Matsuyama, Japan
We had some good luck as we arrived in Matsuyama. Taking the Willer Express night bus from Shinjuku, Tokyo was a relaxing experience, once we were on the bus. They have not just reclining seats, but ones that go all the way back. They also have a head shield that comes down over the top of the seat, if you want to cocoon yourself in a dark place. It was the most comfortable bus I've ever been on and I slept on a moving vehicle for the first time that I remember since I was a kid.
Our good luck came with a fairy godmother - Japanese style. The woman across from us asked us where we were going and she offered us a ride to our hostel. Not even knowing where the hostel was, she and her husband took us right there.
The layout of Matsuyama is like this: The centre of town is a hill with Matsuyama Castle perched on top. The surrounding area has a historical garden, an art gallery and if you go down to the main street, a shopping mall and municipal government building. This building is impressive. It's huge, white and dominates the street.
The neighbourhood where our hostel, Eco Dogo Hotel, is located is in the northeast section of town, in the area around the oldest hot spring bath, onsen, in Japan. Next to the bath is a strip of stores and along the streets there are expensive hotels, but there's quite a mix of old, new, rich and not-so-rich.
We hiked up to a shrine today and wrote wishes onto pieces of paper. Then we tied them to prickly little trees. It was a shrine to the God of War, so I hope that gives me the strength to fight this humidity. And any spiders that might crawl out from toilet paper rolls (this happened to Brittany).
At the next temple we went to, a sweet Japanese women got so excited that we were from Canada that she immediately stuck out her hand and wanted to shake ours. We're understanding certain words like 'doko' (where) and 'nihongo' (Japanese). It seems to get us by. I've learned to point at something on a menu and say 'kore o kudasai' (this is what I want please).
We're still wondering what the difference between 'arigato gozaimass' and 'arigato gozaimashta'. That might remain a mystery...
Best places we've found to eat breakfast:
A small restaurant in the shopping mall close to the Onsen. They lead you to a room overlooking a garden where you sit on cushions in front of small low tables and serve you Westernized breakfast like ham and cheese sandwiches with veggies and pasta salad. But you can still get a small bowl of frothy matcha tea and no one there speaks english. It's very peaceful.
The other place is on the second floor above the Lawson convenience store near the historical train station of Dogo-onsen station. There, they serve the most amazing waffles. If you try the fruit waffles, they put sprinkles on it! And it comes with a bright orange sauce, whipped cream and lots of fruit. I had a chocolate waffle with ice cream, whipped cream and banana. I could die happy now.
We haven't only eaten Western food. Last night for dinner we had ramen noodles. We've tried octopus in vinegar (with beer) at a local bar. We're had dinner with rice, katsu (fried pork cutlet), veggies etc. And we've snacked on balls of jelly flavoured with matcha, orange and something else (it was brown. That's all I know). We've had matcha flavoured gelato. And I've had orange flavoured gelato, which doesn't sound exotic at all, but it's a local favourite. Everywhere we look, there's orange candies or drinks.
There's a tourist office located on the shopping street nearby and we picked up an english map. Nothing is in english here and no one speaks it, so we've been getting by with a lot of smiling and nodding.
This morning we were daring and went to a local onsen. We entered and looked lost, so a Japanese woman showed us where to pay at a machine. We figured out the character for womem and men. Also, we saw that the price chart had the cost for children, adults and seniors. It's confusing when you don't know how much something is supposed to cost and you don't speak the language.
A woman who worked there showed us the room where we needed to put our things in a locker. We went into the bath room and saw that we should have brought our own soap, shampoo and something to scrub with. We felt a little ridiculous, surrounded by old Japanese ladies, but we were mostly ignored.
The water was very hot. We hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so I felt quite light headed. I won't go back to an onsen unless I've eaten something first. There's a bar nearby where they say "have a beer after bathing' but I'm thinking it would make me tipsy ridiculously fast to drink right after. We went to this bar last night for drinks and appetizers and there were a lot of people dressed in bathing robes. It made us want bathing robes. They look so comfortable.
The people here are so amazing. If we get lost, someone will approach us and try to help, even if they speak no english. We have only encountered friendly people.
Rachel
Monday, June 20, 2011
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Jan.9,2009--Reseach and proposal
‘Who’s Minding the Mind?’--Carey, Benedict--The New York Times--July 31, 2007--Rachel Champagne--Jan.12,2009
The article discusses the similar results of studies conducted by American Universities like Yale and Stanford about the subconscious mind. At Yale, a research assistant carrying too many things asked people to take a cup of coffee from him or her. Later, when asked to rate a hypothetical person they read about, the people would answer favourably if the coffee was hot and unfavourably--rating the person as being more selfish and less social--if the coffee was cold. The temperature of the coffee seemed to have effected their mind. It seems to suggest that people form opinions based on stimulus that may not be filtered through the conscious mind.
On a side note, I think I could make an interesting game if I had and image of a face and then used the same face, but added glasses or blond hair. I wonder how people would react or if they would notice. What if they were asked to describe the person? Would they use preconceived notions about people with glasses or blond hair?
What if I created a game where there would be images of objects and people and places and the game would have adjectives that people could match them up. I wonder if there would be a trend in the matches of images and words?
Or a game like “Life” where there are cards that show houses and even though a house might be worth less, it will still be a valuable house because people will think it looks valuable.
There needs to be a clever trick to the game where people will see how they are influenced by the subconscious mind.
Happiness
Before I do anymore research about stress, which may change how I see my project, I want to define the core concept of this project. I find that happiness is simple. To be happy, there has to be a inbalance of more good events and emotions than bad events and emotions. That’s it. Do what you love.
I try to live by this, but lately I’ve become more stressed than usual--graduating from Emily Carr University without being stressed is probably impossible--and that has effected my happiness. I feel like staying in. I don’t put myself out there for the jobs that I know should be mine. I ignore my gym membership.
But during the holiday season, I played a game called ‘Apples to Apples’ with family and I became addicted, so I made my own version of the game when my brother took the card game home with him. It’s a simple game. A person puts a card down with an adjective on it like ‘luxurious.’ Players will have 5 cards with nouns on them and will choose one that matches ‘luxurious’. The person who put the adjective down will choose which noun they think matches the best and the winner will keep the adjective card. The person with the most adjective cards wins.
‘Apples to Apples’ is hilarious. Players will learn things about each other that they didn’t before and some cards will stimulate long conversations. The interesting thing is the connections that people make. If the adjective is ‘luxurious’ and someone puts down ‘meat,’ everyone usually wonders who put that card down and why.
This game stimulates the subconscious mind through word association and I began to think about the benefits of uncovering thoughts and feelings that are usually ignored. The effects of subconscious negativity and surpressed fears on stress interested me. What if I did a project that could relieve stress through the subconscious mind?
Stress--Psychology by David G. Myers. New York, 1992-Worth Publishers--Jan.8, 2009
There are different types of stressful events: catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles.
“In the last month, how often have you felt:
a. Unable to control the important things in your life?
0. Never
1. Almost never
2. Sometimes
3. Fairly often
4. Very often
b. Confidant about your ability to handle your personal problems?
c. That things were going your way?
d. That difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?
4.7 is ok for women
4.2 is ok for men
To manage stress, you can use excercise, biofeedback, relaxation (through meditation, in particular) and social support networks (“feeling liked, affirmed and encouraged by intimate friends and family--promotes happiness and health.”).
A subject in a study by health psychologists James Pennedbaker and Robin O’Heeron (1984) (p.533) said “I was finally able to deal with it, work through the pain instead of trying to block it out. Now it doesn’t hurt to think about it.”
A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Canfield, Jack and Mark Victor Hansen. Deerfeild, FL 1996: Health Communications Inc..--Jan.9, 2009--Rachel Champagne
Intro--Chicken Soup Stories
Ths basis of this book is that these inspirational stories will cause people to live happier lives through examples. It seems to be full of Christian values. I think that it is interesting that just the thoughts of hope, love and encouragement is beneficial, as if any positive thinking can make people happier. Maybe it’s as simple as that--The Secret says that it is--but I’m skeptical.
I agree that a story can “provide a new perspective, a new way of percieving the universe,”--Ruth Stotter. I don’t want to focus on storytelling for this project though.
Cards--wikipedia--Jan.9, 2009
I’m more interested in the effects of cards on our subconscious. There are many types of cards, created as early as the 7th century in China. The design of French cards became the most popular, using four suits and the King, Queen, Knave and Valet being the court cards. There were 52 cards per deck--and 52 weeks in a year. The four suits represented the four seasons. And if you add the cards together, with a joker card as 1, then you will find the number 365.
The Dream Deck--Jan.9,2009
This is what the dream deck includes: “beautifully illustrated cards, designed to offer both cues and clues about your sleeping mind. With simple instructions on how to both interpret the symbols and influence the nature of your dreams--plus 50 evocative images that capture the surreal quality of night visions--The Dream Deck will inspire self-discovery and enlightenment, night after night.”
There are 8 cue cards that offer ways of influencing your dreams through visualization. For example, a card is titled ‘battling the dragon’ and says to visualize a dream adversary and gain confidance as you defeat the foe. You should feel a sense of victory in your dream and this will relate to your “current, waking circumstances.” So the point is that your dreams influence you life. The fantasy will effect the reality, similar to a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the back of each card is an image representing the cards concept, like death.
Subliminal Messages--wikipedia--Jan.9,2009
Subliminal messages are signals or messages imbedded into another medium, “designed to pass below the normal limits of the mind’s perception.”
Interplay: The process of Interpersonal Communication. 6 ed. Adler, Ronald B., Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and Neil Towne. Toronto, 1995: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.--Jan.9, 2009--Rachel Champagne
p.48 Influence of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
To summarize, self-fulfilling prophecies are situations where a person has already made up their minds what a person, place, or thing will be like, so that when they see the reality, their preconceived notions will end up being true. If they think they won’t like a person, they will act like they don’t like them and the person will respond negatively, which makes it true--they won’t like each other. If a person knows that they will be nervous and that an interview won’t go well, then they will become nervous and it will become true.
Of course, it won’t effect something like the colour of the sky. Keeping this in mind, and all of the other things that are out of our control, trying to think positively is still a good strategy, especially about your self-concept. High expectations of yourself will only make you unhappy because no one is perfect. Self-fulfilling prophecy just means that you shouldn’t assume things that aren’t true and you shouldn’t jinx yourself by allowing your fears to influence you.
Introduction
I am designing for health and well-being because I want to be mentally, physically and emotionally healthy and happy and I want other people to be healthy and happy as well. At the moment, many people I know are not healthy and happy. I think that this is connected to stress. For creative people, like designers, I have noticed that the stress is caused by a lack of inspiration, leading to procrastination--you’re just going to do it later when you feel more creative--or frustration--you believe that this project is impossible and insurmountable. There is an opportunity to create a tool to help these people be more creative and less stressed out.
Design opportunity
The problem is that creative people are searching for solutions but thay can’t think of anything productive. There is a blank and they stare at a computer screen for hours not getting any ideas. The work that they do do is repetitive and cliche. I find myself having this problem and my body becomes uncomfortable and distracted, so I shift in my seat and start wondering in the back of my head if it’s time for a coffee break.
I think that the solution for this problem is the subconscious mind because the problem is the conscious mind putting restrictions on problem solving. The subconscious mind is basically linked to finding solutions to problems. The subconscious is stimulated by everything around and forms instinctual responses to this stimuli. It’s connected to the fight or flight response. What creative people need is a way of turning off the judgemental conscious mind and tapping into the subconscious. I think that creative people would feel less stressed out and would get more productive work done if they could use their subconscious mind more.
Most designers will agree that creative solutions will sometimes pop into their heads at weird moments. For example, they are just falling asleep. Their brains are in the ‘Alpha State,’ which means that they are very relaxed and their brainwave frequency is around 10 Hz. The ‘Alpha State’ is the ideal awareness state for the brain to think about solutions because the brain is relaxed and their is a greater feeling of well-being. If my project could cause the audience to be in this ‘Alpha State,’ then they will shut off the conscious mind and tap into the subconscious mind. While their conscious mind is effectively turned off, they will be more creative and feel happier. I think that my project could end creative blocks and cause a long lasting feeling of well-being by creating a tool that will stimulate the subconscious mind.
Design Objective
I intend to create a tool that will stimulate the subconscious mind so that my audience will be able to create solutions that are more creative. They will feel a greater sens of well-being because I want to relax their minds enough for judgement to be turned off. I want to create a tool that is entertaining and enjoyable to use, like a game.
Solving the problem of what the tool will be will require creating prototypes and testing the outcomes on real people. I will need to do research on existing tools and studies being done around the world. I will need to also research my audience: their needs, experiences and environments. During the research phase of the project, I will find experts who can help me find insightful solutions to the problem. Then I will analyze the findings and create a visual language that will appeal to the audience. The prototypes will be tested and refined until I have found the right solution.
Design Criteria
My senior project will fulfill the following criteria: It will...
- stimulate the subconscious mind.
- encourage unique solutions and ideas by creating a time and place that is appropriate for new ideas.
- be suitable for adults, especially creative people like designers.
- be entertaining and stress-relieving.
Target Audience
The person who will use and enjoy this project the most will be young adults between the ages of 20-30. This project will help both males and females. The target audience will value self-improvement and stress relief. They would admit that they are procrastinators. They would also admit that they often feel stressed due to creative problem solving problems at work or at school. They often feel unproductive. They are focused on their career and their friends. They love to have fun and are very social. Their careers are related to problem solving, whether they are creative professionals, business people, scientists, or tradesmen. They want to feel more relaxed, happy, healthy and productive.
Education Goals
In the Spring Semester I hope to learn more about how I can help people feel happier. Since I, myself, also want to live a happy life, I feel like this exploration is very important to my future. I have aspirations to be a teacher as well as a graphic designer, so this project can benefit my future students as well. I hope to learn about what causes problems in our lives, like stress and creative blocks. I want this project to teach me about what I can do to deal with stress and creative blocks, so that I can feel more productive.
Research
I have researched the Subconscious and it led me to Alpha State, Binaural Beats, Affirmation, Subliminal Messages, Tarot cards, Stress, Emotions, and Happiness. I defined each of these things and learned a little of the history behind it. I have been listening to binaural beats and find that it has a calming effect. I have looked at cards and found them to stimulate the subconscious in my dreams.
I have also researched studies on the subconscious and how the subconscious mind influences psychology and social interactions. I found information on the internet, in books, textbooks and articles. I also used ‘Dream Cards’ and ‘The Sacred Circle Tarot” to explore the tools that already exist.
In the future, I will continue to explore books, articles and the internet. I will also find a variety of tools and games to see which ones work and which do not.
Bibliography
Adler, Ronald B., Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and Neil Towne. Interplay: The process of
Interpersonal Communication. 6th ed. Toronto: Harcourt Brace College
Publishers, 1995.
“Binaural Beats”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
“Brainwave”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
“Brainwave Synchronization”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
Canfield, Jack and Mark Victor Hansen. A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Deerfeild, FL: Health Communications Inc., 1996.
Carey, Benedict. ‘Who’s Minding the Mind?’. The New York Times. July 31, 2007.
David G. Myers. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, 1992.
“The Dream Deck”. Cards. Designed by Kirsten T. Hetland. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2002.
“Dreamachine”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
“Emotions”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
Franklin, Anna. Illustrated by Paul Mason. “The Sacred Circle Tarot.” Cards.
St Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 1998.
“Stress”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
“Sunconscious”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
The article discusses the similar results of studies conducted by American Universities like Yale and Stanford about the subconscious mind. At Yale, a research assistant carrying too many things asked people to take a cup of coffee from him or her. Later, when asked to rate a hypothetical person they read about, the people would answer favourably if the coffee was hot and unfavourably--rating the person as being more selfish and less social--if the coffee was cold. The temperature of the coffee seemed to have effected their mind. It seems to suggest that people form opinions based on stimulus that may not be filtered through the conscious mind.
On a side note, I think I could make an interesting game if I had and image of a face and then used the same face, but added glasses or blond hair. I wonder how people would react or if they would notice. What if they were asked to describe the person? Would they use preconceived notions about people with glasses or blond hair?
What if I created a game where there would be images of objects and people and places and the game would have adjectives that people could match them up. I wonder if there would be a trend in the matches of images and words?
Or a game like “Life” where there are cards that show houses and even though a house might be worth less, it will still be a valuable house because people will think it looks valuable.
There needs to be a clever trick to the game where people will see how they are influenced by the subconscious mind.
Happiness
Before I do anymore research about stress, which may change how I see my project, I want to define the core concept of this project. I find that happiness is simple. To be happy, there has to be a inbalance of more good events and emotions than bad events and emotions. That’s it. Do what you love.
I try to live by this, but lately I’ve become more stressed than usual--graduating from Emily Carr University without being stressed is probably impossible--and that has effected my happiness. I feel like staying in. I don’t put myself out there for the jobs that I know should be mine. I ignore my gym membership.
But during the holiday season, I played a game called ‘Apples to Apples’ with family and I became addicted, so I made my own version of the game when my brother took the card game home with him. It’s a simple game. A person puts a card down with an adjective on it like ‘luxurious.’ Players will have 5 cards with nouns on them and will choose one that matches ‘luxurious’. The person who put the adjective down will choose which noun they think matches the best and the winner will keep the adjective card. The person with the most adjective cards wins.
‘Apples to Apples’ is hilarious. Players will learn things about each other that they didn’t before and some cards will stimulate long conversations. The interesting thing is the connections that people make. If the adjective is ‘luxurious’ and someone puts down ‘meat,’ everyone usually wonders who put that card down and why.
This game stimulates the subconscious mind through word association and I began to think about the benefits of uncovering thoughts and feelings that are usually ignored. The effects of subconscious negativity and surpressed fears on stress interested me. What if I did a project that could relieve stress through the subconscious mind?
Stress--Psychology by David G. Myers. New York, 1992-Worth Publishers--Jan.8, 2009
There are different types of stressful events: catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles.
“In the last month, how often have you felt:
a. Unable to control the important things in your life?
0. Never
1. Almost never
2. Sometimes
3. Fairly often
4. Very often
b. Confidant about your ability to handle your personal problems?
c. That things were going your way?
d. That difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?
4.7 is ok for women
4.2 is ok for men
To manage stress, you can use excercise, biofeedback, relaxation (through meditation, in particular) and social support networks (“feeling liked, affirmed and encouraged by intimate friends and family--promotes happiness and health.”).
A subject in a study by health psychologists James Pennedbaker and Robin O’Heeron (1984) (p.533) said “I was finally able to deal with it, work through the pain instead of trying to block it out. Now it doesn’t hurt to think about it.”
A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Canfield, Jack and Mark Victor Hansen. Deerfeild, FL 1996: Health Communications Inc..--Jan.9, 2009--Rachel Champagne
Intro--Chicken Soup Stories
Ths basis of this book is that these inspirational stories will cause people to live happier lives through examples. It seems to be full of Christian values. I think that it is interesting that just the thoughts of hope, love and encouragement is beneficial, as if any positive thinking can make people happier. Maybe it’s as simple as that--The Secret says that it is--but I’m skeptical.
I agree that a story can “provide a new perspective, a new way of percieving the universe,”--Ruth Stotter. I don’t want to focus on storytelling for this project though.
Cards--wikipedia--Jan.9, 2009
I’m more interested in the effects of cards on our subconscious. There are many types of cards, created as early as the 7th century in China. The design of French cards became the most popular, using four suits and the King, Queen, Knave and Valet being the court cards. There were 52 cards per deck--and 52 weeks in a year. The four suits represented the four seasons. And if you add the cards together, with a joker card as 1, then you will find the number 365.
The Dream Deck--Jan.9,2009
This is what the dream deck includes: “beautifully illustrated cards, designed to offer both cues and clues about your sleeping mind. With simple instructions on how to both interpret the symbols and influence the nature of your dreams--plus 50 evocative images that capture the surreal quality of night visions--The Dream Deck will inspire self-discovery and enlightenment, night after night.”
There are 8 cue cards that offer ways of influencing your dreams through visualization. For example, a card is titled ‘battling the dragon’ and says to visualize a dream adversary and gain confidance as you defeat the foe. You should feel a sense of victory in your dream and this will relate to your “current, waking circumstances.” So the point is that your dreams influence you life. The fantasy will effect the reality, similar to a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the back of each card is an image representing the cards concept, like death.
Subliminal Messages--wikipedia--Jan.9,2009
Subliminal messages are signals or messages imbedded into another medium, “designed to pass below the normal limits of the mind’s perception.”
Interplay: The process of Interpersonal Communication. 6 ed. Adler, Ronald B., Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and Neil Towne. Toronto, 1995: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.--Jan.9, 2009--Rachel Champagne
p.48 Influence of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
To summarize, self-fulfilling prophecies are situations where a person has already made up their minds what a person, place, or thing will be like, so that when they see the reality, their preconceived notions will end up being true. If they think they won’t like a person, they will act like they don’t like them and the person will respond negatively, which makes it true--they won’t like each other. If a person knows that they will be nervous and that an interview won’t go well, then they will become nervous and it will become true.
Of course, it won’t effect something like the colour of the sky. Keeping this in mind, and all of the other things that are out of our control, trying to think positively is still a good strategy, especially about your self-concept. High expectations of yourself will only make you unhappy because no one is perfect. Self-fulfilling prophecy just means that you shouldn’t assume things that aren’t true and you shouldn’t jinx yourself by allowing your fears to influence you.
Introduction
I am designing for health and well-being because I want to be mentally, physically and emotionally healthy and happy and I want other people to be healthy and happy as well. At the moment, many people I know are not healthy and happy. I think that this is connected to stress. For creative people, like designers, I have noticed that the stress is caused by a lack of inspiration, leading to procrastination--you’re just going to do it later when you feel more creative--or frustration--you believe that this project is impossible and insurmountable. There is an opportunity to create a tool to help these people be more creative and less stressed out.
Design opportunity
The problem is that creative people are searching for solutions but thay can’t think of anything productive. There is a blank and they stare at a computer screen for hours not getting any ideas. The work that they do do is repetitive and cliche. I find myself having this problem and my body becomes uncomfortable and distracted, so I shift in my seat and start wondering in the back of my head if it’s time for a coffee break.
I think that the solution for this problem is the subconscious mind because the problem is the conscious mind putting restrictions on problem solving. The subconscious mind is basically linked to finding solutions to problems. The subconscious is stimulated by everything around and forms instinctual responses to this stimuli. It’s connected to the fight or flight response. What creative people need is a way of turning off the judgemental conscious mind and tapping into the subconscious. I think that creative people would feel less stressed out and would get more productive work done if they could use their subconscious mind more.
Most designers will agree that creative solutions will sometimes pop into their heads at weird moments. For example, they are just falling asleep. Their brains are in the ‘Alpha State,’ which means that they are very relaxed and their brainwave frequency is around 10 Hz. The ‘Alpha State’ is the ideal awareness state for the brain to think about solutions because the brain is relaxed and their is a greater feeling of well-being. If my project could cause the audience to be in this ‘Alpha State,’ then they will shut off the conscious mind and tap into the subconscious mind. While their conscious mind is effectively turned off, they will be more creative and feel happier. I think that my project could end creative blocks and cause a long lasting feeling of well-being by creating a tool that will stimulate the subconscious mind.
Design Objective
I intend to create a tool that will stimulate the subconscious mind so that my audience will be able to create solutions that are more creative. They will feel a greater sens of well-being because I want to relax their minds enough for judgement to be turned off. I want to create a tool that is entertaining and enjoyable to use, like a game.
Solving the problem of what the tool will be will require creating prototypes and testing the outcomes on real people. I will need to do research on existing tools and studies being done around the world. I will need to also research my audience: their needs, experiences and environments. During the research phase of the project, I will find experts who can help me find insightful solutions to the problem. Then I will analyze the findings and create a visual language that will appeal to the audience. The prototypes will be tested and refined until I have found the right solution.
Design Criteria
My senior project will fulfill the following criteria: It will...
- stimulate the subconscious mind.
- encourage unique solutions and ideas by creating a time and place that is appropriate for new ideas.
- be suitable for adults, especially creative people like designers.
- be entertaining and stress-relieving.
Target Audience
The person who will use and enjoy this project the most will be young adults between the ages of 20-30. This project will help both males and females. The target audience will value self-improvement and stress relief. They would admit that they are procrastinators. They would also admit that they often feel stressed due to creative problem solving problems at work or at school. They often feel unproductive. They are focused on their career and their friends. They love to have fun and are very social. Their careers are related to problem solving, whether they are creative professionals, business people, scientists, or tradesmen. They want to feel more relaxed, happy, healthy and productive.
Education Goals
In the Spring Semester I hope to learn more about how I can help people feel happier. Since I, myself, also want to live a happy life, I feel like this exploration is very important to my future. I have aspirations to be a teacher as well as a graphic designer, so this project can benefit my future students as well. I hope to learn about what causes problems in our lives, like stress and creative blocks. I want this project to teach me about what I can do to deal with stress and creative blocks, so that I can feel more productive.
Research
I have researched the Subconscious and it led me to Alpha State, Binaural Beats, Affirmation, Subliminal Messages, Tarot cards, Stress, Emotions, and Happiness. I defined each of these things and learned a little of the history behind it. I have been listening to binaural beats and find that it has a calming effect. I have looked at cards and found them to stimulate the subconscious in my dreams.
I have also researched studies on the subconscious and how the subconscious mind influences psychology and social interactions. I found information on the internet, in books, textbooks and articles. I also used ‘Dream Cards’ and ‘The Sacred Circle Tarot” to explore the tools that already exist.
In the future, I will continue to explore books, articles and the internet. I will also find a variety of tools and games to see which ones work and which do not.
Bibliography
Adler, Ronald B., Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and Neil Towne. Interplay: The process of
Interpersonal Communication. 6th ed. Toronto: Harcourt Brace College
Publishers, 1995.
“Binaural Beats”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
“Brainwave”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
“Brainwave Synchronization”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
Canfield, Jack and Mark Victor Hansen. A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Deerfeild, FL: Health Communications Inc., 1996.
Carey, Benedict. ‘Who’s Minding the Mind?’. The New York Times. July 31, 2007.
David G. Myers. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, 1992.
“The Dream Deck”. Cards. Designed by Kirsten T. Hetland. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2002.
“Dreamachine”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
“Emotions”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
Franklin, Anna. Illustrated by Paul Mason. “The Sacred Circle Tarot.” Cards.
St Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 1998.
“Stress”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
“Sunconscious”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Grad Project 09 research
Jan. 8, 2009--Rachel Champagne--Study of Binaural Beats
Alpha State
Initially, I found information about binaural beats on the internet (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subconscious) while I was researching the subconscious mind.
Subconscious
Subconscious is defined as an awareness that exists in the mind that is not conscious. An awareness that humans aren’t aware of.
The subconscious could be considered slightly different from the preconscious mind, which is information that can be recalled as soon as you bring attention to it, like memories. The subconscious mind seems to be information that you are not aware of possessing--information that effects your behaviour and attitude.
Although wikipedia didn’t mention this, I would predict that body language and other non-verbal things that you notice about other humans are incorporated into the information that you percieve and store, yet don’t consciously understand. When you first meet someone, you learn things from them but you don’t realize you do it. Also, sometimes when you are feeling stress, you don’t understand, on a conscious level, why. I think that it is linked to emotions. I haven’t done the research yet, but I predict that emotions are usually subconscious. Emotions can’t be controlled and neither can the brain be controlled when it works on a subconscious level.
What I wonder is if you can become more aware of the subconscious information that your brain is storing--like emotions, thoughts, assumptions and perceptions--and find a better way of controlling the negative effects of stress and fear?
Wikipedia lists a few methods of affecting the subconscious mind: Affirmations, Binaural Beats, Hypnosis, and Subliminal messages.
Affirmation
Affirmation is a “declaration that something is true,” (Wikipedia). What I understand about this is that the effect of positively thinking that something is true will make you believe it’s true, therefore it is true. Either the individual will make it true or else truth is anything that you percieve to be true--a concept linked to the idea that reality is perception. How a person percieves reality is their reality. It’s not my reality, but it’s their reality.
I can see how this could effect a person’s subconscious mind by challenging old assumptions--how a person sees themselves, whether beautiful or ugly, for example. As long as the ‘truth’ is subjective, like beauty, the perception can be altered. If a person says to themselves, “The sky is yellow,” then I can’t see how that could effect the subconscious mind because the subconscious specifically stores emotions and perceptions.
So, what if I used this project to handle stress. If so, I have to prove the idea that stress is caused by emotions and perceptions, rather than by scientific facts like ‘the sky is blue.’
Stress
Stress is defined as the failure of the human body to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether real or percieved. Biologically, it makes you anxious and produces adrenaline. Stress can commonly cause exhaustion, irritability, headaches and an inability to concentrate. There are many things that lead to stress, but any type of conflict or fear can be stressful.
How to deal with stress? I propose that if the opposite of a stressful situation is a relaxing situation, then relaxation techniques are a solution to stress. If stress is caused by emotions, like fear, then a tool that can change emotions and perceptions hidden deep in your subconscious would be another excellent solution.
I’m confidant that I can relieve people’s stress levels using a tool that taps into the subconscious mind. Now, I need to understand what those tools might look like.
Binaural Beats
Binaural beats are two sounds, both under 1,000-1,500 Hz, and the difference between the two sounds must be small--less than 30 Hz. While wearing headphones, each ear listens to one of the sounds. The interesting thing is that the brain will produce a beating tone, very much like someone meditating to the incantation ‘ohmmm,’ that will relax and slow down the thinking process.
I listened to the binaural beats from Wikipedia and found that it relaxed me enough to eliminate a pounding headache in thirty minutes. I am now a believer in this phenomenon.
To understand how binaural beats work, I had to learn a bit about brainwaves and sound frequency. First I learned that the brain produces tiny electrical signals generated by individual synaptic connections that can be measured using an Electroencephalography (eeg). The frequency of the brainwaves differ depending on the brain’s state of awareness: above 40 Hz is Gamma waves, associated with higher mental activity like problem-solving and fear. 13-40 Hz is Beta waves, associated with active, busy, anxious thinking, or active concentration. 7-13 Hz is Alpha waves, associated with relaxation while awake and pre-sleep or pre-wake drowziness. 4-7 Hz is Theta waves, associated with dreaming or deep meditation. Under 4 Hz is Delta waves, associated with deep dreamless sleep.
Binaural beats may effect brainwave frequency due to a concept called ‘frequency following response’. If the brain recieves a stimulus--like a sound--that is in the same frequency range as brain waves, the brain waves will become closer to the frequency of the stimulus. Our brains are susceptible to stimulus like light, sound, pain, and temperature. It seems that by changing our environment, we can lessen the effects of stress, including pain and tension. Not only changing our environment, but using any stimulus--whether visual, audio, oral or verbal--we can effect our level of stress.
Emotions
I believe that stress is connected to emotions. From wikipedia, I found a list of emotions: Euphoria, Fear, Frustration, Gratitude, Grief, Guilt, Happiness, Hatred, Hope, Horror, Hostility, Hysteria, Interest, Jealousy, Loathing, Love, Pity, Pride, Rage, Regret, Remorse, Sadness, Shame, Suffering, Surprise, Wonder, Worry.
To effect the subconscious mind, I think that these words could be helpful. Word association games--one person says a word and another person immediately says a word that comes to mind without thinking--bring out connections that may not be obvious. The brain is making connections without consciousness. If a person heard or read the word ‘fear,’ would they respond with the real reason they feel stressed? Would consciously acknowledging a fear, problem or stressful situation effect someone’s level of anxiety? If affirmation and positive thinking theories are correct, then it would.
Alpha State
Initially, I found information about binaural beats on the internet (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subconscious) while I was researching the subconscious mind.
Subconscious
Subconscious is defined as an awareness that exists in the mind that is not conscious. An awareness that humans aren’t aware of.
The subconscious could be considered slightly different from the preconscious mind, which is information that can be recalled as soon as you bring attention to it, like memories. The subconscious mind seems to be information that you are not aware of possessing--information that effects your behaviour and attitude.
Although wikipedia didn’t mention this, I would predict that body language and other non-verbal things that you notice about other humans are incorporated into the information that you percieve and store, yet don’t consciously understand. When you first meet someone, you learn things from them but you don’t realize you do it. Also, sometimes when you are feeling stress, you don’t understand, on a conscious level, why. I think that it is linked to emotions. I haven’t done the research yet, but I predict that emotions are usually subconscious. Emotions can’t be controlled and neither can the brain be controlled when it works on a subconscious level.
What I wonder is if you can become more aware of the subconscious information that your brain is storing--like emotions, thoughts, assumptions and perceptions--and find a better way of controlling the negative effects of stress and fear?
Wikipedia lists a few methods of affecting the subconscious mind: Affirmations, Binaural Beats, Hypnosis, and Subliminal messages.
Affirmation
Affirmation is a “declaration that something is true,” (Wikipedia). What I understand about this is that the effect of positively thinking that something is true will make you believe it’s true, therefore it is true. Either the individual will make it true or else truth is anything that you percieve to be true--a concept linked to the idea that reality is perception. How a person percieves reality is their reality. It’s not my reality, but it’s their reality.
I can see how this could effect a person’s subconscious mind by challenging old assumptions--how a person sees themselves, whether beautiful or ugly, for example. As long as the ‘truth’ is subjective, like beauty, the perception can be altered. If a person says to themselves, “The sky is yellow,” then I can’t see how that could effect the subconscious mind because the subconscious specifically stores emotions and perceptions.
So, what if I used this project to handle stress. If so, I have to prove the idea that stress is caused by emotions and perceptions, rather than by scientific facts like ‘the sky is blue.’
Stress
Stress is defined as the failure of the human body to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether real or percieved. Biologically, it makes you anxious and produces adrenaline. Stress can commonly cause exhaustion, irritability, headaches and an inability to concentrate. There are many things that lead to stress, but any type of conflict or fear can be stressful.
How to deal with stress? I propose that if the opposite of a stressful situation is a relaxing situation, then relaxation techniques are a solution to stress. If stress is caused by emotions, like fear, then a tool that can change emotions and perceptions hidden deep in your subconscious would be another excellent solution.
I’m confidant that I can relieve people’s stress levels using a tool that taps into the subconscious mind. Now, I need to understand what those tools might look like.
