Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Another week...and a Whole Lot of Concept Mapping
Well, last night I had my first thesis nightmare. (11 weeks out...it's going to be a long couple of months) It involved a series of technological problems that blew up in my face the night of the gallery opening and everyone shaking their heads as they walked by my failed thesis, including my disappointed parents...
Maybe I need to start going to bed earlier.
In other news, the past two weeks I've been diving into the research-intensive portion of my thesis. My professors suggested using concept maps to aid in my thought processes-after all, it's a HUGE amount of information that needs to be processed. At first, I balked. I had tried a slightly different form of concept mapping in BFA class and I was not fond of it whatsoever. It was my first time with it, and that UX method of thinking was very "out there" to me as a graphic designer. And yet, I cut the huge sheets of kraft paper, grabbed a red Crayola marker and went to town hoping for the best. As I worked through bubble after bubble making connection after connection, doing the background research on the sampling and the methodology behind the composition, it all began to make sense. After all, why shouldn't it? With all that information clogged in my brain, no wonder I hadn't been able to make sense of it all until I saw it visually laid out before me.
"I said well, Daddy, don't you know that things go in cycles..."
It has been absolutely fascinating for me to chart out the movements of hip hop's evolution. Branching off, cycling back, but always a unique sound unlike any other. Who would have expected RUN-DMC's hard-edged urban rock samples to evolve from the glittering disco-flavored beats of the Sugarhill Gang? Or the fact that De La Soul's cool jazz/soul influenced records could evolve and coexist simultaneously with NWA's gritty sample-heavy gangsta rap in the Golden Era? It's incredible that this genre that the music industry had absolutely no faith in back in 1979 has distinguished itself as not only music movement but a cultural and political statement as well.
I'm still finishing up a few more concept maps (hopefully I'll have some pictures next time), and in the meantime, I'm beginning to think about the form more extensively. A thesis that is audio-visual in nature is going to need careful consideration in how it can relate to its audience, and that's not something I'm about to take lightly. I plan on doing a little inter-personal research and developing a couple personas and scoping out the technological resources that I'll need, all while making sketches and doing visual and typographic experiments to give this project a definitive aesthetic. It's about to be a couple of exhilarating weeks, and I can't wait.
Maybe I need to start going to bed earlier.
In other news, the past two weeks I've been diving into the research-intensive portion of my thesis. My professors suggested using concept maps to aid in my thought processes-after all, it's a HUGE amount of information that needs to be processed. At first, I balked. I had tried a slightly different form of concept mapping in BFA class and I was not fond of it whatsoever. It was my first time with it, and that UX method of thinking was very "out there" to me as a graphic designer. And yet, I cut the huge sheets of kraft paper, grabbed a red Crayola marker and went to town hoping for the best. As I worked through bubble after bubble making connection after connection, doing the background research on the sampling and the methodology behind the composition, it all began to make sense. After all, why shouldn't it? With all that information clogged in my brain, no wonder I hadn't been able to make sense of it all until I saw it visually laid out before me.
"I said well, Daddy, don't you know that things go in cycles..."
It has been absolutely fascinating for me to chart out the movements of hip hop's evolution. Branching off, cycling back, but always a unique sound unlike any other. Who would have expected RUN-DMC's hard-edged urban rock samples to evolve from the glittering disco-flavored beats of the Sugarhill Gang? Or the fact that De La Soul's cool jazz/soul influenced records could evolve and coexist simultaneously with NWA's gritty sample-heavy gangsta rap in the Golden Era? It's incredible that this genre that the music industry had absolutely no faith in back in 1979 has distinguished itself as not only music movement but a cultural and political statement as well.
I'm still finishing up a few more concept maps (hopefully I'll have some pictures next time), and in the meantime, I'm beginning to think about the form more extensively. A thesis that is audio-visual in nature is going to need careful consideration in how it can relate to its audience, and that's not something I'm about to take lightly. I plan on doing a little inter-personal research and developing a couple personas and scoping out the technological resources that I'll need, all while making sketches and doing visual and typographic experiments to give this project a definitive aesthetic. It's about to be a couple of exhilarating weeks, and I can't wait.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)