Project Proposal
Busyness is increasing at a steady speed, the pace of life is getting faster and faster, businesses are working harder and harder and life is becoming more and more fragmented with technology trying to help us better organize and manage our lives but, like frontline designer and programmer Jonathan Harris recently said after a huge project he just finished, “I lie on my bed in the afternoon and look at the wall and it’s hard to know exactly what I’m feeling because my mind is entirely inside the machine.” With all our efforts to advance in the world, are we losing touch with who we are? Is this kind of thing happening to other people caught up in the progress of and advancement of modern society?
I’ve worked in four design studios in two different countries, both large and small business, I’ve been a part of seven different sized churches from small house fellowships to 3,000 member mega congregations, and also been involved in two non-profit organizations dealing with both the animal kingdom and human ethics, and in all of my involvement with these either by profession or by volunteer work I’ve had to learn how to find a sense of balance and stability so that I don’t get burnt out while giving of myself but continue to grow and flourish in who I am as a creative individual.
If the demands of the world around us, friends and family and even the demands we place on ourselves only increase in life how do we continue to create space for us, to nurture our own selves emotionally, physically and spiritually, and how do we then interact with other people, other institutions and the world on a day by day basis in ways that don’t burn us out but bring us life? The more I advance in even my own career the more I see others struggling with the same issues. Is this a global problem or is it only particular to western culture? Has it always been happening or is this a new phenomenon?
As far back as the 5th century, Benedict, an Italian nobleman founded 12 communities on a rule he wrote to help bring stability to his household, his extended family of brothers, and their busy shared life and all its inevitable demands. Esther de Waal’s commentary on his work said that his writing “helps us all, both in our personal and secret inner lives (where, as it were, we nourish the hermit side of ourselves) and also in our relationships with others (the community side).” What he developed helped bring a sense of order and balance to the individual in the midst of a very busy community.
How can graphic design help people to slow down. How can it help us spend time on us, on personal reflection? How can it encourage us to get some regular ‘me’ time away from all of life’s distractions to nurture that ‘hermit’ side of ourselves.
I believe that many people, like me have been on a journey of discovery to find themselves in amongst a driven, frenetic world. It’s like the old things have never gone away; we still need to find out who we are, we still want to find places where we can be all that we were created to be and we need help to do it.
Social Objectives
The time based piece wether it’s motion, print or interactive will be a tool to help the user find time in his/her busy schedule. It will incorporate sub tools to help him/her get the most out of their time and it will be a means to learn from the time they get. The user will hopefully go back to the tool again and again.
Messages
Reflection takes intentionality and time. By doing it you will nurture your inner self.
Audience
The people I’m reaching will be those searching for a simpler life in all of the chaos, regardless of age. They’re tired people, trying to find meaning and purpose amidst all the hubbub. They’re people who have lost all sense of who they are because of the speed of life.
Communication strategies
The tools will be made for people by hand. Just having hand made products will in themselves give a feeling of time and slowness.
Competitive Landscape
The Slow Food Movement
Citta Slow
Aukana Buddhist Meditation Center
Bibliography
In Praise of Slowness - Carl Honore
Seeking God by Esther De Waal - A commentary on The Rule by St. Benedict
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