# General Guidelines for Creations

* **You can't just make a single output in thirty seconds** and turn it in, unless you have a sophisticated conceptual explanation for why you did that. **In general, you always have to be able to explain&#x20;*****why*****&#x20;you made the artistic choices you did.**
* Play around! Experiment! **There is no right answer**. Unlike a problem set, a work of art doesn't have one correct way to engage. You are trying to develop your own sensibility as a maker and technologist in this course, and part of that is taking risks to figure out your own style using these tools. Sometimes you'll fail and that's fine too. These are pass/fail assignments that give you a pass just for turning it in for this reason-- we want you to try to push yourselves.
* **Art and especially art made with generative tools is as much about ideas as it is outputs.** Be prepared to think about your viewers-- how do you want people to see this piece ultimately? As a print? On a screen? Each creation you make won't have to be finished to this degree, but your final project for our exhibition will and it helps you to think about this every week. The point is not to make something beautiful. It can be beautiful; it can also be ugly, abrasive, or uncomfortable. The point is to make something worthy of interest. Hold yourself to the highest standards you can: would you be interested in this piece if you saw it in a museum or gallery?
* **Get your hands dirty, even if you've never made physical art or design before.** We encourage students to consider hybrid physical-digital outputs every week because they often bring out strong work via a multi-step process. My sketches in creations 1, 4, and 6 are an easy example of that (check them out for details). But you can also think about photographs, videos, sculpture, and found objects as sources of inputs that are in the physical world. Similarly, you can also return your piece to the physical by printing, copying, re-making, and being inspired by it to use another form. Our class has a huge space in the Navy Yard to exhibit your final pieces, so you can think big too!
* **Keep a sketchbook or commonplace notebook for your ideas.** This helps when you feel burnt out and need inspiration, or if you have an idea to jot down some other time on the subway or at 4 AM. You can see I use my sketchbook in all the example pieces I have made for this syllabus. I also use a notebook for my writing, including my first book, where I jot down quotes, make doodles, and take notes in my life when something seems like an important concept. I like my notebooks to be tiny so I can keep them in my bag with me all the time, so I use pocket-sized ones, but you can use anything you want. My sketchbook [cost only $6.99.](https://www.amazon.com/Strathmore-455-8-Strath-Sketch-5-5X8-5100SHT60LB/dp/B004O7EFMO/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3J4K55RY8S7C\&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.nsYKbmntWA24NvUN448UNBW33Prx783mWHJ1n-MrOVDCxhT_yqpEEtNvFJxtk5vrgeE73-HsLTXMtMitJG06h2U6qUpEBcTcNQdEuOpKfcSMbf9B0O8kb09g8Vwxd_JtcOfVCQ_shJ8pVSFrOzJqqHP8IGDO-2vzLtOz2cjm9q0W84DdPBPSH20U-pcOjbCcByHcUPbuFW62SVGPtH2C0KmVyYdRPAlIGaGCLogkUsw.PlOrrOzzOmm38BK8_pr7icKJnbKL9HAhebCl0LZQxvs\&dib_tag=se\&keywords=sketchbook\&qid=1725267209\&sprefix=sketchbook%2Caps%2C71\&sr=8-6)
* **The example creations we've posted shouldn't change what you want to make or how**. **They're just there for general guidance if you feel overwhelmed about the general assignment expectations, NOT as a literal how to that you should copy exactly as a process.**&#x20;

**- AV Marraccini**
