Im ersten Schritt meines Experiments beschäftige ich mich mit natürlichen Druckfarben. Bevor ich mit meinen eigenen Farbversuchen starte habe ich eine kleine Recherche gemacht:
Wie kann man natürliche Druckfarben herstellen?
Natürliche Druckfarben werden aus natürlichen Materialien wie Pflanzen, Mineralien und Insekten hergestellt. Im Gegensatz zu synthetischen Farbstoffen enthalten sie keine schädlichen Chemikalien oder Schwermetalle. Die Farben werden durch Extraktion oder Kochen der Materialien gewonnen und dann mit einem Bindemittel wie Gummi arabicum oder Eiweiß gemischt, um eine Tinte herzustellen.
Wo werden natürliche Druckfarben verwendet?
Diese Farben werden seit Jahrhunderten verwendet und waren bis zur Erfindung von synthetischen Farben im 19. Jahrhundert die einzige Möglichkeit, Texte und Bilder zu drucken. Natürliche Farben sind auch heute noch in der Kunst und im Handwerk beliebt, da sie eine warme und natürliche Ausstrahlung haben und sich gut mit anderen natürlichen Materialien wie Papier und Leinwand kombinieren lassen.
Gibt es Nachteile?
Nachteile bei der Verwendung von natürlichen Farben sind, dass sie oft weniger leuchtend und weniger beständig sind als synthetische Farben. Außerdem können sie teurer und schwieriger zu beschaffen sein, da die Rohstoffe oft seltener und schwerer zu verarbeiten sind. Trotzdem gibt es viele Künstler und Handwerker, die sich bewusst für natürliche Farben entscheiden, um eine besondere Ästhetik zu erzielen oder aus Gründen der Nachhaltigkeit und Umweltverträglichkeit.
An meinem Wien-Wochenende war ich in der Albertine, da es dort zurzeit eine Ausstellung über große Künstler, die unterschiedliche Drucktechniken praktizierten, gibt.
Die Ausstellung präsentiert die Geschichte der druckgrafischen Künste, zeigt Beispiele für Holzschnitte und Kupferstiche ebenso wie Radierungen, Linolschnitte, Lithografien und auch unbekanntere Techniken wie Aquatinta, Mezzotinto, Schrotschnitt oder Zinkografie. Die umfangreiche Ausstellung zeigt die Herkunft und Entwicklung der einzelnen druckgrafischen Verfahren. Auch die Bedeutung der Druckgrafik im Werk einzelner Künstler sowie verschiedener Epochen wurden thematisiert.
Die Ausstellung inspirierte mich, dass ich auch in diese Richtung experimentieren möchte. Vielleicht finde ich andere Materialien, mit denen man Ideen auf Papier bringen kann.
One of the most important takeaways from the conference was the realization that even the most successful people in the creative industry have faced challenges and failures along the way. It was empowering to hear from people like Gavin Strange, who shared their journey towards success and acknowledged that their success was not achieved overnight. This was a powerful reminder that success is a process and that hard work and dedication are essential components of it.
Another takeaway from the conference was the importance of experimentation and playfulness in the creative process. Many of the speakers emphasized the importance of taking risks, trying new things, and not being afraid to fail. This reminded me that creative work is about exploration and self-discovery.
Lastly, the conference reminded me that expertise is important but not a prerequisite for creativity. Instead, creativity is about being open to new ideas, taking risks, and exploring new possibilities.
To enhance your experience please play this song on the background
Even if you don’t fully trust the data, trust the interaction.
That’s a phrase that Martha from Domestic Data Streamers told us, I think she meant something related to the work they do in the company, but I’ll use it to describe my experience in Barcelona.
I had no idea who a lot of the designers in OFFF were, but I was determined to have as much inputs as possible form the talks. Some of the questions that came up during this time were, how can we trust the information that someone is telling us if we don’t even know them? How can we trust someone that we just met (even if we did not even meet them personally)? How can we trust someone based on just their experience? How can someone trust me? The answer to these questions sums up into trust the interaction.
The talks that I enjoyed the most where the ones where I had a great experience and how they interacted with the public. My favourite one was the talk that Timothy Goodman gave, he introduced his new book, in a way that I’ve not seen before, he had a live band, in the background, playing as we read some passages from the book, just like poetry, mentally transporting us into nice afternoon at a speakeasy in SOHO.
The book talks about a summer romance he had in Paris where he met a Parisian girl and it did not work out, yes, a super cheesy topic. But the point is how he presented it in a fantastic way that I ended up buying the book, he have me his autograph, and I did not knew the guy before that talk, I just had an amazing interaction in his talk that made me trust him. Having amazing and meaningful interactions can get you to trust strangers, and viceversa, making this into something meaningful for both.
I was able to see this in the children’s museum, where interesting and trustful interfaces where the most used by the kids, usually one kid would try it out and if other kids saw the reaction from this experience, he/she would be encouraged to try it out as well.
And the pattern repeated itself again during the Domestic Data Streamers talk. Where we have never heard of them, we had no idea who Martha was, but just like an open book, she shared information that made us trust her, and the company. Also, she made us feel so nice and welcome in the workplace that we even wanted to apply for a job right on the spot.
Most of the amazing experiences I had in Barcelona were based how the interaction made me feel, and trusting it. Going to this trip made me realize that what we should be looking for is more of that feeling,a nice, safe, inspiring, and happy feeling. This applies to every aspect of my life, the everyday life, the professional life, the friendship one, even the dating life.
At the moment I find myself in a point of my life where I don’t know many things, I have no idea what I want to accomplish, I don’t know where I will find myself in the next months, I don’t know if I’ll stay or I’ll leave, if I’ll choose another career path or maybe not, if I’ll quit my job and find a new one, if I’ll call home where I’m right now or somewhere else.
I just know that the life I’m living now feels nice, safe, inspiring, and happy. We should look for experiences that make us feel this way, and try to make others feel this way with every interaction we’re involved into.
The OFFF conference was interesting in many ways to me both personally and professionally. I allowed myself to feel for which fields or topics I truly found interesting, and which I admire but do not want to work in myself. This search for what my designer-purpose is has been ongoing for a while, but it was nice to both confirm and learn more about my assumptions.
In addition to this I found that some of the speakers managed to get across that this search will not be finished at the moment my education is finished. For example, Jamhot spoke about their business doing well, but feeling unfulfilled. By choosing to do 50% “socially good” projects, and the rest with a clearer goal on “just making money,” they found a balance they were pleased with. This of course attracted more and bigger meaningful projects, and thereby changing the course of their business completely by first making a small step.
Rubén Alvarez also spoke about the struggle of finding his path. He described his life as doing good work, but feeling like it wasn’t giving him much. Only when he realized that connecting with people was what he enjoyed the most did he switch from doing random illustration work to creating his own coffee shops, winery and working with his illustration there to create conversations.
Overall, I think my biggest take away from the OFFF conference is to keep my own eyes open to opportunities and constantly reflect over my own gratification and interests.
What do I want to focus on in school, what do I want to do after graduation? Am I good enough? Do I have to do what I choose now for the rest of my life? What if I don’t want to do it at all? Am I studying the right thing? Is it okay not to always enjoy my studies? Is it okay to be bored? Which courses should I choose? I can’t decide! Oh Bachelor is already over, what now? Do I do a master? Am I ready for the world out there? I don’t think so… so Master. What kind? Am I good enough? Oh yeah, how glaring. What courses do I choose now though? Oh, that sounds exciting too, it’s so much at once. Who am I supposed to become? What defines me? Does anything have to define me? Isn’t it okay to be interested in many things and to fail sometimes?
With these thoughts I run through life every day for the last few years, or rather sometimes I run, sometimes I crawl, sometimes I plod along, sometimes I sleepwalk. It always seems to me as if all great designers know exactly who they are, what they can do, what they want, and as if all of this had been laid in their cradle. How frustrating!
Not so Ruben Alvarez, he started his talk with an introduction about himself that finally went beyond the usual “I’m a star designer and have been since I was handed a pen at 4 and since then I’ve known I was predestined to do animated design”. Rrrrube, as he calls himself in the media, showed himself as a person like you and me, who has many likes, dislikes and idiosyncrasies. This made him seem so approachable and human. He told his story, in which he tried for 3 years with all his strength and effort to become a professional musician, only to finally become a designer with what his teacher called ugly handwriting.
His witty and upbeat way of storytelling captured me and motivated me for my own future. It’s not about knowing who you want to be, because that changes all the time anyway. There are so many external circumstances that act on it and end up producing something completely different than you might have planned. Failure is an important part of the journey and often brings out things you never expected, but sometimes it doesn’t and that’s okay. It’s okay to struggle, it’s important to try new things and most importantly to remain human. This talk gave me so much motivation to just try, you don’t have to be perfect everywhere and it can be worthwhile to look right and left. Making mistakes can help or be a funny story at the next party. Being human, making mistakes, bouncing back and forth, looking around a bit and getting lost is what makes a person and in the end it all connects. These were exactly the closing words of Ruben’s talk. The only thing he wants to do his whole life.
That is to connect with myself, the people that I praise and the things that make me feel alive.
Ruben Alvarez
I think those are very good closing words that I’m happy to take with me on my future journey and live by. Wherever my own journey may lead, I think interaction design is not a bad start for Connection ;).
It’s been a few days since we came back from Barcelona, and I am happy that we had this opportunity to be a part of OFFF Barcelona 2023. Besides seeing what other people are working on career-wise, we could also spend time together, reflect on the conference, and share thoughts with each other.
One of the key takeaways from both Joshua Davis and Gavin Strange’s presentations is the importance of being adaptable and continually learning in the field of art and design. Both speakers emphasized the need to be flexible and open to something new as new technologies and design approaches emerge.
Joshua Davis, for example, spoke about the evolution of his own design practice, which began with static graphic design and has since evolved to incorporate interactive installations, motion graphics, and even code-driven generative design. He emphasized the importance of continually exploring new tools and techniques and being willing to collaborate with other designers and developers to create innovative work. He showed that creating great things takes time, even years.
I was really impressed to see that the music video of Phantogram band (Fall in Love) was created with his generative art because this was one of my favorite songs when I was around 15 and I would always think about how cool the animation was and didn’t even suspect about something like generative art.
Gavin Strange similarly emphasized the importance of being open to new experiences and learning opportunities, whether that means attending workshops or conferences, experimenting with new tools, or simply being willing to take on new challenges. He emphasized the importance of being curious and having a desire to learn, as these qualities are essential for staying up-to-date in the rapidly-evolving field of design. He talked a lot about how it is important to not be afraid to be bad at something at the start and just have fun with it because what matters most is the process itself. He also emphasized the importance of being true to yourself, without thinking about what others will think.
Also, I fell in love with his presentation style, mostly because he used a lot of gothic fonts, which are my favourite ones!
We also had the opportunity to visit a workshop by ZetaFonts, a type foundry from Florence. The workshop was a really fun and interesting experience and in the end, we created a Barcelona font from our sketches.
Ultimately, the takeaway for interaction design professionals from these presentations is that staying relevant and successful in this field requires a constant willingness to learn and adapt. Whether it means exploring new tools and techniques, collaborating with other designers, or simply staying curious and open-minded, the most successful designers will be those who are able to embrace change and continue growing and evolving over time.
I chose to explore Sam Bilbow’s paper ‘Evaluating polaris~ – An Audiovisual Augmented Reality Experience Built on Open-Source Hardware and Software’.
The text discusses how augmented reality technology is being used in artistic practice to create experiences that combine virtual and real-world elements. The paper introduces an AR experience called polaris~, which was created using a combination of open-source hardware and software. The experience is designed to be cost-effective and privacy-respecting. The AR elements are spatially aligned with the real-world environment using Unity and PureData, and can be interacted with gesturally to foster artistic and musical expression.
To evaluate the polaris~ experience, the author recruited 10 participants who spent about 30 minutes each in the AR scene and were interviewed about their experience. The results showed that the experience engaged participants effectively, allowing them to express themselves audiovisually in creative ways.
Overall, the paper presents a framework for creating similar AR experiences using open-source components and highlights the potential of AR as a medium for artistic expression. The polaris~ experience and the framework used to create it are available on Github, providing a valuable resource for other artists and developers interested in exploring the creative possibilities of AR technology.
One big advantage of this project is the focus on using open-source hardware and software to create cost-effective and privacy-respecting AR experiences. This is an important consideration given the potential privacy concerns associated with AR technology and the need to make it accessible to a wide range of users.
In my opinion this project provides a valuable contribution to the field of AR art and offers a useful framework for creating similar AR experiences.
In their paper “The Mobile Audience as a Digital Musical Persona in Telematic Performance,” Anna Xambó and Visda Goudarzi explore the role of mobile devices in telematic performances. The authors stated that mobile devices can serve as a tool for audience members to actively participate in the performance, rather than simply being observers. They propose the concept of the “digital musical persona” to describe the ways in which audience members can use their mobile devices to engage with the performance and contribute to the overall musical experience. This idea came during the pandemic, when people didn’t have the opportunity to visit concerts and people started to experiment with using live streaming services.
The authors provide several examples of telematic performances in which mobile devices were used in different ways to facilitate audience participation. They used gamification methods for that, such as using smartphones as musical instruments or using mobile apps to create interactive visual displays.
In their research, Xambó and Goudarzi did two case studies to investigate the use of mobile devices in audience participation during live music performances. The first case study involved an experimental music concert in which audience members were invited to use a mobile app to participate in the performance by generating live visualizations of their movements. The researchers found that the use of mobile devices allowed for a more immersive and interactive experience for the audience, and also provided valuable data for the performers to use in future performances. The second case study involved a more traditional music concert, but with the addition of a mobile app that allowed audience members to vote on the songs they wanted to hear next. The researchers found that this use of mobile technology not only increased audience engagement, but also provided valuable feedback for the performers on which songs were most popular.
Overall, Xambó and Goudarzi’s research offers valuable insights into the potential of mobile devices to transform the role of the audience in telematic performances. Their concept of the digital musical persona provides a useful framework for understanding how mobile devices can be used to enhance the musical experience for both performers and audience members.
