It went well. I do not know what exactly it is, or why, but I felt more enthusiastic today and very much more able to ‘feel’ intrigued when I was in this crit. maybe it’s the people maybe it’s the tutor maybe it’s my positive hormones ravaging all the negative hormones blah blah blah… today was one of the rare occasions since term started that I was happy I attended class, and I’m really glad because very obviously, I need a boost. I’m being plain honest and I see nothing wrong with that.

ok, so for the past few weeks, I have not been able to decide on what I will be doing for my SDP. I am been fiddling around with different themes and starting to research on them, only to stop halfway, my mind just drifting off to other things. I looked at truth/false, fiction/non-fiction, reality and imagination, British humour, comic art, and right at the start, was very inspired by the work at Marks & Stencils that I somehow decided I wanted to do something like comic and commentary on current affairs. but, I am honestly not that interested enough in current affairs to take that into my design work. I live in my own world, to a certain extent. yehehe

I don’t quite remember how I came upon the concept of Labour, as in manual labour – physical work done by people with their hands, using muscles and bones of the body. but it sort of came from a thought I had some time back that good design, or what we consider good design, is propagating a culture that wants things fast, easy, convenient, requiring less effort on our part and still achieving what we intend to achieve ultimately. in other words, I’m mulling over the idea that as we work towards producing good works of design, we are actually breeding a culture of laziness in ourselves. we complain when we need to put in extra effort to work that blender when a part of it malfunctions, we complain when we need to walk an extra mile because the bus broke down, or when our smartphone can’t seem to connect to a wireless network, we feel disabled etc etc.
Thus came the idea of Labour, which takes time, requires us to put in physical and mental effort and is what is commonly seen in countries which are not as technologically advanced as the developed world. design is always pursing the idea that there is ‘always a better way’, things can always improve, the best has yet to come and so we keep advancing and producing new objects to make our lives more comfortable, easier, convenient etc etc – all of which, fundamentally, is to require less effort from our part and more reliance on machines and objects. Isn’t this breeding laziness? How then do we measure human productivity? does it include the productivity of machines which we use to help complete our tasks?
How productive a person can be in producing work is no longer equal to the amount of human labour put in. There is also the productivity of the machines he use in producing work, to consider.

Objective of projects stemming from the concept of Labour
To encourage people to put in effort into a task, relying more on themselves alone, because the feeling of satisfaction at the completion of the task will make the labour worthwhile. You reap what you sow. Also to remind people to slow down the pace of their lives.
Ideas from the concept of Labour
1. Writing about labour becomes a form of labour iteself
Labour can be like a ritual, repetitive in nature, subconscious brainwashing, a form of punishment. the typical mindset of ‘labour’ is that no one enjoys it. Invite participants to engage in a repetitive act of writing words which advocate the value of labour for as long as they can sustain(15mins, 30mins, an hour etc). Photograph a portrait of participant before and after the task of labouring – what does the face of a labourer look like? (is it a stereotype?)

2. Presenting content that requires labour and concentration to be read
You have to walk the length of the wall to read the word/sentence/story. reading the story or a paragraph by walking around the space, following the trial of letters–labour in action. the main exhibition is not of the content but of the participants who engage in the act of labour to get something in return, e.g. the moral of the story. I envision this in a gallery space with white walls dotted with alphabets that when studiously connected together, forms a story. A place where you have to place your concentration and focus on a task and you can take your time to do that.
I listed many considerations for this, but I’m kinda lazy(HA HA) to retype them so they are all compiled in the writings of my brief(see images below)

3. there was an idea which came before 2. – the spark, and this spark alone could be a separate project, not entirely related to labour, but I’m not sure cause the end point is not in sight yet. I kinda like it that I can’t quite see what the outcome is yet. I’ve just embarked. I like that it is not fixed, because if it is, then I reckon it’s not gonna be very different or interesting from what already exists. It’s def. not gonna be just a poster. zzzzzzzzzz. so the idea is, overlapping 3 words to form a new meaning which is represented by the visual outcome of the overlap– a new typeface or an image e.g. when Lewis Carroll invented the word ‘Jabberwocky’, no one knew what it was or how it looked like. it’s a ‘fiction word’? my example below:

3 words

overlapped

new fiction word

rabbit + genius + labour = a fiction word = bahlir(image immediately above)
A bahlir is a rabbit which is super intelligent and hardworking in nature.

4. Request for problems
I realised partially why I initially could not fix on a specific area for my SDP was because I did not know what to say, and I did not know what to say because I did not have a problem for which I can provide a solution. so if there is no problem, I will first have to find a problem, then find a solution to the problem. so the problem I had, was to find a problem. ha ha ha. but it is true. isn’t this how we have been working? given briefs which have a problem and we need to find the solution? graphic designers are problem solvers. we are not artists, as much as we want to be. I mean you can be, but… end of discussion.
Idea: To participants– write down a problem you are currently facing and have not been able to find a solution. It can be a design-related problem or outside the field of design. It can be something you don’t understand or cannot figure out. I will aim to provide a design solution for your problem over the next few weeks. The end result will be a piece of visual communication in any form.
The reason why I’m doing this is because labour creates meaning in my life. I like to work hard, put in the effort and see the result. This is a service of my labour to your problems. What sparked this idea was also someone who told me that I should start looking at areas outside of design in which design can solve the existing problems. and on a more rebellious note, isn’t design supposed to save the world? It has the power to dto that right!? yehhhh. on hand, I have 2 problems, and they are non-design related. how challenging woohoooo!!

ok so basically… blogging is tiring. there are some other smaller ideas which I did not mention cause they are small and I don’t quite intend to pursue them further but they are kept at the back of my mind, for certain. all I need now to help my project work are willing participants. he he. my written brief/presentation below, only because as I mentioned, I’m losing my ability to articulate well, so I have to write down what I want to articulate. how sad.

the in-between ideas

a crossword set with parameters

fiddling with the pathfinder tool on AI