Sunday 20 March 2011

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.

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.



Friday 11 March 2011

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 :)

Sunday 6 March 2011

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?"