Somerset House Project

Jan 11

I think this live project with Somerset House is a great chance to present out work in public, which also pushes us to be as responsible for our work as possible.

I thought I am a little bit behind as Peanuts in my country was not as famous as in Western countries and I’ver never actually watched it before. But I find the exhibition on the second floor, where has clearly presented the issues discussed in Peanuts strips is really helpful and has provided me an insight into every characters’ personalities.

I am really into Charlie Brown as I looked through all the strips showed on the wall. I kind of find a mirror of me when saw him being alone at home and playing with himself. Even my friends said i was really “Charlie Brown”…So i think i will explore his personalities more deeper, and see if the similarity between us could create some pretty strong concepts to be developed.

Jan 12/13 Weekend

I think this is the first time when I do more research, the more confused i got about how i am going to approach the design process. Charles Schulz is a genius, the characters he created are so vivid and solid and carry loads of personalities. It does provide me lots of sources to work on, but it’s TOO MUCH! I created a mind map of Charlie Brown’s personalities in my sketch book and it occupies a whole page! I’m pretty much sure that mental health is the main concept that i will be working on, but looking at a whole page of words i feel confused how will it be visualised and approach to a self-publication.

I think the first thing i will do after collecting their personalities is clarifying which ones are strong and also potential to be developed further. Things in my head is a mess now but i’m exciting to sort them out and figure out my direction. THIS IS HOW IT IS, PAINFUL BUT BEAUTIFUL.

Jan 14

Today was all about InDesign, which prepared me with some basic skills to realise my ideas into a publication. I think as the course going on, the “RULE” or the “REALITY” part has been emphasised, which is quite helpful. I felt like i was a crazy kid with lots of absurd thoughts and just did what is “cool” before. And now I am a teenager who starts to find a balance between crazy thought and rules in order to grow up to an adult.

I know i have to give up lots of things as i’m growing up, but i will always be brave to challenge traditional disciplines and make my voice heard. For this project, i want to try to focus on something that need to get more attention, or figure out some new ways to free people from difficulties they are facing, such as insecurity, depression. My first choice will still be my Charlie Brown, for he represents a group of people that suffering from their existence and self-identity.

Jan 15

Today is all about idea generation. We were asked to visualise characters’ personalities, which i think was a crucial part of approaching to a self-publication.

After talking to Hannah about my serval initial ideas, i realised i went too far from the character. Then i started to work in a more abstract way. I find being abstract and just using visual elements to suggest my concepts turns out confusing and even myself not sure why I present my idea in this way. My brain is still messy with lots of ambiguous thinkings. I think i really need to clarify some of them and just choose 1 or 2 strong concepts to carry on the project.

Also, making it a publication with about 20 pages is challenging, i’m still finding ways to fill up those pages with consistency and continuity. It shouldn’t be like that, it should come out naturally based on a strong concept and bring with an atmospheric sense.

Jan 16

I had no thinking about how to approach the project today, i just did lots of research, from Charlie Brown to Psychology. I really need to simplify my concept. So instead of filling up the pages with abstract visual elements, I am thinking i could apply my idea to something that already exist to be ironic. Like a personality test? Those kind of tests are really hot popular among Chinese young people, which are believed to find their personalities and help them fit in as they will be divided into several types of person. I find this phenomenon has something similar with Charlie Brown’s personality: always struggling about his existence and no place to fit in. He is that kind of person who has a very low-esteem, which makes him try to find who he is from other people’s eyes. And i think the form of giving questions is similar to Charlie Brown’s way of living: keeps asking and never get answers. So maybe it could be a personality test with no answers…

Mental health is the thing that i really into, but it is too abstract to be interpreted with visual language. I think there is no clear boundaries between psychological disciplines, you can have both insecurity and depression at the same time. It’s really difficult to clarify which issues i want to focus on, and maybe the message has to be ambiguous and general… It’s all because human beings. Humans are complicated.

Jan 17

It’s my first time considering how i want people to read books and what is the most appropriate way to bind my book. My current idea is making a personality test. To make it ironic, i prefer some formal and simplistic visual style. It feels really different when i bind my pages into a book, i think consistency and continuity is really important as the pages continue. It would be really obvious if there’s a page standing out and lack of continuity. Because i want my book stapled, i need to consider the order of the pages, or they will be totally messed up. Also, it was also about struggling with idea and reality when i was told that i couldn’t print on tracing paper…

Also, the personality test is a text based book, but obviously it can’t be text only. I need to think about the visual language and as what i said before, add some consistency to my book. The visual language should be changing continually as the pages continue. Just like my initial abstract idea. It’s all about being interactive and inviting people to the narrative i created, which is as challenging as concept thinking.

Jan 18

Today I went to print my first edition of my self-publication. It was delightful to have my book in my hand. Then my sweet sweet dream has been broke into pieces when i read it fifth time. I don’t like it. Nothing goes wrong, i just don’t like it. Maybe i’m a changeable woman but i suddenly think it was not strong and not the best way to interpret my concept. There was lots of worries come up when i was reading it: could people get it? Is it better to add a statement at the end? I don’t know..i just feel it lack of something. It feels uncompleted, rush, and not serious.

Great, I’m thinking about totally changing my idea, which is the last thing i want to see in my life… Fortunately, I have done so many research and there are lots of ideas i can come back to.

Jan 19/20 Weekend

I’m still thinking. Thank God it’s a 2 week project.

I really need a right time and a right place to come up a perfect idea. Mostly while i am taking shower, but this time taking shower didn’t work…

I think the concept itself should show a possibility of visualisation, which could make life much more easier.

I just feel i become too rush and easily get worried these days because of the coming interviews and hard to focus on one thing. Sometimes i want to stop and continue reading my unfinished book, trying to calm down. I’ve tried but it turned out not working because i found i couldn’t help finding inspirations from the book! I know inspirations always come from life but this is not what i need currently. It’s hard to cut off my project from my daily life. Sometimes it’s good but sometimes it really frustrates me.

Still thinking…

Jan 22

I brought my personality test to my portfolio tutorial because i haven’t finished my second idea. My tutor also said that it didn’t make sense without any statement and it felt like an uncompleted one. This actually calm me down because i can totally give up my first idea and focus on a totally different approaching.

Coming back to the initial stage is always helpful, where i can see how my idea goes and give me a chance to sort out my thoughts. I find the idea that “staying at the edge of the world” has some possibilities to be developed into a visual language and i can imaging how it look like because of the common sense with Charlie Brown. I then did some research and a mental disease called “Borderline Personality Disorder” just popped up. Unexpectedly, Charlie Brown is exactly what they are talking about “BPD”! It didn’t take me too much time to decide my direction, which to create a strong narrative happened “at the edge of the world”, standing at Charlie Brown’s point of view. For the outcome, i think the material needs to be unique and helps to create the narrative as my visual language remains simple and has created a movement as the pages going on.

Sometimes i think my mood has really been a part of my design process. I was down and things i create would 100% down. I think it has both sides. It helps me apply my personal experience and feelings into my work, which could make my work emotionally strong. BUT I was struggling with this kind of “mental” mode of working for a long time: totally no idea or an idea suddenly come up.

Jan 23

I quite satisfied when saw my self-publication print out. When i asked the stuff print all pages on acetate, she was like, “are you sure??” I said, “yes.” “ Are you sure?” “Just trust me.”

I quite like my book as it is not a book that i’ve seen before. I’m quite happy that i create something again!

I find this project is a great chance for me to get to know some technological issues that could happened when print and bind a book. For example, acetate couldn’t be double-page printed and orders of facing pages.

Jan 24

Today was Crit day. I’ve received many positive feedbacks, but one thing i need to think more carefully is that the texts are hard to read because all are printed on acetate. This makes me realised that i really need to be responsible for what i am doing. After 1 copy has been printed out, I know my type size should be bigger and the images and the texts on every page should be placed carefully in order to make the texts visible. It is much more difficult than printing on ordinary paper, but i’m still happy fixing the problems!

Language is one of the problem, of course. I need to change some of the texts and ask advice from my peers in order to ensure i say what i think. Actually this is the first time i feel English being one of the obstacles when approaching my work. I should work harder on English as well.

PART 2-REFLECTION

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