Design Issue

The most recent project I have been given in University is based on the subject of what design issues exist in the world of Design (Product/Graphic/Website/Photography) etc. Such issues as Design Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, Ethics, Corporatism and Technology all dominate current Forums and Discussion within Design.

My aim is to pick one of these issue's and research then build a visual narrative based on what surfaces from the initial research and Idea development. Now I personally have been having problems trying to decide what route to go down, whether I just skim the top of the iceberg with an issue or to go really specific with a subject which closely relates to anything I'm finding troublesome in my practice, for example Idea development and creativity is a universal issue I feel but can technology contribute to this block/barrier/hindrance etc. This is one angle I might come in from. Another issue that's universal (effects us all) is Sustainability in the sense that everyone needs to address this immediately.

I am a week into this project and I continue to procrastinate and dwell and Ideas that might!!! be a good idea!!! Why! do I do this, is it just me? or is that a design issue in itself?

But the idea I have reached is one which I feel I can build into a successful Visual Narrative/Sequence etc to explain the issue of Technology in the context of Creativity and Idea development. The main consensus is how much do we depend on the computer for our ideas to take shape/how it should be used not only as a tool but as an extension of ourselves, similar to an extra limb or something which is not solely dedicated to idea development as an extra luxury.

The next stage after idea development (still to do :-{) is to propose;

Propose |prəˈpōz|
verb
1 [ trans. ] put forward (an idea or plan) for consideration or discussion by others : he proposed a new nine-point peace plan | [with infinitive ] we propose to be away for six months | [with clause ] I proposed that the government should retain a 51 percent stake in the company.

an idea to show how the information/designs/visuals etc would be applied to a vehicle/application etc for public use.

Now this is the tricky part for me. How do I take an issue like Technology which I stated earlier and construct that into a Visual narrative e.g. a storyboard/sequence/comic/animation, using any technique–illustration/photography /animation or video to tell the story of one of the themes.

The result could be a proposal for a booklet, leaflet, I-Phone App, poster, website, pdf, animation or film.

Now my inclination is to just to do a series of posters or a leaflet to show this design issue (technology-computers-creativity) in full flow but I'm not getting an spark to ignite an idea of how!!!

But I think I have cracked it! I asked myself the question what do I find most difficult sometimes when it comes to idea development, in fact initial ideas! What I usually do is go straight to the the computer or books for inspiration which is OK but can start a course of course of creativity which could be bland or even boring when your not thinking originally, so I would brainstorm and mind-map and (from these start to sketch) instead to spur on the design process of original thought and in synergy with the computer and books these ideas can take form and generate into fully fledged projects, this subject of idea building (information graphics) is the issue I am trying to address and use for the inspiration for this project. The very thing that I am writing about this and working on this type of issue on the computer is in itself ironic and this is where I might get the idea for the branding of the project.

IRONIC/IRONY could be a logo in the use of the letter I to represent the word etc.

So now I am thinking about a vehicle for how whatever the Visual Narrative i design will be applied for, Not leading on from the comment I made earlier about how it is Ironic that I am doing this design issue on the computer, I thought an I-Phone App would be a really conceptual way of carrying this information/visual awareness through to the mass, somewhere they kind find information and visual narrative on how the computer can act as a hindrance to creativity.

These two images represent how I want to apply this idea as a logo and as a vehicle for my visual narrative to go into. My branding will be labeled/named (I) which stands for Ironic.

The information or visuals that I generate for the initial research and idea development will be inspired by Information graphics and character inspiration. Work from Nicholas Felton maybe my catalyst for my work and maybe a bit of E-boy thrown in their to help but images below might help me!!!