Project Difficulties, Solutions, and Learning Points

This project was in my opinion the most difficult of the three we have encountered in BDS 101. I think the mere scale of this piece and the three feet minimum requirement was extremely difficult. I have never worked on something so large before and it really was a challenge. Especially as an illustrator I am much more comfortable working on a tiny pieces and my small sketchbook pages. Nevertheless I really enjoyed the large scale and the grand impact our project has in photographs. It was really great to see our pieces from far away on campus, quite a strange and unique sight. 

I would love to create an illustration on such a large scale, and am really drawn towards the magnetic effect of street art. The large aspect of these pieces carry the same sort of stop and look reaction from the public. I think it would be pretty great to see my illustrations on such a massive scale. 

The scale made it difficult for the construction aspect of this project. Since we decided to create entirely 3D letters, the individual pieces that needed to be measured and cut was immense. I think we definitely underestimated this point of the project, the sheer time it would take for building/wrapping our eight letters. I think we could have come up with a alternative for creating our letters that might have saved us some valuable time. 

I learned how to work with cardboard and the varying levels of problems this tends to create. What I felt was the most valuable aspect of this project was the photo essay book. It was quite a learning experience coming up with a way to convey the word ‘exchange’ and have my photographs displayed in a logical and aesthetically pleasing format. I feel like this part of the project will last with me the longest, partly because I love books and sketchbooks. I can imagine making future pieces similar to this one. There is something very gratifying about making a book with all these folds and flaps, and figuring out how to place everything for the printer. I felt like my end book was a successful solution to the problem presented and quite an improvement on my initial ideas. 

Inspiration: Nicholas Stevenson

When I was browsing the Internet I came across the website of illustrator Nicoholas Stevenson (http://www.nicholasstevenson.com/Sketchbooks). Looking through his digital sketchbook pages was pretty fun. 

Yet again what instantly grabbed my attention was his lovely use of blue and the clever way he framed this scene, I love the fact that the wall takes up a majority of the space. He gives the viewer an interesting perspective on the group of gentlemen seated off in the distance. If this painting only occupied the left page I believe it would not carry the same impact. 

I also appreciate his painting style, I love the emotions that his pieces give off, there is nothing strained about his art. Everything has a sense of simplicity and bluntness. What you see is somewhat generalized, the men's faces and sweaters are flat swashes of color and the wallpaper pattern is loose and playful. His focus for this piece is not an accurate rendering of what this situation might look like, but instead conveying a feeling of mood and atmosphere that accompanies a group of old friends. 

Exchange: On Campus Locations

Once the construction of our large letters was complete we reached the point in the project where we were asked to showcase our word in public spaces. My group and I came up with a handful of ideas on how to describe the word 'exchange' on the KU campus. Eventually we settled on four different locations that we thought best described different aspects of the word 'exchange'. 

1. Position

The first placement of our word was at the round-a-bout at the campus entrance. With this location we were trying to describe the exchange of transportation and their positions, each car/bus/bike entering and exiting from a different direction, trading places. 

2. Culture

The second placement of our word was located in front of Lippincott Hall, the headquarters for cultural exchange and backdrop to the friendly statue of two men exchanging greetings. Here we were trying to explain the exchange of culture by placing the word in front of the statue, with both items in the background. 

3. Goods

Thirdly we choose to use the vending machines in Wescoe to describe the exchange of money for goods, an equal trade of one thing for another of the same value. 

4. Ideas/Knowledge

Lastly, we used a classroom setting to describe the idea of exchange of ideas and the transmission of knowledge. First, as depicted in the photographs, we arranged two Es facing each other, seated in desks, with the remaining six letters spread out from the first E to the last. To depict the scenario of one person exchanging ideas with another student during a classroom discussion. The second placement of our letters explains the exchange of knowledge from teachers to students.

Exchange

ex·change

Noun:	An act of giving one thing and receiving another (esp. of the same type or value) in return.
Verb:	Give something and receive something of the same kind in return.
Synonyms:	noun.  interchange - swap - change - swop - barter - replacement verb.  change - interchange - swap - swop - barter - commute

For our third project of the semester we have been asked to create giant 3D depictions of a chosen word that would later be displayed on campus. Drawing from a hat, all teams were given a single word. My team picked exchange. 

Throughout the idea process we have come up with a handful of different ways to describe this word and correlating locations that they could be placed. We thought about the exchange of money (banks, ATMs), the exchange of ideas (classrooms, lecture halls), cultural exchange (Lippincott Building), and the exchange of goods (mail slots, delivery/sorting rooms).

At this moment aren't quite sure which idea we are going to follow through with. Right now we are working on making smaller models of our words with different font variations. 

I'm having many hesitations about this project, but hopefully over the next few days my team and I will begin to develop more concrete ideas. 

Second Project Summary

Overall I thought this project was helpful, especially with helping me develop creative brainstorming practices. I think if this project was an individual project, like our last one, I would have been very intimidated by the whole process. It was definitely beneficial to work with a team of people from different skill sets and interests. I usually do not enjoy group work but felt this project worked out extremely well. 

It was interesting hearing everyone’s ideas and sharing in the brainstorming process. I think the most difficult part was trying to create prototypes. Considering that we were limited by a lack of certain materials, skill sets, and machinery, this made the design process a challenge. There were certain limitations we had to work within and couldn’t fully develop some potentially innovataive ideas. 

I think the most interesting part about this project was watching the IDEO and Objectified videos. I found a great wealth of knowledge in the two and felt they greatly assisted in this project. It was very insightfu l to understand how designers in the real world work and what they go through daily to create objects. I can confidently say majoring in Illustration better suits my tastes. I can see, however, that there is a lot of overlap of ideas and practices. For example, mind mapping and world lists are important for almost any artistic career. They are a great way to create new ideas.

As  an individual I think word lists, freewriting, and mind mapping are all very helpful techniques. At this moment in my artistic career I can’t say one works better for me than the other; I just haven’t experimented with them enough to know. Though I do enjoy freewriting the best, I think really has no limits and the structure is really set up by the individual, and doesn’t have to be limited to a web or vertical column. 

As a group though I’m sure the mind mapping with sticky notes was the most effective way for developing our flyswatter idea. I think it was a very non-commital way of placing ideas on the paper, no matter what they stated. It led to a very fun, relaxed environment and was a good way of getting the ball rolling. 

Interviews: Original Flyswatter

Questions:

1. How often do you use a flyswatter? 

2. Would you want it to be fun?

3. Most important thing you would change?

4. Would you purchase add-ons? 

5. Option of trapping?

6. Any pros of the flyswatter?

1. Very rarely

2. Sure! I want everything to be fun.

3. Longer, then I could sneak up on it.

4. No 

5. Yes, I might use it

6. Like the feel of the handle, not too   heavy, I can really whack ‘em. 

1. Not very often

2. Sure, making it electrified would be fun. 

3. Self-cleaning

4. Yes

5. No 

6. I like the color, effective. 

1. Never 

2. No

3. Colors too bright 

4. No 

5. Yes, though I would use my bare hand

6. No 

Interviews: New Flyswatter Prototype

Questions:

1. Do you think the prototype is an improvement over the original flyswatter?
2. Would you buy it?
3. What do you like about it?
4. Weakness in new design?
5. General thoughts?



1. Yes, it has a nicer handle.

2. Sure, (hesitant) if it worked better. 

3. I don’t have to touch the dead fly!

4. It is a bit flimsy at the moment. 

5. I love the blue!

1. Yes, a little bit. 

2. No, I would just use my hands to pick it up.

3. It has a nice color.

4. There aren’t any air slots in the head.

5. Neat idea, if it functions properly.

1. Yes, I won't have to touch the fly with my hands. 

2. I might, depends on how much it costs.

3. It is an interesting geometric design.

4. Needs to function better, a bit bulky.

5. It has a comfy handle, now I can get a really good grip on it

1. Yes, it is an improvement for people who would rather not pick up the dead fly. However it seems to be a niche market. 

2. No, not my taste.

3. Cool design, made me interested to know what it was.

4. I think it would need to be stronger, more securely attached. 

5. Definitely caught my attention.

1. Yes, it seems to be more stable. 

2. No, I don’t have a use for it.

3. Nice, sturdy handle

4. It doesn’t look too effective if you really need to smoke a fly, not powerful enough.

5. Interesting to look at, probably would stop in the store to see what it was.