Design Principles: Project #2

 30.10.2020 - 01.11.2020 (Week 11 - Week 13)

Seerat Tayyab Mukhtar Qureshi - 0345576 (BDCM)

Project #2 Sense of Place

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1. Lectures:

Observation: 

The active act of acquiring information through the senses of a subject matter in its natural setting. Observation is important to designers as it helps them identify problems and come up with solutions. Observation is also used to create creative works in which an artist observes a place and creates their interpretation of the work. 

Fig 1.0: Work of observation by Claude Monet

SOURCE: Lecture slides

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Instructions: 

Module Information 

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Sense of Place:

For this project we had to use are observation and create our interpretation of a place. I started off by looking around my room and taking pictures.

Fig 1.2: Mapping out ideas

I wanted to use my room because thats where I spend most of my time and I find it quite peaceful there so I wanted to create a work representing that feeling. I also looked at some visual inspiration and art styles that radiate calmness to me. 

Ms. Jinchi said that I was on the right track but I should take some more pictures and find some other elements to include in my composition. 

Fig 1.3: Some more composition ideas

Fig 1.4: Composition idea

Ms. Jinchi said I could make it more spacious by making the composition landscape so I could accurately portray the feeling of openness and spaciousness. She also suggested that instead of the small computer screen showing the sunset why not make the whole right wall the laptop screen showing the sunset. I really liked the thought of this because it would also emphasise the spacious/relaxed feeling I wanted to convey.

I started by creating a basic line sketch of my composition

Fig 1.5: Line work

I chose two colour palettes that would match and create a harmonious feeling. These were mainly inspired by the two visual references in my above mind map.

Fig 1.6: Colour palettes

I started filling in the line work, I did a few attempts because some of the colours did not look harmonious together. 

Fig 1.7: Attempt #1

I realised the sky did not look good AT ALL in pink and it was clashing too much with the other colours. It also didn't fit well with the purple clouds. I decided to change it to a more subtle blue.

Fig 1.8: Attempt #2

This looked much better so I decided to go with it and add a little more details and elements since it looked a bit plain to me. 

Fig 1.9: Final with some added details

Rationale:

For this work I wanted to show how I see my room, especially my bed area. I like to do all my work there and I find it quite relaxing and calming. I've put up posters and some of my artworks on the walls which help motivate me and inspire me when I'm doing my work. The ocean/beach also is a place where I feel calm and not overwhelmed. I wanted to combine these two elements into one design. The ocean is within my laptop screen because I spend so much time on it that I associate it with that part of my room. I added the extra details of the plants and the lights because I would like to have those near my bed because they would emphasise the feeling of relaxation and look pretty :)

Reflection:

I think this project actually helped me realise just how much time I spend in my room because it is my "comfort zone." I do feel encouraged to change that a bit and maybe try to do things in a new way. I also felt that people can have very different perceptions of the same place and so it is important that your perception of the place is clear and explicit so others are able to feel the emotions you are trying to convey.