Roman Public Toliets

Public toilets were a propionate part of the Roman society; everyone sitting together using the bathroom was a normal way of life. In their culture it was more of a social aspect than a daily need. "According to O.F. Robinson, Ancient Rome: City Planning and Administration, public bathhouses were comfortable places, where one might sit and read, or otherwise "amuse oneself sociably, hoping for [dinner] invitations.” [1] The concept of the bathroom being a private place did not exist and it was not only a public aspect of life it was an extremely social event.  In addition to the public use of the bathrooms the concept of toilet paper did not exist, instead there were communal sponges that everyone used and shared and by this the privacy level was also lessened. However, to the people at the time the bathroom practices were a normal thing. Furthermore at the public urinals the waste produced by the toilet was collected regularly and sold to fullers for cleaning wool, etc. The concept on toilets as a private matter that is hidden from others is a typical concept today but without roman innovation of water systems and sewers this would not be possible today. Roman bathroom practices were different than ours today but they were the ones that directly informed our practices today. 

Sources: 

[1]   http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/hygienebaths/a/102310-Hygiene-In-Ancient-Rome.htm

My Thumbnail

My idea of signage has a slight humor to it just like our concept. Using the title of the exhibit to show the "journey" will make people smile while showing the concept very well.

My contributions:

I am a part of the graphics group where i have started on working on a final poster design and organized the signage ideas from the group and am starting to decide which one we are going to use. As well as participating in the graphics group i have took the task of gathering the proposal and all the thumbnails for Fridays class as well as editing small details within the proposal itself.

Kristy Stroud - kastroud.blogspot.com

Signage Brainstorming

When thinking of ways to go with graphics for our exhibit i stumbled onto this first image which is one with basic shapes that are easy to recognize and it uses bright colors that draw attention to it in a playful and fun way that reflect our concept of the Journey of the John. While we need to keep our exhibit informative i believe that we need to make it playful and attention grabbing since that is parallel with our concept. The second image is full of color and layers of graphics, i think this is not minimal enough but i think some of the graphic layers, such as the simple shapes used to add visual interest to the poster, can be used in our overall graphics design. The third Poster i found to be a nice simple graphic that grabbed my attention in the slight use of color and texture to make the concept stand out. Overall i believe we should head in a minimalism direction but integrate color to add a slight humor to our signage.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/rural-electrification-posters.php

jargonboy.com

nicola-fan.net

Exhibit Precident Study - Kristy Stroud

The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington Dc has a exhibit by Sandile Zulu and Henrique Oliveria titled Artist in Dialogue 2. With this piece of art from Sandile Zulu the panels are burned in circular patterns and is shows the structure of DNA on a cellular basis. where the piece by Henrique shows the folds of flesh as well as the stroke of the paintbrush. This Exhibit is a good example of how to involve the viewers in the experience of the art by making the art large and taking up a vast amount of space within the exhibit.

Old Bones, Old Genes
-Sandile Zulu

Bololo
-Henrique Oliveira

source for images
http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/dialogue2/zulu.html

3 Artifacts- Kristy Stroud

I love the fact we are doing our exhibit on bathrooms and in particular the evolution of toilets over history and spanning over different cultures. Here are some links to websites that i found that might be helpful:

http://www.localhistories.org/toilets.html

http://www.compostingtoilet.org/history/index.php

http://www.localhistories.org/toilets.html

http://worldtoilet.org/wto/

http://www.bog-standard.org/pupils_history.aspx

http://www.coolhunting.com/design/toilets-of-the.php

http://www.gadling.com/2011/08/08/historic-toilets-of-the-world/

A toilet bowl from Weald and Downland Museum

I choose this image because of the decoration of a now blank object.  In the 19th century inside toilets were a privileged that only the wealthy had so they were a symbol of class. The concept of adding adornment to a toilet if a concept that we have lost over time. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilets_in_Japan

The Japanese squat toilet is basically a urinal on floor level where both men and women use it. This toilet is well used and is easy to clean and more efficient since it uses less water. The only down side is it might be a little hard to use. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilets_in_Japan

The modern Japanese urnial is placed closer to the ground in hopes that both male and female would use it. However it did not catch on so this design was a little bit of a failure