THEORY INDIVIDUAL JOURNAL

First topic in theory class:Art

We were asked to present two self portrait in one 20th century style and one 21st century modern style. Honestly, i think i  drew myself prettier compared to the real me hahaha!

What i got in this topic is art act as a very important element in this world. It colours the world and makes the world beautiful!  Just imagine how the earth is if its without art. Without culture, creativity, organic, craft..etc.

Express Observe are the processes in order to experience art.

What else in my mind to express about ART? More work will be coming up!!

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Theory Review: The Imitation Game

On 11^th of February 2015, our theory class was required to watch a movie at cinema as a class activity. This was just so cool, another cool stuff which only Ucsi will do. The movie is The Imitation Game, I had never heard of this movie until we got the chance to watch it in cinema that day. For my first impression, I think it’s quite boring. Talking part in the front actually made me feel sleepy oopss >.<.. However back part of the movie changed my mind!

ALAN TURING, the main character in this movie, an amazing man who inspired me a lot in this movie. His “never give up” spirit totally impressed me! People judged him, people insulted him, people blocked his way, but he just kept his pace and moved forward! This was not easy and not everyone can do this! He is the man who created the machine which he named it as “Christopher” and we named it as “computer” nowadays. He is mathematician, world war2 codebreaker, father of computer science. He is a genius, he made changes towards this world. However, his character was quite weird (the scene which he writing the love confess letter for Christopher), was not quite able to communicate with his fellow human, homosexual, these made me feel a little bit creepy! In the end he didn’t go together with Joan and his innocent death really made me feel sad.  For me this is quite a waste, he deserved a good lady and made a good ending of his life!

By the way, the character who I like the most in this movie is going to JOAN CLARKE. An intelligence extraordinary, humble, brave lady who I really wish to be like her! She is my idol! Her audacity made me feel that she is the goddess!! She decided to take the examination although she was the only girl, she went to Turning’s working place which Turning had arranged in order to help him in breaking enigma code, she even accepted Turning’s super simple proposal. Here is the scene script that Joan Clarke truly impressed me:

Joan Clarke: Alan, what's happened?

Alan Turing: (pause) We can't be engaged anymore. Your parents need to take you back. Find you a husband elsewhere.

Joan Clarke: What's wrong with you?

Alan  Turing: I have something to tell you. I'm.. I'm a homosexual.

Joan Clarke: Alright.

Alan Turing: No, no, men, Joan. Not women.

Joan Clarke: So what?

Alan Clarke: I just told you..

Joan Clarke: So what? I had my suspicions. I always did. But we're not like other people. We love each other in our own way, and we can have the life together that we want. You won't be the perfect husband? I can promise you I harboured no intention of being the perfect wife. I'll not be fixing your lamb all day,while you come home from the office,will I? I'll work. You'll work. And we'll have each other's company. We'll have each other's minds. Sounds like a better marriage than most. Because I care for you. And you care for me. And we understand one another more than anyone else ever has.

After i have finished this movie, I recalled back about it. Turing was actually revealed that he gay and lying about never having cared for Joan due to fearing for her safety. He did contribute a lot to this world,

main key who ended world war 2, even this computer which Im using now also related to Alan Turing. As there is a saying near the start of the film "are you paying attention". You should pay attentions. Alan Turing deserves your attention, his story deserves to be to told.

Theory reader review

READER REVIEW

REVIEW 1: BEAUTY Vs. USABILITY

FUNCTION IS THE GOAL

JUICY SALIF

Based on this two topic, I actually inspired from the juicy salif picture that lecturer has showed to us. It is cool , it is good to look, however I don’t think it’s good to use. Is it aesthetic that important, and even more than usability?

For me, my answer is no.  So, first to stand up this point I started to search meaning of function and aesthetic. What is function? Function is basically the main purpose of the product it must accomplish the buyers need and wants accomplish the consumer need and wants. The product can repetitively perform its task amd the most important thing is it is safe, easy to use and durable to sustain its function.How about aesthetic? Aesthetic refers to the physical appearance of a product and its visual appeal to the target market. Couldn't deny that aesthetic is subjective and it brings different sense to different people due to their age, socio-economic background and current trends.

