I have always been interested in the ocean and all the creatures that live in it. I find it fascinating that the majority of the earths ecology is beneath the surface of the sea. It offers such a rich source of imagery as well as intrigue. For these reasons I felt it would be a perfect visual source for my honours project.
I did a two week project about the sea during the general foundation course in my first year at DJCAD. This will act as a sort of starting point for me to begin research.
I met up with Sara Nevay and Rebecca Lindsay today to have a chat about the work they did on ‘DeMEntia diary’, an electronic tool which will be further explained in this post. This was the second meeting I’ve had so far to find out more about designing for dementia, to further my dissertation research. Here is what we talked about:
What exactly is the dementia diary?
The SSSC, Alzheimer’s Scotland, IRISS, and 100% open ran a two day innovation event called ‘Workforce of the future’ which was all about staff giving ideas about new strategies which they thought would improve the care system. The ideas were all submitted to an online portal and then staff were able to vote on which ideas they thought were strongest. Twenty of the suggestions online were then taken to the event and the person who had submitted an idea presented it to the group. Based on these presentations another vote was cast to take the best ideas forward. One idea was for a visual diary that utilise technology to tell stories about people with dementias lives. It was partially a reminiscence tool but also a useful way to communicate things about that person to care workers. The diary would be able to give a new group of carers a snapshot of the person’s life, how they like things to be done for example how they like their tea.
The Scottish Borders Council and Alzheimer’s Scotland were interested in taking the idea further and both had different ideas about how they would use the tool. Who could benefit? How would it be implemented?
In London Sara Nevay ran an empathy exercise – staff were asked to make up personas based on people they care for and storyboard tasks their personas may have to perform. One of the staff members had a medical background and their storyboard was about visiting the doctor and showing them the diary so they could assess how the patients condition was progressing. The idea here was that family members who are constantly with the patient may not be objective about changes in the patients life or the progression of the illness. The diary could show the patient performing a certain task multiple time over the course of a month and it would show any deterioration in dexterity or comprehension. There was some question about whether people would be able to use the technology s there was a suggestion to also have a paper version available. Much like the ‘This is me’ booklet produced by Alzheimer’s UK.
The service would be beneficial both to the person with the illness and to their family. The diary would preserve part of the person’s personality. With more developed dementia the person you knew before is not there anymore and it’s important to have things to remember them by.
How did you both get involved with the project?
The people running the event contacted Hazel White who runs the master of design for services at DJCAD, which we were both doing at the time. They wanted ten designers to come along and participate as visualisers. We were to help pull ideas together and produce visuals but ended up facilitating the groups.
Four months later five of the ideas chosen in the innovation event had received extra funding to take them further. 100% open bowed out and we became the design team. They wanted us to pack together all of the information gathered and tie it together.
In the Borders Becca Lindsay gave homework for everyone to do. She asked them to make a video in the context of what the service would be. One person took it a bit further and actually filmed a lady with dementia who she cared for. The lady was adamant that she wanted her wardrobe to be filmed as she was very into fashion and her carers never quite got her outfit’s right. She wanted the video to show which combinations she liked to wear her clothes in, which cardigan went with which blouse and so on. This was a new conversation for the woman, which stimulated conversation. Being in this new situation made her brain work differently, helping to combat the symptoms of her illness. Breaking the loop of the same questions day in day out can be really helpful for people with dementia. It can be monotonous and it’s hard to break the cycle.
There were some complexities working in the borders such as the poor Internet signal and the out-dated technology that people use there. People were not at ease with utilising technology, one woman was adamant that she wouldn’t do it. However the next day she came back in having experimented and had several videos to show. Overcoming the terror of new technology is rewarding and makes people want to engage once they have gotten the hang of it.
Becca’s grandmother had dementia and went through a cycle for three months telling the same story over and over. Then one day a police officer came to the door to explain about an issue with the neighbours and that there might be some noise. Becca insisted he came in to tell her gran and when he did her manner changed completely, saying how charming he was. His visit broke the loop and improved the mood. Breaking the loop benefits the family as well as the person with the illness
What part did research play in this project?
It was very much a live project. It wasn’t necessary for us to do research, everyone we were working with was already an expert in this field so we were just bringing the design to it. People who really knew what they were doing had agreed upon the base of the idea. Someone who really thought it would be useful had suggested it.
What is reminiscence therapy and how did it play a part?
Reminiscence therapy can use a physical object, photos, music or even smells to bring back memories and ignite conversation. It’s all about nostalgia. An object can be linked to a happy memory. Short-term memory goes but often memories from ten or more years ago are really fresh. Recalling these memories can change a person’s frame of mind. With reminiscence therapy the memories don’t always last but the sense of wellbeing and happiness can stay. Certain memories are much stronger than others.
It can be difficult for people who caught their dementia later on as they will forget that they have been diagnosed which can cause distress. The vast changes that have been made to the city can also cause distress. A person with dementia will remember how things look years ago and so the city is not familiar to them. None of the shops or buildings are what they remember.
Did you speak to anyone who had the illness?
Sara – In the second session Alzheimer’s Scotland brought in people who had been working with different studies pertaining to dementia strategies. There was one man who had been diagnosed late on. He had been wandering off in the middle of the night and waiting for the newspaper in the morning. It wasn’t until his wife woke up one night to find he wasn’t there. When he wasn’t in a period of memory loss he knew what his diagnosis was. He had been very independent prior to the illness, running his own business. He had been involved with Cobalt run by St Andrews University. The programme helps people with dementia to relearn forgotten skills. He had been learning to type and do other admin type jobs that he had done when he was working. Relearning these skills improved his memory and he is now able to give lectures for 40 odd minutes. Relearning a physical activity is a huge help to the brain.
The main things which I picked up on during my chat with Sara and Rebecca were; the importance of reminiscence, both for the person with dementia and for their families. Short term memory is often the most affected so thinking back to a time in the past can be easier, recalling old memories can improve someone’s mood. It is also important for families to have a way of remembering their relative as a person which can become difficult when the illness is more progressed and has an affect on behaviours. Simultaneously it is really crucial to know a person’s habits and preferences when caring for them, as in the case of the lady with the fabulous wardrobe. Making small alterations in the way you care for someone and help them with day to day tasks can improve their well being and happiness. I think it’s also really interesting to hear the impact re-learning lost skills can have on the memory. I think that is a vital thing to take forward in my research.
Thankyou very much to both Sara Nevay and Rebecca Lindsay for meeting up with me to have a chat.
To start off my research for my dissertation I have arranged to meet up with a few people who have worked in the field of designing for dementia. My first meeting was with Gary Gowans, a graphic design tutor at DJCAD. He worked on producing a computer programme ‘CIRCA connect‘ which used reminiscence therapy to help those with dementia. Here is what we talked about:
How did you decide to embark on the project?
We started out with a fact-finding mission within the different faculties. Liaising with the school of computing and the school of psychology. Each department faculty members demonstrated their various skills and interests, highlighting any connections and possible collaboration opportunities.
I had an interest in work Norman Alm from the school of computing had done previously with assisted technology for communication. That’s where the idea started, a kind of electronic scrapbook incorporating reminiscence therapy. The psychologists contributed their expertise in dementia communication.
How did you do research for the project?
We did studies and field-testing within care environments. A main part of the research was weather to use personalised or generic content within the product. The content is made up of music, videos, and photographs. We were weighing up the success of each type based on the reactions we were seeing in the people using the product. With the personalised content there was concern that people may not be able to recognise faces of family or friends, which could cause stress and anxiety. People may feel ashamed or like they are being quizzed. What we wanted to do instead was show them something that jogged memories, something like a cobbled street that would remind them of a related time in their life. The idea of the product is to ignite conversation.
Using generic content also means that there is no need to be constantly updating the system for new users.
How did you get in touch with the care and service providers?/Were you able to talk to those who had the illness too?
There were ready-made channels to go through because of the psychologist, who had long standing contact with caregivers. We also went through social services, which gave us access to care institutions locally. We used private institutions mostly, in fife, Dundee and Oxford too. We spoke to Alzheimer’s Scotland and the UK branch too as an advisory group.
It wasn’t really necessary to speak to those with the illness; it was more about observing how they interacted with the programme. We were monitoring the relationships and interaction. We used human interaction software as well, that takes note of things like eye contact, laughter and so on. We had people telling stories that their families had never heard before, which is a fantastic result.
We produced a game too, called Lim. That was designed for people with mid range dementia. We observed how they were performing and the more they used it the more they improved. We found that people were kept engaged for long periods of time.
How did you overcome the issue of people not being adept with technology?
The programme runs on touch screens and the interface is designed to be as intuitive as possible. The initial assumption was that the carers would run the system but actually it turned out that people were able to use it themselves. You could never get lost in the system, there are always more easy to navigate options on screen. The programme created intrigue and made the user want to explore further. There were people who had never used a computer before who were able to do it themselves easily, which also incorporated a sense of achievement.
I think the most important things from this interview were; the use of generic content to avoid any distress caused by being unable to recognise faces or places, and also to cut out the need for constant updates to the system. Also Peoples ability to learn to use the system really quickly and the good feelings this achievement created. I think that a person mood and well being can have a massive affect on their overall health and state of mind.
A big thanks to Gary Gowans for taking the time to chat with me.
This evening I went along to one of BBC radio 1’s Academy events, ‘Fashion Show with Bold Souls – Jobs in the Fashion Industry’. The idea behind ‘the academy’ is to invite young people to events and Q&A’s in order to provide them with inspiration for their careers, encouraging them to follow in the footsteps of those they admire. The events bost an a-list selection of guests ranging from Hudson Mohawk and CHVRCHES to Kevin Bridges and Sir Richard Branson. The bold souls event which I went along to aimed to give an insight to what it takes to break into the fashion industry. To start the show off there was a procession of models with gorgeous long locks dressed in the collections of Chouchou, Danni McWilliams, and Rebecca Torres, respectively. All three brands are Glasgow based and bring something a little different to the table. Chouchou are known for their ‘Hollyhood’ which is a cross between a hood and a scarf but what they showcased today was selection of form fitted outfits made from really interesting fabrics. Danni McWilliams collection took inspiration from the 1990’s with bucket hats, backpacks, crop tops and dungarees. Rebecca Torres uses fabrics traditionally associated with sportswear, teaming them up with her in-house digital prints to make statement dresses which have been hugely successful in online sales.
After the fashion show a panel of five fashion industry insiders took to the stage to tell us more about what they do. There to answer our question were; Dr. Tessa Hartman, founder of the Scottish fashion awards and editor of Caledonista, a new digital emporium for fashion beauty and luxury lifestyle, Dumi Oburota, recently featured in GQ’s list of 50 best dressed, manager to chart topper Tinie Tempah and creator of street style brand Disturbing London, Rebecca Torres, creator of the aforementioned fashion brand which shares her name, Freelance photographer Stewart Bryden and Model Chris Millington (who has a huge twitter following).
A piece of advice which popped up a few times was staying true to your brand, whether you are a photographer, a designer or a model, your brand is how you show people what you are about and what people buy in to. The theme of luck was discussed as well, Chris Millington was scouted by a modelling agency while he was in London branch of costa. This idea of being in the right place at the right time is something that has popped up again and again at lectures and talks I’ve been to about the creative industry. At this evenings event it was suggested that this is only half of the equation, yes it sometimes is a case of being in the right moment, but that means nothing if you don’t put in the hard work to back it up. The fashion industry is a really hard one to crack and it is vital to put your all into it if you want to make it.
At the end the microphone was offered over to the audience for any questions they may have. The necessity for a new brand to be based in London in order to become successful was one which returned answers from every panel member. We were advised that it is possible to become successful without moving to the countries capital, yes London is Britain’s fashion hub, but you don’t have to be there to be represented there. It was suggested that being outside of London also had it’s advantages, not being surrounded by the same trends as everyone else can mean that your brand is more individual.
It was really interesting to hear from people who do different things within the same industry, their work is quite varied but what they were advising was largely the same. I will be going to a few more events throughout the week which I hope will be as good as this one.
Our final project of the year was for hallmark. They wanted us to design a line of stationery, giftwrap or cards for men, including lettering. I started doing research into hand lettering, which I have am particularly interested in since going to see ‘Sign painters‘ – a documentary about hand painted signs by Faythe Levine. We had all been given free tickets by the university and had been invited to go to a talk with Faythe after the screening. The film itself was fantastic, It gave such great insight to the art of hand painted signs and gave me a new appreciation for typography. It was also really good to hear from faythe about what inspired her to make the film as well as get to know about some of her other work.
The signs I was looking at to start off my research were almost all american, for motels, diners, casinos and so forth. I decided to hone in on diners, as I was looking for more signs I was coming across some unusual phrases, which turned out to be slang used by diner wait and kitchen staff in the 50’s. Calling ‘Adams ale hold the hale’ to the kitchen would get you a glass of water with no ice, ‘Adam and eve on a raft, and wreck em’ would produce scrambled eggs on toast.
I combined the diner slang with the shapes I had been producing in my sign drawing to produce patterns for tags and gift wrap;
For the past eight Wednesdays I have been attending a night class in the Vanilla ink studios. Vanilla ink is a business run by Kate Pickering, a DJCAD jewellery graduate. Her business supports other jewellery graduates as they find their feet as designers; providing them with an affordable studio space for a year, alongside expert mentoring, business advice, and support.
So, my night class, as you may have guessed, was one in jewellery making. I love to learn new skills and I love rings so this course seemed like a perfect fit. And low and behold, the first night we learned how to make a ring – so perfect! It took far more finger strength than I would have assumed, but it was great fun to do. Having a finished product so quickly was really nice, and a great start to the course. The following two weeks were all about learning different techniques, making jump rings, sawing (embarrassingly and frustratingly, I broke around 12 saw blades, not my forte I guess), using the rolling mill (A king of mangle type device which flattens and stretches the metal), adding texture with hammers, soldering and so on.
Having learned the ropes, weeks four onwards were set aside for creating whatever we wanted. I chose rings, obviously. I started mocking up designs with copper, and was really surprised at how fast I was able to work. I broke more saw blades. Gosh. And decided what metal I wanted to use and how much. My silver arrived on the Monday of week five. I had made a bit of an error. I wanted two things, a piece of silver wire, that was fine, got that bit right, and also a more rectangular piece of wire. What came in the post was a really heavy, thick, rectangular block. Oops. Come Wednesday I had resolved to put this block through the rolling mill, which I mentioned earlier, to try and reduce the silver to a workable thickness. After rolling the metal about 40 times it was far slimmer and ready to become a ring. Everything was going smoothly, the ring was circular and it fitted my finger. Too smoothly. After a final blast with the blowtorch I picked the ring up (with tweezers of course) to drop it in the water bowl (this cools the metal down so it can be handled). However, the water bowl was not where it fell. It slipped out of my grasp, burnt straight through a piece of fabric and shattered on the floor. It was quite a dramatic sequence. With hopes that this would be the night’s only casualty I moved on to work with the silver wire. This was far more successful, only one broken saw blade but two finished, shiny rings.
I missed week six as I was unwell. I got sent home from Uni on the Monday, because I looked as if I was about to pass out. A week long rest and I was back in action. My penultimate jewellery session was very successful. I made five more rings, Two for me, one for a friend, one for a cousin, and one for Mothers Day. I had to do quite a bit of sawing. However, practice certainly does make perfect, as I broke not a single blade! I had gotten so into making the rings that I didn’t have enough time to polish any of them. Which brings us to week eight, which I spent sizing, buffing, and polishing my rings. I also soldered together some of my scrap silver to produce a kind of wonky and wobbly ring.
I really enjoyed my time in the studio and would definitely do another course, Kate is a great teacher and producing your own jewellery is really rewarding. The rings I made are pretty basic but they are so valuable to me.
The Photos I have included in this post were taken by Kitty, you can see more of her work on facebook.
To get things going we started off with breakfast and a skype session with Aberdeens jam. I printed some more t-shirts (they are going down rather well) Then we started getting down to business!
Today we sent the teams out into the city to generate some more ideas by talking to members of the public. Each team went out with different cardboard props to try and grab peoples attention. This form of gathering information is called ‘design ethnography’ It’s all about putting yourself in someone elses shoes and seeing things from their perspective. The idea is that if you see something from someone else’s viewpoint you can better understand how to design services that cater to their need or improve services which just aren’t working. When all the teams returned we had a quick refuel and then got back to it. They all had to give us a status report of their ideas. It was interesting to see what they had all found out whilst out and about. Here are a few images of the presentations.
After presenting the teams all started their prototypes and we had two guest jam doctors (mentors for the jammers) pay us a visit. Our Guest doctors were Scottish designer to the stars Hayley Scanlan and Gillian Easson, the founder of Creative Dundee (which is an online platform that aims to connect Dundee’s creative community, through events, projects, and online). Both Hayley and Gillian had very different insights to share with our jammers and they seemed to get a lot out of it. After they both left the prototypes were starting to take shape and it was time for some fun! We skyped with our twin jam in Palermo, Italy. They had suggested having a huge thumb war. In which each person would be having a three thumb wrestle on each hand. They would be doing the same as we skyped each other. It was absolutely hilarious! Here is a video of the whole thing;
Next on the agenda, pizza party! We slightly over ordered and there was a whole sea of slices;
After eating energy was quite low, everyone was full and sleepy. What we needed was an energiser, queue music! I led this session, teaching everyone some moves from the Charleston, a dance I myself had learned mere minutes before. I decided to go with this dance as it would be new to everyone and they would have to learn together. I taught a simplified version of the dance, but that does not mean it was an easy version, but the difficulty made it funny to learn and watch. See for yourself;
Revitalised and unable to stop laughing, the teams were sent back to finish off their prototypes. I checked in with each group to see what they had come up with.
The stereotype group had made a cardboard room with different doors, the idea is that invitations will be sent out to people from different backgrounds, inviting them to an event with similar people. They arrive in this room only to discover that there is a mixture of people there. A series of games and icebreakers will encourage everyone to interact and break down the prejudices they have.
Growth and community were working on a seed package for children, which would connect with an online game. The product aims to encourage children to grow their own vegetables and fruit and to eat healthy as well. The online game allows the children to share their progress and interact with others who are growing the same vegetables.
Under the theme of construction and building the team were producing modular housing for first time buyers. The housing would be customizable to suit the individual’s needs and is sold in room sized cubes. The minimum purchase is three cubes, which would be a basic studio apartment, but cubes can be added together and adapted to make larger rooms and larger homes. The cube system would make it easier for people to start climbing the property ladder, allowing them to buy cheaper, standardised homes.
The Play team had started to design an app that would encourage adults to get in touch with their inner child through a game of hide and seek. The game utilizes the smartphone location feature, letting the seeker know if they are near someone who is hiding and letting the hider know if they are about to be caught. The game could be played with friends, colleagues or even people who you haven’t met yet. As well as encouraging play the app would help people to de-stress during their lunch break from work or University.
A final presentation of the groups up to date prototypes before heading to the pub again (most of us went home actually, Jamming is tiring!)
This past few months I have been helping to organise the service jam in Dundee, which is running this weekend (07.03.14-09.03.14). A service jam is a global event, taking place in over 100 different location worldwide, from LA to Hiroshima which aims to come up with new ideas to design public services.
One of my tasks was to produce screen printed t-shirts for the participants (jammers) to buy, which you can see in the photos below.
But what actually is a service jam? This is something I had to explain to the STV camera when they came to find out what was going on. It was really funny doing the filming, we had to pretend we were at the jam so that people could get a feel of what goes on. We were really just having a laugh and messing around.
So, it’s a 48 hour event which encourages it’s participants to think in new and different ways, learning new skills and unfamiliar techniques. Service design, which is what the whole weekend is centered on, is a relatively new practice. It’s all about designing the experience of the consumer, as opposed to a solid object. This could be something like designing a better commute or a better way to do your weekly shop. So, over the course of the weekend all of our Jammers will be coming up with their own working prototypes of a service. The first step was finding out what the secret theme is, which each jam finds out on the first night. And here it is;
The theme is open to interpretation and after a brainstorming session different topics are decided on. A human bar graph, seen below, allows people to decide which is the topic for them and our teams are created! We ended up with four different themes; construction and building, growth and community and play.
Some further team work is done, more brainstorming and to round the night off some one minute presentations about what each group intends to do. Then off to the pub, of course, for some chatting and a few drinks. There is a great mix of people jamming this weekend, both under and postgraduate students as well as professionals, who have no experience of design. It’s sure to be fun filled!
My favourite of the screen prints from the SDC project are on black fabric with bleached sections. The first sample I did on this fabric was just an experiment but it turned out so well I did some more. You can’t really tell which layer of the print was done first, which gives them extra intrigue.
For the Society of dyers and colourists project I have been looking at a S/S 15 print tend forecast named ‘hyper camo’. Moving out of my sketch book and onto fabric here are some early results from the print room;
Marigold 