Research Methods Wk 7

Research Methods Wk7 Refinement for the Research Proposal (itself a design for next year’s Research Project / Exegesis).

1. Describe/define the aim of your research in one sentence
   By analyzing the work of visionary artists, explore approaches to interaction design that focus more on human aspirations as opposed to capitalist aspirations.

2. What is your practical component of your research
   Build a website/hypertext that succeeds according to Ted Nelson’s fantics, while subverting/satirizing/confronting market- and product-driven design paradigms.

3. How will you proceed with this? (Project plan)
   Each week, create a small web-based exploration of concepts and applications. At the conclusion, link these together under a single website.

4. What methods will you use to document your progress in your practice?/reflect on practice
   Keep a journal recording the method, the practical application, the problems encountered, etc. This could take the form of a blog, and could even be incorporated into the final website itself.

5. Are there any additional methods you will use to support/evidence your research?
   I usually keep a journal of written notes while reading for research. I could scan these notes to show how the work and ideas developed.

6. Give one example of an artefact that has come from your research in the past week (upload to MAGI site)
   The above image is the beginning of a web page design incorporating some of my own kaleidoscopic collage works. I created it based on outdated web design practices. Drawing on the semi-legendary ‘90s website for the movie Space Jam, all the links on the page are in the form of large graphics. I would argue that, despite being the laughing stock of the modern web design community, this approach can still manage to be aesthetically pleasing.
   
   A recent trend in web design is known as ‘brutalism’, where sites are designed to be intentionally cluttered, loud, and ugly. The site brutalistwebsites.com, which collects and documents examples of the trend, states that “In its ruggedness and lack of concern to look comfortable or easy, Brutalism can be seen as a reaction by a younger generation to the lightness, optimism, and frivolity of today's web design.”