Candy Clothesline
Done for School project: What is design & interaction to you?
Groupwork with Boo Wallin, Danielle Yocom & Zarah Malik
Pictures taken by Tanya Bhandari & Boo Wallin 

I was appointed leader of the group and we had to come up with anything that we think is the definition of design & interaction, the twist was that we weren’t allow to use any computers, so no printing I guess. With so many things going on I wanted this project to be fun, fun, FUN!!!!! I wanted it to be simple yet effective. With the electives going on at the same time, it was hard to get all the members together but we managed really well and I felt that we did a good job overall. I decided to ask everyone to come up with ideas for the first meeting. We fell in love with the building blocks idea. As a kid we would build something out of building blocks and create something, we than might destroy it and make something new. This is how we see design, using what elements/information we have, we are able to use our creativity to design and create things. Also we can deconstruct it and come up with another new idea/creation, basically its a portrayal of the creative process. We also wanted people to engage with it, to build with the blocks and demolish it to build something new again. It seemed so clear, we started looking for materials, but for financial reasons we weren’t able to acquire the desired building blocks and the idea fell through.

We then approached it differently with another idea, design is a problem solving process, and I was inspired by the aesop tale of ‘The Fox and the Grapes’ where the fox tried to jump and reach the grapes but it was to high and out of reach that he thought that the grapes were sour anyways. So, I needed something like the grape and I know for a fact that most people like candy. Then I presented the problem, the same problem that the fox faced, the candy will be suspended high up in the ceiling and the fox will be the rest of the students that attend the Christmas project party. I wanted to see each student’s approach on how they would try to solve and acquire the candy. This would force them to engage in the activity of problem-solving. We know that most of them will jump, some will stand on chairs, some would carry their friends up. but it would be nice to see people try. Like they say ‘There are many ways to solve a problem.’ So we decided to spend money on a variety of candy in a cosy little sweet shop in Covent Garden (it was our Christmas gift to our friends as we, but they will have to work for it), Boo got the clothespins that did the trick. We also did some graphics that were handpainted with gouache to go along with it, suggesting some solutions and it seemed perfect. On the morning of the party we arrived early and set up the clothesline with all the candy on it and see the magic happen. Unfortunately, I had my Typography rotation and my electives meeting so I missed out on all the action but the lovely photos that Tanya and Boo took were enough to make me smile.