New Material: Leaf Paper
This week I created paper from my junk mail and the dried leaves that had collected on my patio.
The Softness of Things Archive
November 15, 2007
October 30, 2007
Space
This week's assignment is to design something relating to space. I've decided to experiment with the psychology of personal space (known as proxemics)--a topic that frequently comes up living in NYC. To start, I've been doing a bit of research on the topic, including this interesting New York Times article, psychology articles on the topic such as "Intercultural Study of Personal Space: A Case Study" by Catherine Beaulieu in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, and portions of The Hidden Dimension by Edward Hall, the father of proxemic theory.
October 24, 2007
Object 6: Design for the Body
This week's assignment was to make something related to the body. Last week's challenge to ponder the themes that have united the course so far--interconnectedness via modularity, ecology, networks etc. and the "softness" of barriers between things in our world--heavily influenced my design this week. I decided to experiment with the notion of hacking couture, recycling several old, damaged and/or ugly sweaters in my wardrobe into a new object for the body. Creating this object is also a return to my original goal of creating objects that convey comfort, which makes particular sense to me when thinking about design for the human body.
October 17, 2007
Open Source
This week, we were asked to read articles and browse websites relating to the concept of open source, and also to contemplate the commonalities between the concepts and assignments we've explored in class thus far: personal interest, modularity, connectivity, networks, energy, and open source.
October 11, 2007
Object 5: Energy
For this week's assignment, we were encouraged to think about energy--real or metaphorical--and design a piece that reflected something about our thoughts on the topic. I took a very literal approach to this project, since sustainability and conservation are the topics that most often come to mind for me when I think of energy. I've been thinking of ways to modify my behavior to help reduce wasteful habits, and latched onto my bad habit of often forgetting to unplug my cell phone charger when it's not in use. Since chargers continue to draw energy when plugged in but not in use, I decided to design a device that would draw my attention to this waste. The energy use in the average household would be reduced, by some estimates, by 5% if "phantom energy" devices like empty chargers and standby devices were eliminated. (source)
October 03, 2007
Object 4: Network
This week's assignment was to build a network with a team of others in the class. Our team consisted of Thomas, Petra, Ithai, Alex, and me. The group decided to experiment with audio by building a network of people, each of whom would have a different function/capacity in creating an auditory experience. Individuals in the class would be called on to create the network by donning devices that either generated sound (5 devices), mixed sound (1 device), or amplified sound (2 devices). The interconnections and ultimate result of the network were left to the whim of the participants--allowing many variations.
September 29, 2007
Object 3: Connection
This week's assignment was to create an object that engaged with the concept of connection, whether by creating a new type of connector, or by representing the concept in a novel way. Despina provided us with some conductive thread to use, so I was eager to experiment with this new material, and to use this project as a physical computing refresher, since it has been a long time since I've wired a circuit.
September 20, 2007
Object 2: Modular
For this week's Softness assignment, the theme was modularity. After tossing several ideas around, I decided to construct a modular sculpture out of dominoes interconnected with hinges. The idea was that the dominoes could be manipulated in various ways to make different sculptural shapes, with one option being a cigar-box shape. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find wooden dominoes anywhere, and the small hinges I needed were too expensive to buy dozens of... So, as plan b, I used Jenga game pieces and packing tape hinges.
September 12, 2007
Object 1: Soft/Snug
For our first assignment in The Softness of Things, Despina suggested that I that sew an item or make a sculpture that relates to my feelings about programming. (I'd mentioned that I was taking the class, in part, due to my desire to physically make things instead of endlessly sitting in front of my laptop, coding.)
September 10, 2007
Fall 07 Course Descriptions
...and we're back! The classes I'm taking this semester are Expressing Information, an information visualization class, and The Softness of Things, a design course. Here are the basic course descriptions: