Collaborative Design Practice - Projects

26/08/21 - 25/11/21 (Week 1 - Week 14)

Atiqah Farzana Binti Syalleh Karimyee (0336740)

Collaborative Design Practice
Projects

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LECTURE NOTES

Week 1: Module Briefing

We had our first class with Mr Mike and the EDT team whom we will be collaborating with. The EDT team introduced themselves and showcased their works and projects. After that, each of us also had to introduce ourselves and show some of our best works to the EDT team in order for them to get to know us better and group us according to our skills. There will be 2 different groups working on 2 different kinds of projects and we will also be working closely with the EDT team.

Week 2: Grouping & Task 1

Today's session was very brief, as we were only updated with our groups, roles, and what to do for our next task. Each of us had to find a project in our assigned category, research on the whole process, and explain how it was executed.

Week 3: Project Case Study Presentation

Everyone presented their project case study, and are on standby for the project briefings.

Week 4: Final Grouping

This week, EDT gave us the updates on the final grouping they did according to our skill sets and area of interest that we presented last week. Chin Han and I were grouped together, and later this week we were briefed for our first project. 

End of lecture.

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INSTRUCTION

Module information booklet:

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PROJECTS

Week 1 (26/08/21)

We had our first class with Mr Mike and the EDT team whom we will be collaborating with. The EDT introduced themselves and showcased their works and projects. After that, each of us also had to introduce ourselves and show some of our best works to EDT in order for them to get to know us better and group us according to our skills. There will be 2 different groups working on 2 different kinds of projects and we will also be working closely with the EDT team.

My introduction slides:

Week 2 (06/09/21)

Today's session was very brief, as we were only updated with our groups, roles, and what to do for our next task. 

Based on what role/specialization we are in, we had to make a case study for a project of the same topic. I was assigned 'Graphic Design + AR', so I had to find a project in that category, research on the whole process, and explain how it was done.

Week 3 (10/09/21)

Today's class session was held on Friday instead of Thursday because EDT had another meeting at the time. Starting today, class will be held on the EDT discord.

There were so many cool and interesting projects I found - such as this one and this one - but in the end I chose to research on 'Post-Print' by Serafim Mendes. 

Project 1: Toppen Mall Shopping Centre - Mural AR Filters

Week 4 (15/09/21) - Week 6 (27/09/21)

This week's class falls on a public holiday (Malaysia day) so a few of us were briefed a day earlier. Mr. Fariz from EDT briefed Chin Han and I on a project that we would be working on. The client is Toppen Mall in Johor Bahru, and we will have to create AR filters for the existing murals in the mall. 

Our first task is to find animation and motion graphic inspiration that would suit each mural/area, along with their interactivity for the AR filter. We put all the references and ideas in the Google Slides provided by EDT, and by the end of the week, Mr. Fariz looked through our work and said the references looked good.

Project 2: Vans x Fritilldea x EDT - Interactive Projection Mapping

Week 6 (27/09/21) - Week 14 (25/11/21)

On Monday, Mr. Fariz gave us a briefing for another project (Vans x Fritilldea x EDT). Similar to the Toppen Mall project, we will be working with an interactive mural. However, instead of AR, this will be focused on ‘project mapping’.

We also had to find animation and motion graphic inspiration that would suit Fritilldea's artwork. However, since he hasn’t given his work yet, we had to find references based off of his previous works. It was a bit challenging to come up with the ideas without seeing the actual work, but we were able to get the gist of his style and found references that would suit it.

Week 7 (07/10/21)

For this week, we met up with Mr. Fariz for our progress check-in meeting on the Vans project. A lot of feedback was given, and here are the key feedbacks that were noted down: 

1. The breathing/awakening is not really applicable since all Fritillda's artworks are in 2D. 
2. The shifting/rebuilding is interesting, and maybe not just the building that's rebuilding and collapsing but other elements of the artwork as well. 
3. The breakthrough still can be kept, but still, it all depends on the given artwork. 
4. Shapeshifting can be kept as well, also depending on the given artwork but it's interesting. 
5. The middle one (refer back to slide 16) which is the hide animation is nice, very subtle and smooth and much more practical. 
6. The “Nike AR” is a bit out of budget, so no. And also the idea of the monsters following behind is not really doable since the ramp is a bit short but nonetheless still a good idea. 
7. The hide/dodging is fine. 
8. The raining colours (colour burst) is not really doable since our camera angle only has one, and we do not have a 3D plane to work with, so raining down does not seem to be applicable. 
9. The storytelling is interesting, the idea of the character jumping between canvases is nice but this still depends on the artwork given to see if it's applicable or not. 
10. Remember to delete the slides that we won't be using. 
11. Add in some examples of character expressions as Fritillda’s work consists of more monsters and characters, which we are missing on those.

After hearing all the feedback, we kept what we can use and scrapped out the ones we did not need. We will have to add in the character expressions animations to better suit Fritilldea's work.

