Visual Systems Reflective Process Book

Reve aling the Sy s t e m s that seemingly don’t exist

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This reflective process book uses golden ratio sized pages and is set in a 9� x 9� grid.

Jordan Hu Visual Systems Typeset in Graphik Instructor: Tom Ockerse

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Introduction 1 Pattern as a System 3 Pro/portion as System 15 Mathematica Stamps 31 Chance Operations 45 Conclusion 53

Revealing Systems That Seemingly Don’tExist

Table of Contents

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The funny thing is that even before the class was asked to consistently write reflections for every single week, I already was planning do it. I have always been somebody to reflect back on life after a duration of time... in fact, sometimes I feel that I reflect way too much for my own good.

I have been maintaining a blog where I post reflections or just an update on what’s up with my life from time to time.

Every semester I like to write my first thoughts of the class I am taking and also a final reflection after it ends. This way,I am able to document this progressive train of thoughts and opinions.

The first few thoughts I had on Visual Systems a few weeks into the course was that it was really interesting. Upon hearing the course name Visual Systems, I immediately assumedthat we would be learning about grids. I definitely thought that it would be a very technical course where we would learn all the different usage of grids.

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Introduction

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This assignment introduces the phenomena of visual pattern with attention to its most common characteristics of repetition and periodicity.

The purpose of this assignment is to see the obvious and the hidden aspects of patterns.

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Pattern as System

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Pattern as a System

6 Module is an equal balance between black and white.

The Number 6 is used for the notation system because rotations and reflections are both visible.

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Delving into this assignment, I honestly didn’t have much of an interest whatsoever in patterns. Patterns have always just struck me as something that was aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but there wasn’t much more to it besides that. My reaction would be kind of like, “aw, that’s pretty… but moving on…” As my group was refining our module and developing a notation system, I suggested the idea of possibly embedding a secondary system within the primary system. (similar to inception) I guess my concept behind having a system within a system was to play on the idea that if you dig deeper, we might find something even more valuable or unexpected.

Upon finalizing our system, my group began playing with simple shapes and playing around with it. Personally, as I was messing around with our final module and playing around with colors, I came to realization just how fun and exciting pattern-making really is. It was fascinating to watch how much the pattern changed by the changes made in the notational system and the addition of color. Both of these really played an impact in terms of foreground, background, and overall composition. Through this assignment, I was also able to gain more experience working in Illustrator, which is a program I seldom use.

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This year, it seems to me like many of the courses are stressing group projects and interacting with peers. I actually think that it’s pretty awesome that we are finally getting the opportunity to work with fellow peers. Realistically, when most of us go off into the so called real world, we would be paired with other designers.

Based on what I have heard from several people, it is almost unheard of to get the opportunity of doing a one-man project at least at an entry level job.

For this assignment, the class was split up in small groups where we had to develop a module, come up with a system, and create patterns. I was fortunate to have a group that was very openminded and we worked together well. It was pretty interesting to work with two other students as we all come from different backgrounds, have different styles, and excel at different things.

For instance, one of the students in my group has a background in literacy. Although my group ended up discontinuing this idea, I had an idea of having the quote,”what is essential is invisible to the eye” from the Little Prince hidden behind our pattern. (as a nod to the student’s background)

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what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye

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what is essential is invisible to the eye

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Pattern as a System

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10 Pattern as a System

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12 Pattern as a System

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14 Pattern as a System

My group had settled on a rather simple module. I remember questioning to myself why we ended up choosing that particular module because I felt there was more variations of modules that we had done that were seemingly more interesting to me. However, as we progressed I realized that we could achieve complexity within such a simple module through orientation and color With these additional added elements like color and texture, the pattern became completely different altogether compositionally and changed my outlook on what is possible to be ascertained within this system.By changing a color to parts of a module, we were able to push specific parts of the pattern into the foreground and others to the background and middle ground. It justgoes to show that depth can be created even within a seemingly 2-dimensional system. Individual objects can be accentuated within the system depending on its placement and presence.

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Personally, I began to get crazy and lost it a bit when my group began experimenting with textures. Texture is something that I love integrating within my work because it an altogether new element of dimension and depth.

