Assessment 1: Analogue Coding

Meda 102

The artwork that I got my initial inspiration from was the 2.5D, side-scrolling, puzzle video game Fez (Polytron 2012). Fez got me thinking in Three-dimensional space. To help solve the puzzle I made paper cubes. I wanted to make a puzzle of my own, with my own cube.

To begin, I wrote my own instructions to make a cube and then I was going to make the puzzle. My instructions on my page were as follow:

 

• One a3 paper sheet, roll of clear tape, scissors, pen

 

1. Orientate the paper portrait format.
2. In the center of the page and 2cm from the bottom, draw a 1 X 4 vertical column of squares. Each square should be 5cm X 5cm.
3. On the third square up from the bottom, add one 5cm X 5cm square to both side of the column.
4. From the top of the column label the squares A-D, in descending order. Label the left square with E and the right square with F.
5. Cut a round the outline of the shape.
6. After cutting the paper, save the off cut of the sheet for later.
7. Fold and un-fold along the lines of the shape, to make a crease.
8. Fold panel E and C in-ward, so that the edges meet. Then tape them together.
9. Repeat for panels A and E.
10. Repeat for panels A and F.
11. Repeat for panels F and C.
12. Tape panel D to A.

I tested the instructions to see if they would create a cube. The first tester failed. Step 6 confused them;  they created it with the cube still attached to the A3 sheet of paper. 7 people did the original instructions, 2 failed and 5 completed the cube. But they all had the letters on the outside.

My cube had the letters on the inside and I wanted to know why they had made their’s different to mine. So I changed only step 6 to “Everything is wrong”. The first 4 people with the new instructions made the cube with the letters on the inside. From then on the letters were on the outside. 11 people did the new instruction set, 3 failed and 8 completed the cube.

I asked the people who put letters on the outside why they did. The answer came down to it begin easier to read the panels when taping, thus they changed the aesthetics of the final result. The 4 who had the letters on the inside, they all said it looked better like that.

The new instruction 6 also introduced an emotional response from some of the testers. After reading instruction 6: ” Everything is wrong”, they began to question if they were following the instructions correctly, even after completing the cube. The new instruction 6 gave them a feeling of anxiety even though in both sets of instructions, step 6 didn’t add to the construction of the cube. I thought it might result in the cubes having letters on the inside. Whether the letters were on the inside or the outside there was no explicit instructions saying were they should be. That came down to aesthetic choice.

 

 

 

Bibliography

Polytron 2012, Fez, video game, Xbox 360, Trapdoor, Canada