My second reflective post looks at the 'site' project completed earlier in the year. A project I was personally very happy with but came under heavy criticism from my tutors.
The brief asked us to pick an 'everyday object' and make it 'extraordinary' a topic I covered earlier this month in a blog post named 'the transition'. I chose the netgear router that sits on the middle floor in my 8 bedroom student house, something I felt was taken completely for granted by everyone but provides a service most of us would be lost without.
I went about my research by doing a little reading about the functionality of the router, to introduce a technical aspect to the narrative. However, I felt this information was fairly monotonous and 'ordinary' in nature so began to explore deeper.
I circulated a number of 'log sheets' to my house mates, asking them to document their activity on line, when they log on, how long for, and what they are doing. This produced results that allowed me to categorically display the flow of digital information into the house. Interesting I thought, at this point I attended a tutorial where I was encouraged to make the information more 'magical' and experiment with expressive typography. I chose to ignore this advice as I felt it was a complete contradiction to the products systematic functionality, so I stuck with a clean, structured format.
My module feedback provided me with little criticism, other than 'it was unsuitable for an audience of 60+, and I should have considered this.' Since this project I've found the wishy washy nature of choosing a target audience for these limitless creative briefs a challenge, as I feel there is a genuine grey area between maximum creativity/experimentation and a solution that holds any commercial value and may be applied to 'a market'.
I have discussed this problem with my colleagues and house mates and it's fair to say there's some consistency in my view.
To summarise the site project: Although it is the lowest mark I have received this year - it still remains one of the strongest pieces of work in my portfolio, and the one piece of work I'd say has received the most interest in an interview situation.