This assignment not only gave me an introductory insight on modules and notation systems but it also has given me a new hobby.

I will probably be making random patterns on my spare time starting from now.

Might as well switch into textiles now— just kidding...

16 Pattern as a System

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To observe dynamic systems from several different perspectives: 1. patterns within geometric proportion systems to structure/harmonize parts and wholes (structures within structures); 2. patterns of progression for a mindful experience (to see, read, handle, process); 3.patterns parts and wholes to correlate content into a communication system;

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Pro/portion As System

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Mindmap

I was paired up with three other classmates forthis assignment. My group was assigned the golden ratio theory.

From the start, I could immediately sense tension within my group as we were discussing what to do for this project. There was a disconnect between half of us in regards to the association with paper folding. (myself included) I remember one of my group members saying, “we can fold for hours, but we won’t get anything from this.” Although I actually disagree with this statement, I myself wasn’t too psyched about spending hours folding paper in hopes that maybe… just maybe… that we would find relationship within the material. Having had a sour experience with paper folding my first semester of freshman year at RISD, I just had no confidence that I would be able to make anything near decent for this assignment.

After a deep philosophical conversation with my group, my group came up with the solution of focusing more on the “experience” aspect of the golden ratio. We decided to delve deeper into the theory of Golden ratio by doing extensive research, split up between all four of us. (for instance, I did research on golden ratio and its application towards learning).

At this point, I personally became really concerned that perhaps we were straying way too far from the assignment. However, one of my peers challenged me with, “it’s more about a learning process and that I should be willing to take a risk.” Ironically, if there is anything that I do quite a lot, it would be experimenting and taking risks, but I felt like the point of paper folding as a medium was to discover an understanding far deeper than just simply folding.

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How can we use the Golden Ratio theory to fully communicate to a broader audience?

Revealing Systems That Seemingly Don’tExist

Having finally settled on our topic, we wanted to continue to pursue the idea that things based off the Golden Ratio are deemed to be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Through visual aesthetics, we proposed an experiment to see if the golden theory could affect memorization. Currently, I am taking a social psychology class up at Brown University. In psychology, there comes a whole lot of experimentation, and questioning. So this experiment did actually interest me quite a lot. Having developed a somewhat surprising interest in Psychology last semester, I realized how much overlap it has with graphic design. I mean, I guess everything in some way can somehow relate back to graphic design. Ultimately, every one of us as a person come from a different background and have a different story, so it’s amazing how we can integrate that background back into our work. (it definitely makes an impact to the result of our work!) If the human brain is supposedly better at processing visual input based on the golden ratio theory, does this also apply to memorization and problem solving?

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The experiment The proposed experiment was designing and creating a memory game that questioned and elaborated on this theory of the Golden ratio. The memory game consists of two sets of 6 cards: one set has shapes that have been created strictly based on the Golden Ratio proportions, while the other set isn’t based on the ratio and is just standard vectors with no proportions whatsoever. We placed them facedown in rows of two and conducted multiple experiments with several different classmates. By allowing several people to partake in this experimentation, it allowed us to collect vital information on whether or not the Golden Ratio vectors were more easy to memorize as opposed to the other vectors that didn’t follow a system.

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Results We had a variety of results, but for the most part, the golden ratio set was easier to memorize. However, there were several flaws to our projects, such as the size of the cards, and the way we set them up next to each other that could potentially influence the mind and how it memorizes things. Not a super successful experiment, but what experiment is perfect on the first try and doesn’t undergo even more research and thinking?

Even though my group did stray somewhat far from the assignment, I am actually pretty glad that we did it. Ultimately, all of us learned a lot through extensive research on the golden ratio and learning is what truly matters over anything. It was also just really fun to watch people interact with the cards we designed. I guess it is better to go too far than to do too little, because you can always pull back and fix the problem.

In this case, all the research has definitely helped me to learn a lot more about proportion and the golden ratio.

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28 Pro/portion As System

Back to square 1 Going back to square 1, I started off exploring the various different forms that I could make with the paper based on the golden ratio theory. Using the golden ratio theory, it was much easier to find relationships because it was part of a system. I wanted to apply what I learned from the research done from the previous project as I was experimenting with forms of the paper.

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Coming to the conclusion of doing a sculpture, I began to investigate the systems of abstract sculptural forms through lighting and perspectives. I scanned the folds and photographed the folds and then tried to discover and underlying system to help me decide how to make my sculpture.

For my third week of revisions to the paper folding assignment, I had settled on doing a sculptural form for my piece. Looking back, I remember having a discussion with Sukeshi and was admiring her own sculptural piece. I remember finding it really beautiful, which is odd for me because I wouldn’t say that I typically find sculptures in my interests. For my design, I had added an additional wavey design on top of the structure. My concept was that because this assignment was primarily focused on experience, I wanted to accentuate that even more through this design. I had thought of the tricks of mind perception (bringing back my secondary interest of psychology) This pattern is a pattern that is constantly moving to the eye. If you are looking at this sculpture and are moving around it, the entire pattern basically moves with you. Because I had originally set the typography that kind of breaks the system, but it flowed throughout the entire piece, I thought that this added on an altogether perception of this sculpture. I viewed this sculpture mainly to be a huge installation and the audience would be able to interact with it by moving through it and even within it.

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34 Pro/portion As System

Making the decision of taking two weeks off from this assignment and just breathe really helped me ease back into working on this. Sometimes it is always beneficial to yourself to take a break from something. Ultimately, it will give you time to refresh yourself. When I went back to rework on this assignment I was able to develop a simple working system using the golden ratio theory. Based on the system I had developed, I was interested in revealing the various different forms that could take shape simply based on a few lines.

I realized that for the past few weeks, I had been trying to force myself to make something extremely complicated when it didn’t really need to be. Sometimes, objects can be simple and still tell a story and be successful. The final form for this project took shape of a sculpture installation. This sculptural form is made out of mylar, a thick clearish translucent material. My purpose for choosing this material was that it had enough body and volume for it to be folded and maintain the shape that I was striving for.

The other reason was that I was expecting the mylar to swallow up its surroundings (where it was placed) such as colors and silhouettes from background shapes. However, what I didn’t expect was that it did quite the opposites of what I was expecting. Insteadof the environment being enveloped within this sculptural form, the form became enveloped within the surrounding. My sculptural form in a way started glowing and it became the foreground and focus, taking attention away from the background. The material definitely added on to the experience of this project.

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The system of this sculptural form is based on the golden ratio theory and it is scored in six different ways that complement this theory. In a way, basing my scores off the proportions of the golden ratio theory made it easier for me to reveal the various different ways that my sculptural form could take place. When I was determining which places I should score, when I lined the scores up with certain angles of the golden ratio, the feeling when folding the score felt “right.”

The typography is typesetted in a way that the viewer won’t be able to read the entire quote without having experienced the entirety of the sculptural. Some of the words are reversed and can only be read if the viewer looks at the opposite side of the sculpture. Looking back, the quote is not only really beautiful but so appropriate for this particular assignment and definitely worked its way into the way I set up my sculpture.

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Initially, I was trying to formulate complex systems using the golden theory through paper folding, but eventually decided to simplify. I felt that I was trying to make something overly complicated in spite of just trying to make something aesthetically pleasing.

By simplifying my system, I was able to identify more relationships between just a few several folds through the different variations. A simple and cohesive syetem can be just as successful and appealing to a much more complex system.

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It was fascinating to be able to experience how such simple folds part of a simple system could have so many different variations. Also, with the variation of folds, it became an altogether different experience based on where it was placed and how the lighting hit the sculpture.

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To view the system as a kit of parts with rules to guide future generation the micrmacro networking of systems: form, meaning, structure, and purpose.

Revealing Systems That Seemingly Don’tExist

Mathematica Stamps

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Math is a language Math is a tool Math is a work of art Math is a science

For my first drafts of the stamps, I assumed that the assignment was supposed to be more focused on the exhibition as opposed to on the translation of mathematics to a broader audience. Having done extensive research on the Mathematica exhibition, I came across a central theme that I could base my stamps on. In the original brochure that was handed out during the exhibition, it says, “Mathematica is a language, a work of art, a language, and a tool.� Since the exhibition was designed by Charles and Ray Eames, I wanted to find a way to include them in the stamp design. I found an iconic image of both of them riding a motorcycle. Along with that image, I also found four different imagery that embodied what a language, a work of art, a language, and a tool was. Using all these images, I created a consistently gridded composition. To include unity within the stamps, I included circles behind Charles and Ray that had the color of the previous stamp.

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46 Mathematica Stamps Going back to tweak certain elements, I began to draft and sketch out ideas of what I could potentially do. My concept for the stamps developed after having a conversation with one of my close friends. She told me that she had actually visited the museum right before it closed back in December of 2013.

I asked her to elaborate and share with me her experience of going to the museum. Out of all the things she shared with me, I was drawn to how she felt like a child again when interacting with the projects. I found this to be interesting and in a way ironic because I’ve always viewed mathematics as a relatively austere and serious topic. If anything, I would assume it would people more like a grown up. Thus, I decided to take a more illustrative approach (also I know that a lot of stamps have illustrations in them).

After having a discussion with Tom and Lance, I came to the realization that I actually had it vice-versa. We were supposed to focus more about translating how mathematics is applicable in this world to an audience as opposed to simply directly referencing the exhibit.

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48 Mathematica Stamps

I wanted this design to be a play on the duality of how I initially viewed mathematics to be cold and stringent and the realization that perhaps mathematics can actually be childish and youthful. I’ve always been a renderer and never been a good sketcher so I had my friend produce the illustrations for me. The illustrations are of a face (tool for communication), a pyramid (work of art; architecture), a flower (science) and money (language).

The illustrations are set in a consistent grid and I added diagrammatic vectors to frame how exactly math is applied to each image.

I’ve always viewed mathematics as a relatively austere and serious topic.

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50 Mathematica Stamps

The “package� to hold the Mathematica stamps is an envelope made out of vellum.

On the inside of the envelope, the golden theory rectangle is printed so that the viewer is able to outwardly see the system.

Inside contains four Mathematica stamps along with a simple card that describes the concept behind the stamps just in case somebody plans to reproduce them.

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52 Mathematica Stamps

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The cancellation for the stamps are spread out numbers 1,2,3, and 4 that imitate the playful spread out letters of the original Mathematica book cover. It is also transferred onto the stamps to give the same faded effect that original stamp cancellations normally have.

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Invent, script and execute a generative system using "chance operation" as a principle for design action and visual results.

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Chance Operations

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As I was rereading the guidelines for this assignment, I realized that chance operation was somewhat similar to the score that we developed for a methodology project in Relational Design. For this two-week project, I decided to work with fellow classmate, Brie.

As we started off with a mind-map and drafting out ideas on where to begin, both of us were slightly little lost coming up with a concrete idea. I guess because we have already finished a project similar to this, our ideas were coming up flat and unoriginal. Further discussion of potential topics led to my idea behind Google Maps. I purposely was trying to find an overlap between both myself and Brie’s aesthetics and interests. Brie’s work is more categorized within the realms of digital while mine is more within the emotional social aspect of design.

I thought that Google maps might be this overlap that we were seeking because it is an interdisciplinary application that hovers between the digital and realistic world.

The world we live in itself, in my opinion, is the largest system that we can possibly have. There is a system both within the natural anatomy of the world as well as through social structure of hierarchy.

Geometrically, the world becomes a system (the circular form of the world is a hint to this) Also, there becomes a structural system through government. The government, an overarching power, operates this system and it influences our lifestyle.

As both Brie and I were playing around with locations within Google Maps, we realized that it actually documented the coordinates of every single location in the world. Another thing we noticed was the difference in scenario or lighting of the environment as we browsed through our homes. Certain areas notes this change which suggests when the photographer stops and starts again. For instance, at certain moments, there are even entire season changes! When I think of the word “home,” I always associate it with adjectives like “comfortable” and “private.”The realization that the every single place in the world, including your home, is actually mapped out and coordinated kind of adjusts everything into perspective. From this, we started to think about gathering the various homes from all our friends. (the chance operation aspect for this project) With a school like RISD, where everybody comes from different backgrounds, we thought it’d be interesting combining screenshots of different homes together in order to create a cohesive singular home in itself. It would demonstrate this diversity and expose the different cultures within the world simply through the external appearance of homes. The form will be screenshots placed horizontally next to each other so it looks like a stitched panorama, mimicking how Google Maps images are taken.

