Ways of Seeing: Exploring creativity
Ways of seeing was a four-week challenge that asked us students to question the way in which we look at different objects, colors, and surroundings, and encouraged us to explore new ways in which we can create visual context by using different materials and technologies. This module was all about seeing and explored our sense of sight and observation during the design process.
At the very beginning, we were asked to create blind portrait drawings of each other. We had a few seconds to portrait a person without looking down at the paper. We had to identify the faces main features quickly and draw them without actually knowing where we were drawing. I didn’t understand the purpose of the task at the beginning, but then I realized that there is a connection between my eyes and my hands which I can use to complete the task.
Based on this first observational task, we were asked to interview a person from our course and create a portrait while doing the interview. Also, we were asked to include LED lights and a small circuit in our project. I experienced a lot of problems in the beginning because I thought I would have to create a perfect live drawing in order to complete the task.
That didn’t work out very well and I started experimenting with one line drawings. The idea of transforming the complex human face into one line fascinated me and I created several portraits from different perspectives. I combined the portraits and used different colored LED lights to highlight features of the face, which should present the different character traits of the person.
The second portrait was based on a long and deep interview and is a visualization of the person’s personality. Transforming a person’s character and believes into visual context was challenging and exciting at the same time and I decided to use different mediums and materials in order to that. I started with a small photography project and created 3 collages combining the photographs I took with pictures from a magazine, leaves and black line drawings. The mediums I used for my portraits should present the different perspectives of the person’s character.
While performing these tasks I started questioning what a portrait is and I learned that it doesn’t necessarily has to be a perfect drawing, it can literally be everything. It can use different mediums, colors or technologies to present a personality. Also, I realized that a portrait is not limited to physical features, it’s much deeper than that. It’s a reflection of a person’s character, behavior, dreams, and ambitions transformed into a piece of art.
We had to work independently to complete two briefs each day during the second week of the module: we had to create one drawing that represented something we did that day and we also had to create a pictorial map of our day movement. The first brief was a good opportunity to work on my drawing skills, for example, I experimented with watercolors and I did some urban sketching.
Drawing 1
Drawing 2
Drawing 3
Drawing 4
Drawing 5
The second task challenged us to translate our daily activities and movements into a map. My first try was a map of a hike I did. I used small drawings and symbols(peak, path, river..) to present my hike and in the end, I realized that I didn’t like the result at all. My main problem was, that I limited myself to what I knew about maps and I didn’t challenge myself enough to try something new. In the following days, I abandoned everything I thought to know about maps and experimented with icons, diagrams, and patterns in order to create unique maps of my daily movements.
Map day 1
Map day 2
Map day 3
Map day 4
Map day 5
In week three, we had to use the creative approaches we collected during our mapping projects to create a journey map of the design progression we had so far in our life. We were asked to show our journey to this point, highlight key elements, inspirations, and our future goals. Also, the map should not only be a visual representation of our life, but also a CV we could potentially use to apply for a placement in a design company.
In a first step I tried to write everything down I did so far in my life and I analyzed why I am now where I am. I wrote down what skills I have, what schools I frequented, what working experience I collected, and who or what inspired me during this process. I tried to structure everything that happened so far in a big table and I reflected about my future.
I was thinking about how I could present all these information and decided to create a 3D Popup stair model that should show my design journey starting from when I was a child. I divided my journey into different steps and visualized it by using symbols, keywords, and colors. It had never been possible to do this project without the previous mapping project, as it gave me the possibility to explore different ways of communicating and representing information and movements.
I learned a lot about the power of symbols and icons during this project and used them in order to break my life journey down into an easy to understand map/drawing. It was very fascinating to observe how an outstanding person could understand my life journey easily by just looking at the symbols.
In our final project, we were asked to create a paper character which we had to combine with LED lights by using Arduino. I was thinking about creating different objects, buildings, plants or animals and decided to build a jellyfish, as I was always fascinated by the way in which these animals manage to produce light. I tried to imitate this phenomenon and started prototyping with models made out of different paper types in order to recreate the lighting effect.
In the end I decided to build my character in a simple but efficient way: I layered a lot of paper circles and scrunched them to build the body of the jellyfish. Then I cut some transparent paper into stripes to create the tentacles. I combined everything and added a color changing RGB light and some blue LED lights to my model, in order to create an intriguing interaction between lights and shadows.
This project showed me how exciting it can be, to play with lights and shadows. It was fascinating to observe how some simple lights can change the look and the meaning of an object completely. Also, we had the possibility to experiment with Arduino and learn more about it. This new knowledge will definitely be useful for future projects.
I finished the module with a sketchbook full of drawings, brainstorms, and prototypes that show the process I went through, the mistakes I made but also the successful final pieces I created, and the experience I collected.
Ways of seeing challenged the way in which I visualized my ideas and thoughts every day. I had to experiment with different mediums and I had to find creative solutions in order to complete the task we were given. It was not always easy to find a solution for the challenges and questions we had to deal with, mainly because I was limiting my creativity a lot. I stuck to what I was familiar with instead of trying something new. For example, when asked to create the portrait I drew a person because that is what you would expect a portrait to be. However, a portrait can be everything and it took a lot of attempts before I managed to abandon the fixed ideas I had in my head in order to try something completely new.
This module helped me to look at tasks, problems and design projects from a different and more open perspective. I did not only explore my creativity, I also learned that there is an infinite number of ways in which we can visualize our ideas. The only thing that is limiting us from using all of them is ourselves.