Recap
So a quick summary of what the mashup is and the intent behind it. The mashup was between a Cup and an Hourglass...originally. It turns out that people don't like making simple cups. So now the mashup is more so between the fun, loopy straw and the Hourglass, with a few supplemental shapes to keep the object coherent.
Feedback Response
During the 'speed dating' session, several of the mashup concepts had generally good feedback. Being concepts, much of the feedback was in relation to refining elements of objects to get a clearer intent. More specific feedback ranged from the cohesion of the mashup and the composition, all of which helped in deciding which concept to expand upon. While the majority of those I discussed with preferred the 'Retro Email'(The Tele-Mailbox mashup), being completely honest, I didn't feel completely attached to it. As luck would have it the second place was the Cup of Time, and I could totally get down with developing it into a more refined state. Thank you to everyone who gave some advice and feedback as to how to go about tackling these concepts.
Issues & Challenges
As with any sort of project challenges presented themselves. The biggest and most important one being, The Cup. I knew I did not want a mug or a commercial/fancy cup as the base. Unfortunately for me, people are very creative and unique, thus no simple cup was found. This meant I would have to make a cup body for the mashup. Now biases from the artist aside, I think the cup body will have to shrink to prevent the mashup aspect from being overtaken by the aesthetic. Not a challenge but more so a diversion from the original concept it the whole design basically. It is now a water bottle instead of a regular cup, and the hourglass is now more incorporated into the silhouette of the object. Finally, and 'obviously' the biggest issue...THE COLORSSS!!! I'm kidding of course since this is going to be irrelevant relatively soon but it is still kind of an eyesore.
Remix Culture and the Relationship
Now while the whole concept is, of course, a mashup, it can have a deeper analysis into its relationship and participation in Remix Culture. Mashing together 2 completely unrelated things for stuff such as cups, pens, pillows, and other personal use objects is not unheard of in fact it's quite normal the biggest example being at amusement parks the licensed merchandise they sell at their stores. Similarly, an hourglass and a straw is following that process large corporations have of taking character for instance and simply putting a straw in it and calling it a cup. A deeper relationship is also formed in what is being mixed. A straw is quite mundane and actually quite long-lasting; hourglass is a physical manifestation of time. The mundanity of a straw and the philosophical nature of time(Hourglass) create an almost cheesy, deep meaning to the 'Cup of Time'.
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