Tobias Heeringa @AUT @tobiasheeringa-bct - Tumblr Blog

Studio: Reflection

30.10.17

So I submitted myself to a solo project again. Cant help but wonder if my ideas are so different I can’t fit in a group anymore. Though I was consistently told my project was very ‘me’, so guess i’m on the right track.

It took so long to settle on a concept. Maybe I genuinely hadn’t found the right project. It could be a big indicator of my inability to settle and follow through with an idea. Im unsure, because on the one hand I followed through with my original intention of creating illustrative AR works, and I dealt with the themes I wanted to address. Its just it took such a roundabout way to get to this point. I feel I could have done more to make my path of concept development more direct.

I struggled for so long to find a method to handle the sexuality and gender themes I wanted to incorporate. It had to be true to myself. This project was largely a personal one, in that I wanted to explore themes relevant to my current place in life. I wanted to make something refreshingly bleak and comfortingly surreal. I likened my role in this project to a curator, to bring together many different elements to serve this intention. Ultimately I felt I was to curate an experience in evoking a sense of dysphoria through environmental stimulus. Not because I want hate people, but because I wanted to try get the emotional reality of my experiences of late across to my peers.

I also wanted to develop skills that would aid me in the future as a designer. The technical skills I took away from the project included learning a method for implementing AR that I could take on and use in future projects, finding a concise method for digitising illustrations, and trying my hand at installation/set design.

Doing this piece allowed me to express the things that played a role in my depression: sexuality, gender, dysphoria, anxiety, and nihilism. As a result I feel a sense of catharsis with them, as I have been able to output these struggles in a constructively creative way, and share this part of myself with my peers. While this is not necessarily then end of my struggle with these issues, I feel content in the way I have been able to address and express them here. But ultimately I believe I have come to a sense of peace with these things. I no longer feel as if they are things to be changed or wrought into place within the mind, but instead embrace them for what they are and seeing comfort in them. Almost like stockholm syndrome for feelings.

The effect depression had on my literal ability to work made getting through parts of the semester a confronting challenge. For what felt like the first two thirds of the semester I was completely unsure of myself and wrought with the isolation of working on my own. However a steady increase in mental health allowed me to focus in on a final concept, and work with clarity towards achieving a vision. It was only through working alone that I could find this vision, and it was only through a treatment of my depression that I could have the confidence and mental fortitude to follow through it.

#rsis

Studio: Building rigging structure/mounting AR device/Setup and final installation Photo essay

30.10.17

#rsis

Studio: Making the installation floor Photo essay

30.10.17

#rsis

Creative Audio - Reflection

20.10.17

The direction of my creative audio project has definitely changed from the initial proposal. Soon after I decided i’d make moody atmospheric music, I asked myself why I wanted to make depressing music in the first place. It was because I wanted to alleviate something within myself, to make myself feel better in the process of making music. But making sad music felt in way like looking further in to those feelings, rather than alleviating them.

Research has demonstrated that people justify their decision to listen to sad music by claiming various psychological benefits from doing (Saarikallio & Erkkilä, 2007) but a 2015 study shows that that not all listeners will actually achieve an improved mood after listening to sad music. For people who ruminate on patterns of negative thinking and find it difficult to shake negative thoughts about events or one’s feelings, sad music seems to perpetuate cycles of negative thinking, often prompting sad memories and negative thoughts. (Garrido & Schubert, 2015)

Now, some of my favourite music is extremely sad, and I listen to it because I can relate to it. Sometimes I actually want to feel sad, and listening something like Nick Drake in that moment gives me that cathartic release. So I’m not taking these findings as hard fact. One must consider how much the behavioural response of the body differs from the unquantifiable emotions a listener feels. But I think the question the Garrido & Schubert study is asking is interesting thing to consider in regards to making music myself.

