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Session XII - Re-Positioning

The last 12 session have encouraged me to reflect on myself as a designer, my beliefs and goals. It has been a very interesting and motivating module which has made me become more confident in tackling the upcoming BA project. In September, the idea of having to do my BA thesis loomed over me, making me feel rather nervous. Now, I look forward to the next few months, having become much more equanimous.

In this very last session, Joëlle wanted us to revisit the question of what we wanted to achieve with the BA project. What are our goals; our intentions? Each of us was asked to share the top three motivators, listed in priorities. Mine were the following three:

Improving skills and gaining more knowledge and expertise.

Solving problems that help and are beneficial to others.

Proving to myself that I am a capable designer.

In my case, I realised that through the last few months I had not deviated much from the two top goals: I continue to be interested in improving my skills and in helping others. These aspects have persisted in my disposition and my current thought process. Only the latter emerged when completing this exercise. I suddenly realised that with the BA project, I want to display all the knowledge and skills that I have acquired over the last three years. I want to prove to myself that I am a capable designer who is ready to leave “the protective wing of the ZHdK”. I want to see that my gained skills and experience can effectively identify a problem and lead to a successful design solution.

Rounding things off Coming to the end, I would like to look back to one of the three question from Session III - Position in Writing (from the 08th October): Who am I? Back in October, I had phrased my answer very abstractly and indirectly, wherefore I think it proper to return to it now at the end of the module.

Who am I? I am a person who seeks to help others. I do not shy back from challenges, but find joy in solving these with effective and creative solutions. I am a person of strong opinions, someone who stays true to their beliefs but who also acknowledges her faults once proven wrongly. I take pleasure in critically analysing the world around me and hope to effectively do so on my own work. Furthermore, I am an Interaction Designer whose journey has only yet begun. 

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Session XI - Own It!

Analysing and critically studying previous Interaction Design BA projects and their exhibitions to perceive challenges that may appear during our own process.

Critical analysis of the BA project FROM IMPACT TO HIGHTECH by Manuel Leuthold. “How is the decrease in gorilla population in the Eastern Congo connected to the production of your smartphone? From Impact to Hightech provides a new perspective on the smartphone by visualising the environmental, political, and ethical impacts of striving for advanced technology. It highlights the direct correlation between the earth's natural resources and our high-tech products.” - Project Description, accessed from Interaction Design Webpage.

Manuel’s project was of the few that I remember from the BA exhibition mainly because it made me question the decisions that were made. Generally, I liked the project, its topic being very fascinating and though-provoking. However, already at the exhibition I felt like it had not reached its full potential. In terms of execution and exhibiting, I recognised some points that I was the opinion that could definitely be improved on.

Execution

Long Narration Manuel resorted to using story-telling to depict the impact of metals used in our smartphones. He in particular wanted to present the responsibility the average consumer has when purchasing a smartphone and asks them to be more conscious of the negative consequences. Story-telling is by no means a bad tool to use, however, he has made his narration too long. Only at the end, does he place his “call-to-action” segment. This is his most important message of his project, one that sadly goes under due to the length of the narration - as observed during the exhibition, visitors moved on to the next project before reaching this most important segment.

Questionable Framing Manuel has framed his project and research question to look into the general, worldwide impact of the production of smartphones. However, throughout his final product, his webpage, it is apparent that his main focus lies on the mines in Africa. There is no talk of the refineries and manufacturers in Asia and the social impact smartphone production has there. Either he should have included this topic in his final visualisation or he should have reframed his approach, emphasising the fact that he wanted to mainly focus on the African mines.

Exhibition 

Poor Arrangement Manuel’s exhibition consisted of two different segments: one displaying his digital final project, the other a physical visualisation. Unfortunately, these two elements had been placed back to back, thus physically splitting his exhibit in two. This arrangement did not help the legibility nor did it create a visual cohesion of his exhibition.

Lack of Correlation between Digital and Physical Exhibits For his exhibition, Manuel had dissembled an iPhone, named all of its components and presented the metals used for their production. Parallel to that, he set up a computer to display his main project: his informative, narrative webpage. However, in an exhibiting setting, physical objects tend to catch the visitor’s attention more than a screen. Thus, his physical arrangement - intended to be annexed and supportive to his main project - attracted more viewers. Had he created a visual correlation or link between the screen and the objects, he would have created a more unitary exhibition that would have lead more visitors to explore his webpage and his final work. 

I consider this exercise being one of the best from the entire course: it really encouraged you to think critically and to question the decision that had been made. Recognising these challenges throughout my own process will help me to develop my own final BA project - but being able to identify these on a project of my own is much more demanding than doing so on one with which one has no personal affiliations. 

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Session X - How Far?

Reality Terms and Conditions aren’t really listed on anybody’s favourite reading list. In fact, hardly ever do people properly read through such contracts when confronted by one. This is mainly due to their complexity and length: Terms and Conditions are mainly text based papers written in juristic, complex jargon and of considerable length. In areas where it is especially crucial for people to understand their contents, staff are required to go through and explain the document: in hospitals, for example, medical staff are required to discuss and ensure that patients fully understand the contract before an operation. This issue of complexity in Terms and Conditions is known to be a problem: just recently has the EU commission published a guidance notice where they encouraged the notion that “contract terms must be drafted in plain, understandable language” in order to combat unfair contract terms in business-to-costumer contracts (European Commission. 2019). But does an improvement solely rely on a revision of the written language? Couldn’t design also encourage people to grapple with Terms and Conditions and help them in understanding its contents?

My dream I dream of a future where people are more aware on what they are agreeing to when confronted with Terms and Conditions. They should quickly be able to understand its contents and assess whether they are worth signing for. It is not a question of transparency for Terms and Conditions are provided instantaneously and its accessibility is required by law. But how is transparency helpful if it is intelligible? I believe that a redesign would make these complicated and lengthy documents more digestible, offering users an opportunity to understand what they are agreeing to. Consequently, I believe that a redesign could empower people in making better (juridical) decision for themselves. In addition, I imagine a possibility of Terms and Conditions being more personal: perhaps they could include more options for people to choose from? Inspired by Sunstein and Thaler’s discussion on defaults in their book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness, I dream that design could strengthen defaults, opt-ins and opt-outs, making Terms and Conditions more personal and tailored to user’s needs.

It is clear to me that there are different forms of Terms and Conditions: depending on its context and its field of use, Terms and Conditions require different framing. It may be easier to offer options in a contract on privacy, then in a medical contract. The context for which I want to design is something I need to decide upon. Overall, I believe that a redesign should not fully replace today’s textual form of Terms and Conditions. To me, it is more important to provide a supplement to these complex and lengthy writings. As a designer, I would like to offer a format with which users can feel more empowered. To go even further, it would be a great achievement to see these redesign become the global standard of all Terms and Conditions formats.

References:

European Commission. (2019). Commission Notice: Guidance on the interpretation and application of Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair contract terms in consumer contracts. https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/uctd_guidance_2019_en_0.pdf (Accessed on 23.11.2019).

Sunstein, C. R., & Thaler, R. H. (2009). Nudge: Improving decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness (Revised Edition). Penguin Books.

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Session IX - Playful Research

For the assignment on “Playful Research”, I embarked on an observatory journey through Zurich and the Toni-Areal, keeping my mind open to any of the topics, that I had established in the matrix the previous week.

I spent some time observing the people coming into the gadget-lending office (“Leihs”) of the ZHdK. Whenever they collect their reserved gadgets, they are given a piece of paper to sign. No one spent much time in reading the document in detail - they sign without hesitation. I realised that it’s a part of the process, a step that people have accepted: if you want a gadget for your work you need to sign the paper. I approached some of the students and asked whether they had read the document. Some said they had done so the very first time they had visited the “Leihs”, others, however, said they had not. They trust the office and the ZHdK; that the document only includes what is necessary for them to borrow objects. They also confirmed my observation that the signature is necessary if they want access to the gadgets - there is no way of avoiding it.

By chance, I was able to observe a similar behaviour on my father. He was accessing a video on YouTube and was prompted by Google to agree to their terms and conditions. Within seconds, my father scrolled down to the end of the page and accepted them without reading a word. I asked him why he had done that. He too expressed the same opinion that it was necessary for him to access the video, to fulfil his current task of watching the video. 

My father had accepted Google’s terms and conditions without reading into them at all - who knows what he has just agreed on. Now, we could argue that he had acted in ignorance: by definition of the Oxford dictionary, ignorance is described as “Lack of knowledge or information”. He agreed to Google’s document without any knowledge of its contents and without knowing the consequences it might bear.

But in comparison to the students in the ZHdK, those who had never read the “Leihs”’ document, he had not behaved any differently. In fact, they had both described their motivations identically. But what caught my attention was the student’s additional description of trust.

