Talk a LOT- Figures of Speech. And Pics

Decided to blog on time this week...finally! I steeeeeel haven’t finish my DS and flash assignments! I’m truly at a dead end for flash...stuck stuck stuck!( cliché cliché!) Have been asking everyone for help-lecturer, classmates, etc- until I think they are pretty sick of me, can’t blame them, heh, I’m irritated with myself. Urgh. I have my idea in mind for so long but I just don’t know how to use the much too complicated(for me) software lah...so still very worried about that.

Today’s lesson was about Visual tropes. Like those figure of speech stuff. Rhetorics if you talk about Plato...which Munying seems to like talking about =p Plato is maybe one (or many) step deeper than what we talked about today....

I think mainly is about playing around with people’s perception, this art of persuasion. You use all these different kinds of methods to make people realise or think of things that they may not even know they think about. Like advertisements. We don’t even know why we buy it exactly, but the visual and concepts of the ad plays around with our perception, persuading us. That could Metonymic, using an object to represent an idea-make-up representing beauty?

Also, we spotted the difference between metaphors and physical analogies. Metaphor-absolutely Not literal. A psychological analogy. A picture of Freedom with a bird (by the way that’s my DS project-Freedom) doesn’t mean it is... Analogy- Literal, obvious.

Talked about stereotyping, which is typical in our society. Like say, a murderer wears black when he kills someone, doesn’t mean anyone wearing black is a murderer mah. Something like that.

Hyperbole...this one’s quite drama. Exaggerating something to bring out its essence, its idea or the concept. Can be quite gross sometimes....

I better go and do the flash now...if only there’s a ‘be a pro in flash in 5 min’ pill i could take ...i wish!

Week 7 and dying...almost

Yep...last couple of weeks. And really, almost to fainting point already. Still rushing for 2 more assignments, DS and IA (my WORST nightmare! I'm not exaggerating). ssiigggghhhhhhhhh.................Tired! And got so many other homewrk too. Okay gotta stop complaining. Makes it seems worse. Just a couple of pics of my stuffs then:


VDS font-poster submission...Finally after slogging for so many weeks, we handed up our font faces. Dont feel very much of relief at all though, just quite nervous..like keep wondering if I handed up everything

DS acrylic painting- that was hard, its like, I saw it in my mind. But it came out totally different when I drew it =.= 1st time using acrylic to paint. Wonder why it turned out like water colour..

WEEK 5---Wheeee! My state of progress

Now its week 5 already...more than half the term over, YAY! Haha.. just a Little more, a little more to go =) jia you!

This week’s check in was to draw out our ‘State of Art and Progress’ Map, or SOAP. So cute lah, the name Soap! I even drew out(or tried to) a piece of soap at the top! Okay I know I’m pretty lame, but that’s me=p Its like a map of the status of all our projects in VDS, IA, DS, HTI...and as you can see, it is either I have too little confidence in myself, or there’s alot more work I need to do, or Maybe, both. Hee. Oh ya, I decided to use not too much colours this time, make it look somewhat neater, and erm, more ‘sophisticated’.

IA-This is my most dreaded nightmare man! Muahahaha...(see the pic beside with all the stickman pulling my eyeball apart!)...its killing me slowly... ok ok, probably not so jialat lah, I’m exaggerating. Still, it is really hard for me to get the hang of how to use the flash software. REALLY hard. It is just like when I started learning illustrator and photoshop, except Worse, cos its animated. Geesh. Maybe I need to attend ‘Adobe Flash for kids’ or something. And I probably won’t be able to catch up in that class either =p But I’m trying Hard...I hope Something will get into my head after all those class exercises, and I’ve been asking the lecturer loads of questions-I hope she won’t get fed up! LOL For illustrator, I’m still not very good at it, but I do understand the basic stuff. So I hope it’ll be like that for Flash too=) Must stay positive! =) As for the assignment, the e-card thingy, I’ll start simple, create a character, and then lots of consultation so that I won’t get too stuck. ^.^

DS- This one is like an extreme rollercoaster, like the pic. All the way up sometimes, and all the way Down at other time. Because it’s quite unpredictable if I’m going to draw something nice or something totally ‘Bleah’(disastrous!). For me, drawing well comes with inspiration, and inspiration only comes Sometimes, the times when I’m not worrying what others may think . And I realise that my sub-conscious can draw better than my conscious mind. Meaning, If I keep concentrating so hard and worrying that my piece won’t come out well, it will Not turn out nice. But if I just relax and do it like, without stress, it’ll turn out fab! Music helps too, it relaxes me, and distracts me from thinking negative thoughts. Talking on the phone while drawing is also not bad, hehe!

For the DS illustration assignment, I have a theme in mind already, and now I’m in the research cum incubation stage. Have been Googling, finding inspiration. I’m thinking about how to make my piece Unique. Like, not what everyone can think of immediately, but something that can provoke a deeper thought, something with Meaning.

VDS-Okay, maybe you can’t really see what’s the picture about. Its actually a stickman(me)-Oh ya you must be wondering why I only draw stickman...cos I’m terrible at drawing real ppl thats why, aack! =p- running towards a trophy...and there’s a really loooong road to it. The pair of eyes represent that I can see my goal, but Its so Far away! And Its so hard to get to it, I’m Panting as I run. Interpreting it, it shows that for my VDS font assignment, I’ve got It, the idea, the method, the design. But there’s still so much to do to achieve it! And I’m getting tired and quite stressed too, cos the deadline is coming soon.. But perseverance is the Key! And I’m gonna run till I get there!

HTI-I drew this pic before I handed up the Essay 1a, so the burden is less heavy now. But still, as in the pic, I feel squashed by all the work. Its kind of my fault lah, cos I let the journal writing pile up. Last term was still okay, I wrote each journal on time and it didn’t feel so much like a mass of rocks on top of me. But this term I was so caught up with all the other projects that I got abit laid back with the journal writing. I need to catch up with the writing! Get rid of all those ‘rocks’ suffocating me!


Alrighty...I think this entry is Packed with enough words! Hehe..Hope you don’t get too bored reading it yea. I still have not done my creativity model thingy, still not so sure how. Now need to focus more on the Font project 1st...

TTFN! (Tata for now) =)

P.S. OH! Forgot to talk about the ‘half glass empty or full’ thingy, I wrote that cos I wanted to figure out my mental state, whether I think positively or negatively, I know I underline ‘empty’. I was feeling quite disappointed in myself at the time, veering towards ‘ARRRGGGG!’. But now its getting Better. Smiles* =)

Some of my stuffs...=P

Hehe..I just looked throught my blog and urgh! so boring...quite. so thought Ill just add some pics or mistakes=p I know, some not so nice, but its MISTAKES mah. Enjoy!trying out different stuff for the VDS font assignment...

and this is just a funny pic from my POEMS diary for XDM, LOL..Huge toilet sign near the library!

Week 4-----The Stress Monster Attacks!

I know i know! My blogging is late by a week =p! Last week was HECTIC.. quite a few submissions. My brain juice was sucked dry by the HTI essay assignment! Still managed to pump out something thought, hope its okay=)

So.. We were supposed to check in for the lesson with this deep doodle(oh ya, I read up on the deep doodle instructions and found it quite interesting...something i’d like to do IF I got more free time! =p) of how our emotions changes when we’re doing things we learn well, and things we don’t.

It was soo easy to think of something I didn’t learn well, but in this case, since it was school and all, I picked Illustrator. It was a HORROR when I started learning it in class last Sem! I couldn’t keep up with what the teacher was doing AT ALL...*click, click, click! They make it seem so easy when they do it. BUT, when I tried, everything just goes wrong. Maybe the com doesn’t really like me??....hmm... So I dreaded every lesson, and AFTER every lesson I was totally deflated =( This is where the negative mindsets sets in. Especially when the others(classmates) seem to get the hang of it immediately..(geniuses, they must be!). Whenever I feel disappointed in myself, the emotions will gather in my stomach...or around there. No appetite to eat then...terrible! And in my mind I’ll keep thinking about how lousy I was, not being able to do it...

Now for the happy things, things I learnt well. I thought about it, and realised that things i learnt WELL might not necessarily mean I’m really good at it, it just simply means I’m HAPPY =) while doing it. Of course, If i’m happy, i’ll naturally do better. Learning the guitar was something I really enjoyed...at first, it was rough, and I did feel quite depressed when I realised my progress was slow. But then slowly, and I didn’t even realise, it got better =) I didn’t feel stressed while learning how to play a tune, or memorise a note. It was all at my own time. And there were no high expectations, just little milestones I achieved as I go along. It is FUN =) Having a positive mindset really helped, and the encouragement from my friends too, of course! If I’m feeling positive, I’ll feel excited that I will improve, and the feeling builds up in my chest...Its like I’m BLOATED=) In a good way. Kinda like floating, feet not touching the ground.. Wheeeee!!!
I don’t really understand the creativity map thing, but is it like an analogy of how I learn? I suppose so>? I’ll try to think of that and let you know =)

My BODY Map =)

My BODY map =) I think it was soooper fun, this exercise! I begin to imagine myself having all the different kinds of emotions I usually have, and trying to figure out where in my body I’d feel them the most. Incredibly, I just knew where they all fit... Mainly, the anger, stress or anything unpleasant starts at my head, as I usually get Terrible headaches because of it. The happy feelings are centred around my chest and torso areas, especially if I’m excited! I get all bubbly in my stomach and usually lose my appetite, in a good way of course =) the being ‘blur’ part I probably would feel it all over my body, since my arms and legs won’t listen to me when I’m feeling confused. Wibble-wobble!

The other doodles are just...well, doodles! Haha. Actually hor, you know something? I read once that doodling while having lessons can help us to focus better, and absorb more too! Just a cool thing to note=)

Gotta run!..Sleepy time Zzzzz

Examples! Analogy

Now, for the examples of Analogies...it was pretty hard to find analogies online (maybe I typed the wrong keywords?) but I think I found a couple... May not be right=p I’ll just post them up.

a clock design analogy...It refers to the intricacy of the design of the clock- they say that if there is a design, then there must also be a designer. this is quite deep, and I took awhile to come up with my own interpretation. I think it represents life itself and how it came about. how we came about. It probably refers to a higher being-God?- who created us. Because if a creation (us) exist, then its creator(God) must also exist right? Using a clock to define that probably shows how we are carefully and intricately moulded and individually made by God.

This 2nd.. I'm not really sure if it counts. What I can infer from this picture is probably the most simplistic and basic analogy of emotions-colour. The colour of the smiley faces (so cuuteee!) reflects the mood that is shown on the face. Red for anger/being upset, green for 'expressionless', because green is a very calm and serene colour (think nature), and yellow for happiness (yay!) Anyone can understand what the message of this pic is immediately, I think =)

I don't really get this picture either...I suppose its sorta talking about modernity? The plug and wire symbolises electricity, which is something we in this modern society cannot live without. The bicycle thingy is something from the past, way back, and represents the old. By connecting the 'electricity' to the old bike, it shows a combination and merging of the old and the new.

My reflection on Analogy...

Okay...Now I’m trying to get down to finding the analogies. So far, what i know of analogies is that there are 2 types- Logical and Psychological. Hmmm..I still don’t really get what they mean exactly, but I’ll try to explain what I know yea.

Logical analogies consist of design and functional analogies, meaning that these analogies are obvious and easy to understand. One look and you’ll know what that picture is saying, the message it’s trying to convey.

Psychological analogies play with our perceptions, our viewpoints, our minds. It is not easy to understand what the message is all about, because such analogies usually comes from the creator’s emotions, his own thoughts and feelings. Psychological analogies are sensory, born from emotions, they are symbolic, metaphors, or even fantasy. Most abstract art are psychological analogies.

My creative process...When I first think about a problem, there’ll be many MANY ideas popping into my head at once...really they all come suddenly! But most of the ideas are really just random thoughts, and might not really work in the end, or maybe they can work, but are not good enough=( After the blizzard of ideas, I’ll find myself in a rut, and the thoughts will stop coming just as suddenly as they came . urgh. You know how that feels...or maybe you don’t, since you’re our cher =p

When I find myself stuck (!) I’ll naturally begin to look around...at other people’s ideas. Not really to copy, but yet maybe also in some sense, because as I said before, we all learn by copying. =p Sometimes, from looking around, I’ll think of new ideas or better ideas. But dunno why hor nowadays I just feel a LITTLE BIT intimidated after seeing other people’s brilliant ideas. Lol...must be of course..too STRESS LAH!!

So far...

A short post to talk about how's school for me so far, in particular DCC of course =p

Well...I supposed its an understatement to say that its been pretty stressful and busy for the only the first 3 weeks of school! But, I think most of the projects just needs consistent work, for me to be able to produce something good, or at least acceptable =p So, today I tried to sort out which assignments i need to do first, by writing them all out...and wah!!! The number of homework is indeed ALOT. O.O

Sorry cher, I didn't have the time (nor strength) to update on my week for last week's post...hehe, you must be wondering why so many of us are complaining about the workload...it must be true if everyone is saying it then! =p I'm wondering...what would design school be like if we have NO homework at all??? Chaos...or heaven? =)P
Of course, it'll never happen lah. Just a daydream..poof!

