1 Pooja Chaudhary
ODD Semester : Semester 7, 2016 - 17 B.Des (Visual Communication and Strategic Branding)
DOCUMENTATION BOOK LIVING LIGHTS
The Living Visual Project Guided by Sonalee Mandke, Farhat Ara and Mukund V R
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documentation book Semester 7 B. Des (Visual Communication and Strategic Branding) The Living Visual Project
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PROPOSAL
Within the realm of marine life that exists on the planet,
is the time spent observing various organisms - be it their
there is very little even the experts know of (in comparison to
cells, textures or forms - under the microscope. Although
how much there is still to be explored. Studies tell us that we
this is not new knowledge, it has re-emphasised the fact that
know more about the universe than we do about our water
we do not see more than we realise and that taking a closer
bodies ). For someone who is even less inclined to studying
look can give you a new insight or understanding.
the creatures of the sea, the knowledge acquired is limited to those organisms that live in the euphotic zones of the ocean.
The other has been the light that has been shed on a
The ones that survive and thrive in the abyssal and hadal
different view in regard to how beauty is viewed in science. It
zones are overshadowed by the visual beauty of those in the
is interesting to note that many opinions are along the lines
euphotic zone.
of seeing beauty in something not only because of the way it looks but because of what it is capable of doing . This is one
The severity of the conditions these deep sea creatures live
theory I would like to take forward in context of these deep
in, the way they’ve evolved to survive in such extremities -
sea creatures - whether understanding something more fully
in freezing temperatures, scarce food and pressure levels
can open your mind to see things differently.
that would turn a human into a pancake - are areas worth tapping into to understand them from a different perspective.
An interactive installation by an Australian artist, Lynette Wallworth, called Hidden/Depths, has grazed similar
My project is going to deal with these creatures - the
grounds.
overlooked, the misunderstood, the reasons why they are feared and looked at as “ugly” and whether it is possible to
“Her installation of deep sea specimens, luminescent glass
make people see beyond the aesthetic definition of beauty.
sculptures, footage of bioluminescent marine creatures and audio from NASA has brought together in an immersive
In the three weeks of immersion into the project, two
environment where visitors are invited to explore the space
important exercises conducted have influenced my
with UV torches and discover the mysterious objects,
perception on the subject of deep sea creatures. The first
images and creatures inhabiting the darkness where these
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creatures abide. It offers a reflection not only on the diversity
RELEVANCE
of marine species and the vast depths that remain to be
A lot of the assumptions we make as humans are visucentric
explored but more specifically on bioluminescence, the light emitting ability of many deep sea marine species - from bioluminescent squid to phosphorescent algae.”
. Irrespective of what the reasons for this behaviour may be, in this process, a lot of information is overlooked and misjudged. In context of the organisms living in the euphotic zone of the ocean, there are plenty of misunderstandings that have been influenced by the way these creatures look.
MY POSITION
The intention of my project is to break away from the purely
My project seeks to translate this experience into something
“aesthetic” judgement of these creatures and show the
more than a one time adventure by bridging the gap between
audience a side that is worthy of awe by introducing them to
awareness, interaction and commercialisation - to produce
how unique their adaptations - specifically bioluminescence,
work that can reach out to an audience and at the same
is in order to just survive in severe conditions.
time, offer them of the perspective from which I view these creatures.
On a more personal level, the exciting bit about this project is that I myself have been a part of the audience that I am
Although my project seeks to look at deep sea creatures
envisioning for it. Having struggled with sitting through
from a new light, I have chosen to do so through the
documentaries about deep sea creatures without getting
lens of bioluminescence - the light emitting ability of
bored, or feeling like switching channels, and emerging as
these creatures. Several other artists have worked with
someone who is now interested in them, I would like to see if
bioluminescent creatures - all with the same underlying
I can do the same for my audience.
intent - that of wonder. This is a value I would like to carry forward in my project and overlay it with information design. Illustrators like Ernest Haeckel and Orit Bergman provide
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
work that, inspite of being very different from each other,
1. What is the perception and awareness people have about
engages the audience and is still scientifically accurate.
deep sea creatures?
Even Joe Sacco, who has no relation to marine life, scientific
2. What is the importance of visual culture in this space?
illustration or even biology, offers a good insight into how
3. How does a child deal with things that are unknown to him
something that is difficult to understand can be treated to
or her? How can bioluminescence be made interesting for
make it more friendly.
them? 4. What are the different visual media that can make
At the same time, museums like California Academy of
something interactive?
Sciences and Monterey Bay Aquarium are classic first hand examples of information navigation through spaces, of how people of all ages can be put together and share a similar experience.
PROCESS The approach I am taking to this project is threefold. Initially I intend to start off with researching the content that is available on the web and books. This stage is crucial because it will lay the foundation of the content that is
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generated over the weeks. Talking to people about what they
Learning new skills like coding might be an interesting
feel about deep sea creatures, I think, will give me a better
challenge, although how viable it will be is highly dependent
insight into how they are perceived.
on other factors. Some skills like information navigation and illustration are indispensable for this project, and so I look
Divergent thinking in terms of how this information can be
forward to bring these to a new level of finesse.
translated will hopefully open up ways to make the content interesting for the audience I have chosen. Using creative thinking tools like mind maps or the morphological matrix could perhaps add a different flavour to the information I have gathered. The final step in rounding of the complete research process will be to start picking out and developing content, perhaps lay in out in different kinds of narratives like poetry or comic strips - forms that are light hearted. Convergent thinking will play an important stepping stone during this phase.
