For Design Students

This set of posts, slides and online lectures have been collected here as a teaching aid for design students. They offer ideas only and should not be quoted in any of your essays. Please check back for any new posts that may be added and will appear at the top of this list.

The Question of Kitsch
A discussion on sixties and contemporary kitsch in regards to the everyday and ideas around agency. Includes some theory on kitsch. Click here for the original post.

What is Myth?
By utilising Roland Barthes' semiological model, this online lecture looks at the signs encoded in the world around us by providing an advertisement as an example. Click here for the lecture.

Alice in Quornderland
This post provides a semiological critique of Marlow Food’s Quorn packaging and include a faux pitch for a new marketing campaign. Click here for the original post.

Not So Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy
Here we examine the famous lemon squeezer by Philippe Starck and look at the reasons for its popularity despite the priority given to form over functionality. Click here for the original post.

Walking Through the Mall
Part of a project from 2004 in the Castle Mall in Norwich that looks at the aesthetics of the shopping experience. Click here for the original post.

The Semiotics of Space and the Culture of Design
This guest lecture was given at the Design School at the University of Leeds and looks at how design influences our perception of space. Click here for the abstract of the lecture and here for the slides.

Schizocartography
This guest lecture was given at the Canterbury School of Architecture and looks at the architecture and aesthetics of the University of Leeds campus. Click here for the slides.