Interactive informative/informational website on wild food & medicine in the tristate area targeted to beginners but still useful for intermediate to advanced foragers. Website would open to initial viewers (based on cookies) with an informative introduction using two or three slide-like pages (with option to skip) on “what?” “why?” “how?” of wild food/foraging/herbalism — there would also be revisitable home tab options for these three pages. The site itself would have many informational pages on specific plants by region or type (leafy green, fungi, fruit, spices, medicinal) as well as recipes. For the exhibition I’d display it on a fairly large monitor with keyboard and mouse access; I’d have to think of something else eye catching though, maybe a brochure or poster or something else beyond a website on a monitor and me trying to give people my elevator pitch. Creating a website would be most in tune with my skill set and I would challenge myself by using React and Node.js, two things I have near to no experience with but have wanted to learn for a long while. I feel like this would be the most usable project post-graduation.
It’s difficult for me to think of something in the opposite direction (away from strongest skill being websites and my biggest passion being plants) but I’ll try — I could make an interactive art piece using glassblowing, the laser cutter with clear acrylic, and program it to be interactive by physical pressure. I could blow large bubbles of glass of various sizes (I have access to a glassblowing studio) that people could touch to cause the inner lighting to change color depending on the level and area of pressure. This would have no use beyond being a real cool installation that shows my ability to program physical interactivity (not that I know how yet).
Interactive informative/informational physical model on wild food & medicine in the tristate area targeted to beginners. I would create a physical setup using the laser cutter and acrylic as well as the CNC machine with programmed interactive components. I have no experience working with robotic-type coding so this would be a big project. I’m worried that me not knowing what I’d do with it and how I’d store it after leaving TCNJ would affect my motivation. This could also get out of hand very easily (as in, I’d bite off way more than I can chew).
6 thoughts on “Rachel’s Initial Concepts”
One of the cool things about web design is that it can present information in an interesting, easy-to-navigate way. I don’t know much about wild food/herbalism right now, so an easy-to-read, easy-to-access website could be a really great entry point into the subject for someone like me.
I’m especially curious about what the information architecture of this site might be – how do users navigate this web of information without getting lost?
Glassblowing is a really cool art form, and I think that glass-blown lights would make for an eye-catching installation. If I saw something like that at the Senior Showcase, I would definitely stop and look at it.
Laser cutting can be a great way to take cool designs and express them in a new form, so I’d be interested in seeing what a laser-cut infographic about plants would look like. If you were to incorporate this into the first project, maybe laser-cut some merchandise for the website. It could be a neat little promotional material for the site that shows how the branding of a website can impact its publicity.
I like how all three of your ideas are pretty well thought out and I think all three of these could make for interesting projects. I know nothing about foraging or herbalism so I’d find the first project very informative. I’m also wondering how you got into glassblowing or how you have access to a studio. Interactive projects are often the most enjoyable for me personally so I think you’d get a lot of attention with it especially with something as unique as glassblowing.
I think if you were to go with the third idea you could also incorporate the website into it, but maybe tone it down a bit and make it more basic so you aren’t stressing yourself out essentially working on two projects at once. Overall I’m excited to see what you make.
I absolutely LOVE your first idea! I am so into herbalism and I would love for there to be a space where everyone could learn about all the different wild foods and medicines! I think to make it eye-catching, it’d be super super cool if you brought some of the food/nature in, and place them in pretty displays– like you mentioned in your third point!!
Also, I think it’d be super cool if you cooked the food or created dishes with each different ingredients and set it up on a nice looking counter! For my project, I was thinking about doing something with sustainability, so I feel like we have similar themes (of focusing on natural stuff). I was planning on creating a living room design for my project, and could maybe incorporate the kitchen into it– maybe we could share a space during thesis presentation and you could display your dishes/food items on that counter space and plants in the living room!
I don’t know much about herbalism but it would be interesting to learn more about it. I am curious as to how this information would be display. I guess my advice would be to find effective ways at delivering this information, whether if its a fun interactive piece, or more graphics and less word approach.
maybe for your presentation you can have like mini recipe sheets that can be placed for me to take and even use.
Awesome, I think herbalism is a great topic to teach others about especially in a website format as many people, especially from our generation, do not know much about herbalism and foraging for our own ingredients. Maybe you could use WordPress to build this website as it may be quicker and a more user friendly solution. I have heard great things about React and Node.js. I would recommend using Django, a full-stack Python web development framework as it has commands that automatically create a content management system helping you create your website quicker if you are interested. I like how your second concept could possibly make otherwise inanimate objects more interactive. Your third concept is cool in how it may teach others the physical aspects of gathering ingredients, which is an important part of herbalism. Maybe to demonstrate the process of foraging for and washing common ingredients, you could have a small physical set up whether it is in a video format or part of a live demonstration reflecting off of your third concept.
I like the idea of making your project a website, because it makes it easy to access. Obviously, it helps for something informational to be accessible to as many people as possible. It also helps that you’re focusing on a topic that is interesting, but also not common knowledge.
Your second idea is super rad. Glassblowing is super interestimg, and finding a way to combine that with programming would be super interesting. Alsoz I feel like being a cool art installation is enough of a purpose.
Your final idea is also super neat. I really like the idea of a physical model that could help teach people something useful and interesting. I feel like it would be a neat thing to combine with your first concept, especually if it was possible ro scan it in digitally in some way. Unfortunately, this would probably be both a lot to make physically, and a lot to do for the website as well. Still, a physical, informational model is really cool.
One of the cool things about web design is that it can present information in an interesting, easy-to-navigate way. I don’t know much about wild food/herbalism right now, so an easy-to-read, easy-to-access website could be a really great entry point into the subject for someone like me.
I’m especially curious about what the information architecture of this site might be – how do users navigate this web of information without getting lost?
Glassblowing is a really cool art form, and I think that glass-blown lights would make for an eye-catching installation. If I saw something like that at the Senior Showcase, I would definitely stop and look at it.
Laser cutting can be a great way to take cool designs and express them in a new form, so I’d be interested in seeing what a laser-cut infographic about plants would look like. If you were to incorporate this into the first project, maybe laser-cut some merchandise for the website. It could be a neat little promotional material for the site that shows how the branding of a website can impact its publicity.
I like how all three of your ideas are pretty well thought out and I think all three of these could make for interesting projects. I know nothing about foraging or herbalism so I’d find the first project very informative. I’m also wondering how you got into glassblowing or how you have access to a studio. Interactive projects are often the most enjoyable for me personally so I think you’d get a lot of attention with it especially with something as unique as glassblowing.
I think if you were to go with the third idea you could also incorporate the website into it, but maybe tone it down a bit and make it more basic so you aren’t stressing yourself out essentially working on two projects at once. Overall I’m excited to see what you make.
Hey Rach!
I absolutely LOVE your first idea! I am so into herbalism and I would love for there to be a space where everyone could learn about all the different wild foods and medicines! I think to make it eye-catching, it’d be super super cool if you brought some of the food/nature in, and place them in pretty displays– like you mentioned in your third point!!
Also, I think it’d be super cool if you cooked the food or created dishes with each different ingredients and set it up on a nice looking counter! For my project, I was thinking about doing something with sustainability, so I feel like we have similar themes (of focusing on natural stuff). I was planning on creating a living room design for my project, and could maybe incorporate the kitchen into it– maybe we could share a space during thesis presentation and you could display your dishes/food items on that counter space and plants in the living room!
I don’t know much about herbalism but it would be interesting to learn more about it. I am curious as to how this information would be display. I guess my advice would be to find effective ways at delivering this information, whether if its a fun interactive piece, or more graphics and less word approach.
maybe for your presentation you can have like mini recipe sheets that can be placed for me to take and even use.
Awesome, I think herbalism is a great topic to teach others about especially in a website format as many people, especially from our generation, do not know much about herbalism and foraging for our own ingredients. Maybe you could use WordPress to build this website as it may be quicker and a more user friendly solution. I have heard great things about React and Node.js. I would recommend using Django, a full-stack Python web development framework as it has commands that automatically create a content management system helping you create your website quicker if you are interested. I like how your second concept could possibly make otherwise inanimate objects more interactive. Your third concept is cool in how it may teach others the physical aspects of gathering ingredients, which is an important part of herbalism. Maybe to demonstrate the process of foraging for and washing common ingredients, you could have a small physical set up whether it is in a video format or part of a live demonstration reflecting off of your third concept.
I like the idea of making your project a website, because it makes it easy to access. Obviously, it helps for something informational to be accessible to as many people as possible. It also helps that you’re focusing on a topic that is interesting, but also not common knowledge.
Your second idea is super rad. Glassblowing is super interestimg, and finding a way to combine that with programming would be super interesting. Alsoz I feel like being a cool art installation is enough of a purpose.
Your final idea is also super neat. I really like the idea of a physical model that could help teach people something useful and interesting. I feel like it would be a neat thing to combine with your first concept, especually if it was possible ro scan it in digitally in some way. Unfortunately, this would probably be both a lot to make physically, and a lot to do for the website as well. Still, a physical, informational model is really cool.