What the heck is fun?

Hey y'all, if you can't read the image you can click on it and see it alone or right click on it and download it and zoom in from there. Cheers, Adam.

Exercise Seven: A Psychogeographic Map

"In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their usual motives for movement and action, their relations, their work and leisure activities, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there… But the dérive includes both this letting go and its necessary contradiction: the domination of psychogeographical variations by the knowledge and calculation of their possibilities."

(Knabb, Ken, ed. Situationist International Anthology, Berkley: Bureau of Public Secrets, 1995)

"Although conventional maps convey a certain abstract, geometric kind of 'truth' about the urban environment, the psychogeographical maps were supposed to convey a social, experiential or existential 'truth'. The maps show an experience of space as fragmented and discontinuous; areas which are experienced as distinct are pulled apart on the map. However, the arrows serve to relate the different areas and are based on the forces of attraction and repulsion or exclusion experienced in the course of the dérive."

(http://mypages.surrey.ac.uk/pss1su/lecturenotes/documents/nakedcity.html, accessed February 6, 2008)

At either the Weston Family Innovation Centre Phase II, or at the INTERACCESS show, perform a dérive. Enter the space with no direction, and follow your desire. Take detailed notes of your experience - the sights, the sounds, the sensations, your feelings, your reactions. Make every effort to free your mind of any preconceived notions, and make note of anything and everything that comes to mind.

Referring to your notes, create a psychogeographic map of your experience. Be creative about how your express your data, and which data you choose to express. The map should not make reference to cartesian (conventional map) space. Rather, it should emphasize the experiential qualities of the space: it should map the space of your experience.

The map may begin as either a digital or an analogue artifact, but please format the map into a digital file with the following dimensions.

1600 pixels tall
1600 pixels wide

Post your map to the blog by Friday, February 15 at 11:59PM.

You are not required to take an extensive interest in psychogeography, but you can refer to the uploaded presentation and readings if you wish. The essence of this exercise is to attempt to experience space a direct, visceral manner, and to release your mind from the constraining directive elements of our built environment. We will be presenting the results of this experimental research to the hosts of our field trips, so please make a special effort with this exercise (it will be marked accordingly).

Supplementary Reading: Psychogeography

"Although conventional maps convey a certain abstract, geometric kind of 'truth' about the urban
environment, the psychogeographical maps were supposed to convey a social, experiential or existential 'truth'. The maps show an experience of space as fragmented and discontinuous; areas which are experienced as distinct are pulled apart on the map. However, the arrows serve to relate the different areas and are based on the forces of attraction and repulsion or exclusion experienced in the course of the dérive." (http://mypages.surrey.ac.uk/pss1su/lecturenotes/documents/nakedcity.html, accessed February 6, 2008)

Supplementary Reading: Psychogeography

Presentation: Psychogeography

Presentation: Psychogeography

Project Two

Project Two

Supplementary Reading: Dan Saffer, Designing for Interaction, 89-119

Supplementary Reading: Dan Saffer, Designing for Interaction, 89-119

"The craft of interaction design is really the craft of creating the models, diagrams and documents that communicate the designer's designs. These representations, and the testing of those with clients and users, are the designer's bread and butter. They are what designers use to do their most important work, moving their knowledge and vision from their minds and hearts to their hands and to the design itself . . . Designers should strive to make each representation a designed artiact, filled with smart, deliberate choices." (Saffer, 119)

Website (and book): Designing Interactions

http://www.designinginteractions.com/

Exercise 4 - Zack Shields

I received a map of Los Angeles and Vicinity. The map includes the Freeway System & Major Streets, plus a Downtown Map and Places of Interest. It truly is the "CITY IN YOUR POCKET" as one of the many bolded titles on the front of the map informs you. This map is also partially translated in Spanish, as California has a strong Mexican population. The map shows the major freeways and major streets around Los Angeles and surrounding area. The map utilizes a system of overlapping to display the information. The freeway system stands out , and reads on top of the smaller major streets. The names of the different communities around Los Angeles are highlighted in a bolded blue text that still reads well when layered over the freeways and major streets. This is important because there are so many different districts/townships around Los Angeles.

When you flip the map over there is a more detailed map of the Los Angeles downtown. Major Hotels and Post offices are highlighted with small red symbols in this map. This side of the map is also where you find the list of Places of Interest in and around Los Angeles. To find these places of interest on the map you have to find the corresponding numbered red or green dot on either the large map or the zoomed in downtown map. Red dots are for downtown; green dots are for the bigger map. This map is truly designed for tourist as it tries to pack in so much information. The map is easy enough to use as a result and would be useful to a visitor of Southern California.

Exercise 4-Mark O. Map of Tibet

This map of Tibet shows the entire country. It is meant for referencing location as well as major cities, country capital, main highways, lakes, mountains, airports, hospitals, etc. One principle of design that is most obvious in this map is highlighting because the "Major Places" are darker and larger in font size.  The map utilizes a legend to give meaning to different symbols. For example, a yellow line outlined in black is a main highway whereas a yellow line outlines in red is a secondary highway. Alignment is used in the grid system of the map which aids in referencing the index below. 

exercise-4 marlissa flint

Map Of Whitehorse Yukon
This map of whitehorse shows the downtown and surrounding area. It is for travellers to more easily find places like a hospital, information centers, schools, banks, picnic or recreation areas. Highlighting is used to show the areas of whitehorse using large bold and black font. icons are also used to indicate important places to first time visitors. Uniform connectedness is used to make the map more easily read. all of the roads are white and the rest if the map is a yelowish colour. the icons are all pink and the main arteries are all blue. Alignment is shown with the grid of the downtown core and the other main areas

Exercise 4 - Emily

The map I have is Perth – Alice Springs (via “Gunbarrel Highway” or Great Central Road). It basically shows the way to get to Alice Springs from Perth, giving you two options of routes to take. Although the map is very simple it uses a few techniques to make it easy for the viewer to read. Highlighting is used very successfully in a couple of ways, but the most successful is where the map shows where the restricted areas are. By looking at the map these areas clearly stand out and it becomes obvious to the reader to stay out of these areas. Another principle the map uses is the use of colour. From the legend and the different colours in the map, we can easily see that the main route is coloured in red and the other roads are in black, so the reader isn’t misunderstood on what route to take. Also, the background colours of the map are kept very light, so the actual roads really stand out and are easy to read. This map does work for me, because it is very simple. Its simplicity is attributed to the fact that many other roads not along the route have been taken out, to make the route more clear. This can be confusing to readers, and it could be a bad thing because they don’t have the option of going a different way. But it think this was a good choice to do this for travelers only going a route shown, it cuts out the visual distraction and makes the map simple and clear.