palimpsest-process

[palimpsest-process]

Writing Initiative #8

1.    What have you learned about yourself doing this self-directed assignment?

2.    What did you find to be the most difficult aspect of your chosen assignment? Creativity? Research? Connecting design to research? Craft? Organizational skills? Time management? Something else entirely?

3.    What did you enjoy about this opportunity?

4.    How would you rate your performance over the course of the semester?

5.    Hindsight is 20/20. What would you do differently, now that you've had this opportunity to work this way?

1.     I learned that I rely on feedback in order to move forward with my projects and I always compared myself to others to see where I stand in terms of process.

2.     I get bored easily working with the same visuals so for me the hardest thing was trying to stay interested by finding new concepts for every outcome while keeping everything connected. Time management was also an issue, specially in the beginning. With a deadline that is far away, you don’t feel the pressure that usually pushes you to find an interesting idea.

3.     For someone who’s leaning towards workshop next year, I was really pleased to have this opportunity that prepares me for what’s coming. In addition, having this much time for a project helped us make various mock-ups and trials with different materials which makes a better outcome. Usually, with a short period of time assigned for a project, I give more time to research and concepts than the execution.

4.     I think I was never late nor advanced in my process which I believe is a good thing but I wasn’t focused on the project as a whole until the last few weeks. I felt that I would focus on one project at a time which made it harder to connect everything together.

5.     I would definitely work on my organization. Instead of working on every project individually, I would try to plan the whole thing from the beginning and making adjustments to it while going further with every project. If I were to find a concept for every outcome since the beginning, I believe that my final pieces would be more connected.

[palimpsest-process]

Reflective - Update

I’ve been working on animted GIFs for my refelctive. I find that they can represent the 3D aspect the best in a digital form. 

My final outcomes will have images of sketches, every side of my shapes, the file that was meant to be printed, how I was going to build ever shape, and my animted GIFs.

Here is what I have so far: 

[palimpsest-process]

Final Outcome

I’ve been working on a website in which I’ll upload all of my final outcomes. I find it easier to navigate than a pdf. The website is still empty, I’ve only worked on the layout and the planning.

https://palimpsest.myportfolio.com

[palimpsest-process]

Writing Initiative #7

You have now had a chance to present each of your projects (2D, 3D, 4D, Experimental, Reflective) in process to the class. Produce an image of each one and describe how an aspect of your word is manifested in each piece.

2D:

My 2D represents the theme of childhood. I create different layers of the same image based on various aspects of our childhood. It shows that we are a combination of these different aspects and that some are affecting us in a deeper way than others. It relates to the world Palimpsest because it represents how we as humans have traces of our past in us today. A palimpsest is an object that has been reused but in which you can still see traces from the original version.

4D:

My 4D represents the theme of childhood too. It’s the same concept as my 2D piece but instead of making it personal and telling my story, I created a filter so that everyone can see these layers of childhood in them.

3D:

My 3D represents the theme of perspective. Because we’ve all had different experiences, we all have a different point of view of the world we live in. It shows how our past is still affecting us today because everyone has a different word that comes to mind when thinking about aspects of our life. It relates to Palimpsest because it helps us see how the older version of ourselves it still affecting us today.

Experimental:

My experimental represents the theme of mysteriousness. I designed a portrait by replacing every pixel with an icon. You can’t really tell that it’s build with icons until you look closely at it. It represents this mysteriousness in how the past affects us today. Sometimes we don’t really see it clearly and have to look closely at ourselves to understand it. It relates to Palimpsest because it also has a mysteriousness aspect to it, not knowing what this old version is about and only seeing traces of it.

Reflective:

I interpreted the word Palimpsest as if we are palimpsests too. Our present is a result of our past experiences. Palimpsest is an object that has been reused so it is also a result of its past version. My reflective resembles the concept of Russian dolls and sows how my final compositions are a result of all the process and research I did throughout the semester.

[palimpsest-process]

Reflective Piece: Update

Instead of dividing my reflective piece into a week by week process, I found a better way to present my overall work. A week by week process would be very confusing and I will have a lot of content to show which doesn’t really fit the forma I chose.

I divided my work into four categories:

-       INITIAL RESEARCH

-       MY INTERPRETATION

-       WRITING INITIATIVES

-       FINAL COMPOSITIONS

INITIAL RESSEARCH:

The initial research represents the research I did around the word Palimpsest. Mainly the research I did during the first two weeks. Because it’s the general research, and the base of all of my work, I decided to make a sphere and write down my research on it.

MY INTERPRETATION:

I reinterpreted the word Palimpsest: I see it as if we as human are palimpsest. Who we are today is a result of our past experiences and our past affects us constantly.

I chose a pyramid for this step because it has four triangular side and there are four parts to this step:

-       The reinterpretation of Palimpsest

-       Theme #1: Childhood. My 2D and 4D pieces are centered around the idea of childhood and symbolize the effect it has on us today.

