http://www.thedieline.com/
This is the website that I love to go on, and it always gives me inspirations. It shows many many examples of the best packaging designs from all around the world. This website will help guide me and inspire me for my thesis project.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Editorial design Resource
Andreu Balius, Type at Work: The Use of Type in Editorial Design (New York: Gingko Press, 2003).
This book provides a detailed look into editorial design, as well as meaningful insights into the use of type as a design component and ways in which type can be used to support the expressive possibilities of visual information.
This resource presents useful guidelines on how typography is used to support the expression of a certain concept, using type as image, and using type with clarity and legibility. This book will enable me for my three thesis projects especially the one focusing on editorial design. I can look back to this book when I create my brochures, and magazines layouts, where a lot of information and type will be presented.
This book provides a detailed look into editorial design, as well as meaningful insights into the use of type as a design component and ways in which type can be used to support the expressive possibilities of visual information.
This resource presents useful guidelines on how typography is used to support the expression of a certain concept, using type as image, and using type with clarity and legibility. This book will enable me for my three thesis projects especially the one focusing on editorial design. I can look back to this book when I create my brochures, and magazines layouts, where a lot of information and type will be presented.
Packaging Design Resource
Marianne R. Klimchuk, Sandra A. Krasovec, Packaging Design: Successful Product Branding from Concept to Shelf (London: Wiley, 2010).
The book provides a framework for today's packaging design business, advices on portfolio development and professional practice guidelines, case studies that showcase how superior packaging designs were created, and insightful images of the design process, design concepts, three-dimensional models, and prototypes.
The content in the book is very useful. It has a highly visual-coverage and it fundamentally discusses how to create packaging designs for consumer brands that effectively communicate in the retail environment.
The book provides a framework for today's packaging design business, advices on portfolio development and professional practice guidelines, case studies that showcase how superior packaging designs were created, and insightful images of the design process, design concepts, three-dimensional models, and prototypes.
The content in the book is very useful. It has a highly visual-coverage and it fundamentally discusses how to create packaging designs for consumer brands that effectively communicate in the retail environment.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Way-finding Resource
David Gibson, The Wayfinding Handbook: Information Design for Public Places (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009).
By using real life examples, the book illustrates the way type, color, mapmaking, dimensional forms, material selection, and new media are used to create effective way-finding systems. The author draws on his thirty years of experience collaborating with architects, planners, developers, managers, and civic leaders to offer an insider's view of this rapidly evolving discipline.
The book fits into my research and I find it useful because it guides you to the discipline from planning and design to practical considerations such as setting up teams and managing projects.
By using real life examples, the book illustrates the way type, color, mapmaking, dimensional forms, material selection, and new media are used to create effective way-finding systems. The author draws on his thirty years of experience collaborating with architects, planners, developers, managers, and civic leaders to offer an insider's view of this rapidly evolving discipline.
The book fits into my research and I find it useful because it guides you to the discipline from planning and design to practical considerations such as setting up teams and managing projects.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
AIDS research
For the first and second thesis proposal, I will focus on packaging design and way-finding system. For my third proposal, I want to bring AIDS awareness to the Canadian public with editorial design. So I did some research on this topic and I came across this website, which is very informational and useful: http://www.avert.org/aids.htm
Here is an American HIV-prevention poster from 1989 and I thought it's pretty shocking and it makes you realize that somebody who has HIV may not show any signs or symptoms.
“AIDS” AVERT, 2010, Avert.org. 4 Apr 2010
http://www.avert.org/aids.htm.
Here is an American HIV-prevention poster from 1989 and I thought it's pretty shocking and it makes you realize that somebody who has HIV may not show any signs or symptoms.
“AIDS” AVERT, 2010, Avert.org. 4 Apr 2010
http://www.avert.org/aids.htm.
A showcase of 20+ airport signage designs and wayfinding systems
http://www.designworkplan.com/design/airport-signage-photo-inspiration.htm
This website shows photos of airport signage and informations that the author had collected from cities all over the world. This is a part of my research for my one of my thesis proposal which will focus on way finding systems.
