conditionaldesign

"WRECK THIS JOURNAL" by Keri Smith is a large scale piece of conditional design in its own right. The book instructs users to follow it's instructions on what each page should be used for, then, how the user approaches the book's requests is entirely their own decision.

This concept gives each person an exact set of instructions, however, each person will approach these instructions in alternative ways.

The idea of this breaks the barrier between printed media and interaction, it brings interaction to the book with a very open approach.

Activities from the 'Conditional Design Workbook' conducted in the workshop.

Each piece has a different finish. Some groups understood more than others, some improvised and didn't follow the rules exactly, some people managed to finish an entire circle whereas others struggled to fill it in with colour in the allotted time. This gives each piece its own character.

Instead of operating under the terms of

Graphic Design, Interaction Design,

Media Art or Sound Design, we want to

introduce Conditional Design as a term

that refers to our approach rather than

our chosen media. We conduct our

activities using the methods of

philosophers, engineers, inventors and

mystics.

The CONDITIONAL DESIGN MANIFESTO website is an insightful webpage dedicated to the understanding of conditional design. It helped me understand why such work is conducted.

PLAYING GAMES WITH CONDITIONAL DESIGN:

Using the 'fold and draw' game to create characters is a piece of conditional design. Here i played this with a friend and you can see the results.

Again, every person's interpretation differs. Everyone takes the rules of a game into their own mind differently, so you can see that I was more adventurous in drawing creatures and non-human images whereas my friend drew more normal/ human additions.

This is also an interactive way to design. Participants work collaboratively to create a visual.

WALLPAPERS = CONDITIONAL DESIGN?

I came across this example of using post-it-notes as a way to create a wallpaper through a friend/ colleague who was conducting some research. The idea is that the wall is covered in layers of these sticky notes, each layer a different colour.

When somebody needs to use one, they take it from the wall.

Over time, the wall becomes something new, the pattern changes depending on where each person decides to take the note from.

In a way, this is conditional design, and it is also interactive design too. It's a collaborative process over time to create what is theoretically 'art'.

You would also have a completely unique outcome if you did this is numerous locations, because, people interpret instructions in their own way, some may draw, some may sign their name, others might put a photo up, or even stick their chewing gum onto it- it would never be the same, even if it was reproduced in the same place the same people would never be able to produce something identical.

The previous sticky note example then reminded me of this wallpaper you can purchase from House Of Fraser. It's a base for drawing pictures which you use as a wallpaper. In these pictures it is in a girl's bedroom, but if this was placed for example, in a public area, with instructions for people to come along and add to the wallpaper it would be a piece of conditional design.

PRACTISING CONDITIONAL DESIGN:

1. two minutes to crosshatch as much as possible on the entire page.
2. Cover the page with chose shape in one minute.
3. Drawing circles building out from circles, 30 seconds.
4. Continuous line, don't cross over another line, i ran out of time, the black dot shows where i had to terminate this early before the time had elapsed because my line became 'trapped'.