Author: Gabriel Chi

Final Project: Tea for Two

For our final project, Robin and I explored the powerful meanings behind certain words and phrases, creating a performance piece called: Tea for Two. We wanted to highlight the lack of personal conversations between people, and create a catalyst for starting such interactions. Our performance piece takes the form of a tea set, an act which requires two individuals to sit down, taking time to drink and converse with one another. Along with certain prompts and instructions, we aimed to create an environment where meaningful and intimate interactions could be created. 

Our final project differed from many of the classmates, as we focused on a much more experimental and abstract performance piece, rather than a more “conventional” design. We explored many ideas that both applied and strayed from the given agendas and frameworks. Although this proved to be a much harder path to take, removing ourselves from the frameworks allowed us to be unrestricted in ideating a completely new concept. 

Throughout the ideation phase of our final project, Robin and I took inspiration from several different artists. Specifically for me, I drew a lot of inspiration from Tom Sachs, a contemporary artists based in New York. His “Tea Ceremony” project played an integral role in creating our project. Although the project itself is much more than a simple tea ceremony, I was especially inspired by the methodical nature of the tea ceremony portion. The intimate and personal process of pouring tea and conversing with the recipient is very appropriate for our original concept, so we decided on the tea ceremony to be our main vehicle for communicating our ideas. 

However, we ran into certain issues throughout the ideation process. How would our project differ from an otherwise normal and casual conversation that occurs naturally in our environment? Is the tea ceremony truly necessary? To work around this issue, we decided to draw upon Yoko Ono’s works, creating specific scenarios and instructions in order to differentiate our project from regular conversations. These were listed in our concept video, leading participants with phrases and instructions in order to create an intimate experience with a clear intention. Although we realised we could have expanded upon this idea with even more specific instructions, to make the experience even more unique. 

If we were unrestricted in time, I would have liked to expand upon certain aspects of the project. Specifically, the design of the box we presented during the presentation was merely a prototype. If given the proper time and materials, I would’ve like to build a much more relevant design to our topic and motifs, including the themes of unity and coming together. Overall, I had a really fun time working on this project with Robin, as we both pushed our own perceptions on what is design, how to communicate an idea, and I look forwards to apply these ideas in future projects. 

In preparation for our final project, we conducted a in-class workshop to brainstorm ideas/ share our project ideas. We were partnered up with random classmates, shared our ideas, and designed for each other’s projects. I was partnered with Echo, and we helped each other improve upon our own projects. Echo recommended several good ideas for my project that I plan to implement, and helped greatly in during the brainstorming/ design phase of the activity. 

Through this activity, I learned the importance in communication. Being able to properly and thoroughly convey your design/ prototype to a wide variety of people, all from varying backgrounds and culture, require a lot of effort and skill. Although the task proves to be difficult, creating a connection results in looking at your design through a completely different perspective. This external perspective not only helps to fix and identify errors, but also helps to create new ideas that were not previously thought of. 

For our final project, both Robin and I wanted to steer towards a more experimental and abstract perspective on design. While we focused a lot more on practical and commercial designs throughout the 7 week course, We felt that there could be much more potential through the experimental and abstract agenda. 

Coming from a musical background, I wanted to incorporate sound and sound design within our final project, designing something that would evoke emotion and start some conversation.  We are currently planning to map sounds onto physical objects, giving sound a physical texture, and incorporating photos that associate with such sound.  

Some artists that personally inspire me from a sound design/ musical perspective are Ryoji Ikeda and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Ryoji Ikeda is a artist who deals a lot with the abstract, and explores soundscapes and sound design through very visceral visuals. Ryuichi Sakamoto is a musician, whose newer albums such as Async, inspire a lot of the sound I plan to create for this project. Both artists create soundscapes that immerse and evoke emotion for the audience, and I hope I can incorporate these influences fluidly into my final project.

Throughout the Unconventional Design course, we took part in two workshops: The Make Tools Workshop and 6 Hats Workshop. The Make Tools Workshop made us create solutions to problems in a limited time frame before rotating to and building onto another group’s solution. For our specific problem, we had to create a solvable problem regarding cats, and had to create a solution for another group’s problem. Using toys and tools, we ideated different solutions to other problems.

The 6 Hats workshop made us look at certain problems through very specific perspectives. Each hat, which correlated to a different color, had a corresponding role (eg. Red Hat= Emotion, Black Hat= Criticism). By assigning each group with a different color, the workshop forced us to specifically analyzes problems and possible solutions through our perspectives.

I found both these workshops very effective as both showcased different aspects of the design process, from ideation, all the way to creation of a prototype. Many might perceive design to be specifically creating a product/solution, and nothing else. However, the very important process of design thinking prove the complex and meticulous nature of design.

In BJ Fogg’s, “A Behaviour Model for Persuasive Design”, Fogg exemplifies the need for creating/ designing products that encourages or persuades human behaviour. Fogg asserts that through the FBM Model (Fogg Behaviour Model) , if the factors of motivations, triggers, and ability are all met, the more persuasive it is towards human behaviour. Throughout the paper, Fogg describes the need for creating more persuasive design, stating, “To effectively encode experiences that change behaviors, we need a
rich yet practical understanding of human psychology, specifically
insights into the factors that drive human behavior.” After reading this article, I was struck by the importance of persuasive design within our everyday lives. We need to incorporate more and more persuasive design within our surroundings, in order to encourage better habits and better lifestyles.

For my own “Tiny Habit”, I wanted to choose a goal that would meet all three factors mentioned in the FBM, therefore I chose to hydrate more throughout the 5 days. To reach this goal, every time I would check my phone, I would drink some water. This habit would not take any effort, would be within my ability, and the phone would be the trigger. I was easily able to reach my goal of creating a habit, due to how often I checked my phone. Even after the 5 days, I’ve gotten use to drinking more water on a regular basis.