Sustained Investigation
15 pieces
For my Sustained Investigation, I focused on shape, space, emphasis, and contrast. I had a general idea of creating pieces revolving around being lost. With this, I just created. There was no deeper, complex process; I simply created art. The more I created, the more I began to see my thought process, my vision; a story was unfolding. This way, I was able to reflect on the pieces I made for each round and ask question such as: How can I show being lost with the use of space and placement? How can I make the emphasis truly stand out? What specifically do I want to show about lost? How can I use contrast to make the emphasis feel out of place? From such questions, I was able to come up with new ways with conveying my message, ultimately showing the growth. Thus, this journey led me to come up with the final idea: As we become more immersed in technology, we become lost from genuine human connection/communication.
01
From Round 1
For my first piece, I focused on the concept of being lost by creating an unbalanced environment, full of doors and stairs leading to various places. With this, I made the background grayscale so that the emphasis (the red dot) would stand out, feel out of place.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 17 X 11 in.
02
From Round 1
The second piece consists similar elements as the first, but the question of, "Is it necessary for the red dot to stay in a specific place?" was considered. With this, the piece feels complex, compacted, squished; there's hardly any space due to the clusters of rectangles and circles being close together. Such decision not only does it make the emphasis stand out even more, it creates the feeling of being overwhelmed (from being lost), uncomfortable.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 17 X 11 in.
03
From Round 1
With the third piece, the question, "Is it necessary to have barely any space in the piece?" came into play. From this, I placed the shapes considering space. This design choice conveyed the same message more clearer due to the unbalanced interaction of the shapes being clearer to see.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 17 X 11 in.
04
From Round 2
Color was added with piece four (and so forth). I wanted to see if adding color made a difference, which in this case drastically changed how the emphasis played with the shapes. With this, the emphasis stands out more from the complementary color choice, as well as being part of the piece. In addition, I experimented with placement for the emphasis to be interactive.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 12 X 12 in.
05
From Round 2
The fifth piece became much more simplified compared to past pieces. I wanted to convey being lost but zoomed in to where the emphasis is, so that environment feels big. This was done via minimal amounts of shapes.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 11 X 17 in.
06
From Round 2
I played around with negative space and a different color scheme for piece six. This was derived from the question, " Does it matter to keep the same color combination?". More space was created through less layers of shapes. I realized at this point how it isn't necessary to make the piece complicated in order to covey the message. Instead, simplicity can get the message across even clearer and more visually appealing.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 11 X 17 in.
07
From Round 2
I prioritized space for my seventh piece. This was accomplished by including only 3 elements: the emphasis, the doors, and the stairs. After creating this piece, I reflected upon my progress thus far and questioned where I could go with being lost. How can I go deeper?
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 11 X 17 in.
08
From Round 3
A whole new direction came about with piece eight. Thinking about the elements and principles of art and design I was going to use as well as my the concept of being lost, I came with the conclusion of the idea of maps. From this, I used scrap pieces of paper and composed a composition, which acted as a base for the next pieces to work upon. Additionally, from the question of "How can I make my message clear to see?", I decided to change the emphasis into a question mark. This way, the question mark is questioning where it is on the map.
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Medium: Pieced together on paper
Size: 8.5 X 11 in.
09
From Round 3
Piece nine was made by placing a textured background under the maps, which created contrast. The ideas from the previous piece was considered, which I also played around with placement.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 12 X 12 in.
10
From Round 3
I tested with placement for piece ten, which made the piece much more interactive. Just as a location is zoomed in when looking at a map via phone, I also zoomed in to the place where the emphasis was lost on the map. From here, this is when I questioned what the deeper meaning would be with lost.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 12 X 12 in.
11
From Round 4
Ultimately, I came up with my Investigation revolving around the theme: Because we are so immersed with technology, we become lost from genuine human connection/communication. This is shown through having the same idea of the maps from the previous pieces, but this time leading the people towards a map of technology (shown through apps), hence why the people are facing away from each other; they are being pulled into technology. In addition, the emphasis has changed from a question mark to the symbol of the wifi being disconnected to represent the disconnection of human interaction.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 17 X 11 in.
12
From Round 4
To make the message clearer to understand, I created a zoomed in version of the maps, which the emphasis were separated from each other. From piece ten, two pieces of emphasis are present: the question mark and the people. The destination (human interaction), is seen closed off, while the question mark is off to the side, where the road blocks it from progressing. This shows the questioning where the human interaction has gone. Contrast was also considered, which I focused more on the light vs. dark with the emphasis and the other elements.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 12 X 12 in.
13
From Round 4
I reverted back to using the disconnected wifi as the emphasis, which this time, I created a simple design of two people facing away from each other. I considered the question, "How can I convey my message simply and clearly?" when I created this piece. Thus, I showed how both individuals are pulled in through the maps of technology, ultimately cutting the path of interaction, hence being disconnected.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 12 X 12 in.
14
From Round 4
For the fourteenth piece, I decided to simplify even further to see if such decision was also able to convey the theme. The placement of two people facing away from each other was still intact. This time however, one person is seen to merge with the maps of technology to show how being so dependent on technology pulls us away from communicating in person.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 12 X 12 in.
15
From Round 4
For my last piece, I resulted back to my original idea of the maps of technology, but this time I considered the following question: "How can I contrast the elements so that the emphasis feels out of place?". With this, I decided to really focus contrasting the emphasis and the background by having a dark purple background and a bright neon yellow to compliment that. In doing so, I designed one person being pulled into technology, while the other is blocked off from coming in contact with the other as it has a question mark on its head. This shows that the person is questioning how to interact with the other person if they are blocked off, while the other is dependent on technology. Thus, this shows the disconnection.
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Medium: Sketched & recreated in
Adobe Illustrator
Size: 12 X 12 in.