Rational:
Over the course of the foundation I have enjoyed the freedom to experiment with a wide range of media and play around with processes. The foundation course has changed my 'A-level' mindset and taught me the importance of 'think through making', encouraging me take inspiration from all art disciplines and not always stick to 2D formats.
Context
Diagnostic mode was pivotal in teaching me a range of techniques to get my creative mind flowing; my favourite was listening to music and drawing how it made me feel. I found this idea of translating sound into something visual interesting as it involved colours, shapes and pattern making. Through research I came across Studio Dumbar's poster designs for the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. The posters were designed to respond graphically to the musical performance being advertised. I like the boldness and playfulness of the designs, something not typical of an orchestra poster.
From this initial research, I played around with an online spectrogram which turns frequencies into a visual representation. I compared the sounds of cities to the countryside, which led me onto thinking about sound pollution and how we rarely stop and actually listen to our surrounding environment.
Project concept:
For my FMP I want to encourage people to be more aware of the noises in their environment as we rarely stop and listen to our surroundings. I also aim to investigate noise pollution as an excess of noise can overwhelm our senses, restricting us from gleaning information from around us. This consequently can affect our mood and health. I plan on highlighting the damaging effects of this in London, and may compare this to the countryside to emphasize the contrast.
Influenced by Studio Dumbar’s poster designs for the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, I think it would be interesting to play around with turning sound into something visual, so that people can get an idea of what noise ‘looks’ like. To do this I will look into ‘sound artists’ such as Luigi Russolo as well as artists that research colour theory such as Josef Albers, Paul Klee and Patrick Heron. Alongside this, I will also explore ways of presenting data, starting by reading ‘Knowledge is Beautiful’ by David McCandless.
To achieve a fully realised and informative piece of design it is important to research the science behind this topic, but also carry out my own experiments. For instance, I plan on recording the everyday sounds of London (e.g. streets, trains, construction sites) on a decibel meter and play around with the results I get. A normal conversation is about 60 decibels, sounds above 85 are harmful. Doing primary research through my peers as a source of information will also be very useful.
I plan to take on board the 'think through making' approach and experiment with various 2D and 3D mediums to discover the best way of displaying the effects of sound pollution.
Evaluation:
During this project, I plan on keep a blog to record my progress and reflect on it weekly. I also intend to look to my peers for alternative points of views and fresh ideas.