Process Book Nick Misani
Life Folio After compiling an index of important elemnents in our lives, we had to search for patterns and reaccuring themes. From there, we created a folio visually representing our findings. I imediatly recognized the themes of language and communication. I experimented with overlapping words and explored the shapes formed by the common space between the words “English” and “Italian.” Eventually, I focused on the translation process and how the abitlity to communicate allows
you to create relationships with people. I focused my project on two of my best friends: Diana (from Itlay) and Jamie (from the States). By using transparencies and the International Phonetic Alphabet, I tried to represent the confusion of a conversation between two people who don’t speak the same language. However, as you turn the pages, the translation process is exposed and the typographic texture gets increasingly rarefied. Finally, once the language is mastered, the two people are finally able to communicate, so the portraits of my friends are visible to the reader. Because both my friends are not here in New York City, I had to “art direct” remotely. I was pleased with the dedication and seriousness with which they both approached this task.
CETI Sphere For this project, we had to communicate the concept of humanity to an extraterrestrial society; bearing in mind that our “audience� might not interact with their environment the same way we do (by seeing, touching, etc) I was immediately drawn to radio waves as the most effective way to send a message into space, but had no clue how to communicate a message without using language or sound. I then focused on what I can allow myself to assume: we both live in the universe so we both have to deal with planets and stars.
I thought of the sphere at first as a reference to spherical celestial bodies, but then decided to focus on the impossiblity and artificiality of a perfect sphere. As humans, we are still unable to produce a perfect sphere (we are just a few nanometers away). In this way, the sphere is the perfect example of man’s quest for perfection and order through science and knowledge. The sphere also carries theological and artistic symbolism, as well as a referece to war (spheres being the first form of ammunition). The heavy symbolism of the shape is really for a human audience; the aliens would read it’s artificiality as a sign that there is intelligent life. The sphere would contain a mechanism in its core that derives power from temperature shifts and, when enterint the planet’s atmosphere, would heat up and emit a looped binary pattern (11011110101101). The pattern is also carved in the sphere. From Earth, we would also direct the same radio pattern to the planet. This way, the aliens woudl be able to accurately track where from where the object arrived. If, however, they lack the technology, the artificiality of the object would communicate our existance.
RG Machine The assignment was to design a Rube Goldberg machine that, in ten steps or more, would say “hello.� I decided to focus on how people say hello in Japan (especially in more formal situations). I isolated ten steps that are all important when formally greeting a superior; these are: notice, look down, approach, assess level of formality, bow slightly and repeatedly, stop, say the three conventional sentences (hello, how are you? Isn’t the weather lovely today?), and conclude with one final, deeper, bow.
The construction process was particularly challenging, but rewarding. The structure is made up primarily of masonite, balsa wood, foam core, and a lot of wood glue. I wanted the words to light up behind a rice paper screen, so wiring light bulbs was required. My brother, Jason, guided me through my first one with Skype. I tried to make it so the movement of the “marbles” would, in some way, refer to the corresponding action (the ball rolling down the ramp represents “look down;” the pivoting of the little dowels, the “repeated bows,” etc). Most of the solid elements are covered in a Japanese newspaper article about sociology. The machine works about one third of the time, which is not ideal but its imperfection and unpredictably are all part of the impossibility of a flawless Rube Goldberg machine.
Laban Notation Time, space, and movement were the main concepts present in the brief about this project. In my opinion, labanotation, an extremely complex and detailed system for recording dance exemplifies all three of those concepts. The sheer bulk and complexity of labanotation would have made it impossible for me to master it enough to notate any movement with the minimal degree of detail, so I decided to focus on the subdivision of the body in tens of symbols. At first, I wanted to communicate this by physi-
cally writing the symbols on small pieces of clear plastic and hanging them in the shape of a dancer. The concept would have been extremely labor intensive and not particularly strong, so I decided to work in two dimensions. I tried weaving strips of paper with the notation into a photograph, in the hopes of creating a body made mostly of paper, but I abandoned the idea for the same reasons. Finally, I tried to communicate movement and the freezing of that movement by dividing the image into bands and overlaying the notation onto the specific part of the body it covered. The hands and feet are larger because they are the most notation intensive. Scattered throughout the poster are the french names that would be used to describe this particular jump in a ballet class; these are the terms dancers would be familiar with.
Make Your Own Damn Dinner The class was divided into several groups; each had to find a design solution to a problem realting to the group topic. My group, made up of Anthony Acock, Theresa Berenato, Yoon-Mie Cho, and myslef had “health.� We immediately decided to focus on nutrition. Initially we wanted to focus on a redisign of the nutrition facts label. The small type and confusing ingredient names were hindering clear communication. We wanted to create a standard and comprehensive set of icons for various diatery restrictions.
Gradually, our topic moved to the importance of making your own dinner instead of relying on prepackaged and processed food.When making your own dinner, you are in control of the ingredients and facilitate a sense of community. Though various interviews and observations in bodegas, we discovered that people often rely on pre-made food for three reasons: cost, time, effort. There is a misconception that making one’s food at home is more expensive, takes longer, and is more difficult. With Make Your Own Damn Dinner we tried to provide a simple and cheap alternative. The fun graphics and provocative name are designed to grab the viewer’s attention in this visually saturated environment. We each contributed to the design and applied it to a website, posters, postcards, and magnets that we later put in the subway, on the street, and in bodegas. The form is ment as a template; this design solution can be applied to a variety of recepies with the goal to eventually move towards actual 100% fresh food.
Critic’s Sketchbook For this project, we had to communicate the concept of humanity to an extraterrestrial society; bearing in mind that our “audience” might not interact with their environment the same way we do (by seeing, touching, etc) I was immediately drawn to radio waves as the most effective way to send a message into space, but had no clue how to communicate a message without using language or sound. I then focused on what I can allow myself to assume: we both live in the universe so we both have to deal with planets and stars.
I thought of the sphere at first as a reference to spherical celestial bodies, but then decided to focus on the impossiblity and artificiality of a perfect sphere. As humans, we are still unable to produce a perfect sphere (we are just a few nanometers away). In this way, the sphere is the perfect example of man’s quest for perfection and order through science and knowledge. The sphere also carries theological and artistic symbolism, as well as a referece to war (spheres being the first form of ammunition). The heavy symbolism of the shape is really for a human audience; the aliens would read it’s artificiality as a sign that there is intelligent life. The sphere would contain a mechanism in its core that derives power from temperature shifts and, when enterint the planet’s atmosphere, would heat up and emit a looped binary pattern (11011110101101). The pattern is also carved in the sphere. From Earth, we would also direct the same radio pattern to the planet. This way, the aliens woudl be able to accurately track where from where the object arrived. If, however, they lack the technology, the artificiality of the object would communicate our existance.
Place When thinking of a place in New York City that has been transformed by an event, I chose the Sonewall Inn, where the Stonewall Riots happened in 1969. The biggest challenge was finding a way to talk about such a well known historical event without being trite or cliche. I researched material relating to the event; watched documentaries, read books, and searched online. I eventually came across the story of Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt. As a child, Tommy’s father smashed an ornamented teacup
he had purchased with his savings as a paper delivery boy. This event was the catalyst that eventually got Tommy to NYC, where he thought he could be free to express his sexuality. Initially I wanted to explore this story photographically, by layering the teacup with photos of the Stonewall Inn, or Tommy’s hometown of Linden, NJ. But the result was an ineffective reproduction of a reproduction (the teacup is not really his); making it too far removed from authenticity. I decided to use a physical teacup and (thanks to the advice of a fellow designer) juxtaposed it with a broken beer bottle to represent the riots. I eventually had the pleasure of having a long conversation with Tommy, who, aside from being a warm and exceptionally funny man, related a few details (like the brand of beer they would drink at Stonewall and the music they would listen to) that informed my work and strengthened my connection to his story and to the riots.
Designer Statement I was concerned about representing my process because I consider it to be scattered and dysfunctional at best. Regardless, I was able to isolate four definite steps in my creative process: confusion, research, though (bordering on obsession), and improvisation/experimentation. For my technology studio impossible conversation project, I was exploring my late father’s journal. Also a designer, his process shows through his many sketches. As I did with my own process, I chose a few sketches that relate to both our processes and photographed
them with my own hands holing the small book. I then made four collages, one for each step of my process, on the opposite side of his, almost as a reply. Though I referred to his style, I tried to compliment it more than match it; I wanted to create a dialogue. The series is framed on either side by the first and last entry on his journal.
Impossible Conversation The theme of this project was impossibility and technology. For a while I have imagined what a conversation with my father would be like. My father, also a designer, passed away when I was seven. The extremely personal nature of the topic scared me and left me completely clueless on how to deal with this idea. From the moment I thought about it, I decided video would be the medium I would use. My mother let me borrow a journal of his sketches. This was the starting point of this impossible
PIANO MELODY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
conversation; I wanted to create some sort of narrative through his sketches. I narrowed the conversation to one basic question I would ask him: “this is what I’ve done and this is where I am now; are you proud of me?” In turn, I was faced with two questions: how to avoid the trap of oversentimental melodrama and ask that question without actually using words. I decided to represent my predesign activities with a sound collage. One piano piece, Chopin’s Suffocation Prelude, would be the heartbeat of the entire video while other significant musical textures would layer on top of it (roughly in chronological order): harp, ballet, and taiko drumming. Because the audio is so complex, the visuals are relatively simple: a walk from the water, through Christopher street, up 6th avenue, to the Pratt stuios on 18th. The visual contains allusions to the audio, till the very end, where visual and audio are finally linked.
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X THOMAS
SKETCH
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WALK BY WATER
TURN ONTO STREET
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WALK UP CHRISTOPHER STREET
STEPS
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TURN ONTO 6TH EDITING GETS MUCH QUICKER PIANO HARMONY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SLOW
SHOTS OF STUDIO
Communication Design MFA, Pratt Institue. Fall 2010