hello.
so unfortunately i really think for some reason i just pushed the wrong point today at PK. what's frustrating is that i knew all the information that would've made this PK tied perfectly into my previous presentations, but i just didn't...stress it enough. ugh!
anyways, this is more of what i meant to say.
in the past i've been focused sheerly on function. how guitars work and how the player physically interacts with the instrument, presented as mostly mechanical. in hope to find the most strained/heavily touched areas of an instrument i wanted to show some of the relic or road worn instruments. since these are all brand new guitars that are aged to LOOK and feel like they've been played for years, it's safe to say that the strained and worn parts of these guitars are really where the most contacted areas of the instrument are.
when occurring naturally these worn patches, scratches, and dings represent a beautiful story between the player and the instrument [what i said today] BUT they also represent the key points of a well-built physical relationship.
i wish i had made that clearer...and now as i read the above paragraph i wish i made that paragraph clearer too! ay.
the fact of the matter is that my focus is still on the physical aspects, specifically, the controls and the body contours themselves. looking at worn instruments was a way to understand the extremes of the physical relationship, but in examining this i didn't want to ignore the narrative that is formed when a person and his or her guitar exist together.
the key to guitar design, i think, is to create an instrument that bolsters the player's personality and is made not only to look and sound good, but also to feel right when played... however, it MUST also provide a transparent enough guitar playing experience for a faithful story to be written between the stakeholders, this being me and my guitar.
tell me if that makes sense...the final presentation suddenly seems a lot more intimidating than before. . .
3.03.2010
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I think maybe the reason everyone honed in on the story thing (or, at least, why I did) is because it seemed like a solution to your old problem of "how do I get people to accept something new?" Answer: Make it something that is personal to them - a story!
ReplyDeleteI think it makes a lot of sense that you would show how people interact with guitars in terms of the actual physical use that can be seen over the years. In showing pictures of new guitars MEANT to look old, though, I saw it as a statement about creating meaning in an object. The ones that had actually been used, though, seem to show your point better.
In any case, I totally think the correlation between:
guitar shape to player vs. guitar wear to player
I think, is an interesting way to solve the question I previously mentioned (accepting something new).
Hopefully that all made sense, I don't want to go back and edit. :P
I get it now too. sorry i didn't get it in class. i think that telling the story of the relationship is a perfect way to say that although you may be reconstructing the physical aspect, you can't forget that you are in turn affecting the relationship the user has with his/her instrument.
ReplyDeleteAnt perhaps your final capstone presentation can be taking apart the story of one of these 'storied guitars' and showing for us the layers of history behind each mark. Kind of like how each part of the horse is labeled and called out:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/static/spreads/all/3/9/9781405329293L_006.jpg
Think about it!