Joanne Kwon: Midterm Portfolio – #2 Tactile Graphics

Project Description:

This project involves creating a 2.5D tactile graphic based on a 1D picture or drawing, ensuring the piece focuses on the tactile experience and what can be tactilely expressive. I designed my own logo and embroidered a tactile version of the logo titled smiley jó, supplementing it with a piece description in text and braille.

documentation:

visual description:

On the left page of the pamphlet the title reads

smiley jó

Beneath the title there’s a hand-embroidered smiling face. The face consists of a backward letter j and accented o. The dot on top of the j resembles a dash, giving the impression of a winking eye. The lower half of the j forms the smiling mouth. Adjacent to the j, the accented letter o resembles an open eye with an eyebrow. The entire face appears to be drawn with a pencil on paper, creating a simple yet expressive illustration.

On the right page of the pamphlet there’s a piece description that reads,

nicknames as a form of AFFECTION

From joanne to jó to smiley jó.

smiley jó is a logo brought to life by the letters j and ó, embodying the affectionate and playful side of the designer that emerges when with the people she treasures.

reflection questions:

By rendering my logo tactile it prompts the viewer to physically touch the material and subsequently glide their finger across the lines in the logo. My hope is that this added element of touch provides the viewer with more of an opportunity to feel my attempts at trying to portray warmth, comfort, and playfulness, while also building a personal connection with the logo itself. Blind people are able to experience the logo while tracing its outline and read what it’s about by skimming their fingers over the braille, hopefully being able to enjoy the experience as much as someone who is able to see the logo.

On the other hand, those who don’t have the limbs to trace and physically touch the logo are unable to experience the design to it’s full capacity. Although some may be able to touch the logo with other parts of their body, it wont be the same experience as touching with your finger because of how thin and delicate the string is. Additionally, it would be very difficult to read the image description using the braille because of how small and close together the characters are. In order to accommodate everyone, I wonder if I could create a full body experience of interacting with the logo by recreating the feeling of warmth, comfort, and playfulness with larger materials and pieces. By doing so, I may lose the intimacy of the delicate touch of a finger, but I would have the opportunity to explore what it means for something to be delicate on a larger scale. The use of materials like silk to run and glide through your body could mimic the delicate experience that the tactile logo provides.

I personally had a lot of fun creating this tactile logo, but a part of me was bummed to loose the pencil/hand-drawn effect that the original 2D logo design had. I’ve always like how pencil and paper looks rough, carefree, and unfinished, all while looking somewhat polished at the same time. I wonder if there’s a way for me to somehow preserve that pencil texture while creating a tactile experience for the logo. Something to think about 🤔

additional modality:

I built off this project by focusing on how textures can be used to elicit different feelings and emotions that, in turn, run the overall narrative of the piece. The audience is meant to envision this piece in a museum setting, which includes the tactile piece, pamphlet, audio description, and captioned walk-though video (which can be found in Midterm Portfolio – #3 Captions of Tactile Graphics), all of which enhance both the accessibility and overall experience of the piece.

documentation:

Visual description / transcript:

Main Piece

The smiley jó logo is entirely hand embroidered with intertwined pink, yellow, and white yarn on swell-form paper using the chain stitch pattern. A chain stitch was used, as opposed to the cross stitch used in the previous iteration because it’s more elevated and has more surface for the fingers to trace. The piece includes rounded corners and a bent upper right corner to indicate where the piece is right-side-up. The audience is encouraged to touch and feel the piece, tracing the yarn in any direction they please. They can also choose to follow the directions from the walkthrough video (mentioned in more detail below) for more of a guided experience.

Pamphlet

The pamphlet includes two main parts: the logo and its description (in both text and braille).

Logo: The logo was made using a printer and swell form machine, allowing the ink to protrude out of the page to create a tactile experience. This version of the logo provides the audience with something they can take home. Like the main piece, the audience is encouraged to trace the piece as they please; however, tracing the logo while listening to the guided video would provide a better understanding of where to trace your finger and how the designer had intended the audience to picture the logo.

Description: The description on the bottom half of the pamphlet provides context regarding the logo and the meaning behind it. The description is written in both printed text and embossed braille, allowing the audience to read the description via sight or touch. The description reads:

“From Joanne to jò. Smiley jò is a logo brought to life by the letters j and ò, embodying the affectionate and playful side of the designer that emerges when with the people she treasures.”

QR Code

In addition to the pamphlet, there’s also a QR code that, when scanned, leads to an audio version of the description and audio description that elaborates on the visual qualities of the piece. The QR code is printed on swell-form paper, reads “Scan for QR Code” in text and braille, and indicates where the piece is right-side-up. The audience is meant to scan the code and listen to the audio on their personal mobile devices. The audio description reads:

“The title of the piece reads, smiley jó. The piece description reads, from Joanne to jó. smiley jó is a logo brought to life by the letter j and accented letter o, embodying the playful side of the designer that emerges when with the people she treasures.

The piece shows a hand-drawn smiling face. The face consists of a backward letter j and accented o. The dot on top of the j resembles a dash, giving the impression of a winking eye. The lower half of the j forms the smiling mouth. Adjacent to the j, the accented letter o resembles an open eye with an eyebrow. The entire face appears to be drawn with a pencil on paper, creating a simple yet expressive illustration.”

reflection questions:

What is the theme of the work? What is it you aim to express?

This piece is the audience’s entrance into the designer’s personal world, allowing them to delve into the vulnerable thoughts and feelings the designer masks behind their goofy smile. The encourages the audience to think and feel from the designer’s point-of-view, all while allowing them to reflect on their experiences and emotions as well. Feelings and emotions are key in this piece and are, therefore, conveyed through various mediums to reach all audiences.

How is that theme particularly expressed through the modality of the week?

There were multiple modalities at play in this piece, but it was primarily through the tactile and video piece that the narrative and emotional correlations were able to shine through. When it comes to the tactile piece, the audience is able to physically feel warmth due to the soft nature of the interwoven chain stitch.

Which elements of the work are beautifully/wonderfully/perfectly expressed through the modality?

By combining both the Tactile Graphic and Captions of Tactile Graphic piece, I was able to create a more cohesive experience for smiley jó. The two pieces complement each other in creating a wholesome multi-sensory experience that, hopefully, leaves the audience with a clear understanding of the piece and its motive.

Which elements are lost or inexpressible through the modality of the week?

Because the stitched version of the piece (aka. the main piece), in a museum setting, can only be looked at I tried to make the tactile piece in the pamphlet encompass somewhat of the same feelings that the stitched version would elicit. I decided to use swell-form for the pamphlets because, in the real world, it’s not sustainable to have hand stitched logos on all pamphlets. It was great that I was able to capture the raw, textured look of pencil on paper, but feeling stitches is a completely different experience from touching swell form. I wonder if there’s an alternative swell form pattern that can be used to mimic the feeling of stitches and vice versa. Other than that, I didn’t really explore the modality of smell, so that might be something that can add to the overall experience. I would be interested in including a light fragrance to create a calming, comforting touch to the experience.

Who does this project exclude? Who would not be able to interact with this work? Who is this modality not accessible for?

I’ve included multiple modalities to accommodate all audiences; however, I would note that the experience is likely more cohesive for sighted users. In order to allow the experience of the piece to have the same level of impact for all audiences (especially those who are low-vision and hard-of-hearing) I may need to think though other modalities or add to the sensory experience of touching the logo to elicit the same level of experience for all audiences.

What is one way you could remix this piece to include another population?

One way I could remix this piece to enhance the accessibility and experience is by experimenting with stitching patterns to represent different emotions or feelings within the piece. I think it would be very valuable if the main piece were able to convey feelings and emotions as a stand alone. I could, for example, use stitching patterns that have different textures and associate certain textures with different emotions, like thick and jagged for angry or round and bubbly for happy. This would allow the audience to experience different emotions within the piece, while also feeling the emotions over a progression of time. This would enhance the piece itself and prove to make the overall experience, with the video, audio description, pamphlet, all the more valuable.