Group discussin

In Our discussion group we talked about each one problems. For example I mentioned to Gada one of the problem that I faced a lot in petrol station. Sometime the Gas feeding machine is not working and we have to wait for along time tell someone came and say to go to another line. While that make the station lacking of over load cars. That’s lead the people to go against the line and make a mess. Arwa mentioned to me the problem of untitled spices label. Then we went into each individual problems. (Abdulla, Arwa alsulaiti, Assil Diab, Ghada Al Khater,)

Group Critque

At the group critique we took turns presenting each others signs: Sarah then Katie then I.
I told Sarah that she problems that can be fixed with a sign rather easily.
I told Katie that she had to many picture representing lack of trash cans .
For me , Sarah suggested I should illustrate my problem clearer and Katie thought I should find another problem to work but that presentation was clear. (Katie Coston, Mahmoud Abbas, Sara Al-Qatami)

Group Critique

Yesterday we were split into groups to discuss our projects to get feedback on the development of our stories and whether or not the photographs we took clearly showed our selected problems. Each of us took turns and laid out our photographs and described the different situations to the other team members. When I showed my images, my group gave me a lot of good feedback. Sara and Mahmoud both agreed that I had too many pictures for what was really needed. They gave me suggestions on how I could shorten my number of frames and they also thought that by doing this my portrayal of the problems would be clearer. Sarah also suggested that because I have two problems that I'm working with, maybe if I combined the two into one situation, this would not only shorten my number of frames but would make the story have a better flow. (Katie Coston, Mahmoud Abbas, Sara Al-Qatami)

Class Discussion

I discussed where I am with this project with Khadija and Fatma.

I told them about the scenarios that I came up with. First, is the problem of people talking and chatting in the library when other are studying. This can be very distracting and the people who want to study there end up leaving and going someplace else. The other scenario is that the students, especially the new ones, find it difficult to find books in the library. The labeling system of the books can be really confusing, and it doesn't just have one label, but many letters and numbers.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the first scenario:


Here are a couple of pictures I took of the second scenario:


My group members told me that my scenarios are good, but when I take pictures, I must exaggerate so that my message is very clear. For scenario 1, show that the person studying is really annoyed and walks out angrily in the end. For the second scenario, I could have a very confused person, scratching their head holding a piece of paper.

They also suggested a third scenario, which is similar to the first one, only with mobile phones. There is a small sign in the library that says that the use of mobile phones in the library is prohibited, yet people still do it and also distracts those who are studying or reading. I can have a couple of people reading while being distracted by a person talking on a phone, and I'll take pictures of the small sign as well. (Fatima Buksahisha, Jo Bermejo, Khadija Safri,)

Abu Hammour,Phase 2

When I first was asked to find and document problems in Abu Hammour I thought of the obvious feature of the station:Chaos


That you have to honk your car horn to get attention,which makes the place noisy and makes all the waiters from the restaurants or stores run to get your order.

While I was there I found large metal boxes which i found out were actually electrical generators.They were in the street which meant they could get hit then it would be "lights out".
I found another problem ,the ENTRY and EXIT signs are in between 2 roads and nothing indicates which is which.
Finally everyone throws garbage on the floor,maybe because there are not visible trash bins.

Class discussion

In the class discussion, I have stated the problems and I wanted to know if the collages I made actually represented my intent. In one of my collages I have repeated the image of the donkey, making it as if it was walking towards the viewer, but Ghada suggested that I have focused too much on the donkey itself and that I should focused of the people and representing it in a way to show that it is passing between the crowd I agreed upon this suggestion since it would clearly show the meaning, maybe showing the donkey a little lost in the scene. I have several problems but it was a challenge to link the three problems together, Abdullah suggested using symbols to emphasize the scenario and make it visually comprehensive. (Abdulla, Arwa alsulaiti, Ghada Al Khater)

Class Discussion: Fruit and Vegetable market

After visiting the Fruit and Vegetable market a few times I was able to find some problems that could be solved or made better by the application of signs in the area. Some of the problems I found were issues that I noticed in the market at first visit, while for some of the issues I had to spend a little more time studying the area. I feel that all the problems I found are ones that almost everyone is likely to face when visiting the market.

In this first image I wanted to show how if you do not know the system of the market and how everything works there you would not know where to go and what to do:

The second image shows the wet floors from the washing of the fruits. This get s ones shoes all wet.
This next image shows the low shades hung up at the market. This causes people to bump into them, and mind their heads.
This last image shows how there are some dirty areas in the market that do not look good and are not pleasing to the eye.
The group discussion was helpful I was able to show my work to people and receive some feedback on what they thought of my work. We all agreed that if I place a question mark on the first image next to the boys head this may help the viewer understand that the person is lost or confused.
Further more we agreed that the third image may work better if the person under the shade was taller to emphasis more on the idea that one could bump into the shades. (Alanood Alattiya, Ameera Makki, maha, )

Class Discussion

Here's an idea of what I'm going to do for the pre-final thing. I go to take pictures with an actor. I draw storyboard to show how the shots will be taken exactly


Once he arrive souq waqif you will be lost in the parking area, the parking is always full and crowded. Inside the souq you will be lost in the restaurant area where it’s hard to find each restaurant, I tried to draw the sence where the actor will be on risk when he would catch any of these ( shysha, heater), and how he would be affected by the surrounded smoke.
Another problem that I found out when I went there for the fourth time, that there is no direction that leads you to the toilet.

In the class discussion I was grouped with hamza and fatma alkharaz to discuss our ideas and to help each other and suggesting more ways to illustrate our problems.
Hamza suggested that I should include actor in my final piece, which he think it works better than the collages. He also suggested playing with the idea of zooming in and out with the jesters to make it more interesting. (Hamzah Abdelal, Mashaer, Fatima Al Kharaz)

Phase 2 , process b

The second time around I took shots of different scenes, trying to capture some aspect of physical gestures and a persons interacting with the space. While capturing scenes that is when I encountered the donkey problem. Trying to capture different angles just to have variation that might help me later in the project.

Process b

I went again to the place and I took more pictures of more problems. Now, I have problems such as spelling mistake in the entrance of the market and that there is no English. The second problem is that there is no uniform for the workers, so when you go there you find most of the people are Indians and you don't know who to ask because they are all dressed differently.Then, there is the electisity problem where all the wires are open and everyone can touch them, and in case of fire the fire alarm is broken. but, i am not sure whether to consider this in my final problems or not.

here there is the problem of putting stuff in the middle of the passages, also, having the carts and the people walk in the same space and the problem of having the bags hanged very close to people heads.
The problem of not having signs to guide to different sections. Also, the problem of the prices and the language.

The thing that I still did not get was how to link them together and make them speak without words.

Class discussion

In the group we discussed everyone’s work, we suggested new ideas that can be used in the book, also we looked at the pictures and give opinion about whether it work or not. I suggested for Khadija some other problems that she can consider in her place, which is VCU Qatar, for example the problem of cutting on to the tables not on the cutting matt. I think I can understand their situation and suggest more because I also live in this space, but for them it was hard to suggest ideas. Some of their scenes needs to be exaggerated, as well as mine, also including people in them will help me more and also after that I need to show them back the pictures and see whether the message is shown or not. (Fatima Buksahisha, Jo, Khadija Safri)