The Process Project : NCSU

Ok, so I was just doing some brainstorming, and I had a couple "power points" i'd like to make (pun intended). (This is taken out of my "sketchbook" so you'll have to forgive the rambling-ness.)

Soooo I was thinking about power--duh--and I started thinking about evolution and natural selection, and how the things that make a person "powerful" have changed throughout our history as a species. It used to be that strength/speed/physical prowess indicated power and dominance within social groups, but nowadays, intellectual/social/monetary superiority are greater marks of one's power. This can be seen in the square-->
I'm sure there is a homeless person capable of beating up (or physically out-doing) a business person, but the business person still holds a position of higher power in our society b/c their intellectual skills have been rewarded with money and other social benefits.

So after I had kind of "finished" that train of thought, I decided to make a list of ways to test or compare power between two parties. I thought of arm (or thumb!) wrestling, a fight (duel!), etc. I thought it was ironic, though that all my first thoughts were physical matchups, even though I had just decided that mental power was more meaningful today.

Anway, then as I was correcting myself and trying to find a way of matching of mental powers, I realized that physical beauty is a form of power, too. So theeeen I thought about setting up some kind of experiment in one of the squares, where someone (maybe me, since I have no consenting guinea pig people at my disposal) dresses up/powders her nose to look especially nice and presentable on one day, then really frumpy and gross on another. Then they (or I) would do [something] that required a reaction from a lot of people----like ask for the time, ask for change, ask how they're doing----and then compare the general reaction from people on the "pretty" day with the "ugly" day. I don't know if that made sense, but the idea is basically to do an experiment in the park that uses people's reactions to show the power difference (if one exists) between people with different physical appearances.

So that's where I am now, and I apologize for the length and wandering quality of this post, but I just had some thoughts and felt that I should contribute to our studio-world-wide-web-communication-forum (i hate blog too)...hope everyone's having a nice weekend!

First of all, I love the new banner! Forrest's?

OK, so I've been thinking a lot about Maggie's precise diction in her assignments—
most importantly "illuminating";

Why this word, why not another word? Well, I've thought of this for a while...

OK, so I've been to the square... and walked, sat, and rode around it for a
while thinking about power.

Since I didn't know how to begin, I thought about Maggie's questions:

Who (or what) has power in these squares? Who doesn't? Why?

The trees have power. They have stability and provide shade and a home for animals.
They populate the area with different leaves and also are the reason for a lot of biological change or control in the square. The sidewalks have to move around them, etc. Trees are also the only part of the square that goes beyond the manmade square. They hang over into the streets. Trees also have this huge scale that makes me associate them with power.

How is that manifested physically? Spatially? Emotionally?

Trees have to be spaced out in order to not collide. They grow away from each other. (for light) They carry a lot of levels in their being— truck, branches, twigs, leaves.

How do you feel about all this?

I'm very interested in this natural struggle of power mixed with the human hand of placement.

So, I guess from here, I'm going to do 3 quick directions on this tree/power concept.

allow me to ramble a bit.

hmmm... i think i have some okay ideas of what to do this time. i somehow don't feel as lost as i was in the past projects. i did some light reassesments of my approach and i think i might concentrate on the power struggles naturally found in tourist locations, and i thought it would be fun to go and present Moore Square as such.

this time i think i'll be the good foreigner and try to incorporate some multicultural aspect to the project. how?

uhhh....

um well, i kinda started some semi-related research on foreign currency and how some countries try to show off interesting historic travel locations and the applications of color on paper bills. i dunno... that's just about where i am at the moment, i still have no idea how these ideas will relate to the actual project but... its a start, but i figure maybe some non-Moore/Nash Square research wouldn't hurt.

i'm just.... a little frustrated.

GRAAAAH!!!

Emily>>> awesome idea about people and power and highlighting how people react to people based on their physical appearance. It will definitely lead you in a good direction or maybe even multiple directions.

Kerr>>> sounds kewl, that small idea of the trees having power almost relate to natural phenomenons taking over our lives too in that we really dont have anycontrol over natural occurenceses. Like Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornados, the continental drift, etc. So that could be a way of even taking the idea further yet still inspired by the square. I dunno, just a thought.

