Image through Type. Research & Process [Yr1: Graphic Form. Project 1]

My name is … and I’m a ?

Research

Ideas:

  1. Astronauts- stars
  2. Scientist- explosion, gas
  3. Hairdresser- hair shape
  4. Architects- buildings
  5. Foodie-
  6. Idol- fans group shape
  7. DJ
  8. Dreamer- clouds
  9. Supercat hero
  10. Theme park builder

My name: EMMA, CYW, EC, ECYW

I decided to go with ECYW and the 4 jobs are

E:Dreamer;

C:cat saver/hero;

Y:foodie;

W: Adventurer

Ideal Style:

Lego kind(bright, cartoonish, appeal to both children and adult)

Isometric drawing-30 degrees

Image source: http://www.e-types.com/work/brick-by-brick-ipsum

 

Artist reference:

There are 2 artists that I like: Marta Azana & Jing zhang

Marta azana

Image source: https://dribbble.com/martaazana

 

Jing zhang

Image source: http://www.mazakii.com/

Image source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/13602911/Canon-infographic

Development

Letterform:

One letter for each illustration because i don’t want to overwhelm the viewer and it gives me lesser restrictions while creating.

 

Overall theme:

Jobs that I dream of…but i don’t think i would achieve/get it

 

E: Dreamer

Basic idea is Me dreaming. Dreamer: inspired by the movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Message:

Don’t stop Dreaming when you are still young. When we are getting older and older, the sense of dreaming big slowly faded. We start to only think about the reality.

Consultation: Try develop other ideas

C: Cat saver/ Hero

First draft:

hero that save cat. Cats climbing up to cuddle in my arm(waiting for my help). cats those are rescued are in my arm. ‘C’ is represented by the arm. I try to match This illustration to the first one, so it can be connected.

C for cat hero: C for Cat,

Message: Save Cats, they are waiting for our help! You can be a hero if you make effort

Theme: superhero, hero is not only define by saving human but also animals

Consultation: Try develop other ideas. The cats don’t look they are in danger that need help from human.

Y: Foodie

First draft:

Y is represented by the train/ or the track. Decided to draw different kind of food that i like on the train. The shape of Y reminds me of the jaw and oesophagus of human structure where the digestion occurs.

Reference photo:

Image source: https://www.yelp.com.sg/biz_photos/genki-sushi-singapore?select=Zz-mbuUdTi8q3igemhXFzQ

Consultation: Can continue to develop.

 

W: Theme park builder/ designer

First draft:

Things that i want to add: Castle, roller coaster, balloons, colourful little stores/house. I am thinking to draw an architect climbing around the “W’ to enhance the idea of Builder.

Message:

W reminds me of the roller coaster, which goes up and down. Life is like roller coaster. People should design/ build the ‘joy’ in life just like designing a theme park: place to rest, place to have fun, place for employee, add some greens to improve the environment. similar concept with ‘Foodie-‘enjoy!’

Consultation: The base of the “theme park” can be changed into any other letter. Try to develop other idea that can fit the letter form better.

 

The Final is in the next post.

Thank you for reading 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kokopelli’s Sound Shaper. Emma and Daenia [Y1: Form & Visualisation. Project2]

Story of KoKo

Kokopelli is a parade commander and he is leading a band through the streets, spreading his magical music around through the wearable instruments: wristrument and kneestrument. Through the music produced by KoKo, the city will be blessed with fertility.

 

1a) Research on Kokopelli:

  • Flute-playing God, Kokopelli is an ancient God.
  • A prehistoric, musically talented fertility deity with roots in Native American culture.
  • Since 1990, Kokopelli has also been seen on tie-dyed t shirts
  • The figure was very often found on pottery and caves
  • Kokopelli came out of a mixture of myths deities, personalities, and traits
  • Some have hunched backs, while others stand tall. Some resemble insects with antennas; others, birds. Then there are those who look more human, complete with long instrument and manhood raised high.
  • His fertility powers worked for agriculture and for attracting women
  • In later times, more recently, it symbolises free spirit
  • The sticks on his head were evolutionary antennas but have been represented as a mohawk nowadays

1b) Chosen sounds and sound lexicons

We were asked to find 2 ADM soundscape to resemble a pleasant and a unpleasant sound.

Sounds Chosen

1.Pleasant Sound: Raining

(a constant shhhhhh sound accompanied by a sharp but continuous hitting of the raindrops on the surface of the umbrella)

2.Unpleasant Sound: The Gate

(DiDiDi sound produced by the card reader in ADM)

1c) Sound lexicon & 1d) Research on body parts

 

  1. Initial ideas and Process

2a) Initial module idea (structure and material)

 

3. Final – Kneestrument

Range of motion: The back fold is connected to the knee with elastic bands that connect to each other with velcro. The front fold is then “snapped” onto the buttons found on the elastic band from the back module. The knee then moves up and down and the modules compress and expand upon movement. This shows how the kneestrument adheres to the range of motion from the knee.

