Well, prepare to be open mouthed at this nine square mile creation!

As with many artistic installations it is the final product that gets shown off, but because of how fragile nature can be, this is all about documenting the process followed by a fleeting moment of the final artefact as the wind and snows sets it.

Eight people and a broom led onward into Siberia by Jim Denevan created this somewhat temporary masterpiece on Lake Baikal, the world’s largest lake.  How apt.  Even more appropriate is leader Jim Denevan (who created the previous world’s largest artwork in the Sahara), is known for creating expansive and repeating patterns over endless scale.

Given the ferocious Siberian winds it’s a marvel the artwork survived in the tundra for as long as it did, making the photography and documentation of this work even more important than usual.

Living in a yurt in the centre of the lake the team survived by creating a daily fire (as the flames would periodically freeze), eventually giving up when ever so slightly warmer temperatures arrived and the circles melted away.

The complete experience has been documented in its entirety on The Anthropologist so do check it out.

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The tapestry is set to be a nine panel work of art, woven by fiber optic threads (instead of traditional woolen threads) connected to RGB LEDs.  These LEDs are in turn connected to a computer which can control their outputs to create a wonderful array of patterns and colours.

An extremely inspirational and modern take on the conventional loom.  A further digital twist on this project sees the connected computer scouring the web, in particular Twitter, for any content mentioning Josef Alber’s Homage to the Square providing a stream real time data visualisation.

“The element of the hand is a critical factor through all stages of this project: from weaving on a loom, to the way the electronics are integrated with the fiber optic threads”

Traditionally, past tapestries have been used to depict a story or an event, creating heroes, myths and legends.  This project is really not too different.  Threaded fiber optic information streaming data across the tapestry as light, visualising internet-based narration for a particular topic.

Patterns being tested.

The duo are still a tad shy of their target fundraising on Kickstarter to secure costs for materials, so if you like the look of their proposal, and the somewhat scaled down, prototype above then get your wallet out and back the project.

Once funding has been achieved and the artefact is complete it will be displayed at the International TECHstyle Art Biennial (ITAB) at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles.  Now, I’ll be honest, the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles isn’t somewhere on my to do list, but if this is the sort of project it is going to exhibit it definitely seems worth a look!

Close up detail of the fiber optic weave.

It’s speculative projects and ideas such as these coming to fruition that is real evidence of ever-improving technologies.  We used to make tapestries out of threads or strands of wool, and now we are creating them out of light, in real time, and using global data that someone hundreds of miles away could have well just tweeted!

This could well be the stepping stone to creating not just woven patterns, but really precise images.  Take each of those panels and shrink them down to represent, oh say, a pixel.  Thousands of pixels side by side and you would have a pretty detailed image, with the ability to change on demand.  Change the colour, the shape, or even the subject represented on it.  Very exciting.

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Design concepts explained

The design concepts explained series aims to explain various processes of design. If you’re itching to use those Photoshop tutorials but are stuck for inspiration, if you wish to find out what a ‘designer’ actually does, or if you are a seasoned pro who wants to refresh their memory, then read on!

Affordance

This week we focus on the concept of Affordance. Designers in many different specialties use it, but we mainly concentrate on its use in graphic design, user interface design and game design.

The term ‘Affordance’ has a strong basis in psychology. It describes the understanding of how we interact with an object. To see this process in action, imagine a two-year-old child with a pile of shapes and a hollow box with silhouettes of those shapes cut into it. To play the game, the child must fit the correct shapes through the correct holes. This seemingly fun game is actually a trick – it’s not there to entertain, but to educate. It’s teaching the child how objects interact with other objects, and helps build on their understanding of how the world works.

Affordance in game design

So how is this concept used in design? The game ‘Chronicles of Riddick’ manipulates our understanding of a real-world object to give us a clue of how to interact with the main menu.

Thanks to toy designers tricking us into learning during our childhood, we can understand that this cube has six sides and when an option is selected, it rotates to display different options. Our understanding of how this object works in the real world allows us to use this menu intuitively.

Affordance in iPhone apps

Let’s use a different example, this time from an iPhone application. In just a few seconds of seeing this interface, we intuitively know how to turn each setting on and off. This interface has been designed to afford pushing and afford switching to manipulate the controls, without any instruction to the user.

Affordance in web design

Affordance is used abundantly in web design. Perhaps it is used a little too much, especially when it comes to those 3D buttons! Below are a few examples used on well-known, popular websites.

Summary

Before seeking out the Photoshop tutorials on how to make buttons with bezels, tutorials on how to use gradients to give the appearance of 3D buttons, or guides on how to make those shiny reflective round buttons that look lickable, remember to ask yourself “why use affordance?”

The examples shown above help users understand how to interact with the interface. At the end of the day, design is all about the user and these concepts should be used for their advantage, and not clutter, complicate or hinder the interface.

Further reading

Book (link to Amazon UK): Interaction design beyond human-computer interaction
This book covers many aspects of interaction design, of which affordance is a small part. A recommended read for anyone involved in interaction design.

Video (link to iTunesU): RWTH Aachen University, Designing Interactive Systems
These videos give a strong introduction into interaction design and cover many concepts, of which affordance is one of them.

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Storm over an island

Massive Butterfly

Penguin Army

Clever cement advertisement

Crazy Soil erosion

Traffic deadlock in downtown hell hole

BIG wave coming

Weird Lego

Summit view

Massive Coconut Crab

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If only this was for sale!

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The Collection

Artist

Drew

Dillon

Actress

Andre, python

Ari

Andre

Avrey

Bailey

Betty

Brianna

Brianna

Cappy

Cappy

Cappy

Carol

Cecilia

Cole

Dafne

Danika

Darby

Ladies, it’s shopping time >>>

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I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel from David Coiffier on Vimeo.

…but red jelly is actually 2500fps!!

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