Guess which video didnt upload...

Seems i am just going to have to bring my USB cable for my phone today and connect it to the pc that way... such a shame my broadband is so shabby.

I guess it just adds to the experience. If you leave things to the last minute, you don't have time to sort out any problems. Perhaps i should be videoing this...

Oh and i've still yet to finish the VB program i meant to do. Gahh! Remind me never to be a smart alec and purposely not to do any work to make a point.

Storyboarding/Filming

I had a bit of a think, and decided that my most common and everyday experience was, in fact, procrastination. So, i thought i'd take it to extremes, making sure i went completely out of my way not to storyboard and film, and left it until the morning before (it is now 7:16 am, and my deadline is 10). In a way it was kind of contradictive as it was a planned, and fully contrived lack of organisation and planning.

It is actually currently backfiring as i'm having problems linking my phone to my pc...

So, i decided to start storyboarding in the lesson, where the task started, listing my feelings and thoughts, and a little snapshot of the week. I then documented a few minutes of time withexamples of what i do to procrastinate. I included drinking herbal tea. I don't even like herbal tea, but it takes a few minutes to make and looks pretty so it serves its' purpose.

i'm going to restart my pc....

Emotional journey 1: Frustration

How to make people frustrated, i wondered?

By creating something which is in itself frustrating. It could be as simple as an easy to understand, but difficult to solve, game.

I drew a little sketch of an interface that would be frustraing in my sketchbook, which is loosely based upon the 'matching pair' game premise. Where you have lots of card facing down, and you have to find matching pairs turning only two over at a time:



http://www.hatley.info/youngsters/game.html

My sketch looked like this:

fig 1

It would be slightly different as there is only one pair (coloured in black), and the rest would be blank (white)

fig 2

.fig 3

fig 2: shows how the game would start. you'd then click on random boxes hoping that they'd be the right combination
fig 3: shows the finished game

I realised that this wouldn't be difficult or frustrating enough though. This is because in a game of 36 squares, with 18 pairs to make, i finished it in a minute or so (like most adults), with only minor irritation. Also, the game is aimed at children so it couldn't be too hard.

. In my notes, i thought about the idea of a 'reset schedule' i.e. you only get a certain amount of tries to complete the puzzle, and then the correct combination changes, and you have to start guessing again! I could apply this to any frustration mechanism i end up creating.

Also... i thought having a split screen may be a fantastic idea. i.e. having audio/visual information on the right that shows you which part of the experience you are at, and having to do the frustrating puzzle on the left in order to access the next part of the experience!

This would mean that i have made progression more difficult than someone else may have found it, or they can experience my sometimes easily irritated personality, whereas they themselves might be really patient and not have found the experience annoying as i did!

I came across an idea whilst doing this. Perhaps you could also make an experience harder/easier i.e. based on the amount of mobility/skill/experience the individual had. So... being able to do something with someone elses limitations/talents. i.e. something as simple as viewing a browser with partial sightedness, or being able to play the piano really well. Or, experiencing something with someone elses personality i.e. going to a flower arranging show through a garden enthusiasts eyes

Anyway, I'd like to play with the idea of frustration first, and trying to combine it with say.... getting the Internet to work. So, whilst your playing the game on the left and getting it wrong, on the right it would affect the computer, and it might come up saying 'unable to connect'... or 'Internet has low or no connectivity'. the interface would just be a different, more difficult way of getting it to work.

Today, i'm going to see if i can get the basic premise of my frustrating game to work (ignoring the reset schedule for now!), in visual basic. If not, i will create a few example page layouts in paintshop pro to demonstrate how it would work.

Isolating experience; Emotional journey

On the train on the way home yesterday, i thought about how difficult it would be to try to make someone else have the exact same experience as you.

In the lesson during the day, i realised that there was a sense of frustration at the the problem of 'interpretation', and that using different types of media (sound files, video etc) to express an experience (no matter how high-tech), would always be flawed!

So, i thought maybe i should try to decontruct an experience, and try to isolate the feelings that went with the experience, and then try to take the user through an emotional journey

This would be rather than trying to create a specific ambience through different media, and hoping that they'd feel the same way if the conditions were right

For example, my experiences last week i.e. PC problems:

Frustration
Repetiton (i kept hoping different combinations of actions would have the desired effect)
hope (when i thought it was going to work... then...)
Hopelessness
Feeling i was wasting my time
Dismay
Irritation

And the list goes on... As this was quite a one-dimensional experience (the same feelings over and over again, pretty much...) i thought it would be a pretty good place to start.

The list again in order was:

Excitement (getting my new pc out of the box)
Impatience (waiting for it to boot up)
Optimism (when i thought i would be a short setup)
Disappointment (when it didnt work straight away)
Hope (When i thought... never mind. i can sort this)
Frustration (When i couldnt)
Hope (tried something else)
Frustration
Hope
Frustration
Hope
Frustration
Hope
Frustration
Hope
Frustration
Hope
Frustration
Hope
Frustration
Hope
Frustration
Hope
..... (you get the picture)
Then i went out, forgot about it
Came back and (tada! it worked)
Pleased!

I started trying to work out how to recreate these experiences. I started off with frustration as it was the easiest...

Customising/Design part 1

I decided to document myself customising clothing as it's something i do everyday, but never really think about the experience. I want to describe the process, inspiration, and my actions.

I used my A2 sketchbook to do so, fabric paints, a shirt, magazines and the net to get poetry, fonts and a few photos for research.

My materials

Inspiration for the GB theme. There was also a special fearne cotton feature, which i thought was pretty cool.

The original Zara shirt (upside down) which i cant be bothered to rotate, sorry! I chose it because it was plain, and had a tiny mark o nit which was irritating. I was actually going to dye it anther colour (probably navy blue) but i decided to be a bit more arty. I can still dye it later, and the fabric paint will show up on top of whichever colour i choose, do to the type of paint it is.

I got the poem from a website. I thought it was vague and arty, and made absolutely no sense which is exactly what i wanted.

below: the finished article!

Twiggy exhibition, Oct 1st

I finally made it to the exhibition, but found it a little lack-luster and didn't seem that well put together. There was a timeline of iconic photographs, with small comments from twiggy on each of them. Didn't really offer much insight, but there were a few photographs that stuck out for me that i loved.



This photograph was by Klaus Voormann.

I found the following info on https://sslsites.de/www.voormann-shop.com/information.php?info_id=12&language=en&osCsid=05f1fac1f546318252a07ec2ccc9bb11

'Twiggy Artwork for VOGUE

For the popular magazine VOGUE Klaus Voormann has designed several pictures with Twiggy. Based on photographs by Justin Devilleneuf, Klaus Voormann created the pictures with pencil in a very surrealistic way. Images of mystic beauty. This extraordinary artwork got many awards like the International Art Directors Award.'

In the blurb in the exhibition, i found out that this wasn't a proper shoot, and was taken at home (i assume hers). I found this on http://iamthechildofthemoon.blogspot.com/2008/10/twiggy.html

Walking around the space, i found it dull, and the people who were looking at them dragged the vibe of the space down even further. It was very hush-hush, with retired people walking extremely slowly around the whitewashed space and a guard giving you evils! I had hoped that the space would be more inspired, reflecting the personality of the person that they were trying to represent. It just felt like walking around a museum, and even the photos i did like lost their edge.

It really does emphasise the need for good design, as the exhibition was extremely one-dimensional, not interactive, and they could have made it a lot more interesting than a 50 word comment by twiggy on a photo she probably barely remembers. I'm not sure what i expected, but i was really bored and let-down.

Journey to Twiggy exhibition Oct 1, 11:16

I went to the national portrait gallery to see the Twiggy exhibition on Oct 1st.

On the way i did a bit of thinking on the brief, did a little observation and did a small line drawing in my sketchbook.

'think it would probably be best to categorise experiences sense & thought-wise. So, having 5 categories named sight, hearing, felt touched, smelt, and then having a 6th category documenting what i was thinking. my problem with immediate documentation is that i am experiencing the documentation simultaneously and it is to an extent detracting from the experience. Then again, if i tried to recall what i was experiencing, I'd be limited to my memory, which, rather than being broad, focusing on certain things and eliminated others. Not only this, but writing is quite a conspicuous activity:- reading, listening to music and talking being the normal ones . Maybe i should document the documentation process'

Quick line drawing of a guy sitting opposite me on the tube. He knew i was observing him and got a little fidgety

A little bit of observation at Covent Garden station