The Observational Age
An Experimental Approach to Emotional Data Collection
The feelings of navigating your twenties, growing up, and moving forward result in a spectrum of emotions that should be heard, understood, and validated. The Observational Age was an exploration of loss, time, growing up, and moving forward through an experimental approach to emotional data collection. Each day from April 6 - 26, 2020, I completed five tasks. Each task was a form of emotional data collection that reflected my path of self-discovery through my readings then related to elements of design.
This design book complies my findings, organized by day. There is also a final section at the end of the book for the reader to collect their own emotional data. Texture, photography, motion, typography, and shapes all have a strong hold on both my career and my life. My emotions affect these elements in my personal work. Through the visuals created, I was able to make connections of what brings me joy, what triggers me, and how my mood affects design overall.
“Realizing My Quarter-Life Crisis Emotions Was a Significant Time in My Life…”
The first task was a walk from my house and back that increased by length every day. During the walk an object was photographed and collected for texture and photography. For color, I completed an hourly mood chart every day from 10 AM to 10 PM. The third task was to document what aspects of my life I thought about frequently that day and turn each day into a coded visual animation representing motion. Typography was explored through creating a roughly developed typeface every day from my handwriting. Finally, a five-minute doodle was drawn every day to explore shape.
