TWIG CRITIQUE: September 17, 2008

Today in IAR Studio, we split up into our three, usual mini groups, north, south and midtown, and discussed each of our twig projects. When I presented my twig structure, my group came to a conclusion that my "twig tree", what I call it, is active, simple and achieves great balance. My twigs also give the allusion that they are floating because I have them twisted around thin, gold wire that is suspended in an upward tree form. Graham positively commented that he liked how, "you can't mess with the actual twig, but you can mess with the wire holding the twig." By the end of my groups discussion, we narrowed our main ideas down to how we use SCALE and VISUALIZATION in our structures. Each piece of our project must be relative to each other. For example, in my project, the twigs that I chose are very simple, short and thin so I chose a design that is simple and the wire is thin and different lengths that make sense with the scale. The way we use color in our projects is also considered scale. Colors must enhance the twigs, meaning it would be better to choose colors that make the twigs stand out instead of blend into the structure, which is usually the goal in most design projects like these. Visualization was also an important and commonly used technique between my peers, meaning various structures in some way had pattern and form. My project did not really have a pattern because all the wire limbs holding the skinny twigs were bent in random, upward directions at different lengths, but I shaped the 12 wires in the shape of a tree.

After our mini group, discussions, everyone gathered in the crit room and discussed more about our ideas. More design terms such as FOCUS, CRAFT, and the idea of PURPOSEFULNESS and telling a "story" through our structures really encouraged us new designers to think more about what we were creating. In every project, there must be one focus. What came up in the discussion was that in some peoples project, it looked as if they did not know whether they were focusing on the twigs or the paper when they were constructing their models. Strategic thinking is extremely important in any project because it allows for a clean and organized product. This also goes along with craft because in order to become a better designer, you must make numerous iterations to perfect every project. Along with having a specific purpose, it is also interesting to try and tell a story with your project, where it looks literal in a way, but it is also imaginative at the same time.

Listening to the comments of my peers in our mini group helped me greatly, but listening to the first years as a whole was also helpful and I'm glad they had the effect that they did.