Another idea we had was having only the longitude of every single home collected and horizontally placing them over the screenshots.

This eventually becomes a singular number itself or a “reimagined” coordinate of all these homes combined.

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-74.596853

I was pretty confident with this idea because I saw much potential for it be an extremely interesting project. However, one of Brie’s worries was simply, “so what?” What does this do in terms of the experience for our audience.

(40.270378, -74.598252)

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-74.598252

combining coordinates I get and see where it ends up

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the government knows all we are all part of a system mapped out as coordinates we are part of a greater system original home mixed with coordinates mixed up

combining coordinates I get and see where it ends up

the government knows all we are all part of a system mapped out as coordinates we are part of a greater system original home mixed with coordinates mixed up

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During the second week, Brie and I decided to split up and go our own individual routes for this assignment. I think it’s rather interesting how the majority of group projects ends up parting ways (not just with my group, but others as well). I guess everybody has their own idea of system that they hope to further explore. As for myself, I wanted to continue pursuing this google maps project because I still saw a tremendous potential in it and I know that the final form could be amazing and conceptually strong in regards to systems. For the second week, I collected 6 screenshots of my friends homes, found the specific location on google maps through coordinates, and then mapped it out. Using the coordinates that contains both the longitude and latitude, I asked them to rearrange the numbers, which ultimately makes an altogether new coordinate. Utilizing this newfound coordinate, I plugged it back into google maps and used it to see where I ended up. As I was exploring where google maps was taking me, I was thinking to myself just how insane the entirety of this worldly system was. Every single location, at least in the States, is gridded and coordinated to be part of the system. Some of these new coordinates simply brought me to a different location within that state but others ended up bringing me somewhere completely different such as all the way to Arizona. I was trying to discover the relationship between specific grid numbers and why the arrangements led me to somewhere close by as opposed to somewhere on the opposite side of the country. The intent was to explore these tiny fragments that lead to a larger system of the world we live. How many variations can you do on google maps and how many will relocate you to a different place? Some of the people I asked are international and for some reason it only shows only a birds-eye views and does not show the actual street view. This led me to thinking on how this system is an ongoing process and in fact, it will always be considered to be as incomplete. As the government adds on (such as building new places or adding a highway) and make adjustments throughout the years, the government has to go back and redo that specific part of the system and repair it. I think during the next couple

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For my last revision, I decided to make my concept a little more concrete and a little more personal. Instead of sticking with 6 different coordinates, I ended up sticking with one coordinate; the coordinate of my house. I chose my own house coordinate because I wanted to represent this fear of being mapped out and coordinated within this greater system, almost as if you are being watched. Using those coordinates, I did several different variations by switching the numbers of those coordinates around. Based on where it led me around my house in New Jersey, I screenshoted and stitched them together. What I did differently was that this echoes a similar glitching effect that represents this data mining. All the places within this stitched environment are significant and important to me. I stitched a picture of me within it to represent that this is my memory and my own association with this home. What I hope the audience can get from this piece is that what we call home is not always the case, because we are constantly being watched and have already been mapped out.

I found this project to be really interesting and fun to do. It was definitely an eye-opener when I discovered this alternate reality of this so-called larger system in the world. Through google maps, we are able to get a sense of that reality. It’s amazing what you can learn from something that one would describe as irrelevant.

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Having finally finished taking Visual Systems, I can definitely say that I have learned a lot from this course. Probably more than I would have initially thought. This class definitely challenged me to dive into areas that I would not have originally found myself in. What I love about this class is that it was truly a journey. Continual persistance within these projects helped teach me so much about systems and the utilization of them. At the end of the day, what I learned from this class can definitely be applicable to my future work.

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Conclusion