CHAPTER 1 3D DESIGN INTRODUCTION

Introduction to Three-Dimensional Design Organizing Form

An F/A-18 Hornet aircraft breaking the sound barrier.

Artists, designers, and architects organize form, placing elements in relationship to each other in order to make useful products, meaningful objects, and ordered experiences.

• Vision is the primary sense involved in art and design, but three-dimensional design concerns all the senses• Haptic, or tactile experiences, involve the sense of touch and can communicate how an object feels to you. •Acoustic feedback from computers or kinetic sculpture activates your hearing.• Some work can even include olfatory responses, such as your sense of smell.

Introduction to Three-Dimensional Design Organizing Form

3D design concerns all the senses

Introduction to Three-Dimensional Design Organizing FormAttentionThere is perhaps no frame of mind more important to design thinking than attention! Without interest and care, nothing will happen.

Good DesignGood design, provocative sculpture, and magnificent architecture are achieved by those who are passionate, visually sensitive, informed, open-minded, and inventive.

Framing Hammer. Vaughan, manufacturer. 18 oz., length 1' 6".

The word design has many meanings.As a noun, design can refer to the result of the process of design. It can also relate to various professions such as product design, graphic design, information design, interior design, etc.As a verb, design refers to the activity of planning, or organizing.

Basic DesignBefore majoring in a specific discipline, most art and design students take basic design courses in their foundation year. • 2-D design deals with organizing all that is flat.• 3-D design covers all concepts relating to form and structure, as well as related spatial issues.• 4-D design involves phenomena that exist in time, like movement and the sequential.

Introduction to Three-Dimensional Design Design Defined

Introduction to Three-Dimensional Design Design Defined

OriginsMost of the seminal ideas taught today in art and design foundation programs around the world were developed in the revolutionary, experimental German design school, the Bauhaus during the years 1919–1933.

• Prior to the Bauhaus, the training of artists and designers was an apprenticeship system: students learned their masters’ techniques.

• The “new” approach emphasized specific exercises to encourage student discovery.

LookingAttentive Observation

Artists and designers are voyeurs—the entire world elicits fascination.

Art and design require clear observation.

• Using analytical and insightful skills to see with sensitivity• Being aware of various viewpoints and changing your place in space

Vertebra section, view 1. Vertebra section, view 2.

LookingSimilarities and Differences

Comparison helps us see in context and make insightful observations.Analyze these two forms. These lists are only the beginning.

Similarities:• Birds as subject matter.• Reductive forms depicting only essential features, eliminating detail, and utilizing an economy of means.

Blue Heron Decoy. 1907.

Differences:• Sense of movement: a bird in flight and one standing still• Material use: brass or wood• Number of components: 1 or 5.• Fine art sculpture versus functional object

Constantin BrancusiBird in Space. 1924. Bronze4' 2 5⁄16" high.

Double Helix DNA model

LookingConnections

Artists and designers, much like scientists, are always on the lookout for resemblances and hidden patterns connecting the world and their work, and within the work itself.

What shape repeats in these different natural forms?

Spiral Nebula (M51). NASA, Hubble Heritage Team. 2010. Photo.

Chambered nautilus, cross sectionAfghanistan Markhor Capra falconeri megaceros. Male.

TouchTactile Sensation

Creating a variety of forms often involves shaping complex geometries and necessitates using both vision and touch to test for gracefully flowing form.

Clay model, 2010 BMW 550I Gran Turismo

Clay model, 2010 BMW 550I Gran Turismo

ContextA Shaping Force

All objects exist in relationship to other objects and to their environments. Perceived qualities of objects change when other objects are placed in proximity or when placed in a new environment.

• An example of a formal change can involve a small form looking larger next to a smaller one.

• An example of a conceptual shift can be an everyday object taking on greater philosophical meaning when recontextualized or juxtaposed against other forms.

Haim Steinbach. Shelf with Ajax. 1980. Mixed mediums. Fisher Fine Arts Library Image Collection.

ContextSite Specific

Artworks, architecture, and design installations made for particular places are considered site specific.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980–83.

LearningBecoming Informed and Aware

Student project. Professor Matt King, instructor. Virginia Commonwealth University, Art Foundation Program.

Most art and design foundation programs are created to teach students to become informed,inventive, thinking makers by learning:

• The basics of visual form• Materials and structural principles• The ability to research and articulate ideas • Visual sensitivity• Effective communication skills• An awareness of art and design history against a global backdrop