Images

Participants

Final Stand made and painted white.

I have finished making my experiment and have painted the entire thing white to hide the branding of the toothpaste as well as to make the experience more austere and plain. After completing the experience myself it is very difficult to squeeze the toothpaste from the tube.

To make my experience even more austere I have decided to limit the amount of time the user can press down on the tube with the block to only 3 seconds. This will mean the user will only get a very minimal amount of toothpaste.

I feel my experience does give the user the feeling of austerity as I have taken away many aspects of the everyday activity - such as the opening of the lid, the feeling of the tube moulding to the users hand and have limited the amount of toothpaste they get.

I will now proceed and have people complete my experience and document there thoughts.

Making the Stand

Went to Gordon Harris and brought some foam board, pins and masking tape. Will put it all together then paint it white in oder to make it more austere and to hide the branding on the toothpaste tube itself.

I was originally going to make the stand out of wood and use the laser cutter but it was completely booked out due to second and third year architecture students using it for assignments.

Hopefully it all still comes together.

Inside the Lid

After trying all three this is the one that made it the hardest to squeeze the toothpaste from the tube. This is the one I will use in the lid of the toothpaste tube for this experience.

Inside Tube Lid

Some ideas for what I could put inside the lid to make it harder to squeeze. I have a feeling by cutting two slits will work the best for this but will give all three ago to make sure.

Back to original

So unfortunately I could not find springs anywhere so have gone back to my original idea. But to make it more austere, I am going to make it really hard to squeeze the toothpaste from the tube. I will put some form of plastic inside of the lid with some form of small hole in it. This will limit the amount of toothpaste to come out of the tube and i will also limit the amount of time the user has to put pressure on the tube.

Idea Change

In class today, Hannah and I came up with a cool way of doing my assignment.
The idea was to have to bits of wood, separated in the middle by springs. To squeeze the toothpaste, the tube would be between the two bits of wood and the user would have to put pressure against the top piece. This would then squish the springs down allowing the user to get toothpaste from the tube.

Concept

Project Three

Drawing on the observations and experimentation in Project 1 and 2, Project 3 requires students to develop an experience. This can take the form of a 3D object, media design or curated experience. The experience can be created off site, but must be accessible (e.g. no more than 10 minutes from the campus by foot) and permitted in that space. Students are required to document this experience in use. Students must also write 1000 words contextualising and relating the experience to  one of the following ‘structures of feeling’:

-        Glamour

-        Austerity

-        Comfort

-        Routine

-        Rebellion

Bibliography

Dyhouse, C. (2011) Glamour: Women, History, Feminism. London: Zed Books.

Goldstein, M. (2004) Getting Glamorous. Town and Country, 158(5286), 132.

Retrieved from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Gundle, S. (2008) Glamour: A History. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.

Final 500 Words

Finding More Sources.

So far finding two more sources has proved to be rather difficult. I have found many that I could somehow relate back to my 500 words and my findings but to me they just dont fit right so far. I will keep searching the Library and online to see if I can find two more that fit much better.  

My one source so far is the glamour weeks reading from the reading list.

Peer Reviews by Hannah and Alex

500 Words before Peer Review

I accidentally saved over my original 500 words but you can understand that it needed a lot of fixing up etc from my peer reviews above. I had only included one academic source as I was struggling to find sources I could fit into my writing. 

From here I hope to rewrite the entire thing:
- make sentences shorter and to the point.
- make the overall writing quality better
- include three sources.
- get the structure right.

Chosen Experiment to Write About

I have decided to write about my findings with creating the mood glamour as I thought this had the most interesting results.

Rebellion - Music

Rebellion – Playing Heavy Metal Music.

Hayden: After trying different volumes, when the music was at its loudest Hayden became very annoyed and angry and completed the task at a very fast pace. When at a lower volume he did not mind it so much and said it gave him a bit of an energy burst. Playing this kind of music when at a loud volume certainly changed the experience and made it rebellion for Hayden as it was much different to completing the task in silence and made him quite agitated.

Jacinta: No matter what volume the music was at, Jacinta did not enjoy it at all. It made her become quite annoyed and frustrated. This resulted in her squeezing the toothpaste tube much harder and also faster as she wanted to complete the activity as soon as possible. It was quite interesting to watch as her mood changed as she became agitated by the music and just wanted it to stop.

The reactions from both Jacinta and Hayden were interesting to watch and also quite entertaining. By playing this type of music very loudly, it changed the experience and made both of them not enjoy it one bit. They wanted to complete it as soon as possible. It was definitely much different to what they are use to hearing when squeezing the toothpaste from the tube.

Glamour - Jewels

Glamorous – Jewels all over the tube.

Hayden: When completing the activity of squeezing toothpaste from the tube while it had jewels all over it certainly did change the experience for him. He said he held and squeezed the tube much more gently and it also felt like he wasn’t just completing the simple daily task he completes everyday.  He said it made it feel like the task was much more of a once off and special.

Jacinta: Being a girl, her reaction to the toothpaste tube was more intense than Hayden’s. Her face lit up and she became quite excited to complete the task. It certainly changed the experience for Jacinta as she become much more interested in completing the task when she usually doesn’t take any notice in what shes doing when squeezing toothpaste from the tube. Similar to Hayds, Jacinta said she held the tube a lot gentler and also examined the tube rather than just pick it up and use it.

I find it interesting, that although both said it definitely changed the experience for them, the reactions were rather different between a boy and a girl. Even though this was a materialistic way to show glamour, it certainly changed the experience and made it seem more special for both a boy and a girl.