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.