Programming – An End of Sem Project

C O N C E P T U A L I S A T I O N

Our team wanted to create an installation that involves creating an immersive space for audiences to enter into. We created the idea of a third dimension in our space where audiences have to make new discover with every step that they take, exploring the new dimension.

Taking inspiration from the piano stairs, where the whole experience encouraged people to take the stairs instead of the escalator, we thought this ties in well with our entire concept.

P R O C E S S

Diving into our first week, we first did up a mock up using the mousePress(); function to mimic the movements of the audiences in our space. We created the coloured grids using the Illustrator, then input the RGB code into Processing for each grid. Initially we worked with a 5×5 grid, but reduced it to a 3×3 grid due to the mismatch of dimensions of the Kinect and the projector.

Next, we figure out the codes to activate the use of the Kinect then input them into Processing. Meanwhile, we secure the usage of the Truss Room for the project and did a site test. Measuring the dimensions accurately and testing out the top-down projection was an important process since our project relies heavily on it the on-site experience that we cannot determine merely on our screens.

Apart from that, we recorded each piano note we used on the keyboard using the Zoom and input them into Processing using Minim.

S U M M A R Y

Proposal: The_Muse Proposal

Mock up Code: Mockup Code

 

 

SPACEVENTURE – A mid sem programming project

A B O U T

SPACEVENTURE is a one-player game that aims to shoot down the enemy spaceship and try to survive the battle. With every spaceship shot, player will gain one point.

s c r e e n s h o t s

GAME START PAGE

GAME PLAY PAGE

GAME PLAY WITH SCORE

t h o u g h t s

SPACEVENTURE is the first game I did up with the help of Corey using processing. With no prior knowledge on what coding or programming is, the concepts taught in class was helpful to help me code the fundamentals of the game. I learnt the use of a minim, and was able to use that for SPACEVENTURE. Also, got to upload an image for my player as an astronaut that I created on Illustrator.

Overall, although I struggled a lot, especially with the array list, it was fulfilling to create this game from scratch on my own. Coding Train’s tutorials have been a huge help apart from Corey and opensource codes as well!

 

 

 

Visual Communication I – Project 2 – Greater Than Design (Research and Development)

For Project 2, we were to create a poster for the Singapore Design Week 2019. We went on a trip down to the Singapore Design Centre to look around and get some inspirations.

C O N C E P T

My slogan is “>esign” or “Greater than Design” that aims to portray the art scene of Singapore as more than what it already is. As people put more attention and value on deign in Singapore, the Design week is a celebration of that phenomenon and a vast change in perspective. Of which I used a rising sun that portrays the “new light” people have on the topic of design and the art scene with a splash of memphis elements portraying a celebration.

I N I T I A L  P H A S E S

As mentioned in my previous post on my visual research, I had some slogans in mind, namely “>esign” (greater than design), “Springing into >esign” (springing into greater design”.

1.

Initial phases of 1 was inspired by the moodboard I put together as seen on the previous post.

That includes fluid shapes that plays with opacity. I thought these effects gives off a mysterious impression, a foggy channel forward. Linking it back to my concept of >esign, it might show an onward lookingness, with the use of vibrant colours and inorganic shapes.

2

Initial phase of 2 for “Springing into >esign” looked more like an invitation rather than a poster and it looks more personal than for commercial uses. Hence, I decided to scrape the entire design.

3

Design 3 is a brunch out from design 1. I added memphis elements to create a sense of playfulness and a black background to portray a vague future. However, it was seen as having little relation to help to reinforce the concept and the “>” looks vague.

—-

Relooking at my concept, i thought settling on a specific art movement will streamline the thought process in coming up with my design.

RetroFuturism

a trend in the creative arts that shows the influence of depictions of the future produced in the early era.

If “futurism” is called a “science bent on anticipating what will come, retrofuturim is the remembering of that anticipation.

Since “Greater than Design” has the element of forward-looking and yearning for the future, I thought RetroFuturism art movement is in line with my concept, hence I decided to adopt it.

4

Design 4 was born, using inspiration from the retro-futurism art movement to try to bring out my concept more. I played with gaussian blur to blend out harsh lines and to give a glowing effect.

Some feedbacks I got was that the black block of information feels harsh and sudden. Additionally, the I font chose seem really stiff. Also, more movement can be introduced to further bring out my concept, playing more with “>”.

