Final Lantern

It's finally come to the end of all the projects of Design Think & Make I! Here are a few pictures of how my final lantern turned out. I decided to break up the sections to give it some interest and make it more open. I like it overall, but feel like being given another critique would have done it a lot of good. Overall, I am glad to be done for the semester, yet I'm grateful for this enriching experience.

Revised Model

For this class period, we were supposed to revise our models closer to how we wanted our final to look like. I completely redid mine in a new structure since that is what I'm struggling with most at this point. With this structure, I like it as a desk/table light, however once it's the required size I think it will be much too large for that. I think I am going to try to make either a lantern or a wall mount, as well as play with the composition. I have a lot of work to do for next Tuesday.

First Model

For this class period, we were told to bring in a first model of our final. After making multiple models, I decided to carry on with the tile idea. Having some squares torn away while others left full makes for a very cool effect. While I am still unsure on the shape, I really like this idea and intend to carry on with it for the next class period and eventually my final.

Playing with Bristol Board

Our next step was to make some transformations with bristol board. It has many different qualities than paper, most notably having multiple layers. In this way, it's good to play with different thicknesses of the paper. I feel as though leaving all of it solid makes it too dense and too plain. While it is time consuming to peel back different layers, the end result is most definitely worth it seeing as it looks incredible with a light behind it. I plan to use this feature in my final lantern. Below are the bristol board transformations I played with. My favorites, and the ones I plan to continue on with after getting feedback thursday, include the tiled one, the zig zag one near the top of the picture, and the crumbled one with long, narrow, triangular strips crossing in the bottom right. I am excited to see what direction will look the best.

Paper Transformations

Last week, we were instructed to play with paper and work with it - see what it can do. You could cut, tear, crumble, wet, etc. in order to transform its appearance. This helped to get our juices flowing for the lantern project to sort of get an idea of the direction we want to potentially go with it. I posted below a picture of the different things I tried. I am still very unsure of which pattern my lamp will be based around, if any, but I still have much more time to decide that.

Photography Essay Reflection

This was a rather short, yet extremely valuable and informative essay. After reading it I feel as though I could go take some professional-looking pictures. It consisted of eight sections of tips for photography. The first was symmetry & asymmetry. This is rather self-explanatory but both can be useful depending upon the subject matter.

The next section was repetition. It was explained that repetition can be very useful in getting across an expressive effect in a photograph. It’s the concept that one would be cool, but multiple really force that point across and grab ones attention.

Following this section was one on framing. This one stuck me the most I would say since it’s not something that I would normally think of, yet it is essential. Having other objects that not only lead to the main subject, but also contribute to understanding the photo are quintessential. It’s something one assumes to occur naturally, but it takes much planning on the photographers part.

Close-ups were discussed next. These are usually used to take a snapshot of objects typically overlooked. This close up view calls for your attention to a certain aspect. Opportunities for these photos appear everywhere and are readily available.

Continuous mode is yet another aspect to consider. If you take photos in a circle and get motion shots you can either great a book out of it, or you are bound to get a photograph that you love out of the multiple. It’s a good option for subjects that are in motion.

Also essential to the photograph process is exploration. You’re never going to absolutely love your first design idea, and much is the same for photographs. The author suggests taking a hundred photos beforehand with different lighting and shadows to find something you really like and can work with.

Movement is another option when photographing. If you move the lens while the photograph is in process, the result is typically very neat. It is usually hard to make out what it is, but the abstract picture is a piece of art.

Last, but certainly not least, is serendipity. The author told a story of the light fuse going out in a coffee shop and he therefore got a photo op of candles in the bathroom. The lesson here is to always have your camera with you for you never know when an opportunity might arise. 

Even though I am not a photo media major, this information has been very helpful to me and I’m glad to have taken the time to read it. 

Parts of the Letter Reflection

At the beginning of our project Daniel gave a presentation on the parts of the letter. It was extremely informative. We learned all about x-height, which is what the ascender and desenders are measured off of, along with cap heights, baselines and more. It really taught me a lot about what all goes into these fonts. Before I didn’t even know what ‘serif’ was but now am informed about every little mark and its title. It was extremely helpful for this project especially. Fonts is actually one of my favorite things to work with. In drawing class, I typically opt to draw lyrics in fun fonts rather than anything else. This is probably why I enjoyed this project so much. 

As for learning about these fonts, it really helped us decide what font to use for the project. We had an option whether or not we used a serif font, and opted out of it since we feel as though it did nothing for our word. This was good to know and to think about so that our form turned out exactly as we had wanted and how we had it planned. 

A lot more goes into any project than one would expect, and this was just one of those times. It wouldn’t seem as though learning about the parts of letters and their labels would help out for creating meaning in a physical word, yet it definitely played it’s part. Overall, I’m glad I now have this information for future reference and future projects.  


“By learning the vocabulary designers and typographers can develop a greater understanding and sensitivity to the visual harmony and complexity of the alphabet.”

Refined Book Model

Today we were instructed to bring in a refined version of our book and were then given critique. After today I have determined that I need to make it a little smaller, make the cover red, make sure all the photos are the same size, and print out the backgrounds as all one piece rather than cut/paste. I have posted a few pictures of my model below:

Preliminary Photo Books

Last Thursday we were instructed to bring 3 examples of potential photo books. Here are a few pictures of the ones I made:

In the end, with the help of both my teacher and peers, I decided to go with the last on for a little bit of a different approach.

Word Placement

Yesterday we were finally able to all get together to put our words around campus in create places. It feels good to have it done, especially since the tape started losing the adhesive. I hope you like them!

Finished Word Model!

It has taken some intense work these past couple days but today was the day it all came to a close! Between meeting all day Sunday, and a lot longer Monday than was expected, our team was more than excited for it to be finished with our enormous letters. Today we set them up on Wescoe beach for our peers to see, using a pole to make the 'l' just as we had planned. We had a lot of trouble with getting the letters to stay upright considering how extreme the wind was today but all-in-all I think we are all very happy with our outcome :)

Letter Construction

This past week has been focused all on creating our huge letters which will be set up around campus. I posted a picture of how our model will turn out in a past post and since then have been working on construction; it takes a lot longer than one would expect. We plan to meet tomorrow to complete the model seeing as it is due on Tuesday. As soon as it is all glued/taped together we plan to paint it red in which I am responsible to getting so we have to figure out which paint will work the best. I am anxious as to see how it will turn out.

Lettering Rework

While we were set on our previous idea, when it came to thinking about construction we decided to go a different way. After some planning I think this will work out very well. We still plan to put it on Wescoe beach since that's were students gather and are "included", as well as use the same locations for the word and possibly even get a basketball player to pose as the "l" for one of them. I'm very anxious to begin construction and can't wait to see the final product.

We plan to put a monument in the void to create the "L"

Brainstorming

Today we began brainstorming for how our group was going to create this giant form of our word, include. Though we went through several different ideas, the one we have decided upon is pictured below. We ideally want to set it up on Wescoe beach. With this design, we aim to have students walk into the frame, therefore including themselves into the word and demonstrating it's meaning. I am very happy with this idea and really think it demonstrates the word well. Below I have also posted places on campus we could potentially set up our representation of the word to create the "i". 

LETTERS SKETCH

basketball hoop

street sign

jayhawk statue

campanille

basketball statue

20 Word Compositions

Our assignment for today was to create twenty different compositions of our word to demonstrate it's meaning. We were giving just a few restrictions:
1.) must be printed on paper (2D, flat piece of paper)
2.) must be only the word (no decorations, illustration, photos)
3.) must use the font Futura
4.) must fit into a 6 x 6 inch square

We could use:
-spacing
-placement
-orientation of letters (rotate, reflect)
-overlapping of letters
-cropping of letters
-slicing of letters
-omit or repeat letters
-black letters and white letters (positive and negative)

During class, we had our peers pick out their favorite compositions from the bunch. Five of mine were chosen, those of which I have posted below:

What Language Looks Like

Today, we were also introduced into our knew project - what language looks like. We were given our groups and then instructed to pick a word out of a jar. Our word we got is include. To begin this project we must first get the definition. I found this one from Merriam-Webster:

INCLUDE (transitive verb)
1 to shut up : enclose
2. to take in or comprise as a part of a whole or group
3. to contain between or within <two sides and the included angle>

I am very excited for this project - more than I have been for any of the ones in the past. This sort of thing really interests me and I can't wait to get further into it!

Project Overview

Today was the day when everything was finally due. We had made a total of 3 prototypes, as well as a poster and a movie. We created our prototype to make it easier to both fill up and to remove the ice. This was done by having a lid on top when vertical for filling, as well as a lid horizontally for easy ice access. The final prototype was constructed with paper and silicone. I'm going to post pictures of how far we had come. Overall, I am very happy with our outcome! 

Our group holding the prototypes in progression order

Close up of our final prototype

Our final poster design

The top right corner of this poster contains our concept statement: Traditional ice cube trays are messy to fill and transport, along with having an unintuitive and frustrating mechanism for releasing ice by twisting the tray. Thus we built our design to address these three main issues. Our design can be filled and carried in a vertical format before being placed in the freezer horizontally. After freezing, the ice is easily accessed by simply opening the top, leaving perfectly divided ice cubes. 

Objectified Reflection

About three weeks ago we began this project by watching a documentary titled Objectified. It was a documentary essentially all about design, having multiple different designers speak about their personal experiences and thoughts. While at times this commentary went slightly over my head, overall it was nearly a life-changing movie. It causes you to think of everything differently. There is intense thought and planning put into every single object you interact with every single day. That is definitely not something one often will put much, if any, thought into.

From Jonathon Ives of Apple to the founders of Flip Video and even Dieter Rams, who created the Ten Principles of Good Design, many famous designers got to share their knowledge towards the subject. Much like Rams' article, he speaks of how design must be sleek and understandable. Ives, on the other hand, spoke more about how design is all about how you view the world. This impacts the kind of designer you are.

A very memorable discussion that really spoke to me is that you are designing for the future. That is something I hadn't thought of before. For me, I always just thought of it as creating something, but rather you want to be innovative - you want to make this the style and hit thing for years to come.

Another very big point that was brought up a few times is how much the style has changed. It used to be that an object's function could be told by it's form, such as a dial telephone or a lamp. Nowadays, that is all skewed with our technology. Looking at an iPhone, one would have absolutely no clue it's function had they not heard of it before. This represents how design can evolve throughout the years.

One last point I would like to bring up is Dieter Rams' talk about how there are now so many designed thing that are just pointless. There is no need for them and they are very nonfunctional. This irks him considering on of his ten principles of good design includes usefulness and functionality.

I'm very glad that we got the opportunity to view this film. It made me look at design in a little bit of a different way and definitely helped to arouse ideas for this project. Hearing these professional designers, who are ideally where we all want to be someday, share what impacts them as designers is very helpful to our process.

Understanding Comics

There were a two chapters of writing comics we were instructed to read for class. Contrary to what I was expecting, both of which happened to be very interesting. I surprisingly learned a lot about cartoons through them. The most universal topics talked about all throughout Chapter 2 were icons, specifically the face, and why cartoons are so simple. When they are basic, the reader/viewer is able to more relate with that character. We see ourselves as a simple outline in our head while we see others in much more detail, and therefore see ourselves in these very basic cartoons. The speaker cartoon himself is very basic and says that if he were more realistic, we would be less apt to read it. Thinking about that, I agree 100 percent. Right now he is more subjective, but given he realistically resembled a human, it would be less of a concept and more of the physical world. There are two worlds we relate with - the physical and the conceptual. Both holding many different feelings, thoughts, and associations with each. I was very much interested in this chapter and became very engaged.

On to chapter 5, this chapter more addressed lines and the expressions they addressed. A line, shaped and modeled in different directions and forms, can portray different emotions and feelings. They can be shaped to look realistic or something very unrealistic in cartoons. These unrealistic symbols, such as the smell lines often seen raising from trash, are invisible ideas. They don't exist in real life, yet have been accepted into our vocabulary and are clearly recognizable upon sight. Cartoons are all about the art of the invisible.

Writer's Toolbox Reflection

This handout was given to us at the very beginning of our process. This is due to the fact that it revolves around the idea of creating a map/list of some sort in order to organize your thoughts and produce new ideas. This handout covered five of these ways to get your creative juices flowing, including:

