Process Book: Missing Pieces

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the process a series in discovery, research, refinement & criticism

MOLLY MAGNELL CAPSTONE I: FORM & FUNCTION

VOLUME I: MISSING PIECES FALL 2017

SAM FOX SCHOOL OF DESIGN & VISUAL ARTS AT WASHINGTON U. IN ST. LOUIS

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the research

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concept

To me, one of the most curious potions in Harry Potter has been the dreamless sleep potion Dumbledore administers to Harry in the Goblet of Fire after he witnesses Voldemort’s return and Cedric Diggory’s death. It’s such a simple piece of magic—no fancy wand flicks or flourishes of light—and I see it as one of the most humane creations in the universe.

My anxiety keeps me tossing and turning at night. I restlessly fixate on all the things I need to do, all the mistakes I’ve made, and I scold myself for not doing enough. If it weren’t for my sleeping pills, I’d be forced to lie awake until 4 a.m. every night, which is when my mind finally retires for an unsatisfying couple hours of rest. But sometimes, bad memories and fears creep into the dream world. Sometimes I want my subconscious to be quiet.

Sometimes I want a deep, dreamless sleep. I developed Doze for people like me, who need quiet sleep.

I developed my idea to cater to victims of trauma—to give people a way to escape their own minds.

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Preliminary sketches for ideas and containers, materials, and names.

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inspiration

I looked a lot at alcohol bottles and how the labels and bottle shapes complement each other to deliver a cohesive message. I also looked at visual languages and how literal or abstract some of the symbols were. I looked at movies and pop culture and fine art to find works that evoked the feeling I wanted to allude to.

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the discovery

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Previous: Tomorrow Machine experimented with a variety of biodegradable materials to test their durability for packaging.

Top: Tomorrow Machine's agar gel and water-based container needs to be refrigerated, so it has a shelf life similar to the liquid it stores before disintegrating.

Bottom: Fernandola Posse developed a business around creating sugar glasses that slowly dissolve into alcoholic drinks to sweeten them up.

Right: Another of his projects, Posse 3D printed sugar gems and injected them with alcohol, creating a treat with a rewarding center.

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First attempt—the heat of the sugar punctured the balloon, causing the water to drain out and ruin the mixture.

I wanted a product whose form matched its function.

What if the packaging disappeared over time; the same way bad dreams should fade? I began looking into decomposable packaging, specifically water-soluble materials that could dissolve with the potion.

I was really fascinated by the strength of the sugar and how it could be molded and reworked to create hard glass-like shapes. After watching some tutorials, I made my first batch of cups.

They were messy with unrefined edges, but looked beautiful.

To combat the issue of keeping the package from deteriorating before it reached the consumer, I combined the product and package so that the sleep aid is embedded within the container, and the user could add their preferred liquid (it could sweeten alcohol nicely).

I made my first batch of cups by pouring molten sugar over water balloons coated in oil.

The water evenly transferred the heat of the liquid so that the balloons didn’t burst.

Once the sugar set, I popped the balloons to empty out the water and release the mold.

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This mixture wasn't boiled long enough, so the sugar wouldn't set into a hardened form.

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the refinement

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Name, color palette, and logo studies before I decided on Doze as the product name.

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branding

My product needed to be branded. I thought Doze could fit under the heading of pharmaceuticals, so I wanted something clean and modern. I wanted the branding to be subtle— almost unbranded so the purpose of the product stood in the forefront. I used Domus because of its rounded geometry, and then developed a sleeping eye to create the restful properties of the product.

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The only container I could find tall enough and wide enough (and cheap enough) to hold my plastic mold goblet ended up being too porous for the OOMOO. As a result, I had to smash chunks of the flower pot to cut open a seam to reach the inner cavern.

My first batch of cups didn’t look refined enough and didn’t look like an actual product. I did a lot of research, and ended up developing a silicone mold using OOMOO 30 to cast a plastic goblet. The mold was also produce letters made out of sugar, so the entire cup would dissolve. I bought foam stickers that matched my brand identity and the right frosting pigments to create the subdued hues of my palette.

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Final coaster design (front and back)

I created a coaster with more information on how to use the product, so that anybody who encountered the glass could learn how to use it.

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This cup has the correct color, but the walls weren't lined thick enough to support the structure.

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This spread: Early experimentation with adding sticker letters. It was after this that I realized I needed to make a mold to get consistently laid out type/ logo.

Next spread: Detail of early red cup.

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I overheated the sugar past the ideal temperature, which turned it yellow. I tried adding the blue food coloring, but it just turned everything green.

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The final cup with the coaster.

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the criticism

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Over time, the cups did reshape and attract mold when exposed to heat and moisture.

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Due to my inexperience with mold making, I spent hours trying to correct my mistakes: letters not forming defined shapes, not using the right receptacle for the mold, needing to smash open the mold and almost breaking my project, struggling to boil the sugar to the proper temperature (undercooking made sticky messes that wouldn’t harden and overcooking turned the clear sugar into caramelized yellow), mixing the right color, and making the glass too thin or too thick. I invested a lot of time into learning how to make the mold because it seemed like the most sterile way to make a polished product. But I messed the mold up at the top, which made a raw edge. I fixed it as best as I could by melting the top, but instead it formed a drooping lip.

As I was making the coaster design, I immediately felt trapped by my logo font choice. It felt too fresh and modern, and didn’t fit the mystical qualities of the cups I produced. I wish I had initially made a logo with a serif font. I think my coaster looks too trendy, and over-explains the product.

I think my design was pulled in two different directions because I didn’t have the foreknowledge to envision the final outcome. In hindsight, I wish I could’ve pushed my product in a more mystical realm.

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This book was written and designed by Molly Magnell during the Fall semester of her senior year in 2017 at Washington University in St. Louis. These five books exist as a catalog of the process and design thinking that went into the work she made during her design capstone titled Form and Function taught by Professor Chrissi Cowhey.

This book was typeset in: Diversa Soft Serif, 35 pt./ 42.5 pt. leading for the cover; 24 pt./ 28 pt. leading for the chapter headings; 118 pt. for the chapter numbers Quadraat Regular, 9.5 pt./ 12 pt. leading for the body copy; 8 pt./ 9.75 pt. leading for the captions with a 1pt. rule.