about this semester

Just finished my Specified Outcomes several minutes ago, I found there is a lot of other things need to do. Like feeding me, preparing Discovery Day’s PPT and presentation, and the last horrible but exiting assessment display.

I feel more stressed about my project now. Because it is seem that I need to prepare a lot of works to show but I did not do a lot in this semester. I did a lot of observation, showed pictures to people and interviewed my Chinese friends through Internet in order to collect their opinions about dental practices and hospital. They gave me some valuable advice and encourage me to complete my project.

The books I borrow from our library made me feel happier and happier. Some of them are recommend by my supervisor- Carol. She is a good lady, she gives me useful advice and help me to think deeply and widely.

Now I need to start doing a huge number of sketches for my prototyping and then figure out a good and quick way to finish prototypes without toiling with them for too long. I think next semester will be happy and toilful. Lots of doing and less of asking and thinking. It's easier to gauge how much I'm doing since I will be able to see it and touch it. The worst thing is I had a bad feeling that I had done nothing during this semester and other classmates try their best to prefect their projects.

So I need to try my best to do my outputs.

Discovery Day Rehearsal

Today we do Discovery Day Rehearsal. I found I make a big misunderstand about five pictures …… I am so stupid that product so ugly PPT. It makes me so shame that I want to kill myself. From watching other people’s display, I have some ideas to modify my PPT.

I found that they are good at collect information and compare with other similarities. I think I can study their methods to explore my project.

Communicating with friends is interesting and helpful. Different people have different minds, studying from others to enrich my knowledge.

After the rehearsal, I think five minutes is a very short time and our projects have too much information. It is different to clearly explain my project in such a short time especially some of audiences are unfamiliar with my project. So I need to spend most time on basic knowledge. At the same time, I can use part of images and diagrams from Specified Outcomes. Images and diagrams are much more direct in communication, which is one of the results from my project.

In my project, it is found that many hospitals introduce visual arts into interior space in order to produce a welcoming area for patients. Actually, the visual arts not only have an affect on patients, they also influence staff. They aim to create an environment which would be stimulating for patients as a catalyst for physical movement, a visual aid for staff when treating patients and a pleasurable environment to work in. Data from NHS trust indicates that owing to better patient environment and improved staff morale, the medical outcomes including recovery rates and stress level are improved by arts in healthcare programs.

The horrible thing is over

I hand in my Context & Cohesion paper on time. Actually I spend a long time on it because it is very different for me to write academic paper. To be frank, as a foreigner, I am not good at using the second language to writing. I always make a lot of mistakes. When I requested my classmates to proofread my paper and they corrected lots of low mistakes I felt so shame. My classmates are very kind and glad to help me.

I think I spend half of Easter vacation on preparing the academic paper and changed it several time. I also booked Writing by Appointment in order to find some help from professionals. Actually the lady gave me some advice to my paper, I followed that putting some visual pictures into my paper in order to make paper easier to understand and it is a good way to explain some thing which is different to describe only by word.

The next thing is preparing the Discovery Day Rehearsal. Five pictures need to produce.

Some thing I learn from my project

In order to design a healing dental environment, the first thing that should be known is the common causes of dental fear (Dental Fear Central 2004-2007).
- Bad experiences: studies suggest that about 80 -85% of dental fear is caused by bad or horrific dental experience.
- A history of abuse: a person who has a history of bullying or having physical or emotional abuse, especially in childhood, may contribute to developing dental fear, especially in combination with bad experiences with dentists.
- Uncaring dentist: a dentist who is perceived as cold and controlling. This has a huge psychological impact on patients.
- Humiliation: insensitive remarks and the intense feelings of humiliation they provoke are one of the main factors, which can cause or contribute to a dental fear.
- Vicarious learning: affects of other people’s experience. If a parent or other caregiver is scared of dentists, children may pick up on this and learn to be scared as well, even in the absence of bad experiences. Also, hearing other people's horror stories about visits to the dentist can have a similar effect.
- Preparedness: people who quickly learned to avoid the needle in order to escape hurt, but they still face the dental needle when treated.
- Post-traumatic stress: Research suggests that people who have had horrific dental experiences (unsurprisingly) suffer from symptoms typically reported by people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is characterized by intrusive thoughts of the bad experience and nightmares about dentists or dental situations.

