‘The free, exploring, curious mind of the individual human is
the most valuable thing in the world’
– John Steinback
Reflections on
Noticing the Ignored
How do we learn to see what currently doesn’t exist – can we open our senses and absorb new information and create depth in our creative vision by observing and recording the world around us to help inform a creative path and artistic practice.
Massimo Vignelli noted that there are three aspects to design Semantic, Syntatic, and Pragmatic. These three aspects could be equally applied to how we see and begin to notice the ignored and can provide a framework for looking, seeing, and capturing that will only enrich a final design output.
I’ve looked to explore these three words and find see how they how different approaches established in this week’s lectures can be rooted back to the power of these 3 key principles.
Semantics generally is the search for the meaning of whatever we have to design (or has been designed). Without meaning, we cannot create, and without seeing, noting, and researching we cannot attach meaning. This is what Guy Debord and the Situationist Movement strived for, to impose a meaning on the geographical environment and understand how it impacted the emotions and behavior of individuals. By establishing the notion of psychographic, the Situalitionists achieved a meaning for both themselves and those that engaged with them by enticing the viewer to explore city landscapes with a new perspective. By applying Semantics we can arrive at a point where design (or Art ) has meaning and avoid routes that are shallow and meaningless.
Syntatics or ‘God is in the details. This is the essence of syntax, the discipline that controls the proper use of grammar and the construction of phrases, and the articulation of a language, design. The syntax of design can be accommodated by maid components in the nature of the project and the appreciate relationships that are established between the various syntactical elements. This syntactic approach is inherent in the Eameses Powers of Ten where a rate of ten-to-the-tenth metres per second crates a gridded framework that allows each picture to relate to each other and establishes a final movement towards the whole picture. Or with Sentimental Time Item, Laura Coombs takes the idea of details and makes them an inherent part of the structure of her book and typographic approach through her breaking up of the word n-o-w to rind the user to be in the now (or to observe the details!)
Pragmatics, or dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than thinking that because something is semantically and syntactically consistent that we have then completed the job. Any artifact created should stand by itself in its clarity. So how does this relate to a way of seeing? Well, it is important to understand a starting point to fully comprehend the final result and measure its efficiency or impact. Clarity of result will translate into clarity of result. We see this in Alistairs Halls's approach as he documents the lettering of London that is hiding in plain sight. We can clearly see that through his systematic approach to researching and documenting the nameplates that a clear starting point provided the clarity of result that was needed in the publication of his book.
Further Thought:
The lecture this week reminded me of a quote by the acclaimed photographer Sebastian Salgado, that “Reality is full of the depth of field’. This provided the opportunity to look at the depth of field that is related to the intersection of Architecture and its users in relation this week’s task.
It got me thinking about architecture (living on the 18th Century Georgian Street) and specifically because the architectural space we inhabit appears to be so effortless, in that we didn’t put any effort in constructing or searching for meaning in the buildings or structures that surround us, we spend our time passing through without an acknowledgment of how everything, we see, touch, hear and smell impacts on our everyday interaction with both others and ourselves and how the interplay between architectural design and human psychology is significant, yet it remains largely unnoticed or even ignored both in and outside the design industry.
The relationship between design and psychology is not only consequential, it is bidirectional. On the one hand, successful design has been shown to have clear psychological and physiological impacts; on the other, psychology, human experience, and the function of our neurological systems all play a significant role in what we perceive to be a successful design.
(Ref: The Psychological Impact of Architectural Design – Natalie Ricci)
Research
How can create a depth in our creative vision? How can we have an observational practice that is also intuitive practice? And how do we create a framework to help look, research, and record?
The following questions are a modification of Alexandra Daisy Ginsbergs idea found in 140 Artist’s ideas for the Planet. These questions allowed me to establish a framework of documenting that I could use when exploring my local environment.
Find a piece of ground, concrete, wood, high, low, green, or pavement.
Research the found piece and give it a name and context.
Identify a landmark, a building, railing, lamppost, post-box…
Capture through photo, moving images, or sound the existence of these landmarks.
Think about the interrelationships between this landmark and how we observe and interact with everyday objects.
Do these interrelationships provide a relevant route to the final output?
Yes/ No?
Find a piece of ground, concrete, wood, high, low, green or pavement:
North Great Georges St (Irish: Sráid Mór Seóirse Thuaidh)
Research the found piece and give it a name and context:
North Great Georges St is a street on the Northside of Dublin city first laid out in 1766, a direct result of the work of a new body called the Wide Streets Commission that was commissioned to reimagine and rebuild the medieval city of Dublin. It consists of opposing terraces of 4 storey over basement red-brick Georgian townhouses descending on an increasingly steep gradient from Belvedere House (1775 – now a few paying private schools) which bookends the street from a perpendicular aspect to the North.
All of the original houses on the street as well as several other features are listed on the Record of Protected Structures.
While the buildings are protected, interestingly enough and documented in the below photographs is a picture that certain parts of the street were rebuilt at a later date. This is evident on the East and West south of the street in the lower South facing aspect that adjoins Parnell Street and on further research into the archives of Senator David Norris, this observation is confirmed. “The lower end of the street contained several sites of dereliction and a number of distressed houses”. (Ref: https://www.civilcertificates.ie/Blog/Detail/david-norris-on-40-years-of-saving-north-great-georges-street)
Identify a landmark, a building, railing, lamppost, post-box…
Being a Georgian Street of note, there are a number of significant landmarks within the street scene. Traversing the landscape I decided to focus on one of the primary features of a Georgian landscape, albeit a later addition, the Ballantine lamppost.
Capture through photo, moving image, or sound the existence of these landmarks.
Think about the interrelationships between this landmark and how we observe and interact with everyday objects.
Great design is based on resolving how someone is going to use something. When we look at the lighting design of Georgian Dublin what we see and understand is that with the new system of lights, walking the streets at night became relatively safe. The new lights laid out not only on North Great Georges Street but the whole city contributed to Dublin’s nightlife and the sense that life in the City was unnatural and not subject to traditional constraints.* (Ref: The Archeology of Improvements in Britain, 1750-1850, Sarah Tarlow, p 101 – relates to London but Dublin at the time was under British Rule and vied as the second city of the Empire (sic)). Fast forward and these lights still provide the same function to the denizens who frequent and transfers the street.
Do these interrelationships provide a relevant route to the final output?
Yes. The relationship between how user traverses a street and the system that they use, in this case, light, provides a clear path to a final solution.
Further Thought 1:
My practice the last few years has shifted to the idea of how to be a good ancestor and has specifically looked to route itself in the idea of Cathedral thinking – ‘long-term projects or goals realised for the sake of or for benefit of future generations. While exploring how to create strategies to enable this course of action around the projects I'm involved in I forgot that almost by default some of our ancestors had already established these principles already be it through the Pyramids, Newgrange, Stonehenge, all structures that we're designed to stand for millennia. This then got me thinking about cities and how our observation of cities rarely acknowledges cathedral thinking and yet it is all around us, the construction of London's sewers after the Great Stink in 1858 or the public investment of Roosevelt's New Deal acting ad prime examples.
Taking a step further, and looking at my own environment, I became fascinated with the Ballentine Column Lamp Post as an example of accidental cathedral thinking that has now stood for nearly 120 years and with careful care will stand well into the future. This has inspired me to not just notice what a street holds but also how a street can serve as a lesson on how to create a better future.
The lamposts provide an interesting case study in daily observation and seeing the unseen. Firstly, they are painted black, which one might expect considering the grandeur of the street but the is at odds with the rest of the Georgian landscape on the Northside of the city where the same lampposts are of a silver colour. One can only assume that this was a resident’s decision based on the research and notes of Sen. Norris (above). Secondly, the Ballentine steelwork displays an intricate Shamrock appear within the head and at the base the crest of Dublin City Council.
In total, there are 8 street lamps covering a substantial footprint, and 6 of these act as auxiliary power sources for the street as noted by the DSO markings on the posts. In addition, each lamp footprint also contains additional services relating to water supply and telecoms so not only do they provide lighting for the street but also act as the root for all the other services required for businesses and residents alike.
Final outcome
On reflection of the documentation and my observation of ‘accidental’ cathedral thinking it got me thinking to abut how our ways of seeing can ultimately lead to viable commercial models if we take a step beyond our comfort zones as ‘creatives and apply a holistic approach to design that asks the question of how we can shop, eat, work and live within the biological limits of the planet, the cornerstones of ‘regenerative design’. We can then look to apply this strategy locally by enquiring as to what objects are readily available to be repurposed in a way that extends the product’s life into a new one (circular economy).
The Ballentine Column Lamp Post provided an opportunity to look and see the subject as not only providing usefulness for the past and present but extending its life into the future by asking how it could be repurposed to serve the next. This involved identifying a route whereby I had to extend my own vision into the future and identify how the Ballentine Column Lamp Post could passively serve its community beyond its current role. Having noticed the DSO markings on each post, which indicated an auxiliary power source it led me to the idea of each lamppost providing a passive power source that could be tapped into by a passer-by and asked the question of what is the future of passive power and how could it be used to benefit each passerby. I envisaged a scenario whereby a wireless charging device could be built into each lamppost that would allow whatever device you’re wearing (or have embedded) could be actively charged as you passed by each lamppost.
‘The service must work in a way that does not unnecessarily expose the user to the internal if the organisation providing the services.’ – Good Services, Lou Downe.
So how did this then inform my final outcome? I adopted a service design mindset and started to explore what would service of passive power from a visual perspective look like?
The end result, a design solution that encompassed a visualisation of brand and the service and application of the brand to a single touchpoint.
The single touchpoint would then be developed further through a digital interface/ application which would provide a map and charging history to view and see where charging points existed but also create a record of passive energy usage which could potentially be used to offset your carbon footprint (a carbon credit).
Further Thought:
Dutch designer Joost Grootens reinvented the traditional printed atlas by devising new ways of organising and depicting the information in the form of maps, charts, graphs, etc which are best deciphered in print, not pixels. This served as an example of imperiled objects can continue to justify their existence as the Ballentine Column Lamp Post can continue to do.
(Ref: I Swear I Use No Art At All – Joost Grootens)
A starting point for me on any project once I’ve stepped past the discovery phase and commercial strategy is to understand and define a naming approach if none is available. This generally means a lot of writing and checking domain registrars to see if a name is available. For this exercise, I wanted to combine the base elements of power and lIght as the light provides the power. This led me abbreviating the word power to “pow and combining it with light to create Powlight.
Slightly underwhelming as I want the name to achieve a more energetic, engaging, and youthful feel. I explored alternative words and played with the phrase Keep it Lit, The word Lit when combined with Pow established the final brand name, POWLIT which was available as a .com.
Having established the name I quickly created a ‘payoff’ with the end-line ‘Power beyond light’. With the name and end-line established, I moved onto sketching the brandmark and exploring some of my earlier notes and how they could interact and serve as a framework for developing my visual approach. This led to looking at the 8 lampposts and using an 8 x 8 grid. Whilst exploring different routes for the identity, I felt I was been too conservative in the approach and that a stronger typographic approach interplayed with a strong visual would help establish the brand in a more succinct manner. This led me to establish a simple black and white colour palette set against some key mood visuals.
The final result is a series of scamps that look to establish the brand in the user’s eye through arresting visuals and a strong typographic lock-up. The GPS coordinates reinforce the street where the idea of the brand took root and an additional logo mark based on the 8 x8 grids adds an additional signifier to the final brand playbook.
The Wall
Feedback to James Shaw
James, is the perception of what makes a street sad not an inherent human understanding. Could you look at the street in a different way and see the quietness that gives peace and rectitude to a normally busy street, it allows the concrete to rest, the rain to wash away the toxins and relieves the air of dust, moisture is provided to the plant growing in the cracks and crevices. Perhaps nature takes a respite and embraces the emptiness, birds get to explore this concrete terrain, and smaller animals don't live in fear of the human... Another way of seeing! You've inspired me to don a raincoat and explore the city while its wet...
Answer from James
Keith, thank you for the feedback and inspiration. I am going to go away and explore Aagard and the Bauhaus 9 squares as both have given me thoughts on how I could frame the street in different ways to deconstruct. I find these simple tasks connect me further to the street but also give different view others might not see.
Dialogue with Wes Trimble
KN – Wes, to your question, is at as Ernest Becker wrote about in The Denial of Death that we conspire to keep death unconscious. Mainly through two lines of defence: the vital lie of character and a hero system that allows us to believe that we transcend death by participating in something of lasting worth... In your example, a piece of art or recorded music...
WS – Very interesting read Keith. I am working through an Idea based around the mapping of the location or street and the 'You Are Here' slogan that you find on street maps as a comment on disappearing spaces in the city, so it is parttly about passing of time but also a celebration of lives past, and the now.
Reflection
This week’s task felt like a big project that took longer than expected to deliver the final result. I was not surprised to see that my way of looking and seeing crosses between my design and entrepreneurial disciplines – by identifying a potential light source as an untapped energy conduit that remained unnoticed by the everyday passerby it opened up a possibility of tapping into that energy source as a commercial model. By what was surprising is my willingness to look at the commercial model through a lens of how it can ultimately benefit future generations not only by providing new stages but also looking at ideas such as carbon offsetting and how to design, commercial and environment can be interlinked to deliver a good service.
If I was to be critical is that I struggled to find the time to work on the project in the week allotted due to project deadlines elsewhere. I would have enjoyed having more time to explore the brand extensions and to engage more on the ‘Wall’ with my flee classmate to gauge feedback and other potential development routes around my idea.
I would also have liked to explore the theoretical relationship between design and psychology in more detail especially around its relationship with everyday interactions and how those interactions can be looked at beyond the now and considered for the next (Cathedral thinking).