And so, I decided to focus instead on making dance music. I hoped taking a more upbeat approach to my work would allow me to try focus on creating positivity. And overall, I had a lot fun during on this project. I found the music super enjoyable to make. I have even at times danced around my room to the tracks while making them. I’ve found it easy to listen back to the tracks when producing, mixing, or fine tuning, so though i’ve listened to them again, and again, and again, I still like the music I have made a lot. This certainly has made the whole process a lot more enjoyable.

I think both depressing and uplifting music are valid. To say that certain music drives you to sadness and other to happiness is only a surface level judgement of the ‘tone’ of the piece. I say this because I have found solace in extremely emotionally laden albums that are dreary, wistful, and melancholic. I empathise with these pieces of art. They remind me that other people go through the same shit as me, and that if they can produce something beautiful from pain then there must be hope. I also feel sadness can inform upbeat music too. And I have also found extreme joy in banging dance tunes, and now in making them. So ultimately, I think making sure you stay in love with music is the most important thing.

References:

(1) Saarikallio, S., & Erkkilä, J. (2007). The role of music in adolescents’ mood regulation. Psychology of Music, 35(1), 88–109. (2) Garrido, S., & Schubert, E. (2015). Moody melodies: Do they cheer us up? A study of the effect of sad music on mood. Psychology of Music, 43(2), 259.

#creativeaudio

Creative Audio - Final Submission

20.10.17

Here is the final EP.

It’s called Bangers & Mash. I called it this as it has some bangers on there, and some other mash.

I made the art using Adobe Illustrator.

What a fun time it has been to produce. I feel like I have learnt so much. Some of the tracks came very naturally, and others have taken multiple tries to get right. Elon Musk went through four iterations before I cracked it. It has a melody line that I just couldn’t make work with any beat, until I jumped on the drums and worked out a dynamic beat that I was then able to reproduce in Ableton. Learning to discard things and not get too attached has been important in finishing everything, as well as sometimes not giving up on an idea and trying different things until it works.

I found I continually forgot to document the process of using Ableton. When I was producing a track I found I was more focused on applying my creative energy to the music rather than documenting the process. I also felt the sense of spontaneity I encountered in the moments I made my best tracks would be lost if I was recording my screen or something equivalent. I resolved this by capturing things after I completed them and then explained my process, so I hope I was able to cover things adequately with this.

This has been the beginning of my illustrious and enigmatic journey into production.

#SoundCloud #music #Tobias Olsen #atmospheric #deephouse #bangers #yeah #creativeaudio

Creative Audio - Mastering & final touches

19.10.17

My final submission will be a five track EP. I have the five tracks, the screenshot above is for one called Elon Musk. I am just in the process now of fine tuning each one. For each I did a rough mix based on what I heard through my (monitoring) headphones and a stereo system I use as speakers for my computer. I exported each one and have tried listening to them on my phone speaker, and another stereo in my house. I then took notes as to what little bits need to change and how I can mix them better.

Below is the mastering process for one of my songs Techno Sugar Master. I’ve brought the exported track back into Ableton and applied a compressor and equaliser over the whole thing, allowing me to apply a general mid scoop and get everything around -12db. Fortunately, the kind of electronic music i’m making doesn't really have spikes in the frequency that require compression anyway but better safe than sorry.

I want to produce this EP to a high quality ready for release, because my goal for the this paper was to find a method to create and release music. I wonder though if I need to get it mastered properly before putting it somewhere like Bandcamp.

#creativeaudio

Interaction and Play - Reflection:

19.10.17

Working on Aurora has been a good chance to apply my skills as a designer in my only non personal project this semester. The things that stood out for me the most in this last 12 weeks have been how important user testing has been, the dynamic of the group, fulfilling Nordisk’s expectations and the role I have found myself stepping into within the project.

