sx: Le Toh

It goes where you go

t4: degree moodboards

sx: senior show

Preflight by mlim5036

week 7: midterm presentation

MARCH 7–11

It's been a slow start, and I've only just begun to solidify my question. Though I value the process of narrowing down the idea, this issue of not being able to pinpoint what I want persists in my work. I blame it mostly on the immense pressure I feel when I think about my degree project, making me feel like every idea I have is inadequate. On a more positive note, I finally have something I'm excited about and can stay excited about for the whole semester. From meshing two-dimensional and three-dimensional, to children's books, to language and space, some elements from each step carried over. So it wasn't all a waste! Overall, what keeps me going is the anticipation of other people's projects. I'm excited to see what everyone will do. Some things I need to do onward is trying to make up for lost time. I am a bit behind, but with some perseverance I'll get back into place.

At this point, I've been prototyping and learning about new tools I could use for my degree project. Since I don't know much about gears and mechanisms, I'm trying to learn how to make the gears function and do what I want them to do. I also went to the Fab Lab with Haas, and we learned how to laser cut. 

I realized that there's an obvious but somewhat abstract relationship between time and space: its roundness. The world is round, therefore all space we inhabit is round. And, time is measured on a clock.

My question has been updated to:

"how can I translate letterforms into space and motion using interactive, moving mechanisms to demonstrate how language affects and forms the way we understand space?"

t4: haribo

week 6: prototyping

FEBRUARY 29–MARCH 4

Found this awesome website, robives.com, to experiment/learn about gears. I followed some of his tutorials and came up with some mini prototypes for what my final product may look like/may include:

I also went asked Jo Kamm to teach me how to use the laser cutter. On Saturday, I went over to the Metropolitan Community College's tech lab to use their laser printer.

Something I experimented with:

After assembly:

week 3&4: summary

sx: senior show moodboards

t4: lemon drops

t4: packaging moodboards/research

Thinking of designing packaging for hard-candy that I'll probably buy at Nature's Own. I'm leaning towards the more playful aesthetic (note the clown bottle), but using the intricate structure in the second moodboard.

sx: some logos

I realized I was over-thinking my idea for Alice, and decided to simplify it into a family-friendly, traveling hotel where people can gather or rent out for events (weddings, parties, concerts, etc.). 

finalized logo?

week 5: gears and connectors

FEBRUARY 22–26

language & space

I heard a podcast more than a year ago about the impact of words on the way we think. This actually also involves different cultural differences due to language. But I want to focus on the English language and solely its formal components (as opposed to cultural). I contemplated whether or not I should explore the differences between Korean and English, but I decided against it as I'm not fluent in Korean.

Ever since I stumbled upon this image, I couldn't shake it off my mind.

There's something about gears and "perpetual" motion (there's actually no such thing as perpetual motion because energy is always lost because of the first or second law of thermodynamics) that I really love. I was especially inspired by something I learned in my Digital Fabrication class. Jo Kamm, the instructor, showed us monograph.io, a website where people share the things they make. I was drawn to this project:

where students programmed a machine mostly made of cardboard to move chess pieces using magnets. I loved how they repurposed cardboard and utilized cheap materials. 

week 4: final idea

FEBRUARY 15–19

Creating experiences that are exclusive and only for the wealthy does not sit well with me, which is why I cannot get myself to create things that involve expensive equipment and materials. There is something very superficial and empty about fabricating environments that only feed certain types of behavior that only indulge the senses and over-stimulate the viewer (crazy, flashing LED lights, interactive screens, flying robots, etc. etc). Not to say that I'm against technology. Tech is cool and I'm all for it! But I'm against using technology to indulge and oversaturate. I saw a video somewhere of a woman dancing in a cube, with interactive lights surrounding her to emphasize her movements. While the digital element was visually striking, it was also overpowering. Why can't we just appreciate the movements of the dancer herself, and leave it open to interpretation for the viewer to imagine the context/emotion of the dance? I thought it excessive and somehow manipulative. Another element I wanted my concept to take into account is how it "adds to the conversation" (as Frank would put it). It's important to me that my project is progressive, not regressive. I want to explore new arena.

It's been a long struggle, but I've finally settled on an idea (for sure this time).

Some notes from my research:

"What" and "Where" in Spatial Language and Spatial Cognition by Barbara Landau

-our ability to express spatial experience through language sets humans apart from other animals

-our ability to use representations to express space - talk about what things are and where they're located

-how language draws on our spatial representations such that we can manage to talk about what we perceive

-whatever we can talk about we can also represent (visually?)

-spatial language relates to time*** (also status, possession, social organization)

-spatial representation involves vision, audition, and touch (all senses)

-count nouns (what) endless amount, prepositions (where) limited

-shape bias

-any spatial distinctions must be able to be talked about, correspond with spatial representation. it's necessary in order to talk about it - there is nothing that cannot be represented spatially by language (ideally)

-understanding our representations of space requires invoking mental elements corresponding to places and paths, where places are generally understood as regions often occupied by landmarks or reference objects. Objects (including oneself) are then located in these places. Paths are the routes along which one travels to get from place to place.

-standard linguistic representation of an object's place requires three elements: the object to be located (figure), the reference object (ground), and their relationship. 

-figure and ground = noun phrases

-relationship = spatial preposition (defines a region in which figure object is located.)

-about 80-100 prepositions (overlapping meaning,) vs. 10,000+ nouns

-every spatial relation = 100 object names

-factors involved in defining spatial relations: 

---asymmetry between figure and reference objects (basic parameters for spatial relations)

---geometric possibilities for three elements: reference object, figure object, region based on the reference object

=asymmetry between figure and reference

--R (a,b) / spatial relation = objects related

--"the table is under the book" --> wrong, because size

--linguistic asymmetry follows principles of spatial organization (requires one object to be anchored relative to some other object)

--reference objects: large, stable, distinctive

--organization of language = organization of spatial cognition**

--distance: reference objects are critical anchors in structuring cognitive maps

----people judged the distance of a poor reference object to a good one as SHORTER than the reverse***

------ex. the lamppost to the nerm vs. the nerm to the lamppost

--people were quicker/more accurate when asked "make it so the (moving) block is on top of the (fixed) block." vs. "make is so that the (fixed) block is on top of the (moving) block."

--viewed as not possible: "make it so the house is near the bicycle" because fixed object could not be moved

*constraints of geometry of figure and reference object

-how system of spatial relations expressed in language makes use of the shapes of the objects being related.

-no prepositions that must be analyzed in terms of a particular geon (2d/3d shape: cone, cube, ...)

-two separate regions for what/where distinction in the brain (but converge at certain points)

-the unimportance of the third dimension in the mental representation of objects

ex. clock and orange are both round (third dimension is not of prime importance in linguistic descriptions)

terms used to describe spatial qualities of objects are those that are, strictly speaking, applicable to flat objects.

-The striking differences in the way language encodes objects verses place leads us to suggest two explanations: First, there is a tendency for languages to level out geometric detail from both object and place representations. Second, a nonlinguistic disparity between the representations of "what" and "where" underlies how language represents objects and places. The language of objects and places converges with and enriches our understanding of corresponding spatial representations.

Language and Spatial Cognition by Annette Herskovits

"Language and spatial cognition: an interdisciplinary study of the prepositions in english" - anette

-"In fact, the spatial domain remains incomprehensible when looked at in this way. Careful examination of a range of locative sentences reveals that the spatial objects related often do not actually exist in the world, but are mental constructions - beyond and above that first mental construction produced by perception. Even objecthood is not an unalterable given."

-dynamic prepositions (to, from, via)

-static prepositions (in, under, on)

-three basic topological prepositions: at on in

projective prepositions: derived from the experience of viewing: in front of, behind, to the right

-ideal meaning of preposition (geometric) point, line, surface

t4: the catcher in the rye

Typography 4: Project 2

t4: iterations

spatial design: stuff

the idea

an exposition that celebrates quirky arts (toys and miniature art, doll art, odd crafts, doll head maker, etc). There will be places available to sleep, a hotel area (as it is an international event). 

OR a traveling hotel that seeks to help people get in touch with reality again and the here and now. The hotel will provide room/board free because people going will volunteer (farming, building, etc.) to experiment a different, more primal way of life.

alice-inspired

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where––" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"––so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. "What sort of people live about here?"
"In that direction," the Cat said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter: and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad."
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." 

Basically, mad people traveling together

other inspiration

World's Columbian Exposition

(celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' 

arrival in the New World in 1492 over a six month period)

Crystal Palace to house The Great Exhibition 1851

L.A. Olympics - designed by Deborah Sussman

key words

escape, adventure, primal

graphic identity

more narrowed down moodboards

look-alikes-junior-inspired

desert-inspired

week 3: children's books?

FEBRUARY 8–12

the sum of a week
This Monday after giving our week 1&2 summary presentation, I think I figured out what I want to do...maybe? I talked with Debbie Pettid and got some insight on how I should approach children's books. I came up with a list of books I could delve into (children's book authors who have previously been designers):

• Paul Rand
• Ann Rand
• Antonio Frasconi
• Roger Duvoisin
• Leo Lionni
• Miroslav Sasek
• Louise Fatio
• Andre Francois
• John Symonds
• Brian Wildsmith
• Charles Keeping
• Raymond Briggs
• John Burningham
• Ezra Jack Keats
• Judith Kerr
• Miroslav Sasek
• Maurice Sendak
• Tomi Ungerer

Some books I have to look into:

• Cummin’s Children’s Book Illustration and Design Vol.2
• Evans, J. What’s in the Picture? Responding to Illustrations in Picture Books
• Lacy, L.E. Art and Design in Children’s Picture Books
• Nodelman’s Words About Pictures
• Schwarcz, J.H. Ways of the Illustrator: Visual Communication in Children’s Literature
• Wintle, J. and Fisher, E. The Pied Pipers: Interview with the Influential Creators of Children’s Literature
• Kress, G. and Van Leeuwen, T. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design
• Bland D. A History of Book Illustration: The Illuminated Manuscript and the Printed Book

After talking with Debbie, I realized how wide of a scope of books I chose. There are tons of children's books from the 50s–60s, especially a lot of the classics, like Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are. Debbie suggested that I look into censorship, and how publishers are starting to take out cigarettes from children's books. Her issue with that is how they're trying to change history, and alter what actually happened/what the time period was actually like. She also mentioned how graphic designers started to use the medium/platform of children's books because it allowed them to do whatever they wanted within a structure. Children's books are usually between 32-48 pages, never more than that, and have a set format. What's interesting is that this structure made these designers from the 50-60s feel like children's books was unexplored, rich terrain.

 

t4: final experimental type

weeks 1&2: summary

spatial: alice's hotel

Work in progress presentation below: