Reading Response No. 3

Nancy Rico-Mineros

        Principle 3.5: “Build Complexity From Simplicity.” (pg. 119) The beginning of any great design starts from nothing or that is at least what Ge thinks. In many ways, that is how I came into designing my visualizer. Nothing but me staring at the blank ChucK screen looking right at me. In many ways, the miniAudicle was my canvas, and I was its painter. My visualizer came to be after I created a sphere - one of the simplest geometric shapes. Within its simplicity I imagined all the possibilities of what I can create. What if instead of one sphere, I can make multiple spheres? What if I made the spheres of a smaller size? What if I end up making the small spheres rotate around the big sphere? Ultimately these little ideas that would spark would lead me to create an orbit system for my visualizer. As my design started taking shape, the more personality my design has. My creative process was based on building complexity from simplicity. If you look at the world around us, it is built on simplicity. A circle can become the basis for a ferris wheel and something such as simple as a zipper can be turned into a pencil case.

        As I look into working on the final version of my visualizer, I think about principle 3.16: Originality is Recombination. Ge explains that we are inspired by the things we find beautiful and our aesthetic preferences. Now that I am at the developing stages of adding more aesthetics into my visualizer I think about the things that I enjoy. In this case, my visualizer developed its own characteristics being very child-like and resembling very much the early animations from Pixar. Instead of fighting it off, I am at the point where I will play into the aesthetic of my design more. Visual design is all about personality. I could make an exact replica of a solar system but what would be the point if it's void of all personality. The design should reflect the person who created it and much of what I am learning throughout the class is how to find a balance of sprinkling elements of myself into my design.