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Unit 16: Museum Tickets

2/29: Monday

After researching, I’ve taken interest in touch, smell, and even taste as sensory inputs/outputs to explore. I have been especially interested in smell because it is a sensory output that is furthest from being digitally store or replicated. I think touch is also an interesting aspect because of it’s intimacy and how it contrasts to the lack of touch we experience in a museum. Just to get some weird/initial ideas out of the way, these are some things I have been thinking about. My fear is that these ideas will box me in too early yet I am excited about the possibilities and maybe by recording them in a more “official” way will allow me to move on and brainstorm further

1) Museum Suit- a suit that replicates the lack of touch in a museum and the “no touching/leaning/running” norm in a curated space. It would be a hazmat or skin-fitted suit with rods sticking out from all sides, preventing the user from touching, leaning, or bumping into the things that surround them. Ideally, if you bump into something, the rods will trigger a negative response (shock or a prick?) that will make you not want to touch your surroundings with your body.

2) Texture Painting- A box that contains the textures within a painting so that the “viewer” can “see” the painting with only touch. (a painting with trees and dirt would have those physical textures contained within the box and would not be visible from the outside)

3) Sound Painting- How do the blind ‘see’ an image? Sound. The idea is to have a blank canvas where the user can trigger sounds that would come from a painting when you touch different areas of the painting. It would look something like this:

#unit16

Unit 15 Questions

#unit15 #ds4

Unit 15 Class Finale

#unit15 #ds4

Unit 15

To start of the first unit of Design Studio 4, we were asked to do some self reflection about where we were as a designer and what we would like to see in ourselves in the future. We then discussed with another peer and then in larger groups of 5. The end goal was to come up with questions to ask ourselves from this session. Below is the reflective document from that exercise:

Initially, I did not know how to answer the questions posed to me. I couldn’t explain who I was and what my relationship was to design. I would come up with an answer but then pull back because I thought it didn’t capture how I felt. I realized I don’t like calling myself a “graphic designer” because I am still exploring and learning and by giving myself a label, I will lose the opportunity to do things that were outside of this label by putting a title on myself. This is something I have continued to struggle with because in my past projects, I would always like to incorporate certain things that were probably not strictly “graphic design” and I was afraid to step out of this boundary. I was afraid that by doing something that wasn’t “graphic design” I would no longer be a “graphic designer” and, over time, this title has given me a sense of security because it made me feel like I knew what I was doing. I felt like I was full of contradictions because by being able to answer questions like “who I am” or “what is graphic design” gave me a sense of security yet it also restricted me in what I could do. So I realized that I am more comfortable saying that I am a designer who is open to uncertainty and exploration and I enjoy being in a place like RISD with creative individuals to share our experience. It did give me a sense of clarity by verbalizing what I thought and where I’m at, but because I could barely answer the first set of questions, I didn’t have a lot of my own questions until after talking to my first partner.

After talking more with my peers, we touched on subjects that I became very curious about and that’s when I had a lot of questions. At what point do I call myself a designer? Is there a privilege that comes with being a designer and are there ever times when we abuse this privilege? How do we design without sacrificing our morality or values but still be financially stable? I had much more questions such what were the boundaries of design or should we even label ourselves as “graphic” designers but these three questions were the main questions that came from talking to bigger group and I realized that these were the questions that were most important to me. Although I didn’t come to any conclusion in this session, it was great to have an opportunity to create a list of questions I could think about. To be able to verbalize my thoughts is a great start to the semester because it gives me time to explore them before I graduate and more time before I have enter a more specific field of design.

After the discussions on Monday, I was able to make sense of where I am currently at as a student and my development as a designer. It helped me organize how I felt about what I have been learning at RISD and what I want out of my time here and even after graduation. I think it was also a rare moment for me to not only share my experience but also compare note with my peers about how each of us have navigated the issues that we encounter as designers. Being able to think individually and then dissect those thoughts with other people was very helpful and insightful for me. I feel like this is a quick exercise we should have every so often just so we don’t lose ourselves and what we truly want to do in long run.

#unit15 #ds4

For the second part of the final project, what we found most interesting was the different takes we had on the same issues. We wanted to bring that out so we created a book where we first traded 7 items of ourselves such as photos and letters and then gave it to the other person who was supposed to alter the item without any context of what it means to the other person. Here are some samples of what I did to my partner's items.

Upon reflection, this project was probably the most confusing. We started out with an interesting idea where we would exchange items but i think it could have been pushed farther than just some photoshop/illustrator edits. Maybe physical object may have been more interesting?

Some samples from Unit 5 when us and our partner had to do exchanges at least 100 times. We had doe really interesting "conversations" when we were exchanging even though we were not even talking about the project.

For my final installation, I animated the locker space by having read string connect across the different lockers as if they pierced the walls and connected to the other lockers. Each locker was different but they seemed like one string going across the empty lockers while forming their own "character" in each locker.

My Final Installation for Unit 4

After meeting with the class the second time, my book was well received. I decided to go with use of the string but it was also suggested that maybe the structures don't have to be text. So I decided to give myself some more room for creativity and create abstract forms that fully play with the space. I created several sketches in my hand but there was the problem with time and the level of detail I could put to each form.

I had a total of 14 empty lockers and I had decided to just focus on a few boxes and create very intricate forms. Doing all 14 would lower my craft and not do the installation to justice.

I decided to go with the diorama idea but not exactly in a story telling fashion. I wanted to activate the space but because we only had a week, I didn't want to construct actual environments. Instead I decided to use red string, to contrast with the black and white, and create letterforms with them. For the second week I decided to make a book to capture the essence of what I wanted to do. I wanted the installation to have a sort of illusion and interactiveness to them.

Investigation summary

In the end, I think the most interesting part of the room would be the lockers. After presenting initial ideas for my lockers to the class, it was suggested that I wasn't taking advantage of the space available inside the empty lockers. One way to approach this issue would be to create a diorama.

Other quirky things:

When I was observing the room, I realized the tables were split into these uneven rectangular sections and I wondered "What's the point of that?". Then as I was moving the table to get a better picture of the lockers I realized that the table could be propped up. But then again, why would you need to prop up a desk when it doesn't have something to keep your paper form slipping off?

I also noticed that the whiteboard could be turned in unconventional ways.

The opening and closing action of the lockers inspired me to do a sketch up of letters on the doors to spell different things as you open and close the doors.

Other initial ideas:

Fragmented 3D structure: Have a 3D structure that "flows" from one box to other where you can see the whole piece if you open all the doors but only a fragment if you look into one.

Make your own story box: Make your own story by choosing a box and the note inside tells you which locker to go look at next.

Secret Box: A secret will be kept inside every box and locked. You can pick a key and read a secret but then replace the secret with one of your own.

I also want to work with the fact that I can write on the outside of the lockers with chalk and incorporate that with my project for this site.

After my observations of the room as a whole, I started really honing in on the lockers and I started finding some really interesting things about the structure and the opening and closing action of these "boxes". I realized that the outside of the lockers has a texture where I can write with chalk on it. I can also open all the door and change the whole structure white.

At my site I took not of different elements such as a pillar in the middle of the room, the two chalkboards, the projector and the lockers. I tried to see what I could work with and not restrict myself to using the different elements in the space.

For unit 4, I chose the 7th floor classroom/locker room for my site.

#unit 4

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