Week16: SWOT

Hannah Rees
Oct 8, 2021
5 min read

Following our webinar catch up with Dan, I came back with lots of new ideas and considerations for this project – I’ve noted most here:

development Review with Dan
Exhibition identity – don’t focus on as much, prioritise the workload. Identity is further down on the list
DO A SWOT
Content is more important
License to keep identity quite minimal
Elon musk interview – hopeful and optimistic, potential to rally around responses to climate change – whereas Greta very much telling us where we are going wrong. need to balance the telling off and the optimisim.
Climate Change as a whol eis too broad – hone in on topics for each exhibit FOCUS IN ON FLOODING ISSUE
Target these smaller topics with our challenges we face
Get the narratives to work with for each exhibit.

Below is a summary of my exhibition which I described during the webinar and discussed with Dan and the other students:

Sand in Your Eye – exhibit – sand sculpture on the banks of the Ouse – will wash away when it floods. Semi-permanent exhibit.

Ice blocks around the City – Located in each area for AR opportunities. Links to research about artic ice melting and flooding estimates for York and Yorkshire

Gigapixel images in 360 box showing various scenes from around the world – basmati rice faming, the yorkshire coastline, Maldives coasts and London along the Thames. People can use the screens to zoom in on the images as they currently stand, look into further depth and detail at the existing state of the planet and then fast forward 50.100 years to see the major changes that take effect

Greenhouses – connected greenhouses demonstrating the predicted temperature rises over 50/75/100 years and including glass floors and sides walls to demonstrate the sea level rise.

The app will be part of a Big Green Act where people who attend the exhibitions can get involved with local York green projects, litter picking after flooding and obtain links to the research around each exhibition. It will also offer wayfinding and AR opportunities.

My aim this week is to conduct a SWOT analysis and look into what I might need to amend or change with this project to ensure it’s fully focussed on it’s direction.

Strengths

Innovative exhibition for York – a full Climate Change exhibition hasn’t been done yet in York, taking into account the entire City and local artists.
With links to real York issues, it highlights York’s threat of flooding to both tourists and locals – this is important as Local York Residents aren’t always fully aware of the impact the vast amount of rain will have on our City
It is an imaginative exhibition, it covers a range of different emotions and senses and utilises the space available in York
Bringing facts and data to people in an emotive yet legible manner
Helps people understand how to help fight Climate Change or how they can do things differently. Even considerations of looking further, such as how politicians need to make certain changes and how the exhibition visitors can get involved with making that happen

Personal Strengths:

Imaginative – I put a lot of time and effort into creating these different exhibits and using my imagination as to how they would work and fit into our City
Willing to try new software for renders or app design
I am passionate about this topic – it’s close to my heart and something I am excited to continue taking further after this module

Weaknesses

This is not fully planned, nor will it be by the time the module ends – it is hopefully a plan to be taken further with York Design Week so it’s still quite vague
Therefore, no exhibition identity – as Dan said, this isn’t vital, but it’d be really nice to create a semblance of an identity or branding. I feel because of the lack of identity, it’s full potential is not realised, but considering the timing it won’t be possible in 2 months.
It needs further development for facts and research – I’ve studied a lot and spoken to a number of scientists but perhaps I could take this further for when creating the exhibition for real (true facts and figures are needed)

Personal Weaknesses:

Time limitiations – from both working full time in a new job but also having only 2 months left of the module to complete the work needed
I am still not confident in my own skills and I need to push myself – Imposter syndrome definitely still going strong!
I also need to push myself to interact with other designers – I’ve been so good with speaking to researchers and scientists and have really enjoyed that. But I need to push myself out of my comfort zone to meet with other designers for feedback.

Opportunities

York Design Week and local designers – this project has been discussed for taking further for future YDW’s and they are interested in this project and it’s outcomes. Perhaps some aspects will be taken further and it is an exciting prospect
Personally, I’ve made some great contacts so far – eg John Stack and Dave Diston going to COP”6. It’s been very exciting meeting new people and discussing such an interesting and current topic.
Loving exhibition design and it’s vast opportunities – definitely something I’ll be taking further

Personal Opportunities:

This has opened doors to me as a designer and given me valuable connections
Given me the chance to meet and connect with other people from all range of backgrounds.

Threats

Budget considerations – will this exhibition be the same and have the same effect on a cheaper scale? If it is taken on by YDW, it might not have the possibility to have the same effect/impact
Covid – huge external factor effecting everythign around us – a lot of research and planning in these exhibits involves sensory factors. Touch, smells, temperature – all not good for Covid-world!
Locals of York can be a factor to consider in a topic such as this – there is a lot of backlash regarding climate change and activism in the City – take for example the Barbican Communtiy Gardens which were swiftly shut down because of local complaints. It’s proven time and again to be very tricky to create something community based because of the backlash from locals. eg. the sandbox exhibit, this would have to be carefully protected if it was to be a physical sculpture over time – could be damaged during it’s time in the city.

Personal Threats:

Competition from other designers in the City – there are a number of other designers who could perhaps create something similar or not acknowledge the research
My own computer – doesn’t always have the capability to do everything I want it to do (not quick enough and doesn’t have enough memory!!!)

There is a lot to consider here and I need to make sure I act on the above SWOT analysis and take the considerations further in order to ensure my project has enough clarity.