Diagramming into Fabrication

For this activity, you will be taking the precedents found previously by yourself or your studio-mates and turn the most important aspects first into a set of diagrams and then into a quick prototype:

Part 1: Introduction to Diagramming 

1. As a group we will introduce the basics behind diagramming- What are they? What types will we use? What tools can we use to produce them well?
2. Please be ready to discuss these topics as your ideas will be a key driver in the learning process.

Part 2: Your Turn to Draw__ Sketch 

1. Take a precedent, or combination of precedents, and prepare your drawing space.
2. Start your process of drawing by simply sketching out the movement/behavior/construction of the precedent/combo.  Please do not try to make this a diagram yet.  Just let your drawing be a way of seeing your the precedent.
3. Now try to redraw this drawings, but be more deliberate with what information and detail you include.  Is there a pattern on the image, is it actually important to the precedent? Do you really just need an outline?

Part 3: Your Turn to Draw__ Storyboard  

1. In almost all cases, the precedents will do something over time.  This could be due to their own behaviors or because of how other things interact with it.  Think about how you would, in words, describe this process.
2. On a fresh sheet of paper make three, evenly sized rectangles in a line going across the page big enough to draw a full image in. (there is a template above which you can use if you are more comfortable with that structure)
3. In each of these rectangles draw one time step of the behavior.  These can be simple drawings and are meant to just show how your precedent fits into its context. (an example of this is on slide 14 above)

Part 4: Your Turn to Draw__ Use 

1. Take out another piece of paper.  This is an important step because a clear page is often a clear mind.
2. Look back at examples of this type of diagram such as slides 12 and 15. 
3. Now give your precedent a shot with the strategies discussed such as: 
   • Arrows
   • Colors
   • Labels

Part 5: Your Turn to Draw__ Technical 

1. Again, take out a new sheet of paper.
2. Look back at examples such as on slides 16 and 20.  Notice how these examples deconstruct the object to show the individual elements.  These elements are then connected with a dashed line.
3. On your sheet of paper start to deconstruct your precedent.  In some cases this can seem difficult as the precedents we choose may be either very simple or very complex. In both cases take creative license to show what YOU as the author of the diagram see as a possibility of how it works.  

Part 6: Side by Side Comparison 

1. As you take a moment to take pictures and upload or scan then upload the diagrams, put them next to each other.  Do they all tell different parts of the same story or do they say different things?  Was one more successful than the others?
2. If your diagrams do not tell the same story, ask yourself why?  Could it have been that a later diagram taught you more about your precedent and therefore an earlier one was incorrect?  Are they both true, but the precedent just has many complex ways of behaving?

Part 7: Fabricate Your Diagram 

1. Take out yet another piece of paper.  
2. One this page draw draw the basic aspects of the most important element of your previous diagrams.  These can be simply the lines which represent larger objects.
3. Over these lines draw 'pieces' which we could build with real materials such as that paper you are drawing on.  See slide 24.
4. Draw each piece individually and cut them out. You may use other materials for your hinges(mine was on old twist-tie from a drawer in my kitchen) or you might even make yours more elegant by solely folding the paper to allow movement.
5. Take pictures and upload them to your post with a good caption.

Deliverable

Once you complete this activity, you will post all of the following under the Response tab of this assignment:

• 1 storyboard
• 1 use diagram
• 1 technical diagram
• 1(at least) photo of your fabrication