Adopt a Step by Martina Bonetti

CONTENTS

01 DISCOVER p 2

WHAT IS EXPERIENCE DESIGN?

p 3

NEGLECTED SPACE IDENTIFICATION My space Field trip

02 DEFINE p 8

INITIAL DRIVERS Self-set guidelines Insights and design opportunities Experience approach

p 14

INITIAL CONCEPTS

p 19

ADOPT A STEP

03 DEVELOP p 20

FURTHER RESEARCH Inputs About the Reid Building About the Mackintosh Building Creative abrasion

p 32

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT Technicalities Experience user journeys

p 40

TESTING Focus group Students inspired drivers Experiments on the steps

p 50

CONCEPT REFINEMENT Experience user journeys

04 DELIVER p 54

DESIGN OUTCOMES The artefacts The presentation

05 FINAL REFLECTION p 68

AFTERTHOUGHTS

DESIGN FOR EXPERIENCE

BRIEF The project asked us to design individually an experience in a neglected space within Glasgow. The spot had to be usable, reachable and legal to access. It could be coming from another time to be reinterpreted or it could be just abandoned, reappropriated, ignored. Its location, time, weather conditions didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be ignored. After finding a space and defining its opportunities, we had to plan and map the whole experience, in order to produce an artefact that is central to the engagement. Since the aim was communicating soul and feel of the idea, we had to deliver the finalised touchpoint and a visual narrative of the event to explain how to let people know about it, what happens and what they can bring back. The central articulation was supposed to be: anticipation and discovery, event experience, residual memory and its legacy.

DISCOVER

WHAT IS EXPERIENCE DESIGN? An “experience” is primarily a meaningful, personal encountered event. It’s a memoir of use and consumption. It’s a story, emerging from the dialogue of a person with her or his world through action. It’s always subjective, holistic, situated, dynamic and worthwhile. There’s always a link between the pleasantness of an experience and sources of pleasure as stimulation, relatedness, competence and popularity. An experience can be defined starting from the “why”, which clarifies the needs and emotions involved in an activity, its meaning to set the tone of the experience. At this point the “what” determines functionality that is available to provide the experience and the “how” defines the appropriate way of putting it into action.

NEGLECTED SPACE IDENTIFICATION My space had the “liminality” guideline. So, first of all, I defined what liminal and neglected mean to a place together with the other people having my same limitation. “Neglected” is something forgotten, ignored, disused, misused, broken, in between or waiting. Basically its full potential hasn’t been reached. “Liminal” means pass-through, on journey, linking or passive. It is a space normally ignored because it’s never a destination.

MY SPACE Using these guidelines we defined about thirty possibilities exploring Glasgow on field. After a rotation of the six most promising spots, I got the Reid Building’s staircase. it is a neglected space because people tend to take the elevator and avoid them, even if they are the actual spine of the building. The Reid itself after more than a year from its opening, is still not loved by its students, who keep expressing complaints. This means it still hasn’t reached its full potential because the School has been built for and around them. It need to be re-appropriated so that students feel more connection and ownership on it. With a simple overlook it’s clear that it’s a beautiful construction. But without student experiencing it and connecting to it, it looks cold and aseptic.

Usually pride can be created though exaltation of the good works, but here the attendants show enough confidence towards the institution and themselves. They trust the School of Art, but they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see its essence in the building yet.

FIELD TRIP

To get inspiration and see how the re-qualification of a neglected space actually works, we had a class field trip at the Govanhill Baths Community Trust and the Tramway. I think this made me really understand how inclusivity and community aspect are essential to make this kind of operations work. People have to feel a real connection to the place and when this happens, nothing can stop them and they will most probably take on the place as a legacy to pass on through generations. I was really struck by the audience and the interest these places got after the makeover: many people visit them and try to organise events there, underlining good chances of future success.

DEFINE

INITIAL DRIVERS SELF-SET GUIDELINES What I could use were the space of the steps, the barriers on the sides and the wall when is there. The ceiling is very high so I couldn’t get there to attach things, which would have been anyway out of reach for who passes. The biggest complaint about the building is the noise, so I couldn’t use sound in my experience or it will make the acoustic worse. The area is quite bright, so light projections might have not been not visible. For respect to the original design, I didn’t want to be too invasive. It didn’t have to modify the structure, but to bring improvements to what’s already there.

I aimed to create an emotional value and not just a pure installation, which adds beauty but keeps the building soulless. It had to be iconic and clearly recognisable. I wanted people to prefer the stairs to the elevator. My goal was to stimulate the curiosity because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an everyday pass-through place and to enhance the community importance in order to establish pride.

INSIGHTS AND DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES GSA students still don’t love the Reid Building and don’t feel sense of ownership, while the school should be made of and for them. They feel a lot of pride for the institution they’re part of, but can’t see it reflected in the Reid as much as in the Mac. The two buildings were meant to be two opposite half of the same unit and now that the Mac is under reconstruction, the Reid has all the weight to carry.

The Reid has been built over a thick spine of stairs, which are the very core of it. When people avoid them, the full potential of its design is not reached. Stairs are very empty and very long. Without any kind of stimulation students and staff decide to take the elevator, so the staircase stays the neglected option. Glasgow is a beautiful city but inspires unhealthy habits. Therefore stressed students are really likely to take on damaging routines. Food is surely one of the main issues and the preference in the use of the elevator instead of the stairs goes with it.

EXPERIENCE APPROACH

Anticipation

• creates curiosity and interest around the building. • joins students because they are the only ones who can actually experience it. • create expectation and immediate attendance of the space. • celebrates and infuses pride in the students.

Spect

• strikes as a surprise first time. • becomes a reason t the next time. • share with others n • community comes o

tacle

e while passing the

to choose this way

next to you. out.

Memory

• share with others to let them have the same experience. • pride restored. • the place loses some negation because people re-appropriate it.

INITIAL CONCEPTS All of them were meant to be happening in the staircase of the Reid Building and were directed to students and staff of the School. GSA pride Why: students are so proud of their institution but they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t translate it on the building. How: making them see how the Reid recalls the Mac (in which they recognised the GSA) as it has been designed. What: installing details belonging to the Mac, GSA history, alumni or Glaswegian identity, to make them visualise what now they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see. Anticipation // Spectacle students taking the stairs discover every time a new detail that stimulate their curiosity.

Memory the permanent memory stays to remember the School role.

Reid treasure hunt Why: students are so proud of their institution but they can’t translate it on the building. How: making them see how the Reid recalls the Mac (in which they recognised the GSA) as it has been designed. What: installing Mac details, GSA history, Glaswegian identity, alumni or to make them visualise what now they can’t see. Anticipation a mysterious message is sent to the students to set up a treasure hunt. Spectacle students can single-play or team-play to find all the installed details which are “easter eggs” in the environment.

Memory through an online platform you can see the places you caught, share them with your team and crown the winner.

Adopt a step Why: students need to re-appropriate the space of the School, which has been created for and around hem, so they should feel part of it. How: giving a way to visualise their belonging to the School. What: entrusting each student a step of the building means making them the sustaining spine of the School. Anticipation names of the students appear from nothing on the steps. Spectacle students get to know they can decor their step and the event takes place.

Memory students can take pictures, share them and still see everyday the step under their eyes as a permanent memory.

Utility stairs Why: they are the centre of the building and still they get ignored because theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not pleasant. How: finding ways to create utility spots which can give practical reasons to prefer the stairs to the elevator. What: tools to create green power or to make stairs passage more efficient can be introduced in the space. Anticipation // Spectacle enjoyment in taking the stair because you can turn it into useful time. Memory //

> >

Fit school Why: stressed students habits can be unhealthy. How: giving the right motivation to push students on the stairs. What: using messages on the steps and an app to check calories and challenge friends, the environment becomes involving and interactive. Anticipation new messages can appear everyday and challenges be set up. Spectacle enjoyment in taking the stairs because of the food rewards or the competitions. Memory overall feeling of health and pride. They can

> >

get to be fit without much effort or many renounces. Performances can be recorded with the app.

ADOPT A STEP I decided to take on this option because I thought it was the most meaningful. Being about to leave this School, I wanted to close my studies here with a bold project which could leave a mark of my period here. I see a lot of potential in this building and my biggest concern was to share my vision with the other and maybe chance someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind. Furthermore I like architecture and history, so taking care of the School of Art identity was extremely interesting and stimulating.

DEVELOP

FURTHER RESEARCH INPUTS After a first tutorial Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been given some suggestions to orientate my work. I could have found a way to pass the baton between students in the years to make it more inclusive. The ownership could have been of just a certain year so that it could pass on. This could have been an occasion for students to display their work, reflecting them and their experience, but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t very engaging. More interaction could entertain or inform who passes there. This feature could repurpose the descendent because the idea worked just while ascending. The use of comments that students can see or receive could have kept the community lively in a continuous circle of giving and getting back opinions. Representing the students inside the School, the steps could inform about the presence of the students or their studio position, to link them throughout the buildings.

ABOUT THE REID BUILDING To have a better understanding on the architecture of the building and its relationship to Mackintosh’s masterpiece, I looked into “Mac Mag 39”. It’s last year’s issue of the School of Architecture annual magazine, which aim was analysing exactly this matter. Here I could find points of inspiration and great sources.

“This place is evolving in real time anyway. It is clear that GSA is a small place but it’s quite complex in the way it works: the layered spaces of each discipline, the different layers of history, the layers of interpersonal relationship and all this folded together.” “As a small School community, we are much more directly in control of our own identity.” “At GSA, there is a community of people who are very different, focused externally in so many directions, yet share a lot of similarities in the way they work within the studio culture. This is a very distinctive and powerful thing about this School.” - Tom Inns

“...[there is a] distinction between a building’s material qualities, that absorb traces of human life in terms of wear and tear, and the higher order psychological impact of a building, that ‘If (a building’s) body is sensitive enough, it can assume a quality that bears witness to the reality of past life’.” “...what a building is, evolves over time and good buildings ‘must be capable of absorbing the traces of human life and thus taking on a specific richness’.” “However it is in the interstitial non-specific circulation spaces - steps, foyers, corridors and staircases - that evidence of the influence of the spaces on the inhabitants’ behaviour, and the specific richness might be more informative.” “...in the experience of working in a building on a daily basis, the users’ appropriation of the building is directed by the quality of the spaces; the building tells you how to be within the building.” - Alan Hooper

“It’s very important in the Art School to make space that can handle all kinds of activities, take knocks and be taught. That is one of the reasons we made the whole structure out of concrete, and exposed it to shape the studios. The building has a kind of exposed rawness: its walls can take paint, rough use, and it all adds a certain patina to the studios;” “...there are certain things you cannot explain rationally, but that are extremely important. It has to do with the quality of the light, the texture, the height of the studios it has to be so for a feeling if expansiveness. [...] - a piece of Art that’s worthy of the GSA.” - Chris McVoy

“We did not mimic the Mackintosh building that would have been wrong, tacky and disrespectful. Instead, we built a counterpart. The Mackintosh building has thin bones and a thick skin, its design is based on slender structures of timber and ironwork inserted into a massive masonry shell. So we’ve done the opposite.” “... each place is very specific. My first manifesto was ‘Anchoring’ - that the building it’s particular to its site, its circumstances and its place, but also its climate and culture; [...] so when I do something in Glasgow I do it just for this place and this particular condition, and the building could never exist anywhere else..” “It was quite different for Mackintosh. [...] Most of his work is here, in Glasgow: he perfected a language that fits in this context and is carried though.” - Steven Holl

“(Steven Holl Architects) juxtaposed Mackintosh’s School of Art with the building that was to be constructed on the site opposite and located Renfrew Street at the centre of the newly expanded School. The Architects described this space, now framed between old and new, as a ‘caesura’ - a break or pause in a line of verse; a pause showing rhythmic division of a melody.” - Brian Carter

“Cause it’s the School of Art, it’s different. The building is a piece of art, eh. Same as that one across the road. Most buildings are. I’m pretty pleased I’m part of it; to me it’s an achievement in my life.” - Workers

ABOUT THE MACKINTOSH BUILDING “It is the only Art School in the world where the building is worthy of its subject... a work of art in which to make works of art.” - Christopher Frayling

The Mac was a robust, functional building imbued with artistry and richness: a working environment that expressed the spirit of creativity. At the beginning it was not meant to be a tourist attraction, just in the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;80s the demand for public access grew and the School set student-guided tours. Tourists demanded to see more but authorisations were denied as the School felt this would have been too invasive. There was recognition that the functioning of the building as a teaching resource had to remain paramount and that the day the students and the staff of the School were forced out (to be replaced entirely by tourists) it would have been the day the building died. A unique aspect of the visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience on viewing the School is not only the appreciation of the quality and detail of the physical spaces, but also witnessing the building in use as an Art School.

