Final Publication

These are images of my publication post-production:

I am somewhat please with how my publication looks finished, I am please with the binding and also with the quality of both the paper and the print, I decided to choose for it to be saddle stitched as I did not have enough pages for the publication to be perfect bound, I was able to still print on gloss paper though. As my book was saddle stitched it need to have a total amount of page which was a multiple of four, (something I was not aware of at the time) and my publication had thirty five pages, this means that when I sent it off to be printed and bound the company added in an extra blank page at the start, to make the total thirty six, this then meant that my entire layout was shifted one page to the right, meaning that none of the paged which should be next to each other are. This has affected the publication’s narrative and because of this it’s readability. If I had known I needed a total number of pages that was a multiple of four then I would have been able to plan for this by either adding in an extra page of information or reusing the design from the front cover but replacing the ‘A’ with a ‘B’ so that it will look more like a vinyl record, as it is on the front.

Final Publication – PDF

Below is a PDF copy of the publication that I have produced about DJing, the breakdown of the book and it’s chapters can be seen below. I originally intended to create a magazine, however when it came to putting the publication together I found it very difficult to make it look like a magazine, this is because I was only allowed to have a very limited amount of text, when I was researching magazines I also started looking at posters for house music events/clubs and I noticed that they were all very simple layouts, one image which filled half of the page with the rest being blank space, normally black and on the other side the text would be lined up but would cover almost all of the page. This is the design style that I incorporated into my publication, I wanted to keep it simple and easy to understand, this is why I chose this style. I recreated this style by using a white background and selecting images which didn’t fill the page, however, I thought the book looked sparse with only one image per page so I decided to add relevant images, apart from where they weren’t needed or necessary. The reason that I chose the white background was because some of the images that I used were getting lost on the black background and therefore weren’t having the desired effect that I had intended.

 

To view the PDF version of my publication click the link below:

Final Publication

Lino Print

This is the first page of my initial ideas for the lino print that I have produced.

This is the second page of my initial ideas for the lino print that I have produced.

This is the design I chose cut into the lino and inked up just before printing

This is the lino print that I produced showing a timeline of DJing equipment from vinyl to cassette tapes to CDs to digital controllers

I produced this lino print as part of a printing workshop. I think that my idea was successful in conveying my product however I don’t think it was executed to my best standard, this is partly because I was unable to cut round circle in the lino when I was creating my design and also due to not having a printing press I had to ink the lino and then place the paper on top and rub over the paper with my hands to get the ink to print, however, because of this the ink didn’t spread out evenly resulting in the uneven colouring on the print. If I were to produce this again I would pick a design which is easier to cut out accurately and also I would make sure I can get an even colour throughout the print.

Publication Chapters & Page Content

Chapter 1:

Historical moments in DJing/Mixing:

Page 2 – Vinyl being used to play music. Image of vinyl records.

Page 3 – 1969, DJ Francis Grasso popularizes ‘beat-matching’. Image of Francis Grasso and an example of ‘beat-matching’.

Page 4 – 1970s, Cassette tapes starting to replace vinyl. Image of cassette tape.

Page 5 – 1973, DJ Kool Herc develops ‘looping’. Image of Kool Herc and an example of ‘looping’.

Page 6 – 1974, Technics release the Technic SL-1200 turntable – saving vinyl. Image of Technics SL-1200.

Page 7 – 1977, Grand Wizard Theodore invents ‘scratching’ by rocking a record back and forth while the needle was resting on it. Image of Grand Wizard Theodore and an example of ‘scratching’.

Page 8 – Late 1970s/Early 1980s, CDs starting to replace cassettes. Image of a CD.

Page 9 – 1990, ‘Beat Juggling’ is pioneered by Steve Dee. and introduced at the New Music Seminar. Image of Steve Dee and an example of ‘beat juggling’.

Page 10 – 1990, Digital controllers replacing Cassettes. Image of examples of digital controllers, from amateur to professional.

Page 11 – 2000 – present, Digital controllers still on top, Vinyl making a comeback, (UK vinyl sales are their highest in 10 years). Image of digital controllers next to vinyl turntables.

 

Chapter 2:

House music and how it has developed:

Page 12 – What is house music, (repetitive 4/4 beats, rhythms centered around drum machines, off-beat hi-hat cymbals, and synthesized baselines). Image of various wave patterns from different styles of house music

Page 13 – Frankie Knuckles – the warehouse and coining the term ‘house’ music. Image of Frankie Knuckles.

Page 14 – House music expanding – Marshall Jefferson and the start of Acid House. Image of Marshall Jefferson and of the Acid House scene.

Page 15 – House music’s influence on pop music – Madonna, Janet Jackson. Images of Madonna and of Janet Jackson

Page 16 – Larry Levan – combining electro and disco to form garage, (referred to as ‘soulful house’ in the UK). Image of Larry Levan and of house music waveforms and garage waveforms.

Page 17 – Pioneers of house music, (Leonard Roy, Farley Funk, Jesse Saunders, Vince Lawrence, etc.). Images of the pioneers.

Page 18 – House music today – Radio stations like Rinse FM, popular clubs like; Fabric, Ministry of Sound, underground clubs like, Dance Tunnel, Plan B Basement. Images of the radio stations and of inside/outside the clubs.

 

Chapter 3:

How I come into all this:

Page 19 – 2011, Have heard house music before and like it, listen to “House Master Boyz – House Nation”. Image of the DJ and also of the record.

Page 20 – 2011, “Mosca, Bax/Done Me Wrong EP” is released on the record label Numbers. Image of the DJ and also of the record

Page 21 – 2012, Introduced to the label “Hessle Audio”. Image of the artists who set up the label and also the label’s logo.

Page 22 – First visit to Fabric London to see “Hessle Audio” takeover – house nights become a regular occurrence. Photo from the night.

Page 23 – February 2013, Try DJing for the first time, become obsessed. Image of controller I used

Page 24 – April 2013, Bought Numark Mixtrack Pro 2’s – started DJing. Image of my controller.

Page 25 – July 2013, Went to Nass Festival, obsession with house and DJing increased, realizing how important the performance side of DJing is. Image from the festival and festival logo.

Page 26 – July 2013, Audio Hijack downloaded started recording and publishing mixes on Soundcloud. Soundcloud logo.

Page 27 – Christmas Day 2013, Vinyl collection is started, second obsession starts. Image of first vinyl.

Page 28 – January 2014, Downloaded Logic Pro X, started making my own progressive house music. Image of Logic Pro X.

 

 

Chapter 4:

The re-communication.

Page 29 – DJing isn’t just about being in a club and being famous.

Page 30 – Bedroom DJ’s are a more common occurrence.

Page 31 – Text to sum up re-communication

Musical Semiotics

Music is said to be the most autonomous and least representative of all the arts. However, it reflects in many ways the realities around it and influences its social and cultural environments. Music is as much biology, gender, gesture – something intertextual, even transcendental. Musical signs can be studied throughout their history as well as musical semiotics with its own background. Composers from Chopin to Sibelius and authors from Nietzsche to Greimas and Barthes illustrate the avenues of this new discipline within semiotics and musicology.

Paper Type Research

Generally in the UK, magazine paper types are separated into four categories, each with their own unique properties and benefits.

* Supercalendered (SC). Key benefits are: they are economical and bright, used for large volume print quantities on lightweight paper, typically in the 39gsm to 60gsm range.

* Lightweight coated (LWC). Paper weights tend to be in the 35gsm to 70gsm range; better range of brightness on heavier weights; reasonably priced and single-coated.

* Medium weight coated (MWC). 60gsm to 100gsm – these handle full colour reproduction exceptionally well, while maintaining good opacity, bulk and reasonable longevity; most grades are double-coated.

* Woodfree coated (WFC). 80gsm to 400gsm – main benefits are their strength, brightness, high bulk, longevity and opacity (on heavier weights), high quality reproduction, and available in double and triple-coated options.

Paper coating

Magazines, like most things in life, follow trends.

During the early nineties, many magazine publishers produced magazines on gloss papers; conversely in today’s market, there are more printing on silk, matt and even uncoated papers.

* Gloss papers. These have a high reflection and high ink lift, offering vibrant colour and intensity to printed images.

* Matt papers. Matt papers offer no surface reflection and feel smooth and dull to the touch, albeit rougher than a gloss paper. The ink lift is not as pronounced as gloss paper and therefore images appear slightly flatter in appearance, although readability is improved.

