We have devised a list of actions, that will need to be completed. Valeria offered to lead the group. My thought process at this stage if I am perfectly honest, is that I felt like students in marketing would expect me to volunteer to be the group lead. I did not for several reasons. I consider myself, quite committed to the uni process and I am aware of that, and i feel that other students need to be put in the position of leading, to get an idea of the non-tangible skills involved. I also, wanted to show myself as a supportive figure, not the kind of bossy, direct trunchbull type figure that I feel other students might perceive me to be. Not that I particularly care, but my decision to stay as a secondary role, was strategic.

18.01.24

I am trying to think about how I can make something engaging, impressive and collaborative. Following on from the essay, and my understanding that a true collaborative process will be an outcome that has been equally contributed to by a range of users. I am trying to think about how something can be exhibited that allows people to design something. The logistics of this are going to be quite challenging.

We are learning Figma, could I use that, that people can design their perfect pool, as in what puts them off swimming now, why don't people swim more on a day to day basis. Many people recognize it as a healthy activity, makes you feel great, but then many pools struggle financially. Lidos in the colder months are super unused. Even heated ones. There is also a massive racial disparity in users of pools. Some of this is cultural and tried to be rectified by having gender segregated sessions but they are poorly attended in my experience also. I'm thinking could we make a truly collaborative pool, rather than a pool that has used a consultative process (very common from councils, to claim they involved the community as a tick box exercise).

I was thinking how I could use shapes to represent specific areas and proceeses involved in swimming and how the layout could be arranged.

While assembling the presentation, I was very much with the mindset, that historically many well know artists had clearly be captivated to try and capture water, and i wanted to communicate the message of 'why?' also to say this is not just a 'me' thing, it was a way of saying 'look, all these great artists have done it too, but we are just not thinking about why do they do it, why do we all do so many things that involve water?'. I think this mindset was partially being born out of feeling I have to justify myself as to why I am always defaulting to water and paranoia that I will be seen as either obsessed or a one trick pony. At this stage I was not thinking about an outcome based around this, I was very clear at this stage, that I could not settle on an outcome.

Prior to this crit, I was just drawing blanks. My head was a complete mix of so many random things. I was thinking to try and make an interactive floor projection [been done many times before, but its draws attention], allowing the public to design a swimming pool [a truly collaborative approach to designing a pool to maybe see what current pools are doing wrong, or why they don't attract certain demographics], a collage art piece made up of people pictures of swimming pools that could also be added to during the show to get them to email their favorite picture, A world map of all the pools ive been to, and documented and allow people to add to it, with their memory of an ocean or a pool.

I had discussed in tutorials, my ideas, which were sort of i felt acknowledged as ok. [but i do see that in this stage of the degree, lecturers let us run with many or our own ideas, and just guide us to some reference points to help bring it to fruition].

Juliette has raised the 'why' question about what I wanted to do, Matt had mentioned a couple of reference points [Artsists and websites] and to maybe look at the polluting of our rivers are coastlines.

However, at this crit, as you know, I gave a very transparent verbalisation, of my mindset about this project, and the feedback was to take that ability to verbalise and communicate and focus on that.

I was a bit stunned at first, but after a bit of time to process and obviously I also want to act upon feedback I receive from lecturers [due to their much more vast experience of envisioning an outcome [[not to grade chase - just to be clear]]. I thought, yes this is maybe an angle that I can deliver and it gives some 'heart' to my piece.

. I wanted to document how the sunlight affects the space, in case this was something I need to consider or use, once I think of my piece.

Thoughts on the Space.

It is quite a cavernous feel due to the high ceilings, and it has a lot of natural light. I am not sure what I want to do, but I am trying to consider how I can use the space to its advantage. One area I am thinking about, is the colour scheme of the entire show [as the degree has always made me think about how your work, comes together as an overall piece and how we can consider the space, other peoples work, the lighting, the environment, to carefully consider every decision we make for our work. It many not get noticed by the public, but I feel much more comfortable, that I am thinking about every decision and every decision is justified.

As the space has dark walls, I am thinking that I want to create an immersive area. I really liked some of the 2nd year student show work from last year [that was held in the studios at stockwell street] when an immersive area had been created [Giulia Balatti [[ student]] had an area at the back [Life drawing area] with a documentation of her hometown in Italy, and it was dark with sofas and exclusive to her work, i really liked this] There was also another space that a little room had been created with the walls. Considering all of this I wanted to try and make some early decisions to secure this, and maybe I can change it, if in the end my outcome goes in a different direction.

I visited the space for the first time on 18.01.24. I wanted to document how the sunlight affects the space, in case this was something I need to consider or use, once I think of my piece.

I made it in this timelapsed style, to match the look of a previous post on the channel detailing how to walk to the venue from the tube station.

There was talk of making physical invites, that If I am truly honest, I was seeing as ambitious as I knew the term would get busier, but I felt it best not to vocalize this, and suggest focusing on a nice digital one because I did not want to be seen as negative, and I want people to be able learn from this experience in their own way. So i was very much keeping to a back seat, but unfortunately I could see it in my opinion, just not progressing week on week. I was trying very hard to bite my tongue.

The reason I went down the area of projecting water refractive light reflections, is because this is a visual outcome from water, that I find relaxing, beautiful and has always been something that from a young age, has attracted me to water. Or maybe i just joined the two from a young age, and I have now forgot and when I see these reflections, it just now make me feel like swimming or relaxed.

As i feel like this, and maybe one area of my outcome I want to explore is to explore if water envokes these feeling on many other people too, I found this as an effective way to trigger this feeling in other if it exists.

The issues this presented were having a body of water nearby to many electrical outputs and equipment, and although I liked the effect It was not as large or immesive as I wanted.

I created this effect with tin foil and shining a mobile light onto the tin foil in water and shaking the container of water. Obviously with a bigger light it would be clearer, but this is something I need to consider if I was to develop this idea.

I had thought very carefully, about how to progress things, but without taking the lead and to use an approach that would try to ensure equality and workload among the group, and also allowing the group lead to take a lead role.

I felt this method, then acts as a visual contract to what people have agreed to do that is on display, so hopefully there will be a small amount of pressure for people to deliver and it is easy for the team to follow up on.

This week, I also got into a heated debate about getting the tik tok account up and running [but I also feel i was beginning to crack and get a bit vocal, which as i have explained I really didn't want to do, as i wanted the group lead to lead]. However I felt I was the only one that was going to call this out [that we are on week 5 and we still don't have a delivery that was an area of responsibility] Needless to say we got the tik tok up and running the next day.

We had the meeting and I found it quite useful, to ask for some direction. Alice [head of marketing] suggested we talk to 3 students about their work and they can promote it on their socials. Valeria asked for sponsorship, which I found a bit out of the blue, but in the nature of working in a team, I just rolled with it.

Francis was extremely useful and went way beyond what I was expecting [or what i knew about his experience in this field]. As tv's on stands was very limited, we discussed having the monitors on the floor [that would be useful due to the lack of stands] but also how we can use this to our advantage and think creatively how to make this look considered.

We looked at examples of using two screens and how best to use them [not just displaying the same video] and how they can be carefully placed. I liked this idea and also saw it as a challenge to work with.

This meeting was extremely useful to have ahead of schedule. I then started to arrange my equipment correctly with Matthew Barton, and I was keeping the exhibition team updated for their master list.

I started organizing this independently as I wanted to ensure that I was not relying on someone else, that could cause a breakdown in communication and affect my outcome and all the work I will be putting into it. I considered if this was a selfish approach, hence why i kept the appropriate group teams updated about what I was doing.

There was some political communication that had to take place about Matthew receiving too many random emails and it was confirmed that Francis would be the one point of contact. However as time evolved I sort of built a line of communication with Matt and he has been asking me many things about the equipment logistics, so somehow I have kind of my accident and unwillingly fallen a bit into this role.

I dint find this research particularly inspirational for my ideas, basically because the vibe of mine is to be thought provoking and relaxing. Its also a video, so quite different to this. I do like though how he includes to relationship with his work on the wall to the floor.

18.04.24 / After consideration about this, I would like just a simple stool or black box for someone to sit on quite low and watch my piece sitting down if they wish.

When I have been experimenting with projections it became apparent that a nice little touch that might work to just add a fine detail of water and constellations would be very subtle twinkles. I have sourced some black glitter, but need to think about how I can have this on the wall to capture the light from the projector.

I have not tried yet, but I am thinking to have small bits of black paper on the black wall with just very finite glued dab of glitter. I will experiment with this prior to the show to be prepared on the day.

I will also consider the colour palette of the visual identity of the show, to work into my piece.

In terms of the marketing team at this stage. I have decided to work on a a few tasks independently, that came out of the marketing meeting with the DD.

There has been submissions in other modules and regarding marketing work, it does not seem like much is being produced. I also dont have the time, to rely on involving other members of the team in what I am planning or doing. I do provide videos for the social media uploads but i dont see many of them getting uploaded. I dont upload them myself as we had a nominated person for that, so I am sticking to the protocols. I have asked why, but you get very waffled 'computer says no' type of answers.

I was quite impressed with how they came out and I am glad that I think they will produce a good effect in my space. I am keeping it black and white to match the dark interior of the venue and the constellation nature [night sky and stars]. I found it very therapeutic and relaxing watching these reflections. However they were not exactly the type of reflections I was looking for. Ideally what I am imagining is an outdoor pool [or some clear body of water] with either artificial lights or moonlight creating the same refractive reflections.

What I am trying to achieve is that bright sunlight reflections, but in a black and white sense [so the refracted light rays in white and the rest of the scene black].

I may have to do this in the daytime and play with the colours because having access to a pool at night and to be able to film it is a bit challenging.

I did try to get participants in the video to reminisce quiet a lot and matched them with their supplied childhood photos and for those that were old enough and the photos are clearly old, i really like the nostalgic aesthetic this creates.

https://www.timeout.com/uk/news/this-much-loved-seaside-attraction-in-cornwall-has-been-forced-to-shut-011524

Seems to me the council fudged it up, and thats a massive shame, as over 1/2 million £'s were invested from local donations.

However I see the route the jubilee pool has gone as publicizing itself and providing a platform for the local community is how the future of swimming needs to be in this country. It is such a healthy activity and combined with saunas and steam rooms, Jacuzzi it can really benefit people with all sorts of muscle and joint issues. In central Europe swimming and spas are massively more accessible than here [i can speak of Germany quite confidently], but Poland, Austria and Hungary all have very affordable spas, that are massive and accessible where as the equivalent ones in the UK and confined usually to a £250 3 hour treatment at a luxury hotel. Some council operators offer some spa elements [Ironmonger row baths] but even this is 5 times the cost I would pay in Germany, and 5 times worse.

Regarding the video, I will watch it carefully and maybe add in some of his techniques into mine, if I feel they fit.

I love the stories and the golden hour lighting and voice overs. One thing I have to consider is that many of these videos are about a place. I need to think carefully about what is the focus of my video.

I have been thinking about it on my cycles to and from Uni and I feel there will be two main elements that I want my piece to vibe.

1 - The conversational element, talking out aloud and expressing ourself verbally i think is turning into a skill that is becoming rarer and rarer. I want my piece to promote internal conversations and verbalizing these into spoken words.

2 - Nostalgic Reminiscing. I want this to feature, to promote the viewer to do the same, or feel nice by hearing someone elses memories. I would also like to inspire people to think about their own memories that have been about water. I want people to consider how water is the gathering place for humans, just as it is for the animal kingdom. Like a watering hole in the African Savannah

Helen did send me a flyer she had created so I think potentially we can use both for the flyers. The flyers and flyering will be the next task that I will be encouraging the marketing team to all participate in, but it does seem I will have to organize the printing of the flyers as I just cannot get anything from the vis com team [you have obviously seen my numerous requests by email over the weeks] Its a shame, because [rant incoming] because its a waste of my time to have to request this info, and the emails are just mostly point blank ignored.

When I did try to talk about it face to face on one week, it caused a massive rift about the visual direction that had been sent out, so it just goes no where. Its a shame, because I feel this show and title, provided a lot of scope to pull from our branding module, but the politics just took over and sheer laziness im afraid [my opinion].

I do apologize if this is ranting and I know its perhaps not the most positive thing to read about, but as a document of my process and group working i feel its very relevant to know the details of my contributions and why those contributions have had to be made, even if they are reluctant and also take away from my time like my time is less important. I have just found the lack of attendance but then the entitlement and expectation for other students to provide the answers on equipment etc astonishing. But I assume its the same every year. I have tried to be as helpful as possible but also with an element of directness.

This video was sent for the socials, and followed up verbally for the tik tok, account, but nothing happened.

However this piece of work, has come to my mind, when I think about my piece for the exhibition. I think it is because the skeptical voices are saying 'i'm just doing a video' but then I think about this piece, which you cannot really see in this picture, but is accompanied by a large screen of Marina talking, and for quite a long period of time. I think it is justification for me to reassure myself, that talking and dialogue can be beautiful. Personally I feel it is something about the duration, tone and if you can empathize with the speaker that makes it beautiful. I have tried to capture this with my opening monologue, but time will tell if I have managed to emulate it.

Challenges:

• Getting strangers to participate - I reached out to people, and tried approaching people at the pool. But i did not have much luck. I also had a lot of frustrations obtaining permissions from the pools, if you ask for permission to film anything. The standard answer will be a no, and then many don't seem willing to move from that. I think its best to not ask, go when its quiet ad then just get on with it, with some obvious discretion.

• Multiple Screens - this was weirdly more time consuming than I thought. Although i did not help myself really on some of them. as I diced the clip up forgetting i was moving around, i think if was to offer to anyone doing it or to myself. Is do not 'unlink' the audio from. This mistake cost me about 3 - 4 hours.

What Would I do Differently:

• I think, |I would like my names to appear as they do in my introductions in a real 3D space, I did not do this in this one, as the effect i was using was already caining my laptop and i was worried that I would be investing more time into segments that represent about 4% of my video.

What I enjoyed:

• Overall I did enjoy the module. It has been refreshing to work towards an installed outcome which is off property. I enjoyed looking at other documentary style videos that have been made in a way to capture the heart of a place or a person and i hope I have achieved almost as half as well as they have done. I'm not sure if this is a particular area of design I would like to take further [I don't really like working with video or video editing software] but i do like creating something that i feel means something to me and might mean something to other people. I want to make something beautiful, but beautiful not necessarily in the visual sense [but i would like that too] but beautiful in the emotions it evokes on the viewer. I would love someone to watch my video and also reminisce about their own experiences or be inspired to create some experiences themselves. I also hope that it encourages people to have internal conversations with themselves and the importance of just being able to talk and that can also be a beautiful thing in a day and age of gadgets that in someways take us away from talking with our mouths.

I also need to consider what I am doing with the second screen, during my monologue. I think it will work, with just my black and white ripples that has become my glue for this project [and that is because i find them so therapeutic] so they work well in tying it all together.

This left me in a quandry about keeping the other videos i have from the other participants. I just felt that if i make it all black and white, its a bit like 'ok, hes made it black and white, but why, just because?' Do i have a real justification for it? It makes me think about the use of black and white for Schindler's List, but as it used colour [the girl in the red coat] in a very symbolic way throughout it was felt poignant, justified and cohesive with the movie. I don't feel i have that justification really and almost seems its like i am doing it to be artistic, but then i get intl the territory of 'who am i making this for? me or to impress other people? I have shifted in this process that I want this piece to be for me ultimately and i just hope other people find it beautiful.

I'm still not entirely sure, what I will do, so you'll have to see, but i think I am edging to keep the photos and videos other than my monologue in colour, but with a very well considered filter that i hope will help emulate beautiful nostalgic memories.

Thats what the water gave me:

This was a curve ball, as I had not picked up on the fact that it was about the weather [weather is also a little fascination of mine] so how she visualized this was really interesting. I have mentioned quite a few times now in submission conclusions that I am increasingly finding it interesting that people just have these interests and then it is turned into 'something' . When i say something, i mean this in a way that it build into something, something that can be shown, a project. Showing us the ingenious ways that water was collected for the drier season in this ice sculptors was really interesting

I feel this week would have been massively useful for anyone that is presenting speculative design [i'm not....typical], but i really found it interesting when they showed the mockup of life through AR, and if it was un-controlled and how many ads we would be bombarded with. Made me wonder if the apple vision pro will go that way.

I also think you have to be impressed with the detail and dedication of their sketches.

Overall though, it was inspirational and good visual databank to see how AR could be used.

This is maybe a little biased, but I do always like the way Olive speaks and describes things. However it is also insightful to see these research areas that our lecturers are involved with. This talk was also useful to see how participatory practice was playing a part and the involvement they invited us to take part in at the end.

It is re-enforcing what I have learnt about participatory design being truly open with the results that you receive.

I want my piece to have heart and trigger people to reflect on their own mind. I also want people to think about connecting with the mind and people able to express what is on your mind.