SOAD Lectures Reflections
Ari Bayuaji: Weaving the Ocean
SEA Workshop
During the 3rd day of our orientation, we had a workshop hosted by Ari Bayuaji, an Indonesian artist. He had an exhibition there called Weaving the Ocean Sea. It showcased how he used the washed up plastic found around the beach and weaved them into a new fabric. This idea came about when he had to stay in Indonesia for an extended period of time due to the pandemic. During that time he was in a design rut but was inspired by the plastic rope that he found around the beaches where he lived. He saw that all these plastic materials were made from fibres and the question that pop into his mind was: Could I weave them like fabric? So through many trials and errors with a weaver friend,
they managed to create a type of textile using it. Afterwards, he also employed other people who lost their job during this pandemic period to help with the weaving process. Through this, he was able to weave enough of this textile to be used for an entire gallery of art pieces. What is unique about these textiles is how different fabrics will be different from each other due to the different types of plastic and how the ocean waves have affected them. This did cause many difficulties in weaving it but in the end, the result is truly beautiful. I think as I listen to his story, I was inspired by his tenacity and persistence in trying to create the textile even though there were many difficulties. And it gave me new insight into experimenting with material and letting it see how it can work for you.
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Afterwards, we had to come up with an idea for a regenerative design for an issue we see while we are commuting. For our group, we initially were bouncing back and forth on what angle to come from. Ultimately, we decided to focus on the plastic bags found around Singapore. We thought of using these plastic bags to re-make them into a more reusable bag by weaving them together. This way supermarkets can sell them as reusable bags for shopping. We also thought of also helping out the Karang Guni men who have been struggling due to the pandemic as well. We can get them to not only collect recycled newspaper and cardboard, but they can also help to collect old plastic bags to sell to us. Through this, we can revert the harmful impacts that plastic bag has caused on the environment while also helping those that have been heavily impacted by the recent situation.
After the whole workshop, I also came across a video that made me reflect on this workshop again. The video talk about how an African business, Ocean Sole, collects flip flops that have washed up on their beaches to make scriptures to sell to people. They make various different sea creatures and safari animals to sell, both big and small. They employed wood carvers that no longer have work due to the reduced material from lesser logging. This whole business really reminded me of what Ari Bayuaji is doing in Indonesia. The difference is in the way they want to present their products to the world. For Ari Bayuaji, he doesn't wish to make his textiles into sellable
goods as they will ultimately be sold off again. For he believes in the end they will wind up as trash again if they are sold as products. As art pieces, they won't get thrown away as they will remain in museums to share their message with others. Ocean Sole, on the other hand, sells their product to different countries to help support its artists. And because they are really works of art, it is unlikely they will be thrown out so easily. However it does have that issue as we live in a materialistic world that values more stuff than we need. So would it be better for Ocean Sole to do as Ari Bauaji is doing with his plastic textile? Not really as there is unfortunately an ever-increasing amount of material for them to use. Because at the end of the day we are still contributing to their supply line by giving them more trash. This ultimate left me to think that even though it is very admirable to think of ways to reuse our waste, we have to stop it at its source for there to be change. We need to think of solutions to decrease our waste too and not just rely on methods that just respond to it.
Explore Your Strengths to Boost Confidence
ECG Career Readiness Workshop
On 26th August 2022, I attended this workshop about building your strengths in order to boost your confidence. This was a part of the ECG Career Readiness Workshops 2022 offered by the school. I think the experience was a really fun one and really allowed me to loosen up after a stressful week for me. We first did an icebreaker game that asked us to share facts about ourselves until someone else in the group. It will first start out with a person sharing a fact about themselves while carrying a ball of string. If someone had the same fact as them, they had to shout it out and the ball of string will be pass to them. As more and more people stated facts, the ball of string would get more crossed over before eventually cycling through everyone. This way it allowed us to see how inter woven our interest were to each other even though we had just met.
The second activity we had to do was to first go to the side and look at the different post card laid out. Based on the traits written on it, we had to write our strength on post it notes and paste it on ourselves. This was simultaneously easy yet hard as we walked about to find things to compliment about ourselves. After we had collated our strengths, we had to gathered back into the circle where we had to split into 2 smaller circles facing each other. From there we had to take turns to basically boost to the other person about our strength as we slowly move around the circle. This was not something I was used to as it is not really commonly encouraged by others. But I think as I kept on doing it, it became easier to praise my own self. And I hear others praise themselves, it helped me learn more about this new people.
