Body
Investigating relationships between diptychs, we thought it would be most interesting to explore contrast. We developed a concept using a rotary phone on one panel and an iPhone on the other, as the subjects of the mechanisms. The two panels explore the older technology’s dependency on its chord and its dated “analog” feeling, versus the digital, minimalist, and futuristic iPhone. Our diptych presents these contrasting qualities through distinctly different compositions and aesthetics in the two panels. The rotary panel’s brown and beige palette produces a purposeful old-timey feeling, opposing the iPhone side’s crisp and undecorated white-on-chrome palette. To represent the analog nature of the rotary phone, an abstracted wire pattern sits behind the phone and provides physical texture to the work. It is unevenly glued down, so some sections come up towards the observer. The minimalist ethos of the iPhone presents itself in the opposing panel through less decoration and fewer paper parts. The chrome backing endows a futurist feeling to the panel, the iPhone leading the digital age. In terms of mechanisms, the inside number dial of the rotary phone is really built to rotate with an understated tab. A sliding paper mechanism sits behind the cut-out screen of the iPhone, built to be tangibly interacted with (swiping with a finger) to move horizontally between screens. Both panels’ mechanisms move in a similar way to how the real objects are interacted with.
Process
View detailed project process at Dynamic Pages Process Post
Reflection
This project was definitely difficult at the beginning because my partner, Ian, was exposed to Covid and ended up infected, so it forced us to work virtually for most of the project. Once we figured out a good system, however, we steamed ahead with very few hiccups. Ian has an industrial design focus, which complimented my visual communications focus. We were able to both work to our strengths and support the other. Ian mainly focused on the actual function of our ideas and I worked on the design of phones, making sure everything was aesthetically appealing and made sense for the theme we were trying to achieve.