After I read those inspiring two articles I decided to start right away with experimenting. I opened my procreate app and made up the following scenario:
If I were to draw illustrations for a healthcare magazine about the pros of yoga. Whom will I depict? How would I normally do it vs what did my findings on inclusive character design say how I should to it?
I really tried to play with different body shapes, skin colours, hair and outfits which put no character in a weaker or stronger position as well as reflecting their cultural background appropriately. I noticed that very often I had to ask myself: is what I want to draw a stereotype or does it reflect the reality? I did some research on hairstyles and textures in order to get it right and to match it to their cultural background.
I will continue experimenting. The next blog post will be specifically about depicting young male Japanese characters. In order to depict those characters as accurate as possible I will do some research on facial features, hair, as well as clothing. Stay tunes.
I actually came across the beginning of the semester, ditched it and now really want to come back to it again: inclusive character design.
What does inclusive mean? How can we achieve it? What is inclusive and what is just insulting and stereotypical? What can you do as a designer to make your illustrations inclusive in a natural way?
How to achieve inclusive character illustrations
What factors are important to consider when you want to create an inclusive character design?
Age
Ability
Body type
Facial features
Ethnic hair types
Non-Western clothing
Non-traditional family models
Non-binary gender representation
It might help you to use real photos of real people as an inspiration. Diverse representation and inclusive design is still an area where we need to push ourselves.
Illustrations are a meaningful way to bring abstract ideas into something tangible. With illustrations you can visualize stories, ideas, concepts in a creative way so they stand out. Illustrating people needs to have a bit more thought into it than illustrating objects. How you illustrate people will tell a lot about your company, brand, mindset etc and how people see your organization.
Representing diversity, multiculturalism, equality and disabilities in illustrations is a fundamental part of depicting an inclusive identity.
As the illustration style of a person is more refined with details such as facial features, skin tones, hair colours, accessories and clothes, the more accurate diversity is represented. Subsequently, when an illustration has less details there is less accuracy of representation.
In order for those illustrations to be good and authentic we must question our internal assumptions and biases. “Diversity in illustration doesn’t just mean changing a skin colour or adding cultural features but also challenging the ‘default’ pre-assumed biases we have.“
The idea of „deafault” is really affecting our judgement of an illustration. For example, when we think of a scientist, we may default think that a scientist may be a Caucasian older man, or that a teacher is a middle-aged woman.
This article says:
„We can challenge these pre-assumed biases by putting underrepresented groups of people into positions of power in our illustrations. For example, challenge the idea that teachers are just women by choosing illustrations or illustrating a teacher as a man of colour with hearing aids or with a prosthetic. Illustrations should reflect our reality, and that is that the world is diverse, multiculturalism is the norm, and people around us may have disabilities too.“
Furthermore, it is also important not to fall for stereotypes when illustrating. While it’s important to equip your character with enough features in order for it to be distinctive enough, there is a thin line between respectful representation and disrespectful stereotypes.
Bibliography
Hand, L. (2020). Leading Hand. Retrieved from DIVERSITY AND DISABILITY IN ILLUSTRATIONS: PART 1: https://www.leadinghand.com.au/insights/diversity-and-disability-in-illustrations-part-1/
Dockendorf, A. (n.d.). Lemonly. Retrieved from CREATIVE WORKSHOP: INCLUSIVE CHARACTER DESIGN: https://lemonly.com/blog/inclusive-character-design
After one of the Designmonat lectures I just needed to research a bit about what it means to be sustainable/environmental conscious as a designer.
Designer can’t change the world – But what they can do instead
Sustainable graphic design
Social and environmental issues are forcing designers to acknowledge that also their design process is most of the time the very opposite of eco and social friendly.
As the population is continuing to grow, natural resources are becoming more and more scarce. There need for fresh air, water, food, dependable transportation, safe jobs, and housing is increasing. Apparently, paper distribution and use have contributed heavily to the elimination of our world’s forests.
Lead a sustainable design revolution.
What does it mean for graphic design to be sustainable?
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines sustainability as ‘allowing for current economic needs to be met while preserving biodiversities and ecosystems to maintain the same quality of life for future generations.’
To know what sustainability means for graphic design, one must examine the tools and resources designers use on a daily basis.
A main material which is used is paper. Paper is usually made from wood pulp which is taken from trees and requires a great amount of energy and water to produce. After the paper is manufactured designers use it for printing that also requires water, energy and, of course, ink (which is made from petroleum products requiring energy and water to refine and manufacture.) It is pretty clear that all of this has a huge impact on our planet.
So, for designers to work in a sustainable way, all of their materials and energy must be renewable, recyclable and/or reusable. As a starting point, graphic designers should be more aware and better educated of their actions.
Which ways are there to significantly reduce our tree-fiber paper use?
Learning more and switching to the Cradle to Cradle model
Reducing our carbon emissions in our studio
As well as: cooperating with vendors that utilize both renewable energy sources and environmental policy
Reducing unnecessary packaging in our designs
Use inks that are organic, non-toxic and vegetable-based
Working sustainably should be at the beginning of every design process. At first the designer should decide if the project deserves to exist in a tangible form, should be communicated digitally or should work as something else e.g as an intellectual system (e.g. cooking classes instead of printed recipe cards)
It is very important for graphic designers to think about and discuss the project goals before starting with any design measures. As a designer: educating yourself is just as important as educating your client. The solution of the project then should follow these four sustainable design principles:
Respect and care for the community
Improve the quality of life, conserves Earth’s vitality and diversity
Minimize the depletion of non-renewable resources
Change personal attitudes and practice to keep with the planet’s carrying capacity
These goals should then motivate the designer to engage in more specific tasks like:
Choose local, sustainable and recycled materials
Choose renewable energy
Educate the consumer about the life cycle of the object through messaging/marketing
Cooperate with vendors which are environmentally and socially aware/friendly
(Benson, 2007)
Bibliography
Benson, E. (2007). What is sustainable graphic design? Design Philosophy Politics.
Of course, I could not give up on my maximalist design of a carrot juice and I tried out more things. I looked again in the research I had already done about maximalist design and try to come up with ideas. In the end, I have 2 drafts that in my opinion, reflect a rather maximalist design approach. I know that there is a lot of room for improvement, but it was quite fun to tackle this challenge. Of course, I could spend soooo much more time on these drafts, but I think that experimenting means trying out things without the aspiration to make it perfect.
Like I said in the minimalist design experiment blog entry: maybe there are just some products which “demand” either a minimalist or a maximalist approach. Although I like try 1 of the maximalist approach, I still think that a minimalist design is a better fit for a carrot juice.
In the first semester, I did a lot of research on minimalist and maximalist design characteristics. As for the second semester the plan is to experiment in this field, I thought about something:
I will choose a product, for example Carrot juice and then crate a minimalist as well as maximalist design for it (according to what I’ve learned) The aim for it is not to be perfect but rather the process behind it.
As for the carrot juice, creating a minimalist design was fairly easy. A lot of ideas came immediately to my mind, and I knew exactly in which direction I want to go. But, for the maximalist design, it was very different. I hand no idea how to do it. I’ve made a lot of drafts, but they all turned out wrong.
Now I’m thinking: Are there products which can’t be advertised in a maximalist way? Is carrot juice to pure, clean, and organic to be advertised in a maximalist way?
In diesem Eintrag möchte ich mich mit dem Thema Recycling beschäftigen, wobei es vermutlich eine größere Studie bräuchte, um sich mit allen Mythen und auch Missständen dazu zu beschäftigen. Recycling ist eines der größten Themen in Bezug auf den Nachhaltigkeits-Trend. Im Supermarkt kaufen wir Produkte mit Recycling-Plaketten, die uns ein positives Gefühl geben und somit auch in unserem Einkaufswagen – und schließlich auch im Müll landen. In einem vorhergehenden Artikel, bin ich bereits auf das Thema Greenwashing und Labels eingegangen. Auch beim Recycling gibt es Verwirrung oder bewusste Unklarheit in Bezug auf Plaketten und Informationen.
