Tag: Sharma-Puneet

Puneet Sharma

Redo of Gestalt Assignment

Set: Fierce & Dynamic

Visual Language (VOICE)
Contrast of Space – 80-90% white space
Shape of Forms – mostly 8X1 and few 7X1 & 6X1
Orientation of Forms – the main top right form is at 45 degrees, others are at 90 degrees of that object
Size of Forms – size are different unless the objective requires them to be same
Placement of Form – edges
Space between Forms – few inches away oriented at different angles

Objective Rules (assignment rules)
#1 No center object
#2 New forms must be added from the adjacent side of the frame at 90 degrees
#3 long forms to add the dynamic nature to the compositions
#4 length varies depending on the objective
(use at least 2)

Interpretation of Visual Language

What did you interpret to apply your rules?
bold, strong, confident, intense, sharp, speed, unstoppable, movement, changing, waves

Explain your process.

1. Two forms coming in from top and bottow at 45 degrees angle looking to intersect but not actually intersecting. The two forms divide the white space in somewhat equal but non similar white space
2. Three orthogonal forms of different lengths entering the space to create an effect of white space balance while adding a dynamic element. I used a 1X1 square coming in from the left side. This is compensating for the reduced length of the form entering the space from below (compared to it’s length in objective #1)
3. three equal sized forms entering from three sides of the frame, top, right and left. For this I kept the orientation of the form rising upward but shifted the side from where it was entering the frame in order to create a blanace of white space.
4. Three form entering the space from top, left and bottom side of the frame. The left and bottom are comparable size but the one entering from top is disproportionately long
5. Three forms of equal length and at an angle of 45 degrees entering from top, left and bottom side of the frame. The left and bottom one’s tend to come more closer to each other compared to the third one which is far apart and is perpendicular to the others
6. Four form entering the space from all four sides of the frame at an angle of 45 degrees. Forms entering from opposite sides are of equal length.
7. Extending from the objective #6, two additional long forms entering the frame from left and right sides of the frame parallel to the one’s in #6 creating an effect of emphasis

===========================================================================

Set: Delicate & Whimsical

Visual Language (VOICE):

Contrast of Space – 85 – 95% white space
Shape of Forms – Mostly Squares 1×1″, Some 2×1″
Orientation of Forms – 40 degrees
Size of Forms – along the center horizontal axis
Placement of Form – spreads out horizontally to both sides from center, forms are equidistant but assume different angles to convey the interpretation.
Space between Forms – 1/3 inch

Objective Rules (assignment rules)

#1 Objective alters center object in scale
#2 New Forms should be placed symmetrically on the vertical line unless it unbalances the white space
#3 Use minimum number of forms to meet the objective

Interpretation of Visual Language

What did you interpret to apply your rules?

Associate words are: quirky, unique, different, cool, fun, unpredictable, non-conforming, gentle, sensitive, intricate

Explain your process:
1. Extending from the safe efficient piece except the 1X1 square is angled at about 20 degrees.
2. Three forms aligned horizontally, two 2X1 rectangles and a 1X1 center piece. All three form tilted in different angles, leftmost about 15 degree, center at 20 and right most about 40 degree in the opposit direction to signal the quirkiness or whimsical part of the of the composition.
3. Three 1X1 squares aligned horizontally, spaced about 3rd of an inch apart from each other and tilted at different angles. But this time the first one is tilted about 40 degree, center at again 20 and the third one about 15 degrees.
4. two 1X1 squares and a single 2X1 rectangle aligned horizontally. the leftmost piece is 2X1 tilted at 10 degrees , the center and rightmost square is at 20 degrees
5. Three squares aligned horizontally, center and the rightmost square are 1/3rd inch apart and the rightmost is twice (2/3rd inch) away from the center. The leftmost square is tilted 40 degrees, center at 20 and rightmost at 10.
6. Five forms consisting of two 2X1 rectangles and three 1X1 squares aligned horizontally and alternating not just in size but also in orientation conveying a sense of rhythm while being whimsical
7. Extending from the above objective, only this time the center object is much larger (4X1) to break the rhythm and add a component of unpredictability

===========================================================================

Set: SAFE & EFFICIENT

Visual Language (VOICE):

Contrast of Space – Around 85-95% white space
Shape of Forms – Mostly Squares 1×1″, Some 2×1″
Orientation of Forms – 90 degrees
Size of Forms – size should be equal
Placement of Form – center
Space between Forms – .25 inches

Objective Rules (assignment rules)

#1 Objective alters center object in scale
#2 New Forms should be placed symmetrically on the vertical line unless it unbalances the white space
#3 Use minimum number of forms to meet the objective

Interpretation of Visual Language

What did you interpret to apply your rules?

Associated words are: Simple, Clean, Minimal, Balance, White, Harmany, Rules, Symmetric, Equal, Effective

Explain your process.

1. Balance – one 1X1 square in dead center. The object being equidistant from all four corners of the frame also creates balance of white space around it
2. Balance – 3 forms using scale: the center object changes from 1X1 to 2X1 and it’s flanked with 2 1X1 square to convey balance of weights above and below the center object
3. This extends from the object #2. And since the balance has to be conveyed only through use of space, the scale is taken out here. The center object goes back to the original 1X1 form
4. use of a 2X1 along with two 1X1 squares to convey heirarchy between different 3 different forms. Again because the objective to be minimal in use of form, only 3 forms are used
5. two 1X1 square grouped together 1/4th inch apart from each other and a single 1X1 place 1/2 inch away from the nearest 1X1. All aligned vertically
6. five object stacked vertically, three 1X1 squares and two 2X1 rectangles. the rhythm is created by alternating the squares and rectangles
7. extending from object #6, except this time a much larger rectangle replaces the center square to somewhat break the rhythm and create a new one with greater emphasis on the centeral form

Data Visualization Work on Stop and Frisk

Hasnain Nazar, Anne Gruel, Andrew Lambert, Puneet Sharma

1. What’s our story?

Our background for the infographic is that we are a university professor in the department of Ethnic Studies. Our goal for the infographic is to get students interested in our class and to register for it to learn more about sociological and institutional phenomenons. The infographic aims to depict the disparity of stop and frisk occurrences between the Hispanic, Black and other populations of LA. The overall finding and statistics shown on the infographic show that blacks are stopped and frisked much more than any other racial population.

2. How does the selected data support your story?

The data showing how often blacks are stopped in comparison to other races truly highlights the issue of race and perception in society. The data we selected to use to tell our story was:
Population of LA County by race
Number of stop and frisks by race
Percentage of arrests by race
Our aim of also discussing sociological biases may also be relevant as we can lead our class through a discussion on racial bias, self-fulfilling prophecies and institutional racism. A discourse around race and America may also be relevant but as one can see we have enough to discuss for one class session!

3. What data did you omit, and why?

We wanted to perform a more granular analysis of this issue by drilling down into the city-level to the neighborhood-level data. For example, some neighborhoods may have more blacks than other neighborhoods. Would there be more overall arrests in these neighborhoods? The data set provides neighborhood labels, however we also need the longitude/latitude mapping to explore this spatially. This longitude/latitude data is unavailable to us as part of the data set, so we decided it was out of scope for this exercise.

We also pivoted from our original concept, which used a set of squares to show the disparity between race population and their relative stop & frisk rates. As we looked deeper into the data, we realized we had compared proportions of the absolute population (which sum up to 100%) with the stop & frisk numbers relative to racial categories, which do not add up to 100%. Therefore, we took a step back.

4. How does the representation support your story?

We used numbers like “4x” and “10x” to emphasize the contrast between stop & frisk rates between racial groups. We also used bar graphs to facilitate quick comparisons between the 3 groups. Bar charts allow the viewer to compare quantitative data in a single dimension, which is easier to process than our earlier square visualization, which forced comparisons in two dimensions.

5. What visual metaphor(s) did you use, and why?

Our visual metaphor centered around the humiliating and impersonal nature of stop & frisk. The central illustration shows someone’s personal space being violated in a stop & frisk. We used this metaphor to expose the seriousness of this issue to students, who come from a variety of racial backgrounds.

One conversation we had was how to represent the individual races visually. Should we use icons to depict the races? As an ethnic studies professor, we realized this could compromise the agency of these groups. Marginalized communities already have issues speaking for themselves because they don’t have access to certain channels. We wanted to avoid speaking for populations that we are not a part of. We didn’t want groups to be identified with specific colors, so we stuck to grayscale We also decided to use abstract representations of the data through bar charts and such.

Long Distance Housing Search (Anne, Emily, Puneet, and Jann)

Who is your product made for?
We decided to focus on international students who are coming to Berkeley for a semester abroad and are looking for housing.

What’s the existing problem? What’s the need of the user?
They are looking for housing from their home and need to rent a place to live without being able to visit the apartment or meet the landlord. These users need to be able to trust that they are getting a good place with a reliable landlord.

How does your design solve for it?
Our design emphasizes trust while also trying to create an enjoyable experience for the user that gives them a sense of place and community. We do this by showing the user’s connections to the landlord or former tenants as well as to people who live nearby.

Walk us through the design flow
Screen 1: The left side of the screen shows the listing of available accommodations available for rent. This listing would be ordered by proximity from the “area of focus”. And one of the touch points would be a sliding scale to increase or decrease the search radius that increases or decreases the results.