5 (Final)

With much diversion at the start and feedbacks, design 5 was submitted. I chose a more fluid font in the end, trying to blend the “>” sign more as a vague “D” to poke people to wonder about the slogan and the sign itself.

C o n c l u s i o n

Concluding this project, I got to consider more about the elements I put on a single page that will blow up in size (looks much smaller on my screen). The hierarchy of elements, what you want your audiences to see first? What to see next? Will your audience view your information (fine prints?) Many to points to consider. Also, how the elements you use on the page communicates your concept.

I got to experiment the aforementioned points through this project. I thought with the given amount of time, I had solved most of the problem areas with the design. It was a tough ride, but looking at the A2 final product placed along the corridor was somewhat a bittersweet moment!

 

 

 

Artist Research

Nathan Yong (Singaporean)

“Furniture designer Nathan Yong is well-known for his trail-blazing career, and has been credited for advancing furniture design and furniture retail standards in Singapore. Having wanted to be a designer since the age of 15, he chose to pursue industrial design at Temasek Polytechnic as he was interested in the forms of products. Today, Nathan has a growing international profile with his products are sold globally.”

Furniture designer Nathan Yong is well-known for his trail-blazing career, and has been credited with nothing less than advancing furniture design and furniture retail standards in Singapore. Having wanted to be a designer since the age of 15, he chose to pursue industrial design at Temasek Polytechnic as he was interested in the forms of products. His aim at the time was ‘to be as famous as Philip Starck’.

Instead, he went on to forge his own path by establishing the furniture brand Air in 1999, at a time when there were very few local producers of modern furniture in Singapore. In 2006, armed with a Master in Design from the University of New South Wales, Nathan set up the subsidiary Air Design Group, of which he is the Principal Designer.

With an established and growing international profile, Nathan’s designs have been sold in Germany, Denmark, Morocco and the United States. He has also collaborated with renowned designer Toshiyuki Kita (designer of the SHARP Aquos® TV and the Wink Chair by Cassina) and multidisciplinary designers Voon Wong and Benson Saw from the United Kingdom to produce design-conscious furniture that aims to be affordable for all.

For Nathan, the journey to success has had its highs and lows. When the respected French furniture company Ligne Roset bought three of Nathan’s designs, its headquarters received a letter from its Singapore outlet asking them not to engage a Singapore designer because it would not be good business for the Singapore market. Nathan found the incident discouraging, ‘Here we were trying to break into the international market with our efforts, and there was someone from Singapore stopping us from putting Singapore on the global design map.’ At the same time, he recalls with pleasure and amusement the opening of Air Division’s first franchise in Jakarta, Indonesia. ‘I remember I was in a cab in Jakarta and saw an old man on a trishaw with trash and among that trash were Air Division wrappers and cartons. I found that image endearing.’

Nathan’s success lies in his design philosophy. Good design, according to Nathan, is a combination of three factors. To begin with, the intention of the client and the designer must be to improve on the existing situation. ‘Design is important,’ he says, ‘but only if it improves our living conditions, not just physically but also spiritually.’ The designer must also take into account factors such as the social, cultural, historical, artistic, technological and material aspects that form the design context. Most of all, Nathan believes in being ‘honest in the design approach, and in keeping it simple’.

This design philosophy has been the key to Nathan’s success. His relentless pursuit of simplicity and honesty in design has made him one of Singapore’s top designers, and has garnered him numerous awards both locally and at the international level, for instance the Red Dot Award. In 2006, the Break stool garnered a Silver Award at MINES International Design Intelligence and a Bronze Award at the Singapore Furniture Industries Council Furniture Design Award. In the same year, Nathan was also shortlisted as being among the 20 best designers in the DesignSingapore Council 20/20 series, by peer review.

Nathan’s influences are too numerous to name, but among those who have made an impression on him are the past great masters of the Bauhaus, Poul Kjaeholm, Charles and Ray Eames, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, as well as the more current Dieter Rams, Jasper Morrison, Konstantin Grcic, Naoto Fukasawa and Eugenio Perazza. He draws his inspiration from his surroundings and from the simple acts of daily life, such as a walk in the market or fixing his bicycle. Inspiration is like a lottery, he says, in which winning depends on a number of parts falling into place. As he notes wryly, ‘Sometimes it doesn’t happen.’

