Statement of Intent
To make a route using “map-like” fundamentals to guide the user to a particular spot
Ideation
Once the project was assigned I began to brainstorm differing concepts on to base my map route.
Our class did an exercise where we would walk around the oval and sketch notable places with corresponding poems. My first instinct was to go to my personal favorite spot, The Five Brothers Rock. After sketching this area I wanted this to be my final destination. I saw it as a perfect, beautiful place on campus to guide someone.
For the path to follow I wanted to have a visual cue that isn’t just a dotted line. So I thought about how roller coasters have many interesting twists and loops that interestingly bring a user around a certain attraction.
I wanted to bring that same idea to my composition so using a ribbon of paper I could make a roller coaster-like path to grab the attention of the viewer and guide them throughout. I also wanted to use the length of the ribbon between locations to signify the distance to travel. However, instead of it being a numerical value, I wanted it to be a visual value, such as if one part of the path has more loops, it means the next location is further away.
This assignment had a push towards the other senses rather than visual, I had the idea to create a simple playlist to guide the user through the journey. Using that plus a focus on the actual soundscape I wanted to encase the user in a thick and wonderful feeling of exploration and wonder. So I explored a few songs that I thought captured that aspect. After creating the playlist I would go on walks with the music to find the exact route I wanted to use. While walking around OSU campus I would log the trail on this map that I made for my project. This page became my main source of brainstorming and compiling all of the map-like aspects of the project.
My main idea stems from my conversation with a classmate the day after A2 was assigned. We were bouncing off ideas and they mentioned “having 3D shapes that slot into the paper,” I thought it was such an excellent idea that I had to try it. So I followed by making sketches of different methods to make the mechanism work on the sheet. One method was to have the 3D prisms fully constructed and have them slot into a box with inserts for the block to fit in flush. Another Idea was to make the prisms fold into the page like a pop-up book. With some ideas on how I was going to construct the map itself, I turned my focus back to the route itself. While listening to the playlist, I would go through the route itself and document the steps/ environment details.
Iteration and Production
The process began with me experimenting with ways to make the pop-up 3D prisms. At first, I decided to make the 3D cubes and have them slot into the paper, however, after talking to my professor. We talked about how making the shapes with a pop-up style would fit the assignment better. With the folding design chosen, I began the process of making iterations.
My first iteration was a test of the folding shapes. Since the space left between the cut of the paper, I glued a small piece of bristol to hold that small gap steady. Along with gluing a wider piece of paper so the shape wouldn’t be pulled out of the paper. This solution came with a problem, the wide bits of paper would intersect when the shape was pulled up, and this kept the shape from properly standing up on the page. So to fix this issue I bent the intersecting edges of the paper so they wouldn’t touch. A further development followed from the paper stoppers. When the prisms stand on the sheet the paper stoppers will lift the full canvas and make it droop. This was one of the largest problems for the project, to make the collapsing idea work I will need some sort of raised canvas to keep the project consistent.
Starting the production process I began to think about what information I would want to convey on the map. I believe this was the most difficult part, finding a way to compile the information in a digestible manner. I settled on the idea of having the shapes positioned to where they would really fit in on a traditional map. This allowed me to simplify the detail of my project, I then decided to have the sides of the prisms contain photos on the side so that the user would be able to connect their surrounding with the images on the map.
One of the shortcomings of this approach was how I put in the steps, the restrictive nature of the shapes only allowed me to fit the basic steps in a very traditional form. I had an idea to make the information more visually interesting and digestible, however, due to time restraints, I settled with the basic steps.
To fit the collapsing design and to hide the droop caused by the underside pieces, I decided to construct the composition as a box to disguise the underlying mechanisms. So to construct the box I made the sides of the box with “stitches” of paper and glue to hold. While creating this composition my peers and I named my composition “Frankenstein” I believe that joke perfectly encapsulated the process and composition itself.
During the creation process, I spent nearly a total of 10 hours creating the composition form. When I finalized the actual composition’s physical form
It was a grand relief to me however the actual collapsing mechanism was not as well created as I would have liked. To make the composition properly collapse one would need to use their hand to hold the composition steady to properly collapse the prisms. In retrospect, I understand how I could make the collapsing mechanism more fluid. To fix the mechanism I would need to double the bristol on the prisms to reinforce the prisms so they can be pulled up more effectively.
After completing the actual making process of the physical paper I had to incorporate the main title and the Spotify QR code for the playlist. For the title, I wanted to include the visual element of the trees that I have a part of the entire path. So I made the title with a tree trunk/ root-like texture. The Spotify QR code was a bit difficult because each part of it needed to be exact. To make the QR code exact I used transparency paper which I held up to my computer screen to trace before using the light table.
Conclusion
The scope of my project was very wide. My ambitions nearly got the best of me and turned the project awry. I was able to complete the project however due to the span of my ideas the actual user experience of my project is seemingly left empty. The idea of making the folding prisms could be very interesting however with my execution, each prism is less interactive than I wished. Due to my focus on folding prisms, the gathered information for the user to read is nothing more than simple text. Which must be read from awkward angles because of where it is placed, There are a lot of aspects of the project that don’t work as I intend. Yet I do have pride in my final product, I enjoyed the process from ideation to final competition.