February 2017

February 19, 2017February 19, 2017

Project 2: Part I (Research)

19 Feb 2017

After some “self-profession” exploring for Project 1, we had to extend our exploration to our local neighborhood for Project 2. During the draw lots session, I hand picked Pasir Ris for my area of exploration. One good thing about it is that, I rarely wander around the East. It was a good chance for me to know more about Pasir Ris.

On 14 Feb, while all couples are spending their lovey dovey times, I spent my afternoon exploring Pasir Ris, with my friend.

I first ventured at the Pasir Ris Town Park. It’s around 5 mins walk from Pasir Ris MRT. That day, even though it’s a weekday, there were multiple fishers fishing around the park. If you like prawning or crabbing, there’s a shop that opens 24-hour at Pasir Ris Town Park.

Kid’s Playground

Maze Garden

Viewing Tower

Next, I traveled to Pasir Ris Park as it’s one of the well-known places of Pasir Ris. At the start of venturing, rain drops started falling, accompanied with it was strong gust of wind. After a while, the exploration went on. The maze garden wasn’t as long as I imagine, a few mins and I escaped the maze. The viewing tower was 3-storeys high and the air was really fresh. But the view outside was mostly blocked by trees, therefore I couldn’t really see much.

After that day’s trip, I felt really lost. As I do not have enough information or anything unique to say about Pasir Ris. Thereafter, I went back home to research more. Along the research, I found that there are quite a number of animal related shops/shelter/farms in Pasir Ris. During my consultation with Joy, she agreed that I should focus on this area of Pasir Ris. I finally found some direction to head to!! I refined my research to focus more on animal welfare groups than a collection of animal farms in Pasir Ris.

Today, I went down to Pasir Ris Farmway to look at the environment of the animal welfare groups. Most of them are not open to public, I was only able to see the stray dogs caged inside their compound. At SOSD, I saw the volunteers brought the dogs out for a walk. Most of the dogs were adult Mongrels.

Mdm Wong’s Shelter and Friends

I wasn’t able to talk to any personnel from the animal welfare groups, as most of the people there were volunteers at the dog shelter. I would email them for more details, if not I’ll ask if I’m able to use their information on web.

Till next post! Ciao!

February 11, 2017February 11, 2017

Project 1: Que Sera Sera (Final)

11 Feb 2017

After having some idea block for 2 of my jobs, Veterinarian and Filmmaker, Joy suggested that I focus on one job. In the end, I settled down with “Traveler” as my job.

After revising my initial concept, I came up with a new message for my project.

Message: Get in touch with the world, live in the moment.

Concept: I decided to come up with the good and bad side of travelling, to bring up the fear and fun of travelling. At first my 4 compositions are about: Indian Ocean Tsunami, ISIS terror, Salt Flat Bolivia and Ties (People). However, when I piece the papers together, I found that it’s hard to replicate Salt Flat through paper.

This was my try out for Salt Flat composition. As you can see the design just looked plain and doesn’t show much of the joy of travelling. Therefore I replaced this with a “Vision” concept. After correcting and revising my designs, below is my end product.

Final

My design is differentiated with the bad side of travelling (left) and the good (right). The bad and good are contrary designs of each other. I used similar color scheme for both sides to convey that, the same issue can be seen in different context, thus contrasting the good and bad of travelling.

ISIS terror

I used my initials J & I. “J” is incorporated at the nose outline and “I” on the blood splatter. I chose this as one of the bad side of travelling, as ISIS had instilled fear in people. When people are planning to travel, avoiding possible ISIS target countries are becoming one of their consideration. ISIS has also cause many people to have bad impression of Muslims. Due to their unfamiliarity towards Muslims, some people choose to avoid them.

Ties

This composition is formed with a blood layering at the background and my initial J merged together, forming a P too. For this design, I wanted to show that no matter what race we are, the blood that flow in us are all the same. We are all humans, we shouldn’t be differentiated by our differences. Through travelling, we are able to learn other cultures and befriend other races. I used a light and dark skin tone for my J, to symbolize the befriending of different races through hand shakes.

“ISIS terror” and “Ties” are about race issues, one is the misunderstanding of other races, the other is what most people want: a racial harmonious world. I used same color scheme for both designs to convey that, the same issue can be seen in different context, thus contrasting the good and bad of travelling.

Indian Ocean Tsunami

The initials used are J and A. J is incorporated in the waves, and A is form through the people escaping at the foreground.

Vision

My initials used are J and Q. J is placed sitting on the bicycle, whereas Q is formed from the circle of the Earth and the bicycle at the side.

Tsunami, just like other natural disasters, are feared by people. Due to the unpredictable disasters, some people fear to travel. “Vision” oppose that idea. Travelling allows us to broaden our Vision, to get in touch with scenery or cultures that are not found in our daily lives. With the limited time we have in our lives, we should travel while we can.

For this project, some of the difficulties I faced are time constraints, unable to vision the final outcome and the multiple changes. I had taken quite a lot of time reconstructing my designs, being unsure if it works or not. I illustrated the designs on Illustrator, however it’s hard to envision how the end product will turn out, as the craftsmanship is different from digital. I asked a lot of my friends and Joy for advise, which helped me to finish my Project on time. I’m really grateful for their comments, pushing me to produce a much better version than my first concept. I’ve learnt to also manage my time better, so that I won’t need to rush or be lost in the end.

Till next post! Ciao!

February 10, 2017February 10, 2017

Project 1: Que Sera Sera (Research)

10 Feb 2017

For Project 1, we had to use typography to describe our future job/ dream job. I wanted to choose the different jobs that I wanted to do as I grow up. My message was my ever-changing job as I never knew what I wanted to do. I did a bit of research with the given artists reference Joy provided. Among them, I felt that hand-made typography was something interesting and I’ve never tried before. Therefore, I chose paper cut typography as my medium.

The 4 jobs that I chose were: Traveler, Lawyer, Veterinarian and Filmmaker.

Traveler: When I’m young, I liked the idea of escaping family and see the outside world. I find being able to travel where ever I want is my goal in life.

Lawyer: I guess this job was chosen as I watched too much crime dramas when I’m young. I hated how villians escaped their crimes when their Lawyer help them to be freed. This resulted me wanting to be a Lawyer when I’m young to correct this wrongful doings. (too dramatic when I’m young)

Veterinarian: I’ve always loved animals, therefore I had the thinking of having a job that interacts with them, which is Veterinarian. (however too hard to get into the course, so I gave up.)

Filmmaker: As I get into poly, I get to experience filming and production. I particularly like the part on filming among other modules. Being a filmmaker is my current future job to be.

I was stuck with 2 of my jobs’ design: Veterinarian and Filmmaker. Meanwhile, I tried cutting different paper to know how the thickness affect my design. I found that the thicker the paper, the easier it is to create marks when rolled. I reference one of the artist I found on Instagram for paper cut designs, and what thickness he used.

John Ed De Vera

John Ed De Vera is a multidisciplinary designer, with a penchant for lettering, paper-cutting, and experimenting with different and new media.

I liked how he layered his paper to create a third dimension to a 2D surface. The small details, eg. the shadow that he added to the face design, makes the design pop. His bright usage of colors and clean cut look are what I look for in my design.

After my second consultation with Joy, she suggested that I focus on 1 job since I could derive more from there. I agreed to that idea as it allows me to settle down on my design, so that I can focus on my concept and trying out the paper cuts.

Till next post! Ciao!

February 7, 2017August 28, 2017

Project 1: Alter Ego (Final)

7 Feb 2017

The story behind this 1 min video is about a rebellious daughter facing set back from the outside world, called her mother as she had no one to confront to in the middle of the night..

Final Video

Till next post! Ciao!