Phase 4 | (Week 13 to 24)
- Gosia Siwiec
- May 27
- 14 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
Deliver
Reading the Phase 4 introduction made me pause and reflect: this isn’t just about finishing, it’s about bringing everything together with clarity and purpose.
The reminder to return to my research plan was helpful. With 12 weeks left, I know I need to stay focused and organised. I can already sense that this phase will be about refining the work I’ve done- going deeper, sharpening my ideas, and making sure the final project and report truly represent my thinking.
Critical Report Draft Feedback
11.06.2025 meetig with Ben
In today’s tutorial, I received in-depth and encouraging feedback on my Critical Report draft. Ben highlighted that the writing is already in a strong place, which made me really, really happy.
Key areas for improvement include:
Strengthening the introduction with more references to establish a solid academic foundation.
Clarifying methodology vs. methods, possibly through a diagrammatic breakdown.
Improving academic referencing, such as refining in-text citations and ensuring correct formatting.
Enhancing theoretical synthesis by integrating and comparing ideas rather than listing them individually.
Clarifying structure and flow, with better signposting at the start and end of sections to guide the reader.
Repositioning visual elements
Expanding the conclusion to directly link to my Studio Practice, possibly by restating the research question as a bridge between the two components.
Ben also suggested adding references to theorists like Henri Lefebvre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Jonathan Crary to support key ideas on embodiment, spatial experience, and fatigue in accelerated environments.
Henri Lefebvre
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Jonathan Crary
Book
When I first started working on this project, I had no idea I was making a book. It was just collecting things- photos, textures, scraps of writing, feelings from train stations, airport gates, bus stops those weird in-between spaces we pass through on autopilot.
At some point, without even planning it, the work started to take shape. It became slower, quieter, more reflective. And from that, a structure emerged something that felt right. That’s when I realised it needed to be a book.
Self-published, first book I’ve ever created from start to finish. Is it perfect? No. Are there things I’d change? Absolutely. But I’m proud of it. The book arrived on the 4th of June 2025, and holding it in my hands felt surreal. If someone told me at the start of this course that I’d design and publish my own book, I would’ve laughed. But here it is.
The book is made up of three main parts:
Typography (Alphabet), Graphics and Photographs.
This is my first final outcome a foundation to build on. In Phase 4, I’m planning to develop this work further, with the intention of designing a small exhibition that brings the book to life in a spatial, sensory way. I want to explore how the same themes - blur, attention, traces, non-places might translate beyond the page. Can I recreate that same quietness in physical space? Can the book expand into an experience?
Typography
The first part of the book is a typographic alphabet, but not in the traditional sense. Each letter represents a theme, emotion, or fleeting moment pulled from my time spent observing non-places: A is for Attention. B is for Blur. C is for Concentrate. These aren’t meant to define, but to evoke. Each letter acting as a small anchor in an otherwise drifting landscape.
Instead of designing clean, legible forms, I leaned into distortion and texture. Some letters are smudged, unbalanced, or barely holding their shape. Like traces of signage worn down over time. This choice was inspired by people in transit: always moving, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Each leaving a different kind of mark. Typography here isn’t about clarity, but impression.
This decision also came from my own experience of moving through these spaces: how we half-read signs, how the brain registers shape before meaning, how things blur into the periphery. The alphabet became the spine of the book. It offered a loose structure, something steady to return to, while still leaving space for abstraction and emotional resonance.
Experiment V1
Experiment V2
Texture
Brush Strokes
Graphic
The graphics in the book came directly from quiet moments I recorded in my observational journal. They are scenes I witnessed and couldn’t forget. They’re based on things I saw in transit spaces, often overlooked by others, but which stuck with me.
I used direct press techniques to create these visuals, printing with everyday objects: a plastic bottle, a slice of bread, and a piece of cardboard. These weren’t random choices. Each one holds emotional and symbolic weight. A bottle of water- essential, yet so often thrown away because of airport restrictions. Bread- basic nourishment, something we should never take for granted or waste. And cardboard- so often discarded, but also shelter, signage, something to be held onto. These objects felt like quiet witnesses of movement and survival. They're used by travellers, commuters, and people without homes alike. That overlap felt intimate, human.
I didn’t want to over-design. The compositions are minimal and raw. I intended to let the textures and shapes speak for themselves. And in their simplicity, they leave space for the viewer to feel something personal, or even reflect on what we leave behind, or make their own story by looking at them.
There’s a sustainability thread in this too. I worked with what I had found materials, worn textures. It felt important to reuse rather than add more. The project is about recognising what already exists, what’s overlooked, and what still carries meaning. In that sense, even the materials are part of the message.
Photos
All the photos in the book are in black and white. That choice just made sense to me, it strips things back to their essentials. Light, shape, mood. When I think about the spaces I was capturing; airports, stations, streets- they never felt colourful to me anyway. They felt muted. Functional. A little disconnected. So black and white felt like the right language.
A lot of the images are blurred, and that’s intentional. It’s how those moments felt - often fleeting, passing me by before I could fully grasp them. During one tutorial, Dan said something that stayed with me: “memory feels blurry, except for a few clear shots.” That really resonated. I didn’t want these photos to feel sharp or perfect. I wanted them to feel remembered.
Some of them feel almost like accidents, but I kept them because they were honest. They’re not trying to tell a full story, more like visual memory snaps. Little echoes of being somewhere, of observing something quietly. I think that’s why I love them.
I hope when someone flips through these pages, they don’t just see the photo but feel something familiar. Maybe not the same place, but the same sensation of waiting, of pausing, of moving through.
Other
Print Choices
Colours
Layout
Purpose of the Book
Tone and Pace
Audience
My Emotional Connection
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