6 x 6 - tarot card

Chosen brief: Generate something new

Starting this project I already had a brief idea of what I wanted to do but not which brief and outcome they would fall under. I decided to generate something new as the brief not only fits my idea but speaks to me as well. Having randomness and user input to create something completely new and unique each time is an interesting concept.

Chosen outcome: Generative design

For the outcome, I chose generative design as I wanted to create a system that, once set up, would do the work for me but create something new and unique each time. Even though each output would be different with no two being the same there is a structure and set of rules.

The idea

I have a set of 9 dice with various images on the faces instead of numbers. Their intended use is to roll and look at the images then you make up a story; so using that idea I wanted to turn that into a program that would generate random posters, which throughout the process of developing the idea ended up generating random tarot cards.

Here is my mind map where I documented my ideas more thoroughly showing how I tested chat GPT along with visual research:

Approaching the design and process

I was very confident and had a strong vision for this idea however executing the idea was daunting and I didn't know where to start. There were many elements to go into this to make it work:

the images of the cards - initially my idea was to create a poster which would be multiple elements that randomly lay over each other, however when I went to start drawing and designing I had the idea to use the icon on the dice and create a matching border.
creating the images - with this entire module revolving around technology I knew creating the images I wanted that to be reflected. I thought about using chat GPT however I don't morally agree with using AI art and I also hate the look of it. I did test out how chat GPT would create pixel art but also hated that. That did however inspire me to use pixel art as my medium.
the poem/tarot description - from the beginning, I thought chat GPT could do this by inputting what the images are or recognising them from a photo, then asking it to generate a short poem.
the code - this was the most daunting one as I had absolutely no experience and no idea how to go about creating a program that would put together all the elements I needed. I wanted a code that you could input an image of the rolled dice then it would randomly select a different element for each dice and use chat GPT to write the poem. Then put it all together and download it as a PDF.

This is a flow chart I created that describes each step that the code would take to create the final output:

Creating the art

To create the pixel art I used a website called pixilart. It is a social website where you can share your art, but I used it for its drawing feature. I found it quite effective and easy to use. This is my page zosik where all my drawings for this project are as I got quite carried away and created more than I was planning to.

Some of the images with the icons and frames together

Final designs

When it came to coding the program to generate the tarot cards I tried a few ways. First, I tried getting chat GPT to help me generate code but even when I simplified and cut into sections what I wanted I couldn't get anything to work. This could be because I was asking chat GPT wrong as the way you word things is important or it could be that it was just too complicated for it. Either way, I gave up on asking chat GPT. I then tried to just sit and go through some courses to learn the neccesary code, however, I found it incredibly difficult and can't wrap my head around coding it's like an entirely new language. I ran out of time and was unsuccessful in making a working code that could make what I wanted. But I did learn that coding is something I would like to spend some time learning and maybe someday get this up and running as I'm really invested. I did create a mock-up of what the tarot would look like and each step.