Moodboard

Concept 1 – Life & Death

A recap to this concept:

  • Life is entangled to Death
  • Life is Superposition, Death is the absolute position
  • Life is a wave, Death is a particle

In this concept, the idea of what it will look like is like one of those paintings depicting the Wheel of Life, the Afterlife, or Hell aka Di Yu or Jigoku.

Jikogu, Image taken from http://matthewmeyer.net/blog/2014/03/02/jigoku-japanese-hell/
Buddhist Heaven, image taken from http://www.dharmarealm.com/?p=232
The Wheel of Life, Image taken from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/450922981419269002/

The idea is to create a narrative using a single canvas, telling a story within different sections of the canvas. A modern example of this idea is this artwork by Lee Xinli:

Image taken from http://leexinli.com/singapore-dreaming/ngeagr2r1jagfrn7211m3lvvcsoy6f

 

The moodboard for this concept is as such:

Main pointers for design:

  • grunge-looking
  • old chinese painting-like
  • dull colour scheme for Death, bright for Life
  • Symmetrical, cyclical
  • Bizarre

Individual design elements:

  • Clouds
  • Fire
  • Trees
  • Rivers
  • Cliffs
  • Demons / Monsters
  • Humans (varied)

Main artist reference: 

Zhitong Yu: https://www.behance.net/zhitongyu5cd04


Concept 2: Numbers and Gamblers

A recap of this concept:

  • TOTO and 4D lottery numbers are sometimes found in natural patterns around us, as if the numbers within a pattern exist in a superposition
  • Buying 4D usually ends up having the numbers jumbled up (‘jumping digits’ in chinese), which represents quantum leap where the numbers jump around within their position
  • If you are lucky to buy the numbers that are entangled to the winning numbers, you strike

In this concept, I would like to take reference from the Japanese Ukiyo-e style to depict patterns and textures within the elements as well as bright colours and clean lines. The overall feel of the banner should look something like this but with more elements and humour:

Image taken from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/120260252527294232/

Moodboard:

Main pointers for design:

  • Clean lines
  • texture-heavy
  • connected
  • colourful

Individual design elements:

  • amulet / charm
  • flowerhorn fish
  • joss sticks
  • flowing water
  • clouds
  • arowana
  • rocks with contours
  • trees
  • Moneki Neko (auspicious cat)

Main artist reference:

KUBO Ayako: http://www.kuboayako.com/

Kazuaki Horitomo: https://monmoncats.myshopify.com/


Other Inspirations

 

Kurzesagt video – Wormholes

Kurzgesagt really inspires me with their beautiful videos, but unfortunately I’m going for a different direction in this design so I’m not using these as my reference.

Moneki Neko Collection by multiple owners: https://www.behance.net/gallery/68483623/-Maneki-Neko-Collection

When I was thinking about lottery, these Moneki Nekos came to mind. They are so cute but I don’t know how to integrate them into my design.

I first saw the cats here:


References

Zhitong Yu: https://www.behance.net/zhitongyu5cd04

Kuboayako: http://www.kuboayako.com/

Kazuaki Horitomo: https://monmoncats.myshopify.com/

Ukiyo-e man with fish: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/400750066813956687/

Ukiyo-e man with snake: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/344525440230661061/

Ukiyo-e surfing man: https://data.ukiyo-e.org/mfa/images/sc144868.jpg

Moneki Neko Collection: https://www.behance.net/gallery/68483623/-Maneki-Neko-Collection

Fish pattern (colour pencil): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/232920611964604207/

Fish pattern (lines): https://ameblo.jp/re-pechu/image-11595974637-12654443739.html

Ukiyo-e fishes: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/120260252527294232/

Wheel of life: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/450922981419269002/

Jigoku paintings: https://gokurakuparadies.blogspot.com/2015/06/jigoku-e-paintings-of-hell.html

Jigoku paintings 2: http://matthewmeyer.net/blog/2014/03/02/jigoku-japanese-hell/

Taoist amulet: http://taoist-sorcery.blogspot.com/2013/05/win-lottery-talisman-strike-1st-prize.html

Heaven: https://buddhistartnews.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/lhabab-duchen-the-day-buddha-descended-from-tushita-heavens/

Heaven Mural: https://www.alamy.com/mural-painting-of-buddhist-heaven-tibetan-kagyu-lineage-tibetan-monastery-image5623070.html

Heaven 2: http://www.dharmarealm.com/?p=232

Lee Xinli: http://leexinli.com/

 

Micro-Project 6 – Super Participation

Super Participants

On Wednesday, 7 March, Kai Ting, Melodie, Niki, Samantha, and I took part in a 24 hours super participation project. We posted whatever we wanted to post from time to time within the 24 hours.

It was probably a sleepy and slow morning. We snoozed 582901 times and woke up unwillingly due to things we have to do. Meanwhile, Kai sleeps in peace, sending automated messages every hour. It’s a bliss to be Kai.

Lateness is a trait found in all of us, as we soon found out.

 

FOOD

Food is a common theme amongst us. Throughout the day, we post what we ate, what others ate, and other experiences tied together with the food.

Food is such an important theme for us and we have influenced each other because of it. Suppers are the most tempting, where a person’s post on supper could influence others to want supper. Envy is a driving force to hunger.

TRAVEL

In between activities, we like to also share our travelling experiences and thoughts while travelling.

It is during these period of time where really interesting things happens. Our senses are more alert as we are not distracted by activities. We notice things that are strange, curious, or funny.

In travel, we also made connections, unintentional or not.

The lack of things to take while travelling brought the attention back to ourselves, which have made other people notice things about ourselves that creates the connection.

HAPPENINGS

Things happen, we share. People meet, we share. As long as something new happens and it feels interesting, we make a post about it. The keyword is new. If it is something that seems to be a continuation of something that have been posted before, it is ignored. Happening posts are usually the beginning, or the end of something.

WORK

Work, on the other hand, is the opposite. We post about work while we are in the middle of it, perhaps, as a form of distraction. Either that, or that’s because there is no end to work. :’)

SLEEP

Another day ends, as always. We update each other on our sleepiness and our sleep times. We all are very late sleepers, and all of us slept past midnight, tired and dead from the activities in the afternoon. The last human update is at 3.40AM, and that’s the last goodnight we hear from all of us.

Then, we have Kai.

In our comments, we are very supportive. We feel for each other when we get hurt or when we share negative feelings. We compliment each other when we see something nice posted by a person. When we see something we have in common, or we can relate to, we post a comment.

Now come to think of it I guess we relate a lot more to work than to anything else.

Our posts are very personal and trivial most of the time. It is a more direct reflection of our life as we express outwardly rather than our internal thoughts. We are trying to create an identity that is controllable and relatable, that others can see, quickly know what we are trying to say, and move on. We don’t want a great deal of attention put on us. We are uncommitted to our digital life, and share only things that we think others may enjoy looking at, thinking about, or empathising with.

In this super participation, our motivation is to keep the page alive, while at the same time doing it minimally so we don’t overwhelm each other. We created a persona for ourselves, to a certain extend, where we only show what is worth showing. The more perfect and calculated version of ourselves that is showable, yet candid.