I first decided to analyze the video we saw in class, the ‘Touch Wood’ commercial. The video is a wooden ball going down a wooden block path, and each time the ball bounces, the connection between the two would make a musical note. The ball would roll down this long path, and it would make a song. This set-up was built in a forest in Japan, and the actual scenery for the video is stunning. You can see al the trees, as well as some rivers flowing through the area. Another new media project that is worth analyzing is Napier’s website Shredder. The Shredder took apart website’s code, and made new images with the preexisting elements of a website. The new website shows abstract design and creativity. Both projects can be analyzed with the six design principles in Fuad-Lake’s ‘Slow Design Principles’.
These projects perfectly fits the first design principle, where shows people little things in everyday life which we we often forget. Having this wooden path created in a factory would be one thing, but it’s another to have it built in a beautiful, scenic forest. The project itself always show how something we do each day, like tapping again a wooden block, can become so stunning. As for the Shredder, there is often small html codes within websites that goes unnoticed, but the Shredder puts these elements together into something visually appealing. The second principle showcases how a project shows ‘expressions’ outside of what it’s perceived purpose is. For the ‘Touch Wood’ commercial, if were were just to look at the wooden staircase, you would think it was made for squirrels to climb. However, it is meant for a ball to roll down; and even more, it’s meant to make music! I was mostly impressed by how the notes actually made a catchy song! The Shredder may seem to exist only to mess with people’s website; however, it is also meant to showcase important coding within the website, and it is also meant to make something abstract and beautiful. It’s impressive how something that is mostly random, because it depends on different websites, can always turn out so cool looking.
The third principle of Slow Design is questions what material’s a project is made with, and whether or not it is ecological or not. The Touch Wood commercial is made only out of wood – and since it is within a forest, it will fit in perfectly. The Shredder’s work is made completely within cyberspace – so there is no wasted materials at all! Slow Design’s fourth principle details rely of collaborative efforts through sharing and evolving into the future. The wooden staircase could not have been made by a single person – it was made using multiple people, such as construction workers, and probably a musician. And since this project was a commercial, they could morph this project into newer things for future products for the company. The Shredder relies on other websites, which means people need to keep making websites in order for the invention to continue to be interesting. With more evolved websites coming in the future, it also means the program will also evolve in how it makes it’s art.
The fifth principle encourages others to participate in the design process. The makers of the Touch Wood commercial could have simply made the path smaller, or the song not as musical. However, they probably got professionals involved with the project in order to make it well polished, and also rather impressive. This principle especially rings true with the Shredder, since other people are the ones who will be making art with this program. The sixth and final principle asks for designs to look beyond the present day, and to have these works mature over time. For the Touch Wood commercial, if they do decide to leave this work out in the forest, it could become part of the ecosystem. Beavers will use the wood for dams, birds can make nests on it, etc. The Shredder will evolve as more and more technical websites are made, and it will make more interesting compositions than the ones we have now.
Touch Wood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CDLBTJD4M
raaf.org/intro.html put into the Shredder:
