Ideation and Prototyping: A Reflection on Creation and Design

Feeling Nostalgic

While brainstorming for this exercise, I wanted to choose items that not only represent important and personal memories to me, but I also wanted to choose objects/artifacts that reflect certain social and technological changes that occured while these items came into circulation. At first glance, this seems easy to pick objects that hold meaning, but I actually found it a bit difficult to narrow my options down. I had considered providing items of clothing, letters, or gifts from friends, as well as objects that expressed difficult personal obstacles or events in my life, but realized that some of these objects would not convey the story I wanted to visually represent. In certain cases, I was worried my story and images would be too ambiguous in meaning and in other cases, I felt certain artifacts were too personal to share. I decided I wanted to tell the story of what inspires me and why I want to create digital games or interactive art.

Candyland

Candy Land was one of the first board games I had ever played. Even now the illustrations for this edition of the game is whimiscal and inviting. More importantly, Candy Land ignited a love of board games. I think board games art an important part of early development as well as recreation because you both interact with the board and the people your playing with. With a board game, there is no sense of alienation and engages you both intellectually and socially. While Candy Land is a simple game, I can’t help but wonder what went into the process of creating this game. Candy Land has been in circulation the late 1940’s and although it’s had some aesthetic changes over the decades, it still is seen as a timeless game thats inclusive amongst all age groups.

Neopets was my first introduction to a virtual and interactive platform. Like Club Penguin or Webkinz, Neopets provided a space in which you could interact with both your Neopet and other users. There were also various mini-games and side quests. As an only child, I found this platform gave me a means of connecting with other individuals who had a shared interest as well as provide a way to learn how to socialize. Neopet’s began circulating around 1999 and was created by a college student named Adam Powell with the purpose of keeping college students entertained. Neopets has definitely extends past this age demogrphic however, still holding cultural significance to those who grew up using the platform and even newer generations.

The LG Chocolate Spin (VX8550) was the first cell phone I ever had. My parents had given this to me when I began commuting to school on my own. It became a huge source of entertainment for me even though I only had 4 ringtones and one game, tetris. It also had GPS so my parents were able to make sure I was safe. This was also the first mobile device I’d ever used for correspondance. Compared to an iPhone, a text had to be carefully crafted and you needed to press the buttons in just the right sequence to get the letter you wanted. With this phone, there was alot more physical interaction with the device based on the design of the sliding keyboard and the navigation wheel. LG Chocolate Spin (VX8550) first came into circulation in 2007.

While Mary Shelley’s novel has been in circulation since 1818, Frankenstein has remained a timeless classic in romantic literature. I received this edition of Frankenstein as an undergraduate, when I initially pursued fiction writing and psychology. I felt this book is more of a sentimental edition to this exercise, but it still holds importance in modern day. Frankenstein expresses the dual nature of the human psyche; how we as humans are both capable of empathy and apathy. How people often fear what they don’t understand and how alienation and ostracization takes a fatal toll on the one subjected to it. These themes extend beyond fiction and through time and through its various renditions has remained a significant staple in literature and art.

Music has always been a big motivator. At every age it has helped me go about my day and stay focused and motivated during tasks that I either find stressful or mundane. Headphones were my medium and my outlet to listen to and access a variety of different songs all while multitasking. When I had lost my old headphones and didn’t have them for a year, I noticed a change in my mood and my ability to focus and realized just how important it was to engage with more with the sense of sound. Fun Fact: Raycon (the comany) was established by Ray J in 2017.

Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle Portraying the Wedding Feast at Cana by Paolo Veronese (date created unknown)

I received this jigsaw puzzle in 2023 as a gift from a good friend of mine I had met during my undergraduate years and felt my love of puzzles and board games had come full circle. I began collecting small puzzles such as this one and found completing them as a great way to decompress or to engage my mind. This puzzle in particular was very special to me because it incorporates my love of traditional art as well as abstract and unique shapes. In fact I like this puzzle so much, I want to prototype it for my next assignment.

My last artifact for my time capsule is a set of pencils. Colored pencils as other mediums that are used to create visual art allow the user to express themselves and practice various art techniques. I always loved to create art in a variety of mediums, but this set of colored pencils is my most commonly used medium because I can use them to create art in any type of setting because there is little prepartion and no mess when using them and looking at the various shades included in the pack has allowed me to better visualize my ideas. I think it’s important to be able to express yourself and have an easily accessible outlet and medium to do so. I have used these for both personal artwork as well as for sketches and visual plans for academic projects. I also like to play a game where the person I’m with draws something and I draw something on the same piece of paper and we go back and forth resulting in a simple but fun collaboration.