According to the Oxford dictionary, the word trust is defined as follows: “(1.) Firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something” and most interestingly “(1.1) Acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation”. When comparing the latter definition of trust to that of ignorance, I would argue that they encompass the same core. Both refer to an absence of knowledge.

So when do we talk of acting in ignorance and when of trust? Are they the same thing? Questions that emerged after conducting my observatory research.

When I was observing pedestrians crossing a crosswalk, I started asking myself those questions again. While crossing a crosswalk, people hardly ever check the street. They blindly follow the indication given by the signal light. I realised that pedestrians place a lot of trust in the green signal light. They will cross without conducting any investigation themselves, without collecting and evaluating the surrounding information on their own accord. Their gaze stays transfixed to their phones, to a point on the other side of the street or a person with whom they are traveling with. Referring back to Oxford dictionary’s definition of trust, they are simply accepting “the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation”. Now, could we argue that they are acting in ignorance? Or is this really trust that is influencing their behaviour? Or can we speak of both simultaneously? Some questions worth thinking on.

Based on my literary review and related work research I had done the previous week, I mapped out five topics, amongst others “enhancing decision-making”. I now believe that ignorance and trust have an immense influence on our decision-making abilities, especially when related to the topic of terms and conditions. My observations have uncovered more theoretical subjects which I could perhaps dive into more thoroughly and which I could conduct more research on in future.

Sources: Lexico. Ignorance Definition. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/ignorance (Accessed on 16.11.19).

Lexico. Trust Defintion. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/trust (Accessed on 16.11.19).

Note: video on YouTube’s Terms and Conditions is reenacted. this was conducted after the observation was initially made

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Intersession II - Chat with Verena

During the Freeflow Seminar, I sadly did not get the opportunity to chat with Verena. For this reason, I had contacted her and asked whether we could make it up with an additional chat sometime during the four week theory break. We agreed on a date - by chance, just a day after the presentation of Ursula Suly. 

I presented Verena my gathered insights and, most interestingly, the expert confirmation. I also shared my concerns on the topic that a project on law may tire me over a period of 6 months as I considered it being rather dry. “But that’s what’s so great about it!”, she told me. “As it’s such a dry topic there is so much creative freedom for you to find a solution!” She continued giving me the suggestion of studying Michael Schönenberger’s BA project from this year, indicating to me that his project is somewhat related to my initial notion of looking into image-text associations. She also suggested some other BA projects (by Thierry Seiler, & by Fidel Thomet), but mainly emphasised on Michael’s.

I felt a bit more confident after having chatted to Verena for she encouraged me in pursuing the idea of redesigning terms and conditions. She was of the opinion that terms and conditions are today in a pretty bad visual and communicative conditions which is why there is a real opportunity in improving them and in coming up with a good creative solution. 

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Session VIII - Making Sense

Literary Review Paragraph

Every day, we are exposed to information. Whether we are on the go, working, or relaxing at home, our brain is in a constant state of processing information. But information is hardly ever inclusive. If you don’t have the means or knowledge to decrypt the information, access is denied. This can be observed in languages or mathematics for example, or on people who are partially impaired. Whatever the context, there is always one group of people who are excluded from understanding and taking advantage of information. Throughout, my research process, I realised that that topic of inclusion and accessibility of information repeatedly caught my attention. Specifically in the form of making terms and conditions more accessible.

Terms and Conditions are unattractive to look at. They offer an abundance of information written in expert jargon, turning it into an overload of incomprehensible information. As observed on myself, users are more likely to ignore the documents than actually read them, despite the fact that the action of giving consent may not be of benefit to themselves. This problem is not unknown, as demonstrated in Luger, Moran and Rodden’s paper. Trials of reducing the feeling of being overwhelmed have been conducted with Luger, Moran and Rodden’s plug-in, where terms and conditions were compared to popular literary books, thus allowing user’s to perceive the necessary effort needed to read the documents. But the problem continues to prevail. They may have simply strengthened the user’s reservation of reading the complex, lengthy document. Because the average user will still face difficulties in understanding its contents. At the core of any terms and conditions lies a decision which the user is confronted with. If you disagree with the proposed conditions, you can simply decide not to give consent. With that in mind, I ask myself whether design can be used to empower this decision making? In Nudge, I appreciated Sunstein and Thaler’s emphasis on freedom of choice and how defaults should be designed in favour of the users, thus “automating” the decision process in a beneficial way. With Gonzalez’s research on Animation User Interface Design (AUID), I also looked into a more methodical approach to empowering decision-making.

