Screen Saver| Research & Development
The first development in reflection was both bold and tacky as the colours where bright and the pattern random. The concept was that each spiral represents a period of time passing similar to the way the polar clock does. The shapes of the spirals follow the Fibonacci numbers, showing a relationship to the design of the ‘Electric Sheep’ piece exhibited within ‘The Design and the Elastic Mind’ show.
Museum Of Modern Art’s exhibition ‘Design and the Elastic Mind’ brings together a number of screen based work; my task was to produce a design lead screen saver to be used within the exhibition.
The Polar clocks visual aesthetic uses time as an element to effect growth allowing for the circles to generate themselves. The spirals representing the day, the month, the day within the month, the hour within the day, the minutes within the hour and the seconds within the minutes, a circle within a circle and as time progresses so do the colours. This interests me as it shows how a variable such as time can affect the
By using processing I created a sketch that used Fibonacci numbers and grew from the middle outwards; time did have an effect on the piece but only for a short piece of time as the spiral grew bigger it drifted off the edge of the screen.
Electric sheep turns idle computers into a render farm animating and creating artificial life forms; the name was inspired by the book ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’. The shapes generated can be changed and crossed giving each their own individual identity; however there are natural patterns which appear in the design such as Fibonacci spirals, I wanted to use this as a starting point.
As I see more examples of these ‘Electric Sheep’ I wonder how time can affect the look and the feel of the piece and would it reach a stage where the design becomes muddy and confusing.
Screen Saver| Developments
The second development focuses on type using letters to form out of the edges and shapes of Fibonacci spirals creating something both natural and unnatural. I was disappointed that the spirals did not generate themselves but simply appeared; this had to be the case to appear every second. I also preferred the process of seeing the formation of the spirals and it is also clear that the text was laid on top of the image and not generated by it as I wanted it to be.
This piece unlike my last captured the forming of the spirals each spiral accounting for 10 seconds of time, slowly forming together making the image behind less distorted however the image wasn’t created by the spirals but is simply laid onto them that does not create an appealing affect.
I began to experiment again with shapes seeing if I can form patterns or images out of Fibonacci spirals. For this example I used squares but this can be easily changed to circles or lines each creating their own design.
From my experiments with processing I went on and experimented with how the pattern could change with where I started the Fibonacci sequence for example instead of 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 why not 8, 13, 21, 34 this didn’t really lead me to discover anything new but only confirmed that I wished to use processing to produce my final outcome.
Screen Saver| Development & Final Outcome
My ambitions for a successful outcome for this project was not feeling strong enough at this point, so I turned away from the impact time may have on the piece and looked instead into possible ways in which I could manipulate the spirals to form an image. At this point I discovered ASCII images. Using my face as a test the end result worked well.
Working from this idea of forming shapes from spirals, I explored some ways in which things can be manipulated using ‘Scriptograph’ after looking at examples I still didn’t manage to produce something to the level that I hoped. At this stage I was wondering what was the importance of writing MOMA, the only conclusion I reached was that it was only to state where the exhibition has come from which seem pointless for a travelling display.
For the final outcome I went back to processing and discovered that you could introduce the ASCII effect using a webcam that can change the input. I applied the spirals to the design and received an outcome that I found, that successful answer to the brief. Developing a screen saver that physically does not need to be interacted with but collects data from the room and transforms this into thousands of spirals. I took the knowledge I learnt from producing the first ASCII test in illustrator and applied it again to spirals this did not work at all, I only saved the piece by overlaying my face on top of the design however I learnt that the spirals I was using where to big.
I saw a similarity between ASCII images and the technique of mosaic; I used the spirals from my second ASCII test but shrunk them down to reveal more detail.
Design Museum | Materials Which Repel All of these materials relate in their goal of repelling water. The ways in which they do this are different but show that a high level of science and mathematics has gone into the development of each technology.
Tyre treads: Both the wet and intermediate tyres have grooves to remove water the intermediates are used the most in wet weather unless it is a very heavy down pour.
SPEEDO FASTSKIN 3 C6 fluorocarbon technology reduces the amount of water the suit can absorb and thus eliminates additional weight in the water.
Made from a mixture off: The suit is made from a mixture of speedo trade marked materials such as hydro-k zone 3d fabric, pulseflex fabric and pulse-power fabric. Which is a combination of invista lycra, invista xtra life lycra and varying decitexes of lycra creating graduated compression across different body zones
RADAR SUNGLASSES Hydrophobic technology creates an invisible barrier that easily sheds sweat, rain, sunscreen, skin oils, dirt and dust.
C6 fluorocarbon technology: Fluorocarbons, sometimes referred to as perfluorocarbons or PFCs, are organofluorine compounds that contain only carbon and fluorine bonded together in strong carbon fluorine bonds. Fluoroalkanes can serve as oil-repellent/water-repellent
Made from a mixture off: The sunglasses are made up of a number of trademarked materials such as Pluonite, O matter, Unobtainium, Iridium, Polaric ellipsoid, Photochromic lenses but most of these are made up from nylon infused plastics and sprays such as hydrophobic.
PIRELLI F1 TYRES The tread patterns are mathematically designed to scrub the maximum amount of water possible.
Infusing moulding: A process for infusing layers with the least amount of glue in-between the layers
Made from a mixture off: Rubber (both natural and synthetic such as SBR) carbon and mechanical oil The amount of each element will produce different types of tyres (the more oil in a tyre, the softer it will be)
Vulcanization: Vulcanization is a chemical process which involves linking polymer molecules to other polymer molecules by atomic bridges composed of sulphur atoms or carbon-to-carbon bonds The end result creates a rubber, which is harder, more durable and more resistant to chemicals and other damage
Design Museum | Materials Which Repel Unusual Materials
Potential applications / uses: There are many more uses to backlight paint than just making people and fluorescent posters look cool as it can be used in such things as detecting forgeries of antiques to helping detect invisible leaks in machinery. Identify counterfeit money, invisible fluorescent hand stamps for readmission and at crime scenes to pick out fingerprints. But the main use is to isolate one specific substance from everything around it, giving the application endless potential.
All the materials relate to the idea of containing a property which isn’t visible at first sight that can be used in an endless number of ways to create new and innovative design.
HYDROPHOBIC COATING
BARE CONDUCTIVE PAINT
Bare conductive creates a paint that looks similar to any other paint with the key difference that it can be used to create circuits
Properties: A type of paint which is a multipurpose electrically conductive material (perfect for experimentation) giving the user the ability to paint on anything walls, floors, tables, shirts, anything (except skin) and turning them into a conductive material.
Hydrophobic technology creates an invisible barrier that repels water but is impossible to now without testing.
Potential applications / uses: There are endless places in which you can paint this martial however electronically it can be used to produces noise makers, proximity sensors, badges, cards, paper battery holders, light up paper houses, touch sensitive circuits and RGB Led colour sliders.
Properties: The main property of a hydrophobic coating is the ability to repel water, creating bead droplets that then can easily slide off the surface in a similar way waxy leaves do.
INVISIBLE BLACKLIGHT Backlight paint has the property to only be visible under backlight giving the material an unusual and hard to detect.
Potential applications / uses: At present the technology is used in high performance pieces such as Oakley sunglasses however it could have industrial applications such as coating fabrics which protect them from UV light and water proof and self-cleaning materials where 99% of dirt adsorbed
Properties: The inks which are developed by ultraviolet light (black light) would also become visible if the paper is heated and the paint can be made from dilute laundry detergent, body fluids, tonic water and vitamin B-12 which have been dissolved in vinegar.
Design Museum| Development From initial experimentation with bare conductive paints and hyphobic coating I realise that they do work however the hyphobic coating doesn’t work as well as I hoped and is very expensive as is the bare conductive paint. I feel I can progress further if I just focus on black light and the ways in which it can be used with UV materials such as tonic water to create an outcome.
How might it be used? This could be used as content to the type face I have designed using a hexagon grid system display secrets on a loop using a matrix grid of black light LED’s to light up the tonic water.
From developing a possible outcome I wanted to experiment with the methods I would need to now to make the final outcome possible.
How does this relate to the material I’m using? I decided to look at post secrets as a way of giving context to the typography as it has a similar sort of hidden quality that tonic water displays. I also thought it may add a comic and serious quality to the installation with secrets such as “maybe he’s my dad’s brother or maybe he’s my dad” or “my parents smoke more pot than I do”
Problems, which have developed The main problem I face is the flexibility of the tubing which the tonic water is contained in. I hope to develop a structure using the compound drawing style to act as a grid for the letter forms.
DEVELOPMENT 1
POST SECRETS
Post secrets is one of the biggest blogs on the web, where people post secrets in the form of postcards to Frank the owner of postsecret.com. The project started 1st January 2005.
Experiments I’ve tried To start my experimentation I placed tonic water into tubing by sucking and then plugging each end this created some interesting effects with air bubbles and gives it an organic property. Still with the tonic water inside the tubing I shaped basic letter forms, this lead to some problems but was still successful.
What I have discovered From the experimentation I have discovered that it is very hard to just illuminate one section without illuminating another, which I think can be solved by using small led black lights instead of a black light tube.
TYPEFACE
As my field of experience is within graphic design and new media I decided that instead of embracing the product design element of the brief, I would instead look at the graphic element including how I might shape tubing into a typeface.
Problems which have developed There are two main problems I found when doing these experiments, the first being the difficulty of plugging each end of the tubing. I started by using plumbing putty that can stop leaks in pipes however as tonic water is fizzy unlike water, plumbing it has enough pressure to break through. So I started to experiment with corks and carved them down to fit the pipes this worked better with only small leaks but a mixer of the two should work better.
How did I design the typeface? From the research I did in stages 1, 2 and 3 I looked at different compounds such as quinine and became interested in the way compounds are drawn in a hexagon shape pattern. I decided to use this as a starting point for creating a typeface which links into the compound element of the design material (tonic water).
Design Museum| Development & Final Concept
Conclusion Overall this project has been a mixer of trial and error through my research I’ve discovered many different things about the technology that goes into building high tech equipment and unearthing my interest in exploring the quality of things that can not be seen or at least in normal light. My final concept pulls all of the elements I’ve discovered threw out this project together, it may seem like a complex final outcome but all it does is match the complexity of what I’m using.
My experimentation with black light and tonic water continues to develop into a design outcome which shows an inventive process and an unusual group of materials.
DEVELOPMENT 2 Final experiment To lead to a final outcome I wished to produce an experiment that tested the shape and structure of my custom typeface the final result was executed well. From this I did discover more my system of tubes would need to be connected by Y shaped joining pipe’s and learnt that white reflects black light so the surrounds must be black or dark to show up the best. The light in my test came from the front due to limited time and resources but I would have liked to change this if I produced the final piece.
Understanding final concept The overall concept for this project is to develop an installation that talks about this idea of revealing something that is not seen in normal light, black light opens up an opportunity to reveal the properties of tonic water. The most sensible way of doing this in a space would be to create a matrix grid only highlighting the areas that are needed to spell out a certain word or phrase linked back to what I have said on the topic of post secrets.
DIAGRAM 1
The grid To be precise enough to only illuminate certain sections of tubing, they with have to be produced by using small black light led’s to highlight the areas needed. This is beyond my current skills and time frame but in past I have seen examples that work well using the techniques
The tubing system The tubing I used was universal transparent flexible 1.5cm tubing that can be easily manipulated. The layout as I’ve said before must be held together using a 3-way pipe connector, the amount of time will vary from phrase to phrase but I hope that at least by using this highly relevant typeface it will be readable and allow the telling of a story.
DIAGRAM 2
Understanding the theory Black light fits between the spectrum of visible light and x ray this give it the ability to reveal certain things. The quinine compound that is hidden in tonic water can be described as invisible ink along side other things. This will work with the matrix backboard to bring words and phrases to life.
D & AD| Research & Development
Most brands have tag line phrases that is short and sums up not only what the company makes but also what the company stands for from Nikes “just do it” to MacDonald’s “loving it” with the research I did, I think the phrase “in tune” suits the companies needs. As an instrument can be in tune, bikes or motorbikes can be tuned and also in tune can refer to their relationship they have with their customers through understanding their needs. The logo or mark for the Yamaha Company is a long-standing symbol, made using 3 tuning forks. This led me to think about the two definitions of tuning both the process of tuning an instrument and tuning a motor vehicle or engine.
The colours Yamaha currently used in there branding are black, white, red, and a shade of blue. The brief for this project is to create a campaign to improve the brand image of Yamaha, so it is important to understand the current branding before developing my own campaign, which can also be used on a multitude of platforms both physical and digital. Yamaha as a company is very large in the sense that they produce a lot of products, both instrumental and mechanical. As I looked into there brand awareness I only found a handful of failed campaigns and adverts that tried to speak about them. I turn to the products for inspiration and fell in love with the shapes and elegant design that goes into making the products. I thought the flow of music could relate to the flow of these shapes.
D & AD| Research & Development
imogenheap Similar to biophila project allows you to create music in a more physical way using your voice, hands, legs and body movement, this is less practical but supports this idea of experimental music making and playfulness of having no rules just a loose structure in which the player can create and grow.
Brojk biophila is a project that relates to shapes and allows for the audience to engage in the creation of songs, depending on set rules. One of the key points within this brief is to help encourage new people to buy and use there products by creating a interactive experimental instrument such as this could engage a new potential audience.
I started to experiment with circles and shapes drawing lines connecting each to create a sound or harmony relating to the shapes. This was leading to something interesting but there remained a lot of un-answered questions about, why them colours? Why use circles? And how can this lead to brand awareness, using the current technology we have but also be transferable to other mediums. To try and answer the last question I had from my first development (How can this lead to brand awareness?) I looked toward social media as away of spreading a message from links on twitter to people’s personal composition they have produced or face book or YouTube where we can begin to add the visual design of the piece. To help with this side of my development I looked at how you
D & AD | Development & Final Outcome
The interactive element of my campaign allows you to generate your own sounds or create a harmony by following the correct route, the colours can be interchangeable and there must be easy to use features such as play, bin and share that allows for playful experimentation and sharing with friends.
Colours are an important part of any brand I tried to include all the colours that are used in Yamaha but introducing shades and gradients but placed on to a black background for an interesting affect.
As well as working as a digital campaign it must also be visually appealing as a static physical image this can be done by taking the shapes from its digital counterpart and using the Yamaha trade mark next to my campaigns tag line ‘in tune’.
From my first development I didn’t really understand why I was just using circles as my concept is based around creating different shapes out off the outlines of Yamaha’s products. I choose to move towards using a variety of shapes instead from squares, circles and triangles using different sizes to create an appealing visual affect.
Collaboration| Research & Development
The proposal I came up with is loosely based on what I discovered by research Wikipedia, exploring the idea of what makes something fiction and how easy can it be believed as fact, generating something that will challenge the idea of what truth is.
My first development came from collaborating with a part time creative writer called Anne. At this point my idea was very fluid and I didn’t now where this was taking me. After a couple of days of corresponding by email, my partner replied with an interesting article written in a certain way, that as you keep reading, you learn more about what happened in a car crash starting with careless drivers and ending with swerving to avoid a deer.
The brief for this project is very open, as long as we collaborate with people from outside our own field of study. I originally looked at Wikipedia as a type of collaboration, this however got me interested in the idea of how do you tell between fact and fiction, looking at mistakes and vandalism left on Wikipedia.
The Truman show is an example of how one person can be tricked into believing something is real under the understanding that we accept the reality that is show to us, questioning how far would we take a story to make it seem real.
In a silly and comical way the invention of lying talks about the importance of bending the true, as the truth can be harsh or sad. It also speaks about how easily human beings can be tricked into believing a statement such as how much money you may have in you bank or question the existents of god.
Collaboration| Research & Development
I did a considerable amount of thinking and research between my first and second developments and from my research became interesting in producing something similar to the world weekly news but on a local scale. A village newspaper sparked this; to test this I created some possible local adverts. However it needed more humour added to the design.
For this project I collaborated with a lot of people most of which are in the same situation I am in and as we are coming towards the end of our degree I found that these people took longer to respond and also didn’t produce much towards a final outcome, as they where to busy doing there own projects which is understandable. Anne and Amy who are not in the same situation as me helped me the most.
From my research I discovered the use of paper towns, which are towns or streets that are placed on a map that is not real but is simply there as away to catch copyright infringement; one notable example being Agloe, New York which was a paper town but became a real place because people kept going to this junction expecting something to be there. As an acknowledgement of this the paper and the village I’m creating is called Agloe.
World weekly news is both an online and physical newspaper that is also made up and completely fictional but is advertised as being the most trusted sources of news. This I found very interesting, as it is similar to Wikipedia, as people believe that what is in the newspaper is true however it is mostly misleading, incomplete or bias information. I would like to introduce this sort of witty humour towards the final outcome of this project.
collaboration| Final Outcome
My final outcome is roughly 10 pages long and is printed in a fashion that matches the aesthetics of a local newspaper. The end result is not as good as I hoped it would be but it does make me laugh both visually and contextually.
One of the things that was lacking in the second development was humour but it must be done in a way that can be believed in but also seen as silly such as batboy from world weekly news. So I want this sort of humour to leak into the work such as the adverts below holding an alcoholics anonymous meeting in a pub or an OAP yoga club and a photographer that only deals with pets.
By collaborating I have discovered a great deal about what can go wrong with collaborating. When I was producing my work for this project I through that the process we made was smooth and following however in reflection there were 3 main problems; location, communication and understanding what collaboration means.
To have a successful collaboration I think there needs to be a clear understanding of what is expected, an open and on going conversation and most important of all a willingness to take part and take others ideas into consideration.