ummm... err... i am wondering about the necessity of a final topic question for monday. i am wondering if this project's research process will contribute to the specificity of the final question. i am wondering if i am wrong and i should be gung ho and ready to go on a final and specific question. i am wondering if anyone else has the same concerns. i am wondering if anyone will respond to my blog entry.

Jaime: Don't get too caught up in general subject matter. You can choose any VIABLE process for this project—take the first thing that comes to mind and run with it. Viable in this case means that there is a cause and effect relationship—things change, act on eachother, etc. The topic is not make-or-break. It is FAR more about what you do with it. In this regard, your challenge is not finding a topic. It is finding a treatment and telling a good story. Aside from that, images are due on Monday. That means you should have had a topic by mid day Sunday. Pull a topic out of a hat or have someone give you a topic. This is not the challenge. Be flexible and get into the process. Step one is already over. Next.

I really found today's exercise to be incredibly valuable to my process overall. Today gave me, strange as it may seem, a real confidence in the feasibility of my abstract becoming a corporeal and tangible learning and teaching tool, not just another half brain idea that can't be fleshed out in real life. I also really felt good ripping and taping. I love it. I think i was able to really put down a process and quit thinking about how it went down, and i think it helped to just spit it out and go.

design lives in our space

...that's what I learned from this exercise.
After working for a year on a computer, I learned a great range of possiblity for a design. I learned how to break rules, how to use specific techniques, and how to use my skills.
But then,
I fogot how to communicate with my own design. The screen between the design and my mind was always separating the space.
...and this time, I think I was in the same space with my work. I saw my design moving while I was moving, and there was a pace, movement, between us.
and I could have killed my design just by taping every edge of my poster! Thanks Tony!!

Also, I thought it was interesting how everybody was sweating and getting tired (and Jamie biting her lips) only after 30 minutes of exercise. What did we do in those few minutes!?

sooo... i've been trying to go balls out on my research this weekend in anticipation of making some sort of "collage storyboard," and i must be honest by saying that i am starting to feel overwhelmed by the research end of things and uncomfortable jumping into making right now. i felt like a huge source of stress last year was the constant demand for visual materials without the deliberated development of the idea, and because of that experience my brain just isn't cooperating and allowing me to MAKE until i KNOW. i'm trying to do both. we'll see what happens.

I feel the same exact way Jamie - last sem was full of research without purpose... being a purpose driven person, I find that I apply myself much more when I know what to focus on...

One thing to keep in mind, Jamie, Anthony, ALL: Work with your visual material as though it were a place holder, a sketch, a partial thought that keeps you thinking in a direction, but not toward some assumed final artifact. Think of it as a way of organizing your research. Use words, but work with them in a new way—think diagrammed sentence, text flowchart. Forget where you are going. Forget the final artifact and sketch. This ‘thing’ that you are laying out is an intermediate artifact. You can throw it away. It can be split in two and reorganized in an a minute. It is a [visual] thinking prosthetic.

Remember the short-hand language that George fell into when the pressure was on. That was a leap in repurposing and a break from assumptions. Work quickly and get off the computer. Get a large sheet of paper and find a Xerox machine. Make multiple compositions, timelines, charts, parts, wholes. Call them whatever helps: graphic scores, linear collages, diagrammatic experiments. Erase final comp from your thoughts. Think of baseline categorization and sequencing—think clear story-telling. All of this activity can and should fuse with your conception of ‘research’. You do not have to be at a certain place in your research to move to form-making.

The thing you are making is in support of research—it allows you to see where you have been and may suggest the next step. Make your research visible at every stage. You are responding to form while building a case. These things can happen simultaneously.

mmm... history shots... inspiration... motivation... beauty...

real tears of information design JOY!

i consolidated instead of expanding. In retrospect: Not a BAD idea, but not the best for the overall evolution of my work at large in the frame of this project. I did however get some interesting photos of my consolidated pieces i think will be nice and play well somewhere later along the way. Puzzle parts i suppose.

This weekend I have tried to let go and expand. After being in the rotunda I learned that I needed to step back from control and data and respond more to my gut. I have to think more three-dimensionally. I still have yet to determine my message but think that will come while making relationships and start to break my topic, sleep, down into a language…which is in progress!

I have an idea about what I want to convey and how I want to convey it but I dont have much down on the invisable paper insude my computer as of yet. I am excited about seeing what everyone comes up with, and how everyone treats their own very specific problems. I bassicly can't wait to see project two up on the walls of the rotunda for our first crit.

storytelling is boomin' onto the scene in imaging class too. the connection between our persona and scenario building charrette today and tony's thoughts and discussion concerning the way people learn and experience the story were both helpful concepts at this stage in the process. i think i'm getting a much better idea of what this project can do for other people, but i really appreciated the point tony made this afternoon about how we need to first design this project with ourselves as the audience. i've been getting hung up on addressing a variety of concerns, and while i realize that that is also important, i found comfort in considering MYSELF and how I LEARN when approaching the process.

Well all I know is I'm going to try to do some crazy experimenting... that's all I know as of now... trust my gut and be fearless!

paper. making it is phenomenal. its the process, bringing it all together, recycling in an unconventional way. making something beautiful from trash that is so fantastic in my mind. the first ten sheets, not so good. they looked homemade. they looked "papermaking kit-ish" and, well, they were a good experiment. but this process, doing it, making them, trying and failing is what is providing clarity in my process. making myself the audience to begin with helps. i can see my process. i've done it several times. and i'm excited because now that i've worked it out for myself, i'm making paper that i'm satisfied with. i very conscience of what i'm doing, how long to blend it. the paper to water ratio. how much, how deep. a lot of tweeking to get it just right (and i thought i had it right the first time!) but its time. its space. its drying. its waiting that slows me down. because i want my storyboard...if that is what this is becoming... to be made of my paper alone. and before i can begin to create and manipulate it in that form, i need the paper... so how do i pin up when all i've been working on is making the paper... maybe i need to document this in a new way? i have a lot of ideas... i may need to try these instead. is this really due next week?! oh goodness...

I dont know what is going on, and I just learned that I think too much, ill try not to think as much, but I have a real problem, and that is divorcing myself from any directions that I have already persued. I think this stems from the standard process that I undergo for most projects...Do something then refine that idea till the project is due. Im trying.

ach! Poetry! History! Metaphor! egad man.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

k:

ahem! yes, but a picture is worth a thousand words and you have many pictures!, and all known geometries!, and words! themselves, and multi dimensions!, and color!, and...

balance is restored. glorious isn't it dude. ah!

t

found this site, reminds me of class discussions
thought i would share
http://www.slate.com/features/911report/

I'm really excited about my concept, and I've been working all weekend to try to find a way of representing it that will keep me equally jazzed about the full execution. I just don't want to turn this thing into something dry. Am I trying to hard? Probably. I've really enjoyed how organic my process has been so far on this project and how when I haven't paniced, solutions really have seem to almost produce themselves. I'm trying to hang on to that way of working. This is one of the first projects where I've given "visual research" as much weight as book/information research. I think it will definitely be a permanent aspect of my design process from here on out.

Looking forward to seeing where this project takes me tomorrow!

The examples that were shown in the Evidence book yesterday really helped me visualize the different ways to present information... I think after getting a little bit of direction on monday, I concluded that I just need someway to communicate more inforamtion in the same amount of space... Making use of the page and getting the user to gather different levels of information... Isn't that why Jamies 3D diagram was much more sucessful than the previous attempts... Looks like I'll have to do some more research and see what more I can add to give my audience 'more' ....

i don't know why this is so hard for me. i researched my process as best i think i can so far with my available resources. i made the paper. i know its ins and outs. i've tried different textures, materials... okay so what next. i've made some notes about stats on typical office paper waste and the benefits (personally and environmently) of recycling paper. making your own paper is just a fun way to recycle and get a cool little artifact out of it. it becomes something a little more precious than the trash it was or the new manufactured paper it could be. i'm thinking about this now as a "what else you can do with your waste paper" (kind of like the list of things you can do with you Target plastic bag other than throwing it away once your done carrying your stuff home). making your own paper out of it is like option one. i just can't decide how i want to show this. and i'm tired of drawing on paper and not liking my idea and wasting paper... i feel like i'm negating my topic... as;dfj;alsfjasf

I went this past week, inspired by a classmates venture into foreign arenas, and interviewed several funeral directors in different funeral homes in Raleigh, and got some amazing new information and avenues. I can't help but really be intrigued between some of the paralells in the work we do here in the C.O.D and the design industry and the work these guys are doing in the funeral industry. Wierd, yes, but there are some really fascinating connections in terms of user driven interface and content, personalization, and acting as a designer/facilitator rather than a director. This also opened up some really incredible leads into the changing social dynamnics of the south and the modern perception of the funeral and intimacy issues therein.

Kevin- I'm really excited to see your finished project and to learn about all these connections you're making. Your topic is so interesting and esoteric to me. I think it excellent that you were able to interview people with more knowledge on the topic.

Ultimately, I think that's why I'm enjoying project 2 so much. Connecting and relating design to additional areas of interest isn't just possible, it's necessary. Stomachs and fads....horray! Time to work out the details...

so i just came up with this wednesday. and just started working on it today. sweeeeet. so my idea is to personify the equipment used in making tofu.
id put faces on it, have speech bubbles and thought bubbles that work differently.
speech bubbles would be emphasized for greater hierarchy, would be more important, would contain information like what is happening at that particular point in the process. they would be emphasized by line weight probably.
a scenario:
in step whatever of the process, a ladle is used to transfer soybeans from a soaking container to a draining container. so i would illustrate these three things. mr. soybeans would complain about getting fat from soaking in the water for thirteen hours. mrs. ladle would save him from his misery by scooping him out of the water and into a draining container. mr. draining container would then inform mr. soybeans that he is about to be ground into slurry. mr. soybeans shrieks in fear. and on and on through the process.
end of scenario.
the words in the speech bubbles [or some part of the speech bubble] could be a certain color to indicate the temperature of that piece of equipment at that point in the process [ie a caldron would be hot, a bucket not so hot]. or maybe not color. maybe that would be included in what is being said. i do not know as of now.
type size / speech bubble shape could change based on what is being said by the equipment. warnings given to the tofu by the equipment could show urgency with jagged speech bubbles or bold type, or a change in the faces expression [not typeface expression, but personified equipment faces expression]
lower in hierarchy would be thought bubbles, of thinner line weight, that could have more personal thoughts like what the soybeans might think about being soaked in water for thirteen hours. or how, when separated, the soymilk will be sad without the okara. or how, to make the transition from soymilk to tofu less nerve-racking, the soymilk takes on the attitude that its just like being transformed from a caterpillar to a butterfly, and it will be beautiful at the end of the process.
so. that is some stuff im thinking about. anyone wanna gimme feedback on this night before? emoticons! :-) :-D :-)

+++

Critter! I say roll with it man. Keep playing out the characters and do not hold back on what they can do in service of the story/the process. Illustrate it and continue to utilize the conventions of speech and thought bubbles. Consider comic book form and how frames can be a sign of time passing—small multiple frames, large frames, frames that are broken or breached. Remember the Cerebus grids and range of exploration in those frames. Keep truckin. t.

I am really excited about this project still. I know its suprising, and I swear Im not just saying this. I need to change a lot and tweak things around. Does anyone have anythoughts reguarding clarifying the idea of an engine and internal combustion? Did the folding thing idea work for all? Tell me what you think...I am really excited about this project still. I know its suprising, and I swear Im not just saying this. I need to change a lot and tweak things around. Does anyone have anythoughts reguarding clarifying the idea of an engine and internal combustion? Did the folding thing idea work for all? Tell me what you think...