• Mind Maps - We have done several of these in class. You start with the main idea in the center and from there branch out a good amount of words the central subject makes you think of. From there, more are branched off and so on. The words/phrases will gradually relate less and less to the theme, but good ideas come up that you never would've thought of before.
• Concept Maps - In this version of a map, it is started at the top of the page with the subject to be discussed and more bubbles are branched downwards. Where this differs from a mind map is that a proposition is required in between the two ideas. The example of this given was "living things" being branched off of "water" with "needed by" as the linking statement. This too can come up with many great ideas otherwise unthought of.
• Freewriting - This one, rather than a map, is a lot of writing. The thought is to never pick up your pen or lift your fingers off of the keyboard for around 10-15 minutes while simply everything on your mind is written down, preferably about the subject. After that time is up, looping is often done where the best idea from the first freewrite is taken and a new freewrite for another 10-15 minutes is starting with that idea as the subject now. This makes you write down the ideas that are sometimes subconscious. 
• Brainwriting - This is a concept mainly to provide for the shy people that may be in a group. It's much like brainstorming with multiple people, but instead a sheet of paper is passed around. This paper consists of multiple columns and rows in with 5 minutes are given and the person writes down the three best ideas she has and the paper is passed. The idea is to have other group members spitballing off of your ideas. 
• Word List - We have done many of these in our class as well. They are made very quickly by simply writing down every single word the subject causes you to think of. They can then be read over and you can find your favorites. 

Overall this handout was very helpful in showing me multiple options for visually mapping out my thoughts and creating a great idea. 

IDEO Video

About a week ago we watched a very informative video in which I learned a lot. It was watched at the very beginning of our project, so the subject matter being redesigning something was very fitting. A group of professionals was put together and given the task of redesigning a shopping cart. Shopping carts have just always been the way they are so sometimes it's very hard to come up with a way to change it.

They went through much of the same process that we have for our project. They brainstormed and then each made separate prototypes presenting their ideas. From there, the best concepts from each were taken and merged into one. The main key to redesigning the cart was to list all of the problems with the original. In their case just a few of them were that (1) they are frequently stolen, (2) they are bulky to take down aisles, and (3) checking out took a while. The way they gathered to fixed these problems were (1) they made the the cart just a frame with baskets, so who would steal just a frame?, (2) the baskets in the cart were removable to take down the aisles and then put back into the cart, and (3) they made a scanner so you could scan your items as they were placed in the cart and then the cashier takes it from there. Overall, they were able to come up with some very innovative ideas.

We thrived to use the same process for our prototype considering theirs went so well. The problems with our ice cube tray was that (1) it is hard to fill up, (2) it spills on the way to the fridge, and (3) getting the ice cubes out is very problematic. Many sketches later, we came up with the winning design. We made it so that (1) It is filled in an upright position with a closing lid, (2) it completely closes and forms a seal tight bond, and (3) then opens in a horizontal position with the dividers then lifting out. We are very happy with our winning prototype and owe a little thanks can go to the IDEO video for helping us with the redesign process.

Interviews

In order to get feedback on how our group should go about redesigning the ice cube tray, we were sent out to do interviews on a few people. I questioned three girls from my dorm and have posted their responses below along with a few pictures.

BRENNA
1. Do you have an ice cube tray?
    Yes
2. How much space does it take up?
    Not much
3. What do you look for in one?
    Has rubber on the bottom to pop out and 
    also color.
4. What struggles do you have?
    Sometimes sticks to freezer when it fills up
5. How likely is it that you will throw it away?
    I will keep it. I like it a lot.
6. What ice shape do you prefer?
    Cube
7. What could be improved?
    I like it the way it is - actually the tray could 
    be deeper.
8. What emotions do you associate it with? +/-
    Positive know there's ice, but negative 
    when someone forgets to fills with water or when it sticks to freezer.
9. Do you prefer nostalgic or modern?
    Nostalgic - had butterfly-shaped ice cube trays as a child

Brenna's ice cube tray

Bottom of tray

MARY
1. Do you have an ice cube tray?
    No
2. Why not?
    I've actually been wanting one - 
    I need one (has a water pitcher 
    and needs ice).
3. What ice shape do you prefer?
    Cylinder
4. What could be improved?
    Easier to pop out cubes
5. What emotions do you associate it with? +/-
    Positive - I like ice cube trays 
    and want one.
6. Do you prefer nostalgic or modern?
    Modern

MEGAN
1. Do you have an ice cube tray?
    Yes
2. How much space does it take up?
    Tiny chunk in freezer
3. What do you look for in one?
    Depth of cube holders
4. What struggles do you have?
    Filling it up - they always spill. Also deformed 
    ice cubes from uneven filling.
5. How likely is it you will throw it away?
    Pretty likely
6. What shape do you prefer?
    Cube
7. What could be improved?
    More space in between to prevent "sloshing."
8. What emotions do you associate with it? +/-
    Frustrated when don't fill up properly, but 
    overall positive.
9. Do you prefer nostalgic or modern?
    Modern because it's more efficient.