Many healthy professionals give a wide range of ways to solve dental phobia. Some ways are used in present treatment. The solutions mostly be used are hanging images on the walls and drawing murals on ceiling and walls. In many surgeries, dentists like using scenic photographs or pictures, especially, a beach, a sea, a lake or a forest. These images do their work to some extent. From first hand experience in dental practices, when people lie on dental chairs, sometimes they can not see the images because their views are always filled with dentists’ hands or dental equipments. Hanging mobiles like birds or fish is another common practice. But it also does not work for the same reason as the images mentioned above. If the images or decorations are too small to absorb patients’ attention, they will not work. As a result these kinds of images are suitable in the waiting room or corridor.

Watching video eyeglasses and installing DVD players are the other two modern techniques, patients often find video glasses novel, but many feel claustrophobic or cut off from their surroundings and to patients with serious dental fear or those suffering from pain finds it difficult to concentrate on the video. Doctors also sometimes feel cut off from the patient since they cannot see the patient’s eyes or expressions (Maklin 2002, p.448).

After interviewing and observing dental practices, hospitals and some similar institutions, it obviously shows that “bright”, “strong”, “vivid”, ”warm”, are words that people might use to describe their impression of the visual arts and designs they like. Some of the words may be chosen with the intention of conveying the visual attributes of the appearance, the hue, the lightness and the intensity of the color, and the other words chosen are an attempt to convey an emotional response that the observer associates with the visual arts’ appearance. In other words, people pay more attention to active, welcoming and stimulating things.

Two bookmarks for our magazine

In order to broadcast our magazine -- Spark, I design a couple of bookmarks.

It is the sign of our magazine on the top of the bookmarks, this sign is designed by Divya, who is one of my classmates from India and she is a graphic designer, I like her drawing works very much.

Followed by the subtitle of this magazine, which is in the middle of these bookmarks, it is our course and the name of college.

I use the three colors to balance the image, and these colors are from the sign. “Less is more.” Meaning that the notion that simplicity and clarity lead to good design. It is often associated with the architect and furniture designer Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886-1969), one of the founders of modern architecture and a proponent of simplicity of style.

After design these bookmarks, I sent them to Michelle, who also is a graphic designer, and asked her to help me to refine it. About 10 minutes later, she sent them back, they were more beautiful!

For me, it is difficult to balance more than three kinds of colors. Even I like complicated shape, colour and image, I would like use black and white and another color to express in my works.

I send these to my father to ask for his advice and he says they are simple but very obviously and powerful, but the biggest problem is he does not understand the meaning of the bookmark because he does not know a little bit English and it is my aim. Asking a foreigner to apprise is a good way to inspect the image for international because he will ignore the words and pay attention to the whole frame of the picture.

Article paper for MDes magazine – Spark

Avoid Dental Phobia
----- Five tips forwards designing a healing interior space for patients

Every year, millions of people experience unnecessary discomfort, distress and even depression because of health problems with their teeth, gums and mouth. So dental health should be very important to everyone at least to who has teeth because we need teeth to do the first digestion – chewing. The good teeth associate with good health. But dental treatment always associates with pain and uncomfortable. What do dentists do during this situation?

Querying Yes/No questions as patients lie on dental chairs during their treatment is a specialty for dentists to achieve in order to distracting patients’ attentions from pain or discomfort. “The dentist should be good at asking Yes/No questions, I think.” A young postgraduate client said, “It is a beneficial method my dentist uses during teeth treatment and it makes me think about other things and not focus on the pain from my teeth.” But if the dentist is not skilled in communication and chat, why not using the interior space to heal them?

After interviews and observations in dental practices, hospitals and some similar institutions as well as literal review, there are at least five usual solutions have been used in contemporary dentists to deal with dental phobia in interior design.

Firstly, putting some attractive pictures on the wall or hanging decorations on the ceiling opposite the dental chair is a traditional mode that has been used in many dental surgeries, and it has worked to some extent. In many surgeries, dentists like using scenery photographs or pictures, especially, a beach, a sea, a lake or a forest. And hanging toys like birds or fish is another common practice. However, from first hand experience in dental practice, when people lay on dental chairs, their view is always filled with dentists’ hands, treatment facilities and ceiling. At that time, there is no space for pictures or decorations and as an obvious result they do not work. Sometimes the images and decorations are too small to absorb patients’ interests.

Why not a TV in the treatment room? Actually, this is controversial. From the patients’ view, watching TV series during treatment is an enjoyment and the pain seems to be forgotten with the help of funny programmes. But from the dentists’ view, the TV programme also distracts them from treatment. A dentist stated: “It is dangerous! If there is a TV set and it is playing interesting programme, I will pay attention to that not on my work. In my opinion, even a lot of patients advise me to install a TV set in treatment room to alleviate their pains during treating; I prefer images to a TV set.” In many case, the opinion of patients and staff is that the TV set is suitable only for waiting room.

Furthermore, to decorate the ceiling as a focal point in the treatment room is an appalling disregard for the ceiling design and aesthetic dimension of a ceiling. With smart interior design through the use of creative materials and finishes the ceiling can become the focal point or an important backdrop for other interior elements. Add welcoming dimensions to dental surgeries by bringing decorative ceiling element. In this way, patients could enjoy the creative ceiling design during treatment. But the disadvantage is the ceiling decoration is not easy to change in a short time. People have a habit of abandon the old for the new, so a beautiful decoration, mural or image will lose its charm after long time use.

So what about changing the images in an easy way? The technique of back-lit film images or transparencies is always used in CT scan room and radiation therapy room and it can be introduced into dental treatment room. In this method, it could give patients different views of nature and open the interior space, providing a psychological escape for patients and a stress- reducing diversion.

Last but not least, there are other modern techniques to be used – a Snoezelen room. This is consists of a system of lights that are programmed to gently move and change throughout a room’s interior; it is intended to relax and calm those who are agitated, whether because of mental illness, learning disability or behavioral problems. This room is specially designed to deliver stimuli to various senses, using lighting effects, color, sounds, music, scents, etc. Ideally, Snoezelen is a non-directive therapy and can be staged to provide a multi-sensory experience or single sensory focus, simply by adapting the lighting, atmosphere, sounds, and textures to the specific needs of the client at the time of use. There is no formal focus on therapeutic outcome - the focus is to assist users in gaining the maximum pleasure from the activity in which they and the enabler are involved. An advantage of Snoezelen is that it does not rely on verbal communication and may be beneficial for people with profound autism, as it may provide stimulation for those who would otherwise be almost impossible to reach.

In conclusion, it is hard to think of anything more depressing to patients than the view of empty, dreary walls and ceilings as they lie on the dental chair that unfortunately still characterize so many of today’s surgeries. Dental practices need the balance of elements such as wholeness, happiness, health and fun because for hundreds of years dental practices were associated exclusively with suffering, pain and anxiety. No one is ever happy over the prospect of having to enter a dental practice, even when the patient knows it will be of great benefit to do so. A well designed interior space especially ceiling will attract patients’ attentions and heal their depression from painful and horrible treatment and place them in a holistic environment.

Literature review 5 - Healing the hospital environment

Healing the hospital environment
-Design, management and maintenance of healthcare premises

This book is a cyclopaedia of how to design, managen and maintain the hospitals. It is divided into ten chapters and each chapter could be divided into at least five parts. It describes the establishment from floor to services in detail and shows products and materials and some other thing very clear.

The general appearance, interior design and environmental quality of hospitals and healthcare buildings have an important influence on patients, staff and the public. But many hospitals and healthcare environments fail to create a positive impression. This book identifies why many NHS buildings do not look or feel welcoming and why even well-intentioned efforts to make improvements are unsuccessful.

The author show that significant improvements can be made within limited resources if hospitals recognize what can be achieved, set standards and invest in the relevant design expertise.

This practical and accessible book is written to inform those who are responsible for these important public buildings what can be achieved. It gives a wide range of examples of effective improvement in design, management and maintenance of all types of hospital and healthcare premise and their surrounding land. It is also intended to help design professionals adapt to the particular requirements of these buildings and their wide range of functions.

From this book I found a very interesting thing which I have not heard before - Snoezelen room.This is consists of a system of lights that are programmed to gently move and change throughout a room’s interior; it is intended to relax and calm those who are agitated, whether because of mental illness, learning disability or behavioral problems. This room is specially designed to deliver stimuli to various senses, using lighting effects, color, sounds, music, scents, etc. Ideally, Snoezelen is a non-directive therapy and can be staged to provide a multi-sensory experience or single sensory focus, simply by adapting the lighting, atmosphere, sounds, and textures to the specific needs of the client at the time of use. There is no formal focus on therapeutic outcome - the focus is to assist users in gaining the maximum pleasure from the activity in which they and the enabler are involved. An advantage of Snoezelen is that it does not rely on verbal communication and may be beneficial for people with profound autism, as it may provide stimulation for those who would otherwise be almost impossible to reach.