At the start of each new project, Nathan’s creative process includes taking into consideration numerous crucial aspects such as ‘function, materials, technology, cost, arts, form, proportion, engineering, markets, time, social, culture and wonderment, in order of importance according to the design brief’. He then changes the arrangement ‘until the result is an amalgamation of intelligence – intelligence from the distillation of informed choices’.

Nathan Yong is an exemplar to young design entrepreneurs with his winning blend of design integrity and commercial success. Success has not fazed him, and he views his accomplishments with his trademark unfussiness. When asked what sets him apart from other designers, he replies, with breathtaking simplicity, ‘I am me.’

 

Pann Lim (Singaporean)

“Pann Lim is the creative director of Kinetic Design and Advertising. He graduated with a Diploma in Design and Advertising from Temasek Polytechnic in 1998. Pann’s portfolio of work is a hybrid of visual design, interactive design and advertising. He works on these disciplines independently. To him, there is no distinction between these disciplines, as they are all tools of communication.”

Pann Lim is the creative director of Kinetic Design and Advertising. He graduated with a Diploma in Design and Advertising from Temasek Polytechnic in 1998, where he was inspired by mentors such as Lim Chong Jin, Hon, James Na and Iskandar Jalil. He started work at DDB Singapore and Batey Ads. In 2001, Pann was invited to start up a creative agency, Kinetic, with Carolyn Teo, Roy Poh, Adrian Tan, Sean Lam and Benjy Choo.

Pann’s portfolio of work is a hybrid of visual design, interactive design and advertising. He works on these disciplines independently. To him, there is no distinction between these disciplines, as they are all tools of communication.

He believes that design and advertising start with an idea. He has devoted his time to creating ideas that have won him over 300 industry awards including a D&AD Silver nomination and a Silver for Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2012. He was awarded Singapore’s Most Influential Creative Director by the Institute of Advertising Singapore in 2012. He is currently ranked tenth in Australasia by campaign Brief.

Pann is also involved in nurturing newcomers, as a way of fulfilling social responsibilities. He is a founding member of The Design Society, a Singapore- registered non-profit organisation, which aims to educate, proliferate and archive graphic design in Singapore. He has been actively involved in teaching and mentoring for prestigious awards such as Noise and Crowbar. He was chairman for the Crowbar Awards 2011 and head of Jury (activation) for Creative Circle Awards 2012.

In 2011, he started Holycrap.sg with his wife and two children, an art collective focusing on the arts. To date, they have had two successful exhibitions featuring the artworks of his children. Pann spends most weekends with them, working on projects, as well as exhibitions. He maintains that their works are not for sale, because he wants them to enjoy the process and not be caught up with the commercial benefits of the endeavour.

Pann handles projects by understanding the brief, ironing out the facts, needs, budgets, deadlines and objectives of the clients versus the needs and objectives of the agency. He works with like-minded partners, who believe that every project should serve the best interest of the client without compromising the creative integrity of the agency. For Pann, design is most meaningful when it makes sense and makes one happy. Every project is different, but needs to be based on the insights to the problems or situation. The agency operates like a family, with a strong culture of kinship. It is a healthy eco-system, where the best scheme is adopted via a voting system. This way, everyone who works hard gets a chance to be recognised and gets to do good work. To him, everyone needs to learn to deal with disappointments in life positively. His best life lesson is to constantly learn from others in order to accelerate one’s own learning. To him, learning is a life-long affair.

 

Alfie Leong (Singaporean)

“Singaporean fashion designer Alfie Leong, is the founder of fashion label mu and A.W.O.L. He is noted for his signature draping, unique cut and attention to detail. He won the Singapore Fashion Designers Contest in 1995; and subsequently received a scholarship for Raffles LaSalle International School of Design.”

Singaporean fashion designer Alfie Leong, is the founder of fashion label mu and A.W.O.L. He is noted for his signature draping, unique cut and attention to detail. He won the Singapore Fashion Designers Contest in 1995; and subsequently received a scholarship for Raffles LaSalle International School of Design. He graduated in 1998. Over the years, Leong has represented Singapore at the Beijing Fashion Week and the Smirnoff International Fashion Awards. In 2001, he made the top 20 list of international designers at the Enkamania International Competition. At home, Alfie has made waves during the Singapore Fashion Week, the Mercedes Benz Fashion Festival, and the Singapore Fashion Festival. He has also collaborated with Swatch as well as homegrown street wear brand 77th Street.

In 1999, Alfie started his own label and by 2004 set up The Little Voice Pte Ltd, to create unconventional designs to inspire customers who want to express themselves. The two private labels of the company, mu and A.W.O.L., aim to blur the boundary between creativity and practicality. The designs of mu are unique yet affordable. The label offers constructed designs that are a fusion between east and west. A.W.O.L., an abbreviation for “all walk of lives”, embodies an originality and refinement that are complementary to the life of the modern women. It is achieved through unconventional construction, emphasis on details and the use of luxurious and sophisticated fabric. His practice gives him the opportunity to fuse the diverse world of inspirations and cultures that motivates him.

When designing, Alfie considers form, materials, technology as well as saleability. The creations fundamentally need to be wearable. His design process usually starts with draping. He establishes a fixed point in the human posture, typically a staple point under the armpit, where comfort is essential. Once that staple point is established, he starts to challenge the silhouette. He consciously creates new silhouettes and accentuates the form. Alfie is very unassuming about it, but the strength of his works is in his ability to apply functional details with impeccable finish. It is a skill that is honed and backed by 20 years of practice.

For Alfie, sharing industry experiences with other fashion designers is very important. He recalls experiences of bringing local designs outside of Singapore which were often not smooth sailing, sometimes even fraught with setbacks. Helping each other in the industry and bringing related industries together are important.

His belief motivated him to start Workshop Element, a label that hosts a community of designers. It seeks outlets and opportunities for local designers to showcase their works in a curated space. The first edition of Workshop Element, launched in 2012, was a pop-up store. It presented an ensemble of 19 brands and 16 designers and curators. The venture was driven by a passion to give back, inspire and inculcate values that have served him well over the years.

 

Jessica Walsh (United States)

Jessica Walsh is a designer & art director working as a partner at NYC based design firm Sagmeister & Walsh. She lectures about design at creative conferences and universities internationally. She teaches design & typography at The School of Visual Arts in NYC. Her work has won numerous awards from most major design competitions including Type Director’s Club, Art Directors Club, SPD, Print, New York Festivals, D&AD, TDC Tokyo, and Graphis, among many others.

Clients include: Museum of Modern Art, The Jewish Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, Barneys, The New York Times, Levis, Adobe, and The School of Visual Arts.

 

Reynold Ruffins (United States)

Reynold Ruffins’ present paintings and drawings are preceded by a career as an illustrator and designer. He is a graduate of The Cooper Union and a recipient of it’s most prestigious honor, The Augustus St. Gaudens Award for outstanding professional achievement in arts. The Cooper Union Presidential Citation was also presented to Ruffins for his work and prominence in his profession.

Professor Emeritus, Queens College CUNY, Ruffins has also taught at the School of Visual Arts, The Parsons-New School of Design and was a Visiting Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University. He is a founding member of the famed Push Pin Studio and also had his own design studio with Simms Taback. Ruffins commissions for an array of clients including IBM, AT&T, Coca-Cola, CBS, Pfizer, The New York Times, Scribners, Random House, Time Life, Fortune, Gourmet Magazine and the U.S. Post Office have garnered many awards, from the New York Art Directors Club and The Society of Illustrators (Silver Medal).

Teamed with Whoopie Goldberg and jazz musician Herbie Hancock, Ruffins’ brilliant illustrations produced a highly praised video for children. He has illustrated over fifteen children’s books. The American Library Association presented him with its Coretta Scott King Award.

Ruffins’ work has been acclaimed in trade and design publications, among them: 200 Years of American Illustration, A History of Graphic Design, The Push Pin Graphic, African American Art, Graphis and How Magazine. His work is internationally recognized in group show exhibitions at The Louvre in Paris, Milan, Bologna and Tokyo.

 

MANIFESTO

This Manifesto acknowledges the change in time and how the society has moved forward. With technological advancement and the rise in media art and digital art, dada is not dead. Glitch is the new dada. The emphasis on the randomness, the illogical. This is how we embrace it today.

Final Research Hyperessay – Wander Through the Crystal Universe

taken from teamLab

A Concoction of Human and Nature

teamLab is an art collective that consists of many specialists who bring to the table an array of installation pieces we can witness at the ArtScience Museum today. As a team of programmers, artists, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects, this collective is indeed one that meld together different professions to create stunning interactive installations.

