Author: Toad2

Toad2 – LookingOutwards-03

 

 

Madeline Gannon – Tactum

Tactum is an augmented modeling system developed by Madeline Gannon that allows the user to create 3D wearables by interacting with an image projected onto their arm create ready print wearables. As a result, each design created by Tactum is designed to exactly fit the user’s body. Furthermore, this project focuses upon creating a naturalistic designing experience by using intuitive gestures such as pinch, poke, rub and touch. This project was interesting to me because of its use of augmented reality as well as by how user focused the project was. I found the idea of designing in augmented reality just very appealing.

Toad2 – Critical Interface

9. Can we make the invisible visible? The more present interfaces are in our lives, the less we perceive them.

Don’t use emoticons: just send oral-spoken messages to say you hate it! “I’m blind cos I see images”

Use your smartphone with your toe

What stood out to me about this proposition is how true it is especially considering what we would consider an interface. All of my household appliances include an interface regardless if its the smart washing machine or the toaster oven. Each of the devices contain a means of facilitating human and machine interaction; however, considering how ordinary and common these objects are they normally wouldn’t be considered to have an interface. Additionally, the idea of emoticons as interfaces also stood out to me as they are a means of enabling better human conversation via text. This made me think of texting etiquette as whole such as capitalization and punctuation as means of interface. However, instead of being decided upon by a designer, this form of interface was developed organically over time.

Toad2 – Sketches

Shy Pet

I was thinking about what makes people attached to inanimate objects such as in the case of Roombas, so I wanted to create a program that would cause people to treat their phone like a pet. Additionally, I wanted to create program that encouraged the user to spend less time on their phone as I often find myself wasting time on my phone. I want to create a creature that would require alone time and that user could interact with. In order to achieve this, the creature would state when it needs intervals of alone time because it would use that time to transform (i.e grow legs, horns, get bigger, ect.). Using your phone during the transformation period would make the creature upset and cry. To reward the player for using their phone less during certain intervals, the creature could be willing to do more ‘tricks’ with the player. For example, the creature can jump but if given enough alone time, the creature could jump even higher.

Presence – creature will cry if you are there during it’s alone time; Swipe (L/R) – rolls over; Swipe(U) – jump; Reach(In) – makes noise?

Nearsightedness

A problem I often have with using devices is that the font size is often too small and have to literally hold the phone two inches away from my face. I would like to create a tool to help near sighted people such as myself view the phone at healthy distance. As the user’s face moves further away the font size on screen would increase in size. I would like program to learn how far away the phone should be ideally in order to maintain eye health. The program perhaps could interact with certain apps like Twitter or Gmail.  Additionally, there could be certain modes for when the user is wearing glasses or contacts so that the program could adjust accordingly. This program could also be used to encourage people to hold the phone a healthy distance away from the face as we often hold the phone too close to our faces.

Presence – change font size

Beetles

The user would be able to swipe to turn over a rock. When a rock is turned over the beetles beneath the rock would scrabble to find the next shadow to hide under which would be the user’s hand. If the hand is too close the beetles would become too scared and run away. If they do not feel a nearby presence the beetles would scatter. I would like to create beetles are procedurally generated.  Additionally, the user could tap to squish the beetles.

Reach In – bugs get scared if you’re too close otherwise hide undershadow and follow hand; Swipe – turn over rock; No presence – scuttle aimlessly;

 

Toad2 – Clock

Link

Due to being in my room all the time due to quarantine, I feel like it’s hard for me have a sense of time since my room doesn’t get much natural light. Because of this, I wanted to focus upon the cyclical nature of time and inconsistency and shapelessness of time for me. However, I wanted this clock to be able to be read occasionally when everything lines up perfectly as there parts of my life that loosely give my life structure. I also experimented with the concept of countable objects vs many in the way I implemented the number of shapes and allow the user to make the mental shortcut and simply guess and approximate the time.

Progress:

Sketches:

 

Toad2 – Timekeeping

While we have atomic clocks, the fact there are clocks out there that are not precise and that large portion of human history operated upon an inaccurate time scale sticks with me because it makes me question the historical timeline. This fact raises the question of how this different time scale causes people to experience life differently and perhaps view life to be faster or slower.

Toad2 – Meander

The way Hodgin created natural land plots stood out to me since each land plot had an organic shape while simultaenous being connected. Meader introduced me to the Voronoi fracture was really interesting to me and would like to learn how to use it in future work.

A smaller thing that stood out to me was how Hodgin created a sense of place via naming. For example, Hodgin establishes the believability of his map by simply taking the names  of known locations and altering them to create a simultaneous sense of familiarity and unfamiliarity demonstrating a simple solution to creating believability.

Toad2 – LivingWallpaper

For this project, I wanted to focus upon the idea of making the best of a bad situation given the current state of the world as well as the serenity of impending dread. So, I decided to create something I dislike, wasps, in a pleasing manner and portray the image in way that could make the viewer anxious. Creating this project was definitely a challenge as I had to decide which I features I wanted to move and how I wanted each feature to move using new topics such as easing functions and rotating and translating the canvas. However, I enjoyed this project as I got to focus upon working with a art deco and experimenting with a subject of my choice. I think my color choice and composition turned out nicely and like the way circles rotate like there’s a gust of wind blowing through them. However, I think I should have made each wasp’s wings be at a different stage of opening and perhaps pause a little bit longer on the closed position to put more emphasis on when fluttering motion of the wings. I used the doubleExponentialSigmoid function in order to place emphasis on the open and closed positions of the rings as they turned. Upon reflection, I think I could have incorporated that function into how the wings flap.

         

Sketches – I initially wanted to make a more ornate art nouveau design with curving lines, but I had to settle for a simpler art deco style instead.

Code, Best Viewing Experience, Video Download

Toad2 – Reading02

“First Word Art / Last Word Art” by Michael Naimark identifies two types of art first word art – exploratory experimental art, and last word art – art that strives to achieve peak excellence within its defined genre.  After this reading, I realize I often strive to create Last Word art. This probably stems from my foundations in traditional media. However, as I work create work using digital tools, I can’t help but feel like I’m automatically creating First Word Art since these digital tools are all relatively new and so the rules of its medium are relatively new or undefined. However, I feel like the lack of rules and definitions for First Word art lead to the rules of other forms art being applied to the new form of art being created.

The idea of technology shaping culture makes me think about how music streaming platforms have changed the way artists create music and release albums as they strive to create content that will be promoted by the algorithm as well as take advantage of the platforms structure. The most notable examples of this is how shorter songs are favored and songs that introduce the chorus early. The introduction of this new technology changing what can end up as Last Word art since the music most paid attention to will be the art immortalized the public mind.