The second activity after a short break was building upon the previous activity. We had to sit together in smaller groups and share about a time you were able to overcome with the strength that we had. It was an enlightening experience thinking of the challenges we had faced in the past but how we had individually got over them due to our innate strength and the strength of the people surrounding us. And it was also encouraging to hear other stories about their own hurdles and how they overcome it. The second half of this activity saw us having to discuss in our group situations in which we had to showcase our own strength to others. In my groups case, we decided to use the situation of setting up our own portfolio website as the example. We discuss the strength that we needed to build up a good portfolio as well as the people we could turn to that can aid us in it.
Finally at the end, to close up the section, we were tasked again to go back to the side again but this time it was to find an object that represented our experience here. The object I chose was a pair of Angel's wings (goes with my name). This was because I saw that through this experience it has allowed me to expand my wings to reach new heights through the knowledge and confidence in my strength that I have gained today. Overall, this has been a truly fun experience that raised my spirit during a rather tough week.
Personal Branding Workshop: Building Your Online Presence
ECG Career Readiness Workshop
The presenter was KQ from a company called Creative At Work. They are a media agency supercharged by a curated network of freelance creative professionals who cover every consumer market. They are based in Singapore but have clients from other ASEAN countries. This workshop was meant to help us with building our online presence and how to properly utilise it. As a designer, I want the world to know who you are. and you yourself know what good design is but now you want the world to know. Hence, the rationale and reason behind building your online presence is to define your own self so that others will know about you. It allows others to know where you are in the supply chain and allow companies to know where to find you. This are the pointers that he went through.
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1. YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE: WHAT IT SAY ABOUT YOU?
What can an online presence do for you?
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Easily bridge the gap
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Accessible at all times (I don’t need to be around to answer client’s question)
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Familiar platform
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Allows you to reach and build (fans/market/business/teammates)
How an online profile helps you do that?
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Know your customer à Identify and improve on your customer journey.
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Stranger to viewers; Audience to followers; browsers to customer
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Having an online presence in the market place like Fiverr.com
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You can find a collaborator if you think you can’t do what the client want, be multi-faceted is the industry standard
Some tips that were also given was to market your individuality ànd differentiate yourself from your competitors. This can be done by defining your unique strength which will be the core different between you and your competitors. Though this you will allow companies to clearly define what you canValue-Add, àka your premium service. It is also important to identify industry trends so that you can stay ahead of your curve. Through this you are building up your own personal brand which will define the way your customers to see you
2. WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO? FINDING YOUR IDEAL CILENT
How do I find better client?/How do better client find me?
Who is an ideal client? (how you define it)
Someone who gives proper credit. Give proper payment, pay on time or upfront.
Understanding your client persona
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Demographics à Age, job, profession, status
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Desires & Aspiration à What are they trying to accomplish?
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Pain points & challenges à What are their hurdles? (don’t just be a critique, mention solutions too)
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How are they finding you? à Where are they searching
What you post never leave. Hence think twice before posting, political, illegal, racial, The Wild life, abusive, confidential info & negativity
Artist Talk by Alvin Mark Tan
SOAD Workshop
Alvin is a full-time artist in SG specialing in ink & in colour. When he first started sharing he showed us three images that represented himself
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Serious work (oil painting)
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His name, designed in college, fun side
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His vision?
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He does murals in SG
He also does tutorials on sketching on youtube.
He was able to learn the crux of design through his experience in learning in California. He discovered he love designing on solid things by going through a design competition in school. After that, he did make a bunch of different solid stuff.
In NS, due to his back injury, he was assigned with helping out with the army’s magazine: PIONEER. Allowed him to utilized his advertising skills in 2D & 3D packaging design, and scene design. It allowed him to grow his journey in design
His first job was in Singapore press holding. It was all published works. It was all prints. Through this, he was able to cultivate an interest in movie-making. He managed to convince his department to use video to advertise.
After 7 years, he left his job. He was a big Disney and imaginary (They designed props for Disney park). He went back to LA to do a job. He did freelance work after that
He got a scholarship for animation. And during his 8 months FYP, he made the Disney island park if it was in SG. He initially thought he would be a concept artist because there were only 4 main roles in advertising. But that didn’t happen.
He realised he needed help with drawing. So he attended an urban drawing course by an established artist. In 3 weeks he help Alvin loosen art and not drawing stiff images.During this course, there were many disabled people who attended as well. And many had it harder than him as they couldn’t draw and paint traditionally with their hands. It was an eye opening experience. He also practise in gauche and painting in his free time. He was so inspired by the classes he went and people he met. But during some show and tell sections, when he saw other’s works, he ran away. That was because he didn’t think his work was good. This happen twice. But after the experience, he work on painting 5 sketches per day instead of the 2 paintings that good artist usually do. He was also inspired by his friends so he decided to do this walk from like France to Spain. Throughout that entire sketch, he was sketching the places as he felt inspired. Through this, he published his drawings into a book. He realisd the gravity of life as he looking through his drawings.
He went to school at Florence. He really learned to draw and paint. His teacher was the one who painted queen Elizabeth at 21. She had a lot of financial struggle so she went hom every break to sell his work. He also came out with two more books through the sketches he made during his stay there.
He noticed that he could use his past history as an animated of not drawing static and make it moving to stand out. If you have been in the same group, it is more likely you will notice your work start to become similar to others. Hence, you need to differentiate yourself so that you can stay out from the rest
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It’s a marathon
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Do what you love
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Know what’s trending
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Be a little different
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Share
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Retreat
It is not going to end. Things will change. Goals will change. I need to change
Reflection
Overall I was inspired by the talk by Alvin and it has allowed me to see a new and exciting perspective from someone who has had such unique experiences. Alvin's journey has had many ups and downs and unexpected twists and turns. But through it all, you can see that he is guided by his passions and love for the arts, And even though the saying of doing what you love is often used, it is not a common find to discover a man who can throw everything they have to pursue their passion. From their job, comfort, and financial security, Alvin is a man who is guided by his passion for the arts and learning about them. This talk has led to me rethinking my own life choices and what have I been doing to pursue the things I love. I have been studying designing since my polytechnic days and I have continued to be stuck in pursuing it. But hearing his passion through his journey has led me to desire to go out and learn more things, about design, people and the world. I don't think I can be so bold as to go to another country with so little money to pursue his art, but I am fortunate to have excess to the greatest learning and sharing tool available, the Internet. So I want to go out and look for new things I can learn and forge my own self to better immerse myself in the world of design.
Inclusive Fashion (Entrepreneurship Journey) by Elisa Lim
SOAD Workshop
Elisa Lim is the founder of Will & Well which is an inclusive fashion label that aims to improve the lives of the disabled by changing the way we wear clothing. When it comes to disabled individuals, they have different dressing need that aren't as apparent to us. The ability to dress oneself is something that can bring about a sense of independence back to these individuals. So the qustion that Will & Well desires to solve is: How to give comfortable clothes and dignity to disabled people?
The founder, Elisa wasn’t too acquainted with the fashion world until much later in her life. In the current fashion landscapes, there tends to have 2 areas: High Fashion & Mass Market. Elisa wasn't that interested in both these area so she needed to craft her own space in the fashion industry. Hence, when she later went on to study fashion, all her projects' briefs were all meant to help address the needs of others. Through this she discovered that designing for special needs is quite an exclusive space. Yet this was meant to be help be inclusive for others. So she had a dilemma on how could she address it. She was inspired by our MRT lift which although designed for the disabled, regular people could still use them. Using this approuch, even though the clothes were meant for the marginalised group, other people could also use them. And that is how she decided to found Will & Well.
The Technology
Even though we live in a modern age, zippers and buttons haven’t been updated much. These zippers and buttons may work well for regular people but what used to be considered simple will become harder for the disabled. And to them dressing themselves up is the hardest thing for them. So in order to help address the needs of the disabled, she decided to improve the design/technology. Hence she came out with a few solutions:
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They launched their first design in October 2018. They first wanted to start with everyday accessible clothes. Afterwards they decided to bring more variation to their design. After their first collection, they decided to collaborate with other designers to create variation for their collections. Using the base design as a jumping off point and adding prints to it helps to diversify their wardrobe. Another collection they did was with a jewellery brand to make magnetic clasp on their bracelets for easy access.
