paigewilsonthesis

[paigewilsonthesis]

March 18, 2019

What I Did

After getting back from spring break on March 9th, my time has been devoted towards 1. figuring out the final form of this project, and 2. making the final form of this project.

I went to Joann Fabrics to source a few different materials for my letterform pile. I focused on traits of materials that my peers have been drawn to in the past (like really soft / plush materials) as well as materials that I knew would be more forgiving of sewing errors based on my experimentation earlier. I took photos of every fabric in the sections I was looking at to reference when I wasn’t at the store, and I bought a few yards of 4 different fabrics: yellow lush, warm gray lush, white sherpa, and pink soft dots.

I used the purchased fabric to test how the materials worked on my sewing machine as well as make a few test letters. I was contemplating whether to include many different textures or colors of fabric, or if I should just decide on one. Originally I was hesitant to decide on one because it felt like a very daunting decision, and I also thought that added textures would be an interesting sensory experience. I decided that having different textures worked better with my original project plan of having the letters serve as comfort objects (rather than an opportunity to play and take a break), and having different textures and especially colors didn’t lend itself for this version. I still tried out what the project looked like with letters being different colors and with each letter having multiple colors, but it did end up looking too busy.

I decided on the warm gray lush despite my original feelings that a gray or neutral was taking the easy way out. I ultimately chose this one because I still hope to show my work in multiple venues, and a neutral color will lend itself to most environments. I also thought that the lush texture felt the best but didn’t distract visually of the four I had purchased. Additionally, the warm gray still evoked an approachable feeling much more than the cooler grays did at the store.

I started to create the patterns for the letters digitally to make everything consistent. My original plan was to hand cut every letter. (I was aiming to make 2.5 to 3.5 alphabets at this point, and to make 3 alphabets, I would need to cut out 156 pieces.) Irene suggested laser cutting, so the next few days were devoted towards convincing the laser cutting work studies to let me try cutting this fabric despite it being fuzzy and possibly flammable (good news, the polyester was fine! No fires were caused in the making of this project. Yet.) and actually cutting out all 156 letterforms.

After two nights of cutting 2x4′ pieces of fabric from the bolt and laser cutting from those pieces, all of my letters were cut out. This past weekend has been devoted to sewing, although on Saturday there was a campus-shooting-scare, and I ended up not being as productive that day as originally planned.

Feelings / Reflections / Discoveries

There has been a lot of reflection regarding all of the research I have done thus far and synthesizing it all into the visuals and experience of this last piece. The consideration of material, color, number of letters, location of the piece, etc. have all been floating in my head, and I am finally having to make all of the decisions about them.

I have been thinking about my grandma a lot in this process since she taught me to sew, and I am using her old machine for this project. In regards to my own mental health experience through the year and specifically through this project, I feel like it has come full circle being able to connect generationally and cope with her passing as the anniversary comes quickly.

What’s Next

As of this morning, I have sewn the outsides of 29/78 letters. After I purchase more thread today, I hope to finish sewing the outsides today and tomorrow. I then will spend the end of this week stuffing the letters with filling and rice and sewing off the holes.

Tomorrow I have two meetings regarding permission to display my work on campus next week. The ideal scenario is both people allow me to display the work next week, but the worst scenario is neither do. If neither do, I plan on guerrilla installing the piece in different areas (probably in on-campus buildings like Stamps or major-specific buildings as well as off-campus ones like a coffee shop).

After I figure out the plan for installing in public, it is time to document the work in public. The goal is to take 80 photos of 80 words people make with the piece. I will need to take, edit, and print these photos at 5x7″ (or, depending on the quantity of photos, I will adjust the dimensions of the documentation).

I also will be making the poster this weekend to accompany the piece as it is in public. This will be handled after determining the actual public places the piece will be in.

[paigewilsonthesis]

February 16, 2019

What I Did

This week started with a whole-class critique. Each of us had about 15 minutes to present our progress and receive feedback on the current state of our projects. I started by passing out all 20 letters of IT IS OKAY TO TAKE BREAKS to get feedback on what stuffing was the best. I got a lot of mixed reviews: some people like the weight of the rice bags on the bottom, while others liked the mixed rice and the uniform weight. There were also a couple that liked the all rice version, but it was a consensus that no one liked the all stuffing version.

It was also noted that the all rice version slouched a lot, and although the O worked a lot better to hold its form than the T, people thought that these letters appeared sad which is an interesting take. We began talking about the potential for contrast here: making sad letterforms that are about happiness. I think this is useful to consider in this process, but also don’t want the message to become confusing if I utilized heavy contrast. We also talked about this in context to the shape of the letters, possibly moving to something more boxy than the current form that mimics my own handwriting.

A great idea from my professor Robert was to have a gradient of color instead of, say, a tag with the whole phrase. This would be a visual cue about the order of the phrase without outright spelling it for the audience. In general, there was a want for a range of material, or at least a material that was more physically interesting than the cotton. And the idea of a tag was looked at as more of a commercial indicator than as an instructional one, which is a good connotation to be aware of going forward. Finally, the association to fridge letter magnets was a small comment that stood out, especially after meeting with Anne immediately after.

My meeting with Anne Mondro went super well. We talked a lot about the final form of my project and Anne’s work with nursing homes. Overall, the biggest take away from our conversation was the pile idea. After explaining my hesitancy with deciding on the final phrases, Anne said she thought that hesitation was valid, and that might be an indication of a different project form. She suggested making a bunch of letters and putting them in a pile where the audience can leave their own sort of phrase of encouragement, and it would be ever-changing with new people arriving. Some other smaller parts of the conversation that were notable are social media engagement (Instagram a word back to me), connecting letters in a non-permanent way like velcro or snaps, comparison to the “Before I Die I Want to…” wall, and balancing juvenile with respect and age-appropriateness.

After having the critique and conversation Monday morning, I came back to IP in the afternoon to conduct my experiment testing in the Duderstadt Library. I waited about a half an hour for students to clear an area of couches I had my eye on to use, and I set up my letters and posted up on the third floor balcony. I hadn’tt asked for permission by the library, so there seemed to be a little whispering among librarians, but no confrontation. Every passerby looked at my words, intrigued but not stopping to engage. About 15 minutes in, the first guy went up, felt the letters a bit, then put his coat over them and used one of the seats. Over the next 20 minutes, his friend joined him on another chair, and the couch became occupied, too. After even just the first guy arrived, the message instantaneously became lost to anyone passing by which wasn’t exactly what I wanted. Because I had just had a conversation regarding a different presentation, I observed quickly that I actually should consider a new presentation because this plan wasn’t exactly what I wanted. After about an hour of the students staying in there spots, I grabbed the letters and concluded this experiment.

Feelings / Reflections / Discoveries

After Monday, I took some time to just think about what had happened and the advice I received. I mind-mapped about the idea “What exactly do I want to accomplish?” I came to the conclusion that I want to provide people with an opportunity to feel a little happier and to actually take a break. I realized another reason I chose the initial phrase IT IS OKAY TO TAKE BREAKS was because it was one of the more prominent pieces of advice that has come up in my research. It is proven that taking small breaks – even though it seems counterintuitive at times – does help mental health and productivity overall. This is something I personally have struggled to prioritize that my therapist and myself have discussed. Instead of saying IT IS OKAY TO TAKE BREAKS in the actual phrase, there is an opportunity to encourage people to take a break with my project.

I also started to think about the discrepancy between play and comfort. I had been envisioning my letters as objects of comfort, able to be held in a lap as someone worked on their laptop, providing small changes in their environment to help alleviate stress. But the letters themselves don’t necessarily feel like comfort object; they are more playful and fun. I think that I can use this difference to my advantage – instead of asking people to use these playful objects as calm, comfortable ones; I will encourage people to use these playful objects as things to play with. And instead of saying “taking breaks is good for you!” I am giving people a chance to experience that taking breaks is good for you.

