Desktop Design Academy, Week 1

Issued 30th March 2020

Review: 3rd April 2020, 4pm BST

SOUVENIR!

#DesktopDesignAcademy #DDASouvenir

Introduction:

Often, when we go somewhere – especially when we go somewhere particularly nice – we

get ourselves a souvenir. Maybe a fridge magnet, maybe a snow globe, maybe just a stone
from the beach or a matchbox from a bar. ​Back home we arrange our souvenirs so that your
fridge, mantle piece or shelf become a miniature museum of the places you’ve been.

A souvenir is something to help us remember, ​part of the rituals of traveling, visiting, and
returning. Which of course are things we can’t do for a while.

So with that in mind the first ​Desktop Design Academy assignment is as follows:
Task:
The task is simple!
You are to design a souvenir. Below are some starting points that might help give you a
direction. But you might also have your own!

1. If souvenirs are usually associated with travel, what might a souvenir of non-travel
be? Say a souvenir of where you are now? Of your home rather than somewhere
exotic? Of the journey around your room?

2. It might be a souvenir of something that souvenirs often don’t usually celebrate – so

rather than a place maybe something less physical like an idea? A feeling? A dream?

3. Souvenirs are often quite generic (the most famous things about a place). What if
they were souvenirs that commemorate more obscure, personal or mysterious
subjects?

4. Souvenirs sometimes also have uses, pencil sharpeners, clocks, plates. Will yours also
have a use? If so, what might that be? Would souvenir hoovers work? Or souvenir
chairs? What does it mean for a thing to be both a reminder, a memory and
something useful?

5. How will you make your souvenir? You might decide that drawing is a good way to
show it. You might also try to make it with whatever materials you might have. You
could stick different things together, collage images or assemble things in real life …
Feel free to go as wild as you like!

Review:

We will have a collective get together on Zoom at from 4-5pm BST / GMT+1 on Friday 3​rd
April.
(That's 10am CDT, 11am (Eastern, NYC) or 8am (Pacific Daylight, LA), 5pm (Central
Europe) more timezones ​here

Before that, it would be great if you could save, photograph or otherwise document your
design, and ideally post it on social media with the hashtag: ​#DDASouvenir

This way, we will all be able to have an instant global gallery and use that to have our
discussion.

We’ll be on Zoom here:

https://uic.zoom.us/j/604598930?pwd=M0NONzFsSmtGN1phOW1CUWIrMk5VQT09
Background:

Here’s an old bit of writing that might help thinking around the subject of souvenirs:
http://strangeharvest.com/wp17/?p=4137

As you know, this is an experiment so hopefully we will be able to refine how this all works
over time!

Any questions: ​sam@samjacob.com