Last Wednesday, I presented my thesis ideas to four amazing artists, Adam Colestock, Heidi Brant, Jung Hyun Moon and Luisa Pereira. I showed them a prototype that I have been working on:

To be honest, it was an amazing experience that not only a lot of my questions got answers but also I felt less stressed and much clearer about my plans for the next two months. There were definitely a lot of valuable feedback I got. Here is a summary:

  1. Making progress
    • So one of the main questions asked was ” I think I have this big and blurry idea. I don’t know if I’m on the right track when working in p5.js. What are some steps do you suggest me to take?”
    • Advice: list or draw anything that you feel about different emotions (colors, line graphs, related objects or movies, etc). Think about what movements they have. Be very specific. Then code them in p5. Try to generate them in code as what you’ve described.
  2. Choices of medium
    • I’m not a professional in coding. P5 has been a challenge for me, especially I’m learning shaders, which uses a lot of mathematical formulas.  So sometimes I felt stuck in coding.
    • Advice1: You don’t have to use p5.js as your only medium. You can work on Illustrator if you feel more comfortable in design and import an image into p5.js.
    • Start with simple movements using oscillation or particle systems. Shaders might be intimidating.
  3.  Installations
    • Think about how to make people feel comfortable. Maybe having a rug or some cushions for them to lie down and relax. Maybe project the artwork on the ceiling.
  4. User testing
    • Don’t need to have a fully-polished prototype for user testing.

I think these takeaways helped me a lot when thinking about my next steps. I also changed my goal for this semester a little bit. I decided to explore three mediums: graphic design, 2d coding and 3d coding in shaders. Each medium will have at least one prototype. I have already started 2d and 3d coding examples. Now I will work on a design prototype at the same time for the next 2-3 weeks.