Calverts Print Proofing and Tray for Relativity

Last week, we went in for a print proof at Calverts. They are co-op printer based in east London and are lovely to work with. Can't seriously wait to see the final publication...!

(First two photos taken by JT Yean)

I also went to Archway last week, to see the father of book binding, Douglas.
Initially thinking of making a box, I ended up creating a tray, to hold my Relativity piece. Fitting well.

印刷所でのプルーフも済み、印刷された本が届くのを待つまでになりました。わくわく。
そんな中、別のプロジェクトのトレイを作ったり。
イギリスは月曜祝日の３連休ですが、私は、後回しにしていた文章書きに専念する週末となりそうです。

Relativity WIP

Made Relativity Helvetica font.
Available in two weights: 99% of speed of light, and 50% of speed of light.

Just another screenshots of the process.

First image is Helvetica against Helvetica Neue by the way. Not the Relativity Helvetica. I actually used Helvetica Neue.

Relativity Approval

So just how I wrote in my last post, I wasn't sure of my own reliability in the field of physics. I was afraid I was spreading a wrong understanding of physics concept, which obviously I would like to avoid. So, I got my best friend who's doing physics to check whether my understanding and work have any scientific flaw. It seems like I'm not getting anything wrong. Phew. Plus he said he liked what I did, which meant a lot to me.

Though he did mention that I should perhaps emphasize that the length contraction (of A4 paper) happens to the eyes of people in static frame of reference. To people who is in A4 paper, they are experiencing the time normally and to them, people on the earth would look like they are experiencing time fast.
Confusing? Yeah I know. I'll hopefully be able to explain better through my project.

Explaining Relativity part.2

I'm gonna be writing something that is outside of my usual expertise and I will admit in advance, I may be getting this wrong somewhere. If you happen to be a physics expert and spot any mistake, please let me know.
Meanwhile, I will explain what I understand and what I have done.

Theory of Relativity is kinda like the theory that says "if you are moving very fast, like close to speed of light fast, time goes slow and length gets shorter".
In physics term or as relativity treats them, space and time are closely related. The ratio that length and time changes relative to the velocity is simply inverse of each other with Lorentz Factor.

That is useful, because that means I can represent the time with length. It's basically the same ratio, so calculating the length is also about calculating the time. Time is intangible but length is, so it is nice to finally be able to give a form to time!

Bellow is a strip of paper that I brought in to the class to explain how time changes with different velocity.

Taking that further, I worked out different changes of length contraction with different velocity; from 1% of speed of light up until 100% of speed of light. I corresponded that with the width of A4 paper (210mm):

Let's take 16% of speed of light as an example. When an object is moving at 16% of speed of light, it looks 0.012% shorter from the frame of reference. So if A4 paper was flying at 16% of speed of light, in theory width will look like 207mm and not 210mm.
(The length would stay the same, and A4 paper is experiencing the time 1.013% slower.)

I used 99 sheets of paper, page numbered each, where each paper corresponds to each % of speed of light. i.e. page 16 corresponds to 16% of speed of light. There is no page 100 because at 100, the equation becomes 0. I don't really know what that suppose to mean, I'll figure it out sometime soon.

Yes, the front view is rather boring:

But it does look nice from the back (oh and it feels really good too!):

This version, that goes all the way up till 100% (or 99 pages) is the best representation of the concept of visualizing the Theory of Relativity, and the volume and all makes it quite poetic. But it doesn't have to go all the way up to 100% as the length get too small for a practical usage. It can be a 30 pages notebook for physicists/students, or a book that contains information about relativity, and it doesn't sacrifice all its practicality.
Ultimately it's just a book with different page sizes. And now that I've worked out the sizes for each page, I can reproduce it for whatever purpose.

A4 size is the standard paper size for graphic designers and normal usage of paper in general, so it makes sense to have it shrink and thus we can appreciate the change in sizes.
It's treats book as a medium with a relationship between a page and a sequence of pages.

In terms of binding, I was expecting it to be quite difficult but it turned out not too bad. I had to divide them into three different sections and it took a bit of time but the process was not complex and the end product looks nice. Thanks to bookbinding pro Douglas!

やりながら、「本＝１ページの幅（サイズ）もしくは面積と、その蓄積（連続するページ）の関係性を持ったもの」、と考えれば、折線グラフって、本として表現出来るということに気づいた。応用し放題だなあ。でも、これ（相対性理論）は時間と長さについてだから、適切だと思う。
つまり、１つのページの幅か面積かが、折線グラフの点に当たり、その蓄積のボリュームが変化を表すという。本というメディアは時間軸を持っているという当たり前のことを改めて実感。でも、完成すると、ちょっと地形みたいでもある。
ひとつのものを、別のものに置き換えて、メタフォー探しの遊びをしてるみたい。

Explaining Relativity

For Paulus' Timetable brief, I chose to do it on Theory of Relativity. Here is a little extract from the brief description Paulus has written:

What is time? Does time exist? Is time is a human construct?

Research existing general and specific systems of time keeping and notation. Understand the relations of various units and incremements. This will give you a better understanding of the subject matter and allow you to make a more informed choice of your field.  

Try to go into depth rather than skimming your theme superficially.

Since I was already working on the subject of time for my self-directed project, I stuck with it to go deeper. For self-directed, I was treating time from my own perspective and was interested in gaining a scientific perspective.
Theory of Relativity is an interesting one to tackle as it talks about how time is relative. i.e. time can go faster or slower depending on your frame of reference. It's completely counter-intuitive to our perception of time. Maybe neutrinos go faster than speed of light and Theory of Relativity is all false but I think it's still interesting to try and understand underlining idea behind Theory of Relativity.

My aim for this project is

1. Try to understand Theory of Relativity (Time Dilation) myself.
2. Explain the concept to others who are not familiar with the concept.

i.e. the main audience is not students or people who need to be solving the equations or apply it in any way. But highlight the concept and get people interested.

A conventional way of describing scientific concept it through diagrams. Here's some I found on Internet:

Yes they are from internet and are not at all sophisticated illustrations, but some are quite clear in terms of visualizing the concept.
Also, when explaining the concept of relativity, it may be clearer when explained by videos, even with animated GIFs:



I have also purchased the book Wonders of the Universe by Studio8 Design. For their beautiful beautiful scientific infographics by Nathalie Lees. A great reference: