About this unit:
The first unit that we get to explore is about visualization, communication, and representation. For me, in this unit, I learn how to take different points of view, looking at things from different perspectives. After finding the perspective that I am most comfortable with, I will then enter the process of transforming my thoughts into a variety of media such as illustration or text to present to the audience. Not only do I know how to look at things from different angles, but also learn to accept others’ perspectives. One of the things I enjoy most in this unit is getting to hear others explain why they think this way or how they perceive it.
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The first thing that surprised me the most is when I read a book called Design Your Life: The Pleasures and Perils of Everyday Things. The book is about how daily normal objects or events could have really interesting points of view that we may have never thought of, some could be quite uncomfortable. I also start to pay more attention to my surroundings after reading this book like sometimes I would look at the signs and wonder if they are doing their job.
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I was assigned to do the mapping about a chapter called Warning: Graphic Content. In this chapter, I have a chance to really understand a famous quote “Less is more”. Sometimes the people who design the building thought it would be better to have lots of signs, but it is not always true, and sometimes less would be better off. I tried to apply the same concept in my poster, but it did not turn out the way I wanted. I realize that sometimes less is just less. When doing something simple, we have to pay more attention to the details such as margins and if everything is balanced or on the same line, yet. Because if not, the work is both sloppy and simple, which will not yield a good result.
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During the studio, we had time to observe some ambiguous objects and chose one to analyze. The first impression I got about my object is that I thought it was an instrument, turns out it is a baby rattle from Belgium. The way I analyze my object is first I think about what are the important things that I want the audience to know about this strange object. People would not have guessed this is a baby rattle, so how could I explain the necessary information to them. First, I would like to introduce what this object is, then its origin, and the materials. Next, I will talk about parts of these objects. In other words, its structure. In my poster, I also include different views of this object so people could imagine what this object is like in real life (in 3D shape). Finally, the function. I also take some time to observe my object and rethink what about this object attracts and makes me want to analyze. It could be the features, the colors, or the sound it creates. Overall, it is interesting to get to analyze an ambiguous object.
Chosen Ambigous Object
These pics are the ones that I used to create illustrations
These pics are the ones that I used to create illustrations
My object is the wooden baby rattle from Belgium. As the name suggests, this object is for babies or toddlers. They are usually used at home by the babies or they can bring it outside if they want to. They interact with the rattle by holding the rattle and shaking it. The baby rattle has a handle for a person to hold, a cage that holds some beads. When the baby shakes the rattle, the beads inside collide with the cage which then creates a funny sound. Depending on different materials of the rattle, it will make a different sound. The object I chose is made from wood. There are 2 main parts of the object: the handle and the cage. The handle is just a normal shape like a stick where the baby would hold the rattle. The other part is located on top of the handle, and the shape is similar to the sphere, except the top part is a swirl – like a soft serve. Around the cage, there is a braid that wraps around the cage that acts as decoration. Inside the cage, there are some beads where their function is to create sounds when they collide with the cage.
Mapping
I want to use my visual map as an example of how sometimes signs can be unhelpful. When we look at this, we know that this is some kind of a poster already, therefore, having the title "POSTER" is unnecessary. Moreover, most people know the sign for male and female bathrooms, so there is no need to give directions to where they are, especially when those signs are right next to the bathrooms
