Method to the Madness by Jessica Irving

Method to the

Madness

a visual experience to the human mind.

Directed Study ARFA 490 Zaleski Irving 2014

Purpose Specifications Timeframe Target Audience Research Concepts Variations Refine Choose Develop Alter Feedback Finalize Reflect Celebrate

This course allows you an opportunity to propose and develop a body of work in a medium of your own choice. You are expected to have completed your basic studies of the area in question, and obtain the consent of the program coordinator. In order to secure that consent, you will be expected to submit a written project proposal for the semester to the coordinator for approval by the Visual Communications department as a whole. The proposal must be submitted no later than 14 days prior to the first day of classes. That proposal, if approved, will then form the basis of your work in this course and will ultimately lead, by the conclusion of the course, to a final work or works exhibited in a public context. Upon approval this proposal forms the basis of a body of work to be completed during the semester and to be accompanied by an essay describing the process, development and the results of the Directed Study.

It may be impossible for humans or any animal to bring a memory to mind without altering it in any way - Karim Nader Neuroscientist McGill University

When first introduced to the idea of a directed study, I knew I wanted to focus on a topic and specific mediums that would not only keep my interest for at least four months, but also allow myself to produce an engaging body of work. As I started looking at various topics, I turned towards my previous notes, projects and personal interests and found one common topic; the brain. Whether it was theoretical, critical or just plain scribbles, for the past 5 years the brain has been a great interest of mine and I decided it was time to develop my notes into a conceptual project.

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Method to the

Madness

Method

Madness

to the

Method to the

Madness

Method to the

Madness

a visual experience to the human mind

process

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Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DiseAse

Cerebral Cortex Beta-Amyloid Plaque

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The gray matter areas of the cerebral cortex are so extensively degenerated that the brain tissue shrinks and the ventricles are enlarged.

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Garbage Trucks Lateral Ventricle

Dump Third Ventricle

Schools Caudate Nucleus

Suburbia Left Hemishpere

Madness

Method

Madness

Method

Madness

Method

to the

Method

to the

Madness

process

Information Centre Thalamus

Right Hemishpere

Overpass Pons

River Cerebellum

Highway 1 Spinal Cord

process

Neighbourhoods Cerebrum

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temporal

to the

frontal

occipital

to the

parietal

/Method to the Madness Identity

Method

Madness

to the

01. Maintain the required clear space around the logo

/FONT

to the

02. do use the logo as a negative

/COLOURS

Primary typography

Coated Stock

sansation

Pantone Process black c cMyk: 60/60/60/100

use for: headlines, titles, body copy never use for: accent, tagline

Uncoated Stock

Pantone Process black u cMyk: 60/60/60/100

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Screen rgb: 000/000/000 heX:#000000

Secondary Typography Sakkal majalla uSe for: accent, tagline never uSe for: headlines, titles, body copy

abcdefghijklmnopqrSTuvwvyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwvyz 0123456789 (!@#$%&*<>?) /PaTTERNS

03. do use the logo as a solid

/SYMBOLS

Curiosity has woven its nest in my mind.

Constantly trying to find new ways to understand, recall, research and articulate

I knew what I needed to do, I just needed to do it.

Playing with cognitive research to develop a series that demonstrates the relationship between logic and exploration

Exploring the binaries of light and shadow, static and dynamic Constantly learning, Constantly changing. Simplicity vs. Complexity

It’s not about what you do, it’s about what you don’t do Curiousity has woven it’s nest in my brain Evolutionary process for image making

How can I get ideas out of my head and onto the paper or the computer faster Memories vs Experience Synapes and Neurons

It may be impossible for humans to bring a memory to mind without altering it in any way MRNA structure -The genetic code

As I proceeded to research different techniques on how to represent my concepts, I struggled with who exactly my target audience was. Was I going to focus on the obvious and therefore my professor would be my audience? Would the focus be directed at other designers and how they might interpret my work both technically and critically? Or was I going to make myself the target, putting all of my thoughts and research into one body of work that ultimately displays my design and thought process. Even as I write this, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know exactly. I have tried to combine all audiences point of views therefore I have ultimately decided to make the subject and graphics broad enough to allow for interpretation yet have the logistics and reasoning behind it so can communicate the depth of the topic.

Create an evolutionary process for image making.

Exploring and expanding the boundaries.

During the beginning stages of my research phase, I watched multiple TED Talks which lead me to study various neuroscientists, their thesis works and even some of their case studies. As I gained more knowledge on the components of the brain, my study led me to complex medical textbooks as well as many educational videos where I was able to gain knowledge on both scientific terms and detailed visual diagrams. After watching documentaries on neurodegenerative disorders, I started viewing the brain from a new perspective. I started imagining the organ from a graphical point of view where I found myself making connections between the components of the brain and everyday activities. This not only helped myself remember each function but also helped me visualize what might actually be occurring throughout the neocortex.

Always absorbing everything all the time. -Ubiquitous Assimilate

As I continued researching and learning more about the human mind, I started developing concepts as well as variations on my findings. Since the brain is the most complex organ in the body, I started thinking of simplicity versus complexity and how we as society toy with the terms in similar ways. We are obsessed with complexity by wanting the latest technology to do every task we can think of; yet we long for the style and overall appeal of the technology to be clean and simple. As I advanced my knowledge into my design work I took this comparison into consideration. Since the brain itself is so complex, I wanted my designs and illustrations to be simple yet logical. By using layered, multidimensional variations of the designs, my objective was to allow for interpretation for each individual viewer.

While I continued analyzing the relationship between science and art, I concluded that I wanted my final product to continue with the idea of simplicity versus complexity. I also decided that I wanted my final product to influence the viewer and to allow them to view the topic from a new perspective. Since I was now viewing the brain and everyday functions as repetitive patterns, I wanted to explore all mediums and interactive programs in order to simplify the complexity. I looked upon what was currently occurring in design and realized that branding has a huge part in the market. I explored this by creating a style guide, infographic and logo for my project. As I was working on the design outlines I realized that this standard style guide may not be appropriate for the conceptual appeal that my project was heading towards. I then moved onto creating various animations and designing a sense of movement from the illustrations I had already created. I continued to push myself within these new programs and ultimately animated GIFS which I ended up using in the finalized production.

Neighbourhoods Cerebrum Garbage Trucks Lateral Ventricle Schools Caudate Nucleus Dump Third Ventricle

Right Hemishpere

Information Centre Thalamus Suburbia Left Hemishpere

Overpass Pons

River Cerebellum

Highway 1 Spinal Cord

Exploring the binaries of light & shadow, static & dynamic.

AT&T

Method

to the

Madness

Alzheimer’s DiseAse FActs

Madness

Alzheimer’s DiseAse

InsIde AlzheImer’s dIseAse

Frontal Lobe Temporal Lobe Parietal Lobe Occipital Lobe Cerebellum Amyloid Beta Ventricles Amygdala Hippocampus

Frontal Lobe Temporal Lobe Parietal Lobe Occipital Lobe Cerebellum Amyloid Beta

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More than 5 million Americans are living with the disease. 1 in 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another dementia.

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Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. Almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s are women.

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Cognition Memory

Hallucinations Cognition Memory

Spatial Perception Language Anxiety

Language Anxiety

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Method to the

Madness

Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DiseAse

Cerebral Cortex Beta-Amyloid Plaque The gray matter areas of the cerebral cortex are so extensively degenerated that the brain tissue shrinks and the ventricles are enlarged.

By using cognitive research and developing my notes into a creative outlook, I found that I was able to demonstrate an accurate neural reconstruction of activity patterns using both subjective and objective methodologies. This sparked something within my interests and I was able to construct a neural portrait of the human mind from a microscopic point of view through my illustrations. Whenever I felt I was struggling with the project, I decided to take a look back. Reflect. Why did I start this? What initially interested me? Am I still interested in any of this? By exploring many types of mediums I felt stuck a lot of the time. I would change what I wanted my final outcome to be multiple times a day even going as far as starting the project from scratch. Once I settled on the idea of the app and the benefits of using the technology I felt I could really focus and conceptually approach the project again. Though the refining and altering never stopped, I was able to move forward and instead of continuously changing and looking for new ideas, I was constantly approving my current designs so it would be the most appropriate for my audience.

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You are becoming more confident with the work.

AT&T

Method to the

Madness

Method

Madness

to the

Method to the

Madness

Method to the

Madness

a visual experience to the human mind

process

Directed Study Cerebral Cortex The human brain Beta-Amyloid Plaque

Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DiseAse

Cerebral Cortex Beta-Amyloid Plaque

The gray matter areas of the cerebral cortex are so extensively degenerated that the brain tissue shrinks and the ventricles are enlarged.

AT&T

Garbage Trucks Lateral Ventricle

Dump Third Ventricle

Schools Caudate Nucleus

Suburbia Left Hemishpere

Method

Madness

to the

Madness

Method

to the

Madness

process

Information Centre Thalamus

Right Hemishpere

Overpass Pons

River Cerebellum

Highway 1 Spinal Cord

process

Neighbourhoods Cerebrum

AT&T

to the

temporal

Method

frontal

occipital

to the

parietal

When you teach perspectives, you teach creativity. Ultimately my intention of this study was to objectively view an organ that is so complex and so intricate and creatively redesign it as a series of simple and logical patterns. By overlapping and rotating genetic components of the human mind, I created the series of neurodegenerative disorders, senses and underlying cerebral cortex patterns and then used these patterns to collectively create connections and alternative viewpoints. By processing the illustrations into graphs, GIFS and moving images, I was able to relay the original objective of simplicity versus complexity. By using a complex topic I created simple illustrations which were then represented through a series of complex technologies and ultimately created a simple final product.

a visual experience to the human mind.