exploring monotony
Taking from our feedback from the previous weeks Ana and I decided to explore monotony and what it means to us and others. We started out by researching the etymology of monotony which is linked to sound all the way back to 1750s.
We then decided to ask people what activity do they find monotonous and we got a range of answers. From the answers received of monotonous activities we realised there was a common theme for some of the answers and decided to categorise this information. After segregating the information we were able to make 5 sections under which we allotted the monotonous activities being; 1. Activities at Home, 2. Commute, 3. Days, 4. Activities outside Home and 5. Feelings. This sorting of information can be seen in the images below.
While going through the data collected, we started questioning two ideologies being:
Does monotony create the feeling of safety or security in life?
What happens when we make changes to these monotonies? Will people be in a state of panic? Go back to feeling monotone??
In order to further explore these questions we selected one category being ‘Commute’ and went through that data. We selected 3 monotonous scenarios being commute to work, maps, and walking your dog. As preliminary ideations, we decided to make a few modifications to these monotonies and explore the idea of monotony as seen below.
1. Modifying the monotony of using maps - Setting the scene as a very rainy and gloomy day, the monotony of using maps could probably increase due to the overall weather conditions. What if this gloom and rain was changed by sunshine and light? What if the maps was able to create a feeling of sunshine and warmth even though it was rainy and cold outside? Iterations of this can be seen below
2. Modifying monotony of walking your dog - What if while you walk your dog there is a way to see things around you in a different way? The same route of the road, houses, shops and maybe even people have a slight change everytime you walk your dog. Would this create a new experience of walking your dog? Iterations of this can be seen below
3. Modifying monotony of commute to university - Looking at the possibility of changing the monotony of commuting to uni by making it an adventure or a game
4. Another thought process we had was, what if we could experience alternative realities for things we find monotonous? Like showering in a forest surrounded by animals or washing dishes that are made of another material like chocolate..
Our explorations of monotony had interesting outcomes. However, the feedback we got was to talk to more people and try and define what we mean by monotony, as it is a vague and abstract concept. During our conversations with people, we realised we were projecting and only looking at monotony in a negative light and started thinking of ways we could conduct discussions and interviews without reflecting our personal thoughts and feelings about the topic. Looking at the opposite of monotony was another area of exploration. Looking at different scales of time like days, months, and years and bringing in other forms of media like images, videos, and body movements for brainstorming was our next step. Identifying our target group and narrowing our focus to fewer areas was also essential.