Patricia Milligan - Senior Project

Over the past weekend, I wrote the overview text for all of the pages. On Monday and Tuesday I met with Foard, and we read over what I wrote together. The rest of the week, I worked on the revisions and additions as well as the descriptions that go with the images and pop-ups. Now that the text is placed in In-Design, adjustments can be made to the layout. For that reason, after school today, I am going to meet with Julie, to play around with the layout. This weekend, I have to make more revisions to the text, as well as work on the popups and images.

During the break, I laid out each page as best I could, and then I met with Foard and we put together what order the pages would be in. I also met with Julie, who showed me what to do in In-design and set the text styles. In order to create the book, I have to glue heavier pieces of paper together by tabs  to create an accordion like structure. The text on in-degisn will then be printed and pasted on top of the thicker paper. I cut the pieces of the paper that will make up my book. At home, I cut out the pop-ups for the big box store as well as the ranch house, even though more changes have to be made. This week, I talked to Julie briefly about a couple questions I had about Indesign. Also this week  I attempted to write more descriptions and such but today I have to meet with Foard to go over this. This week I need to write as well as figure out the logistics of the layout. 

This week I was working on what was going to go where throughout the book. On Thursday, Foard and I were going to clock certain things with a stopwatch for a page in my book. But, by the time we went out, it was getting dark, and we couldn't find a proper corner. So instead, we called Foard's dad, who's an engineer, who told us how to figure out most of it on paper. Today, I have to meet with Foard again to see if we can find a way to physically time the problems, which may or may not be impossible. Also, this vacation, I have to work on the layout. For the final product, with Julie's help, I decided that I would have to print out each page, and then glue it to thicker paper, in order to construct the pop-ups properly. For this reason, I have to come up with the parts that will be printed out this vacation. 

    So last weekend, the pop-up book came, and so Foard and I looked at it and decided that we needed some poster board. So we got the poster board, and started cutting it apart in order to make a box. But we failed terribly. We finally got some sort of box-like figure to pop-up we open the book, but after opening and closing the book three times, it no longer popped up.  Basically, six hours from when we started, I had a sheet of paper. So, for the next night, I was supposed to make a box smaller than the one we started with, and with better paper, which worked. But it still didn't have walls, and I'm pretty sure that boxes are supposed to have walls.

    Then, I looked up a pattern for a pop-up box and made that. But, either I didn't understand it, or it didn't work. So, Wednesday afternoon, I met Foard, and we cut apart the book, and took like an hour looking at it. And then I tried to replicate it. And after four hours, it worked. But now it needs a roof. So, this weekend, I am making a roof, or trying to make a roof. As well as working on what will be the layout of the book. 

Also, this week, while making the pop-up, I learned that horses can mow lawns. And, I found Atlantis. 

This past Sunday Foard and I were going to meet. But I got kicked in the leg and it was raining. So we didn't. So instead I read Building Suburbia and Foard read something else. We are going to compare our notes later. I also revised the Product rubric. I had to add that the art component was called Art Component. I am meeting with Foard tomorrow because the pop-up book we ordered is here and I need to deconstruct it. 

On Monday, I was looking through the paper, and I found a new architecture pop-up book. It has not come out yet, but I would like to look at it when it does in order to get more idea about the construction of the actual pop-ups. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/garden/08books.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq=pop%20up&st=cse

Late in this week, I met with my mentor to find another pop-up book to deconstruct. With this, I hope to understand how to physically construct the pop-up structures. Mr. Foard also gave me the assignment to read one more book in the coming week to further my research. 

Also this week, Nathaniel had to go up island and ended up in a library. He found a brochure about a conference next weekend at Hofstra about the suburbs. 

This weekend, I am continuing my research as well a taking apart the book we found yesterday.  

This week's work started by my going through all of the page options I currently have based off of the information I already have. After determining with my mentor which pages I would attempt to make, I have been revisiting the books I read this summer to gain more specific information. Also this week, I met with my mentor in order to create a product rubric and determine a outside consultant. This coming weekend, I am going to purchase a pop-up book, Modern Architecture. I am going to take it apart to examine the layout so that I can see what types of pop-ups are possible for me. 

Pop-ups?

This week I was away looking at colleges. However, I looked at the public library's catalog and they only stock one instructional pop-up book. I would like to become familiar with the technique before I try to execute it for the final product, so this weekend I will order the books from the other various public libraries in the vicinity. This weekend I will go to the library to pick up both the instructional books and other pop-up books to become familiar with the layout. I am also going to go through my notes and pick out certain information that I feel will be able to be portrayed by pop-ups. 

This week was a slow week for me in regard to my product. Towards the very beginning of the week, I met with Mr. Foard, my mentor, to discuss writing the short stories. We discussed techniques such as the function of dialog and narrative hooks. I was attempting to write one short story this week, but I discovered how hard it was for me to write a story that I was comfortable with. However, I met with Mr. Foard again later in the week and he pointed out to me that even though I was not comfortable, I would not have anything if I refused to keep anything I had written. As of now, I am meeting with my mentor again within the next few days in order to discuss this further. 

    Over the summer, I read different books such as The Death and Life Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and The Big Sort by Bill Bishop in an attempt to understand structure, how it affects the way we live, and vise versa. I also took a trip to Roanoke, Virginia to explore the way the city was arranged,and to interview a variety of people about their choices regarding their living situations. I was originally thinking of creating a book or a magazine in order to display my findings on street layout, suburbia, and housing. However, while reading these books, I was apprehensive about what my actual product would become. In the past week, I have been reading at a few short stories and looking at the layout of these stories. For my final product, I might end up writing a few short stories and including some of my discoveries and experiences, both from my reading and from my trip to Roanoke.