Sander Baumann, “Airport Signage: Photo inspiration,” Design Workplan, 2009, Design Workplan. 4 Apr 2010
http://www.designworkplan.com/design/airport-signage-photo-inspiration.htm.
This website shows photos of airport signage and informations that the author had collected from cities all over the world. This is a part of my research for my one of my thesis proposal which will focus on way finding systems.
Sander Baumann, “Airport Signage: Photo inspiration,” Design Workplan, 2009, Design Workplan. 4 Apr 2010
http://www.designworkplan.com/design/airport-signage-photo-inspiration.htm.
Happy Colorful Easter!
I set up this picture with a basket, and inside the basket are a bunny lollipop, easter eggs, flowers, and a jar of jam....the basket is about 1.5 inch long! I then photoshopped the pictures in different tones.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Proper Packaging Design Can Improve More Than Your Bottom Line
The story below talks about packaging design and relating it to the author's own life. The story is inspiring, and it helps me in doing my thesis because I will be focusing on packaging design, way-finding, and editorial design for my three thesis proposals.
Ron had a unique way of making boxes fit his custom-made marble sinks: He used a box knife.
Granted, it wasn’t the most efficient means of forming the folds over his precious cargo, but it served the purpose and, for Ron’s crew, it was good enough.
When I walked in his shop it was obvious Ron had a booming business. It was also obvious his current box supplier was lacking in creative design skills; hence the box knife.
And so, with Ron’s permission, we loaded a sink or two in the car and headed back to our design room in Seymour, Indiana. Our team of design experts whittled away — not with a razor-encased contraption, but with a high-priced, computer-driven cutting board.
The end result amazed Ron. The new box formed perfectly over his various products. It was stronger and cheaper to boot. What’s more, we added cut-out handles to accommodate Ron’s crew which included a few gals who toted the hefty boxes once they were filled with sinks. One handle on the side; one on the end — made perfectly to fit the arm spans of the Ron’s workers.
A common feat
It’s typical. Guys like Ron know that packaging is an important aspect of their business. But, alas, they’re serviced by box salesmen who know more about closing a deal than designing boxes.
That where I come in.
I earn my keep by showing manufacturing companies how to save money by improving their packaging.
A company in Columbus, Indiana — my home turf — was shipping its goods in plain brown boxes; the same boxes that displayed their products on store shelves.
The purchasing agent was encouraged to test white boxes (the color is actually clay, but looks white to shoppers) to see if sales improved. Scepticism was, of course, expected. Clay boxes are, after all, more expensive than the normal brown fare. But once the test was run, and furniture displayed in clay boxes out-paced identical product in brown boxes, the buyers saw the light. Gone were the brown boxes. They were replaced with the more expensive clay-colored boxes. The reason? The substantially increased furniture sales more than paid for the higher-priced new packaging.
Lone Ranger of boxes
When I was a kid I imagined myself being the Lone Ranger. One feat at a time I would save the day then ride off in the sunset with my faithful companion, Tonto.
Turns out that box selling differs little from the Lone Ranger, except I drive a car and not a horse, and my partner is a box designer, not a faithful Indian companion.
The scourge of the packaging industry isn’t the black-hatted villain from the old westerns. Rather, the problem lies in less-then-competent design. A few subtle changes in box design can save money in labor while earning money by presenting a positive product display.
At Boxes.me our goal is to save our clients more than cold cash. We strive to remove the aggravation of working with poorly-crafted containers, shallow designs and, yes, box knives. Our goal is to improve the entire packaging process. Sometimes we save our clients by providing them less expensive boxes. More often we target their bottom line with workable solutions that can only be delivered by a top-notch design team.
“Packaging Desing: Proper Packaging Design Can Improve More Than Your Bottom Line,” Stock Images and Stock Photography Resource, 2009, Maxlin Stock Images Corporation. 3 Apr 2010
http://blog.royaltyfree-stockphoto.com/?p=1455.
Ron had a unique way of making boxes fit his custom-made marble sinks: He used a box knife.
