Anatman Materials

There is no permanent identity, rather a stream of processes.

[dephus]

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

Onward and Upward

This course offered the greatest learning opportunity in applying classroom knowledge to the real world.  Not only what we learned specifically about design, but I found opportunity to bring my external knowledge into this course. A trend across university, that I have noticed, is proving your ability to learn a topic and reiterate it to prove you understand it and have memorized its details.  When I find a course that encourages you to put your strengths to work, I pour my heart into it! In this course, we were encouraged to walk about our daily lives looking for aspects of design.  Many of our projects focused on applying ourselves and our thoughts to the world outside of our desks and notepads. This course also offered a great opportunity to learn and explore with your hands.  Instead of always sitting and taking notes, we got to use our notes in action!

I am walking away from this course and feel as though I can use it throughout my daily life and in my future, whether its towards a career or my next class.  That is what education is to me: a place I can expand my mind in a direction I love, even if it only ever leads to a good conversation.

So, a big thank you to all of those that made this possible. 

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

Variation Brought to Life

In my process of designing a wallet for Jovi, I followed the design thinking model: empathize, define, ideate, prototype. I began by interviewing Jovi to discover her love for aesthetics over function.  With this knowledge, I began to analyze her style and approach to using objects during class and in the studio.   To define my problem, I needed to create a wallet for Jovi that she would love enough to flaunt as part of her style.  It had to be something that matched her look: edgy, sleek, simple, modern, tidy, etc. I then explored possible solutions such as wallets that slip different ways, more like a purse, less like a purse, etc.   I then build a prototype combining the best ideas I had and presented it to Jovi.  From there I took note of what Jovi liked and what she would change, going back to the ideate phase, and then created another prototype. This prototype was the one that caught Jovi’s eye!

It was quite a long process to get to a wallet that Jovi would appreciate.  I then began to wonder, if I gave this wallet to Taylor or Payton or Ozzy, would they appreciate the wallet?  Probably not.  That is the hardship of human centred design, but it is also the beauty.  Each individual has preferences they want to see in everything they use.  For example, in some homes you’ll find carpet and others hardwood, and even some you’ll find hardwood with a rug on it.  Some jackets have fur on the hood and some don’t, some are long and some are short.  In our example, some people like longer wallets with a folding capability and no change pouch.  Jovi wasn’t picky on any of that, she just wanted her wallet to look cool! Human centred design brings variation to the world and allows people to really enjoy the little things, or fulfill quirky needs!

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

Colours Bringing Life.

Monochromatic Yellow is a strong colour that usually represents caution or brings attention to the eye.  Post-it notes are generally used in an office setting where the scenery is more toned down.  A yellow sticky note in this case is bright against neutral colours.  A post-it can often be used to make note on a schedule or leave a reminder for someone as it is used to make a message stand out.  Therefor, a yellow square can often be associated with a post-it note.  

Complementary Blue and orange are opposite each other on the colour wheel and when placed next to each other in this logo intensify each other.  The orange makes the blue pop and likewise in opposition.  By having this bright, fun colour scheme, it would be more likely to draw in kids to play the game than would non-complementary colours, for example, brown and blue.  The blue also has an icy appearance to it which fits the location a penguin would reside: in the north.  

Split Complementary A split complementary colour scheme still contrasts the colours, but not quite to the same extent as complementary, dulling the intensity ever so slightly.  In the Instagram logo, the colours are not ones we directly worked with in our colour wheel but are different values of yellow, blue-violet, and red-violet.  The Instagram logo could arguably be the CMY (cyan, magenta, yellow) primary colours.  In the logo, the soft colours could represent times of day: night, sun rise or set, and daylight.  That encourages the use of Instagram at any time.

Analogous The Tostitos logo uses colours on the spectrum between yellow and red.  These colours give off a “sunny day” vibe in combination with the appearance of the word being two people (as the ’t’s) enjoying a little party.  The chosen colour scheme aims at a positive atmosphere while if the logo has been on the green or blue spectrum, it would have a different harmony.  The vibe could have still been positive but not as much of a social atmosphere.

Triadic Red, blue, and yellow have a strong visual contrast as the three primary colours.  Together, these colours have a cheerful tone and often are associated with children.  One of Burger King’s largest target audiences are families with children so the logo will appeal to young ones even if they can’t actually read the words yet.  The red font and yellow bun appear to jump forward while the blue appears further back partially because the red overlaps the blue, but more so because of the colour working in space.

Colour Discord It is interesting that a logo would use yellow with green.  Yellow and green sit at about a 45 degree angle from each other on the colour wheel.  There is something about the value of the goldy-yellow colour with the pine green that gives off a feeling of comfort and coziness.  This is an appropriate message to send to those staying in this inn as it appears to feel homely.

Cool Colours

Warm Colours

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

You know that feeling when your cheeks get hot because you’re embarrassed?  And then someone points out the rosy colour of them and you get more embarrassed?  The colour of your cheeks evoked an emotional reaction.   Imagine it’s a sunny day and you’re looking into the depths of the ocean.  You can see so far down through the clear, blue water and it appears majestic and free.  If the water was red would it have the same beautiful appearance? Remember playing as a child at the park with the bright yellow tractor, the lime green shovel and the sky blue bucket? Most kids won’t grab the toys that are brown, grey and black: those colours aren’t as fun for kids.

Colour in everyday life plays a huge role in creating different atmospheres, vibes, and a whole new realm of feelings.  When we go to a funeral, we wear black.  When we go to a wedding, the bride wears white while the attendees wear other bright colours.  When tree leaves are green, it gives the world life, while when they are brown, we know the life is gone from them.  

In this unit, the only thing you had to rely on was your eyes.  The right answer came from mixing paints until you got that perfect tint or shade.  If you mix too much blue into red then the scale isn’t consistent from red-violet to violet.  When making the colour wheel or any of the scales, there isn’t actually a ratio of how much paint to add, which made things a little trickier.  It’s all about trusting your eye.  We also played around with how colours mix with blacks, whites, and their complementary colour.  Each mixed differently, so it went something like: paint, mix, add colour, mix, paint,  add colour, mix, paint, add colour, mix, add colour, mix, mix some more, add colour, mix, realize the last ‘paint’ wasn’t good enough so repaint that one, add colour, mix…. You get the point.  Patience was a much needed trait for this project.  We then moved onto directing the colours of logos and why they might use those colours.  As strange as it is, colours give us feeling similar to how a cut would bring us pain.  

Seeing colour is a gift most of us take for granted because colour brings so many new understandings and perspectives to something without actually chaining the object itself.  For example, a blue sky is commonly understood as a happy and bright day, while a pink and red sky turns gives off a more romantic and mellowed feel.  In both cases, a sky is just a sky, but the simple addition or subtraction of colour can change the mood drastically. Colour can even bring a harmonious feel and leave the viewer relaxed, or make one uneasy and nervous.  

[elosoconbota]

Morning lavender

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

This purple lavender among the darkness is so calming.  It is like a friendly reminder that even in the darkest of times, there can still be something lovely and maybe it will stand out even more because of just how dark it really is.

[chill-lil-homie]

It’s not your situation that’s making you unhappy, it’s your perspective

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

YES. be open, explore, love, smile, be kind, be generous....  These are the things that allow us to really see our beautiful world. 

[staywithmeforevr]

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

Exactly how my Monday went... I was looking at the world through a different lens (no pun intended), searching for shapes and being extra observational.  I have walked that path hundreds of times but this time was different because I approached the journey with a new perspective and outlook.  It gave me a new profound respect for all of the little things around me that I have never even noticed before.

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

On my journey from University to dinner at Malt & Mortar on Whyte Ave, I took nine design photos capturing three-dimensional forms.  I began at the walking towards the Fine Arts Building and found all of the forms by the time I got to the restaurant!  (P.S. It’s a great restaurant and everyone should stop in!)  The trick with capturing the object is in the viewpoint of the camera.  If the angle is off, the viewer will not be able to understand the form that is being communicated.  Sometimes it is hard to capture the volume in a snapshot so I tried taking multiple photos until I came to the best one.  

My biggest struggle with this assignment was actually finding the object in real life.  I understand how to compose all nine of the 3D forms, but when it came to stepping into the real world and deciding what actually applied, it suddenly got much harder….  Sound familiar? You think you understand the basics and how to apply them, just to be greeted by disappointment when it doesn’t exactly play out how you expect.

This is the moment you begin to question everything you know.  In theory, we all know what a rectangle is, but once it is made 3D and put in the real world beyond its simple plain, it gets much more complex.  Anyone can sit down and memorize something, but when someone has the skills to apply it, that is a true understanding and skill in that area.  We do not wander around the world looking at everything in terms of what we have learned, in this case 3D forms.  Our mind does not break down visuals into their elements on its own, rather we must train ourselves to see that way and focus on it.  

When I was walking down the street, I saw the world very differently searching for specific volumes.  Is that rectilinear since there are sharp corners?  If it is symmetrical can it still be a Rectilinear & Curvilinear Volume?  If that is the biggest part, is it automatically the dominant form? So many questions…. I was also challenged to focus on the dominant, subdominant, and subordinate forms of each.  The dominant is the the most interesting and dynamic with the subdominant complementing it and the subordinate unifying the entire design.  These are labeled in the images in terms of the object itself and not necessarily the photo captured.  In some cases, especially the planar construction, it was difficult to capture the image in a way that made the object dominant while demonstrating the structure’s form.  The relationship between these three forms is again, simple to put on paper, but deciding on what is dominant vs. subdominant or subdominant vs. subordinate is not always clear.

This assignment really pushed me to understand each subject inside and out.  It is no longer about whether or not you can write down a definition but if you can understand the definition and be able to apply it to the designed world around you.

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

Exploring the three-dimensional volumes with a theme: flowers!  From top to bottom, left to right they are as follows: fragments, concave, curvilinear, rectilinear, curvilinear & rectilinear, convex, planar construction, lines in space.  This stage was only challenging because play-doh doesn’t favour rectilinear volumes.... The next stage of the project definitely got harder for me. 

P.S. I should have taken the ‘planar construction’ photo on more of an angle to show its form better.  But hey, you have to learn somehow!

[mikemelrinho]

follow my facebook page —> psychedelic mind

follow my instagram –> https://instagram.com/mikemelrinho/

follow my Snapchat –> Mikemelrinho

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

Psychedelic mind!

[samxcamargo]

Some of us fear letting go and hold on so tightly, but if we would just loosen our grasp, we would begin to taste the freedom of letting go. And after that, it would come easy to let go because we would crave the feeling of freedom that comes with it.

Samantha Camargo (via samxcamargo)

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

Freedom.

In this exercise, we were told simply to write a word with a given font.  We all had so many questions: How do we pick a word? how much space goes between each letter? Do I have to use a certain amount of different letters? What is the science of spacing it out? Etc. We were given a few tips and tricks of things that will help the letters flow and then sent on our way.  Trial and Error: that is the way we were to design a word.  Sounds great, doesn’t it?  An assignment we got to do whatever we want! But I beg to differ.  I stared at a bank sheet of paper for at least ten minutes (which feels like forever when the paper is blank).  What was I supposed to do?  It occurred to me that we have all become robots to the school system; just a bunch of clones.  We have been given so many guidelines all our lives we can’t bear the thought of freedom.  Since when did freedom become so scary? Rather than being taught to use our strengths and discover our way of thinking, we are told there is one way to success.  If you do not follow these guidelines you will not live a successful life, you will not get an A on this assignment.  So when we were given this assignment and told “do what feels right,” I froze.  I had no inspiration.  I cannot remember the last time I had to have my own inspiration for an entire assignment and this is why I was so frustrated with it.  

The first thing I thought of when I received my font: boring.  No frills.  No curls.  No sharp edges.  Not even a serif! What was I supposed to do with this font? The typeface has a rounded feature which is very easy to read.  Because of this it is not quiet professional.  I would associated that more with a Times or Times New Roman font.  It is slightly more playful, but I would still not describe this typeface as “playful.”   I feel no motivation.  So I just tried a few words…. Writing “recycle” with this font doesn’t even make me want to recycle.  There is something about the font the looks right for the word; it’s easy, important, and doesn’t have to be a big deal.  This font is so plain, it makes words seem exactly as they are. “Just Recycle.” “Just do it.”  The Nike logo has a similar typeface (except they used caps lock and their letters are slightly together).   The font wants to give you a demand in a friendly way.  Recycle.  Do you know what I mean?  It’s kind of a strange thing to explain…. If I would have designed the word to have a greater letter-space, I believe it would slowly disconnect the letters.  As the spaces get bigger, it drifts from a word into letters that are near to each other on a page.  The thickest line is the ‘l’ or the stem of the ‘r’ and the thinnest would be the cross bar of the ‘e’.  In a way the ratio of the thickest to thinnest line is similar to the ratio of the thinnest line to the spaces.  Again, explaining this concept is strange, but bear with me!  From thickest to thinnest, it goes: stem of the “r” then cross bar of the “e” then the space.  They are all consistently getting thinner.  This is creating a balance and a harmony between the letters that form the word.  

By the end of the assignment I had realized what I created made a lot of sense.  Not everything is going to be a magnificent, but I can look at my word and feel like I’ve done it right. My frustration was more with my dependancy on guidelines than it was with the actual assignment.  When I am to write a paper there is a question, x amount of sources, a number of pages, an exact format, and more guidelines.  Have you ever been assigned a paper that says “tell me how you really feel”? Of course not.  And for this assignment, we were.  

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

Always some planning and sketching to be done. I love the way the word looks when I was beginning to fill it in.  You know those videos that letters are written on a page but they dance around in the space and eventually hop away? 

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

Asymmetrical Balance 2.0

Along the right of the shapes, there is an implied line which follows the angles of the shapes (added in red).  This line breaks up the white space in the top right corner so it is not a block of unbalanced area.

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

Asymmetrical Balance.

There are two different design layouts: one is on a vertical/ horizontal plane and the other is on a slanted plane.  Things change in the process from the layout (black shapes) to the final product (words).  In both I would say the dominant feature is the largest black square.  The dominance comes from the density of it as well as it being the largest object on the page.  As both layouts progress to the word format, both of the ‘dominant shapes’ loose dominance in the sense that it is not the first thing the eye looks at when viewing the page but they are both still the dominant shape in considering they are the largest object on the page. In both, I used a large (dominant) object, 3 lines, and a dot.  Both are used very differently and play with the space in unique ways showing how such different layouts can be used so differently.  Each could be used to communicate very different messages.

In the page designed on the horizontal/ vertical plane, there is quite a bit of negative space on the bottom left corner.  It appears that the page is split in half down the vertical axis in which the white space works with the dot and the three lines and the large black rectangle uses the other half of the page.  There is a very symmetrical balance on the right half of the page as the white very evenly frames the black rectangle.  On the left,  there is an asymmetry between the black and white spaces.  The contrast of these brings together a pleasing balance to the eye when it is looked at as a whole.  Through Gestalt’s principle of closure, one can visualize the white frame that is around the large black rectangle around the entirety of the page.  Our mind’s ability to do this also creates a centred balance between the two halves. The placement of the dot in combination with the three lines plays with the concept of figure ground and creates an exclamation point.  This brings emphasis to the three lines.  The dot is also at play in giving weight to the three rectangles and emphasizing the separation of the them from the large rectangle of words.  It can also be looked at as the introduction of a point, followed by the three lines, and then the body in the large rectangle.  When there are words instead of the shapes, it appears that the three lines are a title to the passage in which case the different planes play a large part in the separation of elements.

The other design is on a plane at a forty-five degree angle.  The image appears as if it could be on the vertical/ horizontal plane but the dot pulls the group of black shapes on an angle.  It is as if there is an imaginary string attached to the longest black line which has just enough weight to pull all three lines evenly along the left margin. This is where the eye starts, at the top of the three lines and follows downward to the large black square but never focuses on the dot.  The dot’s existence is acknowledged but it is more of a weight that plays with the layout than a part of the message.  The dot is more to offset the opposite white space and create weight.  The white space on either side of the widest part of the black square is even while the three lines are not placed symmetrically on the page.  If the three lines were centred above the square to make the shape of a house, the image would appear too symmetrical and displeasing.  The asymmetrical and symmetrical natures play together here to create a balance.

[anatmanmaterials-blog]

The first idea is almost never the final idea.  Brainstorming is essential to use all of your best ideas in combination! Think of it like a life path... You may have a plan of where you want to be five years from now, but then life happens.  You met new people, take classes, get hired, volunteer, read a good book, read a bad book, eat new foods.  The list goes on, but every experience shapes your views and guides you down your path.  This is how a sketch works, every line and squiggle could change or reinforce your ideas.

You can see on the left all of the different sketches we did.  30 seconds to draw in every rectangle.  “Don’t think, just draw” is what we were told.  I’m not sure if anyone chose the very first sketch they did, but I sure didn’t.