Sound lexicons: The sound lexicon that this kneestrument makes is pitch and timbre.

Pitch comes from the high pitched sounds of the bells attached to the back module. As the module moves, expanding and contracting, the bells ring and jingle with the movement.

The timbre here is unique as the bells and beats hit against each other, with the combination of the high pitched sound from the bells in the folds of the module.

 

3. Final -Wristrument

Range of motion: the wristband is connected to an elastic band that has 3d modules sewed through the elastic band. At the end of the wristrument is a fingerband connected to the tip of the 3rd finger and as the wrist flexes up and down, the modules bends and overlaps over each other, accommodating the wrist flex.

Sound lexicons: The sound lexicon that this wristrument produces is mainly beat. This is created from the wooden beads that hit against the 3d module as the wrist flexes. It is an alternating sound because there are two beads on each side of the module.

4. Isometric drawings

5. Reflections

EMMA

I think we did a good job of resembling the sound we chose with our product, both the wristrument and kneetrument. I went through a lot of challenges with my partner in the beginning from how to link the sound to create a origami. I think the most important part of this project is to find out how a folding could possibly adhere to the range of motion of the body parts. This is the first time to try creating a product that can make sound when using,  interesting experience. The main takeaway is to cooperate with a partner to create a collaborative product.

DAENIA

This assignment was tedious and I struggled a lot at the start but I started to enjoy myself once my partner and I finalised on the module. It was also very enriching, analysing body parts and really breaking down their movements to the angle in order to find which material and shape would fit the body part best. I also learnt that tried and testing also makes me understand the topics better. It was also fun learning how to digitally produce origami drawings in photoshop.

FINAL VIDEO!

*click on the vimeo video to hear a clearer representation of the wristrument as the beads knock against the module

Disobedient Objects [Y1: EI. Micro-Project 4]

SHAKING UP: Trailer 

Initial Sketches

Introduction

Inspiration

Final design

Documentation

 

Trying On

Self Reflection

How does your hacked object behaves in a way you least expect it to?

What are some reactions you observed from your participants when they interacted with the object?

What are the challenges involved and how did you overcome them? What problems still exist? How might you overcome them eventually?

 

EMMA

  1. Expectation

Our hacked object, the “vibrating bracelet” works exactly like I expect it to behave, vibrates after a certain period of time. At first, my partner Hamimah and I were thinking whether we should add a time display, just like this. After discussing, we decided not to because it would distract the audiences. If we had added the time display, our product would look like a normal watch, with a vibrating function. Therefore, we sticked on the idea of just having a vibration motor.

During class, my classmates had further expanded the discussion: to have a watch surface or not. Somebody said yes, so they can know the time. I personally think that not having the watch surface makes the product works better. I will go back to nap for a while if I know the timing. The strong vibrating is enough to “shake” me up.

  1. Reactions

Our 1st participant was confused about how to interact with our object. She tried on and noticed the object is vibrating. The 2nd and 3d participants observed the 1st participant and got the idea of the function of our object(vibrates then stops, vibrates and stops). Overall, participants didn’t get the meaning of our object after experiencing. Nevertheless, after explaining and presenting our object, people gave positive feedbacks saying that it really works as a “Shaking Up” object. People became even more interested in our object when they were told the strength of vibration can be adjusted.

  1. Challenges

When we first came out with this idea, we were very lost as we haven’t learnt how to use a motor. We struggled a lot of from what electronics and electrical needed to how to type for the coding nor how to setup the arduino with the motherboard. Choosing Material for attaching the vibrating motor: a bracelet, an elastic band, etc. We chose a watch strap as it is lightweight and comfortable to wear on, perfect for wearing when sleeping. We thought of placing the vibrating motor on top of the bracelet but instead we placed it at the back so the vibration to user was stronger.

The questions for consulting:

  1. How to connect the timer with the vibration motor?
  2. What is const int motorPin? motorPin=3? (we are confuse)
  3. What does it mean for the speed of motor to be 0 to 255?
  4. How do we control the strength of the vibration?

The problems were mostly solved during the consultation. I am pleasant to have a slot for consulting our lecturer. The ‘sewing department’ helped us to lengthen the wire of the vibrating motor and Lei helped us to find a sample together showing how to place the electronics. We learnt that a 1 Ω resistor isn’t same as the 5 Ω one and how to control the strength of the vibrating motor (value 0-255, the larger the value, the higher of strength). Also, learning that Arduino Pin3 is used for motors.

1 hour before the Trying On lesson begins, we still couldn’t solve the coding problem. We wanted it to vibrate for a few times then stops, just like how an alarm clock functions. We thought of doing a countdown code but it was too hard for us to construct a workable coding. We ended up using the original researched coding sample.(changing the delay time) We copied and placed some codes but there were errors of the codes. Finally, we solved it by double-checking the connection to the right port and decreasing the times that we wanted it to vibrates(from 5 times to 3 times).

  1. Reflection

The experiencing could be bettered by including a sensor or more output devices, for example, a LED light, pressure sensor, a buzzor. They can create a more ‘interactive’ experience to the participants. I will say we both learn a lot from this Micro-project, about collaborating with a partner, constructing a interactive product, knowing the materials and electronics needed for creating an Arduino working object. I hope one day I can actually write and put the electronics in the right place without coping codes and following the sample.  

 

HAMI

Both of us understood the brief differently and because of that there wasn’t any unexpected behaviour. The whole layout was set to achieve the expected results. Since our final outcome was a little different from the rest, our first participant was extremely clueless on how to interact with our object. She keep on asking questions on how to approach the object which ended up with one of us have to step in to help her. The other two participants was quite alright since they have the basic knowledge from the first participant. The overall feedbacks we get was that everyone was at loss with our object. However, after our explanation, everyone seems to be aware of what we are trying to approach. There was also a moment of chaos when they learn that they are able to control the strength of the vibration. Overall, the reaction we get was that a few of the class thinks this vibrating bracelet was a cool idea however, there was a handful who thought that this was a useless idea which is quite sad. The whole process was a challenge me and Emma since both of us was completely loss throughout the whole making process. We were lucky that we get a slot for the consultation. The consultation helps a lot. Like seriously a lot. The challenges we faces is 1. Controlling the strength of the vibrating motor   . 2. The parts we need for the vibrating motor to work . 3. Getting the right coding for the alarm. The first and second challenges we overcome with Lei helps. The discovery of controlling the strength of the vibrating motor helps most the confusion. But sadly, we still haven’t solve the alarm coding. Our lack of understanding with the code ( with / for ) make it impossible for the alarm to work. We decided to play around with the timer coding (it is the easier way to deal with time) by creating longer delay. The existing problem is perhaps that we are making an alarm object without using the alarm coding. I guess the only way to overcome this situation is when we learn how to make interactions with time.

Comparing Micro Project 4 with 1, 2 and 3, Micro Project 4 is way beyond difficult but I think mostly it’s our fault that we were quite ambitious to try something that wasn’t taught before. Perhaps we should try dealing with LED light and sound sensor. Vibrating sensor was quite a challenge to deal with firstly the different parts that we never heard off before and secondly it deals with time. We learn a lot of things in this project but the main takeaway is that interactions that deals with time is … let’s just say difficult is an understatement. Till today we are still confuse about the whole coding.

Critical Making [Y1: EI. Research Critique 3]

Image source: http://www.conceptlab.com/criticalmaking/

Link to google slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XfMEx2mqTW9un1VY9-j_-HwKRNvHuHYUaJK0TDNVeqE/edit?usp=sharing

Critical making is a term came up in 2008 by Matt Ratto, a university Associate Professor, and can be defined as a combination of ‘critical thinking’ and ‘making’. It describes processes of material and conceptual exploration, specifically the use of hand-on practices to link technologies to the society, to stimulate critical social reflection. Ratto hoped this term can create incentive to professionals primarily working with language (E.g. fields of communication and science) to work with hands-on activity with “conceptual and linguistic -oriented thinking”.

In short, critical making is to create prototype and explore them using technologies and push users to question and discuss about social norms. Also, according to Ratto, “Critical making emphasizes the shared acts of making rather than the evocative object. The final prototypes are not intended to be displayed and to speak for themselves”. It is the process of constructive and exploring that matters.

Standard methods of technological design mainly produce products based on needs and function. However, there is a lack of emotional, cultural and social value(human-oriented values). It over-emphasizes consumer-oriented values such as production efficiency and the result. This leads to ignorance of connecting consumers to personal emotional level during the production process. Critical making lets designers to rethink about the designing principle and explore a  “broader spectrum of human experience”, creating more remarkable products. It reminds people to stand in a different perspective and to care more of their user experience and emotion.

 

79% Work Clock

 

“79% Work Clock” is an example of critical making, to “open up and extend social reflection”. It is a product created by PARTY, a creative lab based in New York and Tokyo, with collaboration with MTV’s Look Different campaign.

Image source: https://adage.com/creativity/work/79-clock/46448

The 79% is the annual median wage for women compared to men in American, working from 9am to 5pm everyday. The 79% Work Clock is different from the technological designed clock. This is a critical making product that protests towards the discrimination to women regarding their age, race or sexual orientation. It challenges social norms and stimulates social reflection by simply chimes once 79% of the women’s workday is over. This is to remind the colleges(especially male) the unfair situation women employees are suffering. A ordinary clock will only denote the time and chime at the time set. This is a purely functional design that cannot reach user’s personal emotional level. The PARTY website provides an online tool for woman to calculate where the 79% is and when it should chime. It is an informative than practical product that alarms the social issue: gender pay gap in the US. 

Image source: https://medium.com/look-different/what-is-the-pay-gap-and-how-can-we-end-it-c2b7fcb71a13

All in all, I think critical making is an important concept for future designers to understand and apply. The designing principle should be ongoing improving and extending. “A good art should cause resonance with viewers, connect them to personal or emotional level.” Design should not be constraint with only fulfilling function and needs but also have to consider the user experience by linking to social and cultural context to evolve into a better design.    

 

References:

Hertz, G. (n.d.). What is Critical Making? Retrieved February 20, 2019, from http://current.ecuad.ca/what-is-critical-making

Bendix, A. (2016, April 27). Your Newest Reminder of the Wage Gap Is an Alarm Clock. Retrieved February 20, 2019, from https://www.citylab.com/life/2016/04/wage-gap-clock/479973/

Lou, Mary, and Shovova. “12 Contemporary Artists Tell Us What It Takes to Make a Great Piece of Art.” My Modern Met. May 12, 2017. Accessed February 19, 2019. https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-great-art/.

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLAonn5j4mI

Prism Light Bomb. Final [Y1: F&V Project1. Pandora Revisited]

Process

In this project, we are assigned to create a basic volume based on 3 words we got.

My 3 words

Shift: displace

Offset: add, derived a section from the original one

Shift: displace

Ideas

I had tried out different ideas for module 1:

2nd idea

Eventually, after consultation, the 2nd idea doesn’t match with my instructed words: shift, offset and shift. I derived module 1 from the 1st idea.

 

Module 1

 

This module is formed with 3 main triangular structure, with a height from high to low. (to make it more interesting) The base is a plain triangular structure. ‘Shift causes the 2nd triangular structure to move along the side of the base. ‘Offset’ causes the smallest triangular structure derived from the middle one and it ‘shift’s to the edge.

 

Refined Module 1 with more precise measurement and cut

 

Replicates for Module 2

Instead of making mould with latex or press-in silicon, crafting it with foam is the best option.

Reasons: it will get suck in the latex mould and the press-in silicon cannot give the replicate a clear cut of the edges and holes.

 

Trying Out Possible Layouts

 

These layouts do not work out because the module would suck in the silicon mould.

The hole, shift and height difference are obstacles for constructing layout of the ice.

 

Module 2: Ice Tray Layout and Process

   

Difficulties: 

Too much of solution mixed. To avoid wastage, I had to give up my plan of making separate mould:(

 

Final

I tried to turn to move the foam out of the mould but I failed.

Cut my mould into half by pen knife:

I managed to take the foam by cutting the mould into half by a pen knife, it works out pretty well. I tied the 2 silicon mould together with a rubber band-> pour water into it. It didn’t leak! out of my expectation.

 

ICE BORN

And it melts to death…

 

Thank you for reading 🙂

Together Split [Y1: EI. Micro-Project 3]

Maze Solving with Ellie, Jiaxi and Hami 

  • Write a description of the work, where it was performed, its objectives and outcome, and your overall experience of the work.

Story plot

We video call using instagram after lesson, wondering around. Ellie finds a part of a maze (marked with 1). We are surprised and discover there are other parts of map. We decide to cooperate together to solve the maze…

Important

Once the line reaches edge of the paper, the next person will have to continue.

Where it was performed…

It was performed through 4 different places around the ADM school area. We can only communicate through video call.

Objectives

Even people are in different places, with the advance of technology, they can still help each other out from problems and difficulties. For example, ask your friends to solve a math question together, even they are in overseas.

Working Process

Maze Reference: 

Planning and trying out the maze:

Outcome of Trial:

 

The End of Micro 3:

Outcome 

We successfully solved a maze through cooperating and communicating.

Overall experience

It was harder than we expected. The sequencing of each person appeared in the screen was different in our mobile phones. We managed to solve it by only screen recording in one device.

  

Reflection: Micro 1 to Micro 3

  1. Which project did you feel you had the most creative control? Why?

Micro 1. I am the creator of my picture. I can take picture without restrictions. It is the tag 1010adm that create the virtual third space and connects me and others’ works together.

 

2. Which project had the most unpredictable outcome? Why?

Micro 2. Even we(our group members) gave the participant instruction(draw something that represent the mood of today), they didn’t follow. We could only be one of the participants and had no rights to influence others. We were not the creator of the work, we provided a platform for the participants to create a work collaboratively.

 

3. Which project best illustrates the concepts of DIWO & OpenSource? Why?

In my opinion, micro 2. When comparing Micro 1,2 and 3, Micro 2 is the only one that allow to build on ideas of other and is accessible to everyone.  Micro 1: me takes pictures and adds to a shared platform. Micro 3 is limited to 4 people.

Crowd-Sourced Art [Y1: EI. Micro-Project 2]

DIWO

Group project with Ellie, JiaXi and Hami 

Collaborative drawing 

Used medium: Aggie which everyone can draw at the same time

First 10 mins after we sent the link

Link: https://aggie.io/874r0ycxpp

We sent this link to our friends and classmates through whatsapp groups.

Instruction: Draw anything to represent your current mood for the day

Limitation: Size of the panel, we cannot give other instruction to influence the participators

Expectations:

  • Anonymous, so anyone can draw whatever they want, share their current mood, to express themselves
  • No editor to finalise the work so it might be a mess
  • People cannot erase others’ works, can only overlap others’ works or cover them with white- moral issue
  • This activity will connect strangers in a single drawing panel

Social Experiment GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Observation:

  • Trends were created– if someone write words, others follow. Example: Someone wrote ♡EMMA♡, another person followed by writing 明♡
  • Some participants didn’t follow the given instruction- write names that cannot represent mood for the day
  • Most of the people didn’t inform me in whatsapp group after they had participated- they did it for fun, not because of the relationships between us. Possible reasons: Sounds interesting, can draw freely with no restriction
  • Many people drew with the default blue colour- they were still restricted in the given box
  • No one continues works created by others
  • Someone covered others’ work by blocks
  • ADM’s friends asked me what is this about, how’s the lesson so far afterwards- connects me and my friends
  • A whatsapp group revived after I sent the link


Final stage of the piece

 

Reflection:

Purpose: allows people to express and share their feelings, lighten their day, to keep in touch with friends

This activity shows participants’ emotion of the day. Their personality can be observed through the drawing. I can probably tell who drew particular parts.

 

How is your crowd-sourced project different from one that is created by a single artist/creator?

This project is an DIWO piece. It involves interaction between participants. People are contributing to create a piece, while people can only view and appreciate art piece that is created by a single artist.

Micro-Project 1 – Creating the Third Space

My Posts

1. Why did you choose this space or object to photograph?

“Even though schooling is tough, remember free food is there waiting for you”

The news of ‘free food’ was heard when I was wondering around. Everyone was rushing down with excitement and eating with joy, so was I. This picnic place is recorded by photographs and they refresh people’s memories of our first Experimental Interaction lesson. It reminds me of the memories of having free food in ADM, e.g. Halloween day, scholar events. Free food lightens my day during the stressful ADM life. Thank you to all the ‘free food’ which enriches our ADM community. 

 

2. What are some of the characteristics of this alternative virtual space you had created collectively?

This virtual space reflects life of ADM students. They create bonds and resonance of the art students. Each post shows a specific memory and shows the personality of the person who posted.

Examples

ADM students’ struggle before deadlines:

Eat, live and sleep at ADM 

Locker of our class during Semester 1:

So pleased to have such a harmonious class

 

3. Under what circumstance will this alternative virtual space change?

This alternative virtual space will change when our perceptive of the space change. Emotions and thoughts (behaviour) of the audiences are the main element to define this space. It is a subjective space to every individual. “Like” and “comment” allow us to share our mindsets to others which also cause it to change.

 

4. How does this project relate to what we discussed in the lecture regarding co-creation, the concept of Do-It-Yourself (DIY), Do-It-With-Others (DIWO)?

DIY is something you create yourself, for example IKEA furniture and cooking. Yoko Ono ‘s “Cut Piece” is an example of co-creation. Artist sets the rule by allowing each audience to cut a piece of her clothing while she remained motionless until most of her clothing was cut away and must call it off. It involves both artist and audiences to create an art piece collaboratively. In this micro-project, the photographs are examples of DIY and the alternative virtual space is DIWO, allowing others to react on posts and co-create the virtual space.