* Silk papers. Like matt paper, these have no surface reflection and feel incredibly smooth to the touch. Silk paper provides a good compromise between gloss and matt, with high readability and quality reproduction. One point to note is, when using silk and matt papers for colour reproduction, specify that your print supplier use a seal to prevent ink rub when the magazine is handled, as ink does not dry as effectively as it would on gloss paper.

* Uncoated papers. These papers have made inroads within the publishing sector and are popular with publishers who are looking to push the boundaries of conventional printing and publishing. Although once difficult for printers to reproduce images effectively – due to the absorbency of the ink on uncoated paper – with the correct adjustments made to tonal images at the pre-press stage, combined with a knowledgeable and quality print supplier, superior image reproduction is achievable. However, do expect to pay a premium on your print costs, as these grades tend to run more slowly on press than conventional papers.

 

I have chosen to use coated gloss paper to print my magazine because I believe that it will give the desired effect that I aim to gain from my magazine and will also enforce the professional look that I am trying to achieve with the binding techniques that I am choosing between.

Binding Research

I have been looking at different options for binding my magazine and these below are some of the options that I am considering using.

	Comb Binding Plastic comb bindings are more vulnerable to damage than spiral bindings. They hold adjoining pages more tightly in register with each other than spiral bindings. They come in several colors and allow screen printing on a document’s spine. They can bid pieces up to 3 inches thick. Comb bindings allow pages to lie flat when opened. However, they cannot be doubled back. Inserting them is a hand operation that is quite costly for large numbers of documents.
	Spiral Binding Spiral bindings may be made of either plastic or wire and allow the printed document to lie flat and to double over, useful characteristics for documents such as technical manuals, notebooks, and calendars. Spiral binding allows play between pages. One cannot add pages to documents once they are spiral bound. Also, rough handling may crush the spirals. Spiral wire coils range from 1/4″ to 2″ in diameter. They can bind books of up to 24″ in length.
	Wire-O Binding A Wire-O binding holds the covers and pages of a document firmly in place by a double-loop wire inserted through holes drilled in their left edges. All of the document’s pages lay flat when opened, can turn easily through 360°, and stay in perfect registration with adjoining pages. Wire-O bindings come in nine standard colors and loop diameters from 3/16″ to 1-1/4″. They can handle documents from 1/8″ to 1″ thick. Often, they are used to bind reference books, reports, proposals, and calendars. They are durable, but do not permit printing on the document spine or the insertion of new pages.
	Saddle Stitching In saddle stitching – the way most booklets, magazines, catalogs, and calendars are bound – wire staples hold the piece together. A machine drives then through its backbone fold to the centerfold, where they clench. A saddle-stitched printed piece lies almost flat when opened, a convenience for readers. However, saddle stitching involves certain mechanical requirements. A saddle-stitched document must be at least eight pages long and increase in length in four-page increments. Saddle stitching is a good choice for binding documents of up to 64-80 pages on 60 lb. to 70 lb. paper. Documents involving more pages, or thicker than 3/8″, demand some other type of binding.
	Perfect Binding To produce a perfect-bound document, the piece’s folded signatures are gathered together in page sequence, clamped together, and placed in a machine that slices about 1/8″ off their left edges. Then roughers mill the newly sliced sheet edges to prepare them for gluing. Finally, the edges receive an adhesive application and adhere to a backing. Perfect binding is well suited for use with books, thick magazines, annual reports, technical manuals, and catalogs. From a minimum thickness of 1/8″, it works well with a wide range of document thickness’ and trim sizes. However, the paper used should not be heavier than 100 lb. Book stock, with the grain running parallel to the piece’s spine.
	Case Binding In case binding, most often used in book production, a minimum of 60 printed sheets are folded into 16 or 32 page signatures, which are collated and sewn by machine. The sewn edges are coated with glue. Then a strip of gauze adheres to the document’s spine. Finally, a book and its covers are placed in a casing-in machine, which pastes the endpapers and fits the cover.
	Tape Binding This process places a cloth strip of adhesive tape down the bind edge of the book and wraps around about half an inch onto the cover front and back.

I have narrowed down my choices of binding technique to either Perfect Bound or Saddle Stitching, this is because I think that they will give the best and most professional look to my magazine and also they are both the most common methods of binding magazines. However I will make my decision when I am in the process of physically making my magazine.

