Sara-Jasmin Anwar 0806319 Ben Stopher GDNM

FMP Proposal form

Field of study

My field of study is insomnia. Its purpose is to make people aware of what insomnia is and the effects of it. A lot of people just think of it as a lack of sleep but over time there are many severe health issues that can arise. What if you can’t drift into blissful slumber? Troubled sleepers are often recommended to record their nightly routine in order to pinpoint the cause of their insomnia. I am going to create a book that uses the concept` and develops the time dragging over the course of a sleepless night. Insomniacs can often have brief reprieves from their numb state in the form of vivid hallucinations, often triggered by something happening in real time. Possibly, looking at the idea of creating a diary of an insomniac and creating some interactive for each night. Maybe each entry reveals a representation of the temporary hallucination. Insomnia could be described as an enforced state of restraint; I want to highlight this theme of imposed discomfort.

Design Problem/Question

The people most interested in this would be families and of those that suffer form insomnia. This will help them understand how they can help. Graphic Design can contribute by having a visual impact, which is how I believe society responds in the modern world. Graphic Design can display the dullest topic in an exciting way and communicate in a way in which audiences relate. This is relevant to my topic as it is aimed at people who are seeking to pass time with exciting things.

Context

The Truth about Talking by Arielle Winchester. The world is full of thousands of constantly evolving, living languages. The study of linguistics may help to explain the process of human communication as well as the origins and effects of speech. This book showcases a number of interactive graphs about linguistics.

This project is a book-form response to episode 361 of This American Life, entitled “Fear of Sleep.”

Mike Birbiglia got used to strange things happening to him when he slept—until something happened that almost killed him. Mike’s story is included in his new book Sleepwalk With Me. This and other reasons to fear sleep, including bedbugs, “The Shining,” and mild-mannered husbands who turn into maniacs while asleep.

Like the episode, the book is divided into 5 sections: Stranger in the Night, Sleep’s Tiniest Enemies, The Bitter Fruits of Wakefulness, Hollywood-Induced Nightmare, A Small Taste of the Big Sleep.

From as far back as Susanna Patrick can recall, sleeping has been difficult for her. When she was eight years old she was diagnosed with insomnia. Since then Susanna has managed to

find ways to make the best of an unfortunate situation. Spending a large portion of her life lying awake in the dark, she began to notice slight changes in the surroundings. She found it striking to see an entire room lit only by the light from an alarm clock. Viewing these scenes in the near darkness has shaped the way she sees the world. These set of photographs much like the one above seem unfamiliar to many, although to Susanna, they encapsulate a lifetime of finding the beauty in restlessness.

For her FMP, Adelaide Follon’s designed a book about milk. It contains facts about the white stuff as well as handy things to make from your old milk cartons. The aim of my research and book was to help people understand milk beyond the many myths that surrounds it, such as high in fat and bacteria ridden. It was designed in a way that although it being a factual source that it had a fun side to it.

Witness by Susan Hiller is an installation that uses sound to explore the unstable territory where the visible merges with the visionary. We are conditioned to think the real visible world lies outside ourselves, and that what we see inside must be unreal. Witness reconnects objectivity and subjectivity in both its subject matter and its intended effect. The installation is activated by viewers listening to many voices telling stories in

many ways, in many different languages. The work doesn’t fully exist until people listen to these voices. When people do, others see them as part of Witness. Each hanging object is a small speaker playing a recording of someone’s paranormal sighting.

Miss your flight… stuck at London Heathrow. It happens; you miss your flight connection and you have the choice: spending too much money on a (half) night in a depressing airport hotel or over night with your head on your backpack on a back breaking plastic airport seat. Sleeping wasn’t really successful, so Wiebke Wilting wandered around in deserted London Heathrow, which is quite scary. But it doesn’t happen every day to see usually over crowded places so deserted.

This is a project called Twitter Diary by Filip Triner. He wanted to bring the digital world to reality and use social networking for good. Twitter users can download a PDF version of the diary from an open source website or order a print version. In In addition to that you can customise it and choose the time period as well as the including content of their individual diary. (i.e. statistics, favorite tweets, gps location, Twitter pictures etc.) Users can also either set up their own design or simply download from a range of templates which were contributed by other participants.

2010 Typeface diary for design students by Rosalind Stroughton. The diary introduces one typeface every day, including a brief history of the typeface and a piece of design that features it. The idea was to keep students inspired every day, while helping them to manage their time efficiently. It is aided by a space to sketch out ideas, and a checklist of things to complete each day in order to stay on top of the workload.

24-Hour Diary by Minjin Shin.

This project began by recording 24‑hours of my life. Turned out the note as a poster and evolved into a diary. In the diary simply fill the time part and write what you did, what you feel, and where you are.

Insomnia by Igor Oussenko . I am not really sure as to the reasons behind the making of this video but I really enjoyed it and felt it really reflected the moods.

Rationale

This project is important to be because having suffered myself with insomnia for years, I wanted to explore it further and find out how it affects different people. I am interested in investigating all the aspects of insomnia and the side effects in more depth. Graphic Design: New Media can provide a new way of looking at something which is very playful, informative and eye opening making it more accessible to people.

Methods

I plan on gathering all the information and picking out the sections, which I find relevant. I will ask a couple of people to provide me with a weeks encounter of what it is like to be an insomniac and what they get up to and the thoughts that go through their minds.

Skills Evidence

The understanding of associated medical illnesses. Using my understanding of page layouts and fonts.

Predicted Resolutions | Describe what you are working towards producing.

I am going to create a something that uses the concept` and develops the time dragging over the course of a sleepless night. Insomniacs can often have brief reprieves from their numb state in the form of vivid hallucinations, often triggered by something happening in real time. Possibly, looking at the idea of creating a survival kit of an insomniac and creating some interactive for each night. Maybe each entry reveals a representation of the temporary hallucination. Insomnia could be described as an enforced state of restraint; I want to highlight this theme of imposed discomfort.

Bibliography | Use the Harvard Method to compile your references.

Insomnia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2012. Insomnia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia. [Accessed 27 February 2012].

Insomnia - NHS Choices. 2012. Insomnia - NHS Choices. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Insomnia/Pages/Introduction.aspx. [Accessed 27 March 2012].

Susan Hiller Homepage. 2012. Susan Hiller Homepage. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.susanhiller.org/. [Accessed 03 March 2012].

Diary of an Insomniac on the Behance Network. 2012. Diary of an Insomniac on the Behance Network. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Diary-of-an-Insomniac/633864. [Accessed 25 February 2012].

Insomnia by Igor Oussenko - YouTube . 2012. Insomnia by Igor Oussenko - YouTube . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bvkWY1SF5GM. [Accessed 27 March 2012].

Online Portfolios on the Behance Network. 2012. Online Portfolios on the Behance Network. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.behance.net. [Accessed 27 March 2012].

2010 Typeface Diary for Design Students on the Behance Network. 2012. 2010 Typeface Diary for Design Students on the Behance Network. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.behance.net/gallery/2010-Typeface-Diary-for-Design-Students/1147017. [Accessed 27 March 2012].

Plan of Work | Propose a plan of work to show how you will achieve your project, week by week and day by day.

Start researching

Use the aspects of research that I find interesting to start experimenting Continue to experiment. Finding out exactly what I want to do. Expand on experimentation Attend tutorials for extra support as to how to develop ideas further Gain feedback and take constructive criticism on board to develop further Create numerous variations Expand on the best variations Begin final production Assess and review the work for any mistakes and errors Complete final