Inspiration – Doodling Doo

VC | Inspiration-1000-Piece CMYK Color Gamut Jigsaw Puzzle

Artist and designer Clemens Habicht has reimagined jigsaw puzzles by getting people to reassemble colors rather than shapes – 1,000 colors, to be exact.

His 1000 COLOURS puzzle follows a CMYK color gamut, which is one method by which printers achieve their colors. Though some of the colors are nearly imperceptibly different from each other, Habicht says the puzzle is actually easier than assembling a specific image; “Unlike ordinary puzzles where you are in effect redrawing a specific picture from a reference, you have a sense of where ever piece belongs compared to ever other piece. There is a real logic in the doing that is weirdly soothing, therapeutic.”

“The idea came from enjoying the subtle differences in the blue of a sky in a particularly brutal jigsaw puzzle, I found that without the presence of image detail to help locate a piece I was relying only on an intuitive sense of colour, and this was much more satisfying to do than the areas with image details.”

“The puzzle is 1,000 individual solid block colour tiles rather than a smooth gradient. In theory, inside the CMYK gamut there is an infinite number of colours, but its inside that printable range,” Clemens Habicht said.

This is 100 Colours – For people with smaller hands!

I think this is a very interesting activities for children to learn about colour amd stimulate their inborn colour sense.

References:

1000-Piece CMYK Color Gamut Jigsaw Puzzle By Designer Clemens Habicht
http://puzzle.lamingtondrive.com/

VC | Dictionary Reference: Alphabet Card

An illustrated alphabet card by Hyojung Ryu: What am I? and Who am I?

By overlapping alphabet card it creates a very interesting visual and also it can enhance the impression for children to learn.

VC | Dictionary References

Hyperlink Book

Reflection: The threads can be seen as our thoughts when we are reading or analysing matter.

Dictionary of Visual Element

Even though cannot see clearly from the website, but I found that these are very interesting for expressing visual element.

Listen to Love

Signed language is a kind of visual language. It’s express a speaker’s thought by the optic nerves conduction. Simultaneously combining hand shapes, movement of the fingers and vivid facial expressions. Use the body language to convey endless messages.

VC | Process and Summary Brief for Time Project

Small summary for my project:

1)family tree (4 generations, start from my grandparents)
what: to discover the relationships between my family and the extended family based on the year of birth and generation
how: design a visualization diagram based on the concentric tree rings instead of a vertical hierarchical chart (information: english name, chinese name, year of birth, relationship)

First draft for family tree - it seems like quite successful and workable for my idea — First draft for family tree – it seems like quite successful and workable for my idea

2)migration path of my family (map)
what: to show the migration path of my family from the start of my grandparents immigrated from China to Malaysia. Also, to show the fact that the children have moved to other cities to seek for more job opportunities after they grew up.
how:

Go back to the initial mind mapping of time concept, order and sequence have mentioned in the previous post. From there, I integrated the meaning of Lin 林, the tree. From there came to the idea of the order and the sequence of a tree grows. It starts with a seed and needs time and nutrition to produce all of its parts – roots, trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruits – and to grow larger.

So, I am thinking to use the growth of tree to be the idea of visualisation diagram and integrate with Malaysia map to show the migration path of my family which is

China is the root of my family
why? because there is a Chinese proverb called 寻根溯源，“寻根” literally means seek root and “溯源” means trace to the source. Undoubtedly, our ancestors were from China.

“Root-seeking culture is part of traditional Chinese culture, and features elements suchas ethnic groups, family names, characters, and classics. As its name suggests, root-seeking culture refers to practices of seeking one’s roots and finding one’s blood ties andemotional bonds.”
Resources: Root-seeking culture booms in China
my grandparents were the trunk of my family – support us, educate us
my father’s generation is branches – because they become older and start to settle down without big moving, so they have more time to gather around
my generation is leaves – having education, seek for job opportunities, organise our own family
my next generation is fruits – protected by leaves from insects, external factors

However, generations represented by different part of the tree are my perspective for now since we will grow up and the role will keep changing and changing. For visual and aesthetic aspects, I have no idea of how to fit this idea into map to show the migration for now.

3)memories and stories
what: mainly to narrate my grandparents’ story. eg, how he survived in those tough times, how he started his business, how he taught his children and etc.
how: stories, old photograph, some documents

Resources :
Forest Fact: How a tree grows
Tree trunks – general facts and information

VC | Visual Concept & Mood Board (Family Chart)

Continue researching on Chinese Surname and developing the visual concept.

