The purpose of this project was to investigate the effect of paper engineering on people's reactions to and interactions with illustrations.
I researched methods of paper engineering as well as artists who use paper engineering in their work. I gathered different kinds of paper for my experiments - sticker paper, temporary tattoo paper, tracing paper, etc. and I created a series of dummies using different book binding techniques, and even figured out how to bind a book in a new way from a picture and a brief description.
I decided to base the content of this project on Little Red Riding Hood to fit it in with my fairy tale monsters theme of my Authorship project. Keeping with that project, I designed the wolf with inspirations from the Rococo period in France, which came into fashion as Little Red Riding Hood was published for the first time over there. I gave him more a more detailed silhouette (on the fur) and decorative face than I would have done otherwise, and his clothes are based on clothing from that period. I really like how he turned out.
I needed a range of final pieces for this project, each using a different paper engineering or bookbinding technique. I also needed a "control" piece: an illustration that had not been paper engineered in any way. I ended up making a paper toy, a jointed puppet, 2 layered illustrations (one using acetate, the other using sticky pads), scratch-off cards, temporary tattoo finger puppets and a "magic" book. Had I not run out of time, I would have liked to use tracing paper, pop-up and crown binding especially, as well as a few of the other techniques I found within my research.
I decided that since I was investigating the difference in people's reactions and interaction with the pieces, each one had to use the same image, otherwise the experiment wouldn't be very fair. People might prefer one piece over another simply because the illustration is better rather than because it is paper engineered or not. As a result, I used the same 4 versions of a single image, printed and assembled in different ways. I also didn't want coour to be a distraction, although the colour red is iconic in the story. Resulting from this, the illustration I used was black and white with splashes of bright red.
I think the puppet works very well - I think it got the most interaction out of my videos with my class mates. Joe held and played with it for 55 seconds, Kacie for about 4 minutes total, Mel for 35 seconds, Emma for 57 seconds, and Cheryl for about 5 minutes.
I also think the paper toy is successful. If I had had more time I would have carried on the Russian doll theme - with one fitting inside the other - with the grandmother and the three little pigs, as I had done in the illustration itself. As Joe pointed out, paper toys would be useful as a promotional item as you could hand out the flat nets and have people make them themselves, which of course adds even more to the interactivity.
I was not so fond of the layered illustrations. I think the sticky pads definitely worked better than the acetate, but I would have liked the layers to be more obvious.
The scratch off cards were successful as a short-lived amusement, but I don't personally think there is anything special about them. Again, they might be worth developing into a self promotional item - they are business card sized, after all.
I absolutely loved the temporary tattoo finger puppets. I honestly wasn't expecting them to work very well, and when things started going wrong at first when we were trying to apply them I wasn't shocked. But when we realised what was going wrong, and got them to work, they were amazing. They definitely got the best reaction out of people - we were laughing and playing around with them for ages, and I was genuinely upset when mine rubbed off-, and everyone who saw them suggested that I design more and sell them, which may be a possibility in the future.
The "magic" book is probably my second favourite after the finger puppets. It, like the jointed puppet, held everyone's attention for a long time. Joe for over a minute, Kacie for 42 seconds, Mel for 52 seconds, Emma for 35 seconds and Cheryl for 51 seconds. Now that I know how to bind a book in this way, I can see myself using it again in the future.
Once I had my pieces ready, I filmed five of my classmates with them. I was looking for information such as which piece did they look at first, which one for the longest, did they smile more for some, etc. Only Joe picked up the 2D piece first, and no one held it or looked at it for more than about 5 seconds. As mentioned above, the puppet and the tattoo finger puppets got the best reactions out of people. With all the paper engineering pieces, people were laughing, smiling, gasping and asking questions about it, and some were requesting copies of the pieces, whereas the 2D piece was ignored.
This proves my hypotheses correct. There was definitely a difference in their reactions to "normal" art and paper engineered art. They did look at and hold the paper engineered pieces for a long time, longer than people would normally look at illustrations, and everyone but Joe looked at a paper engineered piece first.
As a result of this project, I will definitely be including paper engineering into my future pieces, especially self promotional items. Being paper engineered, there is more to look at, more to interact with, more to do on each piece so people are more likely to look at it for longer, hold it and play with it for longer, smile and laugh when they see it, and therefore more likely to keep it, especially in a prominent place. Paper toys, for instance, have become very popular as "desk toys", left on display on peoples desks. The longer someone looks at your work, the more likely they are to notice little details and appreciate and remember it (and you!)
As Joe said, "I really like this, I think the more interactive they are, sort of, the
more you can fiddle about with it and go *gasp* oooh! Wow! I think it
really does show the effort you put into it... you spend so much time on
the illustration itself, you want the person to take the time to
appreaciate it."
