Final Presentation

Spring Course

I took Creative Explorations in Screen-Based and Physcial Computing not once, but twice! This spring, I was enrolled for non-credit and had the opportunity to formulate project ideas with help from Molly.

Project Idea #1

I wanted to create a personal website to display my writing, design work, videos, and photography. It was a great opportunity to determine how I wanted the site to look and feel. This ended up being my final, completed project for the semester: mediabymaisie.com.

Project Idea #2

I brainstormed with Molly on how to come up with a creative project that combined imagery I like, including the moon, stars, ocean, and sea creatures. Possibilities included: animation demonstrating how the phases of the moon impact life on Earth, animations of sea creatures, and animations of planets.

An early inspiration for this was Creature Cast, which Molly suggested I check out. Very cool!

Project Idea #3

I considered making a physical computing project and did some research on Arduinos and how they work. Specifically, I thought it would be cool to make a wall projection animation that my cat could play with.

An inspiration for this was Design IO, a creative studio in Cambridge which Alec suggested I check out. Very cool!

Project Idea #4

The last idea I came up with was a map displaying mermaid lore across the world. This became the focus of my project for the summer semester. I've always loved mermaids. Growing up, the Little Mermaid was my favorite Disney movie and a recurring Halloween costume. As an adult, mermaids adorn my apartment and work office.

Summer Course

Knowing I wanted to make a map of mermaid lore, the first thing I did was research ancient mermaid myths. I read Mermaids: the Myths, Legends, and Lore by Skye Alexander, which served as the primary source for my project.

Mock Ups

The next step in my process was to make hand-drawn mock ups of what the map and mermaids might look like, and how the information might be organized. I made a ton of mock ups.

Coding Tutorials

Building on the online tutorials I completed last semester, I watched a Lynda.com tutorial and CodeAcademy tutorials covering HTML, CSS, and Javascript. This, in combination with the class demonstrations and materials, gave me a sense of how to proceed with my map and mermaid pages.

Look and Feel of the Map

Most of my initial work was focused on the design and functionality of the map. I made several mock ups trying to find the right look and feel, eventually settling on a very feminine color palette and design. I chose a song by Moby ("18") for the background music. With help from Shaunalynn and Alec, I made the mermaids glow when the user hovers over them and the region appears.

Mermaid Map Unveiling

At long last, each of the 15 regions on the map includes a description of 1-9 mermaids as well as an animation representing the first mermaid listed. I created the animations using CSS and Adobe After Effects.

Click to explore the Map of Mermaid Lore!