IOL Week 1 - Design A Project [][]

By Carlo Tolentino

In our Week 1 class for Illusion of Life, we did an exercise wherein we had to design a project for another person. Me and Emmett partnered up, since we haven't really gotten an opportunity to collaborate and brainstorm as much. This also made it both exciting and challenging, as we weren't really familiar with each of our own personal preferences in designing a project.

Defining project parameters and devices through empathy was an interesting and instinctive way of developing an animation or interactive piece. Talking and brainstorming with Emmett about his past experiences, and his inclinations on animation or interactive works made me narrow down what the project would be. In some way, it also felt like it was a psychiatric session combined with an advertising agency client brief, but all in the spirit of collaboration. I also learned that Emmett did stand-up comedy in the past, which is awesome, and I wouldn't have known that if it wasn't for this exercise! I also found out some things about myself that I never thought to implement in my practice, such as my inclination to things that are gory, macabre and seeks the truth in things. Elements that I'm definitely considering as I move forward in my practice.

Having a limited amount of time to develop our ideas made our proposed projects wacky and unrealistic but in a good way. The latter questions in the Design A Project guide helped us somewhat refine our ideas and projects even more, even if they had technical hoops to jump through. The pace of the whole exercise was just right, enough to create ideas and feel that ideas are not permanent. That they can easily evolve and change directions for the better, by simply a single comment or contribution by a different person.

From Emmett's idea, I also learned a bit about developing in VR. That you can create a space that is scaled 1:1 with the physical and digital environment. This made Emmet's idea of a VR interactive piece where the digital world meets physical interaction while moving through a defined space even more realistic and feasible. The relationship between digital media and physical space is also an emergent theme in my studio practice with interactive projection mapping. I look forward to more of Emmet's crazy ideas, and that no ideas are actually too crazy or unrealistic when given enough brainstorming.