Imagined State
Thursday Nov 15/ Friday 16
I wasn’t able to be participate in the overnight project due to illness, which was a pity. I saw some posts about the overnight project on Instagram, the creative atmosphere was so strong because of the collaborative method of working. And also, I think the idea of reappearing student revolution happened around the world in 1968 is quite cool. Creating imagined future based on such a meaningful context has established a close relationship between design and the actual world we are living in. Investigating the role of art and design within society and culture is the aim I want to achieve in my design, I then extremely expect wo work on next week’s project.
Monday Nov 19
-To be honest, at the beginning of the day I was totally confused about what to do because of my absence on the overnight project. Most of my peers have already got the idea of their states, but I need to think from the very start. Actually I have done some research on weekend and has already got some rough ideas about my state. For the start, I just wrote all my rough ideas on the paper and tried to find some connections and possibilities that could be developed into my “state”.
-Fortunately, Clare’s one-to-one tutorial was helpful, by which I could talk about my initial idea and use her feedback to refine it and then carry on my work to the next step. With her help, I selected some ideas that were potential and strong enough for me to carry on creating my own state. I choose to work on an extremely passive state, where people are isolated to each other. I think it also has a strong potential to have a visual identity, which is super minimal and lack of color…?
-Then I continued creating my passport. I focused on the isolation and disconnection of my state, and then came up an “brave” idea, which is making a cube to be put on people’s head. The sharp and distinct shape of cube can be used to create boundaries, and I can just imagine how my world would look like when everyone puts a box on their head and be careless of nothing around them. Then I asked Clare about my idea of “cube”, I then asked to consider some functional things. For example, how the information could be displayed? Make people totally “blind” or leave a window for them to look outside world? In which way it could be used as a passport? This makes me realize that I cannot expect detailed advice from anyone if there are so many details to be considered in my work. To ask constructive advice I need to be able to present a clear direction with details of my design.
Tuesday Nov 20
Today I continued working on my “cube” passport idea. After talking to Hannah, I realized it was significant to have a developed idea of what my state would be like in order to get a sense of my state’s “identity”, which is the base of the passport designing, stamps, etc. I then come back to clarify the identity of my state in detail. For example, where do people live in my state and how they communicate with each other?
And the most important thing is visualization of my state. Thanks to yesterday’s research, I actually find it is not that hard to transfer my concept into visual language. I think Minimalism is suitable to be the “key tone” of my state, and I find the geometric, functional and modern sense of Bauhaus is perfect to apply to my state.
After refining some details of my state, I come back to my passport. Things did get easier when I got a clearer idea of how could the passport exists and works in my state. I think the scene when each person has a cube on their head and walks around is quite exciting, so the passport should always on their head when people go outside. But how to display personal information is still confused…I made a mock up today in the class, it seemed difficult to practice into bigger scale when some parts of the cube need to be removed.
Wednesday Nov 21
Research is super helpful, especially some research on things outside art and design world. After clarifying that my world is highly developed and filled with digital, future sense, I then did some research on database, trying to solve the problem of how my passport would work for self-identity. I decide to use endless arrangement of red dots to suggest self-identity in my passport. At the end, it is not only a passport, but also one and only way to identify citizens and a tool for communication.
I choose to design postage stamps, Manifesto and a souvenir based on my state’s mode of operation: Non- government, non- production relations, all self-service. I find it is much more easier after I clarify the visual language and the identity of my state, all I need to do is pretending I am living in my world and apply a serious visual elements to other designs.
The idea of using an USB including a sound record of my state just pop up in my brain when I was imaging what my life would be in my state. Because we avoid any verbal communication and any emotional connection, our world would be totally silence and the only message we will receive from the outside world is the sound of machine operation. It’s kind of like white noise, which I think is a strong feature of my state. Because we avoid any production relations inside our state, the way to offer the USB is totally voluntary. People use their passport box to record everyday sound of our state and put it in an USB, after which they will put it in a vending machine. And other people will then collect one USB from the vending machine, if they want one. I also include a pair of gloves in it to suggest the concept of avoiding skin touch. It looks like quite conceptual, but that is the only thing we could offer as a cool state.
Thursday Nov 22
I haven’t finished my Manifesto, so I just printed it out for presentation. The feedbacks from my peers are positive, but one of my classmates said that he would like to see the actual box I made. I thought it was too large to bring to school and easy to be broken because it was raining outside. But it did make me realize how to present my work in a stronger and distinct way.
It was rewarding to carrying on the work all by myself, especially establishing a country! What I want to develop is refine some details, such as the layout of my serious of stamps and the interface when playing the sound record.
Made To Persuade
Weekend Nov 24~25
The pace of working got much more intense in Part 2, I have to change my way of working to get used to the intense working mode. These days I’m continuing my work on the concept of my product and some rough ideas about how will it be produced and presented. I think I really need to find a balance between my personal feelings and things I want to persuade, for I need to sell my product to the visitors at the end. So I give up some serious concepts, such as racist... Emerging from recent personal experience is quite reasonable, because problems that everyone has are “social” problems that worth exploring.
Monday Nov 26
Today was about idea changing!
In the morning’s idea presentation I was so sleepy and dumb, I was like a soul walking around in the class… Plus English is difficult, of course I couldn’t fully explain my idea to my peers… But I finished presenting my idea with the help of my sketch book. To summarize the feedback I got, good idea but need more development to make sense. “After they buy it then what? Just put there?” This is actually a great point, thank you Katy. I really need to think about if it the product strong enough to persuade.
Emmmmm…no.
After seeing the works of last year’s students, I realized that it could be very simple and conceptual. I then come back to the questions of last week and then change my idea of selling a series of “products” that free of charge in like 5 minutes.
Instead of thinking too much about designing a perfect product, I started focusing on the persuade power of my product. Everyone seems too busy to afford things that have price, but I want to remind them that there are lots of things they can do that are totally free. I came up 6 things that represent the actions free of charge, and I decided to focus on 3 or 4 strongest ones as that Clare suggested. Also, delivering messages in right way is quite challenging, I need to have empathy all the time to see if my idea can be conveyed appropriately.
Tuesday Nov 27
Today was all about developing my idea and starting to make.
When choosing material for packaging, I found it was significant to apply the comfortable, cute senses of my concept to packaging design. I give up using white boxes, which seem serious and cold. And I choose to use brown boxes, which I think will bring sense of comfort and it looks warm and safe.
I didn’t realize how complex to make a product until I started to buy materials. It is so hard to find 5 sea snails in London. Then I had to order them on Amazon and checked the arrival time again and again to ensure they would be delivered before Thursday. I feel like I become a real designer and busy carrying every single link. It is not easy and intense, but I kind of enjoy it.
Wednesday Nov 28
Today I’ve been outside all day, being busy printing and finding materials that couldn’t be delivered before Tomorrow.
After I got all my material done and making my first item, I realized that it is too much to give away 5 boxes. Firstly, I’m out of my budget. Second, it seems not make sense if I give 5 boxes free of charge. If I’m the customer I will be scared to take a box with 4 object that is not expensive. It can’t convey the message I intend to convey, which is getting little happiness free. They still get them as product, which is against my concept. I think it will be better to prepare 1 box and sell experience that free of charge. And I can initiate interaction more easily.
Thursday Nov 29
Today we tried to sell our products to our classmates. It was super helpful to practice before actually selling to strangers we never met before. Through the practice, I found it will be more comfortable to let the customers choose which experience they want to have. When I asked my peers to try my 4 experiences, actually it was a little bit awkward. It would work better when people are willing to take part in.
After that, I changed my packaging into 4 separated sections with separated lids, because I found it would add more sense of surprise and entertainment when letting people open and look what are inside. It’s like exploring little surprise and happiness in our daily life.
I changed my receipt, too. At first my receipt listed all four experiences. then leave it blank to only write down the “items” customs choose to experience on the sale day.
Saturday Dec 1
Today was challenging but delightful. I am grateful to have such a good chance to test my design in public context! Rather than purchasing products, I found people who came today were interested in seeing our innovative ideas and experiencing the creative environment of CSM. So it was more easier to “sell” some conceptual products like mine.
I was quite shy to speak to strangers before, but being in that positive and creative environment makes me desire to talk and explain my work to the visitors! I prepared 10 copies of receipts, which I thought was too many to be “sold out”, but they were all “sold out” in the morning! In the afternoon I just explained my work to those who came to me and show interests about my work, and I also gave away other 5 initial receipts listing all “items” to enhance the persuade power of my work.
Seeing how my work influents people and how people react to my work are thrilling.
APP STORE
Monday Dec 3
At the beginning of the class, we were asked to put our phones on the table at the back of the classroom. Being away with my phone didn’t bother me too much. Usually I look at my phone only when I feel boring and have nothing to do, but not rely too much on it. Sometimes it is too noisy to have my phone with me and I cannot focus what I am doing. At the most time I use my phone as a tool of listening to music, searching places to go, contacting with friends and family instead of getting to know the world.
Then we started to collect information about our partners for the app. Getting to know a person and having interview questions were interesting, as I’ve never done those things before. In the process of interview, both of us were trying to provide interesting information for each other, which was helpful and sweet. It is a little difficult for Alia to tell people’s facial languages and sometimes she doesn’t think it is a big deal when she’s really hurting someone’s feelings. I think this was quite interesting and then I start to structure my initial idea of designing an app that could help her tell people’s facial language. The idea of a scanning app made her laugh and she thought it was interesting, so I choose this idea to carry on.
At the end of the class, Lucy showed us some ideas that are potential to develop visual language. I found almost every work that could have strong visual language have simple objects as an identity. I think I need to find something interesting and strong enough to develop into visual language and branding identity for my app.
Wednesday Dec 4
Taking a shower solved my problem again!
Struggling about visual language, I decided to take a shower. While I’m taking shower, I can’t help thinking about the project as I’ve spent lots of time on it before. I then recalled Alia said she hated the smell of fish so much.
What if I connect my idea with fish?
I can use fish to evoke her empathy to feel how bad other people feel when she hurts their feelings. And also, in my country when someone in bad mood and looks not happy, we say he/she “has a face that smells bad”. In my app, after scanning people’s face and seeing the detailed analysis of the facial language, I could use the number of fish as a calculating method to suggest how bad the person feel, as well as how much Alia hurt him. What is most important is that fish could be a strong identity for my app.
Thursday Dec 5
I quite like my app, with simply and strong visual language. In group presentation, I got some very positive feedback, as well as some constructive advice. For example, how to add more interactivity to my app. But in the feedback, a person said that he/she couldn’t quite understand what my app was about. I think it is because I didn’t present it in a clear way. I didn’t write any instruction or some words to explain my app. I should really think about how to present my work, it’s also important for people to understand and get the sense of it.
Building Blocks
Jan 7
Going back to collage and being in the creative and artistic environment again bring me back to life. I was being alone at the most time of this holiday. I did feel relaxed at first, but when I started to do my holiday task, I realised how important openness was, especially when I was stuck in some stages.
After seeing my peers’ holiday work, “did i go wrong??” All of their outcomes are in series, which makes me think of the consistency of my outcomes. I didn’t even think of making it into a series! I just present my understanding of the terms given in an unexpected way, but lack of continuity and consistency… Actually this makes me think about the balance between rules and crazy thinkings for the first time. I was always trying to work across disciplines and focusing on interpreting and realising my crazy ideas, but is it a “fine art” mode of working? As I’m in Graphic Design pathway, should i need to focus more on “making things” and solving problems? I would like to apply my personalities in my work, which i think could make my work more strong. But is it always appropriate, especially for something like holiday task?
Well, now i think life is going to be tougher..
This thought became more and more stronger when I created typeface using insulation tape. Having been encouraged to work conceptually for a long time, it is difficult for me to work in a “closet” without any meaning and concept thinking. To be honest it is really not my thing and i think it is boring. The outcomes are not exciting and some of them are not that “original”. I was struggling all the afternoon, trying to create some “new” things. Unfortunately, I don’t happy about what i’ve been made. I don’t know, I’ll do more research and i’m thinking it could be more interesting and “original” when adding some characters, movement or sense of contrast to my font.
Jan 8
I love Tuesday’s class, which always gives me enough time and space to approach my work. I would say using objects to create typeface is much more interesting. It is applying the features of the object to other 25 letters that difficult and worth thinking. At first I couldn't control myself distorting the object to make it like “B” or “T”, then i realise it makes no sense because it’s the recognisable shapes of the object that makes the alphabet interesting and interactive. After trying several objects, i choose pencil sharpener as the one to carry on with. It is easy to be apply to lower case letters as its circular shape. And also, it carried a strong sense of “messy”, “handmade” and childish and has a strong feature to be recognised.
Jan 9
I find it becomes much more interesting to add characters to the font, maybe it is what a good font about. I quite enjoyed making the alphabet into posters, which provided me a chance to interpret the characters of my fonts. I am quite happy that they are not cold fonts lying on the paper anymore, they have life now.
Also, the different working process of this project, which is “making” first, “concepts” come after, has provided me possibilities created through making without thinking too much. This working process is challenging for me, but quite effective. I am that kind of person who is always trapped myself in loads of thinking and ideas, so I want to try this working mode in future and save myself, also I believe it could create some unexpected possibilities for me.
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.