Pecha Kucha Presentation 2

I had to create a second pecha kucha presentation showing both my research and also some proposed ideas for the layout/materials I am going to use in my book. to view this presentation click the link below.

 

Pecha Kucha Presentation 2

Pecha Kucha Presentation

I had to create a Pecha Kucha presentation to communicate my ideas for my book so far, to view this presentation please visit the link below.

 

Pecha Kucha Presentation

A detailed history of House music

There have been various views of who is the inventor of House music. For example, Leonard ‘Remix’ Roy asserted that he had given birth to House in May 1981. LRRoy was a remarkable and much respected DJ. He also claimed that he had invented the term “House music” in the spring of 1981.

Chip E, a person who regarded himself as a creator of House music in March of 1985 was Chip E. Yet, there remains a third founder, for he produced “Love Can’t Turn Around”, one of the biggest selling “House” records. His name is Farley “Jackmaster” Funk. In fact, this big House “cross-over” hit was written, produced and arranged by Jesse Saunders. Jesse, however, did not call himself the creator of House music, but rather used the term “originator”, which did not mean that he had invented or created the genre of House music. By “originator” he meant that he “started and/or fused a sound with a lot of different ingredients”.

Generally speaking, one can say, that there was not just one creator or inventor; on the contrary, House music evolved through the means of collaborative efforts of a few people like Frankie Knuckles, Vince Lawrence, Farley “Jackmaster” Funk, as well as the promoters and labels that made easy the distribution of early House.

The term “House” is much debated as to exactly when and who tagged it, but the most accepted version is that it was derived from the Warehouse Nightclub in Chicago where the legendary Frankie Knuckles DJ’d, and developed a distinct sound mainly due to the electronic drum machines of the day (Roland TR-808, TR-909 and later the TB 303 for Acid House). It’s been quoted that record stores began to sell some of these records and labelled them “as played at the Warehouse”, which became shortened to “house music”.

In 1985 House music fanned out to other major cities such as Detroit – (1986 courtesy of Marshall Jefferson) Toronto, New York City, Boston, Montreal, Manchester, Miami, London, and Paris.

House music, after enjoying significant underground and club-based success in Chicago from the early 1980s onwards, emerged into the UK mainstream pop market in the mid-to-late 80s. It then began to influence popular music in Europe, with songs such as “House Nation” by House Master Boyz and The Rude Boy Of House (1987) and “Doctorin’ The House” by Coldcut (1988) in the pop charts, and it became a global phenomenon from the early-to-mid 90s onwards. It proved to be a commercially successful genre and a more mainstream pop-based variation grew increasingly popular. Artists and groups such as Madonna, Janet Jackson, Björk, and C+C Music Factory incorporated the genre into their work. After enjoying significant success in the early to mid-90s, house music grew even larger during the second wave of progressive house (1999–2001). The genre has remained popular and fused into other popular sub-genres, as the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll has been dominated by house DJs since the beginning of the polls. Today, house music remains popular in both clubs and in the mainstream pop scene while still maintaining a strong foothold on underground scenes across the globe.

Over in New York (and a few years before the Warehouse), there was the New York City Paradise Garage club at King Street where the legendary Larry Levan was the resident DJ, and is credited for fusing disco with European electronic music (particularly Kraftwerk (Germany), Yazoo & Depeche Mode (UK), etc.) Another reason the tags Garage Music and House Music became so popular is the fact that by the early 80s Disco had developed something of a dirty name after it become mainstream on the back of the “Saturday Night Fever” film, and was no longer considered cool. In the early 80s the tag “Garage Music” was known but very underground (mainly in New York and by those in the know in the UK). A decade later, people in the UK (DJs and die-hard fans) would refer to the more soulful house as Garage, and by the mid 90s developed the sounds to become UK Garage (characterised by 4/4 choppy beats and vocal stabs), later leading to 2Step and a more poppy sound. In time, many of the early DJs no longer identified with this sound and turned their attentions back to House and some of its sub-genres like Funky House, Deep House & Soulful House.

Early house music was generally dance-based music characterized by repetitive 4/4 beats, rhythms centered around drum machines, off-beat hi-hat cymbals, and synthesized basslines. While house displayed several characteristics similar to disco music, it was more electronic and minimalistic, and the structured music’s focus around a repetitive rhythm was more important than the song itself. House music today, while keeping several of these core elements, notably the prominent kick drum on every beat, varies a lot in style and influence, ranging from the soulful and atmospheric deep house to the more minimalistic microhouse.

