Antar-Clock-Feedback

The clock project was an excellent opportunity for me to both explore Perlin Noise and how to use it, as well to begin translating my personal style to my digital work. There were some aesthetics that we’re not where I wanted them to be, but I was aware that they needed fixing. For instance the jumping around of the branches every second–I realized too late in the game that my structure didn’t permit for that flexibility because of having to refresh the background.

I read the article that Tega Brain suggested and I thought it was fascinating. I’ve always been loosely interested in cryptography but never really took the time to read more about it (watching Morten Tyldum’s film adaptation of Andrew Hodges’ book, The Imitation Game is about the most learning I’ve done on the topic). In design we are taught that everything should have a meaning. Almost nothing should be placed, coloured, or used arbitrarily, and if it is, there should be a strong defense for it. However, I’ve never enforced this mentality on my illustrations, since their sole purposed has always been personal amusement. After reading the article Tega suggested, “How to Make Anything Signify Anything”, it made me rethink my illustrations. To almost anyone, my illustrations could continue to looks simply like illustrations, but if I were to apply Bacon’s cipher system to my illustrations, it would force me to think more critically about placement, and pattern. I enjoy mixing type and illustration together anyway, so this could really add a new depth to my work. Thank you Tega Brain for opening my eyes to different methods of applying meaning to my work!

It was very encouraging to read Laurent McCarthy’s feedback! I completely agree that I could work on more technically simple but aesthetically sophisticated work. I think taking a more “slow but steady” approach to the technical work will be more beneficial for me in the long run. I think it will also help me to think more creatively, therefor my work will really help me push my creative skills while also learning some interesting coding techniques that I can handle.

All of my peers said generally the same things:

• The current aesthetic is good but it would be great if I could realize my illustration aesthetic
• The animation is too jarring and the piece would be significantly stronger if there were smoother transitions.

I completely agree with my peers and I think I would like to eventually get my skills up to point were I can achieve these goals. In fact, I think my skills have already improved quite a bit since I coded the clock, and could probably get the animation to be smother, but I would have to continue to work to get the aesthetic style there. I think it would be interesting for my capstone project to include Tega’s reference to Bacon’s cipher system, my illustration aesthetic, and sophisticated animation.