Monarch Butterfly Phenomenon

I have been watching the BBC series 'Life' and it ceases to amaze me the amount of things going on out in the world that we wouldn't ever know about if it wasn't for programs like these. There was one thing in particular that caught my eye in a previous program and that was the migrating phenomenon of the Monarch Butterfly.

These beautiful butterflies migrate from Canada to Mexico every year, a journey of 2,000 miles, to a specific group of trees among the vast mountainous forests of this state. Countless numbers of butterflies hang from these trees, covering every last millimetre of branches and leaves. They come here to escape the leathal winter freeze of Canada that could potentially kill them, the conditions in this forest however, are perfect for their hibernation. Although hundreds of thousands of these sleeping insects are killed by predators, those that survive stay huddled together for a staggering 4 months. It's not until the warmth of Spring arrives that they awaken and begin their journey back to the Northern areas of America and tranquility returns to these forests until another Autumn.

I think this is possibly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen and just couldn't believe that such an incredible and beautiful specticle takes place in this world we live in.

Tweenagers

The title of this blog –Tweenagers – straight away probably has you pondering what exactly a ‘Tweenager’ is. Well, it’s a young adolescent that is not yet technically a teenager, but that is starting to act like one from a younger age. They are generally in the age bracket of 8 to 12 years old.

In this modern and highly commercialized society it has started to become very clear that today’s children are growing up a lot quicker than they used to. Is there a pressure on children to grow up a lot quicker than they should be? Are their childhoods being taken away from them?

The media plays a huge role in a child’s lifestyle, be it through television, magazines or the internet. On average, every juvenile spends around 6 hours a day involved in the media in some way. This is longer than the majority of children spend in the classroom every day. The mass media has the opportunity to take advantage of the fact that they have more time to influence children longer than their teacher.

After university each day I walk through the Overgate shopping centre and the amount you see young children between the age of 8 and 12 wearing quite an amount of make-up, designer labels and are in groups, out shopping. This should not be the way in which we see adolescents; trying to grow up far too quickly and following the footsteps of older teenager’s long before they should be. Due to the highly commercialized and consumer driven world we inhabit, it is not allowing youngster’s to have the childhood they should be having. It forces children into a forever more impressionable world that embeds stereotypical values into their minds. In their eyes you’re not ‘cool’ unless you are wearing the latest, top brand clothing and own the latest technology. This impression is vastly gained through what children see and read in the mass media.

Should something be done to reduce the amount of time that adolescents spend involved in the media? Should there be some way to censor the material that is contained within it? In addition to this, is there a way in which we can slow down the rate at which children are growing up? Is this even possible?

Assignment 4

I previously theorised that the general public is not aware of the true effects that the media has on their lives and everyday behaviour. Despite this assumption, I have no evidence to prove my theory. As a result, I have investigated this concept further in the hope that my theories are correct.

The main aim of this article is to prove that the Mass Media greatly influences human behaviour, in addition to the fact that it has a lot more control over us than we realise. It also presents findings that have strong implications towards imitation and suggestion having an immense impact on social behaviour. Classical sociologists paid a significant amount of attention to this concept of imitation and suggestion but this theory has been practically ignored in this modern age. Phillips produced this journal to prove that these concepts, in actual fact, lie greatly within modern society. The key issues addressed are what effects the media has on societies and individuals within them, after a fatal accident has been greatly publicized. It looks into depth at the effect the media truly has and how the more publication a story gets the greater the detrimental outcome.

In order to prove these theories, the main evidence used was based on the increase of suicides after a suicide story had been publicized and the effect of suggestion on drivers in motor vehicle fatalities. In a previous paper, Phillips had shown that the national level of suicides increases considerably for a brief period of time after a suicide story is published in a newspaper. An example that he uses to support this is the fact that after Marilyn Monroe’s death, the U.S suicide rate temporarily but dramatically rose by a staggering 12%. However, not only does it prove this theory but it has also shown that the increase only occurs after the publication, the more publicity a story is given the greater the national level of suicides and furthermore, that this increase in suicides primarily occurs in the surrounding region of where the story has been publicized.

Analysis of motor vehicle fatalities proved to show that accidents on the road can have a suicidal component to them which therefore links them with the same published suicide stories. The data examined consisted of tables of daily motor vehicle accidents that are published by the state of California. If a front-page suicide story in a California newspaper stimulates a rise in motor vehicle fatalities, then a link between the mass media and human influence can be formed.

After much investigation into these tables the first analysis was proven and a second analysis was carried out to find the daily fluctuation on motor vehicle fatalities for two week periods before, during and after publicized suicides. There was also a positive correlation, therefore showing that it is evident that motor vehicle fatalities do not increase before the publicized suicide but do rise somewhat abruptly immediately after. Additionally, shown once again, is that the more publicity given to a suicide story, the greater the increase in the rise of motor fatalities from then on. Moreover, a trend within all of this that amplified all of this evidence, was that people reading these stories related themselves to the victims within them and it was revealed that stories about young males committing suicide tended to be followed by young males committing suicide, stories about older people committing suicide tended to be followed by single-vehicle crashes involving older drivers, and so on.

In this journal, Phillips has shown a vast number of positive connections between the influences of the mass media on humans but he also strongly proved that the process of imitation and suggestion greatly affects society. This implies that the mass media plays a much larger role in society and has a superior impact on individuals more than we realise. However, if for instance, none of these stories were publicized would that mean that no-one would commit suicide or crash their car on purpose? The way the author of this journal views it, is that no matter what, the media in some form have a huge impact on humans, occasionally more than we realise and the publication of such fatalities brings the contemplation of suicide and gives those with suicidal tendencies a hint of acceptance to commit it.

The second source used to prove my theory was a book called 'Media, Communication, Culture A Global Approach' by James Lull. It describes and proves that the mass media has a highly influential role within society. It also stresses that the media shapes almost every action and decision made by individuals on a daily basis. Lull, cleverly places a strong piece of factual information within in each section of this book to prove these concepts and theories. The articles used are all true-life evidence where the mass media, human communication and culture are concerned. Generally speaking, he uses huge historical events from all over the world, to show how the mass media has had an effect on them. From this it was established that the media has control over the way in which messages are conveyed and as a result the public therefore, can only believe what they see or read. Two of the case studies he presents are based on two of the most recognisable brands of our modern age, McDonald’s and Microsoft. Without the media these corporate giants would not have become household names around the globe. Immediately, this book demonstrates the media’s influence over the human race.

It is openly admitted and proven that the media are a powerful unit with huge impacts on our cultures and societies. The author outlines key concepts that aren’t always openly recognised by society. Without realising, everyone has their views and perceptions of the world altered in some manner by the media and not only that, by reading this book we are quickly and honestly shown that the media affects everything from what we wear to what programs we watch on television. Despite the media’s audience trying not to conform to these subliminal inclinations towards specific fashions and trends, it’s undoubtedly a fact that the media overpower and embed several elements and values into large proportions of our society.

Lull also reminds us that technology and the media vastly advances as the year’s progress and the effect of cultural impact changes. As a result media influence is in some ways, greater than ever before. These historical changes to technology are used to emphasise this argument because they illustrate the detrimental effects they have on societies throughout the world. Moreover, it is realised that the media and hype-related news are a huge part of the modern age and in some ways have become very much accepted as this. This author illustrates that this is not how the media should be treated and that there is a lot more linking the media to present forms of communication and our culture than we may realise. One such topic of discussion is the way in which different cultures are perceived within society.

The mass media has been widely targeted with complaints throughout the years for being highly stereotypical, especially when it comes to the African-American race. Even with this bombardment of objection it still continues to pursue the stereotype route to chase corporate profits by keeping ‘characters and stories predictable’. The media also tends to have a knack for singling out images that many people, especially adolescents find attractive or that they can relate to without much thought. The media don’t want you to have to think intensely about an article or advertisement; they want it to catch your eye, be easily understood and create an in depth thought process within the audience’s mind.

One of the most common types of mass media research is quantitative analyses of ‘audience behaviour’. However, not much of this type of research has been carried out by Lull because of the enormous number of statistically based studies over the past 50 years, which proved to unearth few significant insights into this discipline. There is simply no way of measuring the impact a particular piece of media has on a human or what impact it has on their consciousness and behaviour. Using evidence from other researcher’s of this field has concluded that ‘on a whole the mass media do more to reinforce human behaviour rather than change it’ (Joseph Klapper). On the other hand, in saying this there can be uncertainties of the media effect theory as stated in a sentence by Wilbur Schramm, ‘the media influence some people, some of the time, about some things’.

Before examining my chosen book and journal, I had previously theorised that advertising and the mass media can greatly influence human beings and help form trends within cultures and societies. Through this in depth study it became apparent that both of my sources supported this theory. However, the book ‘Media, Communication, Culture; A Global Approach’ in some ways simply stated ideas that were already thought about the media, where as the journal ‘Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion’ further advanced my perception of the media and to a great extent showed that it plays a highly influential role not only on society but indeed on the individual lives of each and every person within it.

The book ‘Media, Communication, Culture; A Global Approach’ shows a clear and positive connection between the media and their influence over individuals; from telling them what trends to follow, what clothes to wear and what they should be watching on their television set. Previous information obtained from Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘The Tipping Point’ brought to my attention a race of people that had never witnessed a suicide for decades; however, as a result of an adolescent male killing himself within this community, the media headlines transformed this culture. The fatality was published on front pages of newspapers throughout the local area and soon other young males began to carry out the act of suicide and imitate the way the boy in the story committed suicide. This alone shows that a single article publicized in a newspaper can have a detrimental effect on culture and society. The first suicide article in this society got the word out about suicide and those reading it soon began associating themselves with the story. In turn, this made every reader think about this awful act and gave those with suicidal tendencies someone to relate to and in a subliminal manner, a sense of allowance to follow in this person’s footsteps. This is only one form of how the media influence the human race, advance their audience’s thoughts and imbed perceptions into their minds. Undoubtedly, this increase in fatalities after the publication is by no means coincidence.

Further studies carried out by the journal ‘Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion’ advances what ‘The Tipping Point’ and my chosen book had previously stated. It showed that by publishing fatalities in newspapers, the percentage of similar fatalities rose immensely due to the topics resonance within popular culture at the time. All three of these sources support each other comprehensively and provide strong evidence that the media does indeed have a very superior power over humans and culture.

Another strong social trend that is greatly influenced by the media world and advertising is ‘Smoking’. Although there are no direct references to smoking in either of my sources, the book declares that the media often portrays images which adolescents find attractive and intriguing without any concern for their wellbeing. This huge influence on extremely impressionable teenagers is an easy target for the mass media. Daniel Cortese’s journal ‘Tobacco Industry Lifestyle Magazines Targeted to Young Adults’ investigates the media’s influence on teenagers and the glorifying of this extremely unhealthy trend. These sources support each other as they both understand and express the concept that images portrayed within the media are absorbed by their viewers and eventually imitated. Subsequently, social trends are able to start and as a result of this, cultures are soon moulded and transformed by the media. Once again this is an incredibly similar scenario to the suicide trends I referred to earlier. Therefore, the media undoubtedly shapes the world we live in today, with or without considering the consequences.

To advance my knowledge in this topic, considering exactly how the media works and its power within society would be vital. Two books that may be of value to furthering my theories are: ‘Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences’ by David Croteau and William Hoynes and ‘Media and Power’ by James Curran. Furthermore, by investigating deeper into the roles of advertising, imagery and the use of stereotypes I may be able to prove exactly how the media influences individuals. In addition to this, I could organise focus groups to determine exactly how people understand the extent to which the media controls them. This focus group could also be used to find out how current media and advertisements affect them on a day to day basis. All of this could conclude an even stronger collaboration of evidence towards my initial assumptions.

Bibliography

Cortese, Daniel K, Ph.D., Lewis, Jane, Dr.P.H., and Ling, Pamela M, M.D., M.P.H., 2009, Tobacco Industry Lifestyle Magazines Targeted to Young Adults, Elsevier

Gladwell, Malcolm, 2002, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference, Abacus

Lull, James, 1995, Media, Communication, Culture A Global Approach, Polity Press in Association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Phillips, David P, 1979, Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion, The University of Chicago Press

Sukitooru Yume Exhibition

'Sukitooru Yume' is a multimedia exhibition created by Daniel De Fazio, based on women in japanese contemporary arts. The motivation to create such an exhibition was to allow the participants to share and engage in Japanese arts and culture. The atmosphere was formatted to create an environment for the stimulation of art and ideas.

In the middle of the centrespace at the DCA, there was a huge division in the form of an image projected on a solid screen. This divided the room into two halves; one containing seating to watch the projection with a very dull atmosphere and japanese art around the walls; the other contained a slightly lit area with computer screens to look up information and a middle, square section that had multiple numbers of books placed on it. 

The projection was a glodfish swimming across screen changing into images of Japanese women. It was to represent 'A Riot of Goldfish' by Kanoko Okamoto, who tells of the impossible love of a goldfish breeder’s son for the daughter of a wealthy patron and his obsession to create a fish that will capture and reflect her beauty.

This exhibition was nothing at all like I had imagined, knowing that it was based on Japanese art and culture I expected to walk into a vastly coloured, bright room filled with interesting and remarkable peices of oriental artwork. This however was not the case. Instead I walked into a dark and dingy room, with a bizarre goldfish projection that contained an oriental sound playing over in the background. The area was so dark for the projection that the artwork on the walls could barely be seen.

I was glad I visited the exhibition to see what it was about but at the same time I felt greatly disappointed that it wasn't what I thought it was going to be and also wasn't as successful as it could have been. In my opinion, the layout just didn't seem right and the lighting did not create the right atmosphere for the audience.

101 Theory

In the current Furniture project the main route that our group of 3 have decided to go down was Public Seating. When I say public seating I know, straight away, that probably the first thing you thought of was a bench in a park or some kind of outdoor seat. But why when public seating is suggested do our minds not think of a seat at a train station or an airport or a bench in a shopping centre?

So we decided to work on indoor seating and the principal of engagement. I’m sure you have noticed that if there is a bench with 3 seats and one person is sitting at one of the edge seats, the next person comes along and sits at the opposite edge seat. Another person comes along wanting a seat but will very rarely sit in that one remaining, middle seat. Why is this? Strangers do not want to sit beside each other; they find this kind of engagement with people they don’t know very uncomfortable and intense. I called this the 101 Theory.

This concept of how people will sit can be transferred to any public seating with any number of seats but 9 out 10 times no-one will sit directly beside someone they don’t know.

Our answer to this was to create single seats, that move to wherever you want, within a specific area, that connect to each other so that if people want to sit by themselves they can but they also have the option to connect with another seat and sit with someone, either who they already know or someone who they only just met while engaging with our seating.

Ice Jewellery

This Ice Jewellery has been created by Katharina Ludwig. Some of her pieces have little cup like sections to them to catch the drops of water when the jewellery is melting, however, the rest tend to allow the ice to melt directly onto the wearer. Also everytime it melts it must be recreated and formed before it can be worn again.

If I'm going to be honest when I first came across this, I thought to myself 'Really, what is the point in this?!' To me making jewellery out of ice is just totally useless and I know it is the concept and the meaning behind it that can make this design acceptable but why use ice? why not use glass? it gives the same look and effect to the jewellery only it doesn't soak the wearer in the process and make them have to recreate their beloved piece of jewellry before they can wear it the next time they want to.

Sure these pieces of jewellery have strong aesthetic qualities but has the true practical side of this concept really been thought through??

HIV Travel Ban Lifted

HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

HIV infects and gradually destroys an infected person's immune system, reducing their protection against infection and cancers.

AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

It is not a single disease or condition. It's a term that describes the point when a person’s immune system can no longer cope because of the damage caused by HIV and they start to get one or more specific illnesses. A misconceived perception is that people actually die from AIDS but infact they actually die from the cancers, pneumonia or other conditions that may take hold when their immune system has been weakened by HIV. They don't actually die solely because of AIDS.

I read an article in NewScientist magazine titled 'US Lifts HIV Travel Ban' and I couldn't believe what I was reading. The article went on to say that President Obama has lifted a ban that excluded visitors living with HIV from visiting, staying or gaining residence in the United States of America. This ban has been in power for 22 years - over two decades!! - and will only be lifted next year. Throughout the world other countries also impose this HIV ban including China, South Korea and Ukraine, all of which are being urged to follow in Obama's footsteps.

In some ways I can see why these countries have imposed this ban, in a way protecting their people from transmission but at the same time nothing can condone human exclusion and this high level of discrimination. Not only does it clearly violate both human rights and public health needs, in my eyes it is a ban that should never have been in power in the first place, anywhere. HIV/AIDS is without a doubt an awful thing to have to go through and simply because someone has to suffer from this, does not mean that they should also have to under go the process of social rejection from whole countries. In my eyes this ban is a total disgrace and I just could not believe that such a regulation was in place in our world.

It's CHRISTMAS!!!

It's nearly christmas - the rush is on to buy presents, the panic of not being prepared has started and the thought of this time of year has us more excited and stressed than ever. We are all guilty of this rush of christmas spirit and personally I love this time of year but has the true value of christmas been lost?

As time has went on Christmas has become a very commercialised time of year, with companies realising this human weakness and taking advantage of every parent, child, teenager and grandparent all over the world. When it hits the month of October, if not before, it's obvious it's coming up to that time of year again as everyone, all over the world, starts to decide what they're buying and for who and nearly every advert on television is new cd or dvd releases and the latest toys and gadgets for children.

Christmas used to be about buying a present for those dear to you, that they have wanted and probably hinted at all year round but in this modern age it's about having the most recent and 'must have' gift around.

Is there any need for this mayhem? Fighting in shops over products, degrading ourselves over a material possession and hurting, even killing people in human stampedes. This time of year is meant to be a time for family and appreciating those around you. Sadly, in this day and age this does not seem to be the case.

To me this time of year isn't about joining those huge queues and fighting in a shop but more buying a gift for loved ones, spending as much time as I can with them and seeing the smile on their face when they tear open that wrapping paper. This is what, in my eyes, Christmas is all about.

Hands On Chair

When I first saw this design I thought it was not only an amazing but simple design, I thought it was also very clever. Seating sometimes can be a very public specticle and there has been plenty of times I've been out and about simply wanting a seat that you could sit on, relax and not have everyone staring at you on their way past. In my eyes this is the perfect solution to private seating in a public area. It can be for one on one or arranged so that a whole group of people can sit together.

Above is a picture of the chairs joined together, to create a private space by allowing the chairs to 'hold hands'. The sides of the chairs function as shutters that can be open, closed or connected to other chairs by way of magnets.

This chair has been created by designer Joon Soo Kim from South Korea. When I further tried to research this designer I found it quite difficult because as it turns out he owns a company with another designer and the 'Hands on Chair' was one of this first individual pieces of work.

If you want to look at more work by them go to their website at www.joonjung.com

They are Conceptual Product Designers based in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Their abstract level of design is mainly based on humans and everyday affairs.

Profession? . . "Interior Designer"

Last week, all interior design students had to attend a meeting with an Interior Designer that was at the universiy to talk to us about a networking site only for interior designers, to meet contacts and be able to get in touch with people of the same profession and see what exactly they do. He said a sentence that really stuck in my head and that was so true, it really hit home. Why is it that when we (interior designers) are introduced to someone we don't know and they ask, "So what do you do for a living?", we immediately think oh my god what do I say and in our heads we get embarrassed of what our answer is?

Interior designers are not all cushions and curtains as everyone thinks. This branding by people is the reason why we hate to reply, "I'm an Interior Designer".  I just found this so interesting because you do hesitate when someone asks you this question, for the simple fact they will jump to this presumption that you have done a 'mickey mouse' course at university and the only thing you do is place cushions in a room and play about with decor. The number of times that I have been asked by friends and family, "So what's next years in colour going to be?" or "What's the latest colour for decor?" and I just scream in my head, and reply "I don't know, that's not what I'm doing a degree on". 

We do, learn and design so much more than people seem to realise. Being an interior designer doesn't mean I literally and only design interiors, it means I can 'practically' design anything from furniture to exhibitions and use amazing software that helps me produce a high standard of final work. 

Interior designers are not all cushions and curtains.

SOMA by Ayala Serfaty

This is an installation representing the study of light. The installation has been created by thin, glass filaments being woven together to produce small structures, that are then sprayed with a polymer to create a skin-like layer. Therefore, forming a cocoon like lamp. It took around 6 years to create SOMA ( Greek word meaning Body) and it's supposed to produce the effect of glowing leaves of snow. She has used modern materials to expose it's delicacy while communicating her idea of nature's beautiful yet complex structures.

Furniture Value

The current project that I am working on in university is a furniture based project. In a group of 3 we have to come up with a furniture design and manufacture it in the workshop, to bring our design to life. The first 2 weeks of the project were mainly research based, for us to look into previous furniture and learn as much as we could. During this time it started to make me think about the value of furniture and how it has changed.

Above, for example, are 2 classic Victorian style pieces of furniture. They are made from strong mahogany with bright and very durable upholstering. They were designed and built to last for years upon years and would have been quite expensive to purchase. However, in this modern age, How many pieces of furniture like these do you see produced?? The answer is not very many. Today we don't want strong, bulky furniture that we can't look forward to changing in a couple of years time. We would rather go to IKEA and buy cheaper furniture that will maybe last a couple of years (if even), that we don't have to really worry about looking after. If something happens to it or it were to break, it's easy enough to replace and this thought along with the one that it wasn't that expensive anyway, seems to make buying cheaper, less durable furniture more appealing.

A sofa bought maybe 30 years ago would have lasted a family the guts of those 30 years, with a few re-upholsters throughout that time. A sofa bought today will last around 3 to 4 years, if your lucky, and then it needs replaced.

In my eyes the values of furniture has vastly decreased over the years and it has shown that the lifestyles of humans and the way they think has greatly changed.

Wallpaper with A Difference

I came across this wallpaper with an integrated shelving system and kind of couldn't believe my eyes. An everyday component to our homes completely transformed into a quirky and yet quite practical design. This wallpaper was created by Kicki Edgren Nyborg and the idea behind it was to prove that wallpaper could be fun and interactive, rather than just something you stick to a wall that has no real character.

This is yet another example of an everyday item that has been completely transformed so simply but yet so effectively.

Keeping Up To Date

My top 5 websites that keep me up to date on my discipline:

1. Dezeen Architecture & Design Magazine
    http://www.dezeen.com/ 

2. Yatzer
    http://yatzer.com/

3. MoCo Loco - Modern Contempory Design and Architecture

    http://mocoloco.com

4. Interior Design, Decorating, Furniture, Architecture, Home & House Design   
    http://freshome.com

5. BBM Sustainable Design
    http://bbm-architects.co.uk

 
My top 5 websites that keep me up to date on everything outside my field:

1. Tree Hugger
    http://treehugger.com

2. BBC News
   http://news.bbc.co.uk

3. National Geographic
    http://nationalgeographic.co.uk

4. World News
    http://wn.com

5. News from Planet Earth
    http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk

Annotated Bibliography

In the previous assignment I looked, in depth, into the power of trends within cultures and the effect that advertising has on human beings. Do we really recognise how influenced we are by the media? Do we know how influenced we are by the world around us? In this particular assignment, I was asked to do research on these theories that I have and provide substantial resources to support them. Below is a list (using the Harvard Method) of different papers and journals on my topic, with a brief description of what they are about:

Brown, Michael F., 1986, Power, Gender, and the Social Meaning of Aguaruna Suicide, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

This journal looks at one race of people in the Amazon that experience a high rate of suicides. It suggests that suicide may be part of a complex social process and how this self-destruction has become a compelling, highly communicative act.

Cortese, Daniel K, Ph.D., Lewis, Jane, Dr.P.H., and Ling, Pamela M, M.D., M.P.H., 2009, Tobacco Industry Lifestyle Magazines Targeted to Young Adults, Elsevier

This journal studies the link between media influence, specifically in magazines, and teenagers. It looks at how media encourages smoking.

Corteau, David, Hoynes, William, 2003, Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences, Sage Publications

This book examines the entire media process from where images come from to how and why they matter, why they have an impact and the types of questions and problems the media arise throughtout society. The main aspect that these authors convey is that the mass media potentially effect society and culture.

Elfawal, M. A, M.B. Ch.B., M.Sc., Ph.D., 1999, Cultural Influence on the Incidence and Choice of Method of Suicide in Saudi Arabia, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc., Saudi Arabia

This studies how cultural and racial factors could possibly influence suicidal rates and patterns.

Lull, James, 1995, Media, Communication, Culture A Global Approach, Polity Press in Association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

This book investigates the many connections amoung communication, the media and culture. It shows that the media greatly influences our everyday lives and proves that humans don't realise just how powerful the media actually is.

Phillips, David P, 1974, The Influence of Suggestion on Suicide: Substantive and Theoretical Implications of the Werther Effect, American Sociological Association

This paper examines the fact that the number of suicides increases after a suicide story has been publicized. It looks at the rise in suicide due to the influence of suggestion and the influence of the media.

Phillips, David P., 1979, Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities, and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion, The University of Chicago Press

This paper presents findings indicating that imitation and suggestion have a powerful impact on social behaviour and how the media has an influence on human behaviour. It not only looks into suicide but also car fatalities and how humans relate themselves to the people in the published story.

Shadel, William G, Tharp-Taylor, Shannah, Fryer, Craig S, 2009, How does exposure to cigarette advertising contribute to smoking in adolescents? The role of the developing self-concept and identification with advertising model, Elsevier

This journal looks into how increased exposure to cigarette advertising is associated with adolescent smoking intentions.

Stack, Steven, 1987, Celebrities and Suicide: A Taxonomy and Analysis, 1948-1983, American Sociological Association

This study focuses on the impact of celebrity suicide stories and imitative suicides. This research has shown that the amount of publicity given to a suicide, positively related to the monthly incidence of suicide. However, it also showed that problems common with the celebrities and the suicidal population, were not always related.

Me, My Mum and Her Handbag

Nearly every girl out there loves buying or receiving handbags and having loads of them to chose from to match every outfit and fit every occasion....BUT recently, my parents came to visit me and my mum's new handbag caught my eye. It got me thinking, why do we really need multiples of the same style of handbag, with the only differences being the colour or pattern? Why do we need 3, 5 or 10 of the one style of bag? I know your thinking, well you answered that yourself, it's because we want different colours and patterns but when you see my mum's new handbag, you will understand why I began to ask these questions.

Above is a picture of my mum's ordinary looking handbag.

Below is a picture of why I asked the earlier questions.

The pattern on the bag can be removed to reveal the inner handbag shape. The cover attaches to the bag with strong magnets and can be removed and replaced as often as you want. I totally loved this! You simply choose the shape of the bag you want and buy whatever patterned or coloured cover you want and attach it to the bag. It's as easy as that! A really simple design that is so effective and quirky.

It kind of makes you wonder; what other everyday item could you modify/improve so simply and effectively? In a way it made me think, How come nobody else thought of this? It seems like such an obvious idea.

I just think this handbag concept is so quirky and intriguing. I have included some more pictures below:

Trend Setting

We were given the task to look deeper into our chosen chapter of the book and relate it in every way possible to design. No suggestion or idea was silly, it had to be wrote down. My chosen topic, as previously blogged, was a Case Study: Suicide, Smoking and The Unsticky Cigarette. At first,I found this quite difficult, I mean how do you really relate such strong subjects to design?!

Surprisingly, there was more relation than you may think. The first and main connection is that like humans, design also has a tipping point. Shown below is my brainstorming:

My next task was to go into detail on one section of my brainstorming and create an informative poster. I based my poster on Trends and how they relate to design. My final outcome is shown below:

The Tipping Point

This is my mind map of the book 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell

This is my mind map of the Case Study chapter 'Suicide, Smoking & The Search for the Unsticky Cigarette'.

