Research
For my last and final project of the year, the class was given the task of giving a gift to an upperclassman within the design program. Not just any gift though, something catered to the person themself, designed by us, students. In a traditional setting, the class would have most likely created something physical and actually had the chance to give it to them in person. However, with times being different at the moment the class was strongly encouraged to take a more digital approach to this assignment. The objectives for this assignment were to experiment with compositional attributes in both analog and digital forms. Try to find the relationships someone can make with either of these forms. Combine elements of 2D and 3D principles and techniques towards a complex project, demonstrate descriptive writing and design-centered communication and secondary research techniques. Finally, to explore the design process from a different perspective, specifically the viewpoint of another design major.
The class started with two exercises, these were just to try and get the class in a gift-oriented mindset. First using words or images to represent and describe the best gift someone has ever given to us. Going in-depth on why this was so special to us and why it stands out. Personally, the best gift has been a backpack given to me in 8th grade by my grandparents. As two people I am extremely close with, but do not get to see all the time it was really nice for multiple reasons. I grew up on basketball, so the bag was used for that and no matter where I went, I was able to carry a little bit of them with me which is what makes it different from maybe a more elaborate or bigger gift. This one held meaning between us which is why it is so special to me. The next exercise was to look at the given readings and find a phrase or quote that stood out or holds meaning to you. I ended up finding a quote out of The Gift by Lewis Hyde that really stood out to me and it goes, “where gifts have no public currency, therefore where the gift as a form of property is neither recognized nor honored, our inner gifts will find themselves excluded from the very commerce which is their nourishment,” (The Gift, Lewis Hyde). This quote resonated with me because a really good gift to someone may not hold a lot of monetary value, but if there is a special connection between the person and the gift it does not have to be worth a lot of money for it to have real value to someone. I think it’s amazing that something can have no worth in our world’s economy but can still hit home with someone. So, inspired by this quote, I borrowed a photo from my mentor, and I recreated a sketch of it in my own interpretation. This sketch is not going to hold any value in terms of money, but it holds money in his eyes because of how sentimental the picture is.
After these examples, it was time to begin research on who, what, where, when, and how a gift is viewed. All five of these pillars will play a role in the entire gift-giving process. After researching all of these individually I had definitely grasped the concept of a gift much more than I did before. From there it was time to actually analyze and review this information and what it means in terms of design and this project. The plan was to take the quote found from The Gift and create a narrative around an idea not holding value in society, but value to oneself. So, my statement is a direct quote stating, “where gifts have no public currency, therefore where the gift as a form of property is neither recognized nor honored, our inner gifts will find themselves excluded from the very commerce which is their nourishment,” (The Gift, Lewis Hyde). I will take interests and things my mentor enjoys and find a way to craft a narrative that is shaped around an idea only holding value catered to a single individual.
Iterations
Now with multiple ideas in play, it was time to experiment and try prototyping these ideas. I used Notability, Shapr3D, Photoshop, and Classtools to experiment with all of these ideas. I went back through and refined the sketch I originally created.
Next, since I want to pursue industrial design, and my mentor is an industrial design student himself, I explored different shapes and mechanics on Shapr3D. I ended up making my own replica of the marching band hat because he loved being in the band at OSU and that was a time of his life during school that he loved.
After these explorations, I wanted to take a more interactive route which is what led me to Photoshop. On Photoshop I created a board game around what gameday looks like here at Ohio State. Being someone in the marching band, my mentor always had to be there on game day, and I wanted to create a board game replicating that process with some trivia along the way. However, I was unable to find a way to make this interactive online or have the time to physically create it which led me to experiment with Classtools.
So, I took his love for OSU and created a set of questions, and put them into a set of classic arcade games using Classtools. All of these ideas stemmed from the quote from earlier. None of these ideas hold monetary value, but they hold meaning to him. After all of this, I decided on pursuing the idea surrounding interactive vintage arcade games. The other three ideas just did not include an interactive feature. I wanted to give him something that he could play or interact with rather than just look at.
Concept Statement
The goal of this project was to explore gift-giving and translate that into giving a gift to an upper-class design student. I got partnered with a student named Aaron who was a down-to-earth, level-headed, fun person. It was great getting to meet him and learn more about what he likes and what makes him unique. He’s a kid who loves his family and friends as well as his memories growing up as well as being a part of the marching band. Growing up he was also very fond of the times he played classic arcade games. One common theme I found between a lot of his interests was that they were based more around memories and not on physical objects. With that I went on to learn and read more about the meaning of a gift when I found the perfect quote for the project, “where gifts have no public currency, therefore where the gift as a form of property is neither recognized nor honored, our inner gifts will find themselves excluded from the very commerce which is their nourishment,” (The Gift, Lewis Hyde). In my opinion, this represented exactly what I saw in my mentor and exactly what he cherished. All the things he loved do not hold a lot of value through the lens of society, but they do through his eyes which is what is important. So, with that being said I used a web tool called Classtools to pay a bit of homage to his love for vintage arcade games and his passion here at Ohio State. I created a set of questions, 14 specifically, surrounding design, the marching band, and just general lore of Ohio State. These were incorporated into vintage arcade games to remind him of his past and connect two of his loves, past, and present. What was so cool about working with these games was since they were made so long ago, they rely solely on color, shape, and space to make them unforgettable and still playable in today’s day and age.
Production
It now was time to start creating a final refined form. Considering I really wanted this to have an interactive aspect I pursued the vintage arcade game idea due to all of the possibilities that came with it. The website used was classtools.net and what makes it so resourceful is all the possibilities it gives. The format of this site with all of the available options makes it exciting to see how much you can explore and play with. In the final product, you can choose between eight games from PacMan, to Snake, to even Space Invaders. Each game has different controls and can be played on any device with a keyboard. Since there are so many variants of this one final product below there will be some screenshots and gameplay from some of the games along with the link to play. At this point, I have not had the opportunity to gift him the gift, but the main focus was on the gift itself not how it was given, but mostly the sentiment it will cause him inside.
Instructions
Once clicking the link there will be the main home page titled “OSU Trivia Adventure.” Near the bottom of the screen, you’ll find a drop-down menu where you’ll have a selection from PacMan, Manic Miner, Asteroids, Snake, Pong, Wordshoot, Flashcards, Space Invaders. Once led to the game you will be given instructions on how to play, most are done with arrow keys and the space bar. When the game ends, you’ll receive the offer to play again or play a new game and you can go from there. If you select to play a new game, it will take you back to the previous homepage that you started with.
Citations
Publications – The Gift – Excerpt – Lewis Hyde, www.lewishyde.com/publications/the-gift/excerpt.
Portfolio Project
View final project at Gifting Design Project