VISUAL PUNCTUATION

This week's homework was a little different from the previous ones....We had to come up with most of the elements that would compose the work, this includes the medium used, the subject and he materials... The only condition was that we had to follow the example given in class.
In class, we did exercices with tape which had to visually represent words. The two following pictures are based on the word pause:


This composition is representing the word SYNC (synchronization):














For the homework, I had trouble finding an appropriate word, which would be original and challenging at the same time. I choose the word INEVITABLE, which I thought could only be represented by a fast moving object that could not be stopped or deviated...When I hear that word, inevitable, I feel it has a negative connotation, so I decided to make the object aggressive and mean. I did not do this composition with tape, but with simple markers and pencils. Which is what I like to work with best.
Here is INEVITABLE:

Imaginary interface

The interface I imagined is a mix of a current technology, a little imagination and movie references. I designed a new tv based on the transparent screen seen in "Minority Report". I thought that imagining a 3d tv would not be original, as we have all imagined and dreamt about it....I thought of a more possible near technology.
Have you ever been in a room with somebody watching tv and you both want to watch different shows? well my "glass poster" is the solution. It is a flat screen tv with incorporated speakers on the side when you and your friend agree on the program to be seen. But when you disagree on the program choice, one of you can put on a high tech pari of glasse s, with transparent lenses. These glasses actually display a different image when facing the screen. Images don't overlay since the images that the person are watcing with the glasses only appear in the glasses. It is just using the same system, kind of like a computer loading and browsing different webpages using just one ressource. Using a system of packet switching between the glasses and the screen system, up to 6 pairs of glasses can watch a program simultanously. I don't believe more is necessary, when was the last time seven of you were in a room watching tv and wanted to watch different programs..... If for example 15 people want to watch a soccer game, and that 6 others want to watch different movies, then the 15 persons can watch the game without glasses on the actual screen and the 6 others can watch that same screen with their glasses.......
Each pair of glasses have retractable mini speakers/headphones, which will allow its users to listen to their program peacefully...there is no need to tell you that my glasses will be equipped with the best sound available. If a sports fan wanted to follow to games at the same time, he will be able to watch one with his glasses, and then retract one or wo headphones to listent o the other game being played on the physical screen.
You can buy different models of tv, with 3, 4, 5, or 6 glasses captors. But all system will come up with one remote for the main screen which can store around 500 movies, or 100000 songs (~342 gb). The remote will work on other tvs of the same model so that you can bring your media collection to your friends house easily.
Here are some pictures to help you visualize the interface:

HCIs IN SFMs

After the reading, the words "interface metaphors" make much more sense.....
Out of all the example that were mentionned, I must say that I liked the examples in the "Other I/O Technologies" section. I have not seen "Minority Report" in a while but all these great ideas and concepts that struck me when I watched it hit back me back. As said in the reading, one enormous factor that gives this movie so much credit is the long research done on society's evolution. One element that i noticed in the movie, but is not discussed here, is the size of the commercial boards on the streets, they are the actual walls of the streets and talk to you and show you video clips when you walk by them....I thought that was so true. Commercials move back in front of nothing, they are more and more in our faces, it is just a matter of time before something like this actually happens in my opinion.
Another "interface metaphor" i thought was interesting is the "gesture technology", how computers detect your gestures for commands. This was first seen in "Johnny Mnemonic", as a way to use the internet. And then seen again in "Minority Report" as a way to arrange a visual puzzle like pieces on a desktop. I thought these concepts were really interesting because they are not overused and both used them in different ways, with different visual supports.
The "Babel-fish translator" is one of a kind. I did not see the original version of the "Hitchhicker's guide to the galaxy" but I recently saw the remade version; where I found out about this natural new technology. I was so used to see some crazy electronic, surreal, digital invention to make the movie more futuristic, (because in our head future means new and improved technological devices that help us) that I was plesantly surprised to see that the discovery of a natural "bug" could beneficiate the human. Especially for a good cause like the simplicity of communication. I thought that was a wonderful "interface metaphor".
The neuro-technology, technology based on brain activities, is now a famous concept that still makes its impact. I think the enormous popularity of "The Matrix" made this concept not so far-fetched, a little "out there" but not so much after all when you look at what goes on in the world today. The brain is the processor of the human, what makes us think, believe, have emotions, etc... I find it normal that this part of the human anatomy is given an extreme importance. So it is no surprise when in "Johnny Mnemonic" it is viewed as a safe for information, a guardian of privacy, the last thing that we own, or try to. The brain is our weapon, and it is constantly under attack, it is a fort to change. This idea brings me back to the matrix example, how by plugging devices straight in our heads takes us to other worlds, other dimensions......
Going back to the "Other I/O technologies" section, I found the idea of liquid ink quite crazy. I mean all the previous examples and concepts discussed earlier and in the original text could seem possible, with an advance in techologies, or with a open mind. But liquid ink that changes journal titles on a simple sheet of paper seems to far for me. This liquid ink would have to be kept in between the sheet of paper and an extremely thin layer of a material to keep it on the journal, and pre programmed to alternate between different news, all this on a tool that is very probably going to end up in a trash can. One thing that I noticed in the evolution of technologies is its direction towards long term use. I am not talking about the actual long term use of the object you are using, like a computer or a phone, but what the object will represent in the near future. You know you will always need a phone, everyday, just like the computer, and maybe you will soon have one object that combines the both of them, which is an increase in technology. But you wil have a different newspaper everyday, which is not really ressource efficient, an important factor on earth today. And I know for sure that these journal are not recycled in the movie, because I rememeber that in one scene, there are newspaper lying around everywhere in the streets and metro......

Symbol exercice

This is the story of this religious nun who fell in love with Ossama Ben Laden. she knew it was wrong so when Ossama came to secretly see her in her room at night (that's why she is not dressed as a nun here, she was about to go to sleep), she grabbed the first thing she had at her disposition and aimed it at her enemy/love....Magically, God intervened (you can't see him here, just feel his presence) and allowed religious crosses to be shot from her device....But to all good there is an evil equivalent, and Satan allowed little balls of death to be shot from Ossama after one movement of his hand....The battle is merciless, but from th elooks of it, Ossama is winning, he is placed higher than the little nun. That's because he has more money than the church where the nun lives....and can afford stronger powers.....YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?? WHI IS GOING TO WIN?? WILL OSSAMA KILL HIS MISTRESS?? WILL THE NUN GIVE IN TO LOVE OR TO REASON??? MORE NEXT WEEK!!!!!!

The 4 feelings

I did not notice that I forgot to post these pictures in class until today....
here are the 4 collages based on the following emotions:
Happy



















Angry















Melancholy



















Hungry

Collages

First I will post the in class work from last week.....
The first one is my self portrait using only drawings from the previous weeks.

This drawing is a mix of lines and circles exercice to create movement. I used one on top of each other to complete themselves and create more of an explosion. I also added black and red ink. The black ink is to create a focus on the center of the page and to tell the viewer where the explosion starts, and the red line are representative of the barriers that I always want to break, impressive barriers, but not solid enough for the upcoming explosion.



This image is "the monkey in the cage"
I thought it represented a monkeyt well because of the colors and texture of the dress and bag.
A cage effect is created by slicing the image in numerous stripes. Because I have only seen monkeys unside cages, or television boxes.