For a good design, i think that function is always the only one which comes first. It is the primary principal of a design! "Form follows function.", the golden quote by American architect. Louis Sullivan, this is enough to shows that the priority of a design is always comes with function and its purpose.

For the last century, function and usability has been the primary focus. The thought for previous was often been, "well if it works well. looking doesn't big matter." However when it comes to 21st century, people started toi put more attention on aesthetic. For example, people are willing to use high cost to buy expensive thing which has same function as the cheaper one. But why, why is this happening?Aesthetic Usability Effect.The aesthetic usability effect is where a user will perceive an attractive product as easier to use than an ugly one. Human being just like attractive appearance things. If the product looks nice, they assume it works better. This concept has been found true of Mini cooper car. It has few quirks like the speedometer is where the radio should be and the clock is on the ceiling, somehow peole just accept them because the car just looks cool.

Cognitive psychologist Donald Norman has put a lot of effort on investigation on this topic and over and over again the research proves that attractive things simply just work better. For me , I think when usability functional and aesthetic are combined, it creates a win-win situation, a better solution to society. Apple iphone is another great example of this aesthetic usability effect. The iphone has been successfully designed to be aesthetically  appealing as well as a practical product. The clean cut look, light weight, thin in size , and of course the most important is its great function which emphasizes on customer experience, such as smooth function pace, multi-touch interface features. This perfect combination of aesthetic and usability so that leads to many people willing to pay an amount extra just to own an iphone and this just causes iphone achieve a success position, a win win situation.

Conclusion, function and usability always come first before aesthetic.  Beautiful design is always inextricably related to its function. However, combination of these two forms just attain a result, aesthetic usability effect which works better  and  reach another advantage. 

Day 1: SEM3 SITE VISIT: IPOH TRIP 4 days 3 nights

In this semester, we went to Ipoh in Perak for site visit. Ipoh, capital in Perak , it was recognized as a city and developed a lot due to the booming tin mining industry.

7/2/2015 FIRST DAY

1st stop: Gopeng Heritage House

On the first day, the first stop we arrived is Heritage House Muzium Gopeng, a place which enable visitors quickly understand lives of Gopeng in previous years. For me, i think it is a mystery house which gives me a lot of surprise.

On the ground floor, we can found that there is a barber shop, living room, small open-air garden and a kopitiam. Upper floor, there is some middle-class family bedrooms.In this museum, i found that the interior arrangement is pretty COOL! Although the heritage house looks small and narrow from the outside but u definitely will get shocked of its design arrangement as its actually like other old house, they are long. One question,why old house is narrow and long? I got the answer during last site visit! yay! Its because during old times, people were ruled to pay government tax according to the width of its facade. Quite many hidden staircase made me confuse about the plan division, however it still amazed me with its numerous antiques, old furniture and old style decoration.

Living area with a grand lighting and some sketches post cards are selling there. 

Every corner is not wasted, space under staircase transformed into a barber shop!

Numerous antiques and old furniture. Old packing of ointment, iron, safe deposit box, fan, cake shaping tool and rectangular basin.

A basket with pulley which allows the transferring of items up and down with ease.

Such a cute kid who was posing for his grandma!

There is a kopitiam at the back of the house where we can have a cup of ipoh local coffee and tea.

Combination of steel and timber. Detailing of hidden staircase that amazed me!

Living quarter with bedrooms and living rooms. The patchwork blankets hand-made by the Hakkas.

Third floor, British style sofa from colonial era.

Best part of the museum, i found different pattern and size of old style fan which are still working well and i just love them!

2nd stop: Koperasi Industri Kampung, Tg. Bidara, Kg. Gajah

2nd stop of first day is Koperasi Industri Kampung where we learnt to make our own handmade pottery. Pottery is made by clay and  and tools needed in making process are a blade(to cut off extra irregular clay; shaping), sponge(smoothen and polish pottery surface；as a paste/glue to stick on extra clay), and some sharp tip tools (for decoration).  After that, u can just dry it under the sun and heat it.

