Junk in an Infinite loop
Discipline: Projection mapping
Client: Imaginea Design Labs
Junk is stuff you usually throw out. Or maybe not. You can definitely reuse it to serve another purpose. In fact, sustainable design is all about recycling objects over and over again. So here is an installation, a look at the infinite possibilities that an object can serve in the consumer-based society we live in. Computer junk or scrap material, each object can be put back into the loop of creation once it’s done serving its original function. Like Pacman, we are consuming all the time and trying to beat each other in the process. We consume junk and leave behind a pile of waste. But surely we can do something about it! ;)
How this idea struck me
I was clearing up my office locker and came across a junk keyboard, a few old mouses and some waste chips, which I had collected earlier to make a transformer. I noticed that junk objects make for cool decor if painted in one color.
My company’s annual innovation day gave us the perfect opportunity to get creative in the limited timeline. We only had 24 hours to come up with something. Hence i thought of piecing together some computer junk lying around and doing some projection mapping on it. We had to somehow pull it off in a day.
How we went about it
I went around the office looking for more junk. To my dismay, I got to know the admin team had thrown out the computer junk three weeks back. To my surprise, we still managed to find some old modems, unused CDs, computer parts and electric appliances.
Other collaborators from marketing, design, and engineering also joined in and we were ready to start, not really knowing if we could pull it off.
We found a scrap carton box, which we folded and leveled for the base. We pulled out all the other scraps and spread them out. Since we were still short of material I sacrificed my sketchbook (which I don’t regret) and managed to find some non-working markers to fill up the remaining space. We placed a cutout of the Infinity logo in the center. We stuck the light stuff like CDs and a few chips with double-sided tape, the heavy components with superglue, and even heavier objects by wiring them through. We used a white spray can to paint the unit completely white, so that we could project onto it.
Animation Projection
Since half the day went making the installation, I had to do something quick for the animation. I decided on a loop animation and took a top shot of the base, which helped me decide the dimensions and map the items. Since the theme of the event was ‘Data Eats Software’ represented by Pacman, I followed the same 8bit-ish theme.
I used Adobe Animate to make the animations and Adobe Illustrator for mapping and tracing the elements. I used a combination of frame-by-frame transitions and motion tweens.
And lastly, we played some pac-man loop music. All in all the experience was fun, intense and well appreciated. :)
My takeaways
1. Keep it practical, easy to source and implement.
2. Get people involved :)
3. Explore unconventional mediums
Other Collaborators: Sree Lakshmi (Designer), Rooplekha ( Content Writer), Vishwash (Developer)