What’s Next

My next step is to reflect on this past week some more (it was a very eventful week for this project). I want to talk with Kelly, Robert, and Bruna this upcoming week about these revelations and what they think about this new-ish direction. I also need to reevaluate my calendar based on these changes and how long the experimentation stage took (which was longer than anticipated)

[paigewilsonthesis]

February 9, 2019

What I Did

This week I didn’t finish up experiment one, proving that this process is taking me a lot longer than initially expected. I changed the way I am experimenting because of this: instead of making multiple phrases that have different variables, I am making this one experiment with different variables between each word in the phrase. For this, I am including different rice to stuffing variables (all stuffing, all rice, rice bags on bottom, rice and stuffing alternating) as well as different attachment methods for the letters (letters of each word will be attached either just by sewing or connected with yarn).

On top of continuing making, I had a meeting with guest professor Ben VanDyke. Ben is a professor in the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University. We had a great conversation that felt very philosophical at times, talking about the meaning of life and how important human connection is. But we also delved into my project specifically, talking about what sort of impact I want my audience to leave with, and how the documentation I was planning (a couple large scale photos or a looping time-lapse) may not be the best plan. He suggested that something like seeing 6,000 smaller photos of my phrase in many different places might be more influential than just three larger photos on three places. One other point of conversation was the idea of leveraging my own personal empathy and connecting more of an anecdotal story to these phrases rather than a phrase that has advice or aims to destigmatize. He did include, too, that he thought the current letterforms – specifically the colors and the curved shape – really lend themselves well to this project.

Feelings / Reflections / Discoveries

Although I have cut back my full-phrase experiments, I do still need to make individual letters after this IT IS OKAY TO TAKE BREAKS phrase. I want to see how different fabrics influence the words, and I also want to try making a word with three pieces of fabric (front, back, side) than just two pieces (front, back) like how I currently am.

Some other notes for my final phrases include: wash fabric before, steam fabric, laser cut words or use illustrator template at least, increase size potentially, think about signs / tags, wash rice (slight rice-y smell).

What’s Next

Next week is my critique with the whole class, so I hope to have my letters done in time for them to experience all of the variables. I also have one more professor meeting scheduled. Ideally, too, I will finally get to test my experiment in the Duderstadt and observe the engagement for a few hours.

[paigewilsonthesis]

February 2, 2019

What I Did After my last blog post, I met with Karen Henry, Stamps’ specific CAPS faculty member, to talk about my project. She provided some great feedback in terms of what the specific mental health climate is like at the University of Michigan as well as some great insight into my own project.

This week I stared to make my first experiment specifically for this project proposal. My plan is to spend the next three weeks making three different experiments. Each experiment will be a single phrase of words, and variables like type of fabric, size and shape of letterforms, what is stuffed inside, and what outside instruction there is for the audience will change between each experiment.

I chose the phrase IT IS OKAY TO TAKE BREAKS for this first experiment. I chose it because it is direct advice to the audience, and the phrase isn’t as long as some of the others I have brainstormed (20 letters). I am using a yellow cotton fabric for this iteration, and every letter will be the same color. For the inside, I am planning on using both rice as a sort of weight and normal pillow stuffing. The current plan is to sew tiny bags of rice to fit at the bottom of each letterform, helping the form stand upright.

Each letter has been based on an 8.5x11” stencil. The stencils were made quickly and just by drawing the letters – in the future, I want to experiment with making a consistent stencil on Adobe Illustrator, but the focus of these experiments are engagement, not craft.

A wrench thrown in this week’s plan was the snow days on January 30 and 31. I thankfully prepared for these days by bringing home my sewing machine, so I could continue sewing this experiment even when I couldn’t get to the studio.

On top of this experiment, I met with Ali for the first time regarding the written thesis. She was super helpful in restructuring my Contextual Discussion to flow and cut the unnecessary parts.

Feelings / Reflections / Discoveries I realized the writing the written thesis while simultaneously finishing the physical work is both extremely difficult but also extremely helpful. Going back through the research I have been doing since fall of last year is helpful as I make these final decisions about my physical work. I force this trend continuing – struggling through writing while making, but ultimately being helped by this process.

I can tell I am still hesitant to determine what phrases to use, even after speaking with Karen Henry about the content last week. Like the issue of not everyone liking the same scents, there is the issue of not everyone being receptive to the same type of phrases. I want this project to be as inclusive and universal as possible, and determining these phrases is definitely a scary decision because of this.

What’s Next I need to finish this first experiment and get started on making some more experiments as well as test this experiment in public. I am planning on using the Duderstadt Library’s 2nd floor as my initial testing spot, and observing interactions above from the 3rd floor.

While I continue working on this and my written thesis, I have a few meetings scheduled with outside professors these next two weeks. I am hoping that they provide useful feedback for this specific stage in my project – when I am determining what I want for engagement and what the final form / documentation will look like.

[paigewilsonthesis]

January 23, 2019

What I Did

Last week I made a lot of progress. After doing a lot of book research two weeks ago, last week I focused on my project and the beginning stages of making it happen. 

Observation was a key part of last week. I came up with a list of locations that could be potential locations for my work. I decided early on to only look at on-campus locations for a few reasons. I want to make sure that the places I pick have a lot of students, and the students are doing work (not getting food, watching shows, etc.) I also was worried about the cleanliness of places like an off-campus coffee shop (trying to preserve these letters as long as possible).

After generating a list of places based on where I know people go and asking friends of different majors where they study, I started to sit in the locations, record what was happening, and make decisions. I followed a loose AEIOU structure (Activities, Environments, Interactions, Objects, Users). I immediately narrowed down my options by deciding that major-specific buildings weren’t as promising for my work. Having a range of people (and a large quantity of people) is important.

I also (finally) started thinking about how this was actually going to happen. I did some sketching and initial ideation. I then took all of the research about language and marketing I had collected, simplified it, and started to generate potential phrases. These phrases will be the kick-start to my experimentation.

I also went SHOPPING. I bought some simple sewing equipment along with fresh fabrics of different textures to try (that’s right. Not just cotton, but silk and sherpa, too!) I also bought fabric of different colors, and realized I needed to do some color theory research. And I bought stuffing AND RICE to start experimenting with weight.

Feelings / Reflections / Discoveries

One of my biggest discoveries last week (besides my strides made on what this would be about) was discovering the levels of outcome I wanted to achieve. After thinking through potential outcomes, I grouped my ideas and came up with three degrees of influence: 1. changes mood, 2. spreads message, 3. changes mind. A simple smile or moment of relief / happiness is a success for this project, but a bigger success is someone telling their friend about what they saw and talking about mental health together, or someone getting the final push to seek the help they need.

What’s Next

I need to observe a few last locations that I have a feeling will be on my list of places to experiment. I want to put experiments in 5 locations to make sure I have at least 3 final locations that I think work and can pursue in my final forms. 

But EXPERIMENTING is what is happening now. It’s time to make some words, put them in places, and see what happens. 

I want to research color theory, too, as my experiments are starting and I begin to consider the smaller details like color. Also experimenting with smell and what I can use to change smell (potpourri? essential oils? Also, what smells? Lavender? Vanilla?)

[paigewilsonthesis]

January 14, 2019

What I Did

Last week (and today) was dedicated to getting back into the mode of IP. This started by making an IP BIG TO DO LIST. I created this list based on all the feedback I received in my December review: the artists / works to look at, people to contact, and references to read. I also included other areas of research that I personally wanted to dive into. The first section – DO – is what I’m doing in the next couple weeks. 

I started on this list by looking up all the artists that were recommended to me. I read about each one and posted some of their artworks on my studio wall. 

Next was research. I spent a long time looking into a few things on the list as well as other ideas that came up during the process. Subjects I’ve been reading about include: 

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

marketing / sales / persuasive language

positive / negative affirmations

methods for influencing change in a community (in reference to drug use)

symptoms of stress / anxiety / depression

why people don’t seek help

stages of mental health diseases and how to help during each stage

methods to help mental health (outside of professional help; in the mindset of someone struggling and as a friend)

stress relief methods / physical objects associated with stress

comfort / transitional objects for kids and adults

Today I went through the 100 sketches that we were asked to do during the first few weeks of class last semester and pulled out some that were now relevant to my projects. There were a handful I made while thinking about mental health as a topic for my project, and I wanted to see what I was thinking about at the very beginning.

Finally, I made a mega calendar to go over my November / December calendar painted on the wall from last year. This includes dates up until all of my physical work is due (April 1). After that point, I’ll be using my Google calendar for everything else since I won’t be making in my studio anymore!

How I Feel About It

I’ve been reading a lot of good things this past week, and I’m excited to see how all of these things influence what these words will say and physically look like. I am antsy about actually making – I feel like I have this pressure to do this research since I know it will help, but I also know that the sooner I start making and testing these letters in public, the better. 

What's Next

With that being said, my goal is to do LOTS (and I mean lots) of sketching about form AND content this week. I want to continue researching (I have at least 10 tabs open on my computer that I haven’t gotten a chance to read yet) as well as make my own Google Form with questions to get some first-hand research done on this specific audience I’m targeting (University of Michigan students). I also am planning on listing all of the possible spaces to have my work in and start observing those spaces to see what kind of environments they are / what happens there.

[paigewilsonthesis]

January 9, 2019

Beginning of Semester (Recap on Progress)

The end of fall semester was chaotic, and I didn’t update my blog on my final project decisions and the last process of presenting my final review and receiving feedback.

First, the direction of my work changed a bit. I reflected on this in the blog a bit, but haven’t updated on the results of that reflection. My new project-scope is to focus on mental health (specifically for students at the University of Michigan). I am going to make some sort of stuffed sculpture or pillow in the shape of letterforms. They will be placed in on-campus locations that students frequently do work in, and the piece will serve as both a mental health awareness campaign and as objects of comfort for students using these spaces.

I’ve started to research the history of mental health problems in the young adult demographic over the last century, and I’ve started to collect data regarding changes in this demographic and what young adults are currently struggling with.

I’ve also been researching approaches on helping people with mental health issues outside of professional help. One of the most popular ideas is peer-to-peer help, and I’m beginning to imagine myself in this category.

Among these ideas, I’ve also been looking at how public art / art in unconventional and unexpected locations can influence people, and how touch can enhance a viewer’s experience of an art piece. Also campaigning language: what is the most effective approach to convince someone of something (scared, encouraged, humor, etc.)

After my review, my panel developed a list of artists and projects to look at going forward, which is one of my first steps now in 2019. I’m also going to be having conversations with Karen Henry and other CAPS faculty as well as Stamps professors Sun Young Park and Anne Mondro.

Along with this formal research, I am going to start holding my own experiments to start researching my actual locations and specific audience of University of Michigan students. This initial making and experimentation will ultimately result in a project that achieves my the specific outcome I want (which is also to be determined currently.

[paigewilsonthesis]

November 29, 2018

Post-Mock Review

My mock review went well. I got decent marks on all four of the categories, and I received a lot of good feedback from my sheets. The one piece of feedback, though, that has really stuck with me is similar feedback to what Hannah gave me: I don’t think your project is about the handmade.

I can’t understand why people don’t think it’s about the handmade. I’m making with my hands, and I’m saying it’s about the handmade. But people seem to see more of an emphasis on interacting with design.

I feel kind of lost at this point. I’ve grown tired of making with all of these different materials — at first I was having a really great time, but now I feel drained and like I’m focusing on the wrong thing.

I’m going to take a few days to not think about it, and then come back to my ideas again and figure out what I want to do.

[paigewilsonthesis]

Conversations

November 21, 2018

On November 14 and 16, I had conversations with Professors Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo and Hannah Smotrich about my project. Each conversation was about 45 minutes long, and each helped me think about different things regarding my project.

FRANC:

Think about the message. Making by hand is for me, but that’s not necessarily what the project says. Franc recommended I make a statement about something else. What I am doing is design, and I am showing people design \ the handmade is important by doing, not saying

We talked a lot about possibilities for what the environment could be. Is it a word with letters all over? Is it a sentence that people can walk and follow along? Is it something that can only be read in one perspective?

Making things by hand adds value. I feel like I have sort of forgotten this very basic statement. Yes it does. Of course it does. That’s why people buy art from artists instead of mass-produced art from Meijer.

What is the documentation? Other than interviews and photographs, can people write on my sculptures? Can they contribute?

HANNAH:

I need to focus on the audience’s experience now. I’ve spent a lot of time researching through me – reading books, making to see how I feel. I need to do small, low-stakes experiments in real places with real people.

Is it actually about handmade? This sounds like it’s about interacting with design, and I am making by hand because I want to / that’s what lends itself to this project specifically.

People are looking for outlets to connect physically in this day with technology. Find this research.

People / Things to look at:

Steven Dixon (AIGA Medalist)

Richard Serra

Christo

Peter Downsbrough

Roni Horn

Joe Iovino “Plaques for Plaques”

Ivan Chermayeff “Number 9″

[paigewilsonthesis]

November 11, 2018

Makin’ & Plannin’

This week I took a lot of action on this project. On Monday, I decided I needed to sit down and work for a couple hours instead of trying to spread it throughout the week. Working for longer amounts of time, like 2-3 hours, helps me get in a zone of creativity. Dividing up my time throughout the week helps in the sense that I am thinking about and developing my project more in a week, but I personally like my making to be more concentrated. So we made a change this week, and it helped immensely.

With my two orgs finishing magazines this week, it was a busy time. I woke up early on Monday to get 2.5 hours of making at my studio in before IP class which is at 11. I cut the word NATURE out of blocks of foam – a word I had planned on making for a while now.

I also got started on making very tiny hot glue letters. I wanted these to look like pills because I got a handful of pill bottles from Scrapbox a while ago. I painted them white, but wasn’t able to fully finish painting and varnishing until later in the week.

I made two trips to gather supplies on Friday – one to Michael’s and one to Meijer. I started some work on another word over the weekend; the word STRAIGHT will be made of a twisted wire frame, nylon, and gesso. 

One other major planning accomplishment I made this week was to paint a calendar in my studio where I can plan the rest of my semester prior to our December critique. I ave post it’s of words I want to make, research I want to do, and more all categorized where I can figure them out visually.

[paigewilsonthesis]

November 3, 2018

Reflecting on the Past Week

IP has been stressful for a lot of students these past couple weeks. Personally, I have felt a little hopeless in my project and overwhelmed by it in general. 

I think a lot of the issues have stemmed from a change in structure to both IP and the length of classes, but that’s not where all of my frustrations are currently. Last week was hard in terms of feedback, too, and just feeling like I wasn’t creating what I was imagining / people weren’t perceiving the project the way I was hoping.

I decided to take a few days off of thinking about my project to let myself be relieved of the stress and take a step back. And now I am back, and I’m going to take more action to be motivated and inspired by this project again regardless of circumstances.

This week I want to make a lot of smaller sculptures and do more book research. We finally received grades this weekend on what we have been turning in (annotated bibliography, proposal, etc.), and I want to take action on these. Our next annotated bibliography is due in a few weeks, so I want to basically finish that up soon so it can influence the sculptures I will be making before December.

Kelly’s goal for me for the December review is to have “at least 5 words, photographed in context, with documentation and notes about audience interactions.” Let’s do it!

[paigewilsonthesis]

October 30, 2018

Visualizing My Project

For tomorrow’s class, we were asked to make a visualization of our projects with explanations of 1. aspects of the project we are making, 2. what audience(s) we are addressing and how specific parts of the project address them, and 3. what we will have completed for the review in December. 

Above is my visualization. The aspects of my project I want to make are some sort of word sculptures in public (not sure of how many or what words) and a book with photographs and interviews from the words in public. A few of the words and the book will be displayed in the Stamps show.

I have 3 audiences I am considering: the public of Ann Arbor that will be interacting with my words initially, non-creatives that are attending the Stamps show, and creatives that are at the show. For the public, they will be connected to the project through accessible locations, potential signage, and the desire to touch the words. For the non-creatives, they are already curious enough about art / design to attend the show, so I will pull at their interest by allowing them to touch and explore their curiosity. For the creatives, my book is more targeted towards them. I want them to connect through the information I learned and catalogued; they could take away a lesson and incorporate it more into their own practice, advancing and spreading the idea of handmade in graphic design.

At the bottom, I included a timeline of what I want to accomplish before the critique as well as next semester before the show. Before critique, I want to figure out what words I want to make, do a trial run with some sort of audience, experiment with all potential material, and continue book research.

[paigewilsonthesis]

October 24, 2018

Full Class Critique with Professor Omar Sosa Tzec

Today was our first official full class critique. Because Stamps changed our class times from 3 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes (which is technically only 2 hours and 5 minutes with the new “Tower Time”), all of our critiques have been adapted to smaller forms, like with groups of three peers or one-on-ones with Kelly or Bruna.

While we did run out of time to fit everyone, I was able to be critiqued in the very last few minutes of class. I brought the three letter sketches above: FUTURE, male, and HARD.

Here are the notes Kelly took for me during the critique:

What meanings can be changed by switching words around?

Documentation: how can you capture the play/experimentation once the words are installed? (video, photo, shared in gallery space)

Omar: how much does it need to be a word? What happens if you do it with geometric shapes? (using words adds another layer to the interaction and interest)

Theme will add another layer

Omar: making knots, intertwining comes from the material; what is the word bringing to the experience?

[paigewilsonthesis]

October 24, 2018

UMMA’s Paul Rand Exhibition

This morning, my ARTDES 422: Advanced Typography class met at the UMMA to view and discuss the work of Paul Rand now on display there. Our professor, Franc, had a large involvement in this exhibition.

I’ve been exposed to the work of Paul Rand previously, but he is one of the most influential graphic designers ever. He was important to the graphic design world both prior to computers and after, working with design as a very strict craft and when it was “easier” with the use of technology. 

Explanation of images:

Poster design for Sources and Resources of 20th Century Design, 1966.

Cover design for American Institute Graphic Arts (AIGA) Annual, vol.6, 1968.

Branding guide for IBM.

Ford logo redesign, 1966.

[paigewilsonthesis]

October 22, 2018

Meeting with Professor Ron Eglash

I met with Professor Ron Eglash to discuss my project and any potential resources / thoughts he immediately had. Our conversation was towards the end of class and, therefore, very short, but in this time he provided me with three specific materials that would be interesting to research and experiment with.

Ron’s wife, graphic designer, and Stamps’ Professor Audrey Bennet had recently obtained shape memory alloys, and Ron invited me to reach out to the two of them to see the material myself and experiment with it a little. He also mentioned working with non-newtonian fluids, especially while incorporating vibrations, as well as magnetic liquids.

I was talking to Nate about the conversation just moments after having it, and he recommended looking at gallium – a metal that heats up and turns to liquid at very low temperatures.

Materials to Experiment With (in order of images):

shape memory alloy

non-newtonian fluids

magnetic liquids

gallium

[paigewilsonthesis]

October 22, 2018

In Conversation with Mitch Goldstein and Anne Jordan

A few weeks ago, Kelly introduced me via email to two designers, Mitch Goldstein and Anne Jordan. Kelly knew them through working at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She spoke about their work by hand in making various book covers (some examples shown above) and how learning about their iterative process could be beneficial research for my project.

Here is the List of Handmade Graphic Design Questions I emailed them (I will post their responses later):

What does your typical iterative design process look like? How long is it? How do you incorporate working by hand? When do you incorporate technology, if at all?

When and why did you start working with the handmade in general (ie: started as a fine artist, during childhood, etc.)? When and why did you start working with the handmade as a designer?

Why do you utilize working by hand in your own process? Why is it important, or why is it not?

Do you think working by hand influences an audience’s experience with a piece of graphic design? Is that influence positive, negative, neutral, or not apparent?

Do you think graphic design is a craft? Why or why not?

What is your favorite medium to work with / way to work by hand?

Do you think that the advancement of technology has helped, harmed, or not influenced your own design practice? What about the design world as a whole?

Mitch and Anna are also connected to creatives Keetra Dean Dixon (artist / designer that has inspired and influenced some of my previous work and this project already) and Nancy Skolos / Tom Wedell (designers I haven’t heard of before but am researching for this project). Hopefully I can have conversations with these designers, too.

[paigewilsonthesis]

October 22, 2018

Finished: HARD (continued)

ALSO I did document Nate post-interacting with the letters / his explanation of what he made. He constructed an object – specifically a spaceship – out of three of the letters.

This brings in the idea of who I want to target when it comes to interaction. I think seeing if there are differences in interaction between different ages, genders, majors, and other human identifiers will provide me with valuable information regarding future construction or how I hope / expect interaction to be in future iterations.