Project 3 “Speedy Recovery” – Brainstorming and Development

Brainstorming and Development

After the initial visual research, I tried to branch out on the third concept as I felt that it was the one that most suited the brief.

I brainstormed out 2 ideas based on the mechanism of the pop up card: planets and oceans – as both were interesting landscapes that had elements that could be stacked against each other.

Based on these 2 ideas, I made 2 prototypes to try out the visual effect. I made a half-sized model to measure and check dimensions, then created the illustration draft based on those measurements.

Prototype for initial measurements

The initial prototype for measurements was especially important as the illustrations had to stay within those boundaries, especially when folded together so as not to leak out of the card. At the same time, the different layers (I decided on 2) had to be balanced with each other propotionally so each had enough space to contain the illustrations but was also different enough that the stacking effect would be obvious.

After confirming the dimensions, I created the mini prototype with illustrations for each concept.

01: Planets

02: Oceans

After feedback from class critique, it was felt that the second concept (oceans) fitted the brief better. However, while creating the prototype, I realised that the connectors were too small and thus made the pop-up very flimsy. Smaller parts such as the steam from the whale’s blowhole and the dolphin were also very fragile. Thus there was a need to revise the design to make it more secure.

Further feedback was also given that there could be a stronger narrative in the card to create better flow. Also, as I mainly focused on the mechanism itself, I now had to think about the placement of text and narrative.

After the first trial, I edited the design, and added in the required body copy, sample text and logo. I tried to create some form of narrative as well in the form of an additional caption (hope your day goes swimmingly!) to tie in with the brief and the little fishes to aid the viewer in the reading order.

Project 3 “Speedy Recovery” – Visual Research and Moodboard

Initial development/ research

To start off the project, I went to research on various ways of creating pop-up cards- I knew some basic ways of creating pop up cards like the v-fold or the internal stand method but I wanted to experiment to try to find new ways of creating them.

Out of the many that I saw, I found a few that I thought could be developed and shaped to fit the project – in streamlining down the possible mechanisms, I mainly prioritized the ability for it to be contained on one piece of paper (to stay within the brief and cut costs) and the adaptability of the mechanism to fit with the get well soon concept.

(full moodboard can be found here: https://www.pinterest.com/fiefyefoefum/popup/)

01: Interlocking folds

Personally I liked this concept as the mechanism and assembly was simple, only needing symmetrical die-cut shapes, but the final product could be something that was interactive and interesting. The idea of interlocking hands/ hearts/ things could also be very easily adapted to create the concept of giving care, fitting well with the brief.

02: Blooming Flower Bouquet

I picked this concept mainly for the element of surprise – I liked how the flower bouquet emerged out from the card to surprise the viewer as he/she opens it, giving more interactivity and interest to the card. However, this mechanism requires more than one piece of paper, and is harder to assemble.

03: Stacked scenery

I loved the quirkiness of this design – the multiple layer allowed for more complex images, thus this technique could be applied to different scenes. At the same time, the entire card could be contained within one piece of paper.

Project 1 “Therapeutic Graphics” – Further Exploration and Final

After getting feedback from the class, I decided to do more research on the kinds of landscapes that could inspire me to create new forms of therapeutic art.

I turned to Japanese woodblock prints, both traditional (e.g. Hokusai) and modern as I felt that the clean shapes and natural forms depicted in the prints suited the style of my work.

While both styles of Japanese woodblock prints often derived inspiration and subject matter from scenes in nature, he more modern woodblock print works were even more simplistic in style than the traditional ones and often reduced the landscape into simple silhouettes.

There were also a lot of overlapping shapes and colours to create texture. Hence, emulating that, I created my piece based on the idea of depicting one of the 4 seasons, spring.

Spring – Field of Flowers

For this piece, I chose to depict spring as I wanted to explore a series based on the 4 seasons, and I felt that spring fitted the purple colour scheme the most. I played around with the various opacities and colour combinations to create variation in the work while still maintaining the clean cut shapes similar to the style of the woodblock prints.

I also explored an alternative composition (Summer) to explore the possibility of developing the format of the work into a series.

Summer – Dunes of Sand

Project 1 “Therapeutic Graphics” – Initial Colour and Composition

After the initial experimentation with abstract compositions, I was dissatisfied with what I came up with and hence decided to branch into more narrative-based compositions.

I came up with a basic composition of a character within an imaginary landscape to create a dreamy atmosphere that the viewer could immerse within. To frame the image, I used the idea of a window-within-a-window by creating a porthole frame – to give the experience of peering out from a vessel (e.g. a submarine) to see new lands.

For the colour palettes, I picked colours from various nature photographs to compose a variety of colour palettes. Then I superimposed that colour palettes on the composition to test out the mood each colour palette could create.

Colour Palette

(From top) Earth/Forest

Sky

Woods

Sunset

Colour Composition 1 (Earth/ Forest)

Colour Composition 02 (Sky)

Colour Composition 03 (Woods)

Colour Composition 04 (Sunset)

Based on the critique from the class, most of them liked the second colour palette (sky) and thought it to be the most dreamy (and thus the most therapeutic). In contrast, many people found the presence of the figure slightly disturbing and to hold pretty negative connotations with regards to the viewer and the hospital environment – something that I didn’t really notice until I was done with the work.

Hence, I decided to

Branch out on purple/ blue colour scheme
Do up a more general landscape (without the character)

(to be continued in next post!)

Project 1 “Therapeutic Graphics” – Research and Observations

Therapeutic Art

An art form that allows the viewer to seek “meaning, clarity and healing”

For this project, we were meant to create an artwork for the J- Walk space within the Ng Teng Fong Hospital – the work was meant to adorn the windows of the public walkway that connected the hospital to Westgate.

We visited there during our first lesson (yay field trip!) and I took down some observations of the space:

J – Walk

From the short trip there, I noticed firstly that the windows along the walkway were blocked out by very angular, rigid structures (including the thick window frames, V shaped pillars and bars on the exterior).

The sharp angular nature of the bars made the environment feel very cold and corporate.

Another thing that I noticed was that the space was mainly dominated by cool- toned/ neutral colours – the walls were painted white with grey fixtures and floors, and the light coming in from the windows also tended to wash out the area, making it seem cold and drab. Hence, both the colour and the structure of the space made it very clean, detached and sterile.

Thus, a graphic for the space would need to be able to combat the regular blocky nature of the space, as well as its lack of colour vibrancy.

After the field trip, I went back and did some brainstorming for ideas:

Through my brainstorming, I decided to center my therapeutic graphic around organic textures found in nature to combat the harsh angular line found in the space. From there, I looked for inspiration online to create a moodboard on potential visual qualities I could use.

(All moodboard images can be found here: link)

I also did some research on the ways to depict these textures as artwork: while most of these textures seem pretty abstract, I realised that a lot of hospital artwork tended to be more narrative/ illustrative in nature:

Some examples of hospital graphics

Thus I also branched out on 2 ways of presentation for my research: I looked to collage style works as a way of integrating different organic textures, and illustration for the whimsical narrative style.

From there, I did a few little thumbnails to try out different abstract compositions.

I wan’t happy with the abstract compositions that I came up with, so I decided to go for a more narrative style in the work (more in the next post!).