What ever the solution may be, the lack of inclusion and accessibility is a problem worth following up on. The process would include working together with experts and users; an aspect that I find most important. One thing is clear though: if I were to follow up on this topic, my aim would not be to replace current terms and conditions, but to offer a supplement to the long and complicated texts.

Literary List

Sunstein, C. R., & Thaler, R. H. (2009) Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness (Revised Edition). Penguin Books. 

Gonzalez, C. (1996). Does Animation in User Interfaces Improve Decision Making? Conference Paper. Retrieved from ResearchGate, October 2019. 

Plavén-Sigray, P., Matheson, G. J., Schiffler, B. C., & Thompson, W. H. (2017). The Readability of Scientific Texts is Decreasing Over Time. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1101/119370, accessed on 27.10.2019. 

Luger, E., Moran, S., & Rodden, T. (2013). Consent for All: Revealing the Hidden Complexity of Terms and Conditions (CHI 2013. Changing Perspectives, Paris, France). 

Levitin, D. (2016). A Field Guide to Lies and Statistics: A Neuroscientist on How to Make Sense of a Complex World. Penguin Books. 

Fox, C. R., & Tversky, A. (1995). Ambiguity Aversion and Comparative Ignorance. From The Quarterly Journal of Economics published by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (August 1995). 

Sengers, P., & Gaver, P. (2006). Staying Open to Interpretation: Engaging Multiple Meanings in Design and Evaluation.

Related Works

Abad. (2016). Unveiling the Unseen. https://vimeo.com/169234246 (Accessed 3.11.19). 

Affolter., Rufenacht. (2016). Dolografie. https://www.dolografie.com (Accessed 3.11.19).

Alfieri., Jorgensen, et al. (2016). Sonify: Making Price Charts Accessible. https://vimeo.com/175722797 (Accessed on 5.11.19). 

Brazier, F. (2015). Fly Emotive. https://bestawards.co.nz/interactive/student-interactive/massey-university-college-of-creative-arts/fly-emotive/ (Accessed on 10.11.19). 

DROG. (2018). Bad News. https://getbadnews.com/#intro (Accessed on 27.10.19). 

Menuier. (?2015. “The Man who agreed” - Apple Terms and Conditions. https://www.underconsideration.com/fpo/archives/2015/01/the-man-who-agreed---apple-terms-and-conditions.php (Accessed on 10.11.19)

Schönenberger. (2019). Lateral Computation. https://interactiondesign.zhdk.ch/projekte/lateral-computation/ (Accessed on 3. 11.19).

Yarovinsky. (2018). I Agree. https://www.dimayarovinsky.com/i-agree (Accessed on 27.10.19).

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Intersession I - Thought Process

Conversation

After the Freeflow seminar, I still hadn’t quite figured out what I wanted to do. I spent some time conducting some desk research, looking into research papers and challenges that had been established by various design associations and events. But to no entail.  Meanwhile, I continued staying in contact with Stefan from Scientific Visualisation. We discussed various topics and potential collaborations. He had already contacted a geology scientist whom Stefan had spoken to numerous times and whom he was very keen on working with.  One afternoon, Stefan and I sat down and looked into opportunities of collaborating together with his expert scientist. Besides an interactive exhibition, Stefan suggested tackling the problem of making scientific papers more readable. He explained that scientific research papers desperately need a new form of visualisation and presentation in order to attract more experts and laymen alike.

This cue reminded me of a post that I had once read a while ago on the internet: someone had complained how inaccessible terms and conditions are. I remember laughing about this complaint at the time in total agreement - legal documents are extremely user-unfriendly and have never really encouraged me in dealing with their contents. I suddenly recognised a problem which I could tackle during my BA thesis: how could I make terms and conditions more accessible? I shared my idea with Stefan who expressed interest in its visual potential (how could terms and conditions be visually more informative?). However, he explained that he could not see himself working on this topic for his BA project as it wouldn’t include any scientific experts - a requirement for Scientific Visualisation students.

User Observation

I continued being sceptical of the subject. I understood its potential of allowing an user-centric approach, a criteria that was important to me, but felt that its juristic connection may bore me. I’ve never been particularly interested in law and juristic documents as I had always considered them as being dry. Could I grapple with its contents for six months?

By coincidence, my mother happened to have updated her MacBook a few days later. Apple prompts its users to (read and) accept their terms and conditions prior to initialising installation of a new software. My mother for some reason decided to open the lengthy terms and conditions document and started to fly over it. She quickly misinterpreted some of the segments and started to panic, thinking that she was going to get into trouble for how she’s been managing her documents. With a document filled with juristic jargon and complicated phrasing, I was reminded again of how unfriendly terms and conditions are to read. Naturally, if I were to focus on making terms and conditions more accessible, I wouldn’t be working on rewriting the document. But, as Stefan had previously mentioned, its visual and communicative properties definitely require a redesign.

