Closeup
Exhibition
@ School of Arts, Design and Media, NTU
MEDIA WALL
LED
15m by 2m
Media Art Nexus NTU
Actual Exhibition
@ North Spine, NTU
SWATCHBOOK
APPLICATION
iPad Pro
iPhone 7
Tag: Chinese
Printing Banners
Final Banner
Test Print on A4
After testing on A4 paper, I’m satisfied with 15% up of saturation and brightness.
Final Print @ VC Print Centre
Motif Development
Based on my concept, “new door god”, I planed to design a door god poster. It contains a main god in the center and several elements surrounded.
Main God
I chose to use Apple and Steve Jobs as my main visual representation. Replacing the logo to a pear shape adds a subtle pun.
Steve Jobs as fortune god(left) and general(right)
Ritual tools
Referencing from how Chinese people worship their ancestor and god, I created Apple-related sacrifices and Ritual tools.
iPhone sacrifice
Imac on a sacrifice plate
iPod attached to a candle stand
iPhones tucked on bronze incense burner
Amulet
Servants
Mock-up
This is the first try-out with all elements, based on traditional fortune god door poster.
Moodboard
Door God patterns
Door gods or Menshen（门神） are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones.
Category
- Expelling evil spirits
- Blessings
- Military officer
- Civil official
The patterns often attