manifesto

Fluxbox containing God by Ben Vaultier

Fluxus Manifesto “Promote a revolutionary flood and tide in art, promote living-art, anti-art” Our initial brief was to design a PechaKucha presentation on the Fluxus Manifesto. As our group was unfamiliar with this particular manifesto we individually conducted research that would enable us to explore its meaning and practices.

We found that Fluxus was recognized as a way of living rather than a set of rules. Fluxus artists were concerned in findind something “significant in the insignificant”. Thus introducing Intermedia (the collaboration of media).

My Contribution Within our group we assigned roles allowing each member to develop a bigger insight into their topic.We then decided to visually communicate the research by designing infograpghics.

Persoanally I was assigned to look into artists who have been inspired by Fluxus and have produced work relating to this manifesto. I came across several practioners from various countries, however Greoge Brecht and Dick Higgins were the most activity involved in developing the Fluxus idea. I research 3 main artists and used the work to influence my infographics. Our decision to use this medium to communicate acquired from the main characteristic of Fluxus which is simplicity and specificity.

Intermedia Chart by Dick Higgins Fluxus artist born in 1938, England

Role of the User As part of the brief we were also allocated to study the role of the user.

Looking into this role I developed knowledge on the importance and value of it within the process of design.

Within our group we shared our research and discussed possible ways we could create a manifesto based purely on the user.

During our discussions we spoke about contempoary technology that provide user friendly interfaces. “We have so much technology nowadays these interfaces should start conforming to us�

-Jeff Hans

Heads-up display

Augmented Reality Apps

Windows 8 nterface

I Pad Touch Interface

My Contribution We allocated members within the group to produce an analysis of 4 defferent Augmented Apps. I chose to analysis the apps: TagWhat, Star Chart, Sky Siege and Mixare. All of which varied in context and purpose.

I learnt that Augmented reality can be specific and target a particular audience however they still seek to be flexible and provide universal userbility.

I also read books on the user experience to understand the role of the user and typical features provided within interactive user interfaces.

Role of the User Primary Research We developed our primary research by conducting Interviews, Questionnaires and videoing personal interactions with current touch-screen interfaces.

These all benefited toward developing our final outcome as we became aware of the users needs as well as their opinion of current interfaces today.

Our research led us to our idea of designing a HUD for individual users to interact with. This display would be embedded into human eyes, contact lenses or other possible mediums but will allow personal everyday displays to show up when requested.

My Contribution

Development of Icons for Interface

Interview with John, Desara and Diwani During the interviews myself and Konrad took it in turns to ask the user’s questions on their personal experiences and opions on interfaces today. From this we learnt that touch interfaces are prefered as they are flexible and allow the user to have more control.

I conducted a series of primary research to develop our HUD manifesto idea. I began sketching ideas for the icons which were then tranformed into info graphics via photoshop.

These icons represented a visual intruction or representation of places within the enviroment.

After discussing what icons would be used for the final manifesto, we decided to film the necessary footage that would play in conjunction with the info-graphics.

During this process we organized several meetings for us to discuss the progress. I also made it a priority to document these meetings via filming, photographs and audia recording.

Final User Manifesto Filming Once the group had decided on the final concept for the user manifesto, we began filming the necessary footage. We loaned media equipment such as the hd video camera, tri-pod and a Fig rid to hold it steady whilst walking through town.

These came in handy when filming the scenes that we then used for the final output. We chose a random selection of scenes to convey the various possible features of the interface.

Editing After gathering the footage together we begun editing it in After Effect where we were able to insert the info graphics over the video. We also animated the voice recognition icon to appear in correspondance to the sound. When placing the icons on top of the scenes we ensured that the user could engage with the interface.

Although our intentions were to make it easy to use, we thought my over loading the screen with icons would highlight the useless information that occur in current interfaces. It was successful in subliminally portraying the flaws in interactive user technology today.

My Contribution Withing this section I took part in the filming process of the final manifesto, I also discussed and helped decide on were and how the icons should be displayd.

My previous decision to film particular interfaces around town such as the ticket machine in Epsom influenced me to structure them in a particular way.

I also suggested ideas and concepts for what infomation should be shown when demanded.

Making of Documentary As I was the chosen person to present my documentary for the presentation I felt the pressure of trying to tackle finalizing the maniesfo, group blog and my personal documentary.

However, once we assigned roles to help one another out, I took on the responsibility of finished my part in time. I gathered all of the video footage and imported it into Adobe Premiere to begin editing.

Editing As I was unfamiliar with practising on Premiere I found it quite challenging.

However with my basic knowledge and youtube tutorials I began to get the hang of it. I decided to order the footage and then cut out any unecessary scenes. Once I had completed that I then started to fit them into a sequence which I then edited to create smooth transitions and overlays.

This effect made the documentary flow and look interesting for the audience watching. After editing the footage I imported the music over and edited scene sound in order of necessity. The sequence provided a constant overlay of sound but was edited to a lower volume when people were speaking.

Clips from making of Documentary

My Contribution This documentary was edited purely by myself, however filmed footage were group orientated. I also filmed personal footage for my documentary to show visuals of what we spoke about. For example I filmed footage of a friend playing HUD games in different angles to provide visual represntations of our gathered research. I filmed other personal footage that allowed the documentary to be entertaining as well as informative.

Overall I would say my contribution was satisfactory and was acknowledged in the group assessment.

I personally found the group aspect quite challenging as there were occasions were we had to take on other members work load to ensure completion in time.