Prototype

Choosing to build the prototype of an actual physical object opposed to a digital one seems to be a lot more work now that I am actually in the process of it.

I ran into a lot of road blocks, such as adding the color element.

Initially I had wanted to integrate colored Plexiglas into sections of the cube, but after talking to several design teachers such as (Joey, Chris, Carole and Jeremy) and research companies around Montréal, the cost turned out to be too much for my student budget.

Also finding specific glue for the project also turned out to be a struggle. After talking to the design technicians upstairs on the 8^th floor of the EV building, it was suggested that I use Metylene chloride to meld the edges of the plastic together.

As for transference of the type, that took several attempts.

I sampled a mini 3*3 cube in the metal workshop using the sandblasting technique, which did not take to the type elements so nicely the first try.

Then there was the painting by hand on method, by tracing the actual fonts through the plastic using India ink.

And finally I tried the liquid type method, which was quiet long, but may be the best solution in the end to getting all the different typefaces onto the surfaces. In the end it might be a mixture of all three methods if I feel they visually don’t disturb the piece.

As for the lighting element, I have not really had the time to focus on it, and it might be an extra bonus if I have the time to play with.

Final project Conceptualization

Project proposal and initial sketches.

For the final project I would like to work with Transparencies. Integrating transparency and text into a functional working object is the ideal outcome.

The initial notion for the project revolved around a cube, with reference to the Rubik’s cube 6 sides and 9 sections on each side creating 54 sections all together.

The content of the sections; the type and typefaces.

Some of the sections would be left blank, some filled with text and others filled with color trying not to create too much of a visually cluttered object.

There were so many possibilities for the content; one was to take the top 10 words associated with computational arts and randomly place them in selected sections of the box with different treatments applied to each word. Ex: media, interactive, design, technology, sound, digital, graphics, typography…

Another possibility for the content of the text is a little more elaborate.

I would take the top 4 religions of the world, each one corresponding to a side and bring them together within the cube; Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism. Using text taken from each of there sacred books and there associated language, Hebrew, Arabic Urdu, and English or Latin, the text would be fashioned in the nature a collage method.

Materials:

Initially I had like the flexibility of thicker acetate to print on, but upon further experimentation, the idea did not work. Printing on plastics such as a think sheet of plexiglass gives the cube a stronger structural basis. One way to transfer the type onto the actual object would be done by gel transference; other forms are currently being looked into.

Size:

The size of the object is being experimented upon, if the object is too small them the information and message placed on it might be transformed into a box of clutter. If the object is too big then, then the too much white space might create a sense of detachment.

Illumination of the actual cube is also a possibility. To project onto the other surfaces and then having individuals interact with the projected image would perhaps create an alluring end product.

Quick concept for final project

Tangible object

Cube 6 sides,

Play with transparency

Collage within cubes

Play with perspective

Negative/ white space

Size (3*3) (9*9) (12*12)

Message for the cube?

Materials layers

Interactive Type 4.3

For this part of the design brief, I was inspired by building blocks that little children play with, the blocks with letters on the surface, as well as “fridge” magnets that allow you to leave messages for others. The overall notions of this deign brief comes from those two sources of inspiration.

This Interactive project was created in Processing.

The basis is simple; visually the project is separated in two parts, the letters at the bottom of the stage A-Z, and the stage where the letters are placed.

The user can pick up the letters on the row beneath the stage by simply click on the letter then dragging it to the stage and dropping it,, there are numerous copies of each letter, so when the user selects a letter “A” for example he can select as many times as needed.

With the simple press of the SPACE BAR, the stage is cleared, allowing for a whole new creation.

When the user selects a letter, a red border surrounds the object so that, it is evident that is the letter that is being chosen at the time.

These are a few screen captures illustrating the work.

“Topics in Kinetic Imagery” is spelled out using the letters below, the letters can be placed anywhere, as long as it is within the white space of the stage.

Image two demonstrated the letters being placed on the stage with the letter “O” being the one currently being interacted with because of the red border illustrating its selection. In the code behind the image you can clearly see the program acknowledging that certain letters have been selected.

“Picked k”

“Picked t”

“Picked o”

Image 3 and 4 are images of the actual code that was created in processing to generate the project.

You can see that the coding in image 3 sets the properties for constructing the letters within the box, the cells size, and font type.

Image 4 goes into detail, the construction for the boxes, determines the class, letter size, font color, type, stroke, alpha…

This project is an example of simple interactive enjoyment, using text.

The last image does not pertain to the work for db 4.3, but is an example of processing abilities to create kinetic type. The type itself is 8 lines with the subject matter describing the class. The lines of text sway back and forth l or up and down, creating a wave effect, I thought it was a good example of processing’s abilities to create kinetic type.

Interactive Typography 4.2

For this part of the design brief, I decided to experiment with the text based software “It’s alive”. Unfortunately the file I created was too large to upload so I took a couple screen shots of my work.

The stage is given to the user as a blank white canvas, with the possibilities of manipulating text in various ways. You can change your canvas color, which I did, to black and your font properties crating a stimulating visual experience.

There are only a few typographic elements I placed onto the stage, keeping it simple. The phrase “The next text” is the dominating type on the stage, followed by the binary code composed of “01” which border the upper and lower frame of the stage, when interacted with. I experimented with the text behaviors and font faced which the program allows you to alter when you right click on the stage. Ex: right click – typographic- form- font- Garamond.

I decided to keep the color pallet simple as well, keeping with the black, white and red motif. The three words are placed on the stage with various sizes. “The” being the smallest and “Text” the largest, I emphasized the letters “N” in next and “T”’s in text with a bright red and gallant behavior applied to each. Then the mouse is shifted over the “T” it appears as if a rounded magnifying glass is placed over. The “fade to…,explode, move to mouse, move away from mouse, rain, lines and spring behaviors were all used. As for the little red and white dots raining down, the “move to and move away from mouse” were applied to altering colors.

The works was saved as published as a quick time movie. Unfortunately when the movie was saved, it slowed down in many areas, and obviously did not portrait the same effect was the original work.

Overall this software allowed for a great deal of enjoyment was working with creating interactive text.

Comparison works of Interactive typography 4.1

My first choice for analyzing Interactive text is sourced from the Levitated site. Aesthetically, conce


ptually, and technically, these works are beautifully created.

http://www.levitated.net/daily/levEmotionFractal.html

The Emotion Fractal is a recursive space filling algorithm using English words describing the human state. The interaction occurs by using the right mouse button to zoom in to the image. Every time you reload the page a different set of characters appears creating a new construct.

The reason I found this intriguing is because the work deals with many perspectives and layers. This is much like a collage style. Initially I wanted to work with the notion of a collage within my design brief, so this piece of work was a digital inspiration.

The amount of negative space that is left on the stage is usually proportional, the piece always tends to balance out, even though the variation in text size is so great.

For instance, in the screen image I captured, the word “Bitchy” and “Stung” clearly stands, generally because they are the largest in size. Other text is so mall that they no longer become words they become decorative objects that add to th

e piece and fill up the white space.

The font face is kept simple with a serif font; I do be

lieve it looks like Americana. The piece itself deals with human emotions, generated randomly, which is what makes it resemble the actions of individuals, sometimes our emotions are generated randomly, much like this piece.

Pulp fiction Typography:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syf8olcM0z4

My second example for this assignment is much different. The creator has taken a section of dialogue from the famous 1994 film by director Quentin Tarantino and turned it into a typographic peace.

The reason I chose this work was because I found it intriguing the way the typographic elements flowed with the mood and speed of the dialogue, when the voice (Samuel L. Jackson) was enraged or talking loudly with speed, the letters would move the same ways, if there was a bang, the letters scattered, much like a gun shot would shatter the object it was targeting as shown in the first screen capture. The size of the text was also determined by volume, and enforcement in his voice, such as the example shown on screen capture number 2. When he spoke very rapidly the text zoomed across the screen, like it was being pulled.

Overall I though this was a well done typographic interpretation of the dialogue it was taken from.