Process

To begin I used an online spectrogram creator and directly put a QR code of my choice into the program.

I did not find the results of initial experiment to be as interesting as I would have hoped, so I used the pixels of the QR code transferred them onto gridded chromatic scale. The result I imported into an online scale reader which could play the scale as chromatic and major.

I put the music that was created from playing the scale into the online spectrogram creator and discovered that the playing the QR code on the different scales caused the spectrograms to look very distinct.

With further experimentation, when the instrument that played the QR code scale was changed, or when the amount of colors in the spectrogram was increased or limited, it also produced very unique looking spectrograms.

After the successful experiments, I knew that I wanted to bring the works back into a physical space. I realized that whatever the QR code is for, whether it is a brand’s website, a personal account, or a link to a song, its physical manifestation should reflect what the source material is. With this in mind, I chose to manifest the QR code as a “neon” sign because it links to a popular 80’s song.

Execution

Once I realized what I would like to create as the final work, I took the image of the spectrogram created by the QR code song and overlaid a grid. I colored each cell of the grid to reflect the colors behind it so I could calculate how much “neon” tubing I would need.

When the grid was filled out it was time for math. I calculated how much tubing I would need. Yes there was probably an easier way to calculate it but my brain was mush from speaking German all day, so by hand it was.

The math was then transferred onto a wooden plank and converted into holes that the wire would thread through to create the sign. Real neon was slightly outside of my college student budget so I used the second best option, electroluminescent wires.

After all of the wires were plotted, it was time to drill and drill and drill.

After two days of drilling on my apartment floor (sorry neighbors), I spray painted the board black and started the process of threading the wires through the board.

Results

Ultimately once the wires were in place, they were powered up and the result was the physical spectrogram. During my final critique before the Bauhaus 100 Year summary, my peers and professors found beauty in the back of the work as well. Them discovering the juxtaposition of the organization of the front and the chaos of the back was something that I felt like I would have never heard in New York design school. They would have never looked at the back to begin with. Those Germans, huh?