Alexander (Xander) Johnson – Portfolio

This semester in Aesthetics of Design has taught me a lot and changed my thinking about how I design. It caused me to think more about the aesthetic of something versus just focusing on the functionality that usually would do. There is a lot more to aesthetics and design than what I thought, especially with the movements and evolutions of aesthetics. I also learned a lot and how there are sub-categories to aesthetics that I would have never knew about. I even learned more about myself and the way and why I choose certain features or things that I am interested in. There were two major projects that I completed throughout this class and this can be seen below.

Upcycle Project: Upcycle Steampunk Lamp

Here we were tasked with identifying an aesthetic that we wanted to pursue and create something that someone can interact with with some materials that are being recycled. For me, I created a Lamp since my room was low on lights and it was something I needed. From there I identified that I wanted to do something with the Steampunk aesthetic since I have always been fond of this. I also thought that it would turn out cool. I had several of these small gears, and I just replaced my bike cassette so I had that lying around and thought it would be a great base. I had almost all the materials besides the light and the socket so I bought those. below are the links to my post for this project

Final Project: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/02/19/upcycle-steampunk-lamp/

Opposite Aesthetic: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/02/13/opposite-aesthetic-of-upcycle-project/

Upcycle Project Process: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/02/04/upcycle-project-process/

Upcycle Project – Steampunk Introduction: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/01/26/upcycle-project-steampunk-introduction/

Aesthetics Exploration – Victorian Aesthectic/Era: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/01/20/aesthetics-exploration-victorian-aesthectic-era/

The second Main project was our final project:

LEGO Formula 1 Display

Here we identified an Aesthetic that we wanted. Along with this, we had to integrate an interactive feature. I wanted to do something that would be functional and work with my interests. I have several of these LEGO Formula 1 cars, but do not have an area to display them. I have 4 of them and they are pretty big and take up a bunch of space that I am store some under my desk. I wanted to create a wall-mounted display. We created several posts about this and these are linked below.

LEGO Formula 1 Display – How it was done: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/04/29/lego-formula-1-display-how-it-was-done/

LEGO Formula 1 Display: What and Why: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/04/22/lego-formula-1-display-what-and-why/

Final Project – Progress Update: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/04/09/final-project-progress-update/

5 Specifications and Constraints of Final Project: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/03/18/5-specifications-and-constraints-of-final-project/

Lego F1 Design Preview: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/03/11/lego-f1-design-preview/

Final Project Inital Ideas: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/03/02/final-project-inital-ideas/

Personal Aesthetic: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/02/25/personal-aesthetic-2/

Overall the class was a great experience and provides great opportunities. I learned a lot and gave me good reason to explore the ideas and needs for projects I wanted to do.