Anyway, just wanna say that this week's lecture about psychology and design was really helpful and insightful =) Its really interesting that we can in fact learn about how the human mind work, and to see that there's a similar pattern to how all of us generate thoughts. It helped alot for the HTI seminar too, especially that part where we talk about thought processes, and how having too much info but not sorting them out is not going to work. Cos you see, we had like so much, too much actually, info for the project, until it was soo messy and we just didn't know how to organise all of it. Luckily after DCC we quickly stopped looking around for info, but to start looking at what we have in our hands instead...and I think (hope) our presentation was okay in the end^.^

will post my doodle or other pics asap! =)

Visceral-Behavioural-Reflective

Think about the interplay/interaction of the Visceral, Behavioural and Reflective layers in a designed object and how they evoke emotions. Find one designed object and analyse how the 3 levels work together to create the "gestalt" effect.

Visceral design concerns itself
with appearances (and the
senses).
l Behavioral design has to do
with the pleasure and
effectiveness of use.
l Reflective design considers
the rationalization and
intellectualization of a product.
(Can I tell a story about it?
Does it appeal to my selfimage,
to my pride?)

I chose this bookshelf because it certainly looks interesting. On first glance i suppose you can’t really tell it is a bookshelf... That’s the visceral point of view, the shape and colour of the bookshelf itself intrigues the viewer, and creates an appeal through its appearance. This bookshelf will definitely win over any old bookshelf, when it is compared in looks. It is unique because it doesn’t have the usual planks/shelves that a normal bookcase would have, instead it has many little cuboids that serves the function of holding the books. Rather than just an object of pure function, it also becomes eye candy, a decorative piece of furniture in the house.

For the behavioural aspect of it, it is indeed something that’s fun and also easy to use. Children would most likely enjoy slotting the books into the bookshelf, and the colourful design is also a plus. This would be really helpful in teaching kids to put back their books after reading them, since it would be a fun experience for them.

As for the reflective design, I’m sure anyone would be proud to have such a cool and unique piece of furniture in their home, wouldn’t they? =) People would be impressed by it!
It can also tell people about the character of its owner

Don Norman’s video-3 ways good design make you happy

1. Think about the role of emotions/mindset in the creative process. Remember the example he cited. Recall any brainstorming sessions you conducted before (as well as the in-class exercise earlier) - were the sessions conducted effectively? Why/not?

The role of a person’s emotions during the creative process... is VERY important. Really. I think if we’re in a relaxed mood, we’ll definitely be able to think better, and we’ll have better ideas. Of course, it is when we’re feeling happy that we have the best ideas.

It is kinda like, say, singing. You can’t really sing very well if you are bent over, the air just can’t get into your lungs, and the sound can’t come out. In the same way, we cannot think properly when we are all stressed up and tired. The mind has to take a breath before it can start generating ideas.

The brainstorming we did in class was good. Though I do still feel all the stress coming at me during the ‘closed eyes and relax’ sessions, but I felt better. More open. Its like my mind could take a break and think about something else for awhile. The doodling was fun too..my emotions poured out onto paper, like a load lifted off my chest (a little bit). So yeah, I really agree with the guy in the video, ‘does it work? Not really.. but it makes me happy!’ Design can make people happy =)

50 Uses of a WHAT????

I got stuck at no. 4...so i wrote er..'eat', cos i was pretty hungry. LOL, that was when all sort of wacky ideas start to come out...

The very 1st Random

Here's the 1st random thing that I drew in the class.... 'AHHHH!' popped out 1st thing!

What Is It?

What Is CREAVITY?

- The ability to create.
- Using imagination rather than imitating something else.
- Generation of ideas, images and/or solutions.
- The process of developing new, uncommon, or unique ideas
- Creativity is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight
- Involve thinking or behaving imaginatively.
- Generative, ground-breaking, innovative, originate, handmade.
- Seeing the same thing as everybody else but thinking of something different.
- Involves the translation of our unique gifts, talents and vision into an external reality that is new and useful.
- Being novel (something new, never tried before) and appropriate.

Creativity. CrEaTiViTy.

Do you think you are creative? Why/Not? (reflect on your creative process in Sem 1 while going through the Common Foundation courses) to answer this.

Am I creative? Sometimes yes sometimes no I guess...certainly, there are times when ideas just hit me like a bolt of lighting, and whoa, those times are awesome! I’ll be driven by inspiration and not just purely thinking of what to do. Atlas, those are limited... I hope I can improve in ‘bombing ideas’ out!

