Statement of Intent
The primary goal of this project was to create a map that combines explicit direction with non-visual, deeper senses. With this in mind, my intention was to create a final composition that had a map’s ability to guide viewers from Hayes Hall to to chosen location; a nice little lookout over Mirror Lake, while emphasizing and communicating the senses of touch and texture that one might typically experience when following this route, as a non-visual context to this journey across The Oval.
Ideation
We started with exercises in class depicting our routes from where we live to Hayes Hall through various senses such as smell, feelings, etc. We then recorded written directions to a location of our choice starting from Hayes Hall. We then took pictures pictures of each step in this journey. This resulted in photo compositions featuring the key parts of our individual paths, pictured below. Later on in the process, we created collages using various materials and interpreted aspects of our journeys, which served as a somewhat deeper dive into the aforementioned photo compositions.
In class, we visited the Thompson Library map room to explore and source inspiration for different types of maps and mapping techniques. This ended up being super helpful and a great way to see all the different ways maps can be communicated to viewers, as well as ways that are most/least effective. Based on what I found during this exploration, I was able to narrow down compositional ideas I thought would be interesting to explore in my own map.
An additional, but important aspect of the ideation and kickoff process was our in-class explorations of light, shading, and texture and the drawing techniques useful in depicting these elements. This was something that helped me in deciding where I would go stylistically with the project, and served as a good reminder of drawing the drawing techniques needed for the somewhat sketchily detailed, textural drawing style I was aiming to incorporate into the composition.
With these exercises and plenty of inspiration sources, I was able to begin creating different iterations towards the final production of my composition.
Iteration & Production:
I began the iteration process with an initial draft of my composition, based on the inspiration I had collected and explorations I had worked through so far. For example, based on my collage composition depicted in the “Ideation” section of this post, as well as some of the pieces of inspiration I found on Pinterest and in the map room, I knew I wanted to explore some sort of contrast between sort of explicit and softer, more artistic ways of communication. I explored this through first drawing a basic map of the Oval, the primary space throughout my chosen path, and layering on drawings of points I found interesting as well as my outlined path with tracing paper. I continued to develop my draft throughout this process, with quick sketches of ideas, different ways to call-out points of interest, ideas for elements to incorporate, non-visual senses that we’re standing out to me, etc.
I started my final by creating a map of the area of focus, The Oval, to be the overall base and backdrop of my composition. This ended up being a more intricate process than I thought, as I needed to create a grid of my reference map to ensure my rendition would be as accurate to scale as possible.
I added in the most important locations on my path through drawings, specifically my start and end, with details of the in-between spread throughout. I also traced-in my route from start to finish, as well as adding my title into the designated space I left on the bottom of the page above, as well as placing the key above this section of the page. Additionally, I began to dive deeper into the non-visual aspect of my designated path I would depict alongside my directions, and eventually landed on touch and texture as the part of this route that stood out most consistently. I then looked at different ways to incorporate this into the piece, through visual suggestion of texture and eventually even through applying physically tactile elements. I first explored the unique texture of leaves, through both pressing-on their textures with ink, and even through embossing to create a 3D feel to the areas in which they would be depicted, eventually landing on the pressing method for compositional purposes.
Because I wanted to add a tactile element to the piece, I decided to experiment with using my crafting knife to create this effect. I started with the bricks composing the Hayes Hall archway, etching and carving into Bristol to create a section of the archway that one can physically feel. When I liked the results, I continued this in other parts of the map, adding texture to a rock and the hexagon-shaped bricks outside of Thompson Library leading up to Mirror Lake. I thought this created an interesting, yet subtle addition the piece.
Next, I added the additional non-tactile parts of my map, including the leaf texture. I wanted to apply this, as well as all the elements I included, in a way that would keep the viewers eye drawn from the beginning point to the end. Hence, my reasoning for adding minimal details to some of the more peripheral spaces on the map, especially considering the focus on touch and physical texture. I awaited to apply this in a way that would add to, and hopefully not distract from the intentions of the composition, and did so through adding circular areas of this texture along and among other elements of my route and destination.
Reflection
Throughout this project, I was most effectively able to explore and learn about practical communication and ways it can be balanced with artistic elements to generate a sensory-pleasing, yet trackable experience. It was especially interesting to practice the various drawing techniques we worked on in class, which is something that inspired me to focus on the non-visual cue of texture throughout my designated journey. This aspect of the project was challenging however, as it made keeping a balance between artistic expression and practicality an especially pertinent factor, which led to me frequently having to scale-back, re-evaluate and alter various elements throughout this process. However, I do feel that my attention to detail in everyday routines like walking around campus has gained some importance and has become more of a habit since beginning this assignment. It was also exciting to explore aspects of texture and more detailed drawing techniques, and how they can contribute to the design of a composition.
Later on, after spending time reflecting on this project, I decided to digitally edit the composition into an alternative black and white version, which can be seen in my portfolio. I felt that this was a good iteration of my final product as it settled the strong emphasis added to certain areas by the red accents and areas of texture, without taking away from their emphasis and visual value. While my original version of my map is still a strong composition and serves its purpose well, the grayscale iteration of my final map is slightly more effective at allowing the variety of textures and layered elements to truly take center stage, while still maintaining the primary purpose of the colored details.
Portfolio Project
The page showcasing my final Observation & Communication project can be found through the link below!