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Sewing Workshop
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After that they thought that even though they can make the design, why not get others to help make the design that they would want. It gives them the opportunity to restyle, re-fashion, re-design people’s existing clothes that they couldn’t wear anymore.
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Customizations
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Event though they want to access the marginalized community with accessible design, there are some very specialised problems that people need addressing. Hence, they do customizations for clients that request for it. They get many customers with disabilities or even autism.
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They started a organisations: #Be The Difference. What they do is match sponsor with those with needs but cannot afford. You can nominate others to receive the help or be a sponsor (Well Wisher)
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Another event they have done is Give Me a Hand during the Circuit Breaker. Between caregivers and care recipients, a good relationship is needed, this way they will know the needs. We always want the best for our loved one, but it may not be what is good for them. So, communication is key, so they decided to address it by creating a card game. There are questions on the back, and they gamified it. Because it was covid, they couldn’t produce a physical copy so they released a online version instead.
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Research process comes from an intuitive place. How do I understand your needs. Speak to not just the users but also the people surrounding them like the caregivers. Fundamentally they do their primary & secondary research. Their approach later on may differ but the start is important. Interview and surveys
Magsnap Buttons
The first were magnetic buttons which makes it easier for people to snap their clothes in place without having to do any complicated finger gymnastics.
Front Zippers
The second solution was front zippers which is actually such an easy fix. This can help those that have difficulty and as well as normal people. Because which female has not struggle with zipping up their own dress before.
Swipefit
Another solution they come up with is Baby Velco. Caregivers are also present I the process of helping the disabled dress. So using baby Velcro allows ease for caregivers to change clothing.
Frontslit
The front slit for pants has zipper all the way to the end. This way it can put on like a diaper for those who can’t use their leg
Hang Loop
Longer hanger loops than usual ones for hangers. This help disabled to hook onto it to pull up pants. It helps those with lowered dexterity. Can also be hanged on hangers too
Rubber Waist Pants
Rubber waist pants help with bloated stomach, it practical for all.
Crafting Immersive Experiences: Introduction to the role of UI/UX in video games
SOAD Workshop
Overall I enjoyed the workshop and saw how user experience and interface are integral in gaming even though it is not so easily observed. Mun, the current Design Manager at Riot Gaming, conducted this talk. She spoke about the different ways people could get immersed in gaming. The 4 ways are Spatial (being immersed by the game environment and surroundings), Narrative (being immersed by the story, character development and lore of the game), Mechanism (immersed in game mechanism), and Social (being immersed in the interaction with others). This immersion allows for the game to feel more personal to the players and encourages them to continue to play and invest in the game. This allowed me to better understand how user experience is not just making the experience pleasant, but there can be more responses after the experience. How can one encourage that continued engagement? It is through the UI elements of the games.
Mun went on to explain just that by going through the different ways the user interface could help with immersing people into the game. The main way was the Heads Up Display (HUD) which can be seen by players and Diegetic UI which exist in the actual game world. Depending on the type of game, a balance needs to be struck on what is dietetic and what is non-diegetic, with diegetic allowing for the most immersed experience in terms of realism. But some games do not require realism to create immersion which the need to understand the intention of the design and what best suits it.
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Lastly, she went over the different steps that are needed in the process of launching a game. First, the game needs to be planned out properly, then it goes into pre-production which the making of the project scope, assigning teams, storyboarding and proof of concept. Afterwards, it goes into production which is the making of the game which is the most labour intensive. From there it goes into the testing phase with beta players, which leads to the pre-launch where they refine any bugs, before finally launching the game. Even after the launch, there is still post-launch where they have to fix any bugs that arise and update the game. Design in school often has a definite end to things, but in the real world, things are constantly changing and being refined for the better. Truly an insightful understanding of the role of design in game that is not the conventional stream that I tend to be in that focuses on a problem. But instead desires an innovation to fun.
The Future of Storytelling by Angelia Teo
SOAD Workshop
This was one of the most engaging and fun talk that I have been on. GIven that