Why or why not I’m creative? I suppose I am creative, because I think things in a different way. I see issues with a different perspective than the norm. I’m always asking questions, really! Why, why, why...ask, ask, ask...people get irritated of me soon enough! (My friends think I’m siao(crazy), so does my family =p) Ha ha. Im not satisfied with just the usual explanation, because I want to know more than that. Being creative is a state of mind, if we are able to look at the world around us with an open mind, without the rigidity of narrow-mindedness, without always saying ‘Its must be done THIS way’, then that would be creativity. Of course, there are times when I get stuck. Eh..I think sometimes I just can’t be creative because of being under stress. I definitely work better when I’m not feeling stressful =p Though definitely that won’t be possible in design school =p! I need to learn to do well under stress too...to use the stress as a form of motivation. Jia you! =p

Thinking about what I did in sem 1, I admit I was only say, 20% creative? I was afraid that I would do something wrong, so I always followed the brief almost exactly =p Even I myself found some of my work booring. I was kinda like in a cage that I had put myself into, afraid of the big bad world outside! I thought and reflected about it...and I realised that if I don’t try, I’ll never know, will I? I need to step out! And hopefully, break out of my little comfortable space...In fact, I’ve always been terrified of confrontations, of voicing out my thoughts. Gotta be thick-skinned abit from now on =p!

What were the last 3 creative things you did? Describe in some detail, and provide criteria why it was creative. If you have not done anything creative recently, please say more about why that is so.

I can’t think of anything I’ve done that’s classified under ‘creative’ recently...tell you when I have!

Do you think Creativity can be taught/and learned? Why/Not?

Maybe... When we are constantly around creative people, we tend to be influenced by them, and begin to think out of the box ourselves. That’s how creativity is learnt, through the mimicking of others. Thinking about it, I realise that everything that we know how to do is actually through copying people around us, our parents, family, etc. We learn through copying. To be creative is to not only copy, but to improve what have already been discovered.

But then again, true creativity is actually being able to imagine things no one has ever thought about before. Its about being unique. That can’t be learnt, because it comes from within us =)

What is your general gameplan for improving your Creativity? Please explain some possible goals and directions you have in mind. How can this class help you specifically.

Improving my creativity huh...like I said, I gotta learn to be more thick-skin.. I think through this class I can just let go of any other pre-conceptions I’ve had before, so that I won’t keep holding ideas back, but just let loose whatever that’s in my mind. I believe this class can allow me to generate ideas more quickly...bomb everything out! Haha >.<
My goal is of course to reach a stage of creativity where I could immediately generate great ideas on the spot, that’ll take lots of practice practice practice, so that my mind can work faster!

What is imagination?

What is imagination/creativity?

Hmm..that’s a tough question. Okay, maybe not so. I guess creativity is....well anything and everything! I agree with the idea that as we grow older, our creativity and imagination dwindle. We have more and more constraints to what we can think of, what we cannot think of, what we can do, what we Cannot do..etc, you get the point. I probably was ten times more imaginative ten years ago than I am now! The world shapes our view of ourselves, it compares us with others. We even compare ourselves! I mean, all these talk of ‘I confirm cannot make it (one lah)’ and ‘I’ll never be as good as him/her’, they all come from our own bad experiences, and of course, the worlds’ judgemental view on us.

I feel that we’ll all be much more creative if we didn’t care what people think of us and our designs. I admit, every time I start drawing, sketching my ideas, i have a thought stuck in my mind: ‘Would people like this?. That itself already staunches my creativity. It sets a barrier to what I can do, because I’m only doing what I think people Would like. I’m not doing it to my utmost potential...I’m not letting go of preconceptions and creating something original.

Soo.. I think design should be free. Free of every assumption we’ve made before, so that the mind can take control with its full potential, OR, maybe the mind Doesn’t have to take control at all! I truly believe the sub-concious is something really powerful. Tried and tested, I draw better when I’m doing something else, like chatting on the phone... Kudos to HTI =) ! (thinking deep right now)

Hmm..my conception of creativity after coming into SD? I think I’ve begun to dive deeper into the realm of imagination. It’s like, I used to be just at the surface, skimming the top of the ocean of potential within my (real deep) mind. But now I’m diggin, digging and finding things I’ve never expected to have! That’s the great thing about SD. Cos its like, everyone has potential to do wonderful stuff, but its whether we get the chance to develop that potential. SD does that, so go go go SD! =)) Just hope the homework won’t kill us before that=p (hint hint to lecturers**)

Let not the mind be filled with only things poured into it, but let it pour awesome things out instead!

This is so not me =p

Here's the blog you've asked for cher! haha.. honestly, this is so not me. I got a personal blog but i only update it only like, once in a few months =pp

You see, I'm kinda abit of a goon at IT stuffs, I take forever to do something on the com..hehe. So to ask me to update every week as homework, hehe, that's gonna take quite alot! Of course..still gotta do it yea?

Wells, hope this blog will be enjoyable then, I'll try not to be so long-winded (blah blah blah...) =p Start reading me! ^^

P.S. Can't find a nice pic of meself to post..all too paiseh!