Max Bloom

London

Project Question

How can the album be recentered as a relevant and meaningful listening experience in the streaming age?

Aim and Objective

For my Graphic Design MA final major project, I chose to investigate the decline of the album format in the streaming age.

This is a very personal topic to me. I still remember taking a detour on my way home from school (and sometimes during) to HMV in Camden Town. I can vividly recall the excitement and anticipation I felt upon pushing open the glass double doors. I would head straight to the rock/pop section and flick through rows upon rows of CDs; picking one up, looking at the cover, and turning it over. Each CD presented an opportunity for a new musical obsession.

It was the emotional connection I made with these albums that gave me the impetus to form a band and start writing my own music. The album has always been my ultimate creative goal. Within the space of around 50 minutes, I had the opportunity to create an immersive world; one that had the potential to enthral and engage listeners in the same way my favourite albums did for me when I was 17.

However, in recent years, I have noticed that the album has become somewhat devalued. Album sales have steadily declined as music streaming has risen to prominence, with many people choosing to listen to playlists instead. Whilst music streaming offers users cheap and convenient access to millions of songs, I believe that the user experience of Spotify and other leading streaming services directly negates the meaningful discovery and appreciation of albums. With no viable alternative, the decline of the album will continue to have devastating repercussions for the creativity and livelihoods of musicians in the future.

Final Outcome

My response was Fidelity, a new music platform where you can borrow a maximum of five albums each month, allowing listeners to build meaningful connections with albums and overcome the frustration that comes with the limitless choice of music on streaming services. If you’re not sure about an album, you can borrow it a maximum of three times before you have to buy it. Once you buy it, proof-of-stake authentication ensures that it is yours and only yours forever.

How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?

This MA has been by far the most rewarding and challenging thing I’ve ever done. There’s no comparison between the designer I was when I started the course and the designer I am now. I am truly grateful to Falmouth, my tutors and my amazing cohort for their incredible support and guidance throughout this process.

Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.

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Anush Aleksanyan

Yerevan

Project Question

How might the thematic analysis and visual exploration of symbolic language found in Armenian folktales inspire a narrative-driven game aimed at revitalizing the oral tradition through contemporary means?

Aim and Objective

Aims
– Design a narrative-driven game with visual language based on found archetypes and symbolism from folktales
– Enable a Participatory co-creative story-crafting experience and empower creative thought and imagination

Project Objectives
1. Illustrations: Visualize Armenian archetypal characters and symbolism observed in folk tales
2. Game Instructions: Make up rules of the game that would allow collaborative story creation
3. Process Of Making: Choose a technique to produce the game that is reflective of the tales

Final Outcome

I imagined an interactive medium encouraging the practice of storytelling, so that the art of storytelling can be revived, and earn a place in contemporary culture.

The main rule of the game is to create stories by connecting the tiles with each other. The premise is to tell the story of the hero while aiming to either help or distract him. This idea of either being the good guy or the bad guy came from my initial idea of integrating the archetypes of the hero characters from Armenian folktales into the gameplay mechanics. In this case, the good guy bears the archetype of the innocent child, while the bad guy is the trickster.

How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?

I have developed as a designer by dealing with a multitude of different kinds of projects and finding out what I’m drawn to during this course. I have had the chance to learn from talented designers that come from a variety of life paths and backgrounds.
At the end of the course I have found myself in a community of amazing designers and an immense amount of deep understanding about the design discipline that I will be able to apply to each new project I take on! I have definietly become more independent as a designer and my achievements have boosted my confidence!

Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.

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Lizzie Hunt

Lusaka, Zambia

Project Question

How can a classroom best support all children in a class to make an inclusive environment?

Aim and Objective

Classroom design greatly impacts the learning potential for all students. But what works for one student, could actually be detrimental to another child’s learning.

Through this final project of my MA, I developed a business plan for a proposed company, FlexiClass, and designed a range of products. These products were specifically developed to create a calm and effective learning environment for all, whilst helping relieve the ever growing time and creative pressures for educators when delivering the curriculum.

Each product was carefully designed with both teachers and students in mind, with specific aims for each audience:

For teachers
• Support teachers in delivering their curriculum
• Provide an easy and potentially time saving solution
• Allow flexibility for different class sizes
• Be flexible for different types of teaching styles

For children
• Create an inclusive environment to support all children in their early years education
• Empower children and give them a sense of pride and ownership of “their space”
• Reduce distraction in the classroom by streamlining and simplifying design and colours in the classroom
• Provide a happy, practical and safe educational environment

For schools
• Be environmentally conscience and sustainable
• Support staff mental health and well-being
• Utilise existing classroom spaces and resources

Final Outcome

For this final project, I developed three new products, specifically designed with inclusivity in mind. As more children than ever are being identified as needing extra support, the environment that we create in a classroom has become even more important. Through FlexiClass products, I aimed to empower children, allowing them to focus and enjoy learning, whilst capturing their imagination.

The main product I designed and prototyped for this project was MagniWall, a flexible wall display. Research shows that permanent displays can be distracting and ultimately be detrimental to a child’s learning. MagniWall simply allows children to easily construct their own classroom displays using magnetic tiles. By building the displays themselves, children will better absorb the information and have increased pride and ownership of their learning environment. These displays can be easily removed by teachers to reduce distraction and is a tool to support delivering the curriculum. I also developed textured magnetic displays for tactile learning.

