Create: Design :: Tell: Story

Stories

Cultures pass down stories from generation to generation to stay connected to the past. Traditions are passed down, as well as morals or rules. In the fable I read for studio, The Girl Without Hands, I arrived at a few different lessons. These include having faith, perseverance, and to be weary of appearances.

In IAR 112, we have picked five objects that are important to us. It was interesting to see how each of these objects hold memories and tell their own story. Here are my illuminated objects:


Artifacts

Each of my classes this semester have shown the relationship between artifacts and humans. We are a material culture, which results in our objects telling more information about us than our written records. Buildings and architecture are considered artifacts and function the same way. "Architecture is a nonverbal form of communication, a mute record of the culture that produced it" (Roth, pg. 5).
There are a lot of meanings in everyday objects. An example of this can be seen in my Psychology of Dress class. We looked at the summer of 2007 when the 6 1/2 inch Yves Saint Laurent heels came out. Even though wearing shoes like these are extremely dangerous, women still were on waiting lists to get them. It shows that people think its important to convey status and attitude through what they wear. Thats what people would learn about our society if they studied the artifacts in our time period.

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Multiview

The word multiview indicates that there is more than one way to look at one situation. We do this in drafting by showing a top view, side view, front view and many others. This way we can understand all the information about an object or building.

We also have different views depending on our own perspective. This is evident through the views of black students in the 1960's. They viewed the lunch counter at a restaurant as a way to keep them excluded from the white customers. Whereas the white people only viewed it as a lunch counter without negative connotations.


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Translation

In studio we watched the film "A Midsummer Nights Dream." In the story, a fairy enchants people so that they will fall in love with each other. However, he misunderstood his orders and enchants the wrong people. This shows how language is important when communicating with others because messages can get lost.

Translation is important in design too. We learned in history class about how our U.S. capital buildings style was translated over time. The Greek classical style influenced the Romans, who then built in Europe, and then the Europeans came to America and carried over that classical style. Thomas Jefferson designed his home partly in the classic style:

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Cycle

There are many kinds of cycles, both in history and design. Over time, some styles phase out but other repeat. Something has to cause the change that occurs when a new style begins and an old one fades away. It's also possible for styles to occur at the same time.
Cycle also reminds me of the design process. You go through a series of steps when designing something, and it's usually a unique process to each person. Here is an example from my sketchbook showing a step in designing my piece of furniture:



I appreciate keeping this opus because it really helps me reflect on all the information I'm learning in my classes. It's important to reflect on what I've read, taken notes on, or practiced drawing. For this first week, I think the main theme would be stories. The words artifact, translation, multiview, and cycle are important in how you tell a story. It's important for us to understand this concept because we have to satisfy different needs when designing something. We are basically designing for someone else, so we have to figure out what they need.