3D Design: 3D Triathlon (1)

Introduction/ support

In my introduction to 3D Design, I noticed immediately that an emphasis was placed on having various ideas and starting points which don't necessarily need to look good as it is better to explore all avenues before beginning to refine a chosen idea which is a similar concept to other disciplines within Design and Media. I think the importance of this is not to allow my concepts to be too restricting/ bland. 

My day began with drawing exercises which focused on taking one thing, for example my shoe print and turning into something completely different; a piece of jewellery. I found this interesting to do as I was able to push the boundaries and not limit myself creatively. This was a relatively straight forward exercise, however, I noticed a trend forming in each drawing; my ideas are mostly conceptual and visually, the drawings don't do it justice. An example of this is my drawing of a 'phone' which visually looks like a square with squiggles in the centre of it. Conceptually however, It is a device which is embedded in your tongue and syncs in with your brain and works by interpreting your thoughts and translates my responding as a normal phone would. 

             Drawing exercise (authors own, 2013)                          

• Favourite fruit (an apple) converted into a Rabbit cage
• Random dots converted into a 2 bedroom house floor plan
• Random squiggle converted into a structure with two people and a cat

Drawing exercise (authors own, 2013)                  

• A circle, square and triangle converted into a transportation device
• Human form/ outline merged with characteristics of my favourite animal ( a swan)
• Print from the bottom of my shoe converted into a piece of jewellery ( a necklace)
• A phone ( one that doesn't already exist) 

Drawing exercise (authors own, 2013)                    

• Two similar shapes converted into a piece of footwear
• My house number (64) converted into a a bus shelter
• 2 vertical, 1 horizontal and diagonal line(s) converted into an aerial view of a shopping mall 
• My favourite piece of clothing (a jumper) converted into a light source.

                                                Practical design and making

For this task the brief was to create something that can hold a 100x200mm water bottle 200mm off the surface. (a table) Initially, I was unsure how to construct something that meets the requirements set in the brief without it being dull/boring. I decided to place the patterns/design on the inside of my structure because i felt that was less predictable and I didn't want it to be too loud.

In the process (authors own, 2013)

In the process (authors own, 2013)

                    In the process (authors own, 2013)                          

Final structure (authors own, 2013

Aerial view (authors own, 2013)

                                         

                   

  Different angles (authors own, 2013)

             

Different angles (authors own, 2013)

Different angles (authors own, 2013)

Detail on inside (authors own, 2013)

Experimenting with light (authors own, 2013)

Experimenting with light (authors own, 2013)

Experimenting with light (authors own, 2013)

Experimenting with light (authors own, 2013)

Design detail (authors own, 2013)

Design detail (authors own, 2013)

Experimenting with light (authors own, 2013)

Experimenting with light (authors own, 2013)

Overall, I was happy with my final structure in terms of the design element of it. Nonetheless, I could have taken better care and concealed the masking tape better. The added effect of using a flash light in the middle made it look a lot better/ eye-catching. The light also makes it more versatile as the structure could even be possibly considered a lampshade. 

                                                                  Testing

Testing structure (authors own, 2013)

Technically my structure passed the test as the water bottle fit in it. However, I don't think this counts as a pass because it had to be altered to hold the bottle. I designed this with the intention of the bottle being placed on top of the structure rather than inside of it. This failed because I focused too much on the design and not enough on the actual purpose of the structure. If I could improve this I would make structure a lot stronger as It can be done I just needed to do it correctly.

         Practical design and making/ Critique and testing

Stephanie testing the structure (authors own, 2013)

Stephanie testing the structure (authors own, 2013)

For the above task I was given the brief of using only 4 sheets of card board to create a structure that I can sit/ stand on. (It had to hold my weight) A well as be flat-packed. I found this task the most challenging as there were more elements to take into consideration and I had more limitations. I succeeded in meeting the brief in terms of creating something that could be sat on/ stood on as well as flat packed. However, I ignored the most important element- the design. I got so hung up on creating something that could hold someone's weight that I eventually stopped designing and just aimlessly constructed which was the very outcome I was meant to avoid achieving. This is evident in the fact that I completely forgot to take pictures of the structure on its own. Rather, I've got images of someone (Stephanie) trying to balance on it. I think I missed the point here, if I could improve this I would aim to have a balance between the design and the purpose as both are arguably as important as each other.