Rough Draft of Accordion

My first draft of my Accordion Book was created out of a spray painted cereal box. I then printed off and glued the pictures to the book and secured the whole thing together with a cardboard band that it slides into to make it nice and secure.

-Rachel

Expressing "Include"

The final idea my group chose for the letter construction, was one of the ideas I had come up with- creating two separate boxes and cutting out the letters from the boxes. The first box would say "inc" and the second box would say "ude," and the negative space between the boxes would create the letter "l," so when both boxes were put together, the viewer would see "include." The main reason we chose this construction was for the pictures we would be taking. We had an idea of incorporating different parts of KU in the space where the "l" is. For example, our pictures include the Campanile, the Jayhawk Blvd. sign, a KU campus bus, a big tree from campus, and one of the big pillars of Wescoe. Our original location for the letters was Wescoe beach. We chose this location because it is where KU students come to hang out and socialize between classes. It is also where people come to promote various organizations, clubs, and much more. We agreed that Wescoe was the most appropriate location to place our letters. It is where KU students include each other by socializing and hanging out or where students find a way to include themselves at KU, by signing up for something such as a club. Another factor we decided would help express our word, was height. If the letters were big enough, people could literally include themselves within the letters. Our group displayed this in our team picture, when we peaked through the spaces of the letters. We chose to paint our word bright red, in order to stand out, grab attention, and make people curious. I was pleased because it worked how we hoped and I received lots of positive feedback and compliments. Many people came to ask about the letters and take a picture. Surprisingly, most of the people my group talked to thought the letters were constructed out of wood rather than cardboard; Everyone was surprised that we managed to make the whole model in two days. I was happy with our project and very happy with the responses from fellow students.

-Rachel

Parts of the Project Reflection

I have learned many things throughout the course of this project. It was a very unique, yet interesting, project to say the least. My group was able to make 5' tall cardboard box letters in two days. Not only did I learn how to cut and build these letters, I learned much about cardboard itself. For example, it really enjoys to absorb spray paint, rather than be coated. Spray painting the letters was difficult, however, once finished, I was so pleased with the way our models turned out. I learned that the cheap $1.00 spray paint is not worth buying, and the more expensive $3.00 cans covered quicker and easier. The advice I would give to those participating in this project in the future is: Do not wait until the last day to start your letters. Our group worked on our letters for two full days, morning until night. Make sure you have enough money for cardboard, spray paint, glue, tape, and whatever else you might need. Money posed to be a big issue for many of the groups for this project. You cannot continue to build if you run out of cardboard or tape, and that will set your group behind. Always get more than you need. If you estimate you need 8 cans of spray paint, get more. Always get more. We ended up using twenty cans of spray paint, granted our letters were large, but many groups also faced this issue. If you think you need 4 things of duct tape, get ten. It is better to have more at the end. Making a simple return with a receipt is much better than making multiple trips to the store when you're reaching the deadline. If you are spray painting your cardboard letters, be sure to first spray it with a primer. This is one thing our group got right the first time. We were sure to spray it well with a white primer before we painted it red. It saved us a lot of time and paint; and when you're buying twenty cans of paint, you cannot afford to make this mistake. Establish within your group multiple ways of communication. This is most likely the first thing one should do when meeting their group. We created a Facebook group and exchanged numbers immediately. This way communication never had to be an issue. And last but not least, Don't forget to eat and get enough sleep. I developed a cold over the course of this project. I was up late, not eating healthy, and not listening to my body. If you follow these simple tips, catching a cold can be easily avoided. Not only is this project hard and challenging, it is a lot of fun. With the right planning, this project can be completed successfully in reasonable time and you can enjoy yourself and your work while you're doing it.

-Rachel

Team Dynamics

The group members were Jose, Janie, Nav, and myself. The team worked well together, helping each other with supplies and contributing different ideas. We were able to effectively pick and choose good designs to come up with a final idea that we all enjoyed. Not only did we complement each other's good work, we gave each other non-offensive constructive criticism, which is always nice to have. One of the main problems our group faced was obtaining enough supplies. We often underestimated how much cardboard, money, duct tape, and spray paint we needed. We ended up going to the store three times for duct tape and 3 different times for spray paint. We also tried to save money by getting the cheapest spray paint which ended up needing several coats to cover the letters. When Walmart finally ran out of the cheap red spray paint, we were left with no choice but to choose the second less expensive brand which happened to cover our letters in one spray. Of course we figure this out, when it is ten o'clock, the project is almost completed, and we had been working on it for hours. We probably could have asked some other people rather than assuming on our own, however, we had fun doing the project together as a group and the next time I spray paint, I now know what to do!

-Rachel

Parts of the Letter Reflection

Before this presentation, I knew different fonts of typography and what serif was. Other than that, my letter knowledge was pretty pathetic and quite honestly, I had no idea how many specific parts make up the letters of the alphabet. 

It was really interesting to see all the different parts. From the bracket, to the tail, from x height, to the crossbar- all of these characteristics of the alphabet came into play when inventing a typeface. In the beginning of the presentation, it mentions, "By learning the vocabulary designers and typographers can develop a greater understanding and sensitivity to the visual harmony and complexity of the alphabet." It is right about it being so complex. It has so many bits and pieces to every individual letter. It is hard to remember all the different qualities. Better understanding the way letters have evolved and their components will make it much easier to identify type, the presentation claims.

The presentation was beneficial because it will help me better identify typefaces and distinguish which fonts look better together, how I should place them, etc. I have much more to learn and understand about the letters, however, I feel once I know, that knowledge will improve my work.

-Rachel

Photography Reflection

In the Photography article by Steve Edwards, he talks about how photography came to be and what it was like in it's earliest stages. One thing that proved to be interesting to me was photography's objective. It was presented as enabling the "traveler, the archaeologist, the naturalist to 'note what they see, without having to recourse to the hand of another.'" Some believed that photography would "do away with the dependence on artistic skill." Photography was originally seen as an unartistic form, without interference of the artist. It was simply point and shoot, no science or art to it. However, times have changed and photography has made a drastic leap into the art world. In the Photo Ops excerpt written by James Krause, he makes a list of all the artistic qualities of photography and how the shooter has to be prepared at all times with their camera in order to capture this art that they are trained to see. Symmetry/asymmetry, repetition, framing, close-up, continuous mode, exploration, movement, and serendipity is the list of categories that photography falls under. Many of the categories explain that if one shoots through this specific method, they will achieve this specific goal. The categories have characteristics- another lesson for the artistic photographer. This reading taught me to look for specific angles, symmetry, and use the camera in different ways. It helped our group when deciding where to place our letters on campus and how to photograph them. We focused our pictures around symmetry since it was pleasing to the eye and our letter boxes design was very symmetrical. I agree that photography is an art and the best photography comes from those who have learned through teachers and experience how, what, and when to shoot. It is not simple no interference, that's for sure.

-Rachel

Include Project Description

For this project, the class drew words out of a box. With this word, our groups of four were instructed to come up with text 2D models to express the meaning of our word: Include. Twenty slides later, my group came up with several pleasant ideas. The second instruction was to create mini models out of cardboard, paper, or anything we could find. We were supposed to construct the letters in a way that express the definition, and then brainstorm places around the KU campus that would also be beneficial to it's context. Finally, once we all had made mini models and agreed on an idea and location for our letters, it was time for us to start building the final, big models to be placed and viewed around campus. There were lots of ideas and characteristics to consider before building. Our final idea was to create two boxes and cut out the letters from the boxes. The first box would say "inc" and the second box would say "ude" and the negative space in between the boxes, would create the "l" that goes in the middle. We chose the color to be red so it is bright, dominant, and stands out. We chose to make it very tall, that way it is very easy to see, attention-grabbing, and big enough for people to interact with it. People could take pictures and fit inside the letters. The letters original location was Wescoe Beach, where lots of the students come together and hang out. People gather and include themselves in the "beach," which made this location suitable for our word.

After the class viewed our letters in their Wescoe Beach location, we took them to 5 other locations and photographed them. One had a tree in the middle for the "l" and another had the "Jayhawk Boulevard" sign. These photos were to be contained in our own folded accordion-type book, along with other photos of the team and the construction process. In completing the project, we created a process book like the previous projects, where we document our "process" through the project with reflections and pictures.

-Rachel