LAZORZ!

Hello again well i went to the laser cutters ( www.lasersareus.com) yesterday to get my posters done and I’ve gotta say lasers are friggin coooooool.

some pics .

why so long ?!

Well i haven’t posted up any thing for ages mostly because my work has consumed most of my time im in my final year of uni now and hopefully ill be geting round to putting up some stuff from that soooooon the more eagle eyed of you may have noticed the blog has changed from the frenz design blog to the golem design blog after alot of research and soul searching i felt it was a more accurate pseudonym for me . any way this post was just to let y’all know I am still alive .

Lators DXX

{DONT LOOK AWAY}

the journal/rationale

Journal

 

Our project for this semester was to create a magazine based around the concept of “surviving the 21st century”. Sounds simple enough. However nailing down a solid idea was quite tough. Although I am fairly  happy with my final result I feel I made my life harder than necessary with my subject matter.

 

Initially I wanted to do a totally clean book about recycling and the environment the usual sort of information you’d get in a magazine but I thought this was too bland. I wanted to make a punky arts and crafts underground graphics , arts and culture magazine where many topics are looked at and discussed from fashion to social issues to music to art.

 

After looking at many magazines I decided a mixture of some of my favourites would be perfect

So I took influences from Vice, juxta pos , idN (international designers network) ,Computer Arts and Grafik to help me to think of how I would structure my magazine , I liked the informal journalism style of Vice  ,the Arts and crafts style of International Designers network , I like the size of Computer arts and I really enjoy the general style and finish of grafik 

 

The treatment for my article was based around that in my magazine there was a “what if” column where they speculate current affairs and issues and with global warming and pollution being a prevalent issue my article was based around an extreme idea of what could happen and how it would effect people in the way of how bad could the 21st Century get?

 

The back-story behind my article was that because of the irresponsible and over use of fossil fuels the earth’s atmosphere has slowly become more and more poisonous and weather patterns became more severe causing huge population shifts around the world. However before this in the early 2000’s after the success of the “EDEN PROJECT” many of the more developed countries star ted building “EDEN SITES” around important cities that were crucial to their economies. The “EDEN SITES” were built in much the same way as the Eden project Biospheres except on a much larger scale that incorporated housing and workplaces they were perfect self contained atmosphere controlled cities & when Agriculture became impossible many biospheres were developed strictly for agricultural purposes. However the “EDEN SITES” can only sustain a small portion of the population so when the selection process of who could live and work and live inside the “EDEN SITES” people had to be left out. How would this effect human morale?. What extremes would humanity have to endure to persist on planet earth would humanity as we know it even be able to stand these sorts of radical change . Taking ideas from the old Russian revolutions when the rich got richer and the poor got poorer and you had a distinct divide between the haves and the have nots and taking from this I really wanted to get a Russian constructivist feel to key parts of the work.  

 

I am happy with the overall design of the magazine especially the contents layout , I just wish I had taken more time to write the articles up and to make better dummies and just planned my time better however I am confident in saying that going to get my work printed at an external printers really lightened the burden of worrying about printing . I feel if I had just kept my idea simpler I would have achieved a much better realised outcome but I am happy none the less with the actual designs of my work .

rationales rationales rationales !?

Visions of the 21^st century

Possible rationales for project .

RECYCLING

Ways of making it more accessible to the public / promotion of recycling

GREEN ISSUES

As a designer incorporating eco friendly practices to help improve ECO awareness

Renewable / sustainable power

WHAT IF WE HAD TO LEAVE PLANET EARTH

Terra-forming other planets / space stations – what would humanity evolve into without earth as a home environment.

TECHNOLOGY

Sentient machines /AI would robots take over the earth

Could mans reliance on machines be his ultimate downfall

RESOURCE DEPLEATION.WHAT IF?

Because of a massive shortage of resources and lack of investment into alternatives to fossil fuels for energy the struggle control of the precious remnants of fossil fuels has sparked a war of epic proportions and the use of nuclear weapons by all sides although not resulting in M.A.D has made parts of the earth extremely inhospitable and the use of radiation suits to venture outside of the sealed cities mandatory it is a harsh existence for those who cannot afford to spend their days in the sealed cities but perhaps not for long as a revolution is on the horizon

RESOURCE DEPLEATION & GREEN ALTERNATIVES. WHAT IF?

