ITAP Lecture 1 : Reflective Visual Journal (Principle 1: Draw. Work by hand)

On Tuesday 27th of September I have attended an informative lecture about creation and development of Reflective Visual Journal (RVJ). We started off with a quotation of Pablo Picasso words which are quite intrigue. “I began with an idea and then it becomes something else”, this proves to us that over time, we can achieve something completely different than we originally planned to; hence we need RVJs to help us throughout the journey of developing and creating new ideas.

There were five principles during the lecture, I have pick two which mostly interested me and decided to write about them.

Principle 1: Draw. Work by hand

Before in my studies I was sure not everyone can visualise their ideas through drawing, and you have to be especially talented to do this. I learned that this is not true. Everyone can draw in a way it suits them as an individual. Replacing text by drawings is much more visually appealing and lets us explore ourselves more as text can be limited and our imagination isn’t. 

In my RVJ I have used both drawings and text to make my ideas appeal to me and others more effectively:

 

All drawings in my RVJ have and will have their purpose; they won’t be just random doodles so my Journal looks attractive. Drawing can be easier changed than a text and also imagination works on higher level if we look at the visualised idea we have created. Ever get stuck on the idea exploration, one move of the rubber and the whole image can be changed, however in text we have to read, imagine and rewrite, which can be hard, seeming as not everyone is literate. Therefore drawing and sketching the ideas out is better problem solver than describing those using words which are limited.

Using hand helps us to explore our creativity better. I am aware that now days, computers, are developed onto quite high standard, letting us change, edit or even remove things with one click of the mouse, however this is still not the same as using traditional methods. Using the computer doesn’t give you a feeling of satisfaction you get when you achieve something good, because this was done by a machine not your own hand. Computers are and always will be limited compared to what human’s imagination and brain can achieve. We cannot play with different materials while using digital methods and this makes us loose on the fun, play and exploration aspects.