The next product I further developed was COLORUG, a flexible floor space which allows teachers to easily change seating positions and create small groups. Designed to support both “Hexagonal Thinking” and the “Kohler Effect” teaching methods, COLORUG gives a floor space that teachers can use in a variety of different ways. Research shows that regularly changing the child’s seating location and position will help with better engagement in activities. By sitting or standing on different colours on COLORUG, the positions of the children in the classroom will change – this could be a circle, rows facing the front or small groups which allows teachers to be more strategic about who each student sits with. COLORUG has three standard sizes but could also be customisable to include the school colours or mascot, and making bespoke products based upon each class individual needs. There are also extra accessories that could be used with COLORUG including mini hexagonal shaped seats made from laminated steam bent wood, Velcro letters and numbers, and an application which allows teachers to track students progress in small groups based on colour groupings.

The final product I designed for this module was COLORUG Outdoors. This took the concept of COLORUG and transformed into portable rubber mats can be used in PE or recess. Teachers can place each coloured hexagon to group children or use them as markers in games. 

How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?

This MA has been incredible for me, both for developing my design skills but for discovering what really makes me tick personally in my practice.

By looking beyond the obvious and really getting under the skin of my location, I was able to find more than I expected and I know that I wouldn’t have created the works that I have throughout this course if it wasn’t for these new perspectives I found along the way.

I’ve met (both in person and virtually)
some amazingly talented designers and made wonderful friends. They have been inspiring throughout and again, shown different perspectives and design approaches which I have personally found so inspiring.
Our trip to Berlin was probably the highlight, having the opportunity to work collaboratively with some of my peers from all around the globe.

This MA has allowed me to discover my passion for early years education and inclusive support for those with special educational needs. I’ve explored this theme through many projects but I was glad to be able to further explore this for my final MA submission. It is something that I now know I would like to pursue beyond this MA and hopefully turn this business idea into a reality.

My peers, along with my tutors at Falmouth, have helped build my confidence and shape the designer I am. Thanks to them, I feel I’m walking away with a renewed passion for graphic design but also an ambition that I didn’t know was in me.

Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.

Visit web site

Quah Phaik Hoon

Malaysia

Project Question

How can perspective contribute to reshaping the viewpoints of a ‘banana’ in Malaysia? (For context, the word 'banana' is a label used to describe someone of Chinese descent who cannot speak or understand the Mandarin language in Malaysia. Although the issue stems from language use, it potentially runs deeper in history and one's perception of each other within the Malaysian Chinese community.)

Aim and Objective

The label ‘banana’ contributes to the division in the Malaysian Chinese community based on their language proficiency in Mandarin and English. In online forums, little to no discussions appear about Malaysian Chinese who cannot speak or understand English, compared to the larger amount of existing forums discussing one’s experience of being a ‘banana’. Through the online survey, despite the common description of ‘banana’, a handful describe it negatively. Online news media contribute to setting a comedic tone to the topic. While the divide is an apparent issue, there is a lack of stories and experiences of those labelled or identified as ‘banana’ in existence.

The aim is to advocate for the Malaysian Chinese community to understand and empathise with each other regardless of their preferred language. There are misconceptions about those labelled as ‘banana’ and the goal is to shift that narrative from ‘banana’s themselves to speak up on their experiences. Additionally, it’s to create an opportunity for conversations to occur and to set a more serious tone for this issue to be taken seriously. Rather than comedic listicles and articles at the expense of being a ‘banana’, this steers the narrative sensitively and emotionally.

Final Outcome

The Personal Journal of a Banana is a publication which features an in-depth experience of someone who has been labelled a ‘banana’ for many years. It explores the journey of a singular person in five short chapters, alongside snippets of experiences submitted by others, chunks of conversations with friends and highlights of survey findings regarding the topic. Nothing is set in stone implying that stories and perspectives could bring significant change in demolishing the segregation of ‘banana’s and ‘non-banana’s entirely. However, this publication intends to offer a curated collection of resources to shift one’s viewpoint of those labelled as ‘banana’s. With offered perspectives and shared conversations to understand, maybe we can strengthen our community one story at a time.

The first section of the publication is the five short chapters of a first-person written perspective of a self-narrated journey with the Mandarin language as an English-speaking Malaysian Chinese. It goes in-depth with first-hand experiences and emotional ties to the language. Across the five chapters, there is a set of reflective questions at the end of each chapter, which the author used to spark writing their narrative.

At the end of each chapter, there is a set of reflective questions. Readers are encouraged to reflect on these questions themselves as they explore one’s journey and emotions with a language. This could potentially be developed further as a tool for people to assess their emotions and viewpoints on a language with their identity. Utilising this could be a way to prompt people to write their stories and possibly create an archive of written experiences for others to read.

The following sections that follow are Experiences, Conversations and Statistics. Experiences showcases a collection of responses from an online survey along with Statistics which highlights interesting results from the same online survey. Conversations feature a snippet of conversations with friends on the topic of language use growing up in Malaysia.

The focus for this project’s outcome begins with a publication, which could potentially expand to other mediums like a website and an exhibition to gather more perspectives and create an archive of experiences and conversations.

How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?

My practice has shifted in terms of the way I work through studying this course with a global cohort. From face-to-face meet-ups, it evolved to receiving feedback and having conversations through chat or recording voice notes for prompt feedback that suited everyone’s time of preference compared to a fixed time. It pushed me to be flexible and to think from a variety of perspectives given that the feedback came from people in different countries.

It has given me the opportunity to think of the context of my project in my home country, and how it would be perceived by someone outside of my bubble. The importance of describing things clearly and concisely proves to be bigger given that the cohort consists of a global cohort and that there’s no one-size-fits-all mould when it comes to coming up with solutions; which was refreshing to experience and have these discussions with one another.

Through this course, I was able to learn about different parts of the world in terms of design, culture and context which shapes the world we live in today.

Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.

Visit web site