Because of the irresponsible/over use of fossil fuels the earth’s atmosphere has slowly become more and more poisonous and weather patterns became more severe causing huge population shifts around the world. However before this in the early 2000’s after the success of the “EDEN PROJECT” many of the more developed countries started building “EDEN SITES” around important cities that were crucial to their economies. The “EDEN SITES” were built in much the same way as the Eden project Biospheres except on a much larger scale that incorporated housing and workplaces they were perfect self contained atmosphere controlled cities & when Agriculture became impossible many biospheres were developed strictly for agricultural purposes. However the “EDEN SITES” can only sustain a small portion of the population so when the selection process of who could live and work and live inside the “EDEN SITES” people had to be left out. How would this effect human morale?

HUMANITY

War its effect on the globe and its population propaganda and mass paranoia

Can one voice be heard amongst the global population to change our ways before its too late who’s voice would it be?

EDEN SITES

разрушьте участки рая!

Domed cities

   There are persuasive arguments in favor of cities under single umbrella shells. Whether the economic advantages can overcome the antievolutionary inertias of large social bodies is, however, questionable. When whole new human settlements are to be installed on virgin sites as, for instance, on the Antarctic continent, the doming-over may be realized. The doming-over of established cities in moderate climate will probably not occur until domed-over cities in virgin lands have proved successful enough to persuade the established cities to employ comprehensive umbrellaing. The established cities will probably not adopt the doming until environmental and other emergencies make it imperative. .Read more at DOMED CITY  Read more at DOMED CITY   

The Eden Project

 

What’s it about?

Eden is all about man’s relationship with and dependence upon plants. Much of our food, our clothes, our shelter and our medicines come from the plant world. Without plants there would be no oxygen for us to breathe, no life on earth.

The Eden Project is a showcase for all the questions and many of the answers. But Eden is not a worthy, over-serious, guilt-ridden place; nor does it preach. It is about education and communication of the major environmental issues of the day, always presented in an engaging, involving, even humorous way.What’s in it?

More than 1,000,000 plants representing 5,000 species from many of the climatic zones of the world. Many of these can grow in the mild conditions of Cornwall, others need greenhouses and that is where Eden’s two gigantic Biomes – the biggest conservatories in the world – come in.

In addition to the plants, art is central to Eden’s messaging, and the site is liberally peppered with fascinating, thought-provoking works and installations.Whose idea was it?

The idea was primarily Tim Smit’s, working with horticultural gurus Peter Thoday and Philip McMillan Browse, and Cornish architect and co-founder Jonathan Ball.

The more Tim found out about plants the more he wanted to tell the fascinating story of their importance to man, but it needed a much broader canvas than Heligan.

Along the way Tim gathered many others to help flesh out the vision and make it the reality it is today. His book Eden tells the full story.How many visitors does Eden get?

Our initial business plan was based upon 750,000 visitors per year, but in the first year we welcomed nearly two million. Since then it has settled down to one and a quarter million a year. By mid-2006 more than 7.5m people had visited Eden.How big are the covered Biomes?

The Humid Tropics Biome has an area of 15,590 square metres (1.55 hectares), is 55 metres high, 100 metres wide and 200 metres long. It is the biggest greenhouse in the world and is high enough to hold the Tower of London or eleven double-decker buses piled on top of one another.

The Warm Temperate Biome has an area of 6,540 square metres (0.65 hectares), is 35 metres high, 65 metres wide and 135 metres long.What are the Biomes covered with?

The Biomes are made up of hexagons of various sizes, the largest of which are approximately 9m across. The frame is galvanised tubular steel glazed with a triple layer of ETFE (Ethylene TetrafluoroEthylene Co-Polymer) foil.

ETFE is a transparent, recyclable foil and should last for at least 30 years. It is anti-static and therefore self-cleaning. It is very strong, transparent to UV light and is not degraded by sunlight. The whole structure is guaranteed maintenance-free for at least 25 years.Are there any animals?

Since the opening of the Eden Project in 2001, what was a sterile china clay pit now teems with wildlife. In the covered Biomes there are insects, butterflies, birds and some lizards. These function as biological controls for pests, and there are no plans to introduce any more animals.How is the climate maintained in the covered Biomes?

The covered Biomes are incredibly well insulated to conserve heat and therefore energy. The three layers of ETFE foil within the hexagons are blown apart by air forming an insulating pillow.

The climate is controlled using sophisticated computerised systems for automatic ventilation and heating. The back wall acts as a heat sink absorbing heat in the day and releasing it at night and the plants themselves help to control the climate (when it gets hotter they give off more water which cools the air).Where do the plants come from?

The plants are grown from seed and cuttings and brought in from nurseries, research stations and botanic gardens all over the world.

Eden has its own nursery a few miles down the road where our plants are nurtured before they move to the main site.How does the Eden Project affect the economy of the local community?

By 2006, five years after opening, Eden had – according to independently verified figures – contributed £700 million to the local economy. Eden uses local suppliers wherever possible, employs local people and supports local businesses in Cornwall and the South West.Isn’t it all just a big green theme park?

Eden is unashamedly entertaining but the real difference between it and a theme park lies in the scientific integrity and talent which underpins the whole Project; the academic excellence on site and beyond with the many partnerships we have set up with institutes, universities and individuals right across the world. Unlike theme parks Eden is a charity, and all the money raised at Eden goes back into our mission to explain the relationship between people and plants.Is it all finished?

No, and we hope it never will be. Obviously plants are constantly growing and changing with the seasons and Eden has expansion plans beyond the two covered Biomes, outdoor landscape and The Core.

Plans for The Edge – Eden’s fourth climate zone – are underway, as are those for the Fertile Crescent, a meeting place for conversations that just might go somewhere. Beyond that, who knows, but you can rest assured that Eden will continue to break new ground and further expand its horticultural, educational and artistic endeavours.What is The Core?

The Core is Eden’s new education centre, encapsulating our commitment to education in its broadest sense. Not just for students or scientists, The Core is open to everyone and contains a whole host of thought-provoking, enlightening exhibits.

 

Propoganda

The aim of propagandism is to influence people’s opinions or behaviors actively, rather than merely to communicate the facts about something. For example, propaganda might be used to gather either support or disapproval of a certain position, rather than to simply present the position, or to try to convince people to buy something, rather than to simply let them know there is some thing on the market.

What separates propagandism from “normal” communication is in ways by which the message attempts to shape opinion or behavior, which are often subtle and insidious among other characteristics. For example, propagandism is often presented in a way that attempts to deliberately evoke a strong emotion, especially by suggesting illogical (or non-intuitive) relationships between concepts or objects (for instance between a “good” car and an attractive woman or a sex symbol).

 

An appeal to one’s emotions is, perhaps, a more obvious and common propagandist method than those utilized by some other more subtle and insidious forms. For instance, propagandism may be transmitted indirectly or implicitly, through an ostensibly fair and balanced debate or argument. This can be done to great effect in conjunction with a broadly targeted, broadcast news format. In such a setting, arguments using “red herring” and other ploys (such as Ignoratio elenchi) are often used to divert the audience from a critical issue, while the intended message is suggested through indirect means.

Constuctivism & Art in the revolution

As much as involving itself in designs for industry, the Constructivists worked on public festivals and street designs for the post-October revolution Bolshevik government. Perhaps the most famous of these was in Vitebsk, where Malevich’s UNOVIS Group painted propaganda plaques and buildings (the best known being El Lissitzky’s poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (1919)). Inspired by Vladimir Mayakovsky’s declaration ‘the streets our brushes, the squares our palettes’, artists and designers participated in public life throughout the Civil War. A striking instance was the proposed festival for the Comintern congress in 1921 by Alexander Vesnin and Liubov Popova, which resembled the constructions of the OBMOKhU exhibition as well as their work for the theatre. There was a great deal of overlap in this period between Constructivism and Proletkult, the ideas of which concerning the need to create an entirely new culture struck a chord with the Constructivists. In addition some Constructivists were heavily involved in the ‘ROSTA Windows’, a Bolshevik public information campaign of around 1920. Some of the most famous of these were by the poet-painter Vladimir Mayakovsky and Vladimir Lebedev.

As a part of the early Soviet youth movement, the constructivists took an artistic outlook aimed to encompass cognitive, material activity, and the whole of spirituality of mankind. The artists tried to create works that would take the viewer out of the traditional setting and make them an active viewer of the artwork. In this it had similarities with the Russian Formalists’ theory of ‘making strange’, and accordingly their leading theorist Viktor Shklovsky worked closely with the Constructivists, as did other formalists like Osip Brik. These theories were tested in the theatre, particularly in the work of Vsevolod Meyerhold, who had set up what he called ‘October in the theatre’. Meyerhold developed a ‘biomechanical’ acting style, which was influenced both by the circus and by the ’scientific management’ theories of Frederick Winslow Taylor. Meanwhile the stage sets by the likes of Vesnin, Popova and Stepanova tested out Constructivist spatial ideas in a public form. A more populist version of this was developed by Alexander Tairov, with stage sets by Aleksandra Ekster and the Stenberg Brothers. These ideas would go on to influence German directors like Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator, as well as the early Soviet cinema.

Private military companies

BENI-TAL “security”

Following the recent Blackwater incidents P.M.C’s have become more known to the civilian populous but what few of the them don’t know is that there are well over a hundred organizations operating outside of the law . . . scary right .