Week 8 (14/10/21)

Fritilldea had updated us with his artwork for the large ramp. 

Fig. 1.1 - Fritilldea's Artwork #1; For Large Ramp Wall

Now that we have the artwork, we can find motion graphic/animation references that are specific to the design. We compiled all the new references in the slides below:

Week 9 (21/10/21) - Week 10 (28/10/21)

Mr. Fariz has updated us that both the EDT team and Fritillda would like to have a physical meeting together with the site visit of the place to have a better understanding on the direction of the new artwork as well as the animation idea that we are going to propose. We will be updated regarding the meeting time and date by next week.

I was quite excited as it would be a good opportunity to understand Fritilldea's artwork better so we can create animations that suit it. A site visit to the skatepark will also let us see how the ramps actually look in real life, and how the projection mapping looks too.

In the following week, Mr. Fariz has updated us that Fritillda is not available at the moment to meet up physically so the meeting will be canceled, either will be replaced with a new date, or will be just EDT and Fritillda meeting up online to discuss the new artwork. A later update was given to us that the EDT team has gone to the site and visited to try out their projection equipment, as to confirm that the project is still workable with Fritillda’s dummy work.

Week 11 (04/11/21)

Fritilldea had updated us with his artwork for the 2 smaller ramps. 

        

    Fig. 1.2 Mapping A                            Fig. 1.3 Mapping B (right)

With the new artwork, we had to come up with a whole new set of references for it since the art style is quite different from the previous artwork. We compiled all the new references in the slides below: 

Mr. Fariz is pleased with the animation references that we have proposed and has selected both the eyeball slot machine and disco tentacles/ colour transitioning idea. What’s left is for us to animate the two new artworks. Below are the chosen references by Mr. Fariz.

Fig. 1.4 - Slot Machine Idea GIF 1

Fig. 1.5 - Slot Machine Idea GIF 2

Fig. 1.6 - Colour Changing Idea GIF

Fig. 1.7 - Disco/Colour Changing Idea GIF

Week 12 (11/11/21)

With these finalised references, we could already execute the animation. We separated the artworks wherein I took Mapping A and Chin Han took Mapping B. I planned out the 10-second animation and made an animatic to give myself a clearer idea of how it will flow. I also added a new element in the animatic (skateboard) so I had to show it to EDT before proceeding with the actual animation.

Fig. 1.8 - Animatics

The feedback I received was to just stick with the slot machine & colour-changing elements, and that having a moving animation would be too much. Instead, they said we can try to incorporate patterns inside each element.

Fig. 1.9 - Patterns & Elements

I planned out the animation on paper so that I could decide on which elements had to be animated. I also planned out the colours and timing so that the whole animation would look well-balanced.

Fig. 1.10 - Sketch 1

Fig. 1.11 - Sketch 2

Fig. 1.12 - Sketch 3

The first step of the animation was to export Fritilldea's artwork from the Photoshop file, then place it in Illustrator. Since the artwork was flattened into one layer, I image-traced it so each individual element is separated. Each piece is then placed into separate layers and named accordingly, which would make it easier to work with later.

Fig. 1.13 - Image Trace in Illustrator

 

Fig. 1.14 - Layers

Since the artworks were in black and white, we had the freedom to colour it how we wanted. We were told to follow the colour scheme from the dummy work by Fritilldea that EDT used to for the projection mapping test.

Fig. 1.14 - Colour Reference; Dummy work by Fritilldea

Fig. 1.15 - Colour Palette

I went with this particular colourway for my main animation:

Fig. 1.16 - Main Colourway

Progress in After Effects:

Fig. 1.17 - Progress 1

Fig. 1.18 - Progress 2

Fig. 1.19 - Progress 3

Fig. 1.20 - Progress 4

Fig. 1.21 - Progress 5

This is the final outcome of the animation. The artwork has 2 sets of eyes, the ones on top are glancing side to side while the bottom pair resembles a slot machine. The overall theme of the animation is a fun and psychedelic design that is very loud and will surely make you feel hypnotized.

Fig. 1.22 - Mapping A - Final Animation

This is the animation that Chin Han did:

Fig. 1.23 - Mapping B - Final Animation

We compiled all our work progress for this module into the slide presentation below:

(Canva slide presentation link | Google Slide presentation)

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REFLECTION

These past 14 weeks of collaborating with EDT has been really fun and enjoyable. This module had been a great opportunity to work with real industry projects such as the Toppen Mall, Vans and Fritilldea. EDT has provided us a lot of knowledge and support over these past 14 weeks, and I cannot thank them enough for giving us the trust to handle this project.

As for the final outcome, I would say that I am quite satisfied with how the animation turned out. I was worried I would not be able to execute it well because I had never done this type of animation before. Nonetheless, I am very proud of my work and I cannot wait to see it projected on the actual ramp! This project allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and improve my animation skills too. 

Overall, it's been a great experience working on this project, and I hope to have the opportunity to do more collaborations like these in the near future!