The below scrawlings were a result of over-thinking things on a few train journeys in and out of Birmingham:
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Minerva | Initial_question_thoughts
Coming up with a comparitive question list is proving to be a problem, as there are so many if not an infinite number of factors which make up our day to day lives. I have to narrow these factors down and compare them with a personality test to attempt to find links between us and why we're us!
The below scrawlings were a result of over-thinking things on a few train journeys in and out of Birmingham:
The below scrawlings were a result of over-thinking things on a few train journeys in and out of Birmingham:
Monday, 24 January 2011
Minerva | logo_brand_animation
I've decided to give Minerva an identity as seen in the animated gif above. This was to show each letter animated in its own way, illustrating some of the animations to come in the final piece:
Minerva_logo from Dan Silverstone on Vimeo.
Minerva | What_is_Minerva?
So what is Minerva? I’ve broken it down into 3 main areas.
First and foremost, Minerva is a questionnaire which has been created alongside data analysts and a few psychometrics boffins, to find links between our personality and the factors which make up our day-to-day lives.
A questionnaire on its own sounds boring. This is where stage two comes in.
Stage two will consist of a series of animations and printed imagery which will visualise the comparative findings of the questionnaire. In short, Minerva’s essentially an info-graphics project.
The main aim for this project is for the viewer to absorb the information and data presented, and to be encouraged to evaluate ideas which they might not usually consider. This, in turn may lead to significant changes in the way THAT person considers and leads their life.
In other words; the third and final stage of Minerva is to offer the viewer wisdom, and a small insight into what makes us, us.
I researched current motion-graphics companies, such as Beautiful TV or now, known as ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Mainframe’ to see how they tackled moving images and representation of data, paying particular attention to camera angles, text direction and the speed of motion within each frame.
I’ve also gone through a few books on info-graphics and data representation, such as ‘Data Flow’ and have worked on several data capture projects for my current workplace.
Test animation below to give a feel of where the project is heading:
First and foremost, Minerva is a questionnaire which has been created alongside data analysts and a few psychometrics boffins, to find links between our personality and the factors which make up our day-to-day lives.
A questionnaire on its own sounds boring. This is where stage two comes in.
Stage two will consist of a series of animations and printed imagery which will visualise the comparative findings of the questionnaire. In short, Minerva’s essentially an info-graphics project.
The main aim for this project is for the viewer to absorb the information and data presented, and to be encouraged to evaluate ideas which they might not usually consider. This, in turn may lead to significant changes in the way THAT person considers and leads their life.
In other words; the third and final stage of Minerva is to offer the viewer wisdom, and a small insight into what makes us, us.
I researched current motion-graphics companies, such as Beautiful TV or now, known as ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Mainframe’ to see how they tackled moving images and representation of data, paying particular attention to camera angles, text direction and the speed of motion within each frame.
I’ve also gone through a few books on info-graphics and data representation, such as ‘Data Flow’ and have worked on several data capture projects for my current workplace.
Test animation below to give a feel of where the project is heading:
Minerva_test from Dan Silverstone on Vimeo.
Minerva | Original_24hrs_brief
For the brief, I decided to record one day of my life. Taking data from the 3rd August 2010 and having no particular reason why I chose that date, I noted down the times it took to do certain tasks throughout the day.
As the day went on into night, it was apparent that my day had consisted of much more than physical tasks. Occurances and happenings which would change how I felt about the day had an impact on other aspects of the day, which would continue to have a knock on effect on other aspects of the day. Looking back over the day I realised that I couldn't just illustrate simple 'everyday' tasks, I'd have to break each one of these tasks up into their own respective areas.
I also broke my complete day up into two separate ares: 1) Passive and 2) Active or 1) Conscious 2) Unconscious. Including thoughts and feelings into the day opened up Pandora's Box.
Then of course there was the fact that the world doesn't revolve around me (!) and what was equally as important was the lives of everyone else within that 24hrs. 'Death of a Street Drinker', '11yr olds on the pill' and 'degrading treatment for asylum seekers', were some of the tabloid headlines of that day.
I also broke my complete day up into two separate ares: 1) Passive and 2) Active or 1) Conscious 2) Unconscious. Including thoughts and feelings into the day opened up Pandora's Box.
Then of course there was the fact that the world doesn't revolve around me (!) and what was equally as important was the lives of everyone else within that 24hrs. 'Death of a Street Drinker', '11yr olds on the pill' and 'degrading treatment for asylum seekers', were some of the tabloid headlines of that day.
Four days after researching what happened on the day of my data capture, a blog entitled "Love really is greater than death", was printed in the Guardian by Dr Karen Woo. Karen Woo was the British surgeon and medical aid worker who was killed along with nine colleagues in Afghanistan over the weekend bef0re my data capture. Her blog began with the words: "Nothing in life is for sure, nothing that you see today will always be here tomorrow...".
This could not be more relevant to the brief and to what I'm going to attempt to design. Anything could happen in the blink of an eye. Twenty fours hours is a mere blip in our lives, depending on what happens of course. A lot of the time, we'll go through a day without thinking about the last but upon closer inspection, each one is so intricate it's practically impossible to illustrate a complete day.
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