In chapter 1 of Artful Design by Ge Wang, the comparison and connection between form and function is posed and analyzed. Design is the combination of both. I found that quite interesting because it was a different way of thinking than what I’m used to. I have always found aesthetics as important as function. What tickled my brain in this chapter is that it’s showing me that people (who are reading this book) need proof and some convincing to understand that form is just as important as function and they both work hand in hand to make a “design”. Aesthetics and form are useful on their own just like how function is useful on its own. There’s a book/movie that keep playing in the back of my head every time I go through hard time or feel any pain called “The Giver”. This book talks about a community in a utopian future where people are “okay”. They’re not happy nor sad, just okay. They don’t see color or taste food. They kill identical twins so that the other sibling doesn’t feel jealous. They don’t feel love or anger. They’re just living okay. In order for this community to stay that way, they have a giver (fancy word for book keeper) who keeps all humanity’s memories and history of everything, including emotions, within his or her system. Jonas was chosen to be the future giver and wondered why every giver in the past years kept leaving the community. Until he had to learn about all the human emotions all at once and it nearly killed him. Until he realized that there was music in the old world. There was art and dance and love but there was also war and destruction and hate. That’s what makes us human, the aesthetic part of design, the form and feeling it gives us. Playfulness is needed and not useless thing on its own.
On page 44 of chapter 1, engineering is defined that it’s about our “physical” world. That said, now the definition of a function is purely restricted to the physical realm. But then on page 46, we see that great design is supposed to understand us as playful creatures, as humans. The artful part of design is what makes it human. That leads to my point: Emotional functionality is just as important as physical functionality. Just because people cannot see it or touch it, doesn’t mean they cannot feel it. And just because they can “just feel it” doesn’t take any of its functional value. “People need to lean on one another in order to survive” – Ge Wang, Artful Design. This quote caught my eye and reminded me of the beauty of human connection. A connection that physically and biologically isn’t measured. Yet we know we cannot live alone. That’s the beauty of us humans. We feel emotion out of things that make no sense to a robot and that’s our problem. We judge our values based on the robot’s opinions.
<<< "Joudi A. - Assignment 1" >>>;
// sound chain
SinOsc s => dac.left;
TriOsc t => dac.right;
SqrOsc q => dac;
SawOsc w => Pan2 p => dac;
SinOsc d => dac;
// set gain
0 => w.gain;
.2 => q.gain;
0 => s.gain;
0 => t.gain;
0 => d.gain;
// for loop
for( 40 => int i; i <= 52; i++ )
{
// MIDI to Herts
Std.mtof(i) => float HZ;
// print i and HZ
<<< i, HZ >>>;
// set frequency
HZ => q.freq;
// advance time
300::ms => now;
}
// updating gain
0 => q.gain;
0 => s.gain;
0 => t.gain;
.3 => w.gain;
0 => d.gain;
// initialize pan position value
1.5 => float panP;
// while loop
while ( panP > -1.5 )
{
// pan value
panP => p.pan;
// print panP
<<< panP >>>;
// decrement
panP - .5 => panP;
// advance time
.5::second => now;
}
// update gain
0 => q.gain;
0 => s.gain;
0 => t.gain;
0 => w.gain;
1 => d.gain;
// setting seed
Math.srandom(127);
// initializing chance variable
100 => int chance;
// if loop
if( chance <= 127 )
{
// generate random int
Math.random2(40,100) => int r;
// print
<<< r >>>;
// update frequency
r => q.freq;
// sound only plays random if chance is less and equals 127
// advance time
1::second => now;
}
// initialize variable i
40 => int i;
// while loop
while( i < 100 )
{
// set volume for all
.1 => q.gain;
1 => s.gain;
1 => t.gain;
0 => w.gain;
0 => d.gain;
// set frequency
i => q.freq;
i => s.freq;
i => t.freq;
// print i
<<< i >>>;
// advance time
100::ms => now;
// updated in loop
i++;
}
// updating gain
.1 => q.gain;
1 => s.gain;
1 => t.gain;
0 => w.gain;
0 => d.gain;
// initializing z variable
1 => float z;
// while loop
while( z <= .3 )
{
// setting pan
Math.sin(now/3::second*10*pi) => p.pan;
// advance time
100::ms => now;
}
// for loop
for( 400 => int i; i > 390; i--)
{
// printing i
<<< i >>>;
// updating frequency
i => s.freq;
i => t.freq;
i => q.freq;
// advance time
100::ms => now;
}
// update w frequency
124 => q.freq;
// updating gain for all
.1 => q.gain;
1 => s.gain;
1 => t.gain;
0 => w.gain;
0 => d.gain;
// array declaration
[64, 71, 69, 75, 83, 81, 55, 64, 47, 77, 70, 88, 66, 63, 58, 47] @=> int G[];
[76, 59, 45, 63, 71, 57, 31, 76, 59, 65, 58, 76, 42, 51, 46, 59] @=> int B[];
// G.cap() is maximum number of elements in G[]
<<< G.cap() >>>;
// B.cap() is maximum number of elements in B[]
<<< B.cap() >>>;
// initializing e and a variables
0 => int e;
0 => int a;
// loop
for( 0 => e, 0 => a; e <= G.cap(), a <= B.cap() ; e++, a++ )
{
// printing index e and its value
<<< e, G[e] >>>;
// MIDI to frequency
Std.mtof(G[e]) => s.freq;
// printing index a and its value
<<< a, B[a] >>>;
// MIDI to frequency
Std.mtof(B[a]) => t.freq;
// advance time
1::second => now;
}
The three things that I find beautiful in my daily life are:
1- My guitar pick holder/keychain (it’s really cool)
2- My song book and pen
3- My plants/flowers
1- The functionality vs purpose of my guitar pick holder and key chain
For starters, what makes this item very cool is the multifunctionality of it merged with its meaning. It’s both a keychain and a guitar pick holder. Physically speaking, it serves two purposes. Not to mention the fact that it came from a need. The need to contain guitar picks in a place where you don’t lose them all the time, and what could be a better place that your keys. You’d never want to lose your keys, right? I think it’s a clever way of approaching a need. You don’t really need a keychain that holds your guitar picks. You want a guitar pick holder that doesn’t get lost. This is the engineering/robot side of things.
On the artful and human side of things, it means much more to me at least as a musician. For instance, I’m not a regular guitar player that has the motivation to practice every day for 40 hours. Thus, I need a reminder to play wherever I go. I have my guitar picks everywhere I go so that I have no excuse not to practice and I also have a constant reminder to do so. It also gives me this cool feeling that I’m expressing who I am using the keychain. Like having a Paris or New York keychain shows off that you love those places or that you’ve been there or that you want to go there someday, I’m showing off that I’m a musician and it makes me feel good looking at it every day.
2- My song book and pen:
These may seem very simple items to anyone else but to me these two are my most prized possessions. I once described them as my tissues. I write songs all the time, in the least expected times, a song would come up in my head and I won’t be able to even walk or do anything. Like a sneeze. So, I keep my tissues with me all the time to make sure I capture my sneezes. Functionality wise, they serve a great purpose of letting me write down my songs. My pen is very quick to catch up with my speed writing and the book papers are the perfect material to absorb ink without leaking to the following page. A perfect combination for a songwriter in need.
Value wise, they serve much more than that. They let me transform my thoughts and ideas into words, chords, and melodies. Aesthetically they make me feel safe. The notebook actually looks like a historical book. It was handmade with so much detail. It makes me feel like I’m in a castle writing something important. Whether what I write is important or not, the notebook makes me feel that way due to its form. The pen keeps changing of course, but I always use pens that at least feels like I’m writing with ink and quill which adds to the magic.
3- The third time is my plants and flowers. I recently got some plants for my new apartment and I think it’s only right to analyze their functionality and aesthetics. Function wise, their purpose would be to clarify the air in the room for a healthier living environment. Simple. Every science book mentions the importance of plants on our planets, especially recently. But they serve many other purposes and cause many emotions in their owner. Aesthetically speaking, they’re pretty, let’s just be honest. Flowers and plants make a place look better. A beautiful form of decoration indoors and outdoors. But they also mean much more than that to me at least. Having to move to a foreign country with no friends and family after living an entire life jumping from a home to the other is no fun. I’m at a point right now where I’m tired of moving. Therefore, these simple looking plants mean that I have settled. Even if I know that’s not true, they give me the sense of stability to keep me sane in my insane life. Sometimes the function of an item can be so simple or even none. Even aesthetically it can be ugly. But the emotional effect is triggered only but the human and their previous experiences that led them to the moment where they encountered that item and felt that certain feeling.
So my Guerrilla Design is what was supposed to be a break up text turned into a poem but them I thought; what would be a "creative" way to break up with someone. Songs are okay and lyrics can express but what about the music? What if the music expresses how irritated the person was feeling to the point that they wanted a break up? I thought this soundtrack would express it perfectly and would probably make the break up easier to handle. I mean I don't know, it would hurt either way hehe