Expert Confirmation

A week later, another coincidence occurred: during one of the design-overlapping lecture, professor Ursula Sury of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts did a presentation on collective ownership. She is a professor in law and has many years of experience in the field. During her presentation, Ursula Sury happened to emphasis how problematic terms and conditions are towards non-experts. “People of all background should be able to understand terms and conditions. But this is not the case. It is down to you designers to change that.” What a coincidence! After her presentation, I approach Ursula Sury and expressed my interest in the topic of making terms and conditions more accessible. She reacted very enthusiastically, encouraging me to contact her in future so that I can look at it with her more in detail. 

I couldn’t believe what I had heard. Independent from my process, an expert had just confirmed the relevance of the issue. I realised that this problem had potential of being a BA thesis project - and that not only in my mind. 

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Session IV - VII – The Free Flow Seminar

The Free Flow Seminar offers us BA students an opportunity to gather feedback and discuss potential BA topics while simultaneously getting to know our mentors better. The two day seminar was spent at the Atelierhäuser am Waldrand in Gockhausen. Amidst the forest and surrounded by farm animals, the wheels of the BA thesis project was set in motion.

Day I - The Fog Thickens

Foggy Ideas Before the Free Flow Seminar, I had spent some time looking into potential BA topics. I considered the subject of sleep, after having read the book “Why we Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams” by Matthew Walker (2017; Scribner) over the summer holidays. The book emphasised how important sleep actually was and how today’s society neglects its significance. I instantly felt drawn to this topic, as I am much interested in solving problems that may have a positive impact on people. Parallel to that, I had been in discussion with Stefan from Scientific Visualisation. We’ve participated in several interdisciplinary modules over the last two years and have found that we work very well together as a team. With this in mind, we are both interested in collaborating. We had only just recently picked up the conversion and had kept the subject open so far. But with the necessity from his side to work with a scientific collaborator, I was concerned that I may end up becoming the “tech-bimbo” whose sole job is to transform the project into an interactive exhibition or alike. Over the last few weeks, other ideas had also accumulated due to the theory modules. That Apple AirPods are being used by young teens to spy on others was a topic that I had not yet heard of and shocked me immensely at first. Maybe this could also be something worth looking into - in what form, I was not yet sure of.  However, nothing had yet been set in stone. And with these few foggy thoughts in mind, I attended the seminar, not knowing what to expect.

The Walk The main activity of the first day consisted of a 2 hour walk. Its purpose is to encourage first conversations with mentors and other students; to ignite and develop first sparks of inspiration. I initially expected the walk to be somewhat awkward and forced, having to approach the mentors and talk to them about our basic ideas. But I was surprised to find that it was not the case. The conversation flew rather freely and comfortably, a refreshing approach to initiating a tête-à-tête with a mentor.

The conversations I had were very thought-provoking. I brought the subject of sleep to Joëlle and later on to Luke. Their comments were encouraging, but somehow didn’t reassure me. I realised then that I hadn’t yet been able to figure out what exactly I wanted to achieve with the topic. I was still stumbling in the dark. Now, retrospectively perhaps, I think I could sense some uneasiness towards the topic at the time. There was nothing to dislike about it, both Joëlle and Luke encouraged it, but nevertheless, I didn’t feel more confident in the topic afterwards. In fact, by the end of the day, my insecurity grew. Towards Luke, I also shared the idea of dealing with the AirPods-espionage. He instantly showed a lot of enthusiasm, saying that it’s a very interesting topic. Instead of depicting the surveillance by governments and companies, I could shed light on the communal surveillance - that by our friends, neighbours, acquaintances and strangers. It’s not necessarily a new phenomenon (listening to other conversations by pressing your ear against a door for example has always intrigued us), but I could show how modern technology enables us to conduct surveillance more easily.  I, myself, started to share his enthusiasm. Shortly afterwards, however, I wondered whether it was too abstract - or to be more specific, maybe just a bit too abstract for my liking. I  realised then that I wouldn’t enjoy following an abstract BA thesis topic. Naturally, some freedom for experimenting and discovery is of necessity for a creative process. Nevertheless, I am leaning towards following a topic with some set target on its horizon to which I can set my course. 

