To view the portfolio post click here.
Intent:
Concept Statement:
A pair of glasses that have a pair of butterfly wings attached to them. There are panoramic images of a carnival inside the glasses. The glasses and wings are covered with sheets of iridescent material. A video is played, which is accompanied by a demonstration of the product. One of the presenters is experiencing the product while a video is being presented. The product is being shown on the presenter. The video shows the things that a participant can experience while using the product. While the video is playing, the other two presenters are creating the 4D effects of the product. This shows that this technology may seem like it is fixing a problem, but it is actually just distracting its participants from the real world. After the demonstration is over, an advertisement for an alternative reality technology headset is seen in video format. The video shows off the product and a voiceover explains what the product is and how it is used. The video also introduced our brand and mission statement. The video contains a backtrack of eerie music and a compilation of footage that eventually starts to glitch, revealing reality. This video is a sales pitch for our product. We are attacking the idea of how our escapes and distractions from reality actually continually harm our reality. We cannot keep running from our problems and we can’t hide from them in our human-made technology.
Ideation:
In class we had discussions and Deb presented us with lots of different material and inspiration to get our ideas started on the project. We talked about the Bauhaus and how movement and physical things can go together with music and other design aspects. For this project, we were paired with people in the class. I was in the only group of three in the class, which consisted of me, Phil Biondo, and Vivian Phan.
Since we were tasked with incorporating a carnival theme into our body augmentation, we as a class did a lot of individual research on the history of the carnival and how it is similar and different from things like the circus. After doing our own research we created mind maps that we then uploaded into Miro to start our brainstorming process. While in a brainstorming session/discussion, Phil put our three first initials together, which spell out POV, and that’s where the basis for our ideas came from. We wanted to use “point of view” as the base concept for our project. We used Miro to combine our ideas and research and to start working on coming up with concepts.
I did a lot of sketching while we were in the early stages of brainstorming. Carnivals remind me of fun summer nights when I was younger, so I really allowed myself to be silly and creative with the ideas I was coming up with:
As we were brainstorming Deb introduced us to the AI program Dall-E. I played around a lot with how the words you put into the generator affected the images in the outcome. These images became a big inspiration for our final project because we wanted to focus on a dystopian future and we think AI is going to be a huge part of our world’s future. One thing that intrigued me about the AI-generated images was that they looked like things that were familiar in our reality but looked distorted or altered. An example of this was how the generator would never spell carnival correctly in the images. We took this idea of distortion and applied it to our final concept/idea. Dystopian worlds are often distorted or reality-bending. In the movies or other stories that have been made about dystopian worlds, the government or big companies like to distort people’s perspectives or ways of thinking to distract from the bigger problems in reality.
https://openai.com/research/dall-e
To help us with modeling and creating things quickly, Deb has us do an exercise where we were given a random “where”, “Carnival thing”, and “theme” and we had to create a physical body augmentation/performance that fit these three things. Our where was “ears”, our “thing” was ring toss, and our “theme” was lost. We had to make something within two hours that we could show off to the class. Phil came up with the idea of a “lost rabbit” and from there we decided to create physical rabbit ears that a person would put on their head, over their own ears. We then incorporated the ring toss aspect into the exercise by creating carrot shaped/looking ring that the participant would try to throw onto the rabbit ears. The lost aspect was part of our performative part. The rabbit was lost so it would hop around in different directions while the participant tried to toss the ring over the ears. We made these things out of random materials we had, found around the classroom, or that Deb provided us with from her office and other places in the building. The big thing that I learned was that we as a class are fully capable of modeling and making things quickly from ideas. Everyone in the class had a unique and working product to show at the end of the two hours. It was a very fun and creative process that loosened us up and allowed us to move through the rest of the project with fresh eyes.
Taken by Vivian Taken by Vivian
With the momentum that we had from our exercise and the discussions we had with Deb, we started to move into the final decision-making process of this project. We decided on creating videos to accompany our physical body augmentation. The physical aspect would be a head/face augmentation that was inspired by VR goggles. Taking inspiration from Ready Player One, and present-day VR equipment, while coming up with our final idea, we integrated a carnival theme into our ideas. The goggles would be futuristic looking but would incorporate face paint-inspired designs.
Production:
To create our project, we decided to divvy up the work. We wanted to play to each other’s strengths when dividing up the work. Phil had a background in editing and when we decided we wanted to add a video component to our performance aspect, he volunteered to do that part. Vivian crafts really well and wanted to take charge of the body augmentation (glasses) part. I wanted to focus a little bit on logo creation and typography, so I worked on creating a logo animation for POV. I also have a strength in writing, so I created the concept statement and also helped Vivian with the general glasses design and modeling. I discussed a lot of the video components, such as the glitch, with Phil. I also gathered the props/materials needed for our performance aspect.
Vivian worked on designing and crafting the physical body augmentation portion of our project. I helped her with modeling and prototypes in class and helped solve problems with the physical design when they arose. Vivian wanted to put face paint-inspired butterfly wings on the front of the glasses so I made a small prototype of what it would look like to have a design on the front of the glasses.
I had a one-on-one discussion with Deb about this project, but also about what I am working towards as a designer. I also expressed that I had a big interest in typography and that I wanted to learn more about it and incorporate more into my designs and projects. She gave me a very helpful reminder that I can start exploring the aspects of design that I am really passionate about within the projects we are doing this term. Our conversation inspired me to do some experimenting with logo design and animation. I used Procreate to play around with a potential logo animation for our group.
I also used this video to refresh my memory on how to use Procreates animation function:
I experimented with color and orientation when creating the animated GIF:
I think it is just as important to have a good visual/physical design as it is to have words/text to back it up. I do a lot of writing outside of my design classes for personal and academic use so I want to focus on the concept statement for this project. I also focused on logo design/typography. We did not end up using this aspect in our final product, but it was a large step in our process. It played to our idea of our performance being a company selling a product to an audience. All companies have a logo so it was an important aspect of our behind-the-scenes work.
Vivian was creating the glasses with Bristol at first, but we felt like it didn’t look clean and that it still looked like a prototype. We consulted Deb to see what else we could use to make our glasses, and she recommended acrylic. The clear acrylic would make the glasses look like actual glasses, and with the file that Vivian already had made with the design, it would make them look futuristic. Deb took Vivian over to the laser cutter and what they brought back was a very elevated version of the Bristol design. They cut the glasses out of acrylic and then bent them with heat to create the round form of the glasses. We were all very excited about this design and felt a lot more confident in what our final product would be.
We included our “POV” idea into the side of the glasses.
This is some of Vivian’s work and inspiration. For a more in-depth look at her personal process, visit her process post here.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/637470522275619297/feedback/?invite_code=f7992abfa9ae4b9c802552c9b54a2146&sender_id=637470659663932736
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/637470522275580637/feedback/?invite_code=e796c49195b342c39f9839fcec1cf446&sender_id=637470659663932736
After creating the glasses we started to add cosmetics to them. To incorporate the butterfly face paint-inspired wings into the glasses Vivian used the laser cutter to cut out the wings and then I helped her put holographic tissue/gifting paper (that we received from Deb) behind them to make them look like a hologram. The wings are a component of using the glasses. Since the user is at a carnival, face paint is shown on the outside of the glasses.
We also added this material to the inside of the glasses. We used double-sided tape to adhere everything together.
To add more elements of a carnival we put two panoramic carnival photos inside the glasses. One image faced outwards toward the audience and one faced inwards toward the user/participant. This blinded the user so that they were not aware of their reality.
Vivian used this source for the images in the glasses:
http://bigeyeinthesky.com/NewPan/MNStateFair/StateFair2006-1.html
After finishing our glasses, we had Phil model them to see how they would function on an actual person:
We needed to include videos of our glasses in the advertisement video Phil was making, so we worked together to get videos of the glasses. Phil used his phone to film while Vivian held the light and I sprinkled glitter over the glasses, which were sitting on a wood plank on a rolling chair that we could spin. We also put a backdrop behind the glasses to block out what was behind us while we were filming. We also filmed the glasses “floating”. Phil tied three pieces of fishing line to the glasses and I held them up and let the glasses hang from them while Vivian showed the light on them and Phil filmed.
Before Phil started working on the video we talk about how we wanted it to feel like an advertisement or a product presentation. I thought about the conventions where companies like Apple would present their newest product. We wanted our performative aspect/presentation to have that same type of feel. We also wanted our product demonstration portion to feel like we were actually selling a product to an audience, so we added a 4D experience part to the performance. We wanted the participant to be experiencing the 4D aspects, but for the reality of the experience to not be so glamorous. I gathered some materials such as cotton balls that we would use as cotton candy, and a spray bottle that would be used for a splash/spray effect. We ended up only using the spray bottle. We tested out the cotton balls along with some old fabric to create fake cotton candy, but it didn’t give the effect we wanted it to, so we decided to just use the fabric and to use drawing paper to make a small thin stick/cone.
Ella-Scott McLaughlin (a classmate) gave us the black cone that was from the previous project.
We revised the cotton candy design using a different cone structure and strictly the fluffy blue material:
At the end of our production stage, we worked on documenting our product:
Details of Glasses (Filmed by Vivian):
Phil ended up making two videos, one for our product demonstration and one for an advertisement.
For the demonstration we used our fake cotton candy to simulate concessions at a carnival, we use the spray bottle to simulate games, and we used a wheely chair and the back of a Bristol pad to simulate rides, specifically the scrambler.
POV Tech Demo (Made by Phil, partially filmed by my phone):
POV Commercial (Made by Phil, videos of glasses included created by all 3 of us):
Phil compiled this list of the sources he used for the videos:
Soundtrack:
Footage:
Natural Disaster:
Ai Voice Over:
https://beta.elevenlabs.io/
For more about Phil’s process, visit his process post here.
Reflection:
Before starting this project I had not met Phil and Vivian. I really enjoyed the brainstorming process with Phil and Vivian. It was a nice bonus to have an extra person since we were a group of three. It allowed for a lot of bouncing off of ideas and when problems arose we had multiple brains to tackle them. Having three people also presented challenges, such as multiple clashing ideas and incorporating all three of us into the performance aspect of the project. We also had to divide the work in three ways, which had positive effects and negative ones. There were more hands to work but that meant that there needed to be work for everyone to do. We ended up helping each other out and everyone’s part of the project overlapped with others.
One thing I learned from working in a group was that when I am working on a solo project, I should show my work to others more often and earlier in the creation process. I would get feedback earlier and I think it would strengthen my designs. It’s very easy to have a quick conversation with someone about ideas and concepts. I am often a put my head down and work kind of person but I learned from this project that I need to lift my head up every once in a while and talk to others. Hearing other people’s ideas and discussing my own are all ways to spark inspiration and new ideas.
This project was definitely challenging. I struggle with coming up with ideas that would translate well to the physical world and I also initially struggled with the carnival aspect. The exercise we did in class really helped me work through a lot of the struggles I was having, but there were still bumps along the way. It often felt like we were making enough of a body augmentation and that our idea was not realistic enough. We had a lot of discussions where we were discussing concepts and ideas and it felt like what we wanted to create was not going to translate to the physical world. The biggest takeaway I have from this project is that the product of the design process may be small but the ideas and concepts surrounding it or not. The physical object does not have to hold all of the weight. I think that the addition of the video aspect elevated our design even if it was not a part of the physical design.