jaredp_project1_rational

/jaredp/rational
I want to... /jaredp/index [|/jaredp/final_image] /jaredp/process //**/jaredp/rational **//

Rational
I had a number of topics, starting with skateboarding and photography. I decided on music being that headphones never leave my ears outside of class and that I am heavily involved in it. I will admit that most of the knowledge on my concept maps is empirical from first-hand knowledge (I’ve spent years working alongside promoters, label representatives and months touring as an unsigned band throughout Canada and the USA), I did back it up with Wikipedia and a small number of websites.

Once I had decided upon a topic related to music, I already had a hand-type approach to this concept mapping in mind. There is nothing systematic or proportional about the writing process or the final outcome of music and felt it should be represented that way in the map. I felt that a creative approach was necessary in order to convey the variances of tone in music, such as different typefaces work in design. I wanted to do hand writing for the boxes but it was too unclear and opted to only use them for the verbs in between boxes.

I find one of the biggest challenges was the lack of restraints. Not having a specified format is one more decision we have to make, and unfortunately it’s usually one of the first and foremost ones. Being able to create your map outside of the print two-dimensional realm was daunting so I stayed close to what I was familiar with, normal 11 x 17 prints. Something digital in motion would have been interesting to create but I’m not as familiar with AfterEffects as I’d like to be at this point. Another challenge was the sorting of information. It’s difficult to research a topic and really design a layout for it to be easy to read. When showing it to people, it was easy to guide them along by being close by and explaining it, but I have to realize I won’t always have that ability. I feel the use of colour coordination and the maps’ vertical direction works well.

I learned a lot from this project, mainly about conceiving and planning thoughts. I am familiar with the content prepared for me, or at most – it is straight forward (text here, image here, blah blah). This project challenged that and asked one to take a medium, decipher it, and pass along one’s newly gained knowledge in a clear and knowledgeable way. At first I was frustrated with the project but upon completion, I feel I’ve found a new way to approach new ideas and am excited to implement them in future interactive projects.