IOL - Week 1: Design a Project For Your Partner

I partnered with Evan for this exercise and he designed a character based interactive project for me. In the interactive piece the central character was a Space Rock. The purpose of the piece was to guide the Space Rock as it made its way through space, changing and evolving depending on what it collides with (.e.g. other space rock, planets, worm holes etc). 

STOP:

• Quick iteration to delve deeper into some of the influences/ideas already discovered in the hopes of finding meaningful themes

START:

• Brainstorming more ideas for projects and collating contextual and visual research to assemble my moodboard

KEEP:

• The idea of a character driven project - particularly thinking about how character interacts with environment.
• Keep the idea that character can be something more interesting then humanoid/animal figure (.e.g. a space rock!)

IN-CLASS EXERCISE REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

a) How did engaging with a real person change your direction?
It made me consider ideas that I would not have naturally started with such as game play and having interactive elements. A real person also becomes a great sounding board that made it easier to grow and build upon ideas and seeing new perspectives. It helped to re-establish comfort zones. I also thought a third party insight into my usual MO and influences caused old dots to be reconnected in new ways. 

b) What was it like showing unfinished work to another?
It was fun! It caused a sensation of having to pinpoint the essence of an idea quicker. it was a really good way to develop and encourage bottom line thinking and not get to caught up in the details. You had to focus on the Big Idea.

c) How did the pace feel (quick iterative cycle)?
I loved the pace. It allowed for thinking on your feet which I think is a really intuition driven way of creating that aligns with how I like to ideate/make work in my usual practice.

d) What stage would you re-visit (do next )?
I think I would revisit the first base inspirations from childhood/the past to more specifically pinpoint my creative inclinations and influences. I would also revisit the ideation stage to ideate specifically for character driven projects and create themes/spaces where characters can shine.

e) What is one thing you want to try tomorrow?
Brainstorm how these base exploration/questions can link back into where my practice/studio work exists in the present day.