CREATIVE ABRASION Steven Holl Architects defined the staircase as a “circuit of connection” throughout the new Reid Building, which encourages the “creative abrasion” across and between the departments that is central to the working of the School. The open circuit of stepped ramps links all the major spaces for informal gatherings and exhibitions. For this reason I found appropriate a deeper research into the topic. “Ideas that really rub against each other productively as opposed to distinctively”, Jerry Hirschberg (founder and president of Nissan Design). He has been the first one to talk about it, saying that its heart stays in diversity, of talents, viewpoints, cultural differences, which create a culture where ideas are challenged and new “intersections” are constantly made. Conflict is essential to innovation, which is the core of design.

The Reid staircase has been thought to serve that purpose, being a common area inside the building where ideas are shared between different people. They are continuous from the bottom to the top to link at the same time all the different departments. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a marketplace of ideas through debate and discourse. Being Design the common field of all the Reid students, I though about using creative abrasion as a driver to let students share, collaborate and create legacy. At this point came out quite naturally the idea of turning my concept into a collaborative project between departments, to take students into a continuous journey into the building.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT I wanted the experience to be for the students but the showcase appreciated from everyone. Visitors had to come to see the building because of the exposition and not because of the building itself, which without students’ work is dull. The use of Mac’s piece wouldn’t have been proper because the Reid should get its own identity, given by the students. If the buildings have been made to be complementary, then it makes sense that as the Mac defined the GSA, now is GSA that has to define and give tone to the new construction. I imagined students to work and comment directly on the building space, as kids draw on the house walls. For this reason I would have needed some sort of cover of the steps height, so they could work on them but at the end of the year the artworks can be detached and preserved. I thought that a student’s works shouldn’t have been taken away from the next one because it would lose the link to the

School. A sense of legacy could have been established with a permanent exhibition, after taking them away from the steps, where they reproduced the structure of the building. They could all be stuck on the walls near the auditorium, where lots of outside people can come for lectures. Another opportunity could have been even pass on a theme for the artworks from one year to the following one.

TECHNICALITIES Gesso boards could be very adaptable kind of surfaces. They recall Reid walls and can get any type of art from paint, to drawing, colours, paper, fabric and collage. Strong magnets could work to keep them attached to the step. Screens on the length of the steps could display informations about the student who made the piece and be used to comment. Using it as a graphic board with brushes was a more appropriate option than typing in it. A pressure sensor, activated by the presence on the step, can switch on the screen and swiping the student card can unlock it to use it. The brush were meant to be positioned in a box on the handrail, which opens again through a swipe and detects with a weight sensor if all the brushes are back in their place.

On the market there are transparent touchscreen showcases, which could have been perfect with a thicker protection. Using the heigh of the step to put up art and the length to leave comments, two different views could have been created: just art and what students show from the bottom and thoughts and who students are from the top.

EXPERIENCE USER JOURNEYS STUDENT

Anticipation

• names appear on the steps. • people notice them but no one knows why they’re there. • people’s interest gathers around the mystery. • the “Adopt a step” initiative is revealed and the news spreads. • people can subscribe to the “Decoration day” event.

Spect

• on the set day peop the signal everyone his step. • the event gets reco initiative. • who joined is asked portfolio and gene • screens get installe sticked the name o the QR code of his • students can now a and portfolios and on the screen, or w

own work to justify • this goes on the wh

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ple gather and at e starts decorating

orded to spread the

d a link to his online eral infos. ed on the stairs with of the student and s portfolio on it. admire others’ works leave a comment write about their

y it. hole academic year.

Memory

• just before the opening of the degree show, the decoder steps boards get detached. • they are exposed in the -1floor in front of the auditorium during a closing-year ceremony. • they are positioned like in the stairs to reproduce the shape of the building. • graduates choose the theme for next year’s steps to leave a legacy. • students get sent the last screenshot of their step as a yearbook memory to keep.

VISITOR

Anticipation

• the tour guide talks about the new feature of the school which will let students showcase their talent.

Spect

• the staircase is dec way which commun the school. • students’ portfolios online to see what the Art School.

tacle

cored in a unique nicates the feel of

s are available actually happens in

Memory

â&#x20AC;˘ pictures can be taken to advertise the students, unlike the private studio work. â&#x20AC;˘ link to the portfolios are available in any moment with contacts.

TESTING I understood at this point that it was time to check the validity of my proposal on the actual users, the students, and to verify how my touchpoints could have become artefacts.

FOCUS GROUP I held a focus group with six GSA students (one from Painting and Printmaking 4th Yr, one from Product Design 4th Yr, three from Product Design 3rd Yr and one from PhD in Product Design) to understand what they thought.

“The reason why I don’t like the Reid is that the building gets more importance than GSA as an institution, while it should be the opposite. The architect has been more celebrated than the school or students themselves, so it’s hard not being annoyed.”

“The division of spaces is important: the public area should be clean and neat for everyone, the common one should be more chill for students to meet up and the personal one should be individual space kept as it fits best to the owner. Privacy is important in the creative process and there spaces should never interfere.” “The community is one of my favourite things in this school. I would love to collaborate with other students from different departments.”

“Manipulate the space around me can actually influence me, making me feel at ease and working better.”

“FoCI is not enough to meet the others and learn skills from them. As a designer in your working life you’re forced to collaborate with other professionals, so you should start in school.”

“We would like to have an exhibition space but we don’t want to be object showcased itself. There has to be a clear division which now is missing. There’s need for a space where to be creative, leave messages or marks of the work happened there.”

STUDENTS INSPIRED DRIVERS The showcase It was considered a good chance, on the condition that it didn’t influence the work and the studio privacy. It has to stay in the space of the stairs, replicating what used to happen in the Mac where tours were held in the building without interfering with students. So, students could have showcase but they didn’t have to be showcased. The creative abrasion It wasn’t needed in the Mac because Fine Art is a very individualistic practice, which needs a lot of personal space, emotions and time. In Design, on the other hand, you collaborate as much as you can and you need other people’s influence to go on with your work.

The comments Commenting others’ work was a way of keeping students as the main focus and not loosing their importance because of the exhibition. It could satisfy the need of experiencing and owning the building. Although they appreciated, there wasn’t need for tech. They preferred other means as post-its and stickers (which fall too easily or are hard to take away) or markers for the barrier and chalks for the floor (to actually write on the surfaces without staining them), more in the Art School style. These ways are all more analogical and engaging because they’re so easy that stimulate curiosity to try. If every department had a colour (relating maybe the one proposed on the flags around the building by ComDes) it could have been checked easily the participation and the belonging of the different departments. In this optic pink is for Communication, green for Fashion, yellow for Product, brown for Jewellery and I added a last light blue for Interior.

The community Since GSA community is actually so close and so small. where you learn more with the practice and from your classmates than in actual lessons, workshops of other departments disciplines could happen. As thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Projector ice Breakingâ&#x20AC;? project at the beginning of the year, it could have been turned into a multidepartment collaboration to produce something to expose. As Art students get some of their works bought by GSA to keep in the archives for future memory, the Design School could have done the same to get a sign of their passing and help funding the degree show. The legacy It showed to be appreciated by the students, probably thanks to the small community. Apart from the theme of the exhibition there could have been something more physical to pass on to the next generation, building up a tradition.

A post-its looking mosaic could have been thing to leave behind. Tiles reminding of sticky notes could stay and not be ruined in time. On them there can be a sentence or a drawing that the class decides to put when graduates, to be remembered. In this way the boards can be sold to get money for the degree show, still leaving something behind in the school without worries about running out of space after a certain amount of time. Different colours for different departments were meant to create a pattern, being allowed to put the tile in whatever position following a grid. They were supposed to be Post-it alike because they are symbol of collaborative work, usually important things are written on them, they are part of a developing process, they are the main tool of design thinking, they allow to take ideas from the mind and share them and mostly they are visual records of success (thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing like an entire wall full of ideas to show a physical statement of achievement).

EXPERIMENTS ON THE STEPS Staircases Using the planning section as a base, I went up and down the whole building to measure the stairs and count the steps. In the Reid thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a principal staircase and two emergency exits, but after passing through them all I realised it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make sense to design on the latter two because they were not meant as meeting ground by the original project. Considering just the main one, if every student had had a step there would have been space just for one year at a time.

