Breakup With The Computer: Your 5 Senses
DEGREE PROJECT
PROCESS BOOK
MASSART 2019
CHELSEA BRETAL
Feeling Bored
I started this project thinking about how bored I was with graphic design. Not only was I feeling burnt out, but I also was feeling uninspired. I tried to think about how this was happening to me and what I could do to make this problem go away. I found myself signing up for electives that allow me to step away from the computer. I started taking up new skills and learned how to professionally sign paint, run a letterpress, work with glass, use a laser cutter, and carve linoleum. I fell in love with building things with my hands, and I realized that other designers might be struggling with this same issue.
As designers, we spend countless hours doing work on our computers and it has led us into a process that starts and finishes the same way. Get on the computer, finish the product, and let it spit out of a printer. Your computer is determining the output of your own projects.
Designers are stuck between a screen and paper.
COMPUTER
+
PRINTER
+
PAPER
=
BOREDOM
I Started Asking Questions
I asked myself why was it that I prefered to use my creativity through my hands rather than through the mouse of a computer? I have a love for tangible and unconventional materials in art, but what could I do to better understand what I wanted to focus on? I started to list these questions: Why do materials matter? Is making things with your hands important? What’s the difference in tangibility vs the untangible? Do other designers feel the same way as I do? Are digital and traditional art completly seperate? Does process have importance to the artist?
Research and Findings
I stared to ask others that weren’t primarily in the design field about their process of work. This meant talking to students that had a focus in sculptor, fibers, fashion, printmaking and multidisciplinary media. The same response came when asking about importance of their hands. To everyone, including myself, it is crucial to have that relationship with your work. When talking to these students, I was also researching the facts behind hands-on teaching. I was realieved to find out that other people are experiencing the same feelings at me when it comes to using your hands and there’s science behind it.
“Consider how you felt the last time you made something by hand. Whether it was a cake, a home improvement project, a garden, or a scrapbook, it was absorbing and satisfying, right? Maybe you even had a moment or more of euphoria.� Carrie Barron M.D.
“I explore with my hands. My hands can make flat things three dimensional, they can turn straight into curved. I’m grateful for the ability to work with my hands. I like having to wash my hands three times because the dirt is ingrained in the cracks of my skin. For me, working with the hands is both a physical & visual exploration.” Gary Parzych, Student
“Making with my hands is one of the ways I find satisfaction and meaning. The tangibility, tactility, material, culture, relationships to objects, these are the things I’m committed to. The actual translation of these ideas into objects is the only way I can reconcile the way I exist in the world.” Sophia Sabella, Student
I spoke with MassArt Graphic Design Professor and Psychologist Gunta Kaza to dig into her ideas on what working on a screen does to our brains. She gave me insight on what it means to be present physically in a space and how our computers take that away from us when we are glued to them for long periods of time. She spents her time pushing the boundaries of print design by making things with folds, texture, and unconvetional materials. Gunta explained to me that when you’re focused on your computer, you are losing presence in the world around you. You aren’t engaged, you are in a fixed position, and it’s easy to forget you’re even alive. This takes away personal connection to our work.
Talking with Gunta made me realize that we are living in a technological world where we are pursuing to be perfect with our work. That’s why command+z is probably your most used shortcut. With the power to undo all of our mistakes on the computer, it can make us feel like our handmade work doesn’t match up to the same quality. As we indulge more of ourselves into screens, we are becoming less vulnerable to make things that have imperfections. We have now transitioned into a headspace where handmade and tangible projects are in jeopardy of having mistakes. This means we won’t even think about building or crafting our work if we don’t necessarily have to.
Z
With the expectations of flawless work, we trade our presence to work on a computer for hours, but what happens when we do that? For myself, I know that I hate working on my laptop for long periods of time. To combat this I normally head for a coffee shop that has music and good caffeine. Others do something similar, or they choose to work from their bed, since they know it’s a cozy spot. When making these decisions, we are placing ourselves in the most comfortable we can get when staying stationary. We do this without even realizing it. You’d clearly choose the arm chair over a metal stool. You are using your senses to help you feel pleasant in a space, since you know you’ll be working still for awhile.
