26th September 2023 – First day as a student of MA Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins. As much as I had researched the course, and thought it would be the most fitting for my goals, wants, and needs within postgraduate study, I still did not know quite what to expect. I had done my required reading, so I had some semblance of the contents of this first day.
The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan, and visually designed by Quentin Fiore, was one entry on the reading list. In this seminal piece of work, McLuhan puts forward the idea that the technology used, or the medium in which a message is being communicated is the message, and not necessarily the content itself. One of the quotes that stuck with me was “The wheel is the extension of the foot” which essentially describes how technologies such as a wheel extends the capabilities of humans, in this context it is the physical capacity of man. The book is the extension of the eye, the telephone is the extension of the ear, and so on.
On the first day, we explored our thoughts on the selected texts including The Medium is the Massage. Additionally, on the first day we were given our first task. This I was not expecting, and although at first apprehensive, I was excited to simply start making and get under way with our coursework.
The first brief for Unit 1 was to select a physical site of our choosing and devise a systematic and open-ended method of investigating it. Being based in the countryside, the options for choosing a site is quite limitless. The green expanse continues for miles, so the problem was in setting the parameters for a space which I could focus on. With this, I took McLuhan’s idea of a wheel being the extension of the foot, and ran with it. The wheel allows you to access new physical spaces and experience the possibilities that come with it. The site I chose is defined by the path I take whilst riding my bicycle around the great countryside. My bicycle quite literally extends my physical capabilities. It mobilises me, allowing me to explore spaces that I would not be able to otherwise.
On the diagram above, shows the path which I normally cycle through. It crosses the houses of my village, winding down the suburbia that extends into new builds flanked by cycle paths, dirt tracks and country roads. I cycle through all kinds of terrain and environments, passing through a golf course, passing by the church, a school and the local pub. It is a peaceful site.
1. Measuring: The media I consume
What was interesting to me about investigating the countryside is that this contextualises the environment in which I create. McLuhan states how before the advent of the internet there was a parochial view to the media we consumed. The information we received was restricted to what was found within our environment, as communities were unconnected to one another. There was no existence of this globalised community, or global village as McLuhan calls it. Although we do now live in a digital interconnected society, I believe personally the media I consume is influenced by the physical environment I find myself in, and in turn affects the work I then create. My first line of enquiry was therefore understanding the media I consume within the boundaries of my physical site.
To undertake this experiment, I measured the frequency of words present in the lyrics of the songs I listen to while on my bike rides. The results are visually presented as a word cloud, as shown below, with the point size of each word corresponding to the frequency it appeared in the compiled set of lyrics.
(The point size of each word is directly linked to its frequency)
The songs I listen to all come from this playlist which I had created the summer of 2022 and represents a transition point in my life. The most frequent words such as “love”, “time”, “home” and “think” therefore could be telling of the type of songs I was listening to. A stage of my life where I was post-graduation, post-break up, and moving back home to the countryside where I was physically separated from the life I had become accustomed to at university. The countryside contextualises the extent to which I can create. While the domain I call home can be peaceful and freeing, at times it is stifling as it detaches myself from the main areas of creativity and opportunities. With nothing but time to reflect on my then-current situation, where anxieties over my position as a visual communicator and figuring out how to advance that position would creep up readily, I believe I began to listen to more introspective songs.
This exercise was interesting as it allowed me to investigate the auditory features of the physical site I have chosen. While it might not be the bird noises, trickling of a stream or the rustling of fallen leaves that one might associate with the countryside, it very much is accurate of the sensory experience I have on my bike rides. Earphones in, music on, head down.
2. Observing: The visual components
After investigating my site through the auditory media I consume, I decided it could possibly be more effective to explore the site in a less abstract manner. To observe the site would provide an objective assessment. My practice heavily involves the use of photographic imagery and therefore naturally I then set about observing my chosen site through taking photos of visual landmarks that were of interest.
2nd October – On this very grey and rainy day I cycled through my normal route, stopping along the way to take photos on my phone. There was no particular mode of operation. I simply took photos of anything that visually captured my attention.
(5) Electric pole which separates the golf course and the new builds. (6) Orange object whose function I don’t particularly know. (7) Autumnal leaves on the green. (8) Potholes filled with greyish brown rainwater. (9) Slug crawling on the walking path. (10) More foliage on the golf course. (11) Blue chairs outside the village pub. (12) The Eagle pub.
Although the day was quite miserable, the moody atmosphere allowed me to see this area that I regularly cycle through a different lens. I observed the lush green shades of the nature stand out in contrast against the grey skies. The artificial painted colours of this orange mystery object which I always cycle past (6), and the blue chairs (11) and red road sign (12) leant against the village pub appeared brighter than ever before. This exercise in observation was useful in allowing me to be more visually aware of my surroundings within this site. I was observing on a macro scale as well as in the detail, looking up at the skies and down at the tiny creatures beside the wheel of my bicycle.
3. Recording: Note-taking
As I rode my cycle through my normal route on this rainy October day, I also took down notes of my sensory experience in addition to the photos I was taking. With my notes app open on my phone, I quickly jotted down anything interesting that I saw, smelt, heard, touched, to keep these memories intact before I transferred them and elaborated in my notebook upon my return home.
As it has been mentioned before, the most obvious observation was the climatic conditions of the site. It would be too hard not to miss. It had rained incredibly just before I left to go cycle and while it had stopped the rainclouds still yet remained, forming an impenetrable barrier of grey. With my site of choosing being outdoors, I found it interesting how much the site could be physically manipulated by the weather and even in an abstract sense with the atmosphere or the mood that is felt at the site also changing.
I wrote down how I never quite realised the high number of potholes dotted around the country roads until I saw them that day filled with the rainwater that had just fallen. There were milky grey-brown pools of water and sludge everywhere. The grass was still verdant but some of the trees had turned shades of orange and brown, marking the start of the autumn season. Peculiarly, I smelt a burning smell as I cycled past the row of houses next to the village church. I thought someone was having a barbecue perhaps? Although It was too rainy and not the most common time of the year for one. I cycled on trying to locate the origin of the smell like a bloodhound but I could not track the scent down. Apart from this random experience, I mostly smelt the petrichor. The fresh water touching down on the earth. In terms of my auditory experience, I heard some signs of life despite the miserable day. There were some kids cycling, some women chatting as they walked their dogs. I also heard the sounds of cars racing past as I reached the boundary of the new builds and this busy road which connects the village to the bigger town.