Chalks I decided to use chalks for the comments on the steps because in some areas there are grids instead of panels on the barriers, so it couldn’t be written on them. They worked on the floor, the colour was bright and visible. They could be easily washed away, but the pigment remained if just stepped on because you would need to rub to take it away. After a couple of days my experiment didn’t give signs of fading, people didn’t drag pigments getting the floors dirty. When asked, students said they didn’t mind ducking or sitting on the steps to comment and they liked the idea of drawing on the floor of the building itself.

Names on the steps First of all, I used the FoCI list of students to create the groups of names from different departments but same year to stick on the steps. When students started to pass they noticed their names and stopped to read for curiosity, enjoying the unknown. The stickers got attention even from who passed by on the near floor. Even though at the beginning people walked more carefully and avoided to walk near the names, after two days the paper sheets were a bit torn so it revealed to be necessary a system to protect the artworks when installed on the steps.

CONCEPT REFINEMENT EXPERIENCE USER JOURNEY Anticipation

• on the first day of the academic year, the names of all GSA students appear in trios on the steps. Some Hype posters are stuck on the walls but no one knows why. • on the second day, during the “Ice breaking” project presentation students get the brief of the “Adopt a step” initiative, explaining they’ll be assigned a step to decor with other two assigned students they have to find.

• after coll works th artwork guideline collabora • in the aft first wee presente

Spectacle

lecting their board, the group he whole week to prepare an which, following the es of the brief, is made in ation with shared knowledge. ternoon of the last day of the ek, the works are informally ed.

â&#x20AC;˘ the first year put up their boards and leave them in exposition for the first term. â&#x20AC;˘ in the afternoon before the beginning of the second term, the second year put up their boards and leave them in exposition for the second term. â&#x20AC;˘ in the afternoon before the beginning of the third term, the third year put up their boards and leave them in exposition for the second term.

Mem • in the first day after the end of classes, the graduating years put up their boards to leave them in exposition for the degree show. • in the same day, the other three years’ boards get attached all the way under the ramps of the staircase to leave them exposed for the degree show. • during this whole time students can comment with their department colour chalk on the steps and visitors are encouraged to take pictures to share and credit.

• at the closure of th auction is set to se raise money for ne • the graduating year for next year’s boa it on a post- it sized it near to the audit beginning of a lega

mory

he degree show, an ell the boards to ext degree show. rs choose a theme ards, they visualise d tile and they stick torium to create the acy mosaic.

DELIVER

DESIGN OUTCOMES THE ARTEFACTS To give a final presentation about my experience and make it tangible, I had to design different touchpoints to help me communicate the right feel. Activity brief To explain the activities of the week and the reasons of my concept to the students joining the initiative, I created a brief following the layout and content organisation of the real one that we received for our projects. I explained even in detail the timetable of that week to clarify how the actions were supposed to succeed, in order to avoid losing time to talk about them during my presentation.

Blank board I created a version of the white boards that groups get assigned to work on. After measuring the step size, I put together and reinforced on the back three pieces of MDF covered with white canvas. At this point I realised I had to cover up the panel to avoid it being dirtied in order to sell it. I did this using a plexiglass with the same size, which I decided to keep together using a holder which is magnetically attached to the nail already present on the steps. Since the holders screws arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t long enough, I created DAS supports to fill up the gap. This can be helpful for works which have different thicknesses over the board surface.

Finalised board I wanted to create some mockups of the works which were meant to be exposed, to give the feel of how it would look like having the whole staircase like that. My first idea was to use string art because it could mix together Communication’s typography, Textile’s strings interweaving and Jewellery’s spacial sense of decoration. To produce this, I decided to use foam boards because it would have been otherwise really hard to insert needles into the MDF. After passing through many options, I chose to write a sentence about GSA which for me is very meaningful: “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission”. This is one of the very first things I’ve been told about how to work in this School and which was their set of mind.

Since for the first board I just tried to put together on my own different disciplines, but the aim of my experience is collaboration, I decided to let people decide what I was going to do with the second one. I asked people from different departments which skills they were interested in learning from other majorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; student and I tried then to merge them together. From the answers I had to mix sewing skills, serigraphy and double diamond method, using scrap materials from previous projects. I decided not to produce this example in reality, but just to create it and render it on photoshop to print it. To protect the boards and fake the plexiglass cover, I used a rolled out piece of thin plastic.

Posters and leaflets To give a more believable look to my proposal, I designed three types of posters which are meant to come one after the other during the phases of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Adopt a stepâ&#x20AC;? decoration week. The first one was supposed to come the first day with the names on the steps. It recalled the protest posters against the blank canvas with its message. It showed an image of the staircase, a hinting slogan and colours, being quite minimal in the number of elements and in the amount of informations displayed. The second one was meant to appear on the second day, to explain the initiative and tell date and time of the brief presentation. It used the same imagery and colour palette, to connect with the previous ones but showing an evolution and more complexity, even of informations.

The third one served as a poster and leaflet for the exposition advertisements, and was meant to appear in the second week to stay the whole year long. The typography used and its colour used always in the same style, but here two layers of paper were composing the final result: on a lower white paper level appeared an azimuthal picture of the staircase taken from the ground floor, with low saturated words “White canvas” and name of the building; on an upper tracing paper level very colourful decorations matched the perspective of the steps, with the words “Who said white canvas?” covering the previous ones and the showcasing times. It played on the subtle but bold action changing the look of the building without affecting its features. The tracing paper recalled even the matte glass which covers the whole Reid building as a light overlay.

Renders I made renders of the area near the auditorium to communicate how the post-it tiles mosaic could look like. So, I took pictures in that area and I created the mural with the different departments colours, generating a random pattern and following a grid for the tiles disposition.

Video Since I prepared everything in real scale, my presentation listeners were supposed to be able to approach them themselves, so I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to show a user journey or an interaction between a person and my touchpoints. For this reason I decided to create a teaser video of the event, just hinting at what could happen. The idea was using it to communicate the feel of the experience, which is not explainable just through the bare objects. Starting from the Reid and its architecture, the attention shifted to what makes an Art School of GSA, its learnings, creativity, community and most importantly students. With this aimed to make them reflect and understand that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;a solution if just they put effort and collaborate.

THE PRESENTATION To communicate my intentions better I decided to present my experience on the staircase of the building, where it would be supposed to happen. I divided the space in two parts: the lower has “Where”, “Who”, “Why”, “How” and “What” written on the steps to help me explaining the concept; the upper has a recreation of the various phases of the experience in loco. To pretend the stickers with names and informations on the steps I used acetate inkjet sheets and to keep the chalks I reused a holder from our studio dividers, attached with a sticky pad.

FINAL REFLECTION

AFTERTHOUGHTS I consider this project as a fitting end to my journey in the Glasgow School of Art. In this year it hosted me, I learnt a lot and with this last experience I tried to give back something to it. The Reid Building has been one of the first things of the School which stroke me, and during these months I grew very fond of it. Contrarily to me, resident students seem to hate it, making huge complaints out of very small problems but never actually trying to fix them. I wanted them to see in this building what I see, and to help it develop fully its potential. When the brief has been announced and I started brainstorming on it with my domain group, I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t immediately think to the stairs of the Reid because we were really focused on open air places. But when we went on the field to take pictures I started realising that it actually was in one way the most neglected place I could think of. Inquiring the topic, my intuition revealed to be actually true and a strong insight.

The design opportunities it offered were countless because one of the strong features of the School is the opportunity to experiment in it. I aimed the whole time to create something meaningful and researching into the story of the institution, made me feel part of it and proud. This pushed me to work harder to stimulate a change in the other students, offering this possibility through my project. Apart from the historical research, I really enjoyed even the testing moment on the staircase. It let me interact with students I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know and I loved seeing how much they get interested in everything going on around them and how available they are for helping and collaborating in something which is not even their duty. Being so near to my users, I could understand which was their position and improve my concept until it got effective.

Through my work, my artefacts, my communication, my presentation and my tone, I tried to transmit the enthusiasm I feel for this project and the change it could bring into the School. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first step to let students create the School they want to study in, their own GSA. It has been rightly suggested to entrust the Students Union the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Adopt a stepâ&#x20AC;? initiative, and this could effectively be a start to make everyone more responsible of the environment in which they work. Maybe in the future it will even grow, develop into something bigger, which starting from the stairs will gradually take over the walls and everything around. At the end of this project I can see how substantially my user-understanding abilities improved and how easily I can move from insights to design opportunities without forcing my research straight into concepts. But most importantly, on a personal level my fascination for this School increased, making me constantly try to take away the neglection from it when I explain to someone my project.

MARTINA BONETTI PRODUCT DESIGN Year3

The Glasgow School of Art, Session 2014/2015, Term 1