HW1: Reading Response + Design Etudes #1 + ChucK

Elisse Chow | October 3, 2023

Part 1A: Reading Response

> Principle 1.6 Design is an interplay between function and form.

I'm not sure if I can fully articulate my relationship with design—except that I know I do not have a lot of experience with it in a formal sense. I've not had much education or guided coursework specifically on design techniques or principles, and anything that I know has been picked up from my own practice with feedback from my family and online resources. Regardless of my inexperience, I've had a lot of fun with it over the years as a makespace fanatic and a CS major on the Visual Computing track.

Looking back on my work, I don't think I've ever really built for function—mainly form. I've created many aesthetically pleasing still and animated 3D scenes, a simple Google Dinosaur clone with a bao running away from being eaten, and various laser cut pieces inspired from polar functions and doodles I've created haphazardly. These were all things I created for “fun” because it was “beautiful” and because I was excited about the endless possibilities of technology to create things that I could not create with traditional mediums. I'm horrible at drawing, but with math I could bring a flower to life.

There are really only two things I've made that come to mind that I could say I was focused on both form and function. The first is something I would say isn't entirely too interesting, but it's something I'm proud of: my personal website. I built this website to become a sort of portfolio of my work—something I could put on resumes, job applications, and other places for recruiters and anyone else who was interested in the work that I've done and the project I've engaged with over the years. I wouldn't say the form is exactly beautiful, but it's pleasing enough to not be an eyesore. My favorite section of my website is the landing page. The first thing you see in all caps is “ELISSE CHOW.” In the background, I've displayed one of my first projects at Stanford from my frosh introsem CS44N Great Ideas in Graphics. In the end, it's a simple particle simulation depicting connections between different dots as they travel across the screen forming lines and triangles based on proximity. There's a small element of interaction that's not entirely explicit. Try pressing the keys '<' or '>' repeatedly to change the velocity of the particles or press the letter 'm' for a surprise. For me this animation elicits joy because this project is close to my heart, and I'm happy I've still been able to incorporate it into my web presentation of myself. While others don't have the same context, I hope others find it as beautiful as I do.

The second thing that comes to mind is a 3D printed Nintendo Switch cartridge case that I designed for my sister years back when I first got my Ender 3. I can't find any pictures of it at the moment, but when I do, I'll be sure to update this page with it! It ended up being a white cube shaped box that fit about 5 different switch cartridges. It had about three different versions of the pokemon Snom on it—one 3D version of it attached to the lid of the box, one under the lid, and one on the surface where the cartridges slid in. These small details brought a lot of joy to my sister, because she loved the ridiculousness of it all. She still uses that box to this day.

With that said, I think I'd like to consider marrying form and function more. More often than not, I don't consider them to be two sides of the same coin but rather that one is more important than the other depending on the context. I really enjoyed this first chapter of the textbook. It's given me a lot to think about, and I still don't fully understand my relationship with design. But, I hope that I'll begin to answer some of my questions throughout this class.

Part 1B: Design Etude #1

1. The Social Dance "Frame"

In social dance, the “frame” refers to the positioning of the upper body when connected to your partner in a closed position. It's a concept that is common to many social dance styles, but I'd like to talk about it in the context of Viennese Waltz. This is particularly relevant to me at the moment because last week, I auditioned for Stanford's Opening Committee for the Viennese Ball happening at the beginning of March 2024.

Functional Analysis

In Viennese Waltz, the “frame” is so important to maintain a connection between the lead and the follow. Without a strong frame, it's easy for the pair to fall apart as they rotate about the room. The “frame” provides a foundation for the lead to guide the follow through different techniques and steps and allows them to become a single unit. The “frame” also allows dancers to make use of angular momentum! I find this detail extremely useful and fun in the moment. In one of the more difficult moves called the “pivot”, partners rotate 180 degrees with each other for every step. Without a strong frame in pivots, you frankly can't turn properly. We were told to act as if we were a spinning top.

Aesthetic Analysis

Even regardless of the frame, I find waltzing so wonderful—both from the perspective of a dancer and a viewer. From the outside perspective, the dancers look like what they're doing is effortless. Their connection is clean, elegant, and delicate. More often than not, you see smiles on peoples faces—they're having fun. The frame is the core of the elegance of the dancers, and I find that so beautiful.

2. Pencil Case

Now, this pencil case isn't as delightful as the one depicted in Chapter 1, but nonetheless I find it quite beautiful. I'm biased of course, because I've owned this pencil case since the beginning of high school and its color is one of my favorites.

Functional Analysis

Like any pencil case, its function is to store pencils and other stationary that might fit inside. But unlike other pencil cases, it stands! [insert video here] To do so, you need to unzip the case so it's open, and push the case down for the bottom rubber part to collapse and have a stable bottom. It can technically stand without doing the collapsing action, but the act of pushing it down is just so fun. It's something I look forward to whenever I need a pencil. Additionally, because it stands it's rather convenient when you're working on a small desk space, and don't have a lot of room to put things on, but need constant access to different stationery I own.

Aesthetic Analysis

I find this pencil case very pleasing—though again I am a bit biased. It has a rather simple design of only a single color, but it's made out of this sturdy rubber material that I trust my stationery won't stab through and feels nice to the touch. The collapsing that's done to make the pencil case stand is also satisfying to me in that the ridge is a little sharper than any of the rounded edges of the entire case which is fun to play with.

3. Velcro

Functional Analysis

Velcro is a durable, versatile material that can quickly attach cloth materials to one another. They're easy to attach and remove, suitable for garments that don't necessarily need a permanent foolproof attachment. It's an example of inclusive accessible design that allows people that don't have fine motor skills to don garments that they otherwise might have difficulties with. I find the functionality part of its beauty.

Aesthetic Analysis

It's very possible that a lot of people don't find velcro beautiful, or aesthetically pleasing. It's somewhat bulky in some manners, often in black, and if you accidentally bump into the hook side of the velcro, you might be in for a small bit of pain. But when you look at how velcro works, really close up, I find it so intriguing how such chaos on one side of velcro gets hooked onto by the other side. And, if you separate the two sides of velcro, the sound just has something about it that I can't put my finger on that just brings joy. In some cases, it's abrasive, especially when you rip the velcro off quickly—but in other cases, it gives a slow little tickling effect to my brain.

Guerilla Design

Since I started this assignment a little bit late, I didn't get a lot of time to infiltrate my life with guerilla design. But I added a little bit of flair here in there in my notes for the day. Instead of my normal simple colors of just blue, black, and red, I added in some more bright and happy colors including pinks, purples, greens and yellows! I guess I also used more of my colorful post-it pack for random things throughout the day instead of just a simple blue. And then, instead of a plain html page, I opted for styling this page a bit more to make it more appealing. I'm still not completely satisfied, and I'm sure there are many more ways that I can incorporate design into my daily life.

Part 2: ChucK

For my ChucK program, I experimented with panning sin oscillators and creating new shreds for different notes. My goal was to create something I found pretty and enjoyable, and I'm pretty happy with the result!

fun void panning( int hz, float offset )
{
    SinOsc foo => Pan2 p => dac;
    .2 => foo.gain;
    hz => foo.freq;
    offset => float t;
    10::ms => dur T;
    
    while( true ) 
    {
        0.4 * Math.sin(0.5 * t) => foo.gain;
        Math.sin(t) => p.pan;
        T / second * 2.5 +=> t;
        T => now;
    }
}
// Pretty chord I found online
// E3 C4 D4 G4 B4
[162, 257, 288, 385, 485] @=> int notes[];
for ( 0 => int i; i < 5 ; i++) {
    spork ~ panning(notes[i], i * pi / 2);
    1::second => now;
}
// Continue forever mwahaha
eon => now;