Theory and Practice

From observing the things around us to realising whats inside ourselves, design is a more then just a extension of a practical job, it is an outlet for our imagination, for our emotions and thoughts. We put a bit of ourselves in our work, and from our labour do we grow as we learn about ourselves and the world around us.

We note the way the world moves, from people walking to lizards crawling, the movement of the branches in a tree to the movement of the clouds, storing for later use such as an animation. I looked at some of Lev Yilmaz’s The Tale of Mere Existence and found that he to puts a bit of himself into his work, his animations relate to real life, perhaps his own. Looking at the work of others is like looking into a window into their mind as parts of them come out in there work, who they are, what they are like, were they came from and where they are going.

Though important, design is more then just finding an adequate solution to a problem, its further then analysis and research of the environment its our expression of our creativity.

This semester we have learnt more then how to do the work, but why to do the work. We have gained an understanding on whats ahead and what we will need to overcome, and we have been given the tools to overcome the challenges.

Design

The dictionary definition of design is:

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' to draw the outline of; to plan; to sketch in outline; a pattern; scheme'

(Webster's English Dictionary)

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To use the mind, ones imagination to create, to invent is the raw idea of design but it goes deeper then that, its the ability of a man to mould his environment to suit not only his material needs but also his emotional, a design is an extension of a persons inner-self.

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Having read the extract from Lewis's book I find it is true that I do not truly find flow when doing things that seem like work, I have to struggle for an idea, but if it is something I did out of choice, something that I truly want to do, then ideas will come easily, I will have flow in my designs because I see it as more then just something that just has to be done, I see it as an extension of my imagination, my ideas freely created without limits put on by others, no rules that need to be conformed to. I can choose to do what i like, and take the design in any direction I want because it is my design.

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People need to release there creativity because on the practical side if one does it can lead to things like obsessive compulsive disorder , because of a lake of creative use, the mind becomes preoccupied. The other reason is because that it allows you to grow as a person, it gives form to thoughts.

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I do not worry that if i get a job that has many constraints because there is all ways a chance to put a bit of yourself into the work, no matter what it is.

Movement

Process is more important then outcome

This in a way goes back to the idea behind The Ramble by Tom Hodgkinson, but in a different sense, The Ramble was about observing everything around you during a journey, this idea is the same but refers to the process to a goal, the feeling rather then an actual physical environment. The idea is to learn from the process, from the success as well as the failures. In most things i do i enjoy the journey more then the achieving the goal, because every time i do it is accompanied by not only elation but a bit of sadness as well, this is because that is the end of a journey that cant be repeated. This sadness id because in my opinion no matter what people do in life, we are all creatures of action, we have to keep going and not sit in one spot for to long, we have to keep reaching higher no matter how fearful of falling from such a height.

Capture accidents

In my opinion this has two levels, first is that more often then not a mistake can lead to a more suitable find, in that what at first seems wrong could be a perfect fit for that design.

Second a 100 wrong ways to find a fitting design for whatever purpose is not a 100 failures but an understanding of 100 ways not to make that design. These 100 ways though could also be useful for other design purposes, for other products or ideas.


Stand on someones shoulder's

There is nothing wrong by being influenced by other people's work,it does not mean you are copying, just that you share similar principles, ideas or techniques. Many artists like Hiroshige, who fooled the footsteps of Hokusai which lead him to become one of the last great ukiyo-e artists, looked up to someone else, learnt from someone else, emulated someone else.

Most designs today are reworks of work from a day gone past, everything is recycled again and again, its how it is reformed that truly makes a piece interesting. I have used many other pieces of works to influence my work, its from others after all, that you find inspiration.

Transformation

The film is set in Los Angeles in November 2019. Manufactured human beings called replicants, these replicants are used for dangerous and undignified work on off-world colonies. Replicants became illegal on Earth after a small rebellion which caused the creation of specialist police units called "blade runners" who were trained to hunt down and kill escaped replicants on Earth. The film details the story of a former blade runner hunting a of replicants hiding in Los Angeles.

http://www.impawards.com/1982/blade_runner.html

In Blade Runner the design combines what we know now with the directors view of the future to make it seem believable, for instance the gritty streets despite belching smoke and fire still in a way resemble city streets today especially in crowded backstreets with many milling around and doing shady deals. Places there are representative of today such as there being a Chinatown in the movie. Neon lights though seemingly more advanced in the movie are here today.

http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/movies/long/bladerunner1992.html

http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/movies/long/bladerunner1992.html

Small crowded food stores, dark rubbish littered streets, giant billboards, there is much in common with today that the design almost can make the audience feel that they are there.

Dream

Surrealism feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur (or absurdity to the point of being humorous or confusing)

The Persistence of Memory

by Salvador Dalí

http://www.moma.org/collection

Salvador Dalí has made a representation of time bending in a dream through the limp image of clocks. The apparently dead creature in the middle of the painting is meant to represent the artists own face, as on can see eyelashes, nose and tongue.

Neo-classicism is a movement that went through music, visual art, architecture, literature and theatre. Any neo classicism work depends on a body of work that is generally accepted as representing a field, which is were the classicism comes into the name of the movement . Neo-classicism is essentially an art of an ideal, an artist does not repeat it in lifeless reproductions, but synthesizes the tradition anew in each work. This means a set standard, but though a neoclassical artist who fails to achieve it may create works that are inane, vacuous or even mediocre, failures of craftsmanship are not commonly neoclassical failings because improvisation, self-expression, and inspiration are not neo-classical virtues but that of modernism.

This image I made is the photo of my front gate, overlaid with another photo of arm, then run through several filters in photo shop. I am not entirely sure why I did it other then I suppose I believe our dreams represent a door to parts of our mind that is not normally know when we are awake, a place were a imagination can run wild without the limitation of logic. That and the fact I am often opening doors in my dreams as though I am looking for something.

Proportion

I chose to do a work from Nakamura's second site. Nakamura’s linear time flow graphic is smooth and graceful, and the user can follow through the history of Mono Crafts and Nakumura, and though still under construction, the idea allows for continues updating, meaning that the site and the time line is always progressing.

By moving the mouse the user can interact by moving along the time line, or zooming in or out. This movement adds to the idea of linear progression of time, the user zooms through the months. The typography is key aspect of the design, that being the focus of the website, it creates a set atmosphere along with the colour and background image, which suggests a cool and sleek feel to the work of Nakamura. All his work goes along with grids giving a neat look and understandable structure.

As you can see in the shot below of his website, the website is structured yet free flowing because there is lot in what the user can interact with, and because this website is designed to show the work of mono crafts it demonstrates the professionalism of the company and the work of Nakamura.

http://www.g-marketing-blog.com/

Having looked at his other work such as entropy which has matched motion logic with geometric progression one can learn a lot about design and apply these lessons in their work.

http://yugop.com/ver2/

Persuasion

Optical illusions have a lot to do with what people expect to see, but given time there people can see that there is a whole new meaning to an image then first thought. Take the example of the bird holding a man, or is it a man in a boat catching a large fish? Simply flipping the image changes the whole meaning of the image.

Perfect Squares

www.freewebs.com/diamondfites/

To be honest i am not totally sure on how this works, but if take the focus of the squares the lines form crosses and other squares besides the obvious ones, the boundaries of the squares are formed by the corners of the crosses and these hidden squares. Because of the fact that the boundaries of the squares are made from corners of other shapes, the squares are askew.

Stare at the black dot long enough and the grey starts to disappear.

www.freewebs.com/diamondfites/

This optical illusion uses focus of a persons eye, as a person looks more and more intently at an object, the dimmer and out of focus everything else becomes, thus the appearance that the grey is fading away.

How many legs can you see?
www.freewebs.com/diamondfites/

Optical illusion has everything to do with tricking the eye, four legs are expected on an elephant, the shading on the empty spaces were the legs would usually be, but the legs are actually in the spaces between were the legs would usually be giving the impression of many legs.

Man caught by bird or a man catching a big fish?
www.freewebs.com/diamondfites/

An optical illusion like this takes practice and planning to create, it is not a simple as at first seems and is not a product of luck, the creator as to constantly check to see if both sides of the image make sense.

What do you see, 13 or B?

www.freewebs.com/diamondfites/

This optical illusion uses numbers and text to trick the eye, what people expect to see in reading across is a B, when they read down a 13. People see what they want to see, they expect what is normal, and only notice what truly is if they look closely.