Lost and Found - Tricycle

Description by Himadri Patel

I remember rolling down with my yellow tricycle on a tiny slope in my veranda during the summers. I would climb on the slope peddling hard with two tiny front peddles and life up my legs as I rolled down. Two rear wheels were smaller compared to one big front wheel, all covered with rubber lining to give more grip. I would be seated on a yellow curved seat with back support and enjoying the little gush of wind flowing through my hair as I peddled around. The metal rod handles curved outwards and had a soft grip from my tiny hands to hold. A small non functional headlight seated in-between the handle bars.

I loved the tricycle so much that I ended up buying a matching pair of yellow T-shirt and shorts. As my brother grew older (4 years), he carried on with the tradition of cycling down the slope and enjoying riding on little yellow tricycle. I still cherish the fading image, sound it made while rolling down and all the fun I had in those summer school breaks on my yellow tricycle.

Design Process

I fired up Adobe Illustrator, my weapon of choice, and iterated and created the final look. I wanted to achieve a minimal look and capture the essence of the bike as well. Then I replicated the design on the P5 editor using code.

As the bike has three similar-looking wheels, one big and two small, I noticed a repetitive pattern, so I created a function that would spit out wheels when called. You must put three fundamental parameters: X Position, Y Position, and Size.

All other curves, such as the Handles, Pipes, and the Seat in the bike, were made using the Line and the Bezier Curve functions, which was tricky as I adjusted all the coordinates using hit and trial painstakingly.

Reflection

All in all, It was an excellent exercise to get into our coding spirits. I had a great time interacting with my peers and my assigned partner. As I am unfamiliar with code, it excited me to see the possibilities people achieved, and I cannot even imagine what’s there to come in future projects.

I am looking forward to getting more challenging stuff. Visual coding is addicting, and I am having the time of my life.