monica alissE catalogtree workshop information design design acedemy of eindhoven october, 2011
THE PROPOSAL For the flying letters, I proposed to make various designs of paper planes that form the shapes of letters. I have begun this process by researching as many paper plane designs as possible and making, or trying tr re-create potential designs for each letter. Originally, I thought of making paper planes and drawing and coloring the letter onto them. However, after discussing it with my group of colleagues, I have decided it would be more interesting and challenging to simply create the shapes out of the paper myself. Surprisingly, I was able to make models that appear to work as a letter and fly effectively. I was eager to continue the assignment with the paper planes because as I have been working on them, I noticed interesting results happening. It also was affordable and less technical than my other ideas that involved static electricity, purchasing strong magnets, or having pigmented powder explode in the air. It is also practical and simple.
My original concept, involving paper planes in the shape of letters to fly together and spell a word or message.
The challenge, however, was brainstorming on an idea of how to document them, or film them while flying in the air. My original idea was to film each letter flying individually and viewing them from the top. If I wanted to spell a letter, I thought of making a film compilation, dividing the screen into a grid and displaying the letters flying next to each other. For example, if I were to spell a word, like “DIVA,” I would film the letters flying individually and each film is placed next to each other. This technique is also known as split sceen filmaking.
THE BEGINNING After a week or so, I was able to design a few paper plane models that were shaped like letters and flew pretty well. However, the difficulties arose once I began thinking about making a tool to launch them as a set. First of all, most of the letters don’t appear in their recognizable position when thrown. For example, to throw the D plane in it’s recognizable position is to throw it from the left hand side, or the V from top to bottom. It’s impossible to throw all these planes at the same time and have them meet to read a word. I also would have needed more than one person to help me throw them. I was still confident about my planes working and decided to look up easy way to launch them and have them fly well.
The paper planes I chose to document for the final flight
I found ways of attaching them with a clip and linking it onto rubber bands. By pulling them back and letting go, I was able to launch several, but not all. I found that the design of the plane can influence the way it is launched. As a result, I encountered another problem and this tools couldn’t work for all of them. I spent one evening sketching out letters that could be thrown the same direction to recognize their shape, along with listing the ones that flew the best. I did not have many letters left, but I was able to spell “Sick Tool.� I felt that complemented very well the theme of our department for the first trimester, Tools!
THE TEST FLIGHT
With my letters I tried making my launching tool work once more by refining it. I attached two rubber bands onto a wooden board, along with a straight stick of wood to have the letters fly together hopefully at the same time and pace. Again, after the test flight, it did not work to my satisfaction. Unfortunately, I knew I had to slightly change my concept and I did not know how long it would take.
PLAN B Catalogtree gave me advice about my letter O, which had an interesting way of flying. It stayed in the sky the longest and glided gracefully. They were interested in seeing me create multiple paper planes from the letter O that read letters. I stuck with the word, “Tool,� and made four letters. I was running out of time, so with the four I was hoping to understand how they could fly well.
The final planes shaped as cylinders and spelling the word TOOL. The letters turned out appearing not really recognizable, but were stable and glided well and stayed in the air for a long time.
FINAL FLIGHT I learned that weight influenced the flight. Also, I felt there had to be balance -- whatever was put on one side had to be placed on the other. As I followed this instruction, the letters turned put to look less recognizable. Adding sticks to one end of stronger paper helped me figure out how much weight was needed for each individual plane to fly properly. We tested these outside and they flew pretty well. I still feel there is more to explore. For instance, if I were to make a bigger letter, how would I figure out how to maintain its balance at flight? There is a lot more to play with, but Catalogtree concluded with us that the process is the valuable recipe for producing a final design and concept. I sometimes wonder, however, if the reason for fixating on one idea has to do with the belief that something can go right, but it just takes more time. Is it time that influences our final design, or the fact that an ideal can sometimes not work?
Sketches