Pia>>>> does foreign currency show off a lot of different attractions? Are you saying you would highlight Moore/Nash square on currency, or maybe ways of highlighting its attraction through other medium like currency? I think your idea would be interesting to explore, just the general difference between foreign attractions and how they are played out compared to a tourist attraction like Moore Square which doesnt even seem touristy? Like, how much power does Moore Square really have in the whole scheme of things, very little compared to NY or maybe Paris. Just some thoughts

Here I go again, but this time its the ideas i have been generating throughout the weekend and visiting the site. Oh yeah, Emily, another thing that you reminded me of is the little section in "Glamour" magazine where a woman dresses up weird, or does something to her physical appearance or asks a silly question to see their reaction, Ill bring one in if I find an example.

Anyways, so some of my thoughts

Tha acorn of course, major monument of Moore Square. Physically, it is a large acorn and overpowers you as you walk by it, has a historic presence, it is a tourist attraction, it represents the City of Oaks, it was privately commissioned, it is dropped from the Civic Center on Midnight of New Yrs Eve, and most of all, it can be rubbed for good luck showing that it has some sort of superstitious power. I think it would be interesting to really expand upon the idea of superstition and good luck being represented in MOore Square, do other tourist attractions appeal to people using a superstitious monument?

How can we all the sudden feel powerful through this Acorn, and an action may impact a certain outcome of chance events. What is the nature and significance of LUCK, how can bad luck sometimes make us feel powerless and good luck make us feel powerful. It is funny that we rely so much on chance events that are out of our control yet have a complete opposite effect of feelling in control. LIke rubbing the acorn, a rabbits foot, or not walking under a ladder, or staying away from a black cats path, etc etc.

When I went down to the square on Saturday afternoon, I saw a lot of people on Person St, across from Salvation Army. I walked through a couple times and sat down to observe. People were serving food. I also observed 3 guys in a circle with another man that appeared to be homeless. They were praying and I could here what they were saying. They asked God to please be with this man and that he kept his good attitude and smile. They asked to keep him safe and warm and not hungry. Also, for God's forgiveness and grace. That is all that I could get from the prayer, but I decided to go up and talk to the boys, and they were from a church group from Campbell meeting up with some people from NC State to feed the homeless and share their love of God with them. I dont really know if this leeads me to anything but that they are trying to use Gods power or share Gods love with the homeless. I asked on of them about it though and he said it is out of their hands though and they have no control....

great ideas everyone, these open-ended project briefs are really getting me thinking a lot more introspectively (is that a word?) and it shows that everyone else is too.

emily - i love your "experiment" idea, it's something i've always been curious to find out about. funny story - last week, i was hanging out with my new friend larry. larry and i chatted for about 45 minutes on a bench, and he was very friendly and non-threatening. about 15 minutes into our convo, this well dressed 30 something businessman walked by, and asked if i needed any help - as if larry was posing a threat. i was mad at first, but it was a valid gesture. the stranger just made an assumption that larry was not a good guy. so anyways...who had more "power" in that situation? hmm

sarah - i like your references and thinking about the acorn. remember when we were out at moore a couple weekends ago, and i commented how the acorn is supposed to be rubbed for good luck...but there really isn't a way to "rub" it. weird. and i love your comments on the religious overtones in the square. i could definitely give you a lot of insight/information on that if you decided to pursue that direction. the salvation army and the other soup kitchens in close proximity of the square are definitely christian-oriented, and the establishments service a huge population that also occupy/take part in the square.

my ideas of power started out referencing my favorite squirrel friend that i used as a POV camera perspective in my first 50 collections. the idea of this squirrel scrounging for food in moore - finding peanuts, orange rinds, leftovers from the trash. the idea of the power of an animal vs. man. there are plenty of humans who inhabit the square at various times, but it also is the "home" to a select few animals. i don't know what path this could take.

what else has power in the square? i was amazed at how beautiful moore square looked on friday - the cleaning crews made their presence. no trash on the ground, new mulch/compost on the ground, and obvious landscaping differences. it makes me wonder if the booth attendants had told the city of our presence there and decided it might be good to make it look good. so clean up crews have power to change the aesthetics of the park. they are in charge of upkeep - which doesn't seem to occur so often. but the ideas of the landscaping that is already naturally appearing as kerr mentioned early, and how these plants power the square...

i'm just rambling though. i'm just trying to think of juxtapostions i could think of of, i.e. man vs. nature, animal vs. nature, animal vs. man, manmade vs. natural....

I like the direction of all these posts, we seem to have more ideas about this project the third time around. 3rd time = charm?

I have been thinking about the power of nature itself to restore balance in the face of development and human activity. Grass through the cracks of the sidewalk, that sort of thing. I think that thought came out of our last project somewhat, with thinking about the park as it might be long after we are all gone.

Also, Maggie's comment on order made me think of the power of the spatial arrangement to control human activity, i.e. the sidewalks as a pre-existing path or the parking spaces, streets, that kind of thing. Of course, we do break the rules.

I also thought about park rules or maybe social rules that govern human conduct, but I am not sold on that train of thought because it seems way too vague to represent and I'm not even sure I can say something is actually a social rule.

I'm going with the power of nature first (got to start somewhere). I like it personally too, it has sort of a spiritual connection for me. I think that it's a quiet, solid power, and that's comforting to me, because it will exist as a force regardless of human problems.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is doing tomorrow! Are we having discussion? (hopefully) That was so helpful to me in the second project, throwing around ideas in class.

My last project was initially a lot about power within someone's life and carrying on that power from the temporary (fleeting and ephemeral) life to the more permanent carrying on of tradition through generations. Now looking forward with this Power project I have thought about furthering that initial concept of tradition being powerful within the Square.

A woman I talked to named Annie Rolls has lived around the square her intire life. She told me about the days of Moore Square being called Baptist Grove when all the churches had sunday picnic, and of the segregation that existed. Even though my last project was more about a man named Richard Butler, Annie's thoughts had much to do with the project being about segregation and opposition.

I'm very interested in carrying on this idea of segregation within history and within the square today.

I have been thinking about the power of time in the square. Specifically the parking meters.

The meters count down this borrowed time....that you are being allowed to inhabit this particular space. I know that when I've visted the square the meter time is something that I am always aware of and check frequently out of fear of being ticketed. It may be really interesting to document all of the parking meters as simultaneous countdowns and to see how different people respond to this "figure of authorty." How long people stay once their time has expired, how many people don't use the full time...etc.....

I'm still in the brainstorming process but thought I'd go ahead and get any feedback on this direction now...

um one thing i didnt bring up in class (because i didnt feel like talking =X) concerned the ways that we as a species try to exert the power we have, or whatever power we would like others to think we have. i thought of architecture first as a comparison; the desire to always build something bigger, or more elaborate. the concepts of bigger, faster, stronger have oftentimes been staples of the power-exertion industry...just do it better than has been done and you can feel like youre the best. actually i was thinking mostly that the easiest way to show power is to intimidate or depower someone else. this might be applicable to the class situation in the square maybe? if you watch, especially during lunch, youll see alot of people just passing through take routes that are obviously avoiding the more homeless-looking of the square's inhabitants. (like theyll start in one direction, notice someone they want to avoid and then take the long way around at the next fork in the path) its just interesting to think about the different extents to which we try to have power over people. like, just in our minds to make us feel better about ourselves or, over an entire city (cuz my company's the strongest and needs the biggest building in the skyline)...how social connotations define power (like the elderly in our society versus back in the day in Eastern cultures)....uhh, i dont know if im going towards this vague direction but i just thought id mention power through architecture and the depowering of others cuz i dont think anyone brought it up (sorry if its been said!)

Many apologies...I know we're now on power, but I have a "fleeting" question. I viewed my movie today from our class gallery and it looks like poo. I have no clue what the proper way to save/render the movie for web viewing. Does anyone have a suggestions to retain some degree of original quality?

I've been thinking a lot about exchanges of power. I know we all learned about the food chain in elementary school. We were taught that humans were on top (and therefore more powerful?) Later, we learned that once we die, we are decomposed by all sorts of bacteria and that fertilizes the soil and starts the cycle over again.
So this is all common knowledge of course, but I'm SURE there are so many people that don't realize how much we rely on all of these different species. We can't remove them from our lives. While we may have the power to kill all of a certian species of animals, we are ultimately effected by their extinction. So it's more of a mutual power. Interdependence if you will.
I've also been thinking of ownership as power and how long the land that is Moore Square has been owned. Probably since colinization maybe 400 years ago. If you apply that to the entire time the land has been around thats absolutely nothing.
So while I begin making something, I want to keep those things in mind. Power in the really huge picture is insignificant.

Excellent discussion. And what did you guys make yesterday? Don't say you didn't.

Send links to work in progress.

Here is my MAKIng!!!! Hope it works, new at this!

nevermind, didnt work

I made a huge parking meter drawing :-)

hey here are sarah and my images, she wasn't able to post to her webspace.. . click

Hot dog! A giant parking meter!! I posted what I made on my website (click on my name below).

So Ive been thinking more about power and how pretending to have power can actually be quite powerful. Just by pretending that one has authority, one actually give themselves power. In the context of the square, I was thinking about the signs that they have. I mean, any moron who didnt want to step in dog poo could have put up those signs. How do we know that the City of Raleigh put those up? How do those signs have such authority? I thought it would be interesting to make a sign that suggests people do something absurd all for the sake of showing how blindly we submit to authority.


Then again, people probably wouldn't do something absurd. But that in itself is interesting as well: people sometimes disobey signs just to disobey them. So what if I did a sort of experiment with reverse-psychology?


You know wet paint signs? I always have to check to make sure the paints really wet. You never know; they could be pulling your leg...

So, i'm still thinking about the class structure in trees to grass and the personalities that trees contain and how these characteristics reveal the power struggle.

I started looking through my photos that I've taken in the park and started writing a lot. I've also made some sketches on trees and the differences in structure among species. (and research)

here is my work

Life after the big meter drawing........
it looks far more friendly than I was thinking and I started to see it as a face. This led to cartoonish drawings of the meter as a little character. These were just too cute.
Then I was thinking of a different way to personify and bring the meter to life and the idea of paperdolls popped up. I never made a paperdoll because the idea shifted while making to a magnet set.

Inspired by the kitch, I want to point out the absurdity that an inanimate object can have power and control over a person and their time by making and packaging this magnet set. I think there would be a great irony in that there is such fear of a parking ticket which I think only costs 6 bucks, yet I personaly don't think twice about spending the 12 bucks for a novelty item like a magnet set.

Instead of being a collection of items as before, I'm moving in a different direction for the set. Maggie had mentioned religious artwork of the virgin with auras and rays.....this got me thinking of imposing the meter in images as if it were the main figure. These would be authority figures that carry respect as well as fear......the virgin mary, the mob, the police..
I need about two or three more if anyone has any ideas.

Link

eeeeeep!!!!
i just remembered that this project MUST use typography....

sigh.....
I am abandoning the magnet set....I got lost in the kitch appeal and it just isn't working out. I am frustrated but I am hoping that this shift is effective and more efficient with my time.

be the tree.

so after a ton of dead ends and trials, I went and got some coffee and sat in my car at moore square for a while last night. I thought a lot about the questions of who is this for and why is it important? This really made my project take on a new voice and more appropriate form.

it is now a campaign, of a sort.

if you want to see my project before Maggie puts up the visual archive for this week the address is
www4.ncsu.edu/~behayes/power.htm

Crit as a whole. I liked today. Thought it went smooth and didn't drag out. I like short bits on everyones work rather than long drown out things. This is probably because I feel my attension lasts through all the reviews of work. I enjoy the variety that pops up every week. anyways. One thing i think we could all work on is our confidence/knowledge of what our project is when we present that way we dont' just repeat ourselves. Afterall being able to articulate (which i know i'm not all that great at), but being able to articulate what was accomplished through doing the project is important just like the final artifact is.

As a whole, I thought the projects turned out really well! I was really surprised by the range of things that people came up with. Judging from the last project, though, maybe I shouldnt be so surprised.

Even after the projects that weve done so far, I'm still trying to figure out how closely they have to follow the assignments that were given. Most of these seem to stray pretty far from the square (perhaps this is good and right, I dont know). Its definitely been fun for me getting lost in my process and seeing what turns up. I really appreciated Kerry's project as well as Stephanie's. I thought they were both really great destinations after a--from what I understand--frustrating and long journey. I'm inspired by a lot of these, because they've shown me that process pays off in the end. If you put the time and risk into it, it can yield some good design.

Aggreement with Brit....CONFIDENCE...... we are all awesome designers and have great ideas with each to their own way of designing something. That is what is so awesome about these weekly projects, we are forced to think, conceptualize quickly, make, make make, make decisions, collaborate with eachother, and still produce such a broad range of making something with a similar direction of "POWER, COLLECTIONS, OR FLEETING MOMENTS." The quick presentations of our work was good today, if we had comments or questions we made them, but I still like when we critique work there too, but this was a nice change of pace. Ummmmmm, I think overall, people had nice artifacts and concepts but some could have been developed a little futher...like Kerri's was very thorough, so NICE JOB! Bringing humor into it is always sweet too STEPH!, Pia, sweet idea with the 2 perspectives of Moore Square, what a difference, the big poster was kewl, I was just wondering how could you display that so one could see both sides, but the little one would be a way of doing that. In General though, awesome, those were just a few notes I took, also, I think another thing we take away from these projects is making things forces us to go back and reflect on them to see what new ideas can generate.

I didn't love the structure of crits today. Writing is good because it forces us to look more critically at the peices since we can't rely on everyone else to say something. There is a disadvantage that we only get one or two people's feedback. So as individuals, we give more in writing but I think as far as the big picture of the project we get less.
I love the range of work that is coming out of us and the experience of such a quick turnaround. I am really getting that the willingness and ability to switch gears even in crunch time really makes a difference and that we should all continue working on not focusing in. The uncertainty is uncomfortable but I really think that in the end it shows.

The crit went well time-wise but i think immediate feedback is more effective, to get the perspective of the whole group.
Overall the projects were great, yes, a nice variety, yet all perfectly relevant. sarah's bible stood out as being not just on topic and well crafted, but as a powerful piece of design itself, clear content, asking questions, etc. and ali made a most notable progress from wednesday, jumping from pastels to typography (maybe too much tho, would love to see you hand draw your "nature" typeface!)
i'll also agree articulation is v. important, and will work on articulating before making a final product, for a clearer message. that might have been the only weak point for a few of projects.

I thought the crit was helpful at one level, being short and concise, we could all state our intent and move on to the next person. But I appreciate the longer group crits where people comment and give their opinion on the spot. We get more feedback that way and the class seems more involved. I think writing is helpful at the one level, but group critiques are so much more informative because we feed off of eachothers suggestions and ideas. I thought Kerr did a great job from her conception to her clear articulation of what she was trying to do. I thought Graham had a great diagramatical representation of a power shift, which i thought was interesting. Sarah's bible idea was great and her craft was impressive. I agree how it is just as important to articulate your thoughts as it is to create a great project. Maybe future crits we could try to break into groups of three so it is shorter, but we get more input as well.

I agree with some of the comments above about critique today. I think that we should always strive for a smart, concise discussion of one's work— not just when we are stressed for time. I think that by structuring our presentations into the normal— business world— time limits of about 3 minutes to present your stuff we are challenged with the design problem of getting ourselves heard in that limited amount of time. I agree with Sarah also that it is nice to allow for questions when needed and sometimes questions aren't needed. (Maybe the person explained themselves so well that there are no questions or the work isn't to a point when there should be questions.) I think that this is grounds for an extended time period or a shortened time period. (I'm not fighting the phone-alarm-timer just offering a better way to use it.)

Now specifically about the projects, I loved them. I thought that it was so interesting to see the depth and direction that people went with it. I think that many people took real risks in their projects, something that I don't think that we get to try enough. I thought that Jessica's project was really nice (not sure if everyone got to see it). She investigated different tools of representation— paints, drawings— and I think that this really underscored her goal of capturing the fleeting footsteps. I also thought that Britt's project was right on. The online/interactive form was very appropriate. I think that she really did something special in her project: she captured, visualized and designed perceptions. I have often thought about the concept of her project— how people see the world and how this influences every realm of their live. So nice. In addition, Sarah's project was far reaching in many way. (some already discussed— and I wish her luck with FCA folks.) Paul's project on the power of authority was interesting to me. I think that it could be extended into other more major identity and branding systems. Lastly, Graham's project... I felt like his project was very smart in many ways. The objective language was appropriate. However, I think that many of the formal decisions, type, colors, images, might have confused his message and derailed it a little. I would have liked to see his project in a more concise size.

I totally agree with everyone on the subject of articulation. I think with all of these short projects we are so quick to immerse ourselves, but have a hard time viewing them from someone else's perspective. (Especially when we've just finished them hours before) So of course that's something we all need to be aware of.
I also agree with Sarah and Kerr about extending time for some and not using all of it for others. Some things are so straighforward that they don't need as much explination of others. Asking questions isn't always necessary.

I really enjoyed Stephanie's sense of humor throughout the entire project. Ali, I'd love to see something hand drawn over your layers of a daily stream of conciousness (also try making those layers a lot denser). Forrest, I can't wait to see those flyers up all over the park and everywhere else when the time comes.

Critique seemed to make us all a little more attentive, or at least to our two people that we wrote up critiques on. I did enjoy writing, but I did not enjoy that studio ran longer as a result of this. It's difficult to express all of my thoughts if I am rushed for time. Overall, we all showed quite a range! It was amazing to see how people's perceptions of the project brief evolved and re-evolved into a final piece. Since I am personally used to a long time for projects, I am also used to a long and more thorough critique for projects. I think it would have been nice to have a more informal, stand-up and walk around type of critique, so that we could ask the designer questions as we looked at their work. And then maybe give an overall comment for each piece. I would have liked to hear more from Maggie too.

There were a lot of strong pieces that stood out and showed a great process. Kerr had a beautiful palette of smartly designed cards and an "identity" for her (fictitious?) coalition. Sarah's project was nice because she kept to the same theme the whole week, and I could really see it evolve. I was very impressed by Paul's poster. It was very official, and clearly showed his usual strong research skills. Pia's money was very official looking and had good color choices.

Overall, we could each work on better articulation of our ideas. Also, I think that we all did so much more work than what was reflected in our final piece. I'm not sure how else this could be resolved. I wish that we took public speaking as a design-type course, because I know it would help me. I haven't taken any type of COM class in college, and I bet it would help during crits.

I thought the form of critique Friday was more appropriate to how we've been progressing through these short one week projects. Three minutes is a great amount of time-- if you are prepared--to represent and explain your process and finalized project. I think this is especially true when these projects are not self explanatory in their form and many aren't because they don't adhere to standard forms of 'graphic design'. I view many of these projects that we've been doing as studies or as theory experiments so far and I think we should begin to cross that over into something more applicable now. Perhaps this is why Maggie is constantly asking us the purpose and the audience and putting us on the spot. She knows we don't know the answers all the time. So I encourage myself and everyone else to not let yourself get put on the spot. Everyone should have had complete confidence in their projects on Friday because there was a lot of great process and thought behind the "final" that everyone presented. So I say CONGRATS!

hey, guys i'm sorry--i posted my group critique here on friday night, but i may not have hit the post button or something? (i'm not entirely sure b/c the next thing i knew after i wrote that, i woke up and it was like 2 hours later). anyway i was just reading through these and i realized mine hadn't made it. so here it is again:

i thought that the projects this past week were kind of hit-or-miss. i thought that almost all of them had really great conceptual starts, but a fair chunk of us (myself included) didn't quite seem to "realize" these ideas as graphic design artifacts. there were also a good chunk that i thought were really awesome--kerri, i loved your idea and thought you did a beautiful job with the tree illustrations and the overall design of the cards. your presentation was clear, interesting, and didn't leave me w/ any unanswered questions. i just thought this was a really good example of a project that was really well thought out and executed from start to finish.

again, i think everyone had great ideas and worked hard on process--i just think some of us (me + others) still need to work on getting to a more finished, realized state with our projects by the end of each week. eh?

I thought the group did a great job at coming up with things that were inspired by power in the square but went further than that. Standouts for me were definitely Kerr's Be A Tree project and Sarah's Bible. Both of those were just very cool ways to take the whole project a step further by giving it this other context. I'm really interested to see what happens with the FCA comments on the Bible. Both of these projects were also very well articulated in presentation and well crafted, I thought.

I think the rest of the projects could become really cool things but right now they are sort of incomplete. I don't think there is far to go though and I hope we can all find the time to push them into being strong projects like these two standouts.

We should all probably work on presentation too. I'm not sure I was always clear on what people were saying in answer to Maggie's three big questions of where, why and for whom. I would include myself in this too.

Nice ideas though, and I think our collecting and process is strengthening.