Saturday, November 15, 2008

Conceptual Project: reCYCLE

Instance #1 and #3


Instance #6 and #10


For my conceptual project, I created a rotating/expanding system of arrows that's reminiscent of the popular "recycle" signs. The system grows by concentric polygonal arrangements of arrows, and rotates with each successive page of the system.

As I was designing the system, I tried various ways of making the system seem to rotate. The colored pattern of the arrows is designed to lead the eye around the rotation without being too overwhelming (the system is limited to green, orange, and black). I also discovered that the best way to create uniformity in the system is with a template arrow, although I did not use a template here, but rather traced the arrows individually on each page.

The system is fairly complex, so please visit this page to read a full explanation of the process. The basic procedure is to begin with a square, then add concentric polygons around it, rotating a certain number of times for each new polygon, and alternating the direction of rotation for each polygon.