This is my first Time having to create a Dissertation proposal, as a result I am unsure of whether or not I have created an effective one or have missed intentions entirely but never the less I am proud of writing something that not only suggests logical statements but also relates to that of me and shows off both who and what I am as a designer and a student.
As the initial year started, term 1 was something I had not yet experienced, something that I could go into greater detail with and that was “society”, a term which often applies to my work but is something that I do not explore as much as other terms, while the first term was exploring the notion of monsters and how society perceives them, by changing the idea of a monster to the idea of art or pieces then the effect is still the same. It is disliked by society and when it challenges what they think they know it receives negative connotations, this is something that I wish to use towards my work in the future, questionable art that provokes and evokes a response.
My book project was that of a “never ending book”, which had no start and no ending and no instructions, it was a nightmare for people to understand how to use it but they could not resist still trying, even after minutes of failing. This inability to stop is something that I would like to progress with and the idea of interaction being a core concept of a book is something that I feel is often lost or merely applied to younger generations in books but should instead be progressed with even past that of adult stage and especially in that of teenagers where interaction is still the primary source of learning.
My other project, the “museum” project received negative feedback, this may be due to the amount of ideas I was trying to apply to it or the difficulty in expressing what it was i was trying to convey. Aside from this when the idea was shown to people individually then they appreciated and understood the context of what it was I was conveying and they started to relate more and interact more, the idea of “A museum for one” was something I had not experimented with, but my museum had a physicality aspect which most Graphic museums do not, this is why I felt it was one of the more better museums as power was giving back to the people, a “propaganda” museum if you will, these ideas and feedback are ones that I had not truly attempted until it was pointed out to me and would work well as a career path as both interaction and physicality are something I wish to pursue further and in greater depth.
The most impactful thing I could have done this year in relation to my proposal and general studies is that of the “fan sharpener”, while it is not a piece I have made it has been the basis for my work and is a very important factor when creating my proposal, it contains all the basics of the terms I wish to apply as well as the term “Affordance”, the idea that an object or piece has an alternate way of doing something, it can be aesthetically pleasing but also be interactive, there is often a rule of thumb where one concept takes over the other but in rare circumstances the negative takes precedence or even that they tie. I hope that as time progresses I will be able to apply these skills and concepts to my works and create something that purely reflects who I am but also what I could be and revolutionize graphics to some extent.
Looking back to last year and how everything had to be touched and senses were my priority to now the main priority being touch, I am not surprised I have gone this way. I am surprised however that it hasn’t become the sole idea towards my work and applied to every brief, but then I feel that by picking and choosing I will be able to see what works well and what doesn’t, an idea can’t be applied every time and knowing my limitations and restrictions will only help support my key concepts and reinforce my knowledge and applications. I am also hopeful for what my work will look like come next year and I have seen that as time has progressed I have started to take more appreciation and care into my work, field still appears to be a concept area but next year with the exhibition I feel like I will show off my skills and abilities as a designer, hopefully these will be seen and appreciated by others and they will be able to see both who and what I am.
This proposal has made me dislike it, not because it is difficult or annoying but because I now wish to be able to create my dissertation now and be able to showcase my results and my findings off as well as make people think as to what could be and by what currently is, by making people think we can see what they truly think of something when it is questioned, an idea I take with me throughout both my course and the world and would like to see at the very heart of everything that I attempt to do. This may eventually change and I am pleased with that because I cannot predict who or what I am to be in the future, my core concepts may change and I may find new terms that reinforce who I am as a designer and a student. But these are the things I look up to and am hopeful for, ideas that change me as much as I wish to change the world, perhaps with time I may be able to do so or perhaps it may be a dream, who can know?
Kierron Bennett 