Granted, it wasn’t the most efficient means of forming the folds over his precious cargo, but it served the purpose and, for Ron’s crew, it was good enough.
When I walked in his shop it was obvious Ron had a booming business. It was also obvious his current box supplier was lacking in creative design skills; hence the box knife.
And so, with Ron’s permission, we loaded a sink or two in the car and headed back to our design room in Seymour, Indiana. Our team of design experts whittled away — not with a razor-encased contraption, but with a high-priced, computer-driven cutting board.
The end result amazed Ron. The new box formed perfectly over his various products. It was stronger and cheaper to boot. What’s more, we added cut-out handles to accommodate Ron’s crew which included a few gals who toted the hefty boxes once they were filled with sinks. One handle on the side; one on the end — made perfectly to fit the arm spans of the Ron’s workers.
A common feat
It’s typical. Guys like Ron know that packaging is an important aspect of their business. But, alas, they’re serviced by box salesmen who know more about closing a deal than designing boxes.
That where I come in.
I earn my keep by showing manufacturing companies how to save money by improving their packaging.
A company in Columbus, Indiana — my home turf — was shipping its goods in plain brown boxes; the same boxes that displayed their products on store shelves.
The purchasing agent was encouraged to test white boxes (the color is actually clay, but looks white to shoppers) to see if sales improved. Scepticism was, of course, expected. Clay boxes are, after all, more expensive than the normal brown fare. But once the test was run, and furniture displayed in clay boxes out-paced identical product in brown boxes, the buyers saw the light. Gone were the brown boxes. They were replaced with the more expensive clay-colored boxes. The reason? The substantially increased furniture sales more than paid for the higher-priced new packaging.
Lone Ranger of boxes
When I was a kid I imagined myself being the Lone Ranger. One feat at a time I would save the day then ride off in the sunset with my faithful companion, Tonto.
Turns out that box selling differs little from the Lone Ranger, except I drive a car and not a horse, and my partner is a box designer, not a faithful Indian companion.
The scourge of the packaging industry isn’t the black-hatted villain from the old westerns. Rather, the problem lies in less-then-competent design. A few subtle changes in box design can save money in labor while earning money by presenting a positive product display.
At Boxes.me our goal is to save our clients more than cold cash. We strive to remove the aggravation of working with poorly-crafted containers, shallow designs and, yes, box knives. Our goal is to improve the entire packaging process. Sometimes we save our clients by providing them less expensive boxes. More often we target their bottom line with workable solutions that can only be delivered by a top-notch design team.
“Packaging Desing: Proper Packaging Design Can Improve More Than Your Bottom Line,” Stock Images and Stock Photography Resource, 2009, Maxlin Stock Images Corporation. 3 Apr 2010
http://blog.royaltyfree-stockphoto.com/?p=1455.
Graphic Design Cookbook
My friend borrowed me this book called "Graphic Design Cookbook" and basically it provides a collection of layouts. Rather than sorting through dozens of graphic design books to get ideas, this book has sections for every aspect of page layout placement including: page numbers, paragraph placement, titles, and much more. Overall, this book gives inspirations to anybody, specifically to graphic design students.
Friday, April 2, 2010
REVISED ideas for thesis proposal
1. How architectures make to the look and livability of our city
2. The positive effects of Bikeway design and way-finding signage
3. Lack of good way finding signage in the city on most surface routes
4. The definition between graphic design and illustration. What are the differences?
5. How to improve Toronto's transportation system with way-finding systems?
6. The need of information graphics. Why do we need information graphics?
7. Is food design important to human? Why do food need to be designed?
8. The importance of packaging design. Does packaging design make people's lives easier?
9. The relationship between graphic design and advertising.
10. Why is advertising significant in New York? Compare it with Canada.
11. Japan's graphic design industry.
12. The difference between Western graphic design and graphic design in Asian countries.
13. Is Canada's graphic design industry going downhill?
14. How does technology benefit graphic design?
15. The influence of modern design to our city.
16. Do the look of architecture relate to its interior design?
17. What are the aesthetics of interior design?
18. Do graphic design help benefit our daily lives?
19. Is web design important to us? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
20. Furniture design: form follows function or form goes first?
21. The concept of "less is more" in graphic design?
22. The role of graphic design and advertising used in war as propaganda.
23. The influences that affect designing for an international market.
24. The use, effects and value of colour in branding. What are the subliminal effects of colour and colour manipulation of corporate brands?