The user testing gave us valuable insights into the concept and how it could be improved. It is impossible to fully anticipate how people will respond in advance (1), and so I always find it fascinating to facilitate user testing and hear people’s perspectives on an idea. Their questioning brings down any facade you’ve propped your up idea with. You as the designer fail to observe the seemingly obvious realities of a concept or consciously avoid a notion in your design rationale until a user soberingly brings these things up up. So seeing people engage with the concept positively, liking aspects of it and asking the questions we had anticipated was rewarding and reassuring. It reminded me of the value of asking people to test stuff.

The dynamics of working on a group project have been interesting, as for my other two papers I have taken on solo projects. I think being in a group of highly achieving BCT students has contributed to an approach in which we always assumed things would get done eventually. This has made for a very stress free time. But in some ways, it has meant at times the project fell by the wayside. I think we assumed things would be easier to complete than they were, particularly around the development of a working prototype. A result of this is that I feel like we haven’t exactly developed the concept past the initial proposal when it came to fulfilling the brief. Though given Nordisk’s specifications of the project, all the other things we have been working on this semester, and what we have learnt from user testing of our prototype, I feel we have made decent progress towards a concise concept, image and strategy of implementation for Aurora.

The nature of Aurora being an actual client brief has also shaped how we approached the project. We had to contend with Nordisk as playing an essential role in development. This meant that the project largely became about fulfilling the brief they had set to construct a physical prototype, as opposed to developing something largely conceptual. While there were no restrictions imposed on us by Nordisk, I certainly felt it was understood our role was to produce a physical artefact to show them and not get wrapped up in the conceptual notions of why were doing it. We were doing it because a glamping tent add on is what they, the client, had specified as what they wanted.

It has been satisfying to engage in the role of graphic designer in a BCT project by producing the identity for Aurora. I find I am solidifying my skill in creating imagery, branding, and marketing. I really enjoy the process of this work, particularly around linking attributes of a product or idea to imagery and a logo. Communicating an idea’s attributes solely through visuals, colour, and font can be extremely gratifying when done effectively, as I feel has been done in the case of Aurora. And it was nice to hear from my teammates that I had achieved this.

Given the current trajectory of the project, and the contributions I gave as a result of me fulfilling my role, I judge this project and my participation in it a success.

References: 1. Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2010). Rules of play: game design fundamentals. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.

#ctec703

Studio: Creative Direction Timeline

15.10.17

A lot has happened since I developed the future space concept. Believe it or not, the concept has shifted again, this time in a seemingly full reversal. Suprise, suprise. Here is the new idea:

DreamRoom / ah (working titles)

Concept: Surreal installation in which multiple visual, spacial and auditory elements will be brought together to make a cohesively themed environment that envelops people who experience it.

Design pillars: - Confronting / striking - Surreal - Encapsulating

Themes: - The body / gender - Dysphoria - Surrealism - Spacial design

Again it was a case of telling, not showing that put me off the future concepts idea. I will keep the idea of using the curtain however, as I like having a constructed physical space that suits a particular theme to exhibit my illustrations.

I actually feel resolute in the fact that my idea is changing constantly. In some ways it feels like the project has a life of its own, and that I am merely helping it grow rather into itself.

Here is breakdown of the last week and a half, how the concept has developed to the point it is now, and what i’ve learnt along the way:

Tuesday 3rd

Came up with future space concept which included the physical space I wanted to construct

Mapped out spiral space shape.

Wednesday 4th

I made a prototype of the AR experience for this future space concept. Taught me that you have to use different background patterns for each tag, otherwise vuforia can’t recognise each one and the wrong virtual content appears. I also realised it would be important to have a consistent art style across the tags for aesthetic’s sake.

One of the tags and questions it brought up ^

Thursday 5th

Had a conversation with Pete about this concept, and showed him the prototype. But I came away from this feeling like I shouldn’t pursue this direction as the user testing required to finesse my message would suffer due to time restrictions. Also again felt like I was getting preachy, and trying to force an experience, which felt shallow.

