Tuesday 28th of Sept. 10' & Thursday 30th of September 2010 : III. Design as Communication: Representing Things & Ideas (part 3&4)

On Tuesday we just continued drawing our objects using the same but also some different new methods, which were the before-last 4 methods of the whole 16 methods we started out:

09  must convey a specific meaning (a functional characteristic)
10  must express the texture of your thing

11  must a hybrid: select best expression make "nirvana";

form that feels right.

12  must create an index of your object
We had to finish 20 of each for Thursday, and I think that was a LOT of drawing to do...

At the end of class we had done another quick critique session on each of our sets of drawings, and a little bit before that we went to the computer lab where the other graphic design teacher Jeremy showed us a few things on Illustrator.

Thursday we continued drawing using 4 new methods :

13  must convey a specific meaning

(an adjective symbolically attached)

14  must be radical an extreme abstraction of another; bizarre

15  must explore making marks on "another surface";

(no laser printer paper)

16  must be entirely typographic

(use a word that sums up your object, real or made-up)

I thought these were the most fun of all because they were challenging but in an amusing kind of way.
I had got some finished but still needed to keep working on the rest.

 That day we also went to the computer lab and the graphic design teacher Jeremy showed us other interesting things we could do on Illustrator.

Tuesday 21st of Sept. 10' & Thursday 23rd of September 2010 : III. Design as Communication: Representing Things & Ideas (part 1&2)

For Tuesday we had to pick 5 different hand tools and draw them in 3 different dimensions each. Then in class that day we had to pick one ( I chose my cherry key chain) and start drawing it a lot, to get "the hang of it", and eventually we started using specific methods to do so ; we drew using a gestural method, then using a painterly and calligraphical method, and in total we had to have finished drawing at least 20 using each method of our object for next class.That day most of the class also took professional pictures of their object, in my case, I used a black background, to contrast with the silver edge of my object but also to contrast with the red and green of the cherry part).

Here are all of my 5 different hand tools, in 3 different views:
#1: my eraser

#2: my stapler

 #3: my cup

 #4: my DVD remote control

My final object: the one I chose to use for all my drawings: my cherry key chain

On Thursday we had to gather up all of our drawings that we did during the drawings that we finished but had started on Tuesday ( in the 3 different methods : (gestural, painterly and calligraphic) and hung them on the wall. Then we continued to draw using the same methods but more using new ones, such as the graphical method, where we had to draw our object using only straight lines, right angles but also the other method where we had to draw it using only the following geometrical shapes: circles, triangles or square. Not much of the students had brought photocopies of texture for the collage of their object so we left that part, and moved on to the next method, which consisted in using alternate marking tool, nothing traditional no pencil/pen, brush, marker). After we finished making several drawings of that type, we moved on to the next method which had to be a drawing that conveyed a specific meaning (using only one line. That was the 8th method and I think we stopped at that one in class, but a little while before leaving all the students gathered in front of the walls where all the drawings were hung and the teacher asked one by one which set of drawings/which object he or she liked the most and why. I thought that was interesting to know everyone's opinion, to learn from differences.  

Here are my drawings that I hung on the wall:

Here are some of my drawings:

 Gestural

 Painterly/Calligraphic

 Using only straight lines

 Using non-traditional material; in this case a wooden branch and ear cotton cleaner

my table: the paint and ink and wooden twigs we drew with

The room we took our object's photo-shoot in

We did a critique session at the end of class, to see what's interesting in every object and to know how to improve , what to do, etc.

In the Design Department faculty exhibition in the Art & Design Gallery: what interests me about it and how the design/object relates to what we have discussed in class

When I went into the gallery,  I took a quick look at what was all around, but the only designs/objects that caught my attention were the (2) ones on the right, and particularly the one on the edge
(of Margie Kuhn), which had drawings/images of 3 small fudge rectangular cakes in bags over lots of pictures of Marylin Monroe in small square boxes that were in some kind of a grid that were themselves above 3 relatively small-sized reddish and dry-looking leaves.

I think t was the odd mix of elements used in the board that attracted my attention and although I never tasted the articular brand of fudge cake that was drawn I was familiar to it because I had tasted fudge cake before and I was also familiar with Marilyn Monroe because she is very famous and I have heard her story and about her many times before as well and the leaves reminded me of Fall time, the season, because of the color and the texture of the leaves.

I think that this art relates to what we have discussed in class because the elements are presented in a neat orderly way, such that if I imagined a grid they would be perfectly aligned to it, and it is an interesting combination of images, the color are appealing and there seems to be some kind of order to the page.

My reflections on the Understanding Comics reading

After reading the comic chapter 2 and 5 I was opened to a whole new set of different things that I learned while reading it concerning comics, art and how artists choose to represent their art, characters, etc.
I really think I'm going to be more analytical when it comes to analyzing art because of all the details and explanations that were in the comic. I think it should help with the upcoming project since we should choose an object (out of the 5 that we and to sketch in 3 different views) and represent it in 16 different ways from its most realistic dimension to its most abstract.

Tuesday 14th 2010: Final steps

That day we almost had everything done, we just gathered up in class to talk about the hanger design again, then Jon chose to make the final prototype by himself, and it turned out great, and impressive because not only it looked exactly like the sketch of it but it was also functional.

The new & improved hanger design: the scented hanger

Demonstration of how functional it is.

Another demonstration of its functionality.

Although one of our group member wasn't there because he was sick,  me and Ashton tried to figure what what could be done concerning the poster on Adobe Illustrator and how, and somehow we got to a solution. Luke was the one going to do it so we tried to send him as man things as possible to help make his job easier and faster.

We had another meeting the next day in the Art&Design building and while Luke was working on the poster on his computer, me, Ashton and Jon (but also Luke) tried to think of what to characterize the new hanger. We tried to think of several words or adjectives that could describe the hanger in a quick, attractive and simple way, and that took quite some time to figure out. We thought of many things, and in the end came up with the final perfect sentence describing our new&improved product.
We then discussed with Luke how we'd like to arrange that on the poster, and each one of us gave his/her opinion and we tried different layouts, until we got to the right one.

After that we bought the foam board and printed the poster, but also put the double sticky tack on the poster before putting it on the foam board. Then we cut the board into the reduced requested dimensions. And so after hours of work and discussion, we were done!

Thinking & Making : Prototypes

So on Thursday 08//10, we all gathered in each of our groups again to think about each one of our group members' designs for our chosen object ( in our case, a hanger) and looked at each of our several sketches for the new redesigned object (hanger, for our group). 

Each member of our group chose a design among their sketches and realized a prototype of their new redesigned hanger from cardboard, clay, foam core and other material...

 

After producing the different hangers we hung them on the wall next to our table and started analyzing them, looking at one by one and measuring the pros and cons of each one, in order to decide on one specific hanger of all 4 of ours to redesign as the final project hanger.

All four of our design prototypes (including an extra one from Luke:

 

From left to right : mine, Luke's, Jonathan's, Luke's 2nd and Ashton's)

Analyzing each one, discussing the pros and cons

Exchanging ideas, points of views, opinions..

A few minutes later we decided to combine some of the aspects in each hanger into one of them to make it more interesting, practical, useful, etc. And finally we decided to choose Luke's hanger prototype design, but introducing a few features from each of the other hangers as well into it.

Luke's hanger design prototype: the scented hanger

We then had to decide on a meeting plan in order to get things together and ready so we can have  this project finished.

*THE DEEP DIVE*

I had interviewed 5 people about my hanger as my poorly designed object and heard very interesting opinions concerning them. By writing down the pros and cons that each person pointed out, and by including my own point of view, I could finally know what to do in order to improve my object by redesigning it better.

But especially the IDEO video certainly influenced me a lot and inspired me , gave me motivation and determination to initiate my project and made me want to think deeply like the professionals to produce useful, fun and fascinating mind-blowing good ideas.

Monday 08/06/10

In groups we started to think of an object (the one we chose to redesign) and brainstormed. We had to think of its flaws, and how to redesign it, so we also wrote down the pros and cons of the object, and between groups the members of each group discussed those points and shared opinions and other personal or general thoughts of their object. After deeply thinking of its use and writing down everything we could think of concerning the object negatively or positively, we deeply thought of how to actually redesign the object (in our case a hanger) and noted all the ways possible to do so (redesigning the shape, improving basic features, adding new features, new ideas into the boring old cheap and poorly-designed item...). Here are a few pictures demonstrating our process and "deep diving" :

Ashton & Luke initiating ideas, Ashton noting them down.

At the very beginning of the DEEP DIVE process..ready to take notes and record our ideas

After a lot of thinking and taking notes, a messy desk and very few post-its left.

Final result: Our huge board filled with each of our unique, fun, fresh, simple, crazy, practical, realistic & different interesting ideas.

Our amazing fun&hardworking team from left to right: Ashton, Aliaa (me), Luke and Jonathan.

Overall it was a great day, we were non-stop generating great ideas and gradually quickly filling our poster up.
I personally felt so innovative, so productive, so professional because of the deep dive process and the methods we used to achieve our goal successfully.

Our first project was to choose 5 objects we think were well-designed and sketch them

we then had to pick an object to use as the main one on the foam board project

here is my object that I chose for my foamboard project:
a Sony Ericsson cell phone:

and here is my foam board itself:

Thursday's class (08/02/2010) was a really interesting class because we worked on mind maps, on concept maps and went around tables to check out other people's ideas and how they put them together and what they linked to them and how..which was a great source of inspiration for everybody I think because we got to see not only some students' objects but also what they linked to it and how through the different maps. 

 Here are my mind/concept maps (extended by other students):

I am eager to see how our next project will turn out (choosing our poorly designed object and redesigning it).

Here is my poorly designed object: a hanger