Binaural Beats
Binaural beats are two sounds, both under 1,000-1,500 Hz, and the difference between the two sounds must be small--less than 30 Hz. While wearing headphones, each ear listens to one of the sounds. The interesting thing is that the brain will produce a beating tone, very much like someone meditating to the incantation ‘ohmmm,’ that will relax and slow down the thinking process.
I listened to the binaural beats from Wikipedia and found that it relaxed me enough to eliminate a pounding headache in thirty minutes. I am now a believer in this phenomenon.
To understand how binaural beats work, I had to learn a bit about brainwaves and sound frequency. First I learned that the brain produces tiny electrical signals generated by individual synaptic connections that can be measured using an Electroencephalography (eeg). The frequency of the brainwaves differ depending on the brain’s state of awareness: above 40 Hz is Gamma waves, associated with higher mental activity like problem-solving and fear. 13-40 Hz is Beta waves, associated with active, busy, anxious thinking, or active concentration. 7-13 Hz is Alpha waves, associated with relaxation while awake and pre-sleep or pre-wake drowziness. 4-7 Hz is Theta waves, associated with dreaming or deep meditation. Under 4 Hz is Delta waves, associated with deep dreamless sleep.
Binaural beats may effect brainwave frequency due to a concept called ‘frequency following response’. If the brain recieves a stimulus--like a sound--that is in the same frequency range as brain waves, the brain waves will become closer to the frequency of the stimulus. Our brains are susceptible to stimulus like light, sound, pain, and temperature. It seems that by changing our environment, we can lessen the effects of stress, including pain and tension. Not only changing our environment, but using any stimulus--whether visual, audio, oral or verbal--we can effect our level of stress.
Emotions
I believe that stress is connected to emotions. From wikipedia, I found a list of emotions: Euphoria, Fear, Frustration, Gratitude, Grief, Guilt, Happiness, Hatred, Hope, Horror, Hostility, Hysteria, Interest, Jealousy, Loathing, Love, Pity, Pride, Rage, Regret, Remorse, Sadness, Shame, Suffering, Surprise, Wonder, Worry.
To effect the subconscious mind, I think that these words could be helpful. Word association games--one person says a word and another person immediately says a word that comes to mind without thinking--bring out connections that may not be obvious. The brain is making connections without consciousness. If a person heard or read the word ‘fear,’ would they respond with the real reason they feel stressed? Would consciously acknowledging a fear, problem or stressful situation effect someone’s level of anxiety? If affirmation and positive thinking theories are correct, then it would.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Bound
So as you can see below, I've finished a hard cover bound prototype. This isn't finished because there were a few things I needed to alter.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Dec.6
I've got a lot done this week but haven't found the time to post anything. After getting feedback from Don the week before last, I decided to add space at the top and bottom for the type. That fixed the problems I had with readability and consistency, when I had the type on the illustrations. Each page was different, so it was difficult.
I made an appointment at the Digital Output Centre and spent three hours preparing the files for printing. The problem was that I had images from Illustrator in my inDesign files. They were making my files really big and Carlos said that they might not even print. So we flattened the files and it worked. I chose to print the cover in an enhanced matte paper, which was very smooth and lovely. I printed my spreads in the least glossy paper they had, but they were still coated. I just wanted to try it out and see how it looked. Unfortunately, my search for an uncoated (and maybe slightly textured) paper hasn't worked out very well.
I talked to Don again on Thursday and there were a few things I needed to change. I decided to still bind my book with what I had (coated paper and all). So that's what I did today.
I'm binding it with a hard cover. First I stitched my pages together. I taught myself how to do this online. I just went to Wikipedia and found a link at the bottom that said "How to make a simple hard cover book." Then I took Book Media over the summer, so I've had enough practice that I felt comfortable doing this myself. This is the fun part! I'm not going to let someone else bind my book.
I created the cover. I wanted to use a soft, velvety grey paper that I found at Opus a few months ago. I already owned some dark grey fabric for book covers, so I used that on the spine, then covered it with the fuzzy paper. The book jacket is going over top of it, though.
I made an appointment at the Digital Output Centre and spent three hours preparing the files for printing. The problem was that I had images from Illustrator in my inDesign files. They were making my files really big and Carlos said that they might not even print. So we flattened the files and it worked. I chose to print the cover in an enhanced matte paper, which was very smooth and lovely. I printed my spreads in the least glossy paper they had, but they were still coated. I just wanted to try it out and see how it looked. Unfortunately, my search for an uncoated (and maybe slightly textured) paper hasn't worked out very well.
I talked to Don again on Thursday and there were a few things I needed to change. I decided to still bind my book with what I had (coated paper and all). So that's what I did today.
I'm binding it with a hard cover. First I stitched my pages together. I taught myself how to do this online. I just went to Wikipedia and found a link at the bottom that said "How to make a simple hard cover book." Then I took Book Media over the summer, so I've had enough practice that I felt comfortable doing this myself. This is the fun part! I'm not going to let someone else bind my book.
I created the cover. I wanted to use a soft, velvety grey paper that I found at Opus a few months ago. I already owned some dark grey fabric for book covers, so I used that on the spine, then covered it with the fuzzy paper. The book jacket is going over top of it, though.
Friday, November 21, 2008
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