Group 175 Poster

For the poster task we decided to outline our theme, with key words showing the approaches we plan to take with our research. Because of the links between each research area, it made sense to incorporate the ideas of different papers and colours with the key words in a single group poster.

We had the chance to see what other groups were planning to do, and picked up some useful pointers; the best groups had individual research that all related to a central theme, which played to their strengths but didn't obviously link to their home subjects, for example a textiles student researching textiles. A couple different groups had the same themes or sub-themes; superstition, victoriana and time were common, so looking beyond initial research would make a project more interesting; for us this means not sticking too strictly to manchester school of art; finding new materials and more abstract ways of presenting information will add a lot to our project. 

We noticed other groups arguing about the best way forward, and fortunately we have avoided that so far; although we care about the project, we are willing to compromise, and have communicated well with each other. We created a facebook group so we have been able to contact the media students who we didn't know before easily and keep each other updated on what's going on. There is still a member of the group we have not met, Michael Redmond, but the tutors are aiming to track him down! There are enough members of the group to come up with good ideas, so we will just stick to our plans.

We will not be around in Manchester over Easter but will keep in touch through Facebook and Twitter, providing blog links so we can see anything exciting that we find. I will be visiting Chester Zoo, which will be a great source of colour, and aim to see exhibitions at the Craft and Design Centre and Manchester Art Gallery.

Sally Denton: Trend Forecaster Extraordinaire

Yesterday Sally Denton came to talk to us about Trend Forecasting. I wasn't sure what to expect, but thought there might a bit dry with too many statistics involved. I was totally wrong, and this was the best talk I have heard through the art school this year.

She described Macro, Transitional and Micro trends citing Ugg boots as the trend that refused to die, and explained the move of Primark from Discount to High Street position and Topshop's recent efforts to move into the Brand category from the High Street, all in an attempt to capture a better and more profitable share of the market. Knowing how the market is spread will be useful for the future, when trying to position myself as a designer; it comes down to the phrase 'Right product, right place, right time'.

People at the moment are looking at and responding to old age, 3D printers, natural resources and the over - sexualisation of women; one day it might be possible to live on the moon, be carbon neutral, not see naked girls sprawled all over the media and treat old people with the respect they perhaps deserve. This was quite an inspirational presentation, and I hope that some of the things discussed become 'trendy' soon.

I'm still not sure if I would feel restricted having to conform to what society deems trendy, but this made me realise that there is enormous scope for working within a trend, and that if you notice what happens more generally in the world around you, you can predict what might come next and be a trend-setter instead of regurgitating someone else's interpretation of, for example, 'winter florals'. From Sally's lecture, I have realised that positioning is the most important thing if I want to become a successful designer.

Collaborative Lunch

Safia, Sue and I went along to Consatance's collaborative sandwich workshop in the Pennine Suite in the All Saints building. We were told where to sit, given a bag with an ingredient in it and asked to follow the instructions provided. We were also given loaves of bread.

When we opened our bags, we collected together all the ingredients,

                                            lime
                                           rocket
                                            apple
                                          houmous
                                            grapes
                                           walnut
                                          avocado
                                         mushrooms
                                           carrots

and chose to pick coriander and olive oil from the condiment table.

We decided to chop the carrots, coriander and spring onions, squeezed the lime and grated some walnut (not something I've ever done before) and decided to leave the grapes, carrot and mushrooms out of the sandwich, to form a small salad to dip in the left over houmous. 

The finished sandwich

The finished sandwich looked and tasted really great and the flavours were a combination that I would never have put together otherwise; because several people were involved, the ingredients were used in different ways to make something fresh and new. I would definitely do a similar thing in an art and design context, as it has made me realise the benefits of collaborating with other people.

Twitter Workshop

Safia went to the Twitter workshop, and relayed the information given; that we need to tweet about things that are happening for the group and things we go to see, provide a link to our blogs once up and running and include the hashtags: #mmuunitx2013 and #jouermmu so the tutors can keep up to date with what we are doing.

I've never used twitter before, so I'm not sure how useful I'll find it but will set up an account and start tweeting!

The start of Unit X

The Unit X theme this year is Manchester School of Art's 175th Anniversary. We were allocated groups (I am in PLAY 6) and asked to research 3 interesting facts linked to the number 175.

The bus I have to take to get to Hilton House is the 157, the middle shield is an American Route number (the first Google image result) and the Roman Numerals for 175 came up through the first Wikipedia entry for 175. Because we were asked to present the information on A2 paper, and I needed to get the bus I decided to fold and crumple it 175 times. This created a really interesting effect, which is more valuable research than the 3 facts themselves. Also it includes an element of play.

The members of our group are:

Textiles: Safia, Sue and myself
Media: Ollie, Jacob and Michael

When assembled as a group the 4 of us present thought that the idea of paper as a starting point was interesting; I thought that it could be fun to see what other people would do when handed a piece of paper, which indirectly led to the idea of interviewing them about Manchester School of Art. Jacob thought it would be interesting to film the interviews, and turn 175 corners, taking photographs of the first thing he saw each time. Safia suggested looking at 175 anniversaries, and Sue wanted to look at people from the past 175 years associated with the art school, and suggested I could find 175 quotes from people currently associated with the art school as well as alumni.

We were keen to include the element of play, and the methods by which we are gaining research are quite playful; we will get unexpected quotes, images and facts to work with, and will then experiment with 175 papers and 175 colours to produce interesting results. The colours could be based on those found in Jacob's photographs. Jacob suggested that he could find a piece of music 175 seconds long to play at the final exhibition, and include some footage from the films made.

We decided to name our group 'Jouer' which means 'to play' in French as it tells people about our methodology, is easy to say and sounds good.

So far we have worked well as a group, been decisive and creative, listened to each other well and agreed on most things. Everyone (textiles students and Jacob) had input and things to say, came up with ideas and is clear about our initial plan.