Studio Brief 2 - The Land Travelling Exhibition - Crystalography

Mapping the Atomic Structure of site plans 

During research it was found that the use of crystallography as a technique had only recently been discovered, allowing people to view things at an atomic level for the first time. This discovery heavily influenced design at the time and The Festival Pattern Group was set for the exhibition, which meant many of the patterns for the festival where inspired by the discovery and what could now be seen. 

Taking influence from this aesthetic a map of the exhibition and its exhibits was used to create an atom like structure. The maps used bold letters as a way of distinguishing between different exhibits so these were used as markers to signify each of the areas on the atom diagrams created.  

Some designs also included the individual exhibits that were within each area, by adding smaller circles around the more prominent circles showing each area. When using the smaller dots in the same positions as the map there were groups and lines of dots rather than an even spread around each of the main area dots. This was quite hard to work with because it looked unbalanced in some areas. Adding lines from the smaller dots to the main exhibit dots created a cluster of points which showed the different areas well, however there 

Creating connections between each of the main dots started to show the links between each of the exhibits, however some areas started to look cluttered, especially when combined with connecting lines between the main exhibit areas. Creating connections between the main area dots started to show how people could move between the areas with the central dome directly in the centre of the atom structure. Joining the smaller exhibit dots in each area looked too structured and geometric. Also creating circular layers around the main area dots, with each circle encompassing an exhibition began to look like the individual exhibits were orbiting the larger area dots. However because of the close proximity of each of the smaller area dots the layers were hard to maintaining without them overlapping.  When the small dots were left unconnected with the main area circles being joined together instead, this made the design look like a constellation which was interesting especially when the Land Travelling Exhibition had been described as ' a constellation of events'. 

The most effective designs used only the main exhibition areas as points. Joining the dots with lines created links between the areas showing the pathways around each of the exhibits. This was explored further, with dotted lines representing a single pathway and a solid line representing a route you would have to backtrack on in order to get to the next exhibit.

After digitalising the designs line thickness and the dashed lines could be adapted. Using a brush stroke rather than a regular stroke aimed to create more depth / shadow to each of the circles however this created a drawn appearance which I didn't like. Dashed lines were more effective when there were more of them. Using a solid line for some of the areas reflects the places where a visitor would have to backtrack on themselves. Making these lines thicker than the dashed lines creates the sense that they are slightly closer than the dashed lines, giving the impression of three dimensionality.

The colours from the original map have been used within the diagram. Filling the circles makes the diagram look more solid and like an object enhancing the atom like structure. Using the light grey for the background allows the rest of the colours to stand out. Outlining the central circle makes it more prominent and the focus of attention. This reflects the importance of the dome that was at the centre of the exhibition and that allowed the access to all the exhibit areas.