As House Music progressed during the late 80s and early 90s, it was played all round the world and grew by influence of different cultures, creating many more sub-genres:

Detroit Techno

Acid House

Hip-House

Hard House

Funky House

And more

House music has also fused with several other genres creating fusion sub-genres, such as Euro house, tech house, and electro house.

All these sub-genres took focus away from the original soul-and disco-influenced House. House and Garage lost its original identity, and for this reason the genres Deep House and later Soulful House became the new tags for those liking a more soul, funk & disco oriented sound.

Although House Music has heavily influenced and shaped pop music over the last few decades it remains non-mainstream and exists as a healthy network of underground scenes…and to many a whole culture.

Some disco songs incorporated sounds produced with synthesizers and drum machines, and some compositions were entirely electronic; examples include Giorgio Moroder’s late 1970s productions such as Donna Summer’s hit single “I Feel Love” from 1977, Cerrone’s Supernature (1977), Yellow Magic Orchestra’s synth-disco-pop productions from their self-titled album (1978), Solid State Survivor (1979), and several early 1980s disco-pop productions by the Hi-NRG group Lime.

Disco was an influence on house music, which was also influenced by mixing and editing techniques earlier explored by disco DJs, producers, and audio engineers like Walter Gibbons, Tom Moulton, Jim Burgess, Larry Levan, Ron Hardy, M & M and others who produced longer, more repetitive and percussive arrangements of existing disco recordings. Early house producers like Frankie Knuckles created similar compositions from scratch, using samplers, synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines.

The original disco-mixer Walter Gibbons, a white DJ, had a new and immediate impact on the development of Chicago House music. His independent 12″ record called “Set It Off” immediately became an underground club anthem. The “Set It Off” sound was primitive House, haunting, repetitive beats ideal for mixing and extending.

Charanjit Singh’s Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat (1982) anticipated the sounds of acid house music, but is not known to have had any influence on the genre prior to its rediscovery in the 21st century.

 

Historical moments in mixing/DJing

1937	Artist and experimental musician John Cage discusses the merits of sound manipulation using the phonograph.
1948	French avant-garde composer Pierre Schaffer champions turntable-based music.
1973	Bronx DJ Kool Herc originates hip-hop by DJ’ing with two turntables and extending beats by “looping”.
1977	Grand Wizard Theodore invents “scratching” by rocking a record back and forth while the needle was resting on it.
1983	Herbie Hancock’s hit-record “Rockit” features scratching by Zulu DJ Grandmaster D.S.T..
1987	The first Disco Mix Club World Battle (DMC) is held, establishing DJ competitions world-wide.
1990	“Beat Juggling” is pioneered by Steve D. and introduced at the New Music Seminar.
1992	Rocksteady DJs pioneered crew routines at the 1992 DMC.
1996	Legendary battle between the X-Men and the Inivisbl Skratch Piklz

A Brief History of DJing/Mixing

A History of Mixing

The art of DJ-mixing has climbed to the top of the mythical pyramid in certain scenes. For many people, it’s a subliminal art that carries a message of nonstop dancing. Different sources credit different DJs as leaders in the field. The story of how DJs started mixing records for clubs is actually not so much about which DJ deserves the most credit, but about the development of new technology and how it played into the evolution of electronic dance music.

Prior to the introduction of compact discs in the early eighties (circa 1982), everybody listened to music on turntables and cassette decks. By 1977 the cassette had become half as popular as vinyl. By the end of the eighties the cassette had surpassed CDs and vinyl in sales, although CDs would take the lead in the early nineties.

The main drawback about cassettes was hiss and stretched tape, but many consumers still saw the cassette as better than vinyl because the stylus that played the record, was also wearing out the record every time it got played. That’s because the weight of the tone-arm was so heavy on most turntables. Records easily got scratched as dust added to pops and skips while trying to enjoy the record. Besides, a cassette could fit a lot more playing time or “extended play.”

The cassette revolution had been brewing since the early sixties but really took off in the seventies when consumers became more aware of sound quality. FM radio began to overtake AM radio because of better fidelity. The record industry moved away from mono recordings and concentrated on cleaner production of multi-track stereo recordings. What caused a small culture of club DJs to hang on to the turntable and vinyl records was a company called Technics. While the consumer turntable manufacturers were giving up on making the vinyl record experience as enjoyable as possible, Technics catered to the professional user. In 1972 the Technics SL-1200 turntable became the model turntable for the DJ world of radio stations and mobile DJs.