And then a revelation. The whole semester I had been struggling to find a method for easily digitising drawings. I had tried using photoshop to do it as well as illustrator but had had no luck. But then, using the tablet and brush tool in illustrator I was able to very easily digitise sketches. This changed the game as I had felt hindered in pursuing my original project concept the whole semester of as I had no concise method of achieving the art style I wanted. But now I could.

So I returned to my original concept of AR illustrations, but now I would combine it with this last iterations aspect of having a physical space that the works would reside in.

Friday 6th

Bought parts for the spiral curtain rail, and shaped them into the outline.

Monday 9th - Friday 13th

Drew two more AR tags. Found design that works well as a background for each one and that also for solid tracking according to the specifications of the Unity AR plugin, Vuforia. The spiral shape also alludes to a whirlpool or vortex

Made creative development from having video of space displayed as AR content, to having actual virtual environments displayed. This gives context to physical space in which the works will reside, and is more interactive and playful

Made three virtual environments to be displayed as AR content

Bought velvet curtain online

Sourced materials for floor and ceiling. At this point most of my materials will be second hand or resused, including assets used to make virtual environments, aesthetic, and music. Cobbling together different elements.

I am finally doing justice to my original concept. The artworks i’m producing feel like they are informed by my artist models and also address my themes of body, sexuality, and anxiety. I haven’t continued with animation, but instead used my Unity skills to make the virtual content that mirror the physical space of the installation. In turn that has allowed me to explore a whole new theme around environmental design and the layering of virtual and physical spaces. This project is beginning to feel like an amalgamation of all the skills i’ve developed at uni.

I have developed three instances of the AR interaction. Tomorrow I will set them up in a mock installation and do some user testing as part of the studio critique session. I feel this will give me valuable info as to how people interact with the work.

#rsis

Interaction and Play - Creating visual content for Aurora:

19.10.17

My role within the project has largely been to handle constructing the identity of Aurora. I achieved this through the Adobe suite tools and my graphic design abilities.

I also handled content for submission through filming and editing a video of our user testing and roleplaying.

#CTEC703

Interaction and Play - User Testing Presumptions:

13.10.17

As part of our user experience considerations for Aurora we mapped out ideals that glampers would be looking for in a glamping experience. We then considered how the interaction with Aurora could serve these ideals.

User characteristics A glamper wants:

privacy

luxury

company

to enjoy themselves

to be served

to relax

to be impressed

This means the Aurora tent add-on has to be flexible around these needs. Which in turn have influenced our design considerations:

Manual vs automated mode - Aurora’s lights and audio will be able to be user controlled. This means it will have a manual override setting. When no-one is controlling it, Aurora will be able to go into an automated stasis mode. Manual mode: User has control through ui (hardware or app) and can choose from preset patterns (ambient, rave etc). These would be purely visual, however playing music through Aurora via bluetooth connection will enable equaliser mode, giving audio and visuals. Automation mode: In automation mode the tent does its own thing, meaning it doesn’t have to be directly controlled to still be displaying visuals. Could receive input for equaliser from MainStage, or direct environment (clapping, shouting) or just play automated patterns.

Phone app vs hardware mixer - We need to test these to find what is better suited to the festival experience. Making a phone app assumes that glampers have their phone with them, which may not be the case at a music festival. Though a phone app could be more streamlined considering we already want bluetooth connectivity as a feature.

Motion sensor - allows for conservation of energy, as well as automation functionality to appear on and off as necessary.

#CTEC703

Interaction and Play - Week 10 Notes:

05.10.17

Draft 3

Working on Aurora has been a good chance to apply my skills as a designer in my only non personal project this semester. The things that stood out for me the most in this last 12 weeks have been how important user testing has been, the dynamic of the group and the role I have found myself stepping into within the project.

The user testing gave us valuable insights into the concept and how it could be improved. I always find it fascinating to facilitate user testing and hear people’s perspectives on an idea, as their questioning brings down any facade you’ve propped your idea with. You as the designer fail to observe the seemingly obvious realities of a concept by being so close to it for so long, or by consciously avoiding a notion in your rationale until a user so soberingly brings its up. So seeing people engage with the concept positively, liking aspects and asking the questions we had anticipated was rewarding and reassuring. It reminded me of the value of asking people to test stuff.

The dynamics of working on a group project have been interesting, as for my other two papers I have taken on solo projects. I think being in a group of highly achieving BCT students has contributed to a relatively lax attitude. This has made for a very stress free time. But in some ways, it has meant at times the project fell by the wayside. I think we assumed things would be easier to complete than they were, particularly around the development of a working prototype. A result of this is that I feel like we haven’t exactly gone above and beyond when it came to fulfilling the brief. Though that being said, given all the other things we have been working on this semester, and what we have learnt from user testing of our prototype, I feel we have made decent progress towards a concise concept, image and strategy of implementation for Aurora.

It has been satisfying to again stretch my wings as a graphic designer in BCT by producing the identity for Aurora. I find I am solidifying my skill in creating imagery, branding, and marketing. I really enjoy the process of this work, particularly around linking attributes of a product or idea to imagery and a logo. Communicating an idea’s attributes solely through visuals, colour, and font can be extremely gratifying when done effectively, as I feel has been done in the case of Aurora. And It was nice to hear from my teammates that I had achieved this.

Given the current trajectory of the project, and the contributions I gave as a result of me fulfilling my role, I judge this project and my participation in it a success.

#CTEC703

Studio: Concept Pivot Creating a space for futuristic contemplation.

03.10.17

I have shifted my concept after dissatisfied with the creative direction. The robot comic strip idea was becoming very introspective of my own problems. This was achieving the original intention of the idea, but I began to see it in a new light. I felt the narratives came across as whiny and complaining rather, than shedding light on anything. I think I came to realise this when I found myself embarrassed to show people my work. This didn’t bode well for showcase, and was an indicator that I wasn’t happy with the idea. I feel that I have an opportunity to do something larger than myself, to reach people and influence them, and this idea was not achieving that.

So, for my installation I’m thinking I’d like to make a space where people can come to think about a world they want to be part of; a space of contemplation and critical thinking. It would aim to guide people towards asking themselves questions and coming up with answers as to the kind of future they want to live in, how they want the future to be shaped, and the role they play in it. This would be achieved through a physical space as well as an AR interaction. The physical space allows people to be immersed, and I’d like to keep AR as it is a link to the work I have done prior to this. I also think it fits with the future thinking theme of the installation.

Questioning the intention of this work, I’ve asked myself “why should people think about the future in the first place?” My answer to this is that in this day and age it is so easy to be passive and go with the flow of popular culture in regards to the trends of the future. Thinking for oneself, and the role oneself can play in the grand scheme of things, is something everyone can do. In doing so one comes to conclusions about how they want to shape the world. I hope the installation can guide people to this sort of realisation.

The aesthetic of the space will draw influence from the red room in the TV show Twin Peaks. I’d want to make it cosy and reclusive, floor to ceiling red curtains, with pillows, a rug, and mellow lighting. The AR experience would be on the inside and guide people to considering questions of the future.

A spiral design allows for entrance and exit while the curtain stays static, as well as making it private on the inside. Measuring the size of the installation, the circle would be 2m². My measurements put it at about 8m of rigging, and 25m of fabric. Finding a rug that fits the floor correctly may be a challenge. By the end of the week I hope to make a protoype AR experience I can user test. I will be testing my intention of guiding people to think critically by asking them particular questions.

#rsis

Creative Audio - Learning Ableton betterer

03.10.17

I spent the day today working on one of my tracks I will be submitting in my final suite of works. In doing so I found a small little thing in building midi sequences that make looping sections far easier.

By only making a midi clip a certain amount of bars, in this case 4 bars you can easily loop the sequence by dragging it in different directions. Prior to this I was inserting large midi clips and duplicating the midi data over and over again in the clip view. This quickly got complicated and hard to manage if I wanted to make small changes to a beat.

This has allowed me to easily fill out the rhythm section of this piece. Now to go back and rerecord the melody section properly.

#creativeaudio

Interaction and Play - Week 8 notes:

27.09.17

This week I just touched up the logo and finished the brand guidelines with all the things required. This fulfils my role for the week 9 presentation, and now my group can complete the prototyping of the actual device.

#ctec703

Studio: Ketchup

22.09.17 A catchup of the last few weeks of this project’s creative direction:

I felt the project was stagnating all break, didn't really progress anywhere or do much work.

Right at the end of the break I came up with this Mantras concept, an installation of augmentable statements. This was to be a:

exploration of personal struggles by directly voicing and addressing them

affirmation of the truths I want to stick to

challenge to people to think critically

challenge to myself to follow through with a single idea

However I wondered if this was a case ‘telling, not showing’, and questioned how I could reframe this proposal to direct people to an idea without telling them directly or making accusatory statements. And truth be told this is pretty lame to be honest.

So I reframed the statements to be more neutral and self directed

And then I considered how I could augment these statements, which lead me to remembering one of the first illustrations I did in this project. It was of a robot character, and I remember thinking at the time that it would be make a great recurring character if I could find some kind of replayable narrative or theme I could address.

So I started trying to coming up with different scenarios in which I could use this character to address topics through a comedic narrative.

The augmentation will work by having the statements appear on their own in the installation, and the text will act as the tags to trigger the AR. A device will be present at the installation to be used to view the animation that goes with each statement.

I like the direction the project is going now. It makes reference to my influences Francis Bacon by focusing the lens on human experience, and David Shrigley through the art style. It suits where this project needs to go technically as well, as I found the simple line style easy to digitise. This will make the animation and augmentation process easier.

#rsis

Interaction and Play - Week 7 notes:

22.09.17

My role for this week was to develop branding for the product. Tech Tent has only been a working title, and I was to come up with a new name that better suited the context of project, and to develop marketing and branding guidelines around that.

As a group we decided this would involve:

A new name

Logo

Font choices, for:

headers

sub headers

paragraph

Colour scheme

Nordisk follow a norse mythology theme as part of their brand, being of Scandinavian origins. Their tents are loosely named after the nine homeworlds of norse cosmology. I wanted to follow along with this theme, to fit with their own image and also as I felt it was quite a rich context to build a product identity from.

At first I played with the name Valkyrie. In Norse mythology, a Valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who choose those who may die in battle and those who may live. I liked the name, though I failed to justify a connection to the tech tent product other than it fitting the Norse mythology theme. Talking to Claudine, we conceded that the product and its image has be able to stand on its own outside of Nordisk, given that there is potential to work with other companies and festivals.

So I broke down the two elements we already had to try pull something from them. And in considering lights, and movement, and nature, I was of course reminded of the Aurora, the polar lights. I was fortunate enough to see earlier this year in Abisko, Sweden. Here is me freezing my butt off in -25°c cold under the lights!

Breaking down the aurora, we can pull lots of interesting things from it that fit the context of the product:

Aurora:

Sometimes referred to as curtains of light : literally what the tech tent is.

Movement/dancing of aurora could represent:

dancing people (festival setting)

movement of LED lights

Link to Scandinavia, so fits with Nordisk brand but also stands on its own if need be.

Lends itself to an awesome blue green colour scheme for branding material

This is my initial concept sketch for the logo.

And here is a version I mocked up in illustrator. This certainly gives me something to work off to produce other parts of the branding.

#CTEC703

Creative Audio Track name: Hundreds Made with: Minilogue. 21.09.17

Made this one during the break in one sitting. I wanted to go for the most generic house sound I could and I think I did. While this version does stand on its own, I feel there is room to flesh it out a bit more with a few different parts, or perhaps more layers. Just a question of whether I will return to it or not.

#creativeaudio

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Tobias Heeringa @AUT