RESOURCES Books, magazines 1. Fathoming the Ocean by Helen Rozwadowski 2. Art and Science by Siân Ede 3. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson 4. Nautilus 5. California Academy of Sciences’ bioGraphic 6. Art Forms from the Abyss by Ernst Haeckel Documentaries 1. BBC’s Blue Planet
PROCESS
TED Talks
Sept 5th to Sept 11th - Research, understanding user
1. Edith Widder: The weird, wonderful world of
Sept 12th to Sept 18th - Data analysis, content creation
bioluminescence
Sept 19th to Sept 25th - Prototyping, testing, validation
2. Edith Widder: Glowing life in an underwater world
Sept 26th to Oct 2nd - Immersion, Ideation, finalizing
3. David Gallo: Underwater astonishments
medium
4. David Gruber: Glow-in-the-dark sharks and other stunning
Oct 3rd to Oct 8th - SEMINAR TWO
sea creatures
Oct 14th to Oct 17th - Illustrations, layouts Oct 18th to Oct 23rd - Illustrations, layouts
TED-Ed
Oct 24th to Oct 30th - Modifying based on feedback given
1. The brilliance of bioluminescence - Leslie Kenna
Oct 31st to Nov 6th - Modifying based on feedback given, final testing Nov 7th to Nov 13th - Print production and documentation Nov 14th to Nov 19th - SEMINAR THREE
LEARNING OUTCOMES I hope to be able to explore a different medium of visual communication through this project and even live up to the needs and effort that will be required to see it through.
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This documentation book is divided into three parts. Each section explains how my process informed my learning and knowledge of biology and design - and eventually my project.
ON BIOLOGY
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN
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ON DESIGN
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ON BIOLOGY
// 1 using lenses
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// 2 looking through a microscope
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// 3 pechakucha
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// 4 guest lecture 01
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// 5 guest lecture 02
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ON BIOLOGY An immersion into the subject of study is a necessity before you can create something for it. This section of the book deals with all the insights and knowledge that have informed my scientific practise during the course of this project. For this particular project I have spent a considerable amount of time understanding all I can about different things in the spectrum of biology. While some things have informed my project, others are new knowlegde for my memory bank to perhaps use at a later date.
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ON BIOLOGY Looking at organisms around us through a lens was the first step towards gaining an insight by viewing things through a new perspective.
My initial approach to the lens of life and death was quite straight forward - changing colours of death in flowers and leaves, wilting forms, dead insects and plants.
INTERDEPENDENCE The interdependency of living organisms started playing out when I spotted a mushroom growing on a tree. This mushroom had surrounded itself around the trunk a few feet from the ground and I could see tiny insects running up and down the fungi. Not that interdependency was a new concept, but it brought forward the possibility of how this relation influences the life and death cycles of all the organisms in the system.
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USING LENSES LIFE AND DEATH, STRUCTURE INSIGHTS
The nature of death is such that it gives way to natural selection - the evolution of a species. If we think enough, we will come to realize that it has enabled organisms to survive and thrive - and is in fact the reason we still have life. Death is an opportunity for a species to advance in their genetic makeup. The ones that are unable to do so eventually give way to extinction. And inquiry into the evolution of again explains why so many living things weaken and die with age. The division of labour between the somatic cells and the germ cells has resulted in death becoming an important part of life. On the other hand, organisms like bacteria that reproduce asexually are immortal in the sense that aging is not a cause for their eventual death at any given point in time. The point to be made is that for any species to survive, inspite of external hazards, evolution is necessary. And death is the pathway to it.
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ON BIOLOGY
1 Fractals have aroused lots of attention in the scientific and even the design world I come from. I remember my fellow peers making fractal journals and more until recently.
Structure as a lens was awfully boring, which I entirely take responsibility for. It was impossible to break through the regular perspectives that three years of design school had already given me.
FORMS A lot of things in nature inspite of being very different from each other, follow a very similar structure. Hexagons in nature are not uncommon at all - honeycombs, fly eyes and even soap bubbles. While some of these structures are near perfect, some tend towards perfection.
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INSIGHTS
Of all the structures that exist in nature, that of co-existence endears me the most. Not only do we see order in the way organisms interact with each other, but also in how they react to foreign bodies in their surrounding. Lalbagh, inspite of being a botanical garden also caters to the general public and so, without a doubt has some manmade structures. And yet none of them seem so out of place because of the way nature has integrated it in itself. The picture above is an example of this phenomena. A bowl that was dug out of the ground was eventually filled up by the plants that you see now. An entire ecosystem has grown around it with African monarchs fluttering in and out of the leaves. The human touch of the bowl is nowhere to be seen, especially as you walk on the path a few feet away from it. And this is just one instance. Lalbagh is full of such examples - creepers taking over the fence around the lake, moss abundant on the stone monuments, dogs making homes in piles of construction sand, cats sheltering under benches while it rains. While some of these are blatantly visible, some of them play out behind the scene.
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ON BIOLOGY A day was spent looking at things under the microscope, observing parts that we were otherwise blind to. Beetle exoskeletons, butterfly wings, plant parts and more were pressed between slides and looked at more carefully.
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LOOKING THROUGH A MICROSCOPE INSIGHTS
Inspite of having some exposure to using a microscope, it is quite easy to forget how complicated the simplest of structures can be. Re-looking at things under a microscope brought back the realisation of how much there is that we do not see and how looking at things more closely can change your understanding of them. This realisation further feulled the idea that perhaps science can give you an insight into another kind of beauty - one that arises out of a deeper understanding.