A fun experience to apply arts on clay pottery!

These two naughty sitaupo (cantonese which i learnt in this trip they said it means tauke niang, boss) secretly used my phone to take their wefie! hahah epic face!

 Our lecturer, Ms Sharmila was trying her best to make a clay pottery with using pressing and pinch technique.

A group photo before leaving. We all had much fun:)

3rd Stop: Ipoh New Town

Ipoh street which has alot of chinese restaurants.

At night, we walked around the city and finally succeed in the exploration: We hit the biggest goal: FOOD!

 This mixed fruit ice was the main star at that night!! 

Barley dessert as a nice ending on my first day.

Day 2: SEM3 SITE VISIT: IPOH TRIP 4 days 3 nights


8/2/2015 SECOND DAY

First stop: Dim Sum 明阁香港点心

Having my first breakfast in this famous dim sum restaurant had just made my day!

Black sesame was my favorite.

2nd stop: Flea market

After breakfast, we went to Sunday flea market which located near to our hotel. It was a open-air street market and it was quite crowded. In this flea market, i found that most of the sellers are selling old stuffs. For example, books, stamp, kitchen ware and CDs. Between, iron which have works with charcoal  and tin mining filter plate which i found in flea market were really caught my eyes! Its definitely an ideal antique bargain place.

3rd Stop: Ipoh old town

In the second day,our plan basically is actually do group assignment. My group was assigned to do video shooting about history topic in ipoh old town. There are two group which assigned in this topic, so we actually discussed together about site division in the beginning in order to avoid the overlapping of content. The weather on that Sunday was terrible, sizzling hot. So, we decided to find a shady place, and eventually we found a new restaurant which just finished its renovation.

Doodles on the restaurant’s column and a drawing on wall caught my attention. Combination of black, red, yellow and white reminded me of my sem 1 favorite lecturer, mr redzwan.

There is a lot of british style building which can be found easily in Ipoh.

We found few short block and we got to pretend like a statue! XD

The next stop is birch tower, opposite ipoh mosque, still in good maintainance, From research, we found that there is actually original 44 statue on the wall,  howver one already taken off because of religion issue.

Ipoh town hall which functioned as post office, administration office during british colonial era, now served as a hall for public usage, example, wedding.

Some parts in railway station which was under construction.

Railing design.

After birch tower, we came to the most significant buildings in ipoh –Ipoh town hall and Railway station. They basically are total white in appearance, obviously in british style. During the journey to Railway station, we interviewed two local polices who were on duty in patrol. They gave us a big hand and we really appreciate it. From one of the police, we got that there was a hotel in railway station but unfortunately demolished in past few years.

Old shop lots which located beside ipoh sekeping Kong heng.

We reached this old shop lots when it was around 3pm, and we surprisingly discovered a very COOL café which fully transform the old elements of the building into its unique style. I like this café, it totally amazed me with all its recycle stuffs. Its lighting were pretty unique, some of them used colourful plastic, some of them used coconut core and some of them used gauze and fabric. Other than that, transformation of door and window planks into tables was interesting.   Besides, one more reason which made me fall in love with this café, it just made me feel free!

 a MODANNA  STREET art in old shop lots.

Aound five, we all gathered again and finally back to hotel after whole day of walking. Tiring but a great experience!! Video shooting was fun with technology nowadays, timelapse slow-mo and normal.

One beautiful window dispay found in ipoh new town street.

4th Stop: Kinta River

Two silly girls, Yuuki and me were trying to conquered one bike together. XD

Last stop, Ipoh Kinta river.  Lightings just made kinta river be alive! First try on this special bike. Yolo!

The second day was pretty fun and cool, i just feel like nice persons were everywhere on that day.

Awesome coursemates in my sitevisit .

SEM3 SITE VISIT: IPOH TRIP 4 days 3 nights

9/2/2015 THIRD DAY

So, yeah its the third day of our trip and its deserved for Lost World of Tambun. This was my first time to come here and it was actually impressed me with its surrounding scenery. Lost world of Tambun is surrounded by mountains and hills, and this space allows me to get closer to nature and in the having fun time, i felt like im immersed in jungle and nature! Overall, it was absolutely a great feeling!

We had alot of fun time in this day and we also got the chance to get closer with our cousemate.

Two of my favourite friends-- Balqis and Nana.

There is a Ipoh themed food court area in the theme park. I have tried out its Curry mee, it was so delicious!

Flo and i were trying to pose like a boss:P

Group photo is always a MUST! Great peeps:)

Day 4: SEM3 SITE VISIT: IPOH TRIP 4 days 3 nights

10/2/2015

hey last day of Ipoh trip, here we come!! In the last day, we have been to few places and it was definitely exhausted but in fact i think we explored most of the thing that day!


1st stop: Old town
In the early morning, we managed to walk around town and tried out the most famous and delicious coffee and roasted bread.

Walking around the town and played with amazing street art! Besides, we also noticed there is an umbrella backlane,

2nd stop: Sekeping Kong Heng Ipoh,75,Jalan Panglima,Ipoh Perak

This is a very famous boutique hotel in Ipoh and obviously, it design is great, probably the place which inspired and impressed me the most!
I really love the way how it blends, old building with greens but it doesn't show much horrible feeling but more to peaceful and comfortable feeling. I think its because plants are well cared so that they are so comfortable to stay with.

Vintage buildings with greens

One of the coolest thing is this!! a rooftop swimming pool! Oh yeah~ It was on first floor and surprisingly this place is quite peaceful( i think its because of the plant). Besides, we also found out one thing, the fence beside swimming pool area is quite low,and i think its quite dangerous and inappropriate as its considered a public space.

Kong heng using this kind of material as a sound insulator and recycled wood panel as wall. They hide all the wire in this kind of wall. On top, they put clear acrylic instead of glass to let in the sunshines(there were few people who in-charged in installation that time, they said its because cheaper and lighter.)

Rope as railing, what a great idea!

this is cool;)

Sekeping style hotel. White bed sheet, white curtain , yellowish lighting with red bricks. I like the idea to put a reading area in this space,

so close to plants

Hahaha, i found that Kong heng's toilet is quite inspiring! Sekeping's round water tape is a must, modern toilet bowl brings modern to the space, holes on the wall work for ventilation, curtain set up between toilet and outside. 

Sem 3 group photo

Left to right, Jimmy, chee keat, Joseph, kah wen(me), balqis, miss seri（our design mama!), tahsin, en ru, dia, sexy mona, vevi, naqiyah

3rd stop: Kellie's castle

Next destination is Haunted Kellie's Castle! This unfinished, ruined mansion, was built by William Kellie Smith, according to differing accounts, it was either a gift for his wife. 

This place is filled with so many memories with interior architecture family, We explored every floor and took tons of photos here.

From the gallery, i have learnt that because of his fascination with the Hindu religion and the Indian culture,Smith's plan was for this house to share similar architecture to those of Madras, with all its bricks and tiles imported from India. Besides, he employed a big group of Indian laborers to build this house. In fact, Kellie's castle has an elevator (first in Malaysia） which connects right up to the top floor, and the existence of two tunnels that run under the river nearby. One of these tunnels connects to the Hindu temple some distance away from the main house.

Favourite picture with two of my favourite poeple.(ishhh, actually im taller than nano! XD)

4th stop: Tin mining Museum

Tin mining is the last destination in the trip. This place is quite big and you can find out alot of  useful information about tin mining from here

This trip actually provides us a precious chance to get close with each other, Thanks to this journey, i have learnt alot of architecture and cultural knowledge in Ipoh. But the most important thing is, Great memories with who are worth to be with. Interior architecture, we are not friends, we are one big family!