MY PROJECT
After looking at the briefs for the Creative Conscience I decided on doing my project either on the Open Brief, Equality or Conscious Consumption.
My idea for the Open Brief was to centre my project around Dementia as it is something that has touched my family.
I didn’t really have an idea for the other two briefs.
I decided to opt for the Open Brief as I was more confident in finding a strong idea with this brief. I created a few mind maps to find some ideas and did some research online to find out what was already out there. I knew I wanted to aim my project towards a career rather than someone who suffers with dementia as I found many great projects for those suffering already and decided to fill the gap for the carers side. Dementia can be very hard on families so I thought creating something that can help would be very beneficial.
The thought of caring made me think of care instructions that come on clothes and textiles and how the symbols are really simple but also contain lots of information. I planned on having it on a zine however when I had a tutorial I was suggested by Amelia that having the symbols on something portable like a bag would be ideal as the carer would be able to take the bag with them when they visit the person with dementia. I decided this would be a better idea and would benefit more people as a bag is more portable and easier to have around rather than taking a zine with you . Bags can also spread the message and deliver information to more people as the public can see them when you carry it around/ use it in a public environment such as shopping.
Printing
I had decided on screen printing my design onto the bags with fabric screenprinting ink. However because of the circumstances and the impact of COVID-19 the university had to close and so I will be unable to use screenprint in time for this project. To combat this problem and to deliver an outcome I will be creating mock-ups of my idea and editing the design onto bags to show the vision of my idea.
Research
I first went around this project through looking for charities which research into Dementia and Alzheimers. I found many charities in the UK which include:
I didn’t want to just begin the project ignorantly so I took some time to research into charities for dementia. I watched some videos to fully understand how dementia affects the people who suffer and what it’s like to care for someone with dementia.
Here are the links of some of the videos I watched:
I then looked at other projects that have been done to see what was already available and I found a project called the IDEAL project+ IDEAL 2 : (http://www.idealproject.org.uk/)
- IDEAL (2014-2019) : which is 1500 people with dementia and their carers trying to identify what helps them to live well. “IDEAL is the largest study of living well with dementia in the UK. The evidence will enable the development of new policy, interventions and initiatives to transform the lives of people with dementia and their carers.”
- IDEAL 2 is based on stories from people affected by dementia who worked with artists to create ‘Chapbooks’.
I couldn’t find many other projects on dementia and especially on my idea. I took this as a good sign and felt confident that I could fill the gap.
For my research I looked at how the charities recommend talking and acting around someone with dementia. I wanted to use reliable sources for my information so I decided on using information from both Alzheimers.org and NHS as they’re both credible sources and I can rely on their information being correct.
I first looked at Alzheimers.org and noticed they had very useful pages on how to act and speak to someone with dementia. The I took a lot of information from this page and created categories which were :
- How to listen
- Before you speak
- What to say
- Physical contact & body language
- How to speak
I picked the points I thought would be the most helpful to know whilst also keeping in mind that these points would be turned into symbols so I had to think which would also be the best visually.
I wanted to make sure my information was correct and so to ensure this I looked at the information on the NHS page and compared what points and advice they gave. I wrote down the points and noted the ones that came up on both sites as they would be the most common points.
There were around 3/4 points which came up for 3 different topics
How to listen :
- Don’t / try not to interrupt
- Rephrase what you haven’t understood
- Give the person your full attention
How to speak:
- Speak clearly and calmly, at a slow pace
- Try to laugh together about misunderstandings and mistakes
- Ask a question one at a time in a way that allows for a yes/no answer
- Avoid speaking sharply or raising you voice
Body language & physical contact:
- Talk to them at a respectful distance
- Hold the person’s hand while talking
- Make sure your facial expressions match what you’re saying
I chose these points to create my symbols on. I decided to do 3 symbols for each and so I decided to not include “Speak clearly and calmly at a slow pace” as it’s quite similar to other points and I felt the others worked better as symbols. Also “avoid speaking sharply or raising your voice” is the opposite and so I felt there wasn’t much need to add the other point also.
Inspiration
For this project I looked at other well known symbols which included Washing machine instructions which is what my project is inspired by.
I looked at Makaton symbols as many contain images of bodies and hands and I thought it would be very helpful to see how they simplified actions.
I also looked at Ikea symbols as they’re very clear and simple but also contain a lot of detail and are very obvious of what they are.
Danger and warning symbols were also very helpful.
I looked at all of these, as I didn’t want to copy one style and wanted to see how different brands demonstrated different symbols and how they turned actions into symbols.
My brief and feedback :
My original brief: https://wordpress.com/post/catherineslearningjournal.home.blog/1053
GROUP CRIT FEEDBACK
I had a group crit over Microsoft teams with four other students, my tutor Amelia and the illustrator Patrick Cullum. I explained my idea and showed this presentation of where I was at with the project:
The feedback I received was really helpful :
- Look at expanding the idea – through posters, scarfs etc
- Show multiple languages
- It’s good that I am using two sources of information
Symbols
Development of symbols
The symbols
Colours and dementia
I decided to use purple as the colour as it is the official colour for dementia, and that would help people easily identify what cause the bag is for from a far.
Mock up
Tag
Tag finalised
Catherine's learning journal 