(left to right, top to bottom) : Monocot root Flower petal Leaf Succulent Butterfly wing (x450) Butterfly wing (x100) Pollen grains Human testis Onion skin Photographs taken first hand
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ON BIOLOGY
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Our PechaKucha was slightly personalized - 5 images and/or phrases in 5 minutes. My presentation on the meaning of aesthetics and beauty in spectrum of science, was the first step to my changing perspective of my project space, which will follow in a few pages.
e +1=0 Euler’s identity
hack
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PECHAKUCHA
n.
a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each
INSIGHTS
In an interview with BBC, Richard Feynman talks about how studying science has enabled him to enjoy a flower differently from an artist - he sees not only the colours and the forms but also be appreciative of its functions and its beauty at much smaller levels. It is quite stimulating to understand how aesthetic is not confined to an art or design process. In fact research has led me accept how great a role it plays even in science. For many science lovers, the aesthetic value lies in the simplicity and elegance of something - a modernist design maxim called ‘ form follows function’. The DNA, for instance, with its double helix structure, is a reflection of the replicative function of a molecule. Yet, there are scientists who dismiss the notion of nature having evolved so elegantly and describe it more as a ‘hack’, a reflection of random variation, historical accidents, flawed adaptation and partial optimisation.
(left to right, top to bottom) : Euler’s identity evolution as a hack, illustrated structure of haemoglobin by Irving Geis, X-ray diffraction imageof DNA by Raymond Gosling, screenshot from an animated video ‘Ode to a flower’ based on Richard Feynman’s interview for BBC’s Horizon ‘The Pleasure of Finding Things Out’.
Inspite of it all, some way or the other every scientist finds a way to appreciate beauty - whether it is though the means of philosophy, molecular representations that advance our understanding like the first X-ray images of DNA, scientific drawings done by artists like Irving Geis or the more recent immersive 3D virtual environments that are exploring protein structures.
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ON BIOLOGY Yashoda Ghanekar, a scientist currently studying the regenerative propertives of Hydra spoke about how how vision varies from creature to creature and how they see things.
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GUEST LECTURE yashoda ghanekar INSIGHTS
As humans, we experience an amazing world of colour, but what can other animals see? Some see much more than us, but how they use this vision is largely unknown. We see what we see because our eyes have three photoreceptors, red, green and blue. Our vision is good compared to dogs which have only two photoreceptors (green and blue), but is nothing compared to many birds who have four photoreceptors: ultraviolet (UV) as well as red, green and blue. The addition of a UV photoreceptor is hard to imagine, but if we consider invertebrate vision it gets even more mind-boggling. Butterflies have five photoreceptors, providing them with UV vision and an enhanced ability to distinguish between two similar colours. Octopuses do not have colour vision but they can detect polarised light. The closest humans come to seeing polarised light is by wearing polarised sunglasses. But this is not the end of the story. Mantis shrimp vision puts everything else to shame. They have up to 16 photoreceptors and can see UV, visible and polarised light. In fact, they are the only animals known to detect circularly polarised light, which is when the wave component of light rotates in a circular motion. They also can perceive depth with one eye and move each eye independently. It’s impossible
Mantis shrimp by Micheal Bok
to imagine what mantis shrimp see, but incredible to think about.
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ON BIOLOGY Thomas Van Zanten is a chemical engineer turned biologist who spoke to our class about the evolution os science and what goes into scientific thinking.
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GUEST LECTURE thomas van zanten INSIGHTS
“Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed, or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.” You would think that something so stern is surely directing you towards thinking scientifically but it is so common to almost all design processes. Of course this conclusion didn’t suddenly change the way I worked as a designer but what it did was that it gave me the confidence to be able to handle a scientific topic without feeling intimidated because of my lack of expertise.
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN
// 1 potential science topics
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// 2 deep sea creatures
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// 3 bioluminescence
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// 4 Target audience
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// 5 research for T.A
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// 6 data analysis
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ON BIOLOGY and design This section of the book deals with all the practises that were influential in making both, scientific and design decisions, for my chosen topic. It covers tools of design and science that have helped me ideate and build on initial ideas as well. I spent close to two weeks simply researching my area of work, which eventually led to the definite space I wanted to work with - bioluminescene. Another two were spent reseaching and analysing my target audience.
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN To choose a space to work with within the spectrum of biology, I looked into things that I had learnt during our immersion period and also, subjects that interested me inherently.
The process started with just brainstorming about various ideas that I might want to work with, irrespective of whether or not I intended to choose from one of them.
DIVERGENT THINKING TOOLS
The initial phase of idea generation obviously needed me to be able to come up with a wide range of options. To do so, several divergent thinking tools were used. While most of the outcomes of these tool were utter rubbish, some of the ideas that came out of them were quite unique. And although, these ideas may not have evolved into an actual project space, they kept the excitement going.
27 This chapter covers various divergent thinking tools like the morphological matrix, piggybacking and mind maps which have been used repeatedly throughout this project.
Each have contributed to this project, although it may not seem so. They have been guiding, even if it was only clarification of direction that I shouldn’t go in.
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Potential science Topics INSIGHT
During the course of brainstorming for ideas, I have realized that there is no substitute for continual persistence. There is a tendency to stick to the first idea that seems decent enough and somehow, you manage to convince yourself that that is the best you can do. But there is no doubt that putting in just a bit more effort can take you somewhere else entirely. There were a number of ideas that I fell in love with while trying to find an area in biology to work with. There were even more times when the project path that I could follow would’ve been a simple straight line. But for whatever reason, I gave them up. There has been an exponential growth in term of exploration of thought while coming up with a worthy field of work. It has stretched from ideas that were so easily fleshed out to ideas that didn’t lift of the ground at all.
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN
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The morphological matrix is a divergent thinking tool that enables you to combine various aspects of an idea that you would otherwise not try to mix up.
The process started with filling out the various columns depending on MORPHOLOGICAL MATRIX
things that I was personally interested in. Words were picked randomly from each column and put in context of each other to see what ideas could be generated.
This tool has proved to be most useful, especially when I reached rock bottom during the course of my ideation process. Although it was successful in generating some ideas of great potential, I didn’t carry them forward because of either time constraints, lack of guidance or lack of resources.
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EVOLUTION • VIDEO GAME DESIGN • WONDER • PLANT ENTHUSIASTS
MICROSCOPE • EXPERIENCE DESIGN • WONDER • MOUNTAINEERS
A video game that allows you to build your own species of plants
A mobile application that works like a microscope
in environments that you choose.
that allows mountaineers to magnify things around
This game could be a guide book
them while they trek.
into how different things change when one thing changes and could teach you more about the concept of evolution as a hack. The
The idea above was one of those few
intention of the user is to perhaps
ideas that I quite looking forward
see how long his or her plant can
to carry on as my project. But
survive in the environment.
considering the amount of time I had and the fact that I would need to code the application myself, I had to let it
CLONING • EXHIBITION •
go temporarily.
EMPATHY • ENTREPRENEURS Make entrepreneurs take a stand on cloning through installations that make you empathize with the process of cloning.
GARDENING • TYPEFACE • SEEING ‘MORE’ • MARINE BIOLOGIST
MUSHROOMS • BRANDING •
A 3D typeface made out of
EDUCATE • FISHERMEN
actual plants of the sea that are equivalent to the plants that we
Build a brand around mushroom
grow in our gardens to make
that targets the fishermen that
marine biologists interested in not
will educate them on the different
only creatures of the sea but also
ways in which they can be cooked.
aquatic flora.
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN
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A Mind Map is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain. It harnesses the full range of cortical skills – word, image, number, logic, rhythm, colour and spatial awareness – in a single, uniquely powerful manner.
One of the exercises I carried forward into the ideation phase was the lens of ‘life and death’ that I had explored in the initial days of the project. Although conceptually I was excited about it, I was unable to find an interesting perspective from which to take it ahead.
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Mind maps didn’t prove so useful to me, since I was unable to draw unique connections.
Carrying forward an idea that had come up earlier - of making an interactive website about sea creatures, I decided to layer it with another topic - fear. This brought me to the topic of thalassophobia.
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN Deep sea creatures was the broader idea that I settled on to carry forward into the project. The idea emerged from an interest in marine life, which I narrowed down based on some previous learnings.
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Eventually this idea was further moulded based on the feedback I got from peers and mainly the first seminar.
DEEP SEA CREATURES
INSIGHTS
As mentioned before, I was keen to work with marine life, but since this topic didn’t quite have a focus, I looked at things that I had learnt in the initial weeks of the project. The ones that caught my interest were the conclusions that I had drawn from the PechaKucha presentation on scientific aesthetic and beauty and my experience with the microscope. Based on these learnings, I decided to head my project in a direction where I was probing the role of aesthetic in the perception of these creatures. The severity of the conditions these deep sea creatures live in, the way they’ve evolved to survive in such extremities - in freezing temperatures, scarce food and pressure levels that would turn a human into a pancake - are areas worth tapping into to understand them from a different perspective. My project was initially going to deal with these creatures - the overlooked, the misunderstood, the reasons why they are feared and looked at as “ugly” and whether it is possible to make people see beyond the aesthetic definition of beauty.
(top to bottom) : screenshot of a Google search ‘deep sea creatures’ mind map of areas to explore in context of deep sea creatures
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN
2 A mapping of the variables of the project, including the subject matter research as well as my skills and weakness as a designer
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After gaining some clarity on the subject matter, research questions were formulated to give the next step of the project some direction.
1. What is it about deep sea creatures that scares people? Are the reasons for this fear the same that govern thalassophobia? If so, what can I do to change it? 2. How do deep sea creatures survive in extreme condition? How can I make these adaptations fascinating for someone who is not already keen about marine life? 3. How has our societal definition of beauty affected our ability to see it in creatures that may not possess “aesthetic� beauty? Can an understanding of science change that? 4. What is the importance of visual culture in this space? 5. How do you make something interactive while balancing the fun and serious bits of it perfectly? Which medium would be best for an interactive piece?
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN Bioluminesence was the topic that I narrowed down to from deep sea creatures after seminar 1.
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Eventually this idea was further moulded based on the feedback I got from peers and mainly the first seminar.
BIOLUMINESCENCE
INSIGHTS
The feedback that I recieved from seminar 1 was to find something specific about deep sea creatures that my project could revolve around. I used the morphological matrix to try out different ideas that could give me some inspiration. There was a back and forth between bioluminescence and thalassophobia. So I got some more feedback, after which I decided to go ahead with the former due to time constraints. Since then, the project has been focusing on how a subject like bioluminescence can be introduced to children. I was looking into different mediums to express this topic, such as a website. For a short while, I even considered exhibition design for a hypothetical client like California Academy of Sciences. The intention behind working with a medium I have never worked with before was to see how far I could push it, especially considering the time frame we had. But further explorations eventually filtered down the idea and I finally settled on making an illustrated book. Although this was a compromise, the up sied was that I will have made illustrations for a specific purpose for the first time.
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN
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An initial idea was to explore user experience design and make a light sensitive website that talks about bioluminescent creatures. But I had neither the skills, nor the guidance or time to be able to carry out such a task,
39 The earlier research questions underwent slight changes to fit the new focus area of the project.
1. What is the perception and awareness people have about deep sea creatures? 2. What is the importance of visual culture in this space? 3. How does a child deal with things that are unknown to him or her? How can bioluminescence be made interesting for them? 4. What are the different visual media that can make something interactive?
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN Although setting a target audience doesn’t restrict a product from being relevant to others outside of the target audience group, it can sometimes give a direction to your product.
