Induction Week Project 2

 The Task

The brief was to get lost in Yorkshire Sculpture Park and and experimentally map the way back in many different ways such as lists, descriptions, and drawings. I initially had the idea of mapping my trail of thought as I thought it would translate into the task seamlessly as it represents the journey of walking back to the starting point, shows landmarks or elements that caught my interest and challenges the standard subjectiveness of a map as it still works in representing what is actually there however is based on my personal viewpoint. To finalise, we were to use an isometric grid and our idea was to portray more abstract line drawings of the sculptures and textures since most of us were very attracted to those such as representing the stepping stones and movement of the water.

The Feedback

Feedback towards the rationale was generally positive. We approached it by simplifying our initial rationale to just 2 sentences and word bullet points however some felt it may have been to simple and needed a key to aid in understanding the map.

• Easy to understand
• Communicates the concept successfully
• Concept is abstract but justified by rationale
• Easy to read due to red tape
• Needs a key to support it as map is hard to understand but concept is understood
• No real justification of choices however this may have been useful in rationale.

In general I agree with the feedback on the rationale being easy to read however I disagree with the few mentions of a need for a key as it would not have worked with such an abstract concept and each element represents itself so a key would have been unnecessary. It would have been better if we specified this in the rationale.

• Use of colour and line is very effective and composition has clearly been considered.
• Map does not follow standard ideas/format visually but specific elements such as lines have been utilised in different methods.
• Block coloured sections could have been made 3D to experiment further with dimension. 
• Follows the standard form of a map; easy to understand.
• Idea- make block colours 3D
• There is some direction but unclear and no clear start and end. The map is unconventional and objective and I believe would have been better with some explanation of direction and where it starts in the rationale.

The response to whether our map was conventional generally leans towards it being subjective and unconventional which tells me it was successful as that was what we were aiming for as we wanted to completely challenge what a map is. That is why I disagree with the need to explain the direction and where it starts in the rationale as we were mapping our personal walk back to the starting point which may or may not be completely rational therefore having a start and end for someone to follow would be impractical (as they are asking for some practicality). The idea to play with 3D shapes is interesting as well however specifically making just the shapes with block colour 3D would make no sense as they are a whole element with the spaces and lines however may have pushed us to think about how we could communicate the dimensions of the sculptures we represented.

What Would I do Differently? 

I would’ve possibly expanded the rationale to briefly elaborate on what each element is as that may have conveyed the thought behind it more and eliminate the need for a key as that elaboration in itself would be the key. I also would have experimented with 3D shapes. We also used the leftover bits of tape to create a separate piece and I would have liked to consider that more and what could be done with it and how it could relate.