Once having returned from the walk, Joëlle shared two different types of advice to the whole group:

“Consider what you want to learn over those months. Are there new tools, methods or knowledge that you want to acquire?” 

“Keep in mind what you want to work as later? In the past, some students have found job opportunities via their BA work.”

Both of these comments really resonated with me. So far, I had focused on finding a topic which I could see myself enjoy working on for 6 months. But I had completely disregarded the fact that six months are a long time and offer a great frame to try out new things and to learn something from scratch. And in that moment, I suddenly felt completely lost. My thoughts and feelings were in total disarray. It’s not that the talks hadn’t helped me. In fact they’ve been really useful, however, not in the way I had initially expected.

Lost With this new sense of being lost, I sat down to participate in the next exercise: we were instructed to continue our discussions with students and mentors alike with whom we’ve not managed to have a chat with yet, while simultaneously sketching these out on paper. As I felt rather discouraged, I became rather reserved, mostly also because I didn’t quite know what to say. I desperately felt like I needed to sit down by myself and sort my dishevelled thoughts. 

Nevertheless, I managed to chat to Martin. Having just been influenced by Joëlle’s previously shared advice of doing something “work-related”, I expressed my experience and interest in human-centred design, innovation, design sprints, design thinking and service design. I explained that I would very much like to continue pursuing these aspects, but couldn’t quite imagine how. Martin pointed me to a previous BA project by Nora Gailer and Mona Neubauer called “Pop-Up Forum”. They had worked closely with developing methods for communal discourse - he advised me to look into it, saying that such formats can also be followed as a project. To a certain extent, I felt a bit reassured by this suggestion as it showed me that a purely “method-based” approach could be something to consider too. Additionally, Martin recommended me to think backwards. What would I like to exhibit at the BA exhibition in June? How should it look like at the end? Maybe that could help me to find my path and interest.

Day II - Stuck in Mud

The second day of the seminar was intended for delving into the topics and ideas previously discussed the day before. This wasn’t of much help to me. Over the last 24 hours, I had pretty much discarded the two topics of sleep and the AirPod-surveillance. The former because I no longer felt confident in the subject itself, the latter because I considered it too vage for my liking (maybe this was a bit too hastened but I believe it was my gut feeling that urged me to do so). Nevertheless, I participated, half-heartedly did a performance and later on wrote a few lines upon the subject of sleep. But I felt stuck. I desperately needed to spend some time to look over everything that I had gathered over the last few hours. 

Post Seminar - The Fog Breaks

During the seminar, I felt like I was going backwards than actually forwards. I returned home with questions instead of answers. A thick fog had settled over my thoughts. But since then, I’ve had some time to reassess my ideas and impressions of the seminar. I’ve come to realise how helpful the first day especially was. Sure, I had no topic to show afterwards but I’ve managed to identify some criteria for myself:

Having a topic that I enjoy working on is a good incentive, but I think it shouldn’t be the only criteria on which I should base my search on for the BA thesis. 

I am more and more inclined to follow a project with which I can learn something new. Six months are a great period of time to acquire new skills. In concern to what I had just mentioned above, this could be a second incentive.

I’ve come to realise that I don’t want to deal with a subject that is too vague. I need something to look towards to throughout my process. Maybe Martin’s suggestion of thinking backwards could help me there.

I should trust on my gut feeling. If I’m uncertain about something already now then I should probably not go for it.

Use current interests as a foundation for the BA thesis. Focusing on something that already interests me should help me find a topic that I’m motivated and encouraged to pursue. 

If you’ve managed to read through all this blog entry on the seminar - congrats! I myself am surprised how much I had to write on the seminar - while writing, I suddenly realised that there was much to think about and share. Therefore, writing has helped me quite a bit. I’ve revisited my uncertainties and confusions, have reshuffled questions and answers and managed to structure them more clearly for myself. I can tell that the fog is slowly lifting, but it will still need some time until it’s fully gone. But honestly, I am happy with that.

Big thanks to Fiona Good for allowing me to use some of her pictures. 

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Session III - Position in Writing

Bauhaus Manifesto

The Bauhaus Manifesto was written in 1919 by Walter Gropius in Weimar, today’s Germany. Gropius wrote it at the establishment of the new Bauhaus School, when the two academies, the former Grand-Ducal Saxon Academy of Art and the former Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts, merged into one. In fact, 1919 was the perfect time to establish a new school: as the WWI had just come to an end, many young returning soldiers and young citizens who no longer had to enrol to military were in search for a new future - these were ideal applicants for a new school. 

The Bauhaus Manifesto incorporates amongst other things the following key beliefs:

Interdisciplinary Studies. All students should work and learn side by side. “Let us [then] create a new guild of craftsmen without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist! Together let us desire, conceive, and create the new structure of the future, which will embrace architecture and sculpture and painting in one unit…”

More praxis-oriented learning. Education should not solely be done behind theoretical books and teachings. Only through actual practical experience can artists and craftsmen learn and perfect their work. You could say that the mantra “learning by doing” was born with the Bauhaus Manifesto.

Instructors a required to be experienced in their faculty. Students should be taught by instructors who themselves have a lot of experience and have gained a lot of practical knowledge in their field. A lecturer who is academically skilled in educating but not in their subject in which they’ll be teaching is not suited for the Bauhaus School.

When reading through the Bauhaus Manifesto, I instantly recognised these three key beliefs from my own experience at the ZHdK - the ZHdK highly values both interdisciplinary projects, praxis-oriented teaching and instructors who themselves have years of experience in the field that they are lecturing on. It seems that this approach in educating the next generation of artists and designers is still being practiced 100 years after its establishment in the Bauhaus Academy.

Here can the full Manifesto be found, translated into English: http://mariabuszek.com/mariabuszek/kcai/ConstrBau/Readings/GropBau19.pdf

Why the Bauhaus Manifesto? Had I read the Bauhaus Manifesto a week beforehand I would have overlooked one of its elements - its concept on simplicity. Gropius emphasises that artists and designers should not distract themselves with ornaments and decorations any longer. “Function before form” is key to simplicity. Buildings and designs should be restricted to only what is necessary. 

The significance of simplicity would not have interested me as it does now. This is mainly due to one person: Kenya Hara. Just recently, Kenya Hara, the Japanese graphic designer and art director of MUJI, held a lecture at the ZHdK during the “MUJI meets ZHdK” event, hosted on the 3rd of October. During his presentation, Kenya Hara explained the Japanese design aesthetics of emptiness, and most importantly put it into comparison to simplicity.

Kenya Hara describes emptiness as a from that allows complete freedom - it encourages our own individual interpretations, creativity and behaviour. Simplicity may have already stripped an object of all of its unnecessary ornaments and decorations, but it nevertheless restricts us to a limited amount of interactions. To emphasise his point, Kenya Hara presented an image of two kitchen knives - one of simplicity and one of emptiness. While the kitchen knife that incorporates simplicity has been stripped down to its core function and form, it still limits the user to one grip only, due to its curved form - shaped to fit the hand. Meanwhile, the kitchen knife with the aesthetics of emptiness offers the user complete freedom to use it as they want - all forms of handling are allowed. 

Although the concept of emptiness was initially trigged roughly 600 years ago by the immense losses caused by a civil war, the Onin War (1467-1477), it has only now gained more and more significance in its use in industrial and corporate design. With the Bauhaus Manifesto, the aesthetics of simplicity was encouraged and became popular. Simplicity has therefore led in a way to emptiness - at least in its global acceptance in design. Having looked into simplicity and emptiness has made we wonder:

What lies beyond emptiness? 

Writing Exercise

Who am I? Who am I, floating through time and space, lost in orientation but following a path? Amidst a cycle of knowledge my needle spins, trying to find the Northern star. But what about the East, South and West? Is the North truly the right path for me? Who am I yet to become?

What is my Ambition as a Designer? As a designer, I want to chase problems. I want to identify, analyse and dissect them into small pieces before assembling them into a solutions. A solutions that fulfils the needs of people. Human-centred design has interested me for a while now. it is one of the key aspects that curbs innovation, a subject with which I’ve come in contact with a few times now over the last two years. Being able to identify a challenge, creating new and unexplored solutions is something exciting. Especially if it relieves a pain of a our every day lives. This feeling is like when you complete a puzzle - when you are able to finally place the last missing piece. 

What do I have to say that is Unheard of? With Generation Z spending so much time on their electronic gadgets, we fear that they are turning increasingly more socially inept. But social exchange is often at the core of these interactions. On the other hand, what may become more problematic in future is their approach towards trust. According to my cousin, a 15-year old girl growing up in South London, it is not unusual to spy on one another with Apple AirPods. Everyday technologies are being misused to secretly listen into conversations of friends, family and teachers. Generation Z may simply be curious or suspicious, but they definitely don’t know any boundaries. 

[claud-iad-blog]

Session II - In Formation

Initially, I didn’t want to deal with the Global Climate Strike of September 2019 as an example of a student campaign. The topic was ubiquitous. Flyers, posters and wall graffiti covered every street and house. The media attention towards the topic was at its highest, especially with Great Thunberg, the 16 year old Swedish activist, having just proclaimed her disappointment in today’s leaders and their approach towards climate change at the United Nations Climate Action Summit 2019. With the Global Climate Strike having just taken place three days before the Monday theory session, on the 27th of September, you simply could not avoid the subject. Therefore, I initially decided to focus on a different student campaign. Something less popular. But then on the 28th, I was walking through the Interaction Design Atelier and stumbled upon a placard created by one of the 3rd semesters. And at that moment, I changed my mind. 

Some context  The Global Climate Strike took place in the week of the 20th - 27th of September 2019, parallel to the United Nations Climate Action Summit. While politicians met and discussed in New York, young activists and students gathered on the streets across the globe to raise awareness of their concerns towards climate change. Ever since Great Thunberg raised her voice against the politicians a year ago in 2018, the youth movement for environment had become more vocal. More people joined the campaign once the rainforest fires broke out in June 2019 and the lack of media and governmental reports caused a notion that these had no interest in the subject. Both governments, politicians and companies have now been forced to express their opinion on the matter - commenting on their plans for their future approach to climate change. Nestlé, for example, has announced their goal of achieving zero net emissions by 2050 - a miserable promise when examining the fact that this is due for in 30 years. (https://www.nestle.com/csv/impact/climate-change, accessed on 29.09.2019)

Plastic Placard

The placard lying in the atelier was made out of yellow plastic, moulded into one big shoe. “Reduce your ecological footprint” had been written with a black marker. I had to look twice when I walked past the abandoned sign. Here lay a placard made out of plastic that had been created with the climate change in mind. Hypocritical, isn’t it? It had been taken out onto the streets, amidst the other activists and had been held against the climate defilers and in favour of the climate. No wonder had the activist’s approach towards advertising their cause been under a lot of criticism. However, this is has been the case mainly due to the abandoned rubbish they leave behind after each protest. 

Just a day later, on Sunday the 29th of September, did I find myself discussing the topic of the Global Climate Strike and its activists over dinner with a group of friends. Overall, people empathised with the cause and pro-climate movement and support the fact that the topics is being discussed so intensely. I too agreed with them. One comment especially caught my interest: “These young demonstrators need to grow-up. Become independent. Only then would they come to realise that their demands are much more challenging to fulfil. It is not so easy to purchase more environmental friendly products and act more climate conscious when you are a family of four. They’ve not yet been exposed to the real world, having been living under the protective wings of their parents. They’ve only acted as viewers so far. Once it’s their turn to make a move, will they recognise that it’s far more complicated than they think.” There may be some truth behind these words. 

Campaign Channels

When comparing to the other posters, this example of the climate strike movement shows how the approach of advertising student campaigns has changed. While prior to the Internet, mostly only print and other physical means of sharing was used. Today, not only are posters used, but also websites and social media channels. No major funds are needed.

[claud-iad-blog]

Session I - What is the Action?

What has impacted my approaches as a designer and myself as a person during the last two years studying as an Interaction Designer? And what kind of impact have I had on my environment? Reflecting upon ourselves, our impact and influences, we remind ourselves on what has changed and how our actions influence the people surround us.

Environment → myself My approaches and view on my environment has changed dramatically within the last year. This is mainly due to two courses that I’ve attended: the interaction design theory modules by Joëlle Bitton und the future.preneurship summer courses, associated to the ZHdK Z Kubator. While the summer training I received in the future-preneurship course introduced me to the world of innovation, design thinking methods and start-ups, the interaction design theory modules have taught me to approach topics from different perspectives, always having the context in mind and that many subjects are interconnected and most always have several major impact (such as social, environmental, cultural, etc) on the world.

Myself → environment With my gained knowledge and experiences, I’ve been able to offer support and advice to someone very important to me: my mother. After being a mother for 23 years, she’s decided to return to the study table and has enrolled into becoming a Doula. There are many challenges that she must face, having to understand her audience / clients and having to communicate her skills and experience to the outside world. I offer her support, guiding her through new technologies and topics which she’s not dealt with for a long time. It makes me proud to see that the little knowledge that I have gained during my studies can actually help someone very dear to me, especially someone who has taught und supported me the last 23 years, someone who’s been focusing on giving. Although she would disagree and refuse such talk, I like to think that I can repay her for all she has done for me, however little that repayment can be.