25. The influence of Andy Warhol in Pop Art.
26. How color symbolism matter in graphic design. How much of a role do color meanings play in graphic design color choices?
2. The positive effects of Bikeway design and way-finding signage
3. Lack of good way finding signage in the city on most surface routes
4. The definition between graphic design and illustration. What are the differences?
5. How to improve Toronto's transportation system with way-finding systems?
6. The need of information graphics. Why do we need information graphics?
7. Is food design important to human? Why do food need to be designed?
8. The importance of packaging design. Does packaging design make people's lives easier?
9. The relationship between graphic design and advertising.
10. Why is advertising significant in New York? Compare it with Canada.
11. Japan's graphic design industry.
12. The difference between Western graphic design and graphic design in Asian countries.
13. Is Canada's graphic design industry going downhill?
14. How does technology benefit graphic design?
15. The influence of modern design to our city.
16. Do the look of architecture relate to its interior design?
17. What are the aesthetics of interior design?
18. Do graphic design help benefit our daily lives?
19. Is web design important to us? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
20. Furniture design: form follows function or form goes first?
21. The concept of "less is more" in graphic design?
22. The role of graphic design and advertising used in war as propaganda.
23. The influences that affect designing for an international market.
24. The use, effects and value of colour in branding. What are the subliminal effects of colour and colour manipulation of corporate brands?
25. The influence of Andy Warhol in Pop Art.
26. How color symbolism matter in graphic design. How much of a role do color meanings play in graphic design color choices?
Princess Tea Party
Miniature toys that belong to me...collecting miniatures is one my interests now because I can take photos with them and practice my photography skills. The cake is about 1.5 inch long.
I entered a photo contest: White Elegance
This is the photo that I've entered in a miniature photo contest. The title is "White Elegance". We were asked to take a photo of our miniatures in only one color and I chose to do white.
The winner will get a prize of a very rare piece of furniture (miniature) by a company called Re-ment, it's a famous miniature company in Japan.
Here is the link to view all the contest entries, and I'm #15: http://rementfanclub.com/
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Putting some night cream on...
I took pictures of my toys (miniatures and a doll originated in Japan called "Licca").
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Discuss Proposal
Proposal Title
Abstract
The need
Initial research
Audience
Research areas
Research question/problem statement
Subquestions
What forms might the deliverables take?
How will the core project benefit your education?
Abstract
The need
Initial research
Audience
Research areas
Research question/problem statement
Subquestions
What forms might the deliverables take?
How will the core project benefit your education?
Monday, March 29, 2010
Ideas for Thesis Topic
These are some of the thesis topics I have in mind for now:
1. How architectures make to the look and livability of our city
2. The positive effects of Bikeway design and way-finding signage
3. Lack of good way finding signage in the city on most surface routes
4. The definition between graphic design and illustration. What are the differences?
5. How to improve Toronto's transportation system with way-finding systems?
6. The need of information graphics. Why do we need information graphics?
7. Is food design important to human? Why do food need to be designed?
8. The importance of packaging design. Does packaging design make people's lives easier?
9. The relationship between graphic design and advertising.
10. Why is advertising significant in New York? Compare it with Canada.
11. Japan's graphic design industry.
12. The difference between Western graphic design and graphic design in Asian countries.
13. Is Canada's graphic design industry going downhill?
14. How does technology benefit graphic design?
15. The influence of modern design to our city.
1. How architectures make to the look and livability of our city
2. The positive effects of Bikeway design and way-finding signage
3. Lack of good way finding signage in the city on most surface routes
4. The definition between graphic design and illustration. What are the differences?
5. How to improve Toronto's transportation system with way-finding systems?
6. The need of information graphics. Why do we need information graphics?
7. Is food design important to human? Why do food need to be designed?
8. The importance of packaging design. Does packaging design make people's lives easier?
9. The relationship between graphic design and advertising.
10. Why is advertising significant in New York? Compare it with Canada.
11. Japan's graphic design industry.
12. The difference between Western graphic design and graphic design in Asian countries.
13. Is Canada's graphic design industry going downhill?
14. How does technology benefit graphic design?
15. The influence of modern design to our city.
Macaroon Tower
I love the way macaroons look (their colors are fantastic), and they taste great too! I went to a cake shop called "Ruelo Patisserie" in Richmond Hill, and I bought three macaroons.
The top one is Orange Cream Cheese flavor, the middle one is Espresso, and the bottom one is Pistachio with Raspberry. I like the Pistachio one the most! I brought the big macarosns home and took a picture with my mini macaroons (they are plastic miniatures).
Sunday, March 28, 2010
My 21st Birthday
Today is my birthday and I went to watched Alice In Wonderland after dinner.
I didn't get a birthday cake today (ate chocolate fudge cake with vanilla ice cream instead) so I took a picture of my miniature toys.
Happy Birthday to me!
Typography Animation
From Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwihSPaTcSU
A really interesting typography animation.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Readings 6
Semiotics: a primer of designers – Challis Hodge
- Author: “Semiotics is important for designers as it allows us to understand the relationships between signs, what they stand for, and the people who must interpret them — the people we design for.”
- Chandler: “The study of signs is the study of the construction and maintenance of reality. To decline such a study is to leave to others the control of the world of meanings.”
- Becoming aware of these systems and rules and learning to master them is the true power of visual communication and design.
- Semiotics teaches us as designers that our work has no meaning outside the complex set of factors that define it; the deeper our understanding and awareness of these factors, the better our control over the success of the work products we create; helps us not to take reality for granted as something that simply exists; helps us to understand that reality depends not only on the intentions we put into our work but also the interpretation of the people who experience our work
- The meaning of a sign is not in its relationship to other signs within the language system but rather in the social context of its use. The study of semiotics needs to account for the relationship of the symbols and the social context or context of use.
- The disciplines involved in semiotics include linguistics (where it began), and has been adopted by disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, literature, aesthetic and media theory,
- Semiology aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substanceand limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all these, which form the content of ritual, convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if not languages, at least systems of signification.
- Structuralism is an analytical method used by many semioticians. Structuralists seek to describe the overall organization of sign systems as languages.
- Semantics focuses on what words mean while semiotics is concerned with how signs mean.
- Semiotics is the study of sign processes, or signification and communication, signs and symbols.
* Semantics: the relationship of signs to what they stand for.
* Syntactics (or syntax): the formal or structural relations between signs.
* Pragmatics: the relation of signs to interpreters.
- A text is an assemblage of signs constructed with reference to the conventions associated with a genre and in a particular medium of communication. Text usually refers to a message, which has been recorded in some way so that it is physically independent of its sender or receiver.
- Language (code): the system of rules and conventions which is independent of, and pre-exists, individual users ; Speech (message): its use in particular instances
For examples: any specific film is the speech of that underlying system of cinema language.
The Reflective Practitioner: how professional think in action- Donald Schon
Summary: An analysis of the distinctive structure of reflection-in-action. He explores the relationship between the kinds of knowledge honored in academia and the kinds of competence valued in professional practice.
- professions had come to be seen as vehicles for the application of the new sciences to the achievement of human progress: engineers became a model of technical practice for the other professions, medicine was refashioned in the new image a science-based technique for the preservation of health
- 3 principal doctrines of Positivism (a dominant philosophy): the conviction that empirical science was not just a form of knowledge but the only source of positive knowledge of the world; intention to cleanse men’s minds of mysticism, superstition, and other forms of pseudoknowledge; the program of extending scientific knowledge and technical control to human society, to make technology
- 2 kinds of meaningful propositions: analytic and essentially tautological propositions of logic and mathematics/ the empirical propositions which express knowledge of the world.
- Positivists recognized to what extent observational statements were theory-laden, and found it necessary to ground empirical knowledge in irreducible elements of sensory experience. They began to see laws of nature not as facts inherent in nature hut as constructs created to explain observed phenomena, and science became for them a hypothetico-deductive system.
- actual practice of phenomena-complexity, uncertainty, instability, uniqueness, and
value-conflict do not fit in the model of Technical Rationality. Positivism solved the puzzle of practical knowledge in a way that had been foreshadowed by the Technological Program
- professional practice is a process of problem solving. Problems of choice or decision are solved through the selection of the one best suited to established ends. With emphasis on
problem solving, we ignore problem setting (the process by which we define the decision
to be made, the ends to be achieved, the means which may be chosen)
- To convert a problematic situation to a problem, a practitioner must make sense of an uncertain situation that initially makes no sense. Professionals are coming to recognize that although problem setting is a necessary condition for technical problem solving, it is not itself a technical problem.
To solve a problem by the application of existing theory or technique, a practitioner must be able to map those categories onto features of the practice situation.
- Knowing-in-action refers to the kinds of knowledge we can only reveal in the way we carry out tasks and approach problems.
- Reflection-in-action is the ability of professionals to ‘think what they are doing while they are doing it’.
- Reflection-in-action is an extraordinary process; is the core of practice for some practitioners; is not generally accepted because professionalism is still identified with technical expertise.
It is the kind of reflection that occurs whilst a problem is being addressed, in what Schon calls the ‘action-present’ (the zone of time in which action can still make a difference to the situation). It is a response to a surprise – where the expected outcome is outside of our knowing-in-action. The reflective process is at least to some degree conscious, but may not be verbalised. Reflection-in-action is about challenging our assumptions. It is about thinking again, in a new way, about a problem we have encountered.
- When someone reflects-in-action, he becomes a researcher in the practice context.
He is not dependent on the categories of established theory and technique, but constructs
a new theory of the unique case. His inquiry is not limited to a deliberation about means
which depends on a prior agreement about ends. He does not keep means and ends
separate, but defines them interactively as he frames a problematic situation. He does
not separate thinking from doing, ratiocinating his way to a decision which he must later
convert to action.
- Reflection-in-action is important because dilemma of rigor or relevance may be dissolved if we can develop an epistemology of practice which places technical problem solving within a broader context of reflective inquiry, shows how reflection-in-action may be rigorous in its own right, and links the art of practice in uncertainty and uniqueness to the scientist’s art of research.
- Author: “Semiotics is important for designers as it allows us to understand the relationships between signs, what they stand for, and the people who must interpret them — the people we design for.”
- Chandler: “The study of signs is the study of the construction and maintenance of reality. To decline such a study is to leave to others the control of the world of meanings.”
- Becoming aware of these systems and rules and learning to master them is the true power of visual communication and design.
- Semiotics teaches us as designers that our work has no meaning outside the complex set of factors that define it; the deeper our understanding and awareness of these factors, the better our control over the success of the work products we create; helps us not to take reality for granted as something that simply exists; helps us to understand that reality depends not only on the intentions we put into our work but also the interpretation of the people who experience our work
- The meaning of a sign is not in its relationship to other signs within the language system but rather in the social context of its use. The study of semiotics needs to account for the relationship of the symbols and the social context or context of use.
- The disciplines involved in semiotics include linguistics (where it began), and has been adopted by disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, literature, aesthetic and media theory,
- Semiology aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substanceand limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all these, which form the content of ritual, convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if not languages, at least systems of signification.
- Structuralism is an analytical method used by many semioticians. Structuralists seek to describe the overall organization of sign systems as languages.
- Semantics focuses on what words mean while semiotics is concerned with how signs mean.
- Semiotics is the study of sign processes, or signification and communication, signs and symbols.
* Semantics: the relationship of signs to what they stand for.
* Syntactics (or syntax): the formal or structural relations between signs.
* Pragmatics: the relation of signs to interpreters.
