Study Task 01

Study task one was to test how people reacted to the interventions we set out in public, focusing on creating diversions, creating a connection and making someone pause or stop. 

Within the video created a diversion out of string weaved around concrete pillars. We wanted to test whether people would go under the string, around the string or disrupt it in order to pass through. Quite a lot of people avoided it and took a new route, however some interacted with it and some ripped it off the concrete completely.

We tested this in front of a city college, where the students are from the age of 16, i think choosing a different location where there were different ages of people would of been more effective in seeing how different age groups interact with a diversion. 

Another intervention was attempting to create a connection using a balloon and tying it to a metal gate near a crossing. This location was chosen as people are stopping and waiting there and so they have time to interact with the balloon if they desire to do so. Only one person interacted with the balloon, and popped it. 

Frutiger

within Adrian Frutiger's 'Signs & Symbols: their design and meaning' he addresses the characteristics of signs and how the shapes shape the meaning of them. 
The Square is describes as possessing a "boundaried property", also provoking imagery of floors, ceilings, walls and protection. 
The positioning of the square alters the received message of the sign, when the square becomes an oblong, Frutiger describes it as loosing it's symbolic character, the symbolic character in a prehistoric sense that it represents the earth surface. The difference between length and breadth, Frutiger says makes the viewer "look for the intention of the difference". 
When the square is standing on it's corner, the field of oblique lines creates a disquieting sense, with the position of the point being said to indicate certain intentions; which suggests why this is used for traffic signs.

If i was to repeat my interventions and actually create some form of sign system and not just use objects, one idea would be to create the same visual on 3 different squared signs, one a square, one an oblong, and one as a diamond and see whether the dimensions or the positioning effects how the public react to the visual. If it was for instance a stop sign, would people stop for an oblong shape, or are they more likely, as Frutiger suggests, to stop for the disquieting sense created by the field of oblique lines.   

The triangle; Gestalt psychology indicates that human attention is primarily attracted by vertical and horizontal movements. Placing a triangle vertically on it's apex provokes a direction an therefor gives it character whereas triangles with horizontal sides are ideal for use as signs which are communicating signals such as road signs which Frutiger says is due to their symmetry. Further to this, the triangle which has a horizontal base is seen to communicate the impression of stability, coming from it's similarity to a mountain which is constantly static. The triangle standing on its apex however, is described as being a much more active character as it's the symbol of a tool, an action and also of scales. 
When comparing the two triangles, Frutiger comments that the first sign is seen as a friendly symbol where as the second tends to produce a reaction of alarm.

Creating interventions using the triangle shape and Frutigers comments on their personalities has made me consider the idea of switching the expected content of the shapes around, for example, if the design was coming from a subjective design point, the triangle with the horizontal base could contain a non 'friendly' message, where as the triangle standing on it's apex could contain an almost calming design, one which counteracts the reaction/alarm it it expected to create. 

The circle, Frutiger describes the circle as having strong symbolic importance to primitive humans due to its association with the sun, moon and stars, today however it can be linked to wheels and gears, in short, the circle is associated with the constant movement of our world today.  

Frutiger comments that depending on the viewers character, they will place themselves either inside or outside of the circle. The inside of the circle can feel quite closed in, protected from the outside, disquieting and even claustrophobic. Whereas the outside of the circle and the idea of breaking free from the boundaries of the metaphorical circle can raise feelings of pressure and anxiety. 
The circle, as previously mentioned, is also linked to the constant movement of society today; Frutiger notes that the circular movement of the wheel and the travelling and rolling associations with it can give the viewer a feeling of insecurity due to the eternal recurrence of the travelling circle as it doesn't have a beginning or end.