How to... live with people you don't like?

My initial impression of this question is that there is going to be no easy way to answer this but there are two routes that this could be tackled; learning how to live with not liking the person or learning how to bond with them.

The first thing that needs to be addressed is the causes of the dislike, and input from other peers helped to create a list of things a house mate might do that annoys another housemate:

- Loud music at unsociable hours.
- Being untidy in the communal areas.
- Leaving washing up and chores to other house mates.
- Using other house mates’ food/equipment without permission.
- Being antisocial.
- Watching obscene material loudly.
- Being crude.

Bearing the list in mind, we then came up with another list of how the situation could be addressed, however some of the points I don’t entirely agree with as some involve avoiding the person altogether:

- Finding common ground – as this could be an ice-breaker.
- Making conversation – this shows effort is being put in.
- Avoid them completely – to avoid total contact.
- Move accommodation – depending on the severity of the situation.
- Confront them – instead of bottling things up.
- Negotiate with them e.g. cupboard space…
- Invite them out – get to know them on neutral ground.
- Mutual friends – this could be a good way of socialising without being alone with them.

Learning how to bond with the person could possibly be quite time consuming but on the whole could make the whole university experience more enjoyable, as avoiding the person completely could lead to further conflict and tension between other house mates.

Using both lists we mind mapped ideas for how we could graphically communicate ideas of resolving the issue. To start with we were thinking on a basic level for example, one idea was a pocket guide which would feature typical student stereotypes and how to get along with them, this idea was soon abandoned when I flicked through my copy of ‘The Student Pocket Guide’ and found a section on student stereotypes. However, we still liked the idea of profiling different types of students and another idea was put forward for a night in a club where each person would pick a wristband, with different colours for each ‘type’ and from there it could help to start conversations, although I thought this idea deviated away from what was asked of the group, and sociologically was wrong as we were labelling people.
Other ideas included advice leaflets, posters and small double sided cards with information on, however, a lot of people tend to pick up material like this, skim read and discard it, which lead to an idea of creating a website, as a member of the group is quite competent at web design and has his own web space, but again, there were quite a lot of negative issues raised including the time-scale as it would take quite a bit of time to design the content for a website and launch it online to a high standard, and as we only have 5 days, the high standard might not be reached.
The next idea was a ‘survival kit’, this would feature a number of items like ear plugs, bottle top coverers (for nights out) etc. which could help a house mate survive. This idea seemed to stick but I don’t feel everyone was entirely convinced especially me, as this kind of thing has been done before, for example when I moved into my halls of residence we were given ‘Welcome packs’ which contained a variety of things from a bottle of drink to money off vouchers.

We all went off to do our research, so I questioned students from my block about living with people they either don’t like or are annoyed by, I also looked through a few typography books for inspiration, something which I found was a sign from New York (pictured below) saying ‘Don’t even think of parking here’, which could be the kind of tone to be used as it is humorous yet firm, which could be useful towards someone a housemate doesn’t get along with, as it isn’t harsh but it gets to the point.


Taken from Google Images.

At the next group meeting, an idea had been thought up centring on the idea of a cup of tea, the saying ‘Make tea not war’. To the people in our group, a cup of tea is to relax, and chat, and it was one of the first things we did when we got moved into halls, and was the start of getting to know our new house mates. This idea would try and solve issues before they became problems as it would give people a chance to talk things over, and what better way to solve a problem than a cup of tea? So that was the thoughts behind the idea, so now we needed to decide how we could promote this visually, originally we was going to create a box with two mugs in, with some form of logo and a slogan printed on then it was decided that this was similar again to the ‘Welcome pack’, so instead of a box, we came up with the idea of a drinks carrier.

The next stage was to go out and research, we would go to Costa Coffee to pick up a drinks carrier to see how they were put together, in order for us to create a net that could be assembled, and we would go to a high street shop like Topshop to look at how slogans are written on t-shirts as they appeal to a lot of young adults, and we wanted a similar feel. It was through this that we came up with another idea, of designing t-shirts which we could all wear in the presentation to really push the idea across, as a group we couldn’t reach a consensus so the idea was terminated, and we went back to focussing on the mug idea, funnily enough over a hot drink in Costa Coffee, and between us we decided our final product would comprise of a tea-themed mug holder, that held two mugs which would have our logo and possibly a slogan on, and a tea bag holder again with out logo on. After a lot of brain storming we went home so we could draft ideas to be presented back to the group ready to put into practice the next day.

The Costa Coffee 'take-out' cup holder:



At home I started brain storming different words for tea, to create a bit of variation within the slogans, here are a few of the ideas I came up with:

- Ease a spat with tea and a chat.*
- Keep the peace with some Rosy Lee (Cockney slang for tea!)
- Drop tea not bombs.
- Unhappy? Tea is the key.
- Keep peace in your flat, with tea and a chat.
- A brew a day keeps arguments away.
- A brew a day keeps arguments at bay.*

* My favourite slogans.

At the next meet-up one of the group members had designed a whole tea stain style font which the whole group really liked, another member had designed a blank net for the mug carrier, another member had started drafting shapes for the tags to be attached to the tea bag holders which would have stories on about bad house mates to make them feel better, another member had drafted some illustrations to be used, I came up with a variety of slogans to be placed onto the mugs and made the tea bag holders, and another member designed a finished net.


This is Karl's tea stain font, which was quite impressive, the group only expected to see a few sketches but he came up with a brilliant, finished font.


This is the template for the mug holder, with reference from the Costa Coffee mug.


This is Richard's finished net...

There was quite a stir about the finished net, as the group as a whole didn’t feel the theme of it was suitable, as it wasn’t very light hearted, which is what our whole idea was based on, making light of a bad situation. Secondly, the design on the template was American? with the stars and red stripes, something which baffled me. Due to the idea being dismissed that member left the group and went home, which dampened the happy spirits of the other members, but then it seemed to spur us on to work harder as we were a person down.

We all sat down together to create the graphics to be put on to the net, with the designer of the net, Rob, on Photoshop, and the rest of the group giving their input. Once this was created we were all able to finish pulling the other little bits together, such as the presentation, what we were going to say, the stickers for the mugs, the stories to be put on to the tags and getting the tea, cups etc. to give out.

We decided our deadline would be for 10:30am and that was when we had to go to print, and begin finishing off, like assembling the carrier, attaching the stickers, and finishing off the tags. The group was really pleased with the printing and there appeared to be no issues in the assembly of the carrier and we were ready to photograph the item and prepare for the presentation at 1:30pm.

This is one of the two mugs, the text was printed on to clear stickers which were then carefully applied to the product. This would be the front of the mug, with the Make Tea Not War tagline on.

This is a view of the opposite side of the mug, along with the tea bag envelope and tag.

A view of the finished product, with the mugs inside.

In the presentation, Hazel and Jonny would present the idea following a series of prompts they had typed up, I assisted Karl with the tea and Rob showed the products to the group, Richard made an appearance and photographed the final outcomes.