林
No. of Chinese Strokes : 8 (More research on the meaning of 8)
PinYin (Chinese Pronounce) : Lin
Min Nan (Hokkien)/ Cantonese (Malaysia/Singapore) : Lim
Cantonese (Hong Kong): Lam
English Meaning : Woods, Forest, The Man of Wood

Meaning of Number 8 in Chinese culture
1)Eight (Ba in Chinese) has the similar pronunciation with 发 (Fa, meaning wealth or fortune), this number is very welcome among Chinese people.
2)The Chinese deem number eight as a number of initiations and spiritual ascension because eights represent the forces within the world of phenomenon. For example, Eight immortals, Eight Diagrams, Ba Zi.

Study on Tree Diagram

Tree Diagram :
1) a way of representing the hierarchical nature of a structure in a graphical form.
2) resembles a tree, even though the chart is generally upside down compared to an actual tree, with the “root” at the top and the “leaves” at the bottom.

Nodes: the tree elements
Branches: the lines connecting elements
Leaf nodes/ end-nodes/ leaves: Nodes without children
Root/ root node: starting node, a member that has no superior in finite tree structure

Fan Chart:
1) features a half circle chart with concentric rings
2) the person of interest is the inner circle, the second circle is divided in two (each side is one parent), the third circle is divided in four, and so forth.
3) depict paternal and maternal ancestors.

Resources : Wikipedia Family Tree, Wikipedia Tree Structure

Besides having the conventional family tree with “root” at top and “leaves” at the bottom, are there any other direction that can consolidate the visual concept of my family chart? How can I link my family chart to the meaning of 林 “Lin”, which is woods/ forest/ the man of wood? How can I link back the whole family chart to the concept of TIME? Can woods or forest tell time?

The questions above linked to the answer of the way to determine the age of a tree.

Count the tree’s whorls. Estimate the tree’s age. With conifers, these commonly show a regular pattern of growth, producing a whorl of branches each year. A whorl of branches all radiating out from the trunk at the same level, followed by a clear section, then another whorl and so on.

2. Count the rings on the stump.The number of rings indicates the number of years the tree lived. The rings are made up of bands of light- and dark-coloured wood.

Resources : Tree Age, Wikihow How to Determine the Age of Tree

The visual concept for my family chart will be designed according to the concept of tree rings based on the variables: generation, year of birth.

Mood Board

88e09c61724979130654948e9f2f7304 — Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelpaukner/6889984766/

564a7821043969.562fb8a50d0de — Retrieved from https://www.behance.net/gallery/21043969/Cantin-Brand-identity-based-on-family-tradition

Retrieved from http://jessety.com/brendon/?p=368

Retrieved from https://www.behance.net/gallery/15519911/Family-Tree-Infographic

Retrieved from http://z-design.deviantart.com/art/Circles-of-V6-287214325

VC | Chinese Name, Surname, Chinese Immigration

Study on Chinese name rule :

Yee Wu Jie Lee-Ling
Yee -> family name / surname
Wu Jie -> the middle name tells the order of a person’s birth within the family
Lee-Ling -> individual’s personal name

Surname will help us know our ancestors and the countries from which they emigrated. This is strictly followed in tradition Chinese family however nowadays it is more flexible. This can be visualized and summarized in my family tree.

Reference:
Chinese Immigrants, 1850-1900
By Kay Melchisedech Olson

lin_write — Retrieved from https://chinese3c.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/lin-a-family-name-jeremy-lin/

Lín林 is a Chinese surname that is also used in Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. It is particularly common in southeastern China – specifically Fujian Province – and Taiwan. It is also common among overseas Chinese because many have origins in Fujian. It is pronounced and spelled as Lim because many Chinese descendants are part of the Southern Min diaspora and speak Min Nan. In Hong Kong, Macau and Vietnam it is spelled as Lam via Cantonese.

lin_styles1 — *Retrieved from https://chinese3c.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/lin-a-family-name-jeremy-lin/*

I am Malaysian. Lin this surname is quite common among the Malaysian Chinese community. However, because the vast majority of Chinese Malaysians romanized their surnames according to the pronunciations of their respective southern Chinese dialects, it is very rarely romanized as “Lin”. The Hakka, Hikkein, Teochew and Hainan communities romanize it as “Lim” whereas the Cantonese-speaking community uses “Lam”.