When first reading this chapter in the book the main theme that stuck was Suicide. A strong language on this side of the world. Smoking is still a serious contagion, as we learn but for me it didn’t have the Stickiness Factor. When going into detail about this branch of the book, I re-read through the chapter and did my mind map, gradually as I went along, writing down as many of the the interesting facts and researchers as I possibly could – I wanted to learn and know more. What struck me most was Micronesia, a place that had been oblivious to suicide until the 1980’s when suddenly there were more suicides per capita than anywhere else in the world. It all started with one boy called Sima, hanging himself due to an argument with his father. Since this tragedy, others caught the idea (mainly males) and it soon became an incredibly expressive form of communication, loaded with meaning. Not only did this take me by surprise, another thing was that one boy, at the age of 11, decided he wanted to “try” hanging but didn’t actually want to die. How can you “try” hanging? Where did this idea come from? This thought of experimentation with such a serious subject matter is quite disturbing. The thought of young boys becoming so familiar with suicide and wanting to experiment with it is very terrifying. Suicide soon became a ritual of adolescence in Micronesia and a way of self-expression and communication for teenagers; boys killed themselves over the most minor of things e.g. fall outs with siblings, arguments with lovers, one even hung himself due to his parents not buying him a graduation gown, this seemed to be acceptable here due to suicide becoming imbedded into the local culture.

It’s just unbelievable that something so unthinkable, somehow became rendered thinkable and the danger of it all seems to be trivialized. How can this be? How can something so crude become so acceptable?

I ask, How can suicide become acceptable anywhere??

Think BIG!

Design. Used to be big. Now it’s small but getting bigger.

Why has this change occurred?
When the first designers set out to bring new technologies and inventions to the world, they not only had to bring their designs to life, they had to build all the facilities first e.g. factories and canals. Design was BIG. However, today the “most important” thing is to make your design aesthetic, ergonomic and as small as it can be. Obviously products still have to function and work properly but today the statement: “Design is about how things look”, is greatly followed. Design isn’t all aesthetics. It’s about understanding people, identifying opportunities, taking risks and having courage. Take Apple for example, it’s all about design. Its products look amazing and aesthetics play a great part but all of them have function and carry it out easily. Apple designers understand their users’ needs and wants, not just in America but all over the world, hence why the majority of the population own something produced by them. Do you own an iPod or any other Apple product for that matter?? If you do, think about this: Would you have bought it if it didn’t do what you wanted? Would you have bought it if it didn’t look as good as it does? What wins every time with Apple, is that if you look into buying an MP3 player for example, one of the first brands that comes to mind is Apple. So you look into a couple of other brands and their products and compare. A couple do what you want along with the iPod. No matter what, most people will choose the iPod above all the rest, simply for the name and the fact that it looks better. Apple has got the whole package sorted. Their design is BIG!


I’m a designer and until now I thought of myself as a designer studying in Scotland. I thought small. But think BIG – I’m not just a designer in Dundee, Scotland, I’m a designer on planet earth. Don’t just pull information and inspiration from the area you’re living in. Pull it from the world; be greatly inspired from all corners of the earth.

Inspire BIG. Think BIG. Design BIG.

Sculptures by Mark Quinn

My first project this year was titled 'Juteopolis'. In groups of 3 we have to design an exhibition space for the Verdant Works in Dundee so that everyone (of all age groups) who visit's our exhibition will learn something about Dundee's Jute trade. I started to look into the lives of the women who worked in the mill's. This led me into more sculptural ideas and having sculptures as part of our exhibition.

I originally found Mark Quinn's work in 'OK!' magazine (the first image shown). It is a sculpture based on model Kate Moss. Quinn choose Moss because of her ambiguous place in our culture, she is greatly admired and constantly observed but yet we have little real knowledge about her.

Quinn said, "This is not a portrait of a person, it's a portrait of an image twisted by our collective desires."

Since finding this first sculpture I was intrigued by his work and found it so beautiful and eye-catching that I researched further and have included some pictures of his other work that I found and liked.

Although the sculptures may appear to be made from stone or marble, they are actually cast from Bronze and then painted white to create a flat, blank surface. Another aspect to his work that I loved.