Research and Development
James Thornes
Collide
What is it ?
Brief In this project i was given a task which enables me to develop an intergrated design and work in a dynamic, professional and creative enviroment. Within the project i am told that the final outcome has to be created with two outcomes, these been a physical and digital. I have also been given a theme to follow other than the word collide, these words i think are here to direct me into some first basic ideas and then i have to take it from there. These themes are • Happiness • The Internet • Your future self I am told to consider each theme as it own or to mash them up creating a variety or mediums for an exhibition at the Collide event.
What is it ?
Themes Happiness - The state of been happy - The feeling of been happy Future
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A period of time following the moment of speaking or writing Time regarded as still to come The chance of c ontinuing success or e xistence for something
Internet -
l arge system of connected computers around the world which people use to communicate with each other
To start my research i wanted to look into the themes and main word a little more, to do this i looked into what each word meant and what ideas came from this. I really didnt find much from this that i didnt already know and it didnt resolve any ideas which i had previously. I then didnt want to research naything and instead i wanted to take a different approach and look at what each of the words meant to me and not to everyone else as i think i have a different meaning to them. To start with for example for “happiness” i think that this is what is happy in your heart and not within your head and most people dont really understand what this is until its happened and pasted them. For the theme “the future” i think it wants me to look into my own future and what is possible within my lifetime. This is a hard one for me as i dont think i know what i want in my own future and so getting it
out of me within a project which is so public is a very hard thing for me to do, i also like to keep my playing cards next to my chest so i dont get discorged if it doesnt work out, The last theme that we were given as a starter was “the internet” i think this theme wants me as a person to look at something which is related to both other themes as i think alot of my happiness reminisce from there and also in the near future the internet could be very valuable just like it could be for anyone perusing a carrer where the public are sat in a position where it either makes are breaks you and anything you are working on.
What is it ?
Idea generation I have a few ideas now that i want to get out and even though ive not got alot of research or things to work with i think that one of these three ideas could help me within my project even if it is just with an artist or a colour that i like. For my first idea i want to create bottles with each of the themes there own things within bottles. To go into a little more detail, i want to bottle up the themes as i think they are like feelings and as you know from the last page i dont like showing myslef unless i think i will get it right or that things will work out. Each model would be 3D and created using a method which was unique and individual from anything ive done before. My second idea is to create a different pieces of artwork and cut them up by placing them onto card or something thicker. I would then using these create a jigsaw as my physical outcome. The artwork for this piece would be of a mans memories from the future looking back on his life, back to todays times. These memories would be
based on the three main themes but to create more of a diverse selection within the jigsaw i would need to do this. The man would have dementia and this would be he reason for the jigsaw as it would give the feelings and look of memories getting muddled up. For my third idea i want to use the name of the brief within the project, i think that the use of this could be helpful in a way that allows me to connect to others work within the exhibition. The idea will use all of the themes and will be one piece of artwork for each theme. The artwork will then be placed into frames and then use runners and be will be layered behind each other only allowing certain parts of each piece of artwork to be seen at once giving the effect of the themes colliding together and will allow for the physical outcome to be interactive. On the next few pages i have added some sketches relating to each of the ideas i have talked about, these sketches are labeled with the idea number.
What is it ?
Digital concept designs For my digital concepts i have used ‘Goggle SketchUp’ and have created what i ithink the idea i came up with on the last few pages would look like if i created them. As this is a 3D program i will be able to show off the concepts in full scale models that will look cool and different from anyone elses concepts. I also think that this will give me a better understanding about my own ideas and concepts and this will then help me move on and select an idea to move forward with in to development.
What is it ?
Idea 1 - Glass bottles For my first idea i want to create models within bottles and this is suppossed to show that i am bottling up my feelings. For this idea i wanted the models to look like they had been placed in the bottles without having to create small models so that they fit through the top. I also wanted to create large models and so the bottles i need to be big too. When looking for large bottles i came across demijohns, these are large bottles normally used to create wine and beers, they are also most
commonly known for been in films and people creating illegal beers in America. After doing more searching and not really finding anything under ÂŁ15 i was unsure how the idea would go and how the overall project would go if i was to go down this route.
What is it ?
Idea 2 - Jigsaw design For my second idea i want to create a jigsaw that show off each of the themes in artwork pieces but then jumbled into jigsaw piece and to see the artowrk you need to play with it to create the artwork, this makes the piece interactive and intresting. For this i have deicded to do a little research into jigsaws and their designs and why they are designed the way that they are. After doing
research on various designs i have decided that instead of just looking at them i should do some experiements myself and see if i can create some.
What is it ?
Idea 2 - Materials After doing some research i found that the best materials to create jigsaws from and the most used are 5mm birch plywood or chipboard. There are many reasons why these two are used the most below i have added a few of them to see which one would be best for me to use. 5mm Birch plywood • Cheap • Aesthetically pleasing • Can be bought at any size • Thin • easily transportable Chipboard • Cheap • Can be bought at any size • easily transportable
As you can tell by the points, 5mm Birch plywood has more possitive points than the Chipboard and i think that was always going to happen as chipboard is a very cheap material that in previous uses has been useless when cut to very fine details. After all of this and due to time constrants i have decided to use 4mm MDF, the reason for this is that one i ran out of time but also because once you have added your paper layer to it you cant really tell and it still looks good if the pieces havent been burnt from the lazer cutter.
What is it ?
Idea 2 - Concept design ideas For my concept designs i wanted to find images and emoji’s that related to each of the design ideas and then taking these images in to consideration when producing the final designs. To start with i took the idea of happiness and wanted to incorporate my girlfriend and how much i loved her. So to start with i wanted to look for an emoji that was a pair of hands holding each other, this wasnt a thing so i decided to go down a different route and looked at the smile emoji and the heart emoji. I really liked this and wanted to use these for my idea generation. After looking at other things to do with animation i decided to wanted to create a large heart in the middle with a face that was smiling and then i created little areas around the heart that expressed how long we had been together counting each of the areas as some time in our relationshiop that we both loved and wanted to save forever. I then looked into the second design and decided that i wanted to do
something related to time travel as the idea was about time and the future. So i looked for an emoji that was time related and found that there was asection related to time and each hour was there in some form or another. This i liked as it gave me lots of ideas. The one i liked the besst was mixing the Doctor who title sequence and the clock emoji together. I started by making the clock look like it was moving quickly around the clock face leaving blur makrs where it had been. I then created text around the clock making it smaller and lighter the further away from the clock face it got. I did this so it looked like it was further away from the clock in the Z dimension. After doing these two i thought it wouldnt be as good if i created one to do with the internet as i had taken this idea and used it to come up with a design pattern, this pattern was to use the emoji’s which are purly internet based to create my designs.
What is it ?
Idea 2 - designs Here are my final designs, as you can see they have not changed much from the concepts that i had come up with on the page above. The reason for this is that i think the designs looked good and simple as emojis are and to add anything else to them would either wreak the overall design or would mean that the designs wouldnt be what i wnated them to be from the start.
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What is it ?
Printing & Cutting When printing and cutting my work i needed to do four steps, the reason for this is that you cant layer things on top each other and then take this and lazer cut it. This is because the air gaps inbetween the glue will set on fire and burn the wood and paper . The steps i took to avoid this took forever but meant that i was able to create a piece that was intacked and also to a high enough standard that it didnt matter if one or so pieces didnt make it to the last day of the exhibition. These steps were:
1. Order wood to be cut 2. Print designs on high quality paper 3. Order paper to be cut 4. Glue both the wood squares and the paper squares together to make the pieces.
What is it ?
The exhibition For this piece of work we had to create some work for a exhibition that was a few weeks before sumbition and so because of this work needed to be completed many weeks in advance. This i really liked as i needed to do the work as soon as i got it and not waste time waiting for the deadline to come around. The opening evening for the exhibition was on the 25th of April 2016, i went and took lots of pictures of people trying to do my jigsaw, this i really liked as i wanted the piece to be a interactive piece and that was something that was different from any other piece in the exhibition.
What is it ?
The final piece As you can see for my final piece i have used one from the exhibition, the reason for this is that pieces were stolen from the art piece and so i couldnt finish the piece into the full jigsaw. I have also used a picture from the creation of my final piece in the studio before teh exhibition. I think this picture looks really good and show off most of what it looks like.