i started a sketchbook. it’s basically a play around the shape of circles and lines.
why circles and lines? because that’s what musical notes are constructed of mainly.
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The Dot:
“The dot is an abstract concept, which indicates precise tertainty the locality of a junction, a meaning, an intersection etc. in graphic terms the dot or point is a materialised area, recognizable by the human eye. a dot seldom appears as an individual element but generally takes it meaning from a relationship with another sign. the geometric dot comes to symbolize the expression of centre.
The line:
the eye at first draws a line to represent the shortest distance between two points and is able to visualize crossovers only on further consideration. a juxtaposition of dots simlates a line, inviting completion. on this basis we could say that every linear expression consists of a dot set into motion.
humans have always moved on the horizontal plane. for this reason their optical capacity is mainly direced laterally . as a result of age-old inherited exertions we find that our field of vision is much more extensive in the horizontal dimension than in the vertical.
( signs and symbols: their design and meaning – adrian frutiger)
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therefore based on the above deciphering of shapes and symbols, i decided to play around with the layout of the dots and lines that i wanted to incorporate into my works.
I decided to emphasize the dots and minimise the lines only to relate to completeness. I wanted the dots to pulsate to represent rhythm, beats and the lines to reflect frequency. We’re all used to seeing graphic equalizers and i wanted to relate my work to that but without using blocks as i didnt feel these were representative of the way music is presented on a musical score.
musical notes are basically circles. they sit on a stave which is constructed of 5 lines. the placement of the dots relates to their representative sound and the note on which it is played on a particular instrument. the tail of the note ( the line extending from the circle upwards or downwards) doesnt really relate to the note sound itself. it is merely an indication of the duration at which that note is held. therefore my emphasis was drawn mainly to circles primarily and lines as a secondary element.
I played around with the placement of the dots and lines on a blank canvas. their size, their distance apart, the overlapping and the horizontal and vertical layout of the shapes within the space of the page.
The space of the page was to represent the display screen that the shapes would be presented on.
I found that, true to the research, it was more natural to read the dots in a horizontal plane. it was also interesting to see the visual conveyance the shapes had depending upon their placement and the overlapping nature didnt seem natural to the eye.
i wanted the shapes to be as natural to the user as much as possible. this was so that they can easily “visually read” the dots so that their eye dances up and down the screen as though it were a part of the music.
