Monday, November 19, 2012

the long overdue "best of the week: origami." blog 6


Well I will admit that this is very very late and there isn't really an excuse for it not getting done but I figured that better extremely late than never at all.

               I can safely say the highlight of humanities for the week would be the documentary about origami. There are three main points that are made in this documentary that make it the best of the week which are as follows.
1.      Complexity, how complex can you make it?
2.      Simplicity, what can you do with one fold?
3.      The middle part, pushing past the difficult

In the beginning of the film they show the increasing complexity of origami and origami designs throughout the years. A point that I took out from the beginning of the film is the idea of making a design complex has found synonymy with quality which is an idea I find prosperous. While you can do amazing thinks with hundreds of folds you must remember that if you can do something in one move there is no reason to do it in two. You must find the balance of making it complex yet not going overboard and making it too busy with too much going on with the piece. That idea of complexity balance does not only apply to origami either, it can be found in all design and art as well. If an artist or designer adds too many colors with no central focus then all the artist will make is a busy mess or a sloppy design. However if they take out a few colors or simplify the design then they will end up with elegance that cannot be matched.

               This idea of complexity balance moves into the next point which is simplicity and minimalism, doing as much as possible in as few moves as possible. Minimalistic designs are a completely different animal where the idea of making a thing goes out the window and the end goal is a flow of shape. This is a concept that I find the most difficult in all of art. For a designer to make a big desk with all the bells and whistles is easy but to take that desk and strip it to bear minimum then take more off of that yet still end up with a practical design that is elegant is the most challenging feat to accomplish for me personally and for a large portion of the design world.

               Finally there is the middle, the process of making the thing. More specifically the point of no return. There is a point in every build and every piece of art where you have to make a choice about how something is going to be. There is no other option other than the choice and you can’t go back after you make it. This is the point that defines a good designer or builder. If they stall and falter at the big choice then there design or piece of art will ultimately fail. Yet if they meet the choice head on and push through the choice and complete it without hesitation then they will have a success. Even though it is easily described actually doing it in real life is extremely hard and even the greatest of designers will struggle through this middle.

               While these are just few of the ideas in the film they are the big three that I see affecting my life both as a person and as a designer. They are not just points that you deal with for a short time either, they are ideas that you people will encounter during their entire life. this is why learning about them has made this documentary the best of my week. 

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