Ralph-Assignment-02-Instructional
Instructions:
- Choose a letter of the alphabet and a number less than 10
- Start from the letter you chose and shift through the alphabet by the number you chose. Remember this letter.
- Gain access to a computer with internet connection.
- Google image search “Street map of ” and enter the letter from step 2.
- Allow Google to auto-complete your inquiry with the name of a city.
- Choose image you believe has a pleasant composition.
- Copy the image onto an 8.5×11 copy paper with a 2HB pencil. Be as precise as you desire.
- In an enclosed space on the map, draw a line following the contours of the perimeter without lifting the pencil or crossing another line and fill up the space.
- Repeat until the drawing seems sufficiently filled up or your wrists get tired.
My instruction was originally meant to use a street map as a basis for composition, which should be obvious to any human that searches up “Street map of…”, but I was not specific on this point. One of my test subjects interpreted it such that she chose any image that happened to appear in the search. As a result, one of the drawings ended up being based on a logo. Step 8 was also written in a manner difficult to understand, so it would serve well to expand it out to several steps to maintain clarity.
Overlooking the above problems, I injected enough randomizing elements so these instructions should produce a different drawing every time, but with similar visual qualities. I did also write the instruction so that a pleasant composition should arise every time, but a mechanical compiler would not be able to make such a value judgment.