Category: Student posts

W3 Curate / Em Brooks

For W3 Curate I wanted to explore how my jewellery is a consistent player in my day-to-day life. I assembled stills from short clips of myself removing, adding & wearing my jewellery. I was hoping to investigate how the jewellery forms a harmonious relationship with my books, as both come into close, physical contact with one another, and both are of high value to me as an individual. If I am to count the jewellery on my body individually, I have 12 pieces – I then decided to introduce another necklace that I sometimes wear, given to me by my mum, to make up the number 13.

Above: projected onto my wall as if to be an ‘exhibition’

In terms of the actual clip, I feel it is unfinished and perhaps unrepresentative of the other 12 books I had previously included. However, I wanted to avoid a ‘cluttered’ look by including all of the books, so maybe it is arguable that the one book represents all 13 of them…

I’m not entirely happy with the outcome, I feel I can still add a lot more to it and probably will. The editing is so rough!! I was definitely overambitious with this week’s brief but I wanted to try something different to my usual PDF spreads.

Ismail Sanusi: W3 Curate

Original Twenty-six items

The crossed-out items are to be replaced.

  1. Suitcase
  2. Rice Cooker
  3. Glasses
  4. Doorag
  5. Dressing Gown
  6. Toolbox
  7. Pencil case
  8. Flask
  9. Family picture
  10. Super Malt
  11. Baby Christmas tree
  12. Laptop
  13. Weights
  14. Alarm Clock
  15. Earphones
  16. Off Black Tea
  17. Documents
  18. Ironing board
  19. Xbox One
  20. TV
  21. Slippers
  22. Wallet
  23. Lucky Watch
  24. Phone
  25. Cocoa Butter
  26. Stress ball

Revised list of 26 items

The 13 new Items are based on things I interactive daily and have a deeper meaning to me. Items 14 to 26 are the added items.

  1. Glasses
  2. Doorag
  3. Dressing Gown
  4. Flask
  5. Laptop
  6. Alarm clock
  7. Earphones
  8. Ironing Board
  9. Slippers
  10. Wallet
  11. Lucky Watch
  12. Phone
  13. Cocoa butter
  14. Toothbrush
  15. Desk
  16. Bag
  17. Dark Knight Poster
  18. Book Binding Kit
  19. Keyboard Mouse
  20. Camera Stand
  21. Headphones
  22. Office chair
  23. Skipping Rope
  24. Vests
  25. Mirror
  26. Nail Clipping Kit

Audio Recording

After testing all the recording options I have I found that simply using my phone was the better choice, it has an app that is capable of isolating individual voices in a conversation, very useful when I’m working with one mic and I want to make some edits using Adobe Audition.

Film Recording

The visual representation of the exhibits(items) will be through a video recording of each object illuminated by shifting coloured lights within a dark room and black backdrop. I felt that still, images were a bit boring hence the recording, the lights were inspired by a previous project where I did something similar but for the purpose of photography.

images of the previous project:

I would like to have photographs of each of the items as a thumbnail for each video but to also serve as a typology set on a white canvas, which could be the web page background.

Sketch of typology on website and website concept:

Process

I’ll use to lamps with coloured translucent objects to create the light show, I want a dynamic and intense shine and glow to radiate from the object so ill be holding the lamps really close to the item and also moving them around franticly to get a blend of colours. Each item has its own texture and behaves differently when reflecting light so this method will be adjusted to suit each of the items.

Photo of the lamps I am using:

I am using a camera stand to hold my phone still while it records, the stand will be adjusted depending on the size of the item so I will have to organize them in order of size to minimize the number of adjustments to the camera’s position.

Photo of my tripod:

I’ll be using the slow-motion program on my phone’s camera to slow the movement of the lights and make the shimmering last long. If I had more time with this, I would record each object from multiple angles and have fade in transitions which I will now use in transitioning between items for the purpose of the project.

Quick Revisions

I have removed the ironing board and have replaced it with my iron, they both have different functions but I feel the iron is more essential to me as the iron does not need the board to do its job, it is also much easier to manage.

Photos of ironing-board vs iron:

I initially had my family members present in the description’s audio recordings, but I found it hard to keep them on the subject and having multiple voices took away from the calm atmosphere I was trying to produce. They did help refine my questions and build my recording confidence.

The recordings are being edited I will have one item recording up before the whole video because of render time bare with me. I’m also adding the audio tests on a SoundCloud link to an unlisted playlist.

Curate: ‘S(h)elf Identity’ collection

Process

In this week’s task, I explore the nostalgic memories associated with my possessions.

When replacing my 13 objects I decided to go down a slightly different route to my previous submissions. Prior to week 3, I had created publications exploring memories in the form of gifts. However this time I surveyed these memories in a different way with a connection to music through my CD and album collection. Music collecting is a big hobby of mine as I enjoy looking at album cover designs which helped draw me into the world of graphic design. As an aspiring designer, I only collect albums/CDs that display a good relationship between aesthetic + music. Most of these albums were also gifted to me, through friends and coursemates. These albums are displayed in cube boxes on a shelf in my bedroom and therefore provided me with a perfect place for me to hold an exhibition. If I were to restart this project from week 1, I would have picked objects solely from my album collection, as this way I could have created a more specific and meaningful exhibition.

Theme: Self Identity

experimenting with idea layouts
  • Organisation
  • Interactive timeline wireframes

Outcomes: S(h)elf Identity

Using TIME, HIREACHY and CATEGORY, my digital exhibition features an interactive timeline that displays each object individually & chronologically. Each object has been grouped into suitable categories to show where they would be displayed by subject on my shelf at home.

Interact with my exhibition here: https://xd.adobe.com/view/019d2729-e311-40a5-5f84-fe1ebd0b554c-77ac/

view full Exhibition here

Reflection:

I have realised that it may have been more suitable to exhibit my objects in a style linking to both music and memories, such as using sound or lyrics to capture the ‘essence’ of each object or by documenting the objects visually using music paper etc. I would have also liked to explore the friends and family members in more detail like I did last week to give a stronger connection to the value of gifts. For better organisation, I wish I had used a spreedsheet when sorting through my objects.

After completing this week’s task, I also came across an app which lets users create their own digital exhibitions 🙂 You can view exhibitions made on this app through your smartphones or web browser! I really recommend browsing other creator’s work. I had a lot of fun myself as it’s very realistic, relaxing and easy to navigate.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.exhibbit.exhibbitmobile&hl=en_GB

Never this without that – Exhibition

I decided to replace some objects with others that would “add something” to them and work with them, hence the name : never this without that. Some of the objects are even unusable or useless without the additional one. What is the purpose of a stapler without staples ? There are also personal things, such as the prayer book that I have associated with my mother’s chain with some Jewish religion symbols. Even if I haven’t finished everything yet, I have tried this week in my process to concentrate more on the whole page without putting too much margins and consider the double page spread.