- A text is an assemblage of signs constructed with reference to the conventions associated with a genre and in a particular medium of communication. Text usually refers to a message, which has been recorded in some way so that it is physically independent of its sender or receiver.
- Language (code): the system of rules and conventions which is independent of, and pre-exists, individual users ; Speech (message): its use in particular instances
For examples: any specific film is the speech of that underlying system of cinema language.
The Reflective Practitioner: how professional think in action- Donald Schon
Summary: An analysis of the distinctive structure of reflection-in-action. He explores the relationship between the kinds of knowledge honored in academia and the kinds of competence valued in professional practice.
- professions had come to be seen as vehicles for the application of the new sciences to the achievement of human progress: engineers became a model of technical practice for the other professions, medicine was refashioned in the new image a science-based technique for the preservation of health
- 3 principal doctrines of Positivism (a dominant philosophy): the conviction that empirical science was not just a form of knowledge but the only source of positive knowledge of the world; intention to cleanse men’s minds of mysticism, superstition, and other forms of pseudoknowledge; the program of extending scientific knowledge and technical control to human society, to make technology
- 2 kinds of meaningful propositions: analytic and essentially tautological propositions of logic and mathematics/ the empirical propositions which express knowledge of the world.
- Positivists recognized to what extent observational statements were theory-laden, and found it necessary to ground empirical knowledge in irreducible elements of sensory experience. They began to see laws of nature not as facts inherent in nature hut as constructs created to explain observed phenomena, and science became for them a hypothetico-deductive system.
- actual practice of phenomena-complexity, uncertainty, instability, uniqueness, and
value-conflict do not fit in the model of Technical Rationality. Positivism solved the puzzle of practical knowledge in a way that had been foreshadowed by the Technological Program
- professional practice is a process of problem solving. Problems of choice or decision are solved through the selection of the one best suited to established ends. With emphasis on
problem solving, we ignore problem setting (the process by which we define the decision
to be made, the ends to be achieved, the means which may be chosen)
- To convert a problematic situation to a problem, a practitioner must make sense of an uncertain situation that initially makes no sense. Professionals are coming to recognize that although problem setting is a necessary condition for technical problem solving, it is not itself a technical problem.
To solve a problem by the application of existing theory or technique, a practitioner must be able to map those categories onto features of the practice situation.
- Knowing-in-action refers to the kinds of knowledge we can only reveal in the way we carry out tasks and approach problems.
- Reflection-in-action is the ability of professionals to ‘think what they are doing while they are doing it’.
- Reflection-in-action is an extraordinary process; is the core of practice for some practitioners; is not generally accepted because professionalism is still identified with technical expertise.
It is the kind of reflection that occurs whilst a problem is being addressed, in what Schon calls the ‘action-present’ (the zone of time in which action can still make a difference to the situation). It is a response to a surprise – where the expected outcome is outside of our knowing-in-action. The reflective process is at least to some degree conscious, but may not be verbalised. Reflection-in-action is about challenging our assumptions. It is about thinking again, in a new way, about a problem we have encountered.
- When someone reflects-in-action, he becomes a researcher in the practice context.
He is not dependent on the categories of established theory and technique, but constructs
a new theory of the unique case. His inquiry is not limited to a deliberation about means
which depends on a prior agreement about ends. He does not keep means and ends
separate, but defines them interactively as he frames a problematic situation. He does
not separate thinking from doing, ratiocinating his way to a decision which he must later
convert to action.
- Reflection-in-action is important because dilemma of rigor or relevance may be dissolved if we can develop an epistemology of practice which places technical problem solving within a broader context of reflective inquiry, shows how reflection-in-action may be rigorous in its own right, and links the art of practice in uncertainty and uniqueness to the scientist’s art of research.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Creative Eggcraft
“Eggcraft,” Buzzfeed, 2010, Buzzfeed. 25 March 2010
http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/eggcraft.
I was surfing on the internet and I came across this page. It shows three images and they are photos of somebody's craftwork made with egg shells. They're really adorable and I think the person who made them are so creative. I love seeing inspiring and creative artworks.
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