DESIGN PRINCIPLES - PROJECT 02: SENSE OF PLACE

05/06/2020 - 19/06/2020 (Week 8 - Week 10)
Rifath Ali (0335738)
Design Principles

Project 02

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LECTURE NOTES

Lecture 07: The Importance of Observation

Observation in the most basic sense is the act of acquiring information through the senses of a subject matter in its natural setting. Observations can be a major source of inspiration for designers as well as see the solutions to problems we see.

Fig. 1.01: Observation; Cityscape

Fig. 1.02: Observation; Bedroom


Fig. 1.03: Observation; Bangkok Streets

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INSTRUCTIONS

Project 02: Sense of Place

For our project 02 we were asked to observe our surroundings. We were given freedom to choose whichever place we want to derive our inspirations from. It could be a room in our house, the whole unit, garden, view from our balcony and whatnot. Following is the proposal I cam up with for my project. I have included images I used for my inspirations as instructed.

We had to select visuals we find relevant and translate them into a design work that reflects our perception of a place. Our designs need to be followed by a 150 – 200-word rationale.

During my first consultation with Miss Anis, she pointed out that the first concept in my proposal may be difficult to translate into a design work as the main subject of the concept was the plushies. I agreed with her opinion and decided to move forward with my second concept, My Balcony. For the style of design, I wanted to challenge myself and try for an isometric perspective. I have always found isometric designs remarkably interesting and had always been intrigued about how it is achieved.

I started by creating a grid and transforming it into the base of my isometric perspective. I used this perspective grid to build everything on top of it.

Fig. 2.01: Process 01; Grid

Fig. 2.02: Process 02; Grid transformed into perspective

Once the grid was ready, I drew the floor space and explored on the height of the walls. Then, I created the floor and walls, plus the glass sliding doors. I decided to use analogous colors to make the design look harmonious.

Fig. 2.03: Process 03; Floor space exploration

Fig. 2.04: Process 04; Balcony Base

Before proceeding further, I created 3 actions to make the following steps easier. The 3 actions were used to ease transforming different elements into the perspective grid with just one click. They were, transform to left perspective, right perspective and top perspective.

Fig. 2.05: Process 05; Create Actions

Next, I created the furniture and the railing of the balcony. I did this first because it gives a sense of how big the space is and allows easy distributions of the coming elements.

Fig. 2.06: Process 06; Balcony Furniture

After the furniture came the plant pots. The actions I created to transform shapes into perspective came in handy when designing the pots. I designed few variations and arranged them almost the same way I have them place in real life.

Fig. 2.07: Process 07; Plant Pots

Before I proceeded into illustrating the plants, I tried to come up with an idea to fill the remaining half of the balcony. So, I created a rug and tried to show it as an area to have tea and relax.

Fig. 2.08: Process 08; Rug

Next came the most time-consuming task yet. Tracing the plants. I traced over 20 different plants for this artwork.

Fig. 2.09: Process 09; Plants 01

Fig. 2.10: Process 10; Plants 02

Fig. 2.11: Process 11; Plants 03

Fig. 2.12: Process 12; Plants 04

Once that was out of the way, I started to rethink the idea of using the rug for the other half of the balcony. I felt like it tells a different story than what I was going for. So, I decided to use the space to show how my weekends usually go. I added few more elements to portray me in my happy place, taking care of my plants.

Fig. 2.13: Process 13; Plant Care

Fig. 2.14: Process 14; Plant Care

At this point, I had reached the outcome I had anticipated. However, I was having second thoughts about the color scheme as the plants and the furniture in the background blend in together too much. I changed them to a lighter shade to see how the artwork looks and I liked the amended version better so went with it as a final design. I consulted with Miss Anis before submitting it.

Fig. 2.15: Process 15; Color Change

During my consultation with Miss Anis, I received a lot of constructive feedback that helped me improve my artwork tremendously. I made the following improvements based off her critiques. First, she mentioned the imbalance created due to the awkward cut away on the right. Also, she pointed out that the base of the balcony is blending into the background too much.

First, I created a section of the wall on the right to balance the design. Then I added a darker color to the background to make the artwork pop.

Fig. 2.16: Process 16; Create new wall & Background color change

She also suggested that I add texture to the artwork. Given my RAM capacity, this took way more time than tracing the plants. I applied texture to some plants leaf by leaf. I had to change few colors to make the texture more visible.

Fig. 2.17: Process 17; Texture 01

Fig. 2.18: Process 18; Texture 02

Fig. 2.19: Process 19; Texture 03

Fig. 2.20: Process 20; Texture 04

Fig. 2.21: Process 21; Texture 05

Once the texture was applied, I achieved what I had anticipated from my design. I finalized my work and submitted the final result.

Final Artwork

Fig. 2.22: Final Artwork; My Little Patch of Heaven (JPEG)

Fig. 2.23: Final Artwork; My Little Patch of Heaven, Rationale (PDF)

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FEEDBACK

During my consultations with Miss Anis, she gave some of the most constructive feedback I received so far. On the first day, she suggested I proceed with the concept of my balcony with the isometric design and it would be better translated into an artwork. During the second and final consultation, she pointed out few things I can improve on the design such as creating a contrast between the background and the artwork, balance and use of texture. 

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REFLECTIONS

The best experience throughout this project was creating something in isometric perspective. I have never done anything like this before, so I did this as a challenge for myself. I learned a lot more about perspectives through this experience. With the feedback I received from Miss Anis, I was able to push my design further and improve a lot of aspects of my artwork.