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Week 10 Lecture

Today's guest speaker was a staff from Diadem, which is a company using signage and wayfinding solutions to create branded environments for enterprise, government and creative agencies all over the world. The design of Queens Wharf Brisbane was fantastic. The process of making the signage and designing the building were interesting and inspiring. There were so many work to do for designing a space but after they finished the project, I believe that the designers and architects enjoyed it. Doing research is an important process because it allows the designers and architects to know what is the best for the brand and the place. Most importantly, for the consumers or visitors. Also, the signage design for Deakin University is fantastic. The colourful blocks and colour system really works in that place. It's easy for people to look for information that they want.

Lastly, I would like to say that I really love this dog statue in the dog park. It's really iconic for the space. It attracted people (and dogs maybe) to go there, which is a great and creative idea! Also, I have noticed the positive points of wayfinding and I will remember it for my future career.

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Week 4 Lecture

Today's guest speaker was Bernard Caleo and he talked about the topic How Comics Do It. I love reading comics since I was a little kid. Therefore today I was really happy to know that a comic book communicator was going to give us a talk. The comic about Melbourne was excellent and I agree that there should be a comic book about Melbourne to make people remember this place. I like the way Bernard demonstrated the comic The Future is Flamingoes with his funny and lively voice. That's really fun. The comic really made that place alive and more interesting. This was such a creative idea. After this lecture, I've learnt how people combine comics and space together to show the world about our environment and places.

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Week 11

Today we went to the Melbourne Museum. The first place we went to is the Forest Gallery, which is full of trees and plants with some animals inside. This place is really relaxing and refreshing because of the plants and the sound of birds. After that, I went to the dinosaur displaying area. The bones of the dinosaurs are so huge and spectacular because I was always watching movies and documentaries about dinosaurs when I was younger. I really like them. The displaying room for the biological specimens is amazing too. Numerous animals were shown in the room. But it's a little bit scary when all the animals were looking at you in the room. The exhibition about microbe is great as well. I like the idea of making neon lights on the wall to attract visitors to look at. Neon lights are a trendy element nowadays. The exhibition about the aboriginal people is a nice place for people who would like to know more about the history of the aboriginal.

I saw a little girl looking at the huge horse in front of her. I could feel the scene of space and the scales between the girl and the horse. This picture is beautiful so I decided to capture this.

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The project exhibition day

Finally, it's the day of submitting the project! Looking at all the amazing works from my classmates was a nice experience. I really appreciate the effort and creative ideas of my classmates. They did a great job on this assignment. Because I didn't get a chance to show my pop-up book to others outside the classroom, I could only receive feedback from my classmates. First of all, I could see that they love the interacting part, like the swing and the pulling stuff, of my pop-up book. They found that it's cute and fun. This is sort of achieved my goal to let adults experience their childhood again. This project made me found back my childhood during the process and I enjoyed making the pop-up book!

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Assessment 2 Process #3

This is the process of making my pop-up book. I've used cardboards from my parcel boxes to be the cover of the book, which is hard enough to hold the book. I've used acrylic to paint the cover as well because I want to create the feel of children's artwork.

Colour pencils are one of the children's most favourite stationary. Therefore I made a pop-up card with little drawings inside to remind people how they used to draw when they were young. The second picture is showing the experiment of making the ship wheel. Amazingly, I could come up with this method in a short time! The third picture is using black thread and needle to make the pop-up swing.

The process of making the ship wheel and the kid sliding down from the slide. I think I can improve the pulling part of the kid because it's a bit clunky when I pull it.

The finished product of the swing! The most exciting part of the whole pop-up book!

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Assessment 2 Process#2

Bought some paper stocks from Paperpoint with student discount! The quality of the papers are really nice! So many options available there. I've found some materials in my house that can be used for this project, even the bubble wrap! I'm not sure if I can use it but I'll try to use different materials for the pop up book.

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Week 8

Today we went to the National Gallery of Victoria(NGV) to look at artworks. It's always good to go to NGV and look at different art by artists all over the world. I always can get inspirations and learn new ways to create art. It was amazing to look at A Fairy Tale in Red Times: Works from the White Rabbit Collection, because the collection is created by Chinese artists and I am a Chinese. Therefore the topics and theme of this exhibition are somehow familiar to me. It is a really creative way to show others about Chinese culture. (especially the neon lights in Chinese, it looks stunning!) I will consider using different materials in my project after I looked at all these beautiful artworks.

This is Lucy McRae: Body Architect at The Ian Potter Center. They are showing digital images and video works by Lucy McRae. Some videos there was so cool because they were about future technology and science. Although I don't really understand some of the videos, I can see the effort the artist put into the works. That's really amazing!

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Assessment 2 Process

I'm going to make an experimental book or a pop up book for this assignment. These are some design concepts and thumbnails about the book. I want to let the adults find back their childhood memories while they are reading this book. Because most adults are busy working with stuffs and they forget about how to be happy like children. This book is based on the previous project, which is the Plum Garland Memorial Playground. Therefore the book will be about this playground.

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Week 7

Ngarara Place is a significant addition to the cultural and campus life of RMIT. In recognition of the oldest continuing culture in the world, a newly conceived landscape/urban design intervention has been incorporated adjacent to the key cross access (of Chemistry Lane) within the heart of RMIT’s city campus. - from RMIT website

Today we have been to the Ngarara Place near building 15 to look at the design of this space. The design concept was inspired by the Aboriginal seasons, which is a very interesting thing to me. I never knew about this sort of system until I saw this. This is a nice place for students and teachers to rest and chat. To be honest, when I was sitting there, a group of tiny insects were flying actively above my head that made me feel uncomfortable. That’s the only thing that I was not happy with, otherwise I really like that place. It provides a place for people stay and it is good looking. I want to set fire in the fireplace (I like the patterns!) to see the whole effect of the design.  I would be really cool. On the other hand, the glass wall fit the place well because it got Aboriginal elements in it. The plants are unique as well, like the little trees which are still growing. They are so cute. In conclusion, I think this is a nice designed space. It’s such a pity that not many people notice about this place.

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Dsigners/Creatives Research

Banksy and Simon Tofield are two of the creatives that I am interested in. I have borrowed their books from the library to do some research about them.

BANKSY

Banksy is the most controversial street artist in the world, he has developed an entire art subculture devoted to his works. Banksy’s art can impact any location at any given moment. His identity remains unknown, even after over 20 years of being involved with the graffiti scene. He has worked with many different types of street art media and street art types. His work not only includes many powerful, often controversial images, but they may also be found throughout the Internet as viral images. - from http://www.streetartbio.com/banksy

I like his works because most of them are interesting and funny. Some of his works are satirizing the society or people. I think that is brave to create art that really express what he thinks and let others know about them. He makes graffiti everywhere in the street, which is the fastest way to show his works to everyone. Also, I like the style of his artworks. They are so cool!

SIMON TOFIELD

Simon started drawing cartoons at an early age and went to study Graphics and Animation at De Montfort University. He has a great interest in British wildlife, painting, the great outdoors and of course cats. He now works in London as an animator and director at Tandem Films.

Simon lives in Bedfordshire with this three cats: Hugh, Maisie, Jess and Teddy. - from https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2956016.Simon_Tofield

I really love the cats that are created by Simon Tofield! They are so cute and funny. I have watched the animation about his cats and he drew the cats like they are alive on the screen. The animations are about the daily life of the cats and they are so true. Although I don't own any cats, I can feel the struggle and love towards those cute cats when I am watching the animation.

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Response to the question

Are human beings to be viewed as a part of nature, and therefore as a legitimate element of any ecosystem to which they choose to attach themselves.

As human beings are one of the living things in the world, I agree that humans are part of nature. Humans are a legitimate element of the ecosystem because they produce or create things that contribute to the ecosystem. For example, when humans emit carbon dioxide, plants around them will absorb it and produce oxygen for living things to breathe in. Human beings cannot stay alive without the ecosystem. They have to eat plants or animals to survive and those two elements are part of the ecosystem. Therefore all living things are depending on each other in the ecosystem. However, some human beings are destroying the ecosystem and harming the environment. For example, humans destroy natural places and try to urbanize areas. Without good habitats and food resource, the ecosystem will be broken and all of them may die in the future. As the population is growing fast on earth, the resources might not be enough for all living things to consume. I think that is also natural that humans destroy the environment to have a better life. Every animal wants to survive even if they have to sacrifice something.

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Assessment 1 Process

The natural place that I've chosen is Plum Garland Memorial Playground, which is at the South Melbourne Beach. This was the first time I went to a playground on a beach. Full of sand and some plants around it. I felt like this was natural because the playground facilities there are mainly made of wood and stones. That is special compare to other playgrounds which are made in metal and plastic. The sea breeze there was so cozy and i can hear the sound of seagulls. And of course there were kids playing and interacting with this place. This was so nice for me.

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WEEK 3 #4

Community gardens are places where people come together to grow fresh food, to learn, relax and make new friends. They are so important for creating community life in a place, building awareness around sustainable living and having fun! The Urban Reforestation's Community Garden offers design and implementation of community gardens. The community gardens have a special flavour, because they focus strongly on community engagement and development.  - from the Urban Reforestation

The garden is full of gorgeous flowers and plants that I could’t stop taking photos. The colours of the flowers are so beautiful and the environment there is so nice. Fresh air, nice weather, great classmates and teacher! I wish I can go places like this every day instead of just sitting inside the classroom.

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WEEK 3 #3

This is the Community Garden at Docklands. There is a big artwork made by red bricks. I don't know what does it represent or mean, but I do think it is a great artwork. Because I can see that it is well structured in a mountain like shape and it needs lots of effort to make it. I also found some small plants growing there. How cute are they!

The walls which are full of holes in different shapes are interesting. I could see through the holes and saw my classmates! Also, it was beautiful when I look far away.

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WEEK 3 #2

This is a playground near the library. The facilities there are well-designed. All of them are based on geometric shapes and lines, which is the thing that I really like about it. Because there are not many playground facilities designed in this way, I think they are beautiful!

There is a little fountain as well. People can interact with it by pressing the buttons. My classmates and I pressed the buttons and watched the water came out from the sprinklers. Watching the water flow is so interesting!

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WEEK 3

Field trip! Today we went to Docklands and visited the library there. It is an amazing place with beautiful views and good facilities. The weather was nice when we arrived. It was so windy there, luckily I got my scarf with me so it's alright. By the way, I really like the makerspace at the library because I can use any equipments that I want! They even got 3D printers there!

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WEEK 1

Today we tried to document the staircases of building 9. I did some drawings and notes about how I felt and what i saw there. It is interesting that I use the stairs almost every day but i didn't notice the details about the space, until I documented it.