Presentation 1 – Sandcastles by Beyoncé

Sandcastles is one of my favourite songs off Beyoncé’s last album Lemonade.

Beyoncé has played an enormous part in the way I sing today. First discovering her back in 2006, she quickly became my favourite artist and I would spend hours everyday trying to emulate her. Being influenced by her music also shaped the genres of music I’m drawn to nowadays – R&B, Soul, Pop and a touch of Jazz.

I recorded this in a classroom in ADM one morning. I got my friend to hold up the camera as I stood in front of a screen and we projected something fun (read: pretentious). Apologies for the abrupt cut at the end, didn’t want to lose some moments but also didn’t want the video to drag out too long.

 

Self Evaluation:

I liked my overall performance in this video. However, I feel that I could have managed my breath better and dragged out some notes longer. Also, I know I tend to close my eyes a lot especially for this song in an effort to emote but I think the eyes are the windows to the soul. Closing my eyes too much would, therefore, lose connection with the audience and that is not something I want. Perhaps in the future, I can work on emoting through my voice and using my eyes and facial expressions to fully convey the story in a song. Here’s to learning more throughout the next few weeks in this module!

The Oceanic / The Current Convening Strategies

The Oceanic and The Current Convening #3 were recently held at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, concentrating on research projects and observations within issues surrounding the Polynesian Islands and the Pacific. As The Current Convening was presented in a panel discussion format, I will place emphasis on The Oceanic and what I experienced when I was there.

Strategy #1: Space

The greatest strategy that created an excellent ambience for viewing the large collection of research and artefacts in The Oceanic was the space in which it was held in. The walls were clean white peppered with various colour accents as a result of the different projections and screens, the ceiling was high and it created a sense of serenity, almost allowing me to take my time at each portion of the exhibit and not rush through it. Perhaps I could employ this for my own extended image installation and not clutter the space with too many objects / imagery that would create a tensed atmosphere.

Strategy #2: Lighting

The next strategy building on the first would be the clever play of lighting. When given a large space, The Oceanic was successful in creating focal points using a smart play of lighting. Light was also able to set the mood, enabling me to feel differently at the various segments of the exhibition.

As seen in the image above, light played a key role in directing viewers on where to look and thus created impact in the exhibition space. As someone who loves playing with lighting in my photography, I look forward to lighting my own personal installation space creatively so as to communicate the full depth of my concept.

Strategy #3: Sound

Upon walking into the exhibition area, I immediately heard faint pockets of different sounds echoing all over the space. This added on to the overall ambience yet each individual sound didn’t seem to overpower each other. There was instead  a sense of balance and harmony. For exhibits that contained more explantations than others, individual televisions and headphones were provided which also sparked ideas on how I could use this way to create a direct and somewhat personal connection with an audience in my space. On a whole, sound was used effectively in communication and should be something I think about when I create my own work.

Assignment 1A: Exploratory Research

Introduction 

With a population of over 7.5 billion inhabiting our planet, the world we live in today is a melting pot of various political, economical, socio-cultural and technological backgrounds. With it comes many issues that are a cause of concern in order to maintain a harmonious balance within society. In this report, I will list four current issues confronting the world today as well as highlight one that I am tremendously passionate about.

The first issue critiques the state of the Singapore education system and sees the need to move away from a one-size-fits-all method of teaching and learning. In an article by the South China Morning Post, “there were a reported 27 suicides among 10 to 19-year-olds in Singapore (in 2015), double that of the previous year and the highest for more than a decade,” (Jelita 2017). Employing a standardised curriculum and examination criteria, perhaps the schools in Singapore are stifling alternative talents amongst the next generation that have yet to blossom. Pressures from a fast-paced system coupled with high expectations from parents are therefore a recipe for disaster.

The next issue close to my heart lies with the under-representation of plus-sized males in the “body positivity” movement. In recent years, plus-sized females have been included in the fashion world, which is a great thing. Men on the other hand don’t have it as easy. “Part of the reason why there are no plus-size male models is that there are no politics behind it. It’s not a controversial issue in the same way that it is for women. Men are objectified all the time in the media, but it’s not called ‘objectification’. There’s no male equivalent of feminist ideology,” (Simpson 2015). An inspection on what today’s standards were built on would probably give us a solution on how to move away from the stereotypical idealised male body type and promote inclusivity in body-positivity movement.

The third issue that builds on the topic of inclusion in today’s society is the lack of diversity, with regards to colour, age, gender and size in the beauty and makeup industry. Superstar Rihanna made a bold statement last year with the release of Fenty Beauty, a makeup line boasting an inclusive range of foundation that came in 40 shades. By doing so, she was able to tap into a market of darker-skinned woman that had been forgotten and under-represented in the beauty industry for years (Muller 2017). Gender and the introduction of men in makeup and creating products other than anti-ageing and wrinkle serums for older demographics are just some of the many ways the beauty industry needs to evolve and grow in order to remain relevant.

The final issue that resonates the most with me is gender oppression in men as an effect of hypermasculinity. “Hypermasculinity is the belief that in order to be a man you must in no way resemble a woman” (Michael 2016). This notion is something ingrained from birth and as such, males are exposed to the view that they are not allowed to display emotions synonymous with women are instead expected to be “strong”. Anger and rage, dominance and other masculine traits are celebrated and these could perhaps result in oppression and an inability to form identity (in more severe cases, rape crimes and domestic violence).

Gender Oppression in Men as an Effect of Hypermasculinity

The Britannica Encyclopedia describes hypermasulinity as a “sociological term denoting exaggerated forms of masculinity, virility, and physicality”. As Horowitz notes, toys for girls and boys are clearly demarcated and parents have the power to enforce this onto their children at a young age (2013). Coupled with media violence that young boys are especially susceptible to, Oppliger additionally notes that “if boys are exposed to exaggerated masculine models repeatedly rewarded and glamorised in the media, the boys are likely to adopt hypermasculine traits (2004).

Early exposure to hypermasculinity and traditional masculine culture has therefore given rise to many social problems. From an emotional standpoint, males are taught to strip off any traits that are associated with being feminine and are given the permission and power to display traits associated with what’s masculine. This rejects values like sympathy, empathy and vulnerability and empowers strength, anger and rage and dominance leading to larger problems such as rape culture, violence and abuse. Hypermasculinity, in a sense, desensitises males from rational thinking.

Based on a report by Samaritans of Singapore, there were a total of 409 suicides in Singapore in 2015, of which 271 were male. It would be fair to question how many of these males chose to end their life due to a lack of being able to express themselves and the gender oppression inculcated through hypermasculinity. Moreover, having a first-hand experience of the slurs that promote hypermasculinity proves that it is something relevant in the Singaporean society. Colloquial phrases like “chill bro,” or “you got balls or not?” and “don’t so gay leh!” seem harmless on the surface but have the power to do damage to the male psyche.

A desired target audience that would need to consider this message would be Singaporean males and females between the ages of 18 to 25. These audiences would become parents one day and still be maturing and growing. As such an important message like this would benefit them. A localised message would most likely bring across a greater sense of familiarity and resonance amongst audiences. Highlighting hypermasculinity as a problem and creating a movement that aims to eradicate such behavior and language would be key to creating a safe space for both genders to express how they feel and form an inclusive society.

While doing a search on artwork and media coverage on an issue similar to mine, it was almost impossible to find one similar to mine. I instead to look at advertisements and campaigns that propagated the masculine image.

As with hard-selling advertising, these ads use bold and large fonts to emphasize their headlines that support masculine stereotypes. The puns and phrases therefore seek to highlight and emphasize an idealised “real man” in real situations. Perhaps this would be a good start to creating art that goes against this archetype and stereotype.

 


 

Bibliography

Jelita, Angela . “Singapore’s price for education success: streaming, stress and suicides.” South China Morning Post. September 21, 2017. Accessed January 21, 2018. http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/families/article/2111822/downsides-singapores-education-system-streaming-stress-and.

 

Markovinovic, Monika. “Plus-Size Male Models: Why Are These Men Missing From The Runways?” HuffPost Canada. October 22, 2015. Accessed January 21, 2018. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/10/21/plus-size-male-models_n_8347490.html.

 

Muller, Marissa G. “How Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty Is Ushering in a New Era of Inclusivity in the Beauty Industry.” W Magazine. September 19, 2017. Accessed January 21, 2018. https://www.wmagazine.com/story/how-rihanna-fenty-beauty-changing-beauty-industry.

 

Michael, Louis. “Hypermasculinity Is A Plague On The Modern Man.” HuffPost UK. November 29, 2017. Accessed January 21, 2018. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/louis-michael/hyper-masculinity-man_b_13280034.html.

 

Horowitz, Roger. Boys and their Toys Masculinity, Class and Technology in America. Florence: Taylor and Francis, 2013.

 

Oppliger, Patrice A. Wrestling and hypermasculinity. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004.

 

Typography I Project 4: Personal Creation

And just like that, we approach the end of the first semester and first typography module. It’s been a crazy journey and I had to carefully weigh out my options before deciding which project I wanted to expand on for my final assignment. After thinking about it, I decided to do narrative photography with an accompanying prose that would incorporate typography rules to fully convey emotion.

For a start, I had to come up with a short-story / prose that my typography and photography would be inspired by. Following the creation of my zine done in Year 1 where I shared a personal story of heartbreak, I wanted to continue the story (that was in sync with my personal journey of healing ) and talk about something that I’ve been feeling for awhile: the feeling of alienation in a home and rejecting spaces because of the memories attached to them.

I sat down one Saturday, plugged in to my favourite sentimental (emo) songs and poured my heart out. It was emotional session that left me in tears to say the least. As I wrote, I decided that I didn’t want my words to rhyme too much like a poem but instead I wanted to incite thoughts through personifying my room at home. This was the outcome:

By giving character to the walls in my room / house, I managed to create a narrative that I felt gave a clear picture of the state I am in.

The next step was translating them into layouts and spreads. I aligned my text based on the flow of my story. To explain it concisely, I took notice to:

  1. More structured paragraph placements at the start
  2. Gradual dispersal and more space between text units as the story reached the climax
  3. Opposing structures by the end of the story
  4. Conscious altering of only leading, kerning and negative space. (no alterations of scale, form and opacity

The reason behind #4 is because I strongly believe typography need not be literal representations of words. As such, I want reader to feel the narrative through the image and text.

My next task required me to take photos that would complement the narrative. In the beginning, I had the concept of going around my hall (NTU Hall 2) to take photographs simply because I wanted amplify my feeling of alienation by portraying walls / a home that was not even mine. I wanted to push the idea of how I surround myself now with a different setting but try to make myself a home within it anyway. The first batch of photos were sadly very uninspiring:

I reflected after my first shoot and reasoned with myself that perhaps I was having trouble visualising interesting frames because I was too familiar with my hall’s surroundings. On the next day, a rainy, cloudy Monday, I decided to venture out to Hall 1. Just next door to mine, I was suddenly very inspired and finally got excited by what I was seeing and shooting.

My artistic vision behind the photo series stemmed from the a few basic rules I set for myself:

  1. Elimination of objects or external motifs that were present on the walls
  2. An exploration on shapes, shades and tones and texture
  3. An overall cohesive colour scheme / colour grading during post-processing

I put these rules in place to ensure that the images didn’t fight for too much attention from the text and its typography.

This was my first layout of text and image:

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After the first consultation, I made some changes. For example, I edited the shape of the die cut on the front cover. I wanted the text to be more immersive and I also took the advice of my tutor to make the margins bigger to support the die cut more. I also stretched out the picture on the second spread. Other changes included changing the space between the different parts of the story to further invoke more meaning.

Another challenge I faced before print was figuring out that I had designed too little pages. Forgetting the rule where saddle-stitched booklets needed to have a number of pages divisible by 4, my existing book had only 22 pages. Because of this, the pagination didn’t add up and I had to add on 2 more pages.

It was a blessing in disguise however because now I had extra space before my story started to add something. As I wasn’t about to add a liner that “dedicated” this book / photo series to anyone (much less my ex), I decided to add a quote that fir perfectly as a primer and interlude before my own prose. The quote was by author Han Suyin, which you will see below in my final layout.

This is my final layout with all changes and suggestions by my tutor added in:

Four Walls (Small PDF)

Before proceeding to print it on quality paper, I did a black and white test print to ensure that the point size was suitable and pagination was correct.

I was super satisfied with how everything turned out and was confident to carry on with the printing.

Before printing, I decided to come up with a sleeve for my book to tie everything together. I had toyed with the idea of making posters or postcards to accompany my book but after considering it, I realised that they were merely afterthoughts and did not add anything to my concept and artwork. I wanted to further amplify my four wall-ed narrative and after coming across this image on Pinterest, I was inspired and decided to make my own keyline and layout:

I was very pleased with the result but the challenge was finding a store that would print my very long single-sided print in A0. At last I found the suitable printers that would print all my collaterals and I also bought 3 different types of papers of varying whites to print on.

Reflections

All in all, I am very happy with the outcome of my project. I was happy that I followed my heart and did not use a typography style that I didn’t personally like. I was also thankful that I managed to merge my two passions together and create a body of work that I am very proud of. Truly, typography is a powerful tool to convey emotions and factoring the read-pause-read effect into the design was crucial in helping the whole design make sense.

Typography I: Project 3 – Type as Image, Pattern & Emotion

For the first part of our third project for Typography I, we were tasked to create image using type. I first began by trying to make human faces:

After doing this for abit, I realised that it was indeed difficult to successfully create a human face because of the large amount of shapes and contours of a face that form it. I was not satisfied and tried creating other objects:

This was supposed to be a car that wasn’t completed. I was unispired and did not find this rendering successful as well. Finally I decided to work on cartoons. Made with compound lines and shapes, they would make the perfect candidate for a typography image:

And after a few hours, these were my final results that I was very pleased with:

These were made using broken up parts of the font Helvetica Neue. I used a variety of weights to accentuate certain features of the image. Examples would be Spongebob’s pockets and Homer Simpson’s eyes.

The next part of the project required us to make a pattern using type. At first I began with serif fonts and did not completely understand how I should go about approaching this assignment. I was simply placing letters and not allowing them to truly create a pattern:

After doing more research, I gained the courage to break the grid and create more dynamic patterns. One thing I also discovered was that I much preferred sans serif fonts with fixed heights and widths because I’m someone who still appreciates a sense of order and neatness. These next patters were made without over-thinking form:

The main feedback I got after consulting with Shirley was that I was too fixated on repetition and I should pay attention to possible creating depth and rhythm by making use of density. I reworked some of my patterns and these were the final 2 I came up with:

The first one made use of the letter ‘K’ from the font family Modum Regular. This pattern made use of repetition but still was interesting because in it were rounded edges, straight edges, line work and overall still had some rhythm to it. I was inspired by the retro wallpapers and window grills / gates.

My next pattern was made using ‘X’ of the same font. By playing with density and scale, I was able to create more depth and texture and this reminded me of snakeskin leather. My classmates saw more of a matrix digital effect which was apparent too.

On a whole, I was happy with my patterns and was happy I managed to break my own ruled and think outside the box (no pun intended).

The final part of the assignment was creating emotion using type. Using the word ‘HELLO’, we had to conjure up 4 emotions. I first approached this part of the assignment trying to use one emotion and creating multiple versions of it. This resulted in a very forced exploration for the emotion ‘SEDUCTIVE”:

After these attempts, I realized that maybe the best way was to reverse engineer. This first method made me feel very restricted and I was not working creatively. I thus went ahead with creating layouts first and tagging the emotion onto them later. These were my explorations:

This was indeed better for me to create without overthinking and stunting the creative process. I decided to stick to Helvetica Neue for all of my emotion pieces because it was such a diverse font with many weights.

Finally after consultation, I came up with my four emotions that I went with:

CONFUSED

I see confusion as seeing double and not knowing where to look. I liked that with this effect, your eyes really do get confused until you realise you’re supposed to read a ‘hello’ that’s upside down.

EXCITED

I view excitement as an uncontrollable amount of emotions which explains the floating letters followed by a huge burst of excitement. Varying the weights of the ‘O’s’, I created a bubble/water droplet effect.

BORED

I see boredom as being so dismal to the point of falling asleep. To show this I made one ‘L’ lie down and the other lean on it in slumber. I also incorporated my other idea from above of making snoring icons using another ‘hello’ form.

ANGRY

This final piece was a fun one. I was playing around on Illustrator when suddenly this imagery become so clear – a middle finger. I tagged ‘angry’ into this piece because it was such a physical representation of the word.

Reflections

As usual, this project was difficult for me at first because I was unsure at many points where exactly to begin. The key to this project was ti simply let go and let everything come naturally paying less attention to order. All in all, it was an interesting assignment that once again demonstrated the endless possibilities of type that go beyond just conveying information in the form of text.

Typography I – Project 2B – Organic Type

I wasn’t expecting Project 2B to be as challenging at first but nevertheless, here’s my process on how I manage to come up with my layout.

First up, I chose my quote “CHAOS MADE HIM BEAUTIFUL”, a quote that was a shortened and edited from the original “HER CHAOS MADE HER BEAUTIFUL”. To start off, I wanted a chaotic style of organic type for the first word in the quote. When I thought of chaos I thought of images like pain and fire was the first medium I tried using.

Risking the safety of my neighbours, I brought my set-up of a lighter and satay stick to try to burn letters into my paper.

Controlling the burn marks were not easy as sometimes too much would catch fire. After about 2 hours this was the final result:

All in all, I like the effect but was not satisfied with the clarity of the letter. Legibility was of utmost importance to me. I then shifted gears towards sort of a stencil system. I cut out hand-written font and proceeded to seal them into sticky tape.

I wanted to create a laminate to protect my letters as I had ideas of exploring with paint and as such I did not want my paper letters to soak through or break.

I mixed black acrylic paint with varying amounts of water and proceeded to add some of the mixture onto my letters. I then dragged the letters on my paper to create my typography. After creating the back strokes, I put a thicker layer of paint onto my letters and pressed to create just a bit more definition.

I was finally satisfied with my first font. Moving on to the next word, I wanted something simple but still organic. Looking around y desk, I found an eraser that later turned into my “letterpress”. Wrapping a plastic bag around it for protection, I proceeded to use strips of paper to block off parts I did not want to stamp and this was the result:

Here’s a closer look at the effect using gold paint:

After adding one last handwritten font and scanning everything in, this is the layout I came up with:

After consulting with Shirley, I decided to put this on a makeup bag/case for my application. Here’s some of the behind-the-scenes shots of my photography setup

With this image, I Photoshop-ed my organic type on

To fully put the whole concept together and answer why chaos made him beautiful. I decided to think of my product as a drag makeup kit targetted at men. I also went ahead to create a print ad for Chaos Beauty, a fictional makeup brand for drag queens.

All in all, I think this was an important project in reminding us of the beauty of hand-made fonts and not relying completely on digital programs and means for creating type. Indeed, each project was a unique expression and execution. Looking at the final applications just reinforced how hand-made font will never go out of style and still remains relevant.

Typography I – Project 2A – Vernacular Type

For our vernacular type assignment we were asked to go to a specific location and capture a quote that embodied the location. The quote I picked was “COOLER THAN YOU” and I chose Haji Lane as I feel that it’s a place where a lot of hipsters hang out at and they all have a similar mindset. Around the area are boutique / blog shops and cute cafés and to me they epitomise the cool lifestyle.

Upon reaching Haji Lane I noticed a back alley that had many elements like pipes, electrical wires and a variety of grills and gates. I immediately got inspired and starting seeing all the alphabets I needed to find. I was also happy that I found the location as back alleys are somewhere hipsters love taking photos at to get that vintage deconstructed look. Having everything from one location all shot on one day also ensured I got a consistent and cohesive look to my final piece.

Below are my first drafts to find a layout I liked:

I added on a filter to create that film camera look complete with a light leak to push the concept and theme further.

After coming up with my first draft, Shirley did comment that some of the letters werent clear enough especially the ‘Y’ in ‘YOU’. Most of the other letters required a tighter crop so viewers would not be distracted by whatever was around.

After re-shooting and making my necessary edits, here is my final layout:

All in all, I feel this exercise was an interesting and fun one and the type and words each of us discovered were really unique as no one sees the same thing in the same way.

Stay tuned for my Organic Type process post 🙂