creators get into business. Personally, I think its a great idea as I still don't seem 100% sure on what career I'm interesting in pursuing and how to get there.
Kate worked with Fraser Bruce in her Masters degree and got the chance to work with Deutsche Telekom in creating new designs for them.

Things I have taken away from this lecture: I need to be able to pitch myself and It's not all about the final product but the process to it!!!

Snoop Assignment One

Assignment One: Are You What You Wear/Buy/Sit On/Sleep In/Talk To?

To begin with we were asked to read the book “Snoop” by Sam Gosling, over the Christmas holidays. To be a hundred percent honest, I was really excited to read this book, but once I got into it I have to say I was a little bit disappointed. It felt as though the author was repeating himself and a lot of it was just common knowledge. Although I have to say some parts were highly interesting. I enjoyed the part of the book where Gosling speaks about the way people walk and how you can distinguish what a person’s personality can be like.

Although I never really enjoyed the book as a whole, it did help me a little bit when completing Assignment One. We were asked to swap photographs of either pictures of us between the age of 13-20 or photo’s of our room/house, with a person we never knew.  The girl I had sent pictures of both, so it made it a little easier to find out what she’s like. I have to say I feel I found a lot more stuff out about the girl from her flat, rather than the actual photos of her.

Even though I already knew Shona did Interior & Environmental Design at Uni. There were a lot of clues both about her and her flat that assured me. The first area of creativity I noticed was in a picture of Shona at Halloween, when she was 18. It was a handmade cardboard box made up perfectly to look like to little ghosts. I just think it shows her artistic nature because she has went into a lot of effort to dress up rather than buying an outfit. In a picture of Shona at another age, she has a different hairstyle, where it is both blonde and black. The contrasting colours are every bold and suggest to me that she likes to stand out from the crowd and perhaps changes her image quite often to look unoriginal. In almost all the photographs over the years, she pulls funny faces/poses in them. I get the impression that Shona is quite an outgoing person and is confident in herself and always up for a laugh.

When going through the photographs of Shonas’ flat I have to say it is one of the most organised, clean and arranged flat I have ever seen!  There is actually no clutter at all. One of the wall art pieces said “but I always say, one’s a company, two’s a crowd and three’s a party”. I think Shona enjoys socializing and gets on well with all types of people in a crowd and meeting new people. She has a lot of wall art around the flat! I liked the area where there were blank photo frames that stood out from the purple painted wall. I get the impression she is proud of her flat and enjoys making it her own. It has a modern creative around it and looks very welcoming.

Unless the flat has been arranged for the photographs being taken, I would say that Shona has a small bit of OCD. I noticed this more when looking at the picture of her wardrobe. Tops were on white hangers on the left side and trousers were on black hangers on the other side. The final bit I noticed was a picture of a Banana by Andy Warhol, which Shona also had a tattoo of on the top of her back. She obviously enjoys art and to go to the extreme of tattooing it onto her body, gives me the impression that she isn’t afraid to say what she feels and it overall a confident and bold person.

I met up with Shona on Monday night in the Union and discussed what we had written about each other. I have to say it was crazy what the outcome was.  I really thought that some of the stuff wouldn’t be true but once I thought about the things she imagined they were actually all true and she felt the same about what I said about her.

I looked up The Johari Window which is: “is a cognitive psychological tool created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955^[1] in the United States, used to help people better understand their interpersonal communication and relationships. It is used primarily in self-help groups and corporate settings as a heuristic exercise”.

It is a table split into four different quadrants: Open Hidden, Blind Spot and Unknown.

Open: Adjectives that are selected by both the participant and his or her peers are placed into the Open quadrant. This quadrant represents traits of the subjects that both they and their peers are aware of.
Hidden: Adjectives selected only by subjects, but not by any of their peers, are placed into the Hidden quadrant, representing information about them their peers are unaware of. It is then up to the subject to disclose this information or not.
Blind Spot: Adjectives that are not selected by subjects but only by their peers are placed into the Blind Spot quadrant. These represent information that the subject is not aware of, but others are, and they can decide whether and how to inform the individual about these "blind spots".
Unknown: Adjectives that were not selected by either subjects or their peers remain in the Unknown quadrant, representing the participant's behaviors or motives that were not recognized by anyone participating. This may be because they do not apply or because there is collective ignorance of the existence of these traits
I feel this table helped me a little bit in realizing my and peoples traits and how you do not realised things about you until you are told by somebody else. For example Shona could guess that I was an image conscious person and that I like to have clothes matching etc. Which I only really realised once she told me.

first lecture of 2011!

I found today's lecture very interesting and it really made me think! It was all about "taste" and how peoples "taste" can then lead to a trend. Johnathan asked people to stand up if they were wearing a hoody, a scarf, and people who had blonde hair and I found it weird how people wearing the same clothing clustered together. At first I didn't see where he was coming from... But thinking into a bit more, it made me realise just how much trend plays a large part in my life. For example before I came to university I seemed to always wear jeans. But after only about a month my clothing style changed to wearing more skirts, shorts, tights and leggings! I think I only wore jeans on three occasions last year! I found the same with my music taste. I came to university with a very varied collection but after meeting my boyfriend I feel as though I appreciate dance music more. I think having something in common with someone can make you feel a lot closer to them.