11 to 13 year olds
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TARGET AUDIENCE
PROCESS
The value that I was trying to put forward through my project was that of wonder, and so it made sense to direct it at a younger age group. Deciding which age group to tackle was the real challenge. I was very keen on making it for children aged 8 and below, but after researching the topic of bioluminescence, I realised that a slightly older audience would prove to be more relevant to it. I started looking at an age group where learning was at its peak, a phase during which children were more likely to open minded about learning new things and during which they could be influenced. After a substantial amount of work, I decided on the age group between 10 to 13. Although this seemed like a definite bracket, I wasn’t completely sure whether a 10 year old could grasp and be interested in the same things as a 13 year old. And so, to see how different and similar they were, I decided to approach my target audience research with the intent of understanding what they knew and what they did not.
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN
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A masterclass in scientific research methods was conducted by Farhat Ara, a zoologist, during class hours to educate us on the variety of way we could adopt to get information and choose the one most suited to our needs.
A flowchart showing the navigation of questions depending on the answers that the children gave.
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I chose to gather the information I needed about my target audience through a questionnaire.
RESEARCH FOR T.A.
PROCESS
The intent of the questionnaire was to find out what my target audience already knew about the subject that I was working with. I wanted to know about the assumptions they had made, what they felt about deep sea creatures, what they had been taught about them, if they had been taught at all. The first questionnaire structure that I thought of was responsive to the answers I got. For instance, if I answered yes for question A it would lead me to question B, but if I answered no, it would lead me to question C and so on and so forth. But due to time constraints and limited resources, I decided to go with a simpler and more regular version of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was revised multiple times due to mistakes such as leading questions, or lack of sensitivity towards the subjects.
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN
5 REVISION ONE
REVISION TWO
1. What is your age?
1. What is your age?
2. Do you know what a deep sea creature is?
2. What do you think this is? *image*
3. Have you seen a creature like this before? *image*
3. What comes to your mind when yo
4. What does it remind you of?
4. Do you think it is a living animal?
5. Where have you seen a creature like this one?
5. Where have you seen a creature li
6. What do you know of bioluminescence?
6. Have you seen or heard of an anim the dark?
-------1. Do you like to read? 2. What kind of books do you read? 3. Would you like to read a book that glows in the dark?
7. If yes, where?
8. What do you think the deep sea is -------1. Do you like to read? 2. What kind of books do you read?
3. Do you prefer fiction or non fiction
ou see it?
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test survey REVISION THREE
1. What is your age? 2. What do you think this is? *image* 3. What comes to your mind when you see it? 4. Do you think it is a living animal?
ike this one?
5. Where have you seen a creature like this one?
mal that glows in
6. Have you seen or heard of an animal that glows in the dark?
s like?
n?
7. If yes, where? 8. What do you think the deep sea is like? 9. If you could be a deep sea animal, which one would you like to be? -------1. Do you like to read? 2. What kind of books do you read? 3. What is your favourite book? 4. Which book did you not like reading at all?
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN
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I ran the final survey online as well as in schools. I went to a few schools and met children privately as well to get them to fill out the questionnaires.
Questionnaire Hello. I'm a fourth year college student studying design at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology. It would be great if you can quickly fill out this form and help me out with my project. All the answers that you give will not be shared with anyone. Neither will they affect your grades, nor will you be evaluated based on your answers. *Required
The final questionnaire, Where have you seen creatures similar to this one? *
What is your age? *
(you can tick more than one)
A:
Movies
What do you think this is? *
Books
In the sea or ocean
Websites
Museums
Documentaries
Other:
Have you ever seen or heard of a sea animal that glows? * Yes
No
Is yes, where? A:
What do you think the deep sea is like? *
A:
A:
What comes to your mind when you see it? * A:
If you could be a deep sea animal, which one would you like to be? *
Do you think it is a living animal? *
A:
Yes
No
Maybe
What is your favourite book? *
Do you like to read? * Yes
No
Maybe
A:
What sort of books do you prefer to read? *
Which book did you not like reading at all? *
(you can tick more than one)
A:
Picture books
Graphic Novels
Short stories
Literary novels
Poetry
Plays
Other:
after all its revisions still had a few loopholes. But I realised this only after all my data had been collected.
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5
INSIGHTS
Finding schools where I could hand out the survey forms was tricky because the time allocated for my target audience research coincided with the time that the half yearly examinations were being held. Luckily, some schools were still open to let me have half an hour with students from grade 6 to grade 8. The response was over whelming. The students were more than willing to spend time answering questions diligently. To top it off, most of them were more curious about what my project was about. I was quite impressed by the breath of knowledge they had and my earlier assumptions were beginning to fail. I had assumed that I may have to dumb down my content, since I was writing for children, but the questionnaire proved otherwise.
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6
ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN Since I ran surveys both online and offline, I had to manually collate data and compare it.
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6
Data analysis
PROCESS
The final survey that I conducted had a response of 60 students from grade 6 to grade 8. The next step was to see what information I could possible get from the responses that I had gotten. I spent a reasonably amount of time simply collating all the data I had onto different sheets and tried to see if there was any way to categorise open ended questions. Questions like ‘Which book did you enjoy reading the most?’ obviously had really diverse answers and so I started looking into how I could fit all these into categories. The one that worked out the best was to see how many of these books were fiction and how many were non-fiction. Classifications like these really helped in generating insights.
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ON BIOLOGY AND DESIGN
DO YOU THINK THIS IS A LIVING ANIMAL?
WHAT IS YOUR AGE?
YES
10 YRS
NO
11 YRS 26.1%
12 YRS
33.3% 49.3%
MAYBE
13 YRS 66.2%
7.7%
14.5%
2.9%
WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN THESE?
HAVE YOU HEARD OF AN ANIMAL THAT GLOWS?
1.8%
MOVIES
YES
BOOKS
19% 32.3%
NO
20.6%
WEBSITES MUSEUMS
10.8%
IN THE OCEAN
5.1% 15.8%
15.2%
DOCUMENTARIES
79.4%
OTHER
WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN ANIMALS THAT GLOW?
DO YOU LIKE TO READ?
3.5%
MOVIES, DOCUMENTARIES
5.3%
YES
BOOKS 8.8%
INTERNET 35.1%
PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE OCEAN
21%
AQUARIUMS AND PARKS 14%
3.5%
NO 23.6%
WATER ACTIVITIES PARENTS, PEERS AND SCHOOLS
3.5%
4.4%
MAYBE
72%
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6
WHAT BOOKS DO YOU LIKE? INSIGHTS NON FICTION 11.4%
FICTION based on the question ‘What is your favourite book?’
They are more well read than you can imagine. Their interests are much more diverse.
88.6%
Although they might not have an in depth knowledge about something, they are still not aloof about it.
WHAT BOOKS DO YOU DISLIKE? NON FICTION FICTION
16.9%
based on the question ‘Which book did you not like reading at all?’ 83.1%
PICTURE BOOKS GRAPHIC NOVELS
10.3%
LITERARY NOVELS 21.3%
8.1%
POETRY SHORT STORIES
15.4% 19.8% 7.3%
Reading as a habit isn’t as rare as it is hyped to be. Fiction doesn’t necessarily have an upper hand when it comes to these children, although it is more popular. They are much more capable of handling something new.
WHICH BOOKS DO YOU PREFER?
17.6%
Just because they describe something in negative adjectives doesn’t mean that they don’t find it interesting.
PLAYS OTHER
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ON DESIGN
// 1 BOOK DESIGN RESEARCH
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// 2 IDEATION for form
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// 3 VISUAL EXPLORATIONS
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// 4 STORY BOARDING AND cONTENT
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// 5 GENERATION // 5 ILLUSTRATIONS
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// 6 LAYOUT
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ON design This section of the book deals with everything that I have learnt as a designer during this project. It documents all the explorations that I went through, the difficulties I faced, and the changes in plans for the execution of the final book.
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1
ON DESIGN I looked at several illustrated books that were made by designers and illustrators to give me an idea as to how to begin.
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1
Taking into account that I do not illustrate at all, I had to study illustration styles by observing them.
BOOK DESIGN RESEARCH
PROCESS
Throughout the last three years at Srishti, I have never looked into image making and so, for this project it was essential that I catch up, at least at an elementary level, to the basics of illustration. I did a lot of research in terms of studying illustrated books for children at Blossoms of all age groups, and not only my target audience. The real challenge I faced was that the tone in terms of colour was going to be dark inherently because of the subject that I had chosen. But all the books that I had looked at were more lit up - the use of warm, bright colours was much more.
(left to right, top to bottom) : illustration by Sam Garton, Little Red by Bethan Woollvin, Matilda by Quentin Blake, The Lorax by Dr. Suess, Freedom in Congo Square by R. Gregory Christie, The White Cat and the Monk by Sydney Smith, Smart About Sharks by Owen Davey, The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jefferes, Madame Eiffel by Csil, The Only Child by Guojing, Big Bear Little Chair by Lizi Boyd, The Skunk by Patrick McDonnell
I barely found any books that followed a storyline that was solely in the dark. And so, although my research gave me an idea as to what kind of text to image ratio I should follow, the kind of content, the typography used and a suitable book size, it didn’t help me too much on the grounds of illustration.
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ON DESIGN
2
The ideation phase again required us to use divergent thinking, after a month of convergent thinking. This phase was a brainstorming phase for the form of output.
One creature per page, gives room for horizontal drawings which is in accordance to the natural orientation of most bioluminescent creatures’ body shapes.
One creature per spread, feels like a pamphlet picked up at a museum, too many odd spaces, doesn’t compliment the form of the creatures, more room for environment.
One or two creatures per spread, enough room to show as much detail as you want, can easily be printed without too much paper getting wasted, boring size - too standard, nothing exciting,
One creature per spread, slight squarishness makes the book look more different, enough room to add backgrounds and other details, flexible to the orientation of the creature’s form, slight paper wastage but that can be used to print out giveaways like postcards
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2
Since my final outcomes was to be in publication design, I started exploring book designs in terms of page orientation and book navigation.
IDEATION for form
PROCESS
The first decision to be made was what the book was going to be - a narrative form or an encyclopedia. Although narrative was something that I was leaning towards initially because of the freedom to express content, I finally decided on making the book along the lines of an encyclopedia. The pros of the narrative form were that I had plenty of opportunity to introduce characters and build interactions between them. But at the same time, since the idea was to tell children about multiple bioluminescent creatures, the narrative form was forcing connections to maintain a consistency. On the other hand, the inspired-encyclopedia medium gave me the benefit of slight fantasy as well as kept a structure to the information navigation. I started looking at what sort of book foldings and page orientations I could do to make the book more interactive. Although the accordion form would’ve easily been interactive, it didn’t fit into concept of bioluminescence. And so I decided to keep the book navigation simple like an encyclopedia.
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3
ON DESIGN Before starting to actually work on the final outcome, I spent a few weeks just exploring as many mediums of image making as possible.
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3
The initial illustrations that I created were lacking something because inspite of changing the medium, they still looked more or less similar to each other.
visual explorations
PROCESS
I tried out various visual styles which proved as a challenge since most of work for three years has been quite devoid of illustration. Initially when I started out, inspite of what medium I used, all the explorations still looked quite similar. The issue was that I was using each material in exactly the same way. So I started looking at using materials that I had never used before at all and that were very different from materials that I was used to using (mostly paint). I was looking out to create an imagery that gave a sense of transparency since most of the deep sea creatures have that sort of body. I worked extensively with a single creature - a jellyfish that is bioluminescent - and tried to visualize it in as many ways as possible. I tried out butter paper layered on an actual painting, glue with paper cut outs, just glue, just paper cut outs, paper on thread. I was satisfied with the ones that I tried with glue since they gave a sense of form as well as brought out the transparency. One of the ideas that I was most excited to execute was making glow in the dark illustrations. The problem that I faced with that is that the printing process is quite exclusive. A solution to that could be layering digitally printed illustrations with glow in the dark paste but procuring it took so long that I could not prototype it.
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ON DESIGN
3
The second part of exploration consisted of mainly changing the medium that I was using and create the same creature using the new medium to its full advantage.
I did multiple exploration of the same creature - a jellyfish, using different materials to see if I could bring in some translucence to the creature. I also tried out texturing using things like cotton and tissue. I’ve tried using things like butter paper, neon markers, neon paints, thread and blow pens to create a variety of explorations.
61 These explorations gave me a sense of form for each creature.
I tried creating images through layering using transparent mediums like butter paper and stencils. In the first set of images, I have tried to showcase the form of an anglerfish and it’s bioluminescence through a stencil. In the second set of images, the butter paper has a line drawing of what the jellyfish looks like and the inside has a rendered glowing version of it.
Explorations of colour palette on white and black paper
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ON DESIGN
4
Storyboarding was essential to just give me a sense of how much space the text and image would occupy and how were the illustrations going to take up space on the paper.
STORY BOARDING Final story board for the book
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4
story boarding and content generation PROCESS
I started storyboarding even before I had my content so that I knew how much text I would really need. In the mean time I also started working on the content of the book. I had to go back to researching about bioluminescence. I picked out a variety of animals based on the reasons why they used bioluminescence. After that I sorted them out according to how deep in the ocean they lived. Once I had the order of the animals fixed, I started reading up on each of them and picking out the most relevant information that I could find. The challenge in this process was to be able to keep true to the content, manage to convey your message and at the same time, not dumb down the text so much that it loses its scientific value.
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4
ON DESIGN
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4
CONTENT GENERATION Initially the content that I started writing out was slightly stern in its tone. The feedback I received was to try and write the content the way I would say it if I were talking to a 11 year old. The idea was to make sure that the child understood what you were saying, otherwise he was less likely to keep reading on. One way to do that, I figured, was to explain things by comparing them to things that they already knew about. For instance, if I was trying to tell them that the jellyfish lives 500 feet below water, instead of stating it as a number, I could compare it to a a size that they can easily imagine. Another issue that was pointed out was that there were many terms that my target may or may not understand and so to be on the safer side, an index page was necessary.
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ON DESIGN
FINAL CONTENT
As the sun goes down and the stars start to show, a whole new world begins
This is a part of the final content that
to awaken. Bats and owls roam the skies in search for food and fireflies blink
is now in the book.
on trees on warm summer nights. You'd think that everything else remains in absolutely darkens except for very few creatures, But in the dark depths of the ocean, where everything seems black, an underwater glow, a fleeting gleam of light makes the ocean shine. Just like the fireflies in the skies, scores and scores of marine animals gleam with lights that are mostly blue, sometimes green and rarely even yellow. Scientists call this bioluminescence. //bioluminescence// n. [bahy-oh-loo-muh-nes-uh-ns] the production of light by living organisms Some creatures, especially in the ocean have evolved ways of being able to make light. They use this light to catch prey, attract mates, scare of predators, communicates and even hide. While most of these bioluminescent creatures live in the deep sea like the angler fish, some can be found near the coast and even on land, like fireflies. //dinoflagellates// Dinoflagellates are one celled plankton that live in almost any possible aquatic environment - in oceans, rivers, lakes and even sea ice. A number of these dinoflagellates sometimes take residence in other animals as symbiotic partners. The host animal swallows them and makes them a part of its but without harming it at all. Dinoflagelletes are noteworthy for several reasons - the primary reason being that they are the basis of the food chain, especially in the oceans. They are also capable of bioluminescence for which they are called ‘fire plants’. Each plankton begins to glow as it gets dark but will glow even brighter when agitated, like if a ship passes by. //cephalopods// n. [sef-uh-luh-pod] a type of mollusc Molluscs are invertebrate animals and live mostly in aquatic or damp habitats. Slugs, snails, cuttlefish, mussels, squids, octopuses, oysters and clams are all different kinds of molluscs. Out of these, squids, cuttlefish and octopuses are specifically cephalopods.
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Cephalopods are different from other kinds of molluscs
lights to attract small prey and then pounce on them with
because they have large heads, tentacles and can squirt ink.
their powerful tentacles. Not only does its bioluminescence to help it to get its next meal but also to find a mate and
//bobtail squid//
confuse its predator.
The bobtail squid is a tiny cephalopod, not longer than your
Although these squid live deep in the ocean, in the summer
little finger, which lives in the shallow waters of the Pacific
they gather in Toyama Bay in Japan to lay eggs in the water.
and Indian Oceans. It spends all day hiding in the sand and
During this time, fishermen go out to catch these squids as
comes out at night to hunt. But while hunting, it also has to
they are a delicacy in Japan. As these fishermen drag out
avoid being eaten by its predators. So to avoid being found, it
their catch, the ocean begins to glow a bright cobalt blue.
shelters a certain bioluminescent bacteria on its underbelly
The sight is so spectacular that people travel from all around
to mimic the moonlight. Due to this, the predator cannot see
the world to see this happen.
the squid's shadow and so it remains hidden. But the squid is not born with these bacteria. The hatchlings
//vampire squid//
of the squid must carefully select these bacteria from the
The vampire squid is a deep sea cephalopod which spends
thousands of other micro organisms in the ocean. To catch
most of its time in aphotic parts of the ocean. Life is so slow
these bacteria, the hatchling secretes a mucus that attracts
here that it barely even needs any food. Instead of hunting
all kinds of micro organisms.
for other creatures, it uses its two long sticky filaments to
But still, it has to choose that one specific bacteria that will
collect floating particles called marine snow. Marine snow is
allow it to glow. Even today, scientists don't know how these
basically bits and pieces of dead plants and animals that float
hatchling do it, but miraculously these bacteria beat all the
around in the water.
others that are stuck on the mucus. You would think that's all
This creature is quite unique because not only is it the
it takes but after they have won, they still need to pass a few
only surviving member of its order, but it is also similar to
more tests till the hatchling's body completely accepts it.
octopuses. In fact, when it was first found, people thought
Once the bacteria becomes a part of its body, the squid feeds
it was an octopus! But unlike an octopus, it doesn't have
it while the bacteria helps it to hide.
an ink sac. Instead when it feel extremely scared, it throws out a cloud of glowing, bioluminescent mucus from the tip
//photophores// n.
of its arms. But usually, it simply turns inside out, like your
[foh-tuh--fohr]
clothes, to scare off other animals.
a tiny light emitting organ on the bodies of various marine
It also has photopores on its body that it can turn on and off,
animals.
like the firefly squid, but the ones near its eyes and the tip of
They look like tiny dots glowing with light on the bodies of
its arms are more complex than the others.
fish and cephalopods. A lot of deep sea creatures have these light organs that they use to either hunt prey or confuse its predator. //firefly squid// Of all the bioluminescent life forms in the ocean, the tiny firefly squid is another cephalopod which has a marvellous display of lights. There are thousands of photopores on its body that glow a deep blue colour. Like a firefly, it flashes its
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ON DESIGN
Initial drawings and painting were done on farbriano using gouache. The advantage of this medium was that I was familiar with it and so I could work much faster. Also I found making changes on paper to be more convenient.
I painted the foreground and background separately before combining them digitally. I was not satisfied with how they went together. There were a lot of changes in the colour once the image had been scanned and it was painfully time consuming to colour correct them.
I also tried out making the background digitally, which was more of a disaster than the earlier attempt. The creature looked like it has been pasted onto some tacky looking background. The conclusion from all these trials was that I had to start working on one medium - instead of combining them and also that it would be preferable to start working digitally.
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5
Finally, I made 12 illustrations, out of which 8 were those of the bioluminescent creatures. Although initially I was going to make hand painted illustrations, I decided to try out digital illustrations. My main inspiration for the style I adopted was the work of Owen Davey.
Illustrations
PROCESS
Before settling on an illustration style, I started with making pen and ink sketches of the creatures that I was eventually going to draw. Drawing them over and over again ave me a sense of mastery over their forms which made it easier to adapt them into an illustration style.
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ON DESIGN Before settling on an illustration style, I had tried out one that didn’t work quite so well. It looked airbrushed and unreal - but not unreal enough to be fantastical.
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Frame by frame process for the final illustration of the bobtail squid.
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ON DESIGN Final illustrations for the book
anglerfish
bristlemouth fish
atolla jellyfish
vampire squid
first introduction page
second introduction page
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cookiecutter shark
dinoflagellates
bobtail squid
firefly squid
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6
ON DESIGN
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6
LAYOUTS
PROCESS
To break the monotony of the book I looked into making different layouts by using different permutations and combinations of the few basic elements that I had decided on, within the book for the pages about the creatures. To break the monotony of having a book of creature after creature, I also decided to add in pages that would introduce new words that were specifically relevant to bioluminescence. Apart from these, I worked on layouts for the index and a page that showed all the creatures in scale to each other.
(left to right, top to bottom) : index, layout with full bleed image and white text, layout with half page image and boxed text, layout with full bleed image and black text, layout for ‘important word and its meaning’ page layout for introduction page, layout for ‘to scale’ page
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reflection This is the first time that I have dedicated myself to one project for such a long span of time. The benefit of this has been that there has been plenty of time to reflect, re-do, analyse and test out the things that I have done. It has also been a great opportunity to learn about my work process. I’ve realised that I am not much of a planner and it takes me time to immerse into the process. This project was not something that I had chosen voluntarily and it took some struggling to get out the self pity zone and immerse myself into work. The effect of this struggle was seen for almost half the project time I was given and I had to pay for it. But strangely enough, the fact that I much behind schedule made me realise that I need a really strong incentive to plan. I had to speed my research and work time, and somewhere I could see that it was affecting the quality of my work. So when I finally caught up to my timeline, the next steps were much easier to do because there was an awareness of the consequences of falling behind. The project has given me a breath of opportunities to learn from. It reawakened my interest in biology and taught me how to channel these interests into my field of work. I think this has been one of the biggest learning because now I can foresee a much wider range of work to be produced in the years to come. Another challenge of this project has been, no doubt, illustrating. I have never struggled so much to complete any task before this. There were so, so many hurdles, the biggest one being my fear of failing miserably. This cost me a lot of time again and resulted in many sleepless nights later. But the experience has been worthwhile because irrespective of how much I have struggled, I have something to show for it now, which brings in a lot of confidence.
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Made for the qualifying semester project at SRISHTI INSTITUTE OF ART, DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY