work|spaces: exhibit teardown from Mark Stokoe on Vimeo.

The deconstruction of the work|spaces project exhibit at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design Undergraduate Exhibition in May 2009. The exhibit represented the summation of 4 months of work on my undergraduate thesis project.
The final project was a 136 page book examining a variety of individuals and how they interact with their working environments. For more information visit the project website at www.markstokoe.ca/spaces or email me at design@markstokoe.ca.

To see images of the completed book, and more of my work, visit my portfolio site.

This week marked the end of Phase Three for the Spring semester, and the start of the dash to the finish line. Throughout the course of the last phase of the project the focus will be almost exclusively devoted to production. At this point (ideally at least) the concepts are set, the visual methods are developed, and everything has the green light. Since my project involves the development of varying visual styles to represent the relations my interview participants have with their spaces, a number of my visual approaches are still under development. For this presentation, two developed personas and potential visuals were shown.
The personas created for Tobias Ottahal and Aaron McGill were shown in order to display very diverse approaches.
Note: The cover shown in the presentation WILL NOT be the cover in the final. Don’t worry.
A link to the complete presentation can be found below.

Incidentally, I love my class, but a full day of presentations can drag on a wee bit.

Link to the Complete Presentation
Sp_Presentation_Phase3.pdf (pdf 16mb)

The preliminary proposal for my spring semester graduate workshop project. Not quite as refined and distilled as I might hope my thesis to be, but oh well. Feel free to read through some excerpts. A link to the complete proposal can be found below.

Context
“One of the questions that we can ask ourselves is, “How do we intersect with these spaces in which we spend so much of our time?” There is an invisible line between how we shape the spaces where we work, and how they shape us. This line, and the different places where it falls for different people is the subject of this project.”

Motivations
“The impact that the design and organization (or lack thereof) of these spaces have on the people working in them is often quite interesting. This has led me to wonder further about how people shape and define their spaces on a wider scale. From the person covering the walls of a tiny cubicle with stuffed animals, to the person who chooses to work only in the deepest caves accessible to man, they all play a role in making ther working space, and they all are faced by constraints.”

Research Goals
“Since I am not writing a textbook on workplace organizational guidelines, and wish to provide a personal, individual, and intimate understanding of how people relate to their working spaces, first-hand accounts will be required. I plan to conduct a series of initial interviews, some of which have been completed, in which I will engage in informal, but directed, conversation on the nature of the individual’s working space and how they feel about it.”

Design Objectives | Thesis
1. To determine and illustrate commonalities and differences in how individuals relate to their working spaces throughout a range of occupations.
2. Provide an insight for the audience on a variety of ways in which they can shape and influence their working spaces to help improve their lives.
3. To satisfy the voyeuristic desire to see and better understand aspects of other people’s lives in a visually engaging manner.

Deliverable(s)
The end result of this project has yet to be determined. It will likely take the form of a printed publication, in order to reach a diverse, yet selective, audience. The current intention is to have a highly photo-based deliverable that will engage the viewer through a series of polished portraits of individuals and their workspaces.

Link to the Complete Proposal
Sp_Proposal_v1 (pdf 40kb)