When working on the computer you are limited to only focus on only a few of your senses. You’re mainly using your sight and possibly your hearing. This is why we choose to get ourselves in a comfortable position. When we are working with our computers we can easily believe that is us that is controlling every step of the project, when in reality your computer is limiting you from the world around you. We are confining ourselves to make the process easier. Designers are executing their work in this conventional way because it’s what they know. With our sensory input helping us, how can the 5 senses inspire designers to push their work further than just paper?
Researchable Question
How can the 5 senses inspire artists to explore creative possibilities through the use of unconventional materials?
Processes
I started to think of ways that designers make their work that doesn’t mainly allow a computer. The process you’re using is important to your work and also your senses. I made a list of all the possible ways I could think of for artists to execute their work.
Letterpress Linocut Sign Painting Lettering Illustration Weaving Embroidery Painting Sewing Laser cut Vinyl
Origami Silkscreen Sculpting Collage Wood Cut Cross-stitch Graffiti Stamping Murals Papercut Welding
Photography Tattoos Macrame Knitting Crochet Modeling Projection Videography Dancing Singing Recording
Materials
The list goes on, but then I also started to think about the materials we use and how we can branch out to work with whatever we want when we put our minds to it. I then started to list out all of the interesting materials I see and have wanted to work with.
Balloons Feathers Pom Poms Glitter Foil Food T-Shirts Neon Signs Trash Plants Cake
Slime Clocks Wax Ribbon Foam Beads Wire Glass Antiques Cards Water
Springs Pipes Rubber Acrylic Pillows Leather Brick Jelly Jewels Felt Sand
Tacks Gears Bulbs Dowels Mirrors Buttons Cork Maps Wood Laces Eyelets
String Pencils Tape Zippers Polaroids Stickers Pins Staples Screws Nails Oil
Powder Chain Hangers Clamps Facepaint Sponge Tags Rugs Burlap Latex Wheels
Ideas
All of the different ways you could produce artwork made me really excited to create something for designers to use. I really wanted to do something that would inspire designers to put more thought into the work they are producing. This means the process of how theyre doing it and the way it is finally executed. I started out by thinking of making a massive amount of work made with everything from my previous list of materials to inspire others on how far typography can go. When that idea was scratched I wanted to study how MassArt’s college courses are made and why the Graphic Design projects are set up to be computer driven.
This idea ended up turning me away because then I would only be targeting students and not the real world. I wanted to make an impact on design studios and firms who also have this issue of being computer focused. I kept brainstorming on what I could do, and that’s when I started thinking about what artists already do to get away from the normality of design. That is design challenges. We’ve all seen them before, they range from Inktober to 36 Days of Type. On Instagram you can see that artists are excited to participate in these challenges. This inspired me for my final deliverable.
The Senses
So how can I bring this idea back to the senses? I know that I wanted to create something for our sensory input. With this I knew that I needed to focus on one of the senses. I asked questions in a survey like “What’s Your Favorite Sense?” or “Which sense do you use the most?”. After getting results, that is when the touch sense dominated. It was the leading answer when asking “Which sense do you want to explore more?” I knew I wanted to solve this for people and help bring the touch world to them. Being engaged with your ideas physically, can help you brainstorm what you’re going to do next. Your five senses are what make you feel connected, and they are here to help you.
Do your senses help your creativity? MAYBE
78.2% said yes YES
When feeling validated that creativity is linked to your senses, I knew that the touch sense was going to be my main focus in this project.
My Audience
Although I started this problem with thinking about graphic designers, I want to be able to reach others who are also feeling this way about their job. This could be people who are architects, freelancers, or even construction workers. I want this to be for anyone who wants to get creative.
ARTISTS
Final Statement & Deliverable
Today, Graphic Designers live in a time where we are stuck between a screen and paper. Being attached to your computer lacks your sensory input of the world around you. We need something to help designers get creative by exploring the tangibility of materials, and getting us off a screen. Being engaged with your ideas physically, can help you brainstorm what you’re going to do next. Your five senses are what make you feel connected, and they are here to help you.
The goal of this degree project is to propose a box for artists to explore the materials in front of them through daily challenges. This box is paired with an Instagram account @Your5Senses and you can see the daily challenge posted on the story This will help stimulate the senses and be a resource for designers to refer back to. The exercises will help artists to push their ideas further and never stop being experimental with what they can do, when presented with only a computer.
The Box
I researched different boxes to make sure that I was making something that was going to interesting and different from a standard looking one. Intriqued by boxes that had unique openings, I started to sketch out different boxes that might work for my idea. I knew that this box needed many small compartments for the different materials to go inside and it also needed to be a portable size. I also needed to start thinking about what would be going inside the box so I could measure.
I was thinking about relationships between the hinges and wether or not this would be a series or just one box altogether.
Template
Then came the measuring. This was the hardest part of my degree project. I had known that I wanted the box to have a tiered opening and a closed top for the pieces to stay enclosed. I had made up a list of potential materials to fit inside the box which were all relitively small and the same size. I started with a 6in x 5in boxed shape and continued to make trail and error mockups until I got it right. This was also in spirit of making something from my hands moving on from my mistakes.
5 x 6 in
6.25 x 6.25 in
floor 1 wall
5 x 5.875 in
floor 1 wall
6 x 6 in floor 1 base
top cover 1.5 x 5.875 in
floor 1 wall
floor 1 wall
1.5 x 5.75 in
floor 1 divider
floor 1 divider
floor 1 wall
1.5 x 5.75 in
5 x 5.875 in floor 1 wall
floor 1 divider
1.5 x 5.875 in
1.5 x 5.875 in
1.5 x 3 in
floor 2 wall
6 x 6 in floor 1 base
1.5 x 3 in
floor 2 wall
1.5 x 5.625 in
divider
5.125 x 5.875 in
divider
divider
floor 2 base
1.5 x 5.625 in
floor 2 wall
floor 3 wall
1.5 x 5.875 in
floor 2 wall
5.875 x 5.875 in
divider
floor 1 divider
1.5 x 5.75 in
1.5 x 2.875 in
floor 2 wall
1.5 x 2.875 in
1.5 x 5.875 in
1.5 x 3 in
floor 3 wall
1.5 x 5.675 in
divider
floor 3 base
1.5 x 5.625 in
floor 3 wall
1.5 x 2.875 in
1.5 x 2.875 in
divider
divider
floor 3 wall
1.5 x 5.75 in
floor 3 wall
5.75 x 5.875 in
1.5 x 5.75 in
5.125 x 5.875 in
Objects
When it came to what was going to be inside the box, I brainstormed adjectives that we use with our touch sense. This list included things that are hot, cold, fuzzy, sharp, soft, hard, round, square, squishy, solid, sizeable, moveable, bumpy, rough, smooth, and more. I took it upon myself to find an array of things that fit these categories. I found most of the things I needed at the craft store and made sure they were objects we would be challenged to use.
Usabilty
I wanted to make sure that the materials I’m using in the box were able to inspire people. I tested prompts that I had pre-written for the box. The idea of this is for the objects in the box to help your ideas for your next project be more creative and maybe tangible. For this example I used push pins from the box to create the holes in the paper to form a pattern. I then went even further and embroidered the paper. Think about all the different ways that push pins can be used in your favor.
The Brand
After many attempted tries at getting the box right, I thought about how the box would look like from the outside. Since this idea was going to be marketed and sold for people to use, I knew that I needed to brand it. I wanted it to look simple and modern from the outside, but become crazy and inspiring when opening it. I made the box out of a black glossy acrylic and chose to etch it for a embossed touch. I made icons for the brand to represent the 5 senses so the audience doesn’t forget what the box is based off of. The look is supposed to be very busy and sensory overload, but still play off of the clean look to pair with the acrylic and black and white.
LOGO
ICONS
@Your5Senses
When using your instagram you can visit the account @Your5Senses to see what the daily prompt is. The challenge is posted daily on the instagram account story. Once you complete the prompt you can take a photo of it and @your5stories will share your post. This is a way for people, especially artists to connect with one another.
What’s Solved?
With this box you are able to quickly get out a thought and complete a design task that confronts you to think outside of the box, quite literally. You can share your ideas with a community and be inspired by what others have to show. This box can’t take the computer away from you, but it can get you thinking about how you can incorporate a daily prompt into your next project. You have time to focus with your senses for a small amount time everyday and you can learn to appreciate them. Make mistakes and get creative from your tangible ideas.
THANK
YOU