DP1: 'Light' without the 'ness'
The first design project was focused on ‘Lightness’. It was to be physical representation of our teams meaning, was to be displayed in the Botanic Gardens and lit up at night. This we had to put on a poster advertising our idea to the council or something of the like. It couldn’t be literal but it still had to communicate what our idea of lightness was.
So after a slow start of simple brainstorming what lightness was to us we started collaborating on this idea of ‘Lightness’. We came to the conclusion it could come under three broad categories: Weight, Light, and Spirituality. However we were not allowed the last due to the intangibility and fragile nature. It would have also be taken into consideration due to the object being placed in a public environment, possible leading to future problems.
Below is one of the first ideas that helped the process along by letting us question it. During the brainstorming process the other girl in my group came up with the idea of tying knots into rope, the word was just to relay her idea. It was too literal and didn’t convey a strong relation to ‘lightness’ and it was before we came to the prior conclusion mentioned. Though tying knots to make a word [maybe even an image] was interesting.
Without much debate we ended up choosing light. So we started to question our choice to gain a more in depth knowledge and different perception. How does it happen, what do we feel when we encounter it or without it, how could we make something intangible into a solid object to be temporarily displayed in the gardens? The thought process we were going through to relay our ideas and question others was intense and engaging. However there was just too much to consider in the short amount of time given so we left most of the questions and possible problems unsolved. Thus we continued on a slightly more convergent path.
I relayed my personal impression of light somewhat around this point which could have influenced the conversation slightly towards the light/dark idea. Yet I was influenced by another members simple opinion of how you would feel without light-a primary question in the process. It was like being blind.
And this was it, if not word for word:
When a person wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, get a drink or grab a midnight snack, there is always this constricting feeling of darkness, no matter how small that feeling they always feel relieved when they turn on the lights.
Or maybe not? Maybe they don't want to turn it on in fear of what fearsome truth it could reveal? The fear of light? The fear of the truth? Like a glimpse back into the past, back into childhood. When shadows seemed to come alive, things seemingly moved, walls groaned and crackled, rats scampered in the attic, and disrupted sleep. When people get older the feeling diminishes.
What if you could create an object that could evoke this feeling subtly? With this in mind we paid more attention to how a person would feel when they encountered this 'said' object. This is where we started focusing in the physical design.
We talked a lot. Some of the conversation content helpful and other light nonsense. So we went with it, after discussing more about it-the absence of light because there was this idea that light is taken for granted, we are uncomfortably blind without it-well there is always the other senses but that was beside the point.
So then we started playing around with the idea of a room that was dark during the day and light during the night. The idea of this was that at night time it could be a sanctuary where people would be drawn towards it yet reluctant to leave. There wasn't a proper reason behind it being dark during the day so we re-evaluated the idea and considered two rooms. Or more appropriately, two rooms within a room. In the images above there are some examples of them.
Again we talked and talked. I think majority of the time we just talked, questioned, and drew for the first day. With a fairly good grasp of an idea we wanted to convey we left for home.
It's usually dark when I walk home so I started thinking about the project. When I got home I was able to draw them out and relay some ideas I had.
In the picture above you'll see there is a tunnel room [bottom left corner]. Basing everything on assumptions, it was to provoke curiosity from the outside. The person voluntarily going through will inevitably look at the corner where it is intended to be dark. This was taken from when I was walking I tended to look at every dark bush for movement. I didn't relay this idea simply because...well I forgot.
I drew a tree with rope randomly because the rope idea was still lingering. As for the two small drawings on the first page that was exploring the idea of shadows.
This was taken from the paranoia that someone is watching. It was something taken from cadets where picket people had to watch out for the 'unfriendlies' The knowledge that someone could be watching you when you were in an open area was unnerving. When dawn came your heart would calm down as you felt the weight of paranoia leave and relieved that the sun had come up. Again, dealing with the feeling.
I just drew hands because it's almost a teasing gesture. Or maybe because I was thinking about 'the pale man' from Pan's Labyrinth at the time.
The next day we went to talk with the tutor and told him about the message we wanted to get across and the ideas of the room yet how we were unsure about the actual design itself. After the feedback session, reassured we were on the right track and just needed to think about the design, we then started drawing designs on our own-similar to the brainstorming exercise.
I was playing around with the idea in tunnel form attempting to mimic the constricting feeling. Others explored more with the room x tunnel idea. One of the team members drew a picture with two tunnels with the light at the end-refer to the bottom left picture (picture above). This, you could say, directed our design a bit more.
It related to our theme and explained how it could working interior wise. But not so much exterior, so again. We drew.
So at that point we had two options-the tunnel or the room-now a ten foot tower. We decided to explore the gardens to get a better grasp of where we wished to place it. When it came to choosing which one to go for, everyone didn't mind to much. They both related to our intention. The tunnel was self-explanatory but done in the right way it could have been good-I was obviously leaning in this direction for better or worse. The tower had some flaws-an example picture of what it looked like in the interior is below-such as how steep the spiral wood be and how tall it would be.
I kept exclaiming 'ten feet tall! Isn't that a bit tall?!" when I heard an estimate. Maybe this was because it felt a bit intrusive and dominating in the landscape while I usually like dealing with simple contemporary objects. The place we wished to place it didn't have that much light so it seemed to make sense to have it that tall. The bamboo layering the 'building' felt like a weak attempt to make it fit in and a lot less subtle.
The others had no problem with it so I just went with their judgement. As the conversation kept leaning towards the tower and there not being much time left, we set off in search of a computer.
We were lucky that in our group everyone could do something. The other girl in my group had been through a photo shop course while another knew how to use sketch up. While they did what they had to do I recorded the process hoping to put it on here...it ended up taking too long and if I sped it up it would be very wobbly and confusing.
With not much time to get the poster done left we suddenly had to leave the computer lap because of a over seventy person class. Rushing we found out the Alienware computers had Photoshop and we managed to put together the poster in time. Considering I don't have much skill with computer-Photoshop nor sketchup-and there wasn't much space for me to sit next the person writing the summary I drew a picture as requested.
With a few minutes until it was due it wasn't as stressful as these things usually are. Maybe because I couldn't do anything at the time except move usbs back forth from person to person and draw a simple picture.
We got it done in time and went to the brief.
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During the design involved I kept noticing how things from the lectures, as you would, such as divergent and convergent thinking made an appearance. I think our group tended to follow 'the double diamond'-mentioned only once in this blog even though it was frequently mentioned by our lecturer-even without intending to. We thought about how people would interact with it like the lyre bird created by Kuuki. And were able to use digital 3d rendering to draft our idea. Thinking about it now...design must be common sense. Because somehow we ended up relating to all three speakers...must be.
We used our books to communicate visually as this is the best method-an example of visual thinking. This involved communicating and thinking through ideas on paper. Both types of visual representations were used but representational seemed to be more popular. The picture above support this approach but there are some instances of the latter's elements.
The end product itself isn't spectacular nor is it innovative yet it passed because the idea was conveyed well enough.
Overall because everyone got along and everyone had an equal share of the work load, it was an enjoyable experience. Collaborating with other people is something I enjoy and loath at same time yet something rarely have done.
I think we were on the right track and we could have improved some elements of the design. As I have done for quite a few things in this blog I will do the same to our proposed idea simply because it's easier to summarize thoughts about it..
Physically: It works for it's purpose and does it's job in conveying the idea however it is too big overall and simplifying the idea would be best.
Aesthetically: The impact would be imposing. The impact of this tower is what it is all about however. When you walk inside slowly into the dark, people should feel constricted-I wouldn't be surprised at all if they just turned around and headed back-and those that persist will hopefully get a sense of revelation when they reach the top and greet the light. They might also become reluctant to do back down. Thinking more about it now, I wish we considered the sound element more. Silence is deafening and somewhat uncomfortable and could add to that feeling of constriction. I suppose our final design would numb the outside sounds so that it felt like there no sound.
Symbolic:...Isn't this what the whole project was about? Lightness? Basically. So I don't I need to touch on this one so much.
Do I think it relates to 'Lightness'?
Yes and no. Yes in the respect of the catagories we concluded as a group. No in relation to what people think when they see it.