-       Theme #2: Point of View. My 3D piece is centered around this idea. We all have a different perspective of the world. Having people write the first thing that comes to their mind will show that we all see the world in a different way.

-       Theme #3: Mysteriousness. My experimental is based on this idea that we don’t realize how much our past affects us today. And sometimes we don’t really know how and we need the help of a psychologist or therapist to bring it out of us.

WRITING INITIATIVES:

I originally wanted to incorporate all of my process in my reflective piece: my original concepts, the trials and errors, the different designs I made, etc. But because it’s not a process book and it takes a different format, I had to find a way to make everything shorter and not that detailed. I found that my writing initiatives can show where I was in the process every week. That’s why I chose an octagon, it has eight sides: one for every writing initiative.

FINAL COMPOSITIONS:

I kept the shape of a cube for the final compositions. I would write a short explanation of every piece on the sides with a barcode that would take you to the piece once scanned.

Here’s a sketch of how the overall reflective piece was meant to look like:

[palimpsest-process]

3D: Digital Alternative

Here is the link to my Whiteboard.

https://wbd.ms/share/v2/aHR0cHM6Ly93aGl0ZWJvYXJkLm1pY3Jvc29mdC5jb20vYXBpL3YxLjAvd2hpdGVib2FyZHMvcmVkZWVtLzI4NjgyZmE1NGY2YTQ5ZWY5ZGQ4MDE2OWY0MGYwODk0XzA2ZTQ2OWQxLTJkMmEtNDY4Zi1hZTliLTdkZjA5NjhlYjZkNw==

Instruction: 

I created 6 boards with a word in the middle of each one of them. Write the first thing that comes to your mind after reading the word. I want it to look as raw as possible so if you made a mistake or if it looks messy, just keep it the way it is. 

[palimpsest-process]

Reflective: Concept

[palimpsest-process]

4D: Update

Because the filter works only on a phone, I created a QR code so that people could scan it from their phone and it would take them directly to it.

[palimpsest-process]

Writing Initiative 6

1.    Which piece did you present to the class today? How does it relate to the other pieces previously presented?

I presented my Experimental Outcome. Like my other pieces, it represents my interpretation of the word “Palimpsest”. However, this piece is more focused on the mysterious side of it: we don’t realize how strong our past experience affects us today.

2.    Describe 2–3 specific strengths your classmates found in your work and their reasons for identifying them.

Dedication

Effort

 Interactive experience

3.    Describe 1–2 specific ways your classmates thought you could improve this work going forward.

Figuring out which kind paper would work best for printing.

Because the icons are too small, having a magnifying glass would help.

4.    Consider the remaining outcome yet to be presented in a couple of weeks; why have you put it off the longest? Describe your reasons for presenting this outcome last.

Because the reflective piece represents our process, I felt it would be the outcome I kept for the end.

[palimpsest-process]

3D: Update

[palimpsest-process]

2D: Update

[palimpsest-process]

Experimental: Update

I finished the whole image. However, I’m still figuring out a way to upload the file where you can zoom in to look at the details and the different icons without it being blurry. So for now I only have a google drive link to download the pdf version of it. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tdgD-iLG3dN3HUkDFt8KBOlMJNyg8n3k/view?usp=sharing 

[palimpsest-process]

This is the final filter. I smoothed the skin and added a glow to it to make it look like a texture that can be torn.

This is the icon that represents the filter.

[palimpsest-process]

4D

The designs change a lot from a 2D design to a filter so I had to redesign them a few times. After many attempts, I realized that having colored layers look more realistic than patterns when turned into a filter. And having only one part of the face ripped worked better than having multiple parts. I also had to make sure that the design works on different skin colors and on both genders. Here are the different trials that didn’t work:

[palimpsest-process]

4D

My idea for the filter was to create an effect that makes it look like the face is torn and has multiple layers. It’s related to my 2D piece in which I had multiple layers of my face with a different pattern on each one. The patterns represent different aspects of my childhood. For this filter, I decided to divide them into three categories>

1-    Family/Parents/Friends (the deepest layer)

2-    Culture/ Faith

3-    School/ Social Aspect/ Different Relationships (most shallow)

This is template that I had to use for the filter:

I had two ideas of symbolizing the three aspects: patterns or colors only:

1- Patterns:

Family/Parents/Friends

Culture/ Faith:

School/ Social Aspect/ Different Relationships:

2- Colors only:

Family/Parents/Friends:

Culture/ Faith:

School/ Social Aspect/ Different Relationships:

[palimpsest-process]

Experimental

I tried different printers and different papers to see how small I can go with the icons.

[palimpsest-process]

4D - new concept

After finalizing my augmented reality file, it wouldn’t export into the program. The program was created very recently and only works on tablet. It only works well with templates they have created so I couldn’t really make the project the way I wanted it to look like and had to start over.

My new concept was to create an Instagram filter. I felt that I could create something more interesting and it would be easier for everyone to interact with. I realized that I can make a filter that resembles my 2D piece.