Final Outcome Feedback

Cataloguing – Final Outcome Feedback

The feedback I received on this iteration of the project correctly pointed out that the work had become too divorced from the original collection. Though I arranged the circles in a pattern reminiscent of fish scales and a fish tail, it was not immediately obvious to the viewer and needed to be clarified.

It was suggested that I use the original material as a way to compose the new graphics, and perhaps even include the fish itself in the composition. It was pointed out that the arrangements needed to be more deliberate and based on a critical enquiry of the material, rather than intuition. One suggestion was to turn each entry into a two-sided postcard, with the back showing more of the original catalog and giving context to the color palette.

References were made to Dulux and Farrow & Ball color catalogs, which take colors from history and the natural world, and turn them into commercial palettes entirely devoid of context. Exploring these catalogs could yield a starting point for a satire of the practice and thus bring further resolution to the work presented.

The feedback was very useful in seeing that the work is indeed missing context both from the original collection and as a whole in and of itself. There is nothing tying the work together and it therefore falls flat. A more interesting version of the work will find itself offering something beyond color, using color as a means to an end and thus giving the project a purpose. I am particularly intrigued by the possibility of using the catalog for the purposes of a parody or satire, but have yet to envision the right format for that outcome.

The feedback I received on the final iteration of work proved that I had not quite achieved my proposed goal. The collection of marks was closer in tone and purpose than the symbolic alphabet I had presented in an earlier version, but without context it remained too opaque and ambiguous.

To clarify the work it was suggested that I circle back to the typographical experiments of earlier iterations, and combine the gestural approach with typography. References were made to comic books, where typography often visually takes on the quality of the sound being communicated, and thus could serve as a guide to orient a new version of the project.

Another suggested approach was to create a timeline of the soundscape using the symbols, in order to paint a more complete picture of the aural space I was attempting to evoke. In this same vein, I was pointed towards the work of John Cage and encouraged to look to musical notation as a format that could anchor the development of the work.

However I decide to move forward, it was pointed out that I needed to think more critically about what each symbol or gesture was conveying, and ensure that a literal interpretation of the work was possible.

Going forward, this feedback will inform a further rendering of this project that I hope will synthesize the elements that work and clarify those that remain cryptic. The goal will be to bring specificity to the abstractions I have created, and in doing so design a legible visual language that evokes sound in a compelling manner.

In hindsight, I believe I could have chosen an investigation with more latitude to arrive at critical findings specific to my site. The work I have done thus far has been stimulating in that it has led me to reflect on the ways in which formal writing systems evolved, and just how difficult it is to visualize sound when the goal is an objective, literal interpretation rather than subjective, abstract sentiment. However, as a response to the specifics of the brief, I understand how it has fallen short of its intention and agree with the assessment of this iteration of the work.