With a vision to successfully embody art, science, technology, design, nature into one, creating borderless immersive installations has been their forte. Having produced exhibitions all around the world, in Singapore, Japan, Sydney, New York, the team has seen their works go global. teamLab, as a collective, challenges their works to amalgamate human and its natural surroundings, bringing in our innate environment into the interactive, immersive realm.

Digital technology has allowed art to liberate itself from the physical and transcend boundaries. -teamLab

Indeed, this is apparent in their portfolio of works.

I m m e r s i n g into the Life-size Installation: Wander Through the Crystal Universe

An interactive installation work that has many minute delineate light points coming together to form a sphere, Wander Through the Crystal Universe is one that is mesmeric. Tapping on the soundscape and visual effects by the light points, Wander Through the Crystal Universe is one that echos Scott Fisher’s concept of immersion.

Evaluation of image realism should also be based on how closely the presentation medium can simulate dynamic, multimodal perception in the real world… The image would move beyond simple photo-realism to immerse the viewer in an interactive, multi-sensory display environment.

Wander Through the Crystal Universe, as mentioned by Fisher, is one that submerges its audience into the massive life-size container that brings its audience into a whole new realm. Mesmerising orchestra of moving light points creates an abstract narrative, bringing the audience a whole new experience. The phenomenon of “suspension of disbelief”, when teamLab engulfed the audience with a stimuli of reality (not in its entity), through stimulating the audience visually and auditory. What is created is a realm of not unquestionably what realism looks like, but an augmented, tweaked reality, as if of a different world. The circumambient forms an expression of a world inside Crystal World, an imaginative, impressionable space created through the combination of light and sound effects.

I N T E R A C T I V I T Y  facilitating H y p e r m e d i a

Audiences can fish out their mobile phones and gain control of what is displayed in the Crystal World. A universal element is selected, by simply swiping in the direction of the Crystal World. The element will then be shown through the changes in the light points that lights up and are created. This creates a different “cosmic” experience for the audiences. With interactivity as a key part to appreciating this piece, distortion in the flow of the narrative may occur when one selects a universal element while one is simultaneously showing on the installation. The abstract representations of the universal elements might be distorted in a non-sequential narrative, showing immediate changes once a universal element is chosen.

The “surprise” element to the installation is the interaction that is allowed by the audiences, by changing the effects of the light points. Removing the passive characteristic of the piece, audiences can choose their type of telepresence with mobile control. This choice factor is the only thing that is non-programmed, totally up to the sovereignty of the audience.

Order and Disorder in E n t r o p y

In the ever-changing narrative of the effects of the light points, it created a series of possibilities, creating an entropy. There is a sense of unpredictability as the narrative can change with a click of a button on the mobile by any of the audiences. For Wander Through the Crystal Universe, it is of low entropy because of its structured and finite number of possibilities. Yet, entropy in this installation may not be wholly disordered. Since the narrative will flow from one to another with the change in the effects of the light points, the instances where the change is not stark, order is still in place. In the instance of a sudden transition, disorder occurs. Hence proves that the entropy here does not always lead to a disorder.

New E r a of Art

Indeed, digital art that taps on technology and science is moving forward, putting on the table new forms of art appreciation. Unconventional, non-traditional pieces reflects the advancement of the society, where technology plays a huge role today. “Art reflects the state of the society” and likewise, the new era of art places its medium on technology and science. Nam Jun Paik, the father of video art, pioneered the idea of creating art digitally (video art), pushed the boundaries of the traditional mediums. Advancement in technology also has played a part in making digital art more accessible and relatable to people of  all walks of life. We now live in the era where art starts to mould itself, digitalising, gearing away from the conventional brush and paint, pushing the boundaries of the new medium.

References

teamLab

Nerdist – Explore the Cosmos in the “Crystal Universe” Installation

Virtual Environments, Personal Simulation and Telepresence

Entropy and Art the View Beyond Arnheim

The Chicago School of Media Theory – Hypermedia 

Art is a Reflection on Society and the Times

John Maeda: Innovation is formed when art meets science

The Rise of Digital Art

DesignBoom: borderless and brilliant: teamlab’s dreamlike digital art museum is now open

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