Technics had introduced the first direct drive turntable, the SP-10, in 1969. This was important because turntable motors were otherwise driven by a belt, which after time became worn out, causing records to turn in warped rotation, adding to the machine noise working against the music. The SL-1200 was an improvement on the SP-10. Between 1972 and 1984 Technics began to add features suited for the needs of DJs to the SL-1200, which inevitably evolved into the SL-1200 MK2, the all-time definitive DJ turntable, in which a pair was widely referred to as “Technics 1200s.”

As well as finding this research I have created this mind map below showing a history of DJing and the development of DJ technology.

Object Research

Below I have shown the specifications of my object which I have taken from the Numark website, and have shown an image of the controllers at the bottom of the page.

Numark Mixtrack Pro 2 

OVERVIEW FEATURES SPECS

The world’s #1 DJ controller is now even better.

From Numark, the world’s leading creator of DJ technology, comes Mixtrack Pro II—now with a streamlined design and an expanded layout of professional controls, including 16 backlit multifunction drum pads and illuminated touch-activated platters. With Mixtrack Pro II, you get everything you need to DJ with your computer: hot cues, looping, and effects controls, a built-in professional DJ audio interface, plus Serato DJ Intro software.

LEAN, MEAN, AND READY TO HIT

Mixtrack Pro II comes tailor-made for dynamic performance. Create loops, launch samples, and control hot cues with the 16 backlit rubber drum pads. Instantly switch between Loop Mode, Sample Mode, and Hot Cue Mode. Mixtrack Pro II’s new slimline low-profile design is made to be played with a complete mixer section, precise crossfader, 3-band EQ, and dedicated music library navigation controls. You’ll be able to spend more time interacting with the music and less time staring at the computer screen. Pitch and Sync controls are onboard for seamless and easy mixing and 16 dedicated effects controls let you add and manipulate flanger, phaser, echo, and more.

“…a very worthy upgrade to the original Mixtrack Pro” – DJWorx.com

HOT WHEELS

Get precise control over every track and every transition with Mixtrack Pro II’s advanced low-profile platters. Both are capacitive and dual-zone, giving you the ability to scratch or stop a track simply by touching the top of the platter, while at the same time allowing you to adjust the pitch by manipulating the platter from the side.

“The jogs are responsive and tight, the transport controls simple and reliable…” – DigitalDJtips.com

TOTAL SERATO CONTROL

Mixtrack Pro II gives you comprehensive control over its included Serato® software. Plus, it’s class-compliant with both Mac and PC, so you’ll be able to plug in and start mixing your music right away—no drivers or complicated set up necessary.

Serato DJ Intro is all about parties and mixing music.

Simply plug-and-play—Serato DJ Intro and Mixtrack Pro II take the hassle out of setting up: connect your speakers to your Mixtrack Pro II and connect your Mixtrack Pro II to your laptop—it’s that simple.

Mix it up—Beatmatch and scratch music files from your computer like a pro with Serato DJ Intro’s groundbreaking colored waveforms.

Get creative—Cue Points and Loops let you mark, access, and repeat specific parts of a song, while Serato’s DJ FX infuse your tracks with a range of professional effects like flanger, phaser, echo, and more.

Drop it—Drop air horns or entire tunes; the four-slot sample player will help you layer individual sounds to add even more fun to your sets.

Create professional sounding mixes at home or performing live at parties, functions, and clubs. Mixtrack Pro II operates via standard MIDI, so it’s compatible with virtually any popular DJ software.

“The Numark Mixtrack Pro II has one of the easiest setup procedures I have ever come across.” – DJBooth.net

AUDIO TO GO

With its built-in audio system, Mixtrack Pro II is ready to go right out of the box. Plug in your headphones, microphone, and PA system and start mixing right away with no external audio interface needed. Plus, Mixtrack Pro II has two headphone jacks, making it easy to mix with friends and fellow DJs or tradeoff in-between sets.

• Dimensions: 10.4 x 18.3 x 2.0 inches
• Weight: 4.7 lbs
• Power: Bus powered (USB)
• Outputs:
  • RCA, unbalanced
  • 1/4″ headphone
  • 1/8″ headphone
• Inputs: 1/4″ microphone input
• Communication Protocol: MIDI

You, THE Product

My newest product for this subject was to choose an object which represents me. To choose this object I concentrated on what I consider to represent me and also what I am most interested in, which is music. I chose to use my DJ controllers that I have, Numark Mixtrack Pro 2’s. For the time being I will be pursuing this project with research.

Final Visualisation

Final Visualisation Presentation Link

http://prezi.com/vhl1owi9x0od/how-does-non-verbal-communication-in-males-change-with-age/

Sensing the City – Final Visualisation

Below you can find my final visualisation that this project has been leading up to, I chose to employ the technique of visualisation that I posted on the blog previously, however, I took a select group of data from my collection and chose to overlay each of the three types of data, giving them a different colour scheme so that they can be differentiated from easily, I repeated this for each of the ages that I gathered throughout my data collection.

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Ideograms and data collection

Drinking:

 

Smoking:

 

Bill:

 

These are examples of data I have collected using the ideograms I designed. I like the way that this is laid out as I believe that it shows the data in a easily visible and interpretable way to the audience and also looks effective as a visualisation.

Ideograms

For my final data visualisation I have created my own ideograms to be able to convey gestures which I have observed in my research in my space. I chose to use the three gestures which were more common, drinking, smoking and asking for the bill. To create them I had to keep some rules, for example having the lines the same width, etc.

I chose to use two circles, on inside the other, the larger one to represent the shape that the person’s hand is in when they make the gesture and the smaller circle to represent the glass they are drinking from.

I chose to use the two parallel lines so represent the way people’s fingers are positioned when they make the gesture.

I chose to use the waved lines as that is what people ‘draw’ on their hand when they are making the gesture.

Above are the ideograms I designed, I chose to use a line to represent the face and then I could show where in relation to their face the people making the gestures hands were. One of the reasons that I chose to show each of the gestures in the ideograms twice, for example two circles or two lines was because that I have noticed through observation that people always repeat the action twice to complete the gesture.

Pictogram research

Data visualisation research

Ideogram research

Non-verbal communication research

According to experts, a substantial portion of our communication is nonverbal. Every day, we respond to thousands on nonverbal cues and behaviours including postures, facial expression, eye gaze, gestures, and tone of voice. From our handshakes to our hairstyles, nonverbal details reveal who we are and impact how we relate to other people.

Scientific research on nonverbal communication and behaviour began with the 1872 publication of Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Since that time, there has been an abundance of research on the types, effects and expressions of unspoken communication and behaviour. While these signals are often so subtle that we are not consciously aware of them, research has identified several different types of nonverbal communication.

In many cases, we communicate information in nonverbal ways using groups of behaviours. For example, we might combine a frown with crossed arms and unblinking eye gaze to indicate disapproval.

Some examples of non-verbal communication are:

Facial Expressions – Facial expressions are responsible for a huge proportion of nonverbal communication. Consider how much information can be conveyed with a smile or a frown. While nonverbal communication and behavior can vary dramatically between cultures, the facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger and fear are similar throughout the world.

Gestures- Deliberate movements and signals are an important way to communicate meaning without words. Common gestures include waving, pointing, and using fingers to indicate numeric amounts. Other gestures are arbitrary and related to culture.

Paralinguistics – Paralinguistics refers to vocal communication that is separate from actual language. This includes factors such as tone of voice, loudness, inflection and pitch. Consider the powerful effect that tone of voice can have on the meaning of a sentence. When said in a strong tone of voice, listeners might interpret approval and enthusiasm. The same words said in a hesitant tone of voice might convey disapproval and a lack of interest.

Body Language and Posture – Posture and movement can also convey a great deal on information. Research on body language has grown significantly since the 1970’s, but popular media have focused on the over-interpretation of defensive postures, arm-crossing, and leg-crossing, especially after the publication of Julius Fast’s book Body Language. While these nonverbal behaviors can indicate feelings and attitudes, research suggests that body language is far more subtle and less definitive that previously believed.

Proxemics – People often refer to their need for “personal space,” which is also an important type of nonverbal communication. The amount of distance we need and the amount of space we perceive as belonging to us is influenced by a number of factors including social norms, situational factors, personality characteristics and level of familiarity. For example, the amount of personal space needed when having a casual conversation with another person usually varies between 18 inches to four feet. On the other hand, the personal distance needed when speaking to a crowd of people is around 10 to 12 feet.

Eye Gaze – Looking, staring and blinking can also be important nonverbal behaviours. When people encounter people or things that they like, the rate of blinking increases and pupils dilate. Looking at another person can indicate a range of emotions, including hostility, interest and attraction.

Haptics – Communicating through touch is another important nonverbal behaviour. There has been a substantial amount of research on the importance of touch in infancy and early childhood. Harry Harlow’s classic monkey study demonstrated how the deprivation of touch and contact impedes development. Baby monkeys raised by wire mothers experienced permanent deficits in behaviour and social interaction. Touch can be used to communicate affection, familiarity, sympathy and other emotions.

Appearance – Our choice of colour, clothing, hairstyles and other factors affecting appearance are also considered a means of nonverbal communication. Research on colour psychology has demonstrated that different colours can evoke different moods. Appearance can also alter physiological reactions, judgments and interpretations. Just think of all the subtle judgements you quickly make about someone based on his or her appearance. These first impressions are important, which is why experts suggest that job seekers dress appropriately for interviews with potential employers.

 

Non-verbal communication with gestures:

When considering non-verbal communication with gestures It is impossible to catalog them all, but need to recognise:

Incredible possibility and variety

That an acceptable in one’s own culture may be offensive in another.

In addition, amount of gesturing varies from culture to culture.  Some cultures are animated; other restrained.  Restrained cultures often feel animated cultures lack manners and overall restraint.  Animated cultures often feel restrained cultures lack emotion or interest.

Even simple things like using hands to point and count differ. Pointing : US with index finger; Germany with little finger; Japanese with entire hand (in fact most Asian cultures consider pointing with index finger to be rude). Also counting:  Thumb = 1 in Germany, 5 in Japan, middle finger for 1 in Indonesia.

Gestures may be made with the hands, arms or body, and also include movements of the head, face and eyes, such as winking, nodding, or rolling one’s eyes. Although the study of gesture is still in its infancy, some broad categories of gestures have been identified by researchers. The most familiar are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures. These are conventional, culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words, such as the hand wave used in western cultures for “hello” and “goodbye”.

There are some universal gestures like the shoulder shrug.

Gestures can also be categorised as either speech independent or speech related. Speech-independent gestures are dependent upon culturally accepted interpretation and have a direct verbal translation. A wave or a peace sign are examples of speech-independent gestures. Speech-related gestures are used in parallel with verbal speech; this form of nonverbal communication is used to emphasise the message that is being communicated. Speech-related gestures are intended to provide supplemental information to a verbal message such as pointing to an object of discussion.

Facial expressions, more than anything, serve as a practical means of communication. With all the various muscles that precisely control mouth, lips, eyes, nose, forehead,and jaw, human faces are estimated to be capable of more than ten thousand different expressions. This versatility makes non-verbals of the face extremely efficient and honest, unless deliberately manipulated. In addition, many of these emotions, including happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, shame, anguish and interest are universally recognised.

Displays of emotions can generally be categorised into two groups: negative and positive. Negative emotions usually manifest as increased tension in various muscle groups: tightening of jaw muscles, furrowing of forehead, squinting eyes, or lip occlusion (when the lips seemingly disappear). In contrast, positive emotions are revealed by the loosening of the furrowed lines on the forehead, relaxation of the muscles around the mouth, and widening of the eye area. When individuals are truly relaxed and at ease, the head will also tilt to the side, exposing our most vulnerable area, the neck. This is a high-comfort display, often seen during courtship, that is nearly impossible to mimic when tense or suspicious.

Sensing the City

I was given to project to choose a space and see how this space acts within the City of Greenwich. I chose the pub called The Gypsy Moth, we then had to choose a subject area to observe in this space, I chose to look at non-verbal communication that can be seen in pubs. I then sat in the pub every tuesday afternoon and additional afternoons/nights to see how it differed. Once being in my space for a while I decided to branch out my research and looked at some different pubs, The Trafalgar, Whetherspoons and Bar Latitude – the student bar, (so that I could get a range of data as all the pubs have very different clientele). I found through my data collection that non-verbal communication is most present in males between ages 18-30, which helped me narrow down my work.