Main Project Aesthetics: Plans and Alternatives

For my project, I am planning on making a dynamic mechanical wooden puzzle that is made to look like a carousel. The aesthetic I am going for is whimsical steampunk. I hope to make a design that captures the industrial-ness of steampunk through the gears and whimsical through the stylized elements. To make it whimsical I want to make very detailed and ornate curves on a lot of the pieces. I feel as though this makes it look like it is coming straight out of a story book. The carousel design will also hopefully match this aesthetic well as it traditionally is already very whimsical.

I drew a concept for the aesthetic I want to go for above. I did not include many of the steampunk elements into this drawing as I have trouble drawing them and it will come more clearly in my CAD drawings.

When thinking of a very different aesthetic for this design, the first one I came up with was Brutalist. This aesthetic focuses on hard cut lines and concrete. It also is more minimalistic in its artistic elements in comparison to whimsy and steampunk.

Drawing this design, I wanted to focus on the hard cut edges, making it look like if the CU Boulder Engineering building were a carousel.

The next aesthetic that I chose to make a drawing of as an alternative was mid-century modern. I chose this design as an alternative because it is closer to something that I could actually manufacture in a similar fashion to the laser cut design I am planning on going with my design. Part way through making this drawing, I thought about the mid-century modern aesthetics that are present in Walt Disney World rides such as Space Mountain. Similar to my design, it focuses more on curved lines and minimalist exterior elements. I love how mid-century modern art also includes defined shapes and contrasts so I tried to include that in the centerpiece.