GS2012: Tim Holloway: Chaos - Design Unpredictability

October 17, 2012 | Be the first to comment

Graduate Showcase 2012: For his final degree project, Central St. Martins student Tim Holloway created a 300-page book made of Post-It Notes and then threw the whole lot in a wind machine

Course: BA Graphic Design

Category: Graphic Design

About the project

"There are several stages to this project, it began as a research project and lecture - written in collaboration Harry Wong - on the idea of creating designs that actively engage with chaos, rather than trying to control it," says Tim Holloway.

"I then reconstructed this research into a 300-page book of Post It notes; the idea being that you could take each page and arrange them laterally – allowing the reader to create their own narrative through the text, by arranging the pages in whatever order they chose.

"In other words, not a book that had to be read from front to back, but a book that could be read up or down, left or right, even diagonally. The book could even be arranged across an entire wall.

"For my degree show, I decided that I wanted to create a display method that would show the book in a truly chaotic form; I wanted the book to create its own, ever changing order at the mercy of chaotic forces. Partly inspired by the final round of The Crystal Maze game show, I decided to build a wind machine to house the book. The vortex created by the fans forming the 'shape' of the book, with openings allowing the reader to reach in and grab a page.

"With huge sheets of plastic, some timber and an industrial fan, I built this machine. Fraught with difficulties — air leaks to pressure pockets, lacklustre fans and power surges — it took me until the morning of the shows opening to get the machine firing up successfully."

What do think of Tim's work? Let us know in the comments below