Beispiel: Der Grüne Punkt
Eine spannende Kampagne aus dem Jahr 2021 von Two Degrees Creative und The Brand Identity macht derzeit die Kreativbranche auf das Symbol des Grünen Punktes aufmerksam. Der Grüne Punkt ist laut Angaben der Projektinititiatoren auf über 400 Milliarden Verpackungen weltweit und wird von über 130,000 Marken verwendet. Das Problem: Viele Konsument:innen denken, dass ein Produkt mit dem Grünen Punkt recyclebar ist, was auch an der Gestaltung: zwei nach innen gekehrte Pfeile, liegen kann. Die Ähnlichkeit mit dem Symbol für recyclebare Produkte ist relativ ähnlich. Allerdings steht der Grüne Punkt nur dafür, dass ein Unternehmen lediglicht Teil des Lizenzsystems geworden ist, das wiederum in Recycling investieren soll. Die Kampagne sorgte aber nicht nur für Aufklärung, sondern auch für Neugestaltung. Es gab zahlreiche Beiträge unterschiedlicher Designbüros/Kreativschaffenden, mit einem Redesign des Grünen Punktes.1
Quelle links: Wikipedia; Quelle rechts: Recycling.com
Beispiel: unklare Versprechungen beim Recycling
Ein weiteres Beispiel ist auch im Vortrag von Harald Gründl im Zuge des Designmonat Graz’ gefallen: (Daten aus einem anderen, gleichwertigen Vortrag inkl. Quelle) PET Flaschen gelten als 100% recyclebar, wirklich wahr ist das allerdings nicht. Leider ist es so, dass aus 1,4 T gesammelter PET Flaschen nur 1 Tonne neue PET Flaschen gewonnen werden können (und das bei ungefähr nur 70% in den Kreislauf eingeschleusten Flaschen). Die Bilanz wird leider auch schlechter: Denn obwohl beim ersten Recycling Durchgang noch die Hälfte bleibt, ist es nach dem zweiten Durchgang nur mehr ein Bruchteil.2
Recycling beginnt beim Einkaufoder doch bei den Herstellenden?
Das Beispiel vom Grünen Punkt zeigt: Recycling beginnt beim Einkauf und nicht erst an der Mülltonne. Doch: es wird uns nicht einfach gemacht. Ein großes Problem bleibt weiterhin die Transparenz, wenn es darum geht Produkte beim Kauf als recyclebar zu definieren. Neben der fehlenden Klarheit, sind es aber auch Verpackungen selbst, die das Recycling gar nicht so einfach machen. Beispielsweise gehören Joghurt Becher in den Restmüll, der Aludeckel in die gelbe Tonne. Oftmals ist es aber gar nicht so einfach, diesen abzulösen und das gilt für mehrere Verpackungen, die aus verschiedenen Materialien bestehen und getrennt recyclet werden müssen. Denn auch Plastik wird nur dann recyclet, wenn es Sortenrein ist: sprich, besteht eine Verpackung aus zwei Sorten Plastik, die aneinander haften, wird es nicht wiederverwertet.3
1: Gorny, Liz (2021): A new campaign wants to redesign the Green Dot, a symbol mistaken to mean recyclable. online auf: https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/two-degrees-creative-the-green-dot-graphic-design-171221 (07.06.2022)
2: Gründl, Harald (2021): Design für die Kreislaufwirtschaft. Vortrag. online auf: https://www.facebook.com/zumtobel.light/videos/design-f%C3%BCr-die-kreislaufwirtschaft/416683659611476/
3: Leiterer, Uwe (2018): Welches Plastik lässt sich recyceln? online auf: https://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/verbraucher/Welches-Plastik-laesst-sich-recyceln,plastik260.html
In this article, the author reveals the theme of personal identity and cultural body. Identity is very closely linked to the culture in which we were born. This culture, in turn, is inventive and full of art, music, and dance. The author focuses on the fact that the topic of the design and application of gesture controllers is not widely discussed. The goal of the author of this article is to embrace the cultural body, incorporate it into existing gesture controller design, and how cultural design techniques can expand musical/social affiliations and/or traditions in technological development. Sara Sithi-Amnuai’s article discusses the design of Nami, a custom-made gesture controller, and its applicability to extending the cultural body. We develop freedom of action by perceiving the world in terms of our self-identity and collective identity. According to the definition of references to which the author refers, “the mind is inseparable from our bodily, situational and physical nature” she also notes that in the aggregate all this is called consciousness. Our bodies absorb movement and experience through the senses, vision, and sensations, which influence how we relate to our environment and how we behave. What is this cultural body? The author says that this is a body subject, “marked by culture” and “talking” about cultural practice, itself, and history. Dancers, for example, often notice that their body is intimately tied to their identity and vision of themselves. Often after their career ends they no longer understand themselves and it is very difficult for them to embark on the path of recovery. In the article, the author also points out many practices related to design. Design stages often take place in 4 steps: 1. Sketching phase includes an input (“data”), functionality (“model”), and material/form. 2. Concept phase includes training data, ML model (training engine), and data/form relationship. 3. Critical Thinking phase includes purpose, intentions, culture, and material/form exploration. 4. Reflections phase includes input, functionality, and final materials/form.
One of these devices that allow you to get a musical and cultural experience is NAMI. NAMI is a glove interface designed for live electro-acoustic musical performance, primarily relying on an augmented instrument. The goal of NAMI was to explore and develop a new sign language beyond the effective trumpet gesture and to integrate it with the author’s own experience and her cultural body. The trumpet was used with additional sensors which provided additional sound control options. The trumpet provides freedom of movement for the left hand, while the right hand supports the instrument. The fundamental connection between the musician and the trumpet exists between the musician’s lips and the mouthpiece and then extends to the fingers. This scheme allows the executor to access multiple controls at the same time. The performer can play the instrument (trumpet) with the right hand and operate multiple controls in real-time, exploring, expanding, and amplifying the sound of the trumpet with the left hand.
The author of the article also pays a lot of attention to materials and techniques for creating pearls. The first thing Sara Sithi-Amnuai remembers is that the shape of the dodge reflects the essence of the culture for which the gloves were designed. Materials We have chosen for affordability, only materials that could be easily recreated on a small budget and used in a wide range of sports or casual activities. In the third development, the glove was designed to fit every hand size. A wrist strap allows the user to lock the glove and sensors in place, however, the fingerless design allows for flexible sensor placement depending on hand size. In conclusion, I want to say that the article opens up a new understanding of the manipulation of music based on the individual experience of the performer. Which in turn leads to more refined and culturally rich performances.
It is very important to bear in mind that a children’s space must be suitable for its users. Children’s facilities are often the most complex to accommodate, as they need to be accessible to accompanying adults as well. In addition, as in any other facility, it is necessary to take into account people with reduced mobility, adapting heights and sizes.
Let’s remember that all the above details are determined according to the age range of 6 to 8 years old. Not only because this is the target public of this project, but also because at this age it is necessary to limit the range as it is a time when physical and personal changes occur rapidly.
Taking into account this range, it is necessary to know the approximate height of our audience. In this case, it is very similar between the sexes and is between 115 cm and 127 cm tall. This means that any table, chair, device or sign should be within the range of vision and accessibility of a person of that height.
Knowing this, an analysis of the correct heights and spaces can be carried out. Reference is made to a guide for Glasgow museum exhibitions and a standard accessibility guide for exhibitions.
These guidelines determine that for ages 5-12 years, seating should have a minimum height of 32.5 cm and a maximum height of 45 cm; while standing desks should be between 52 cm and 82.5 cm. The knee space under these tables should be 61 cm high, 61 cm deep, 76 cm wide.
In addition, a child’s viewing height is between 101 cm and 147.4 cm when the child is standing; and 85.6 cm and 95 cm when the child is sitting. This allows a reach radius of between 54.5 cm and 88 cm when standing and 41 cm and 70.5 cm when seated.
This includes the recommended widths between tables, walls or shelves. This should be a minimum of 183 cm to allow space for two wheelchairs. In any case, a space of 223.5 cm is recommended for specific areas for children.
A summary table of all these concepts is included below.
Breathing is becoming increasingly important for stress relief. However it is not only good for controlling the body, but also for controlling wind instruments for example the flute.
With the development of the Hyper hybrid flute, an attempt was made to integrate the profound role of breath control into a digital flute and to take it in advance it was successful. In principle, musicians can control not only the volume, but also articulation, octave, micro-tones, etc. through breathing techniques on wind instruments. However, most existing digital versions do not capture the various effects of breathing as is possible in analogue. Instead, they rely on additional interface elements. An interface was developed that converts real-time breath data into MIDI controls. The Hyper-hybrid Flute can be switched between its electronic and acoustic modes. In acoustic mode, the interface is identical to the regular six-hole recorder. In electronic mode, the interface recognizes the player’s fingering and breathing speed and converts them into MIDI commands.
SIDE NOTE: Definition of MIDI: MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, which means “digital interface for musical instruments”. It is a language that allows computers, musical instruments and other hardware to communicate with each other. The MIDI protocol includes the interface, the language in which the MIDI data is transmitted, and the connections needed for the hardware to communicate.
The Hyper-Hybrid Flute interface has three contributions in particular:
It simulates that acoustic property of the flute where higher breathing speed leads to higher octaves and more micro-tonal pitch bending.
By exaggerating the parameters, the interface is expanded into a hyper instrument.
A simple toggle supports the change between electronic and acoustic mode.
To detect if the hole is covered by a finger when playing the flute, a ring-shaped capacitive sensor is placed on each of the six holes and the breathing rate is measured by a BMP085 air pressure sensor.
Changing state
To enter the electronic mode, the musician inserts the air pressure sensor into the mouthpiece outlet. This mutes the recorder and simultaneously exposes the sensor to the air pressure in the recorder, from which the breathing speed is calculated. To enter acoustic mode, the player releases the air pressure sensor from the exit port, so that the playing of the interface is acoustic and the air pressure sensor is not triggered. The picture below shows the prototype with the attached sensors.
Controlling Octave and Micro-tone via Breath
The influence of the breath on the micro-tone and the octave can be modeled as follows:
Harder blowing at a pitch leads to an upward micro-tonal pitch bend.
When the breathing speed exceeds a specific threshold, the pitch jumps up an octave.
Such threshold values for the breathing speed increase with rising pitch. This is shown perfectly in the picture above. The higher the velocity of the breath with holding for example D# the higher the jumps to another octave are.
Measuring the relationship between pitch bend and breath pressure using an acoustic recorder gives a pitch bend coefficient of 0.055. The micro-tone enables the musician to perceive his position relative to the thresholds. This interactive feedback allows them then to calibrate their breathing speed and avoid unexpected octave jumps. Under the bend coefficient > 0.055 the interface becomes a hyper instrument. The micro-tone as a musical device offers an additional dimension of expressiveness.
How does it become a MIDI controller?
To know what pitch the instrument should produce at any given time does not make it a MIDI controller per-se, because MIDI requires a discrete stream of note on and note off events. So the interface must be stateful.
The breath velocity is compared to a threshold to determine whether the instrument should be at rest or producing a note. A rising edge in that signal marks the excitation of the instrument, which fires a Note On event. Meanwhile, a differentiator listens to the pitch and fires its output line when the pitch changes value. The differentiator output, conditioned on whether the instrument is at rest, also fires a Note On event.
What tools are used?
The interface is wireless. All sensors are connected to an Arduino Nano, which communicates with a Processing 3 sketch via Bluetooth. The sketch uses the midi bus library for MIDI messaging. The recorder body is modeled in Fusion 360 and fabricated with MJF 3D printing.
Reflections
In the results of this research, it is very clear that there is still innovation in the field of wind controllers. With the ability to measure octaves, the multi modal music teaching system can be expanded to include breathing technique in the learning outcomes. The MIDI interface is accurate and allows for optimal communication through the musician’s breathing.
Therefore, the hyper-hybrid flute poses as an interesting solution on the path to the digitization of wind instrument and also new didactic concept and learning more immersive. Besides teaching, I especially see this hyper-hybrid flute applied in the context of arts and performance art but also possible in commercial productions where simulations of wind instruments might be useful. Moreover I want to mention the importance of interfaces as bridges from the analogue to the digital world, what this flute also represents. It is of high interest to combine these worlds to create even better and more comprehensive solutions and experiences. Analog and digital, these opposites both have their justification and are to a certain extent equally dependent on each other, and definitely can profit from each others strengths.
I want to close this post with Adrian Belew’s words: “Digital for storage and quickness. Analog for fatness and warmth.”
Ich bekam die Anfrage für die Website eines Unternehmens Fotos vom Büroleben zu machen. Es war mein erstes größeres Shooting ohne weitere beteiligte Leute aus meiner Branche.
Die Fotos mussten als erstes mal inhaltlich zum Thema der Seitenstruktur passen. Also habe ich hier wie üblich einen Shootingplan und ein Moodboard ausgearbeitet. Dafür war es notwendig ordentlich zu recherchieren, weil ich manche Tätigkeiten des Unternehmens – aufgrund der noch nicht fertigen Website – mir recht unklar waren. Es ist ein Unternehmen für Beratung. Hier war dann klar: Die Fotos müssen hell und freundlich sein. Sie dürfen nicht zu streng aussehen, aber müssen Kompetenz vermitteln. Viele lächelnde Gesichter, ruhige Kompositionen. Ich wollte mich zuerst für warme Farben entscheiden. Aufgrund des CD der Firma blieb ich aber bei kühl – neutral.
Meine Vorgehensweise in etwa:
Zeitplan
Moodboard
Recherche/Rücksprache
Shootingplan
Equipmentplan
Statistenplan
Shooting
Aussortieren
Nachbearbeiten
Was was das Outcome meines Experiments zur Bildwahrnehmung: Was passiert denn mit einem Bild auf einer Website? Welchen Unterschied macht die Position?Gerade auf einer Website ist besonder wichtig, wohin ein Bild den Blickfokus lenkt. Bei Fotos, auf denen Köpfe alle nach rechts gedreht sind, verläuft der Blick der Betrachtenden automatisch nach rechts. Will ich das denn hier überhaupt? Diese Folusgeschichte hätte ich besser nutzen können.
Die abgebildeten Personen lenken den Blick der Betrachter:innen auf den “Fragen?”-Button
Die abgebildeten Personen lenken den Blick der Betrachter:innen auf den Text darunter
Bilder mit viel Weiß und nur einem klaren Objekt statt zu viel Tumult gefielen dem Kunden immer am Besten. Auf einem Websitefoto sollte nicht zu viel am Bild passieren. Es ist besser, wenn es nur die Atmosphöre unterstützt anstatt abzulenken.
Oft besser Atmosphäre einfangen anstatt mit konkreter Abbildung abzulenken.
Es viel mir leicht, lächelnde Gesichter einzufangen, die beim Betrachten ein positives Gefühl erwecken sollen. Schwierig wurde es aber bei Unterthemen, die sich um z.B. Arbeitsverlust oder andere Schicksalsschläge dreht. Hier ist nicht sinnvoll fröhliche Personen abzubilden. Nachdem das Unternehmen nur eigene Angestellte und keine fremden Models auf der Website haben wollte, war dementsprechend schwer, ein ernstes bis betrübtes Gesicht vorzutäuschen. Das hat in diesem Projekt so nicht gut funktioniert.
Zu Betrachter:innen gewandte lächende Person VS. weggedrehte neutrale Person erzielen ein ganz anderes Feeling.
Statt traurigen Personen am Bild wurden schließlich neutrale Bilder verwendet.
Ich habe noch viel Luft nach Oben was Bildbearbeitung angeht. Während ich hier nur eine grundsätzliche Korrektur der Bildeinstellungen vorgenommen habe, könnte ich in Zukunft deutlich mehr Stimmung herausholen.
