Semester 01 Nostalgia Sound Research Topic
Introduction
My objective was to investigate how sound can evoke emotions, since past methods relied heavily on the sense of sight, visual cues, and personal items such as mementoes for the purpose of evoking emotions. Portable acoustic devices such as smartphones can be used as tools for self-reflection in order to create a controlled soundscape that is customized to you.
Soundwalk is an important tool for soundscape awareness. The action of the soundwalk is an exploration of sound with the intention of active listening. Researchers have suggested that the act of a soundwalk can be a personal biography. As you move through the environment, you are invoking emotions and recalling memories of the location and sound.
I am fascinated by how the experience of sound combined with the act of soundwalk affects our perceptions of time, place, and thoughts through the practice of soundwalks. As a means of understanding and engaging with the soundscape found in the environment, the process of soundwalk activates the production of memory as well as the act of remembering.
In order to prepare for my soundwalks, I created a mind map of locations. Initially, I selected locations based on the level of familiarity I had with them, but after the feedback session with the lecturer, I realised my locations were too random, making it difficult to analyse the field recordings collected. To group the locations in the mind map, the amount of human traffic flow is taken into account.
Reflection — Research topic too complex
The topic of sound and memory seemed too complex
to me because it involves too many interests,
and I was not confident of my ability to make
the connection between sound and memory in a
design context.
Mind map of possible soundwalk locations
Sonic Visual
My interest in the subject of sound and memory was sparked by seeing projects online in which designers created typographic patterns. I thought it was an interesting approach since patterns can also stimulate branding ideas.
Reflection — Research topic too specific
Following the feedback session, the lecturer
considered the topic too specific, as I will be
unable to do much exploration or experimentation
on this project since I have already envisaged
its outcome.
I thought it would be interesting to do a study into the effectiveness of soundwalks to generate graphic patterns that design students can use to create visual systems. My generated patterns can use visual characteristics of the location I collected the audio recordings. For example, the architecture, colours and animals found in the location I collected the field recordings from.
AMC - Fiesta en Casa
A Project created by Inland Studio for the upcoming show 'Fiesta en Casa' on AMC Networks. The project incorporates paper cuts, colours, paintings, brushes, scissors and plants to create the graphic language.
The use of the paper cut-out effect and colour scheme to generate simple geometric shapes is appealing to me.
Img.17 - Patterns used to enhance the typefaces 
Img.18 - Colour scheme and patterns
36 Days of Type 2022
36 Days of Type is a project that invites designers, illustrators, and graphic artists to express their particular interpretation of the letters and numbers of the Latin alphabet. This project aims to provide a space to create around typography and its endless graphic possibilities.
“This year, like last year, my aim is to introduce more shapes and palettes into my letters. I hope you like my experiments with colour, shapes, and space.” — Rachit Nanda
Img.19 - Works created by Rachit Nanda
