Two panels done!

Here is the front panel of the toolbox, containing the beginning of the manifesto. And no, it's not directly from the beginning, because the first sentence will be on a wooden tag hanging from the handle. The white areas at the corners and the center are for the box's hardware... and in this exported version there's a lot of white space around the edge that isn't there in the actual thing.

 And here is the back panel. I would have done the side panel connecting them, but I forgot to make a certain measurement for it so I'll have to go home and do that first.
I'm so happy with how this is going (finally!) and I wish I'd had this sudden epiphany about a week and a half ago! I'm starting to get a little panicky about time. I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing that this was due the 12th instead of the 10th! But it'll get finished eventually... they always do.

Toolbox

I finally have my found object! After much deliberation and angst, I finally settled on this antique metal toolbox. I really like the look and feel of it, and the idea that it's sort of a "working man's object," not an object one would ever associate with fine arts (which of course the Dadaists would have completely rejected). My only concern is the size of it (about 18 inches long and maybe 7 inches high) and being able to fit the (very) long manifesto onto it, but I think I have a solution for that as well. I'm going to take the second-to-last section of the manifesto and print individual sentences or thoughts from it onto heavy paper cards, incorporating some Dada-esque clip art collages onto these cards, with the idea that such cards would be kept in the box and distributed to the public in order to spread the ideas of the movement. The final, emphatic section of the manifesto will go on the inside bottom panel of the box, so once the reader has removed and read each card, their reading will continue back onto the toolbox. It all makes sense in my head, at this point... now comes the hard part of making it all happen!

(Also, sorry about the horrible and blurry picture quality... I want a new camera so bad...)

More Project 2 ideas

I abandoned the toilet idea for a few reasons (difficulty to transfer print onto, used toilet grossness, non-historical toilet, etc) and now I'm leaning towards large wooden found objects like a door or a chair (or both! or something else). I really want to use the wintergreen transfer method and I think it'll work very well on these wooden surfaces. My plan is to go to the Restore store sometime between now and Wednesday morning and take pictures of objects (or purchase them if I find things I like and really want to work with). I think the door would be effective in conveying the Dada ideas because it is something that could feasibly be seen by large numbers of people and others could post ideas onto it (nailing pieces of paper on, painting on it, etc--other things I want to consider doing). Right now I've been laying out the manifesto and highlighting/emphasizing bits that I want to do certain things with in the layout, and also looking for period images for use in collaging.

The manifesto itself is both interesting and frustratingly complicated at the same time. I found myself falling into a pattern of which parts of the text I chose to emphasize, but the whole piece is so emphatic and strongly-worded that it's hard to tell if the Dadaists would have agreed with all of my emphasis or not! I plan to lay out the text based around these strong words/phrases, which will be larger and bolder (and possibly in color, I haven't decided on that yet). I'll definitely be using a number of different typefaces from the period and trying to use them to guide the reading of the manifesto (light vs bold vs delicate vs emphatic, etc). I can already tell this project is going to be a challenge...

Project 2 Resources/Ideas/Reading

I'll probably add more on to this later, but here are a few preliminary sources that I had time to browse through for the Dada movement:

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2006/dada/techniques/typography.shtm

http://www.dada-companion.com/typography/

http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/collection.html
 
The next one is a good resource for many of the movements that we'll be focusing on:
http://citrinitas.com/history_of_viscom/avantgarde.html

Some preliminary ideas:
-Initially I was thinking of making a book, but it seems like that's a popular choice so I think I'll steer away from that.
-I'm going to go to the ReStore this weekend and look around to see what they might have (doors, windows, toilets, sinks, etc) that would be a good Dada-y object on which I could design the manifesto. I really, really like the toilet idea... that could just be because of "Fountain" but I think it would be the sort of shocking, scandalous medium on which they would enjoy seeing their manifesto printed.
-I think I'd either look into getting stick-on vinyl letters printed (for a toilet, for example) or find different methods of transferring prints (for a wooden object like a door). I'm worried the vinyl might be too modern a method to use, but we'll see what happens.

Thoughts on the assigned reading:
I thought this was a helpful way to start the project off. Along with the slideshow of design examples shown in class, it was a good introduction to each of the art movements and a helpful overview of how their beliefs and design tendencies differed from one another. As different as some of them were, however, it's interesting to see that many of them built off of each other and how we owe some of them (particularly Bauhaus and De Stijl, I think) credit for the way that designers today tend to appoach design work. The Dadaists were definitely a little out there as far as design goes, but I understand that they were aiming for shocked reactions and uproar from the traditional artists and designers of the time. Recreating their seemingly random and free style is the challenge! I also loved some of the example works shown in the reading--the "mouse tail" poem and the clock created out of text were my favorites.

Project 1 Synopsis

     As with all projects, designing these calendars had its frustrating moments, but I think it was a worthwhile exercise with which to start the semester off. In some ways I found the trickiest part to be coming up with my initial design ideas--both conceptualizing and sketching them out. We are all so used to seeing "typical" calendar layouts, that the real challenge for me was (literally) thinking outside of the calendar boxes and using the same information in a new and creative way.
     Originally I thought it would be difficult to decide which approach to the calendars best fit my typical methods of design--in many ways they each had their own appeal--but I think in the end I tend to be a little more analytical in my process than anything else. I did not feel overly restrained by the limited constraints of the analytical calendar, and this type of approach is one I have used comfortably before. The intuitive calendar initially resembled the analytical one a little too much, which suggests to me that I'm probably more likely to use an analytical method of design than I am to immediately branch out and let the design unfold by itself. Similarly, my synthetic calendar has a very geometric feel to it and more closely relates to my original design than it does to my intuitive one. Knowing my personality and my tendency to be very control-oriented, neat, and often nit-picky, it makes sense that I tend towards the analytical approach. I've found that I struggle when these traits clash with my more artsy instincts, especially in projects for my studio classes!
     A big challenge for me was creating a "graphic quality" in all three calendars. Creating contrast and hierarchy is something I think I struggle with a lot--I never know how far to push it, and as a result I often don't push nearly far enough. Developing a sense of this "graphic quality" and hierarchy is something I really want to concentrate on a lot over my next two years here. It can be frustrating to see my classmates' work and feel as though they already have a good sense of it while I just can't seem to achieve the same kind of look, but I realize I still have plenty of time to work on this.
     I'm content with how all three calendar designs turned out, but I think if I were to do the project over I would take a different approach. I admit that seeing some of my classmates' designs made me wish I had thought to do what they were working on! I don't think mine would function very well as calendars for the general public to use--they're a little too difficult to follow in some respects, and they would not be at all practical for providing other information (holidays, important events, notes, etc). However, I think as design pieces they are interesting and still convey the necessary information. My favorite one is a toss-up between the intuitive and the synthetic calendars. I like the colors and the boldness of the synthetic ones, but I like how the intuitive ones move and flow
    In the end, it was a valuable process to experience and it reminded me of some things I want to really push myself to develop over the course of the semester and of the next two years here as well.

Final Calendars