Studio Reflection (SKO)
Mess is More studio introduced participants to a non-linear, hand’s on approach to design that lead to various results in experimental typography and image-making. Students first participated in workshops that explored historical drawing devices and visual aids. Later we were encouraged to interpret our findings in contemporary contexts.
Classes were structured in a collaborative working environment. Students shared and benefited from each other's findings in an open forum. This attitude towards shared learning and collaboration moved us closer in to working with open-source computer software, like Inkscape, and further away from what could be considered “black box” software, like the Adobe Suite.
“In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a device, system or object which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black).”
Glanville "Black Boxes", Cybernetics and Human Knowing, 2009
As the complexity of software surpasses our general understanding, it is important for us as designers to maintain a confident level of independence from these tools we rely on so crucially in our work. Such reliance on softwares can often conform our ideas and restrict experimentation. The image making project in the Mess is More studio was a refreshing step away from these tools and an opportunity to resolve a design from scratch.
Rapid prototyping was a concept introduced in the studio to open our design process to fast and disposable experimentation with paper. The act of making and pivoting ideas physically, gave participants an opportunity to develop our designs by trial and error. I found this step in the process extremely beneficial to envisioning my final outcome.
For my project I explored the idea of a “light drawing machine”, that would eventuate into an experimental typographic outcome. The project was inspired by a drawing machine created by studio lead, Andy Simionato, which worked on an XY axis to control a pen. By attaching a light to the machine, a DSLR camera with an open shutter was used to capture the movement of the light in a way that conveyed the machine's motion and irregularity. The result, as a piece of typography, attempts to express the relationship between the image and the machine.
The nature of the Mess is More studio embraces failure as beneficial to a design process. This mindset helps us as designers feel confident in working without restriction. In application to my future practice, I have taken the open-minded design philosophy from the studio that encourages collaboration and experimentation.
Pictured: photo-zine publication of various studio results.
