origami riso critters

02 Feb, 2025

for the not-residency, i started working on an origami project! why origami? my interest in origami stemmed from a teacher at the school for poetic computation saying "hey, i noticed a lot of your inspo board¹ is inspired by origami, you should try folding stuff!"

my goal this week was to riso print origami paper designed specifically for different critters². for each critter, i...

1. folded it with traditional paper.
2. numbered the sections that are visible in the final form.
3. unfolded it, tracing the creases.
4. traced a photo in illustrator.
5. colored it in!

here's a peek at the collection i finished by the end of the not-residency~

but... i'm not quite done with the project yet! to accompany the origami paper, i want to print a (cute) booklet of instructions. i've been procrastinating this part because i know it will be hard 🥲. for example, how did this person get from step 3 to 4³.

origami instructions are semi-standardized, but each pattern designer takes their own liberties in how they describe various steps. i want my instructions to be LEGO or IKEA quality. what do good instructions have in common?

1. they assume the reader has no context.
2. they both show and tell.
3. they predict where the reader might make a mistake.
4. they leave little room for interpretation.
5. they use a consistent system.

once i have some instructions done, please help me test them against these principles 🙏.

footnotes