5 Tool Post

Review

Upon entering this project, I was skeptical as to how it was going to go. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this assignment was quite enjoyable. I have never heard of “forced connections” before, but it was fun to explore the endless possibilities. It is a different way to discover potentially innovative ideas that may not be able to be approached any other way than these “forced connections.” I am excited to possibly use this technique in future design projects, because not only is this a fantastic way to brainstorm, but I feel as though it is a great way to set myself away from the rest.

Mind Map

The following is a list of my 25 combinations, items in bold were used in the final product:

Hammer Folder – This could be useful for someone who wants to keep nails with their hammer.

Screw Driver Drill

Marker Chalk

Pencil Laces

Fire Hydrant Hose – A fire hydrant with a built in hose for convenience.

Paper Clip Keys

String Ruler – Very portable; easy to use.

Paint Brush Cup

Lawn Mower Scissors

Dust Pan Broom

Garbage Can Hooks

Wheelchair Crutches – Diverse use of both options for the walking impaired.

Toilet Phone – In case your handset is out of reach and you have to make your business call!

Headphone Earmuffs – Keep warm, and entertained!

Spoon Knife – Sometimes it’s a lot of work to grab another utensil, cut and eat any tough meat with one hand stroke.

Tissue Laces – Be prepared for any messy situation with these laces.

Wire Railings

Marker Ruler

Lawnmower Broom

Screwdriver Fork

Toilet Keys

Paper Clip Hose

Drill Knife – Sometimes its hard to cut the toughest meat, this heavy duty tool will help.

Wheelchair Lawnmower – Now even the handicapped can keep up with their yard work.

These are 3 of my favorite specimen:

Toilet Phone

Wheelchair Lawnmower

Hammer Folder

This project in general pushed my creative process. It required me to take ideas that I already had and combine them with other ideas. This would be a very time consuming project but all of the different things that need to be done where not individually time consuming. So spacing it out helped a lot. I’m a big fan of the mind map idea, I thought it was really great at just getting all of the ideas I had out. Then combing them wasn’t too hard. When I first went into this project I was thinking more about the images of these combined tools then actual concepts behind them. this gave me some weird ideas but not really practical ones

trumpet + legs – I feel like these can both be objects that in my mind relate but in all reality they don’t.
money + sail- one day people will be soo rich that they will just use there money as sails
pillow + nail- these two tools have almost nothing to do with one another
guns + stickers- I really like juxtaposition and i feel like these two things do just that.
wood + Skirt
mold + car
diamond + spoon- this is a combination of the every day with the rarely seen
waste + leaves
robot + queen
blood + hand
moon + lighter
land +boats
bull + saw
ring +ball
squid +knife
paradise + monster
hammer + chair – I liked this one because I thought about how often I step on nails and no i can hammer them in while sitting
beach + hospital
weights + cow- I am obsessed with bro culture and I think muscle milk is confusing
prom + apple
bulb + meth- I really like both of these images aesthetically
cyber + stars
room + balloons
pen + bus- both of these things are filled with either ink or people
table + backpack- I would really love a table that is also a backpack

This was certainly an interesting assignment. The best part was coming up with the pairs. It was liberating knowing that what I was doing didn’t have to make sense. Whatever was interesting to me was what I could use to come up with my pairs. I felt as though I were an inventor trying to come up with some new product or idea. After all creation is graphic design.

Mind Map

Our group rotated maps after we made an addition to keep new ideas in constant flow.

Pairs

Heres why I chose the 10 I did.

1 – Candle wax and jam have similar textures that I thought would be interesting to combine together.

2 – Cotton and brain can both be soft and mushy, why not combine them?

3 – College slavery seems to be something we can all relate to, are we learning to think for ourselves here?

4 – A plantation that harvests party paraphernalia seems like something everyone would be a fan of.

5 – Laptop and snowboard needed to go together that way you can surf the web while you surf the snow.

6 – People seem to ‘carry’ lots of debt lately so why not do it in style with a jacket.

7 – Poor and ant seem pretty far from each other so why not span the gap some how.

8 – Bug beer sounds pretty gross but there must be a clever way to make it appealing.

9 – Fence guitars have to go together that way you can play as you go for a stroll.

10 – Speakers with water that moves to the music exist so why not build one that you can drink from?

Thumbnails

Response
I enjoyed collaborating with my group (Neula & Gabby) on the tool montage project. It was interesting to see the different directions our thoughts would go in when we created the mind maps because some of my partners thoughts and ideas were things that I would never have thought of. As we each took turns creating thumbnails for our pairings it was interesting to see what they came up with for an image and it was fun testing my creativity when it was my turn to create an thumbnail.

Mind Map

25 Tool Combinations & 10 Choices

Thumbnail Examples

My response to this project would be that it was time consuming however very therapeutic. Once I got focused I was in the zone, nothing could stop me! This project challenged my artist and creative abilities. My 10 choices were difficult to choose as I felt that all my possible 25 combinations could have been chosen as they were all strange and unique. I notice that I took all my objects and combined them literally; instead of doing that I need to not take it as literally and be more creative.

Mind Map:

Possible Combinations:

1. lightening + cows
2. Pills +hammer
3. Plants +stomach
4. Ladder+ thumb
5. Crabby Patty+ muscles
6. Apple + sponge
7. Sneakers + tape
8. Sun + marshmallows
9. Eggs + screws
10. Cell phone + bowl
11. Keys + sun
12. Tree + lightbulb
13. Kids + toothbrush
14. World+ scissors
15.  Hangers+ shapes
16. Water + nails
17. Coat +  sink
18. spoon+ rope
19. tv + toilet paper
20. Pots + keyboard
21. Antenna + buttons
22. Letters + mouse
23. Shelf + needles
24. Film  + brick
25. Piano +baseball

My 10 Choices:

Lightening+ Cows: Lightening and Cows don’t overlap at all the fun part about this combination is that lightening is a shocking event and a cow is just our producers hanging out in a field.

Pills + Hammer: Pills and a hammer, one object you digest and the other object you use, so this is a funny thumbnail to draw.

Plants + Stomach: Plants and stomach, plants have the ability to grow and change and a stomach is weird looking and it breaks down foods.

Ladder + Thumb: A ladder and a thumb is fun to draw because thumbs are weird and a ladder is basic. The idea of how I could combine these two is going to be interesting.

Apple + Sponge: An apple is a fruit and a sponge absorbs liquids, you can eat an apple however you can’t eat a sponge, so it was strange to draw

World + Scissor: The world give you the ability to draw it in many different ways and the scissor is a basic tool.

Coat + Sink: A coat keeps you warm and a sink cleans your dishes, so something you wear and something that you use.

Letters + Mouse : Many letters are in the alphabet and a mouse could be a computer mouse or an actually mouse, so that gives me more range within this thumbnail

Hanger + Shapes: A hanger holds close and a shape can be an irregular object of a regular shaped object, should be fun to see how those to connect

Shelf + Needles: A shelf holds things and a needle is sharp and can hurt, both are completely opposite from each other.

A few of my favorite Thumbnails:

Response
I found this assignment to be very insightful into how much work goes into figuring out the sketch or idea of your design. I enjoyed doing the thumbnails the most. I found some of the combinations to be quite funny and complicating to create.

Group Mind Map

Tool Combinations
1. World Mouse– I thought this would be fun, because I thought of a ton of different designs for it when I combined them.
2. Vodka Balloon
3. Fluffy Weight
4. Skinny Ants
5. Skinny Tea
6. Twisted Vodka– I immediately thought of a cool bottle for this design logo.
7. Chubby Belt
8. Screw Pedals
9. Stress Bracelet
10. Sail Shoes
11. Bike Ball
12. Cake Tea– I thought I would draw this, because I have never heard of cake flavored tea.
13.  Pen Nails– I love to do quick math on the table with my fingers. Why not be able draw with them?
14. Sweaty Bulb
15. Medicine Detective
16. Chocolate Bee
17. Electric Flowers
18. Spy Shoes– I chose this one because I thought it would be easy to design rocket shoes, sticky shoes…etc.
19. Plastic Sky
20. Electric Pen– I instantly thought of how cool a pen would be if you could speak into it and tell it what to put on the paper.
21. Boob Phone
22. Poop Cookie– Honestly, my friend told me to do this one.
23. Gun Prostitute– I thought of Austin Powers the movie and the robot seducing girls that had guns in their boobs.
24. Cyber Vacuum– I chose this one because the two work pretty well together. I thought every boy or girl needs something in their computer to instantly delete their history before their mother finds it.
25. Alarm Chair– I put these two together and just thought it would be a cool invention to have a chair that wakes you up after a quick nap before class.

Sample Thumbnails

Twisted Vodka

Cyber Vacuum 

World Mouse

My Response:

This activity was a lot of fun! I’ve never really created a mind map like this before but it really gets the brain flowing with unimaginable ideas! Its interesting how one word leads to another and how they branch off of each other. This is a cool concept and I think it will really help with other activities and predicts in the future while brainstorming! It also really shows how you think as an individual and how we all have our own ideas and way of thinking.

My Mind Map:

My 25 Pairs:

1. Yellow + Sunflower
2. Fall + Trees
3. Wood + Door
4. Metal + Arm
5. Blue + House
6. Pencil + Tip
7. Eyes + Green
8. World + Big
9. Leg + Long
10. Box + Wood
11. Spaghetti + Pencil
12. Soil + Body
13. Tool + House
14. Hand + Limbs
15. Taxi + Restaurant
16. Finger + Tool
17. World + Eyes
18. Body + Spaghetti
19. Sunflower + Hammer
20. Door + Eyes
21. Finger + Trees
22. Tree + Arm
23. Pencil + Trees
24. Nail + People
25. Finger + Pencil

My 10 Choices:

1. Tree + Leg: I thought this combination would be fun to draw because I could draw a leg somewhat like a tree stump and transform it into a tree and it would look interesting.
2. World +Box: This one was cool but simple because I just drew a box with the world inside of it but I wanted to make it look interesting.
3. Body + Spaghetti: I thought this one would be fun because I would just draw a person with a spaghetti-like body.
4. Door + Eyes: I just thought a door with eyes on it would look really mysterious and interesting…
5. Finger + Pencil: This one was somewhat similar to the Tree + Leg choice I did because I was simply just going to draw the tip of the finger and have it morph into the end of a pencil.
6. Metal + Arm: This one is boring because while I was creating the mind map I completely forgot the fact that I was drawing the thumbnails with sharpie and that you can’t see color or texture, which is why my mind map has so many colors and different elements on it.
7. Tool + House: I thought that a house made of tools would be interesting because you need tools to build a house, so a house made of tools would just be weird.
8. Sunflower + Hammer: I had the idea that I could have the hammer looking like it was about to hit something but have the flat part as the center of the sunflower.
9. Taxi + Restaurant: Just a taxi that looks like a restaurant. Nothing too cool.
10. Spaghetti + Pencil: I thought drawing a pencil that was all squiggly like spaghetti would be fun so that’s why I made that combination.

Thumbnails:

I really enjoyed doing this project because it really made me think of how i could make two completely unrelated things into a single thing. I had to be very creative coming up with the pairings and drawing them was challenging but also fun. I had never made a mind map before so it was kind of interesting to see different things that people associate with other things.

25 pairs

Phone book+Leaves
Moon+Money
Bank+Glasses
Lawnmower+Phone
Eyes+Camera
Teeth+Skater
Leash+Hand
Mountain+Party
Bunny+Camera
Astronaut+Laptop
Shoes+Plants
President+Tent
Trees+Jacket
Guitar+Hair
Chemistry+Contacts
Eyes+Family
Water+Money
Moon+Run
Planets+Grass
Sprinkler+Stars
Teeth+Test Tube
Cane+Vault
Shoes+Flag
Phone+Cake
Pickaxe+Headphones

10 pairs used

Phone book+Leaves- I felt like i could make phone books fall from the trees like leaves do and change the color of them like it was autumn.
Lawnmower+Phone- I thought it would be funny to have a phone using a lawnmower and make it like the phone screen is its face and it has arms and legs.
Leash+Hand- I was thinking about making a hand on a leash and maybe have an animal walking it or something to make it seem like it was an alternate universe.
Mountain+Party- Instead of humans partying, why not have mountains come to life and throw a party?
Shoes+Plants- I was thinking maybe have a plant wearing shoes or a plant growing out of a shoe as if it were a planter.
Tree+Jacket- Whats more fun than a tree wearing a shirt? A tree wearing a jacket.
Guitar+Hair- I wasn’t too sure if i wanted a guitar to have hair or have a person to have hair made out of small guitars. Either way it would be very cool.
Sprinkler+Stars- I think it would funny to have a star running through a sprinkler on the sun or something.
Shoes+Flag- I was thinking of just having a whole bunch of different shoes attached to a flag pole and making it into a big shoe flag.
Pickaxe+Headphones- I thought it would be funny to have a pickaxe using a pickax while listening to music in headphones.

Thumbnails:

Mountain+Party                                 Guitar+Hair                                    Phone+Lawnmower

I was very intrigued by this project. I thought it provided an opportunity for all three group members to be creative, both collective and individually. My group members and I enjoyed going around in a circle and coming up with the first word that popped into our heads and then comparing it to the original word, which was “tool”. Some of our trails of words had nothing to do with tools at all. We found this incredibly entertaining. I think that this assignment is a great way to warm up a person’s thought process and prepare for a more demanding art project, or even just a fun activity to do on an afternoon.

This is one of the three mind maps that my group and I created.

25 Possible Tool Combinations:

1. Radio Cat
2. Paper Sandwich
3. Paper Phone
4. Baby Hammer
5. Shoe Phone
6. Bubble Phone
7. James Dean Glitter
8. Kid Crafts
9. Beam Machine
10. Glitter Machine
11. Music Helmet
12. Bubble Bike
13. Needle Posters
14. Needle Nail Polish
15. Truck Clothes
16. Foam Finger Mittens
17. Ladder Umbrella
18. Superhero Salsa
19. Pop Dig
20. Glitter Kids
21. Sandwich Glitter
22. Airhorn Bubble
23. Poster Vase
24. Bottle Workout
25. Tree Teeth

My Top Ten:

1. Music Helmet: a bike helmet with built in speakers
2. Bubble Bike: an aerodynamic shield that surrounds a bicycle enabling the rider to go faster
3. Truck Clothes: a drapery for vehicles that protect them from the elements
4. Foam Finger Mittens: mittens in the shape of foam fingers
5. Ladder Umbrella: an umbrella that connects to the top of a ladder to keep the rungs dry
6. Needle Posters: posters with pre-cut holes that make tacking  them on the walls easier
7. Air-Horn Bubble: an airhorn that blows bubbles
8. Tree Teeth: an all natural tooth brush for mountaineers
9. Glitter Machine: a machine that dispenses glitter at parties
10. Baby Hammer: a petite hammer made for smaller hands

Some of my Sketches:

Glitter Machine

Baby Hammer

Tree Teeth

Airhorn Bubble

Truck Clothes

Needle Posters

Ladder Umbrella

Foam Finger Mittens

This project challenged me to find realistic combinations while still being creative. Many of the words that we had were actions or concepts instead of tools so this limited the options. It was interesting to see how other people think when making the mind maps.

25 Possible Tool Combinations
1) Lipstick- Carrot
2) Candy-Teeth
3) Balloon-Water gun
4) Wine Glass- Money
5) Mittens- light
6) Rose-umbrella
7) Pickle-fishing pole
8) Skates- Ladder
9) Hand-Boat
10) Pineapple- Vase
11) Book- tree
12) Bottle- dinosaur
13) Guitar- Nail polish
14) Needle- bubble
15) Shoe-cat
16) Football-screw
17) Popcorn-glue
18) Wheel-bubble
19) Gasoline-shoe
20) Popcorn-Bubble wrap
21) Ice-Star
22) Bunny-Mitten
23) Movie-money
24) Garden-Bike
25) Rock-Pineapple

My top ten choices:

• Pineapple-Vase: These tool objects have similar shapes so they will be more likely to look realistic when they are put together.
• Rose-Umbrella:I always see roses with little dew droplets on them and I think a rose would make a great umbrella for a little mouse.
• Gasoline-Shoe: I think of shoes as a form of transportation, almost like a car, so it would make sense to fuel up the shoe.
• Guitar-Nail polish: I love listening to music and doing my nails, so why not combine them into one object?
• Ice-Star: Many Hollywood stars fade over time and are forgotten almost like a melting star.
• Lipstick-Carrot: The pigment part of lipstick reminds me of a carrot popping out of the ground.
• Hand-Boat: When you cup your hand it has the shape of a boat.
• Book-Tree: Books are made out of tree so it would make sense to combine the two of them into one object.
• Dinosaur-Bottle: Bottles and dinosaur necks are similar. Dinosaurs were my favorite growing up so it would be fun to work with them.
• Football-Screw: Footballs fly in a corkscrew pattern so it would be fun to put a screw’s threads on the football.

Thumbnails