[VA] Degree Project Brainstorming

What do I enjoy about design? What am I passionate about? What do I want to do? Where do I want to be? Who am I? These are important questions that are rather difficult for me to answer. And this upsets me. Simple questions like, ‘what do I want to do’ or ‘where do I want to be’ are things that easily put me deep in thought and get over analyzed, where I then usually end up going crazy and end up either forgetting what I was thinking about or get depressed over the smallest things.

Being open minded has been/is important to me. I enjoy listening to opinions and new ideas on different subjects. I thought this way of thinking would lead to me to strong opinions toward my beliefs and ideas (and maybe it will over time), but instead it has lead me to become neutral about a lot of things. At the same time, I usually tend to feel strongly about both sides of a debate and have a hard time committing to and I like to understand and learn from every experience. That being said, I’m not quite sure what I’m passionate about and what I enjoy the most about design and I don’t like that. It might be hard to believe, but I enjoyed every assignment I’ve had at this school. All of them! I guess this means I just like the practice of design. –Experimenting, theory, communication, narrative… etc.

Because of our class Visual Advocacy, I really do care about the environment. I’ve always been interested in the earth and weather as well as, how people live there lives and humanity, but because of the knowledge I’ve gained and sources this class has lead me to, I now think differently and do want to make a difference. More than anything, I want other people to share the same opinion. Although I am very interested in sustainable design and culture jammers/guerilla design, I’m more interested in the other aspects of being green – the lifestyle and practice of caring about earth outside of graphic design. I can see how this type of thinking and designing can play a role in every aspect of design so, going forth with a semesters project dedicated specifically to green design, doesn’t really spark my interest.

Looking back at the design classes I’ve taken these past years, other non-design classes, and college in general, I’ve decided I really enjoy narrative… which, I know is very broad. The idea of what graphic design is – visual communication, is super interesting. Sharing, Listening, and Learning are three things that are important to me and is what I want this next semester to be dedicated to. Ranging in the different ways to communicate, through non-linear narratives like, posters and the many ways of image making, to linear narratives like, motion graphics, informational graphics, editorial design, and even interactive, the story telling and experiencing aspect of graphic design is what interests me.

What gets me excited, are the different kinds of stories people share and even more exciting, the ways we can share and ways to view stories… especially nontraditional ways… which I’m not sure what that would be. The B-flat video we saw early this semester is an exciting project I immediately fell in love with. What I’m interested in is both how it came about/ how it’s generated/created (web 2.0) and how easy it works, to how it works, as well as what is it, what are the ways to view it, and what it is doing to you as the viewer (how it makes you feel). Although I enjoying learning and questioning both the ‘how’ and the ‘what’, I feel the ‘what’ is something I’m more interested in. I want to raise questions, excite people, and just make people feel something.

Changing the world isn’t what I want this project to be focused on. I’m looking to do something on a smaller scale and something more personal. I almost want this to be a project just for me, not about me, but something self-expressive. I feel I can be an advocate for many things, once I learn about them. But, I’m truly not an advocate for anything really… am I? I want this to be okay, because at this point, I feel bad about this and I feel like I’m lost.

This paper seems to be about self discovery, and I’m not sure if I’m interested in this as a topic or if I’m just confused about my own life. My mind really wonders. So, I’ll just end with what I’m interested in. I collect and record (not a lot). I record my habits and time spent… I’m not really sure why, though, also collect/record images and sounds. Perhaps I do this because I enjoy seeing the progression of things (to see the story of something). Experimenting, color theory, information graphics, editorial design, and sound and motion. This paper was to figure out why… don’t think I did that.

[MX] Craft Day

Buttons and hanging cylinders. The perfect website.

[VA] Design Ignites Change

Clean Water

Stormwater runoff is the number one cause of water pollution in the country. Polluted runoff happens anywhere people use or alter the land. People going about their daily lives are the leading source of stormwater pollutants. Most people are unaware of how they impact water quality.

Using guerilla design, a system is being designed to educate our neighbors in Kansas City about simple and easy ways to help prevent water pollution, both individually and as a community. The case study is specific to the Southmoreland neighborhood, where the institute is located. This system provides information and tools to encourage people to protect our water.

[VA] Research & Possible Directions

This semester, for my Visual Advocacy class I have been looking into the issue of polluted water in Kansas City and ways to prevent it from happening.

As a reminder from my presentation,

Stormwater runoff is the number one cause of water pollution in the country.

I've focused my search on stormwater because of the harsher impact it has to our water. The rainwater is actually the cause of wastewater going into our streams. When it rains excessively, the water that ends up in our sewer systems ends up overflowing into our wastewater sewer systems, causing it to overflow into our streets, homes, and streams. So, if we took care of where the rain goes, then wastewater ending up in our streams won't be a problem.

Polluted runoff generally happens anywhere people use or alter the land. People going about their daily lives are the number one source of stormwater pollutants. Most people are unaware of how they impact water quality.

Some common examples include over fertilizing lawns, excessive pesticide use, not picking up pet waste, using salt or fertilizer to de-ice driveways, letting oil drip out of their vehicles and littering.

Like many parts of the country, Kansas City's stormwater does not receive any treatment before it enters our waterways.

The quantity of stormwater is also a problem When water falls on hard surfaces like roads, roofs, driveways and parking lots, it cannot seep into the ground, so it runs of to lower areas ending up in our waterways. To give you an idea of the difference a hard surface makes, consider the difference between one inch of rain falling onto a meadow and a parking lot. The parking lot sheds 16 times the amount of water that a meadow does!

Preventing pollution from entering water is much more affordable than cleaning polluted water.

Educating state residents about how to prevent pollution from entering waterways is one best management practice.

From researching and talking to Julia Cole (INDA head of department who is involved in the community on environmental issues, especially water) I've found out that there is a lot already being done to help out. There are some non-profit organizations as well as KC's government planning large scale projects to clean up our city and prevent polluted water. It's really cool, but looks like it's going to cost a lot of money and take many years to get to a good place.

I believe targeting individuals and getting them to change small habits or help out in simple and easy ways can and will make a difference. From an interview I had at the beginning of this project, Julia said that many people are aware of the water pollution and that it is a problem. But, no one really takes the effort to help. I don't really want to plan an event where we all get together and plant a rain garden, but that would be a good idea to help.

A quick prototype I started (Not sure if they were successful, b/c I didn't get any feedback) is this pamphlet which, I see as a series, contains some information on the main facts about water pollution, basically what I stated at the beginning of this post. Part of what I am trying to do is to get people to actually do something. And people are lazy, don't care, or want to take the time/effort to help out. So, if it's easy and doesn't take much time then who wouldn't help.

I provided some seed bombs (telling how they are made so they can make them themselves) for them to toss anywhere and help create some land where water can filter into. These bombs have native plant seeds in them which are plants that can survive under server conditions and have roots and are good for transporting water back into the ground.

I think the amount of information I put on these pamphlets are crucial. Right now there is too much. Maybe just stating one fact in large format would be more affective? My idea is to hit as many houses around the neighborhood multiple times. I think starting off quiet and friendly will bring my audience in slowly - to care and want to help. The idea with this is to make people care, but to not scare them off and yell at them, telling them their life style is wrong.

I'm not sure what kind of start-up-kit I can provide with the others pamphlets. This first pamphlet (I hate this word by the way, I want it to be in a different formate b/c of this hatred I have) talks about what the everyday person does that is affecting the water and that they just need to pick up waste and not to litter. So, I provided something they can litter that actually helps (seed bombs).

Other topics I have in mind are: rain gardens, rain barrels, rain harvesting, house drain (gutters), paved surfaces like their driveways, and snow ideas.

I've been thinking about possibly talking about wastewater and the affects people have with that. Since my audience are everyday individuals and their life style (specifically our neighborhood – Southmoreland) and small things they can do to help, why not talk about how we use all water. I mean the reason why I'm interested in this is because of the people who don't have access to clean what (1 billion people), how all of us (especially America) take our water and how we use it for granted. All of us have had access to clean water our whole lives. Most of us don't even know how much water we use a day and what we really don't need to be doing.

"In the U.S., water still comes out of your tap clean and ready to use, for pennies a gallon; that contrasts with, say, oil, which costs a lot and is only available through targeted supplies. But like oil, demand for water is rising. Cities, companies, factories and agriculture all use a lot of it, and depend on it for function. Water is essential for life and for business, and there’s only so much of it. And increasingly, the price of water is rising."

Water is to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century.

Another prototype I started, but didn't get to actually go through with because of the weather, is tagging storm drains.

Storm drains are everywhere and it's how our stormwater gets to the streams. The best location to talk about a problem is where the problem is happening, which is why I want to tag these storm drains.

I made a stencil to use with liquid chalk.

I did this is photoshop quickly. This is the idea I have–to paint a drinking straw next to a storm drain with a small explanation saying that this is what we drink, whatever ends up in here, ends up in our drinking water.

The idea with storm drains is to inform people that this water is never treated or cleaned, it goes directly to our streams and to tell people to pick up the streets and not to dump waste in them. Only rain belongs in a drain.

I think there are better things I can say to have a greater impact. Any suggestions?

I'm not very confident with these couple ideas. I guess I just want to make a huge impact and change everyone (which will never happen). Perhaps I need to narrow my audience and ideas more? I just don't feel like anyone is going to care enough to help out. I also don't know if my suggestions to people are good ideas. What I really need to do is talk to the organizations already tackling this problem and see what the biggest problem is and what I can do to help.

I need to know where design can come in, to help in the best way. Because, beside getting people together, I'm not sure if design can help. But, getting people to come together is a great thing, isn't it?

These past couple of months, I have learned a lot about this issue, though. It has gotten me excited! I believe knowing what kind of issues that are going on in your community and being involved in your community is important for designers. I want to do every suggestion I'm providing to the community, myself. I'm excited about environmentally and sustainable design. I'm also really interested in guerilla art and advertisement.

If anyone has any suggestions or information that can help me out, I would very much appreciate it!

I'm not very confident in what I have so far.

[L9] Reel Design Film Series Posters

With each new event series, AIGA KC is starting to feature the guest designers on their blog. I was lucky to get interviewed last week for the posters I did for the Reel Design Film Series. You can go to our chapters site and click blog to check it out! Thanks Laura for helping me with the interview :)

[DS] Process.

Aura is the Weather Service I am branding. Here's our essence and brand attributes (taken from my keynote presentation).

The identity is designed based off of these attributes and essence. Here are some screen shots of what I have so far.

[MX] Community Poster final

Still haven't paid for the print of this.