Actually I am not sure about the differences between Lim and Lam before I did this research. However, this reminds me that my father always told me about the story of my grandpa who have been experienced immigration from China Hainan province to Malaysia for having a better life. The story of how my grandpa started his kopitiam business (coffee shop) besides railway station. He sold Hainan style breakfast such as, coffee, tea, bread, Hainan style chicken chop etc. However, it is very pity that none of our family members have inherited the culinary style because my grandpa hoped that his children can have a higher education and guarantee job. Since my grandparents have passed away very early, so I really can’t get any accurate information or story from them. The only way is that get oral interview from my father and my relatives as well as research on the history of Malaysia Chinese Immigration.

Resource : https://chinese3c.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/lin-a-family-name-jeremy-lin/

VC | Research on Tradition Family Tree

Here is the summary of my research
Source: http://traditions.cultural-china.com/en/214Traditions11966.html

Family tree is a special cultural legacy of China, being one of the 3 important documents (history of the nation, local chronicles and family tree) of Chinese nation. Family tree is a precious human culture document, which is irreplaceable for the further study of history, folkloristic science, demography, sociology and economics.

The Origin of Family Tree

According to the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells, bronzes, stones and other early inscriptions of China discovered, the history of family tree can be traced back to before Qin period at the latest. The officials of history wrote Generation Book – on Emperors in Zhou dynasty. The Generation Book written before Qin Dynasty has already been lost, and the one we are reading today is written by people in Qing dynasty. However, from the menu we can see that Generation Book has concluded all the family trees of emperors, kings and chancellors from Huang Emperor Period to Spring and Autumn Period, being a general pedigree chart of the comprehensive blood –related groups of previous and contemporary times.

The Form of Family Tree
Before written
oral family tree, knotting family tree
Other forms
mount chart (common people, merchants, rich families)
book-bind (bureaucrat families)

The Contents and function of Family Tree

The function of Family Tree changes from the past to now:
evidence of blood relationship (inheriting of title & property), content was simple, instruction of lineage -> Wei, Jin Dynasty, the chosen of officials and marriages based on family status, contents become more -> Song Dynasty, worship of ancestors and harmonizing the relationship of family members, popular among common people

The content of a family tree includes mainly 3 parts:
1) chart of lineage -> describing the generation and father of clan member
2) the main text -> name, title, father, generation, time, post, title of nobility, life time, posthumous name, marriage and so on of each member.
3) appendix

The order of generations is set in some family trees when they are being made. The generations are marked ahead of time. This is called “generations order” in folklore, which is actually assigning priority according to seniority. Because of the value the male child only formed by history, a character decided in advance has to be one of the characters of the “full name” of a male. This character should be in the middle or the last of the three characters of the name. The generations may be different, but the rule is accepted through common practice.

VC | Time Project : Idea & Concept

“Time is what keeps everything from happening at once”

“Time is the rate at which we live – the speed at which we successively pass through our existence from birth to death. Time is a rate of life-progress, different for every individual, and only made standard because we take the time-duration of the earth’s revolution around the sun, which is constant.”

Retrieved from “The Girl in the Golden Atom” By Ray Cummings

Idea process

These two paragraphs that retrieved from “The Girl in the Golden Atom” has inspired me a lot. Starting with the definition of time, I think that time is a human creation system that makes everything happens in an orderly sequence, and thus makes everything in that moment to be specific and unique. For example, the sun you can see out of the window is not the sun you are seeing right now because light takes time to reach us. That is why things are independent and ordered in sequences according to time (the past, now or future). Besides that, the starting of an individual’s time is when he is born and the ending of the time is when he dies. So this link to the life process from born to death. Birth is an addition to the family and death is a physical subtraction from the family. So this ends up to “FAMILY”.

Concept

My concept for TIME project is to design my own genealogy to demonstrate the order and seniority in my family. Also, discover the relationships between my family and the extended family based on the year of birth and generation. As this topic is very interesting to me because it is a sense of my responsibility to preserve the past for future generations and a sense of self-satisfaction in accurate storytelling in time. My ideal plan is to start from my grandparents, my father’s generation, my generation and the younger generation. There are 4 generations in total. It is interesting because there are some special cases happened in my family. For example, the age gap between my father and my cousin is quite near, and my nieces are older than me. So I would want to include this in my design too.

Other mindmaps

I found a very interesting calendar called Chinese Gender Chart which used to predict the gender of an unborn child based on two variables: the baby’s month of conception and the mother’s age. This 7,000-year-old chart, which is said to have been devised by an ancient Chinese scientist, was apparently discovered buried in a royal tomb near Beijing, about 700 years back. Its accuracy rate is said to be above 90 percent but till now there is no any scientific prove. Even though this is very interesting and fresh, however, there is limited research resource therefore I found very hard to continue on this topic.

Retrieved from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/chinese-lunar-calendar-gender-predictor-chart.html