The media landscape is changing, there no longer needs to be an industry to support the recording and distribution of cultural elements. Recording sound and video can achieved through cheep consumer electronics, even mobile phones and distribution of media can be achieved through a variety of means (P2P, youtube, bit-torrent, etc). Therefore our media landscape is being populated more and more by people and their ‘home made’ recorded elements of culture and not solely by works produced by one of the few companies who could afford to record and the distribute.

However, The light and sound box in the corner of our living rooms still remains the territory of an industry. Rare is it to see a ‘home made’ Grime scene music video on the same screen as we would normally see premiership football match.

The student is to research and design a user centric culture consumption platform, or to put it simply- To design a replacement for the light and sound box in the corner of our living rooms that reflects the changing media landscape.

• Research documentation
• Presentation of concept
• Supporting prototypes

It is intended that at the end of this unit the students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a thorough awareness of the published information relevant to your chosen contexts/subject matter.
• Demonstrate analytical ability through the ability to appraise the project contexts and apply a range of analytical tools and methods in developing a professional approach to the work produced for the unit.
• Demonstrate the ability to respond to the given contexts/issues by the following:
  • Structuring a design project around the contexts/issues.
  • Organising time and resources to meet project requirements.
  • Generating creative design solutions in response to the contexts/issues.
• Demonstrate the ability to synthesise and develop design ideas through to a finished design/research/work proposal/solution.
• Demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate all aspects of the project through:
  • A presentation at the end of the unit of the conclusion of the work undertaken. This should be in a form appropriate to the nature of the work undertaken.
  • A clear and concise summary of the project contexts/issues and design/research/work proposal/solution.
• A record of the evolution of the design/research/work ideas.

At the end of the unit the students will be assessed on the degree to which the work:

• Demonstrates that the student has undertaken a search of the published information relevant to the chosen contexts/subject matter and that the work produced demonstrates an awareness of the relevance of particular pieces of information relevant to the project.
• Demonstrates that the student has appraised the project contexts and been able to apply a range of analytical tools and methods and has developed a professional approach to the work produced for the unit, based on this information.
• Demonstrates that the student has the ability to respond to the researched contexts/issues by the following:
  • Structuring a design project around the contexts/issues.
  • Organising time and resources to meet project requirements.
  • Generating creative design solutions in response to the contexts/issues.
  • Demonstrates the ability of the student to synthesise and progress the project from research/concept through to a finished design/research/work proposal/solution.
  • Demonstrates the ability to effectively communicate all aspects of the project through:
    • A presentation in a form appropriate to the nature of the work undertaken.
    • A clear and concise summary of the project.
    • A record of the evolution of the design/research/work ideas.