Chicago: My Roots

Here is my final light. I think I liked the idea more than how it turned out. I definitely plan on playing around with this idea in the future. Although it isn;t exactly the way I wanted it to be, I still love how it looks. I thought of having a top and bottom, but I actually like how light is coming from the top in comparison to Chicago being my light (start of future). I would have the paper of the roots as wide as the skyline but it didn't work out that way with the supplies I had. If I did have a top, I would've cut out four stars representing Chicago's flag. I also would have skyline a bit wider so it's going into the wall. Overall, it was fun project playing with light and paper. I would love to a project like this in the future.

Process of Light

Here are some of mine and other classmate's paper experimentation. This was a fin exercise as I didn't know how much you could do with paper. It was interesting seeing other classmates and it inspired me to come up with some ideas.  

Add caption

Here is the very start of my project. At first I thought of having a tree with roots coming out of the bottom due to the required use of only paper. Then I thought that was kind cliche and one before. I started thinking of roots and trying to connect to me, personally. I annalyzed the true meaning of what are roots and what are my roots. I instantly thought of Chicago and then this idea played out. I was paired with Michael and if it wasn't for him, I would've created my project a bit differently and it might have been worse. He told me to put the skyline and the roots behind a piece of paper and we came up with this example. I liked how he cut out the skyline and for the roots he cut into them. It gave good contrast and I decided I definitely wanted to approach my project this way. 

Here is my more developed draft. The critique we had was very useful. I liked the box idea but someone suggested that it it come out of the wall and back into it. Also it was suggested that I leave more white space. I learned that roots should be cut differently not going into each other. I also wanted to create a layering affect with the buildings. 

Some examples of inspiration that I liked. 

The light I used.

Laying everything out after it has been cut. 

Almost complete!

Parts of the Letter

Typography

• evolved from handwriting 
• which is created by making series of marks by hand
• the fundamental element constructing a letterform is the linear stroke (stem)
• each letter of our alphabet developed as a simple mark whose visual characteristics clearly separated from all others
• by learning the vocabulary, designers and typographers can develop a greater understanding and sensitivity to the visual harmony and complexity of the alphabet
• typography employs a number of technical terms
• knowing the letterform component parts will make it much easier to identify specific typeface in the future 

Terms

• serif: the short strokes that finish off the major strokes of the letterform 
• bracket: a curving joint between the serif and the stroke
• baseline: the imaginary line defining the visual base of the letterform. all letterforms sit on the base line. 
• cap height: the height of the upper case in a font, taken from the baseline to the top of the character. 
• x-height: the height lowercase x. if you compare typefaces of the same point size they may not have the same x-height. refers to the distance between the baseline and the mean line in a typeface.
• ascender: a stroke on a lowercase letter that rises above the x-height 
• descender: a stroke on a lowercase letterform that falls below the baseline
• bowl: the rounded form that describes a counter, the bowl may be either open or closed
• counter: the negative space within a letterform either fully or partially enclosed
• link: the stroke that connects the bowl and the loop of a lowercase letter like a g
• loop: the bowl at the lower part of the lowercase letter such as g, it can be open or continuos 

** A good example of how counterform can be used in design and especially logos is the Fedex logo

Reflection 

This reading was evidentially about the parts of the letter. It went into detail of each part and what makes up different letters. I find typography very interesting and always have. It's amazing how different letters can be, but all come together to make up a word or saying. I find knowing about typography and it's different attributes very useful when it comes to design. Design is all around and within a lot if not most of that design involves typography. It makes up our language, how we label things and how we understand them. When it comes to my field, it will be useful knowing the complicity of typography in order create successful logos, advertisements, etc. It's interesting how simple a letter can be but in reality there can be many different parts to the letter. This reading allowed me to increase my knowledge in identifying specific typeface and parts of letterforms. 

Sketches

Here are sketches of the three objects I brought in. A roll of toilet paper, a plastic water bottle, and an eraser on a number two pencil. 

Poorly Designed Objects

Make it Better

            Here are the three objects I chose for the topic of "poorly designed". I chose a plastic water bottle because it's terrible for the environment. It also can melt due to heat and it isn't very durable being able to squeeze it and have it deform or not be it's original shape. I chose an eraser placed on a standard #2 pencil because it takes only a couple of uses until it cracks off and you are left with hardly anything to erase with. Cheap and annoying. The other object I chose was a roll of toilet paper. Sometimes, not all the times, people can have trouble knowing how much toilet paper they truly need due to the quality of the paper. Instead of being able to pull as much toilet paper as you want off the roll, the roll should dispense the paper in sections so you don't waste paper or so you do have enough.

Water Bottle 

The eraser on a #2 pencil

A roll of toilet paper

A Wooden Spoon

Uno Card Dispenser

Kitchen Roller 

We were put in a group of four. My other team members consist of Henna, Brendon, and Laura. Here are some of the objects that the rest of the team members brought in. Henna brought in a wooden spoon and had a clear idea of why it was poorly designed and how to make it better. She mentioned that it was too shallow to scoop successfully and could not scrape properly. Brendon brought in the uno card dispenser and simply said it didn't do what it was supposed to do:dispense cards. Laura brought in the kitchen roller and noted the fact that your hands rub against the counter as you try to use it making virtually impossible. We all looked over the rest of the objects and decided to chose the wooden spoon henna brought in. It wasn't a terrible product necessarily but it had a lot of room for improvement. It seemed like we instantly started coming up with ideas analyzing the spoon and how we could make it better. Before we knew we were Team SPOONTULA and we had a goal of combining a spoon and spatula. 

Final Poster

Here is my final poster for 'What is Good Design', our first big project. I enjoyed this project a lot as it had me learn a lot about color, the principles of design, and the process of a project. It was difficult and I did not assume how much time it would take to complete it all. It gave me a good understanding of what is required in the class. My idea came our just as I wanted it although I think I could created a better design around the object and possibly left less white space. I received a C for this grade and could have been B I I didn't turn it in two hours late. I missed the critique and felt stupid. I was proud of my project and I was very interested in it, although I was disappointed in my performance. It was fun and I learned a lot although I allowed myself to build up stress (pun intended)

Don Norman

3 Ways that Good Design Makes You Happy

Watching this video made me choose a stress ball. Don Norman jokingly gets to the point. An object is worth having because it’s beautiful and functional, and therefore has a long life span. Pleasant things work better. Norman examines the subject of how we approach wanting things. There are three levels: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. The visceral of processing is instinctive. Something we want is approached between disliking and liking. We dislike frowning faces, we dislike cold temperatures, etc. Behavioral is an experience that is all about being in control. Through behavior you create emotion, Norman says “emotion communicates” in the way you use it. Cognition is about understanding the world  and emotion is about interrupting the world. Emotion is all about acting and being safe. 

The third way that good design makes you happy is reflective. Reflective is the little voice in your head that you have no control over. Your subconscious craves happiness through your needs and wants. Norman was slightly making no sense at first but you have dig deep into what he’s trying to say.  He basically is pointing out that good design doesn’t necessarily have to be flawless it needs to attract you instinctually, uncontrollably, and emotionally. I chose the stress ball because stress is a feeling, a illness perhaps, that unknowingly forces to you to have a cope mechanism. Under stress, under fear, you are paralyzed with focus. You do things without thought or within habits. People smoke, people eat, people do whatever they can to feel some type of way other than stressed. A way that good design makes you happy is how design works in the notion that it makes you keep using it, because you want to and because you need to. Norman pushed me to chose the stress ball due to its need to grab it and keep grabbing it. 

First Very Rough Draft

This is a very rough draft of my project. Like I said, I thought the most eye popping thing about the object is the spheres it squeezes out of the netting. I chose this picture out all of the others because it demonstrates the viewpoint of using the stress ball, looking down at your hand. I included text without knowing the required font, but I did know what I wanted it say. I had more of a slogan then a title, so initially I chose the word squeeze and combined it with the word ease. I did this because unlike other ways of getting rid of stress, a stress ball is for you to calm down and not necessarily distract you from the stress but reflect on why you're feeling that way. I really like the color of the ball, red-orange, symbolizing anger or frustration.  Below is a web diagram I created revolving around a stress ball. Although, most of the information was not needed it made me more aware of why I was choosing the stress ball. 

Here are the photos I took of all of my objects. It was once I started taking photos of the stress ball that I knew I wanted to use it for my project. I was intrigued by the reflection of the light of the little balls within the stress ball.