Design Principle - Project 2

Week 9 - Week 10 / 25.05.2021 - 04.05.2021
Tow Wan Tian / 0342765

W9 / 25.05.2021

Lecture 7 - The Importance of Observation 

After completing Project 2, we immediately moved on to the next individual assignment which is Project 2: Sense of Place. Before we start working on the project, we were required to watch the recorded lecture video to have a better understanding of the importance of observation. Observation is the act of acquiring information through the senses of a subject matter in its natural setting; it is commonly conducted in various settings. 

From a designer/artist's perspective, observation is important because it enables them to see the problems/needs in life, as well as getting ideas for solutions to said problems. The example given in the lecture video is a product designer who needs to observe and study human physics in order to design furniture or products that are comfortable for humans to use; a.k.a. ergonomic design. Designers can be inspired by nature or society's needs to create a solution, work of art or work of design. It is through paying attention and close observation to our surroundings that we can get inspiration for almost anything. 

Project 2 - Sense of Place (15%)

Instructions & Requirements

• Observe your surroundings, may it be a room in your house/apartment/condominium. It could be the whole unit, maybe the garden, a view overlooking from the balcony, etc. We may also observe if there are any human activities (e.g. chatting, cooking, cycling, etc.)

• Record these observations in photographs or sketches.

• Select visuals that are relevant and interesting to you, which you can translate into a design work that reflects your interpretation of a place, showing multiple aspects of the place. Remember to apply design principles in your work.

• Upload the selected visuals with descriptions, along with idea exploration and the final idea in the e-blog. The final idea must be accompanied by a 150- to 200-word rationale. 

Visual Research 

W8 - W9 / 21.05.2021 - 29.05.2021

To kick start this project, I began taking some random photos outside of our apartment unit and inside the house. 

Figure 1. (Left) & Figure 1.1 (Right) Photos of the corridor of my apartment

These photos were taken as I went out to take out the trash. Before stepping out of my place, I would always make sure that the corridor is clear without any people, to avoid the awkward moment of bumping into a neighbour. Not sure what occurred to me, but I decided to take some photos of the corridor of the apartment. The converging lines are really interesting and I like the cleanliness of the corridor but I wasn't sure how it could be incorporated in the design. So I digress. 

Figure 1.2 - Figure 1.6 Photos of  the outside of the apartment

The photos were taken at seven in the morning. The colour gradients of the sky were absolutely breath-taking; pastel blue, lilac, pink and yellow are one of my favourite colour palettes. 

Various apartments and condominiums could be seen in these photos, and that's a perfect depiction of what I see every day. However, ten years ago, there weren't any buildings and all I could see were hills, trees, tall bushes and occasionally a few monitor lizards swimming in the lake. I felt quite sentimental because of the change of the area in the past years, I missed the trees and vast greenfield that were once a common view to me. The gradual disappearance of the organic scenery due to the unavoidable development of the area was quite a shame. 

Figure 1.7 - Figure 1.9 Photos taken as I went on a walk around the apartment

Sometimes I like to go on casual walks in the compound of the apartment. I live on the 7th floor,  sometimes I would visit other levels just to "nosy" into the lives of other residents. After a casual stroll, I could tell many residents of our apartment enjoy gardening despite not owning a garden. The overgrown plants in Figure 1.7 (top left) was a huge shock to me. How was it possible for plants to strive this well? And it almost look like the plants were taking over the whole unit!😱

Figure 2. - Figure 2.1 Photos of a ficus bonsai

Figure 2.2 - Figure 2.4 Photos of lucky bamboo

Figure 2.5 - Figure 2.9 Photos of pothos a.k.a. devil's ivy

My mother picked up the hobby of gardening a couple of years ago and ever since then, potted plants have been sprouting up here and there in the house. The plants have been a great addition to the apartment and occasionally I find myself staring at them. I decided to have fun and take some photos of the plants from various angles. In some photos, I would throw in my mini Totoro figure key chain to serve as an additional element to the photos.  

 

Figure 3. - Figure 3.1 Photos of the spider plant thriving in the bathroom

Here's something interesting. Two large pots of spider plants striving in the bathroom. Yes, plants in the bathroom. Quite an unusual sight if you ask me. As far as I know, not many people will do this in their house. My mother made the decision to plant them in the bathroom solely because the particular space has the best source of sunlight in the house. When I go in and do my own business, sometimes I feel like being watched by the plants. As if they are staring at me doing my business, and sometimes I would just stare back at them. It's odd, I know.  

Idea Exploration 

W9 / 25.05.2021 - 29.05.2021

Figure 4. Sketch 1

Inspired by the overgrown plants shown in Figure 1.7 and Figure 1.8. It reminded me of my mother's adoration of a wall fully covered by devil's ivy. She has this dream of planting a wall of devil's ivy in our unit; however, since we live in an apartment, it's quite impossible to achieve that dream. This idea expanded from my imagination: what if the little potted plants overgrown and slowly they are taking over the house and expanding out of the window? Therefore I tried sketching myself (as the human figure), sitting by the open window and gazing outside, with various plants growing out of the window. 

Figure 4.1 Sketch 2

Inspired by the plants in the bathroom. I drew a human figure sitting on the toilet, looking at the leaf of a plant which is staring at her. Devil's ivy and spider plants were incorporated in the design as these are the plants that could be found in our bathroom. More plants were drawn to further convey the sense of being surrounded by an overwhelming amount of vegetation. A caption would be placed on the top centre of the composition to humorously comment on the odd situation that is being surrounded by plants in the bathroom. However, I haven't had an idea for the caption yet and I was still thinking about the colour combination and finishing of the design. 

Feedback from Lecturer / Highlights

W9 / 25.05.2021

Dr. Jinchi: I like how your exploration has slowly "zoomed in" to what you can do the best to bring in nature. I know that it's not intentional, but the story kinda flows nicely. From the outside of your house, you move on to talk about the sky, the forest. And from that we go into more plants. I can see where you're heading now, your challenge would be how you're going to portrait all that. I can see your theme being nature and concrete - how are we balancing the two. Given the limitations that we have, I can see that you're doing quite a lot of visual research from your surroundings. Perhaps you could also start to look at how these (photos of plants) can be manipulated to express what you want to express. One more important thing is - I notice that you're starting to take pictures of different angles of the plants. Take photos from different angles of the things that you want to pay particular attention to. What you've mentioned here is quite unique (washroom). First of all, not many people would have this kind of plant in their bathroom. The fact that you mentioned the plant stares back at you...I've never heard of that before. You may want to explore something around that idea. 

W10 / 01.06.2021

Dr.Jinchi: I like this idea (Figure 4.1), I mean both ideas are showing that your plants are coming alive and they are taking over. I think that part is strong and consistent throughout what you  shared here (referring to the photos in visual exploration). Even from this (Figure 1.7), it shows that it's a plant's world. And I think the story is pending/panning out very well. You can say that I have a very rich imagination, but this is what I can see from the beginning of your research where you were talking about concrete jungle at first. This is like them (the plants) getting their own back. But it's also the sense of that space around you. Not sure if this (Figure 2.4) gave you the idea of "in the midst of plants", but I can see the development of this idea. I would say this (Figure 4.1) is a very interesting idea, you can expand on this. One thing is that it is a very unique way to depict a place, normally we would talk about somewhere we want to laze, daydream; seldom we think about the washroom. And particularly in our weather where plants would not normally be found in the washroom/bathroom. I like the plants which are staring back at (the human figure). 

There are two ways you could expand on this idea: 

• (1) think about the overall composition, you may want to make it (the plants) more fluid, not exactly boxed up. 
• (2) what are the various ways that these plants are coming at you, you may want it to be subtle or very obvious, some plants could be like fingers or long tongues. 

Also think about the finishing of the design. You can have mixed-media. The text could be digital and cut out. Can be collage work. It could be your own photograph (as the main figure), or if you don't want to be featuring much, it can be something subtle. Play down on your own features. 

W10 / 03.06.2021

Feedback on Figure 5. 

Figure 5. 1st draft 

Dr. Jinchi: I like how the leaves are coming out naturally from the sides. Perhaps to hint that it is a bathroom, you can include faint tile lines on the door frame to make it look more like a bathroom. Try it out first. If it looks cluttered, the current design might be better.

Final Feedback on E-blog and Project 2

Dr Jinchi: There's a theme (nature) that guides the research and overall exploration. You are observant and have an eye for details. You managed to do quite a lot of visual research through photography despite your limited space and movement, and that is commendable. The final design reflects the intended message, as well as a good understanding of design principles. Finishing is neat and the material used is suitable.

Final Design Outcome

After receiving the feedback on the sketches, I decided to work on Sketch 2 (Figure 4.1) as my final design for the project and I would make the design as a work of collage. Reason behind this decision was quite simple: I had an excessive amount of unused cutouts and materials for Exercise 5; I wanted to redeem myself, so I seized the opportunity to make use of them in this project. Moreover, most of the cutouts were green and greenish-blue which was apt to be used as the leaves of devil's ivy. I further cut out strips of origami papers to apply them as the leaves of the spider plants. 

Figure 6. (Left) and Figure 6.1 (Right) Materials for final design

Considering Dr. Jinchi's feedback on the overall composition of the design, I combined the idea of plants coming out of a window (Figure 4. Sketch 1) with this design. To further convey the idea of overgrown plants expanding their territory outside the bathroom, two yellow strips of paper were added on each side of the canvas to portrait the door frames of the bathroom. The strips of paper were cutouts of a failed attempt of the final design for Exercise 4 - Unity Of course I remembered Dr. Jinchi's suggestion on including tile lines on the door frames. Using watercolour, I painted thin tile lines on each yellow paper strip to reinforce the portrayal of door frames. 

Figure 6.2 Cutouts for the door frame

Before pasting in the cutouts, I applied a thin wash of green watercolour as the background of the design. As I was waiting for the watercolour to dry, I began assembling and arranging the cutouts according to the revised sketch. When I was satisfied with the arrangement, I moved on to paste everything on the canvas. 

Here's how the collage look like at this stage:

Figure 6.3 Version 1 of Final Design

Sometimes I would look back on my sketches to make sure if I have included everything. Thank goodness I decided to check because I almost forgot to include the caption. Well, to be honest, the design looked complete even without the caption; still I wanted to make a few tests with the caption before finalising the design. Therefore, I scanned the collage and inserted it in Photoshop to experiment with a few captions I had in mind. As a result, I decided to go with "Bathroom Alone" as suggested by Dr. Jinchi which was a caption inspired by the movie "Home Alone". 

After making a few adjustments here and there, here's the final design outcome:

Figure . Final Design for Project 2 - Sense of Place

Rationale

The design is set in the bathroom of my home. The odd scene in this particular space is that there are plants growing in it. The design is a literal representation of how I feel with the plants that were planted in that place. The plants are incorporated as the main subject and exaggerated in amount to further amplify the sense of being overwhelmingly surrounded by plants. A human figure is included and placed in the bottom centre of the composition. She can be seen staring at the leaf that happens to be looking at her as well. This is to represent the odd and somewhat uncomfortable feeling of being stared by the plants as I do my business. Therefore, the caption “Bathroom Alone” was applied to comment on the situation where I wished to be left “truly” alone in the bathroom. 

Here's an alternative thought: what if the plants are coming alive to take revenge on humans? And they are sneakily and slowly expanding their territory to take over the world?

In terms of design, the design was done in approximate balance with plants growing out on both sides of the composition and the symmetrical door frames as well. The colours used are the analogous colours on a colour wheel: yellow, green and blue. The colours are selected and applied to convey a sense of unity and harmony.

(Mini game: how many pairs of 👀 can you find in the design?)

Reflection

I really enjoyed working on this process. It's fun to observe the things around you and the emotions that come with it, as well as the pure glee of discovering new aspects that you've never noticed. 

In the process of this project, I had the opportunity to truly observe and pay attention to my residence and surroundings. At one point I had a deep reflection on how much the area that I live in has changed over the years. The area was once decorated beautifully with trees and forests but sadly those scenery could only remain as memories in my mind. As city dwellers, we live in a concrete jungle that is still growing day by day. As the concrete jungle continues to strive, nature and real forest are in danger of being sacrificed for the sake of human lives and city development. On the bright side, sustainable architecture is an on-going trend, an approach where humans are seeking coexistence with nature.

For years the common folks have been encouraged to plant trees and plants in general, I'm glad to see that the community in my area are picking up gardening as a hobby. Despite the limitations, they are doing something they enjoy and contributing to the environment at the same time. We can always start from home, from something as small as a potted plant. In the end, we are the ones who are benefiting from it as well.