Screen 2: Circles indicate housing options and show the number of connections you have to the landlord, former tenants, or the area. The larger circles signify more connections.

Screen 3: The user can click on one of the options to expand the connections and see the paths through which they are connected.

Screen 4: This is a detail screen of one listing which the user can save or reject by swiping. Reviews from people in the user’s network about the apartment or landlord would also show here.

How do you want users to feel when they use your product?
We want users to feel excited about the place they are moving to and feel confident that they will be arriving somewhere that they will want to live and that will match their expectations based on the online listing. Our primary goal is to instill trust while also creating an enjoyable and welcoming experience for the user.

Puneet Sharma

The artifact I used for this exercise was a painting that I made during last semester. This painting came at the point in the semester when things were going as planned. Furthermore, the painting I had made before this, despite being one of my best works, made me feel very sad and miserable. The entire experience of making that painting was a mix of pain, sorrow, being caged/locked up with just far and few moments of joy and inspiration. So when I went about making this painting, I wanted to let myself loose. I wanted to liberate myself from all the shackles and things that were holding me back. And for a change not try to control the medium but just react to it.

I think as designers, we ought to look at all objects, people, thoughts and things in the world this way. I can’t imagine there would be any other way of creating original work without being one with the context. This reminds me of the philosophy behind Aikido (Japanese martial art) i.e. of unifying with the enemy. The technique consists of using the momentum from the opponent and redirecting it. This begs the question, how can you win over the enemy without being one with them? In a similar vein, how can one imagine to design a house for a person without knowing what this person loves to do on a Sunday afternoon? How can one design an experience for a user without developing that deep empathy with them?

The meaning of this object has definitely changed for me. When I finished this painting, for a moment it seemed I had managed to uncage myself and had experienced freedom. I definitely was breathing a different air than I was before. But that didn’t last long and I started disliking (almost hating) the painting.

Now when I sat and did the formal dissection of this painting, the exercise allowed me to look beyond the superficial level. It allowed me to create that distinction between pleasant and beautiful. And I do find this painting more beautiful now compared to just a week ago

Puneet Sharma

How did you feel about participating in this work- shop?

I was very intrigued hearing about the taste alteration work-shop. And since I hadn’t known about the “miracle” berry, there was a fair bit of mystique that had built up going into the workshop. I do think a lot of it had to do with Lisa passing around the mBerry covers around (perhaps as an alibi?) and then warning us to have our lunch before the workshop. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been as concerned as I was after all that build up.

How did your feelings affect your experience?

Because I was so primed for the “miracle berry” experience, my already sensitive taste buds were further sensitized and ready to be messed up. Looking back I have to say it wasn’t so much as “experiencing” as it was “wanting an experience” for me.

How did your associations change when trying the same foods after trying the berry?

While I tried most the stuff that was laid out on the table, I will just talk about the things for which my associations changed the most. The first thing that I started with was chocolate and my association change the most before dissolving the miracle berry in my mouth. Since I’ve always loved chocolates, my associations with chocolate were dense, cocoa, delicious, smooth, happiness, share and craving. But after tasting (pre-berry) the chocolate, I was quite disappointed as I didn’t like that one at all. And the pre-berry association changed to weird, black, bitter, fruity (it had some fruit/berry in it). After having the miracle berry, my associations didn’t change as much as I thought. I guess I was expecting that the berry might make this chocolate taste good, but it tasted pretty much the same.
I then tasted the lemons, primarily because that was the most talked about item during the workshop. Interestingly, I expect my associations to change about lemons after the “berry” effect, and it did. But it also changed drastically before I had the miracle berry. During last semester, we covered a topic in Applied Behavioral Economics last semester, about the difference between experiencing self and the remembering self. Here my associations with lemon before tasting it without the mberry were fresh, yellow, food, slippery seeds, lemonade. This however, was my remembering self, that is perhaps a bit removed from the “experience/taste” self. So when I tasted the lemons before having the mberry, it was like a jolt that brought me back to reality and my associations to it changed to sour, pungent, citrus. And then again, when I tasted the lemons after dissolving the miracle berry, I was pleasantly surprised at the lemonade-like sweetness of it. I liked it so much that I picked up lemon slices as if were oranges.
The third thing that was interesting was the bread, particularly the before and after “mberry” associations. Before having the miracle berry, my associations with bread were brown, soft, sweet, grainy and hungry. But after having the berry it was sweet, fruit (berry like) bread, craving, tasty.

How would your attitude change if all food was to taste like this at least once a year, what about all the time?

After the exercise I felt I wouldn’t so much want to change the tastes of the food as much as my (or people around me) attitude towards food. I feel, if we all were to be half as sensitized or mindful of what we’re eating and tasting, the fast-food industry would go out of business in no time. But of course, without the miracle berry, because that would mess things up.