We reviewed the team “The Tricycles” consisting of Emily, John, and Vera (Group 31).The group had completed most of the work that was required for the peer review, and explained the work they had done quite clearly making it easy for us to understand what they have done. Each member of the group had something to contribute towards the presentation, demonstrating a good teamwork ethic.
Their three city site images were based on the idea of merging dystopia and utopia. They suggested that the images portray a dystopian exterior landscape with a utopian interior. This is apparent in two of the images where the environment surrounding the buildings is smoky, grimy and dark suggesting a dystopian space.
The Tricycles presented to us that they were not concentrating on creating the exact Garden City from the short story “The Ultimate City” – written by Ballard; the group was more focused on cleaning up the image of the structures and creating a cleaner cut, pristine space. The composition of the interior reflects utopian qualities of order, structure, and perfection, contrasting with the polluted, broken composition of the landscape. In particular the internal elements of the building was aesthetically pleasing, this was from the fact that the interior spaces were clearly arranged in suitable aspects for the particular rooms, hence retaining its actual shape and portraying a modern hotel building.
The idea of utopia and dystopia was apparent in a more general way, not focusing on any particular aspect seen from the short story - there were no distinct elements or imagery that came from it. The understanding of the differences between utopia and dystopia was very respectable, with a clear contrast between the dirtiness and darkness of dystopia and the cleanliness and more organised elements of utopia. We could say that they did not go deep into the meaning of utopia and dystopia, focusing mainly on the physical aspects.
The Photoshopping skills achieved by The Tricycles was executed well, the design elements such as colour and the intricate detailing were effective in the overall pages. The overlapping of the dystopian world over the utopian landscape in the third image was attractive, showing the layering of the landscape in the contrasting styles, which also helps to further emphasize their idea. The hand drawn element of the building façade in the second image blends well with the overall composition of the design, and the untouched individual rooms in one particular image showed they were content on showing the spatial context of their building and through this challenging the idea of utopia verses dystopia.
Each member of the group had produced a GIF animation of their two plants. They each showed different aspects such as rotating around the plant, zooming in, and changing colour or lighting since the growth of the plant is not yet apparent. It was clear that each member of the group understood the process of creating a simple GIF animation. Vera’s hand was visible in the GIF, which (along with the others) showed movement and interaction around the objects. This was good to see the spacial awareness.
The avatars produced by The Tricycles were of a goodstandard and it would have been really interesting to see them test their molds with different materials. They produced a vast variety of avatars and a good quantity at the different scales that were required.
