Motivation and story
Data representations are known mainly in the form of tables, various types of charts and percentages. This project was about visualizing data in a different way.
In this data visualization, a personal data set was mapped.
I participated in a music contest with the song „FLX – Spaceways“ over a period of several weeks and recorded clicks and likes on a daily basis. Since it was my first music contest and I had never participated in something like this before, I found the whole project very exciting.
Accordingly, I was also very stressed over this period of time.
But besides the clear numbers, this emotion could also be captured in the visualization. The material, which has cracks and fractures, was chosen because it visualizes the stress during this period, which could not be measured precisely.
The basis for this project were the noted numbers from the competition. In this step, the simple numbers were translated into another level.
In the software Fusion360, I was able to convert the noted records into sketches placed in three-dimensional space.
The different widths on the object represent the clicks, the breakouts in the height represent the likes.
These sketches were then connected to each other by spanning surfaces between them.
In this way, a three-dimensional body was created.
This digital object now had to be transformed from a digital representation into a haptic experience. For this, I chose to manufacture it with a CNC machine.
For further processing with the CNC milling machine, the object had to be checked and tested in Fusion360 in production mode.
For the wood, Okoumé proved to be excellent, as it naturally depicts precisely these tensions through the grain, structure and inclusions in the wood.
The objects were manufactured with the help of a CNC milling machine, which was able to convert the 3D model created in Fusion360 without any problems.
During the milling process, quite a lot of heat is generated due to the friction of the cutter on the wood and the large amount of chips and dust generated.
For safety reasons, this dust must be extracted again and again, despite automatic suction.
In order to protect the object from external influences and make the grain more visible, it was then treated with linseed oil.
While the different widths on the object represent the clicks, the breakouts in the height represent the likes. The cracks, which run across the entire exhibition piece, represent stress.
The object was ablated once, and ablated once, and the transitions were mapped in a refined way. The difference between the steps is that the steps between the planes are ground into smooth transitions.
If only the first step is used, a terraced or stepped structure appears.
This data representation is located in the Epistemological-representational
area of the representation matrix for data visualizations, as it deals with classically recorded data sets, which, however, are presented on a different level than classical representations.
I would like to extend a special thank you to Prof. Joanna Dauner and Volker Mahn for their support in this project.
