Visuals
My final paper mechanism design shown in video format (with sound).
The final paper mechanism designs of myself and my partner, Brianna Thompson, shown in video format (with sound). The first part of the video is Brianna Thompson’s design and the second part is my design.
Project Statement
This project consisted of exploring kinetic paper mechanisms to emphasize movement inspired by an instrumental song. My partner and I chose The Pink Panther theme song as our base instrumental song. The goal of my composition was to utilize paper mechanisms and elements and principles of design that convey the feelings and emotions I felt from the section I chose in an abstract way. For my composition, I focused on the elements and principles of shape, contrast, and color. These elements and principles, in combination with my paper mechanisms, would help me match the feeling/emotions, as well as the complexity of the instrumental sound.
Process
View detailed project process at Dynamic Pages: Process
Reflection
This project taught me the importance of having a cohesive concept. It was important for my partner and me to make sure that we had a sound concept to work with from the beginning and to make sure that we both followed through on that concept. I could see myself fully going through the iteration process: I thought through many different possibilities to find mechanisms that would match the song perfectly, as well as shapes and colors that would match the feelings and emotions I was trying to convey. I struggled with our concept a bit during this project. My partner and I couldn’t seem to come up with a concept that worked well; however, we kept thinking and iterating until we eventually landed on the concept we have now. This once again showed me the importance of iterations in the design process. For the first time, I am truly proud of my craft, which was a goal of mine from the beginning of this project. I created mechanisms over and over again in order to have the clean, final product that I have. I can explain why I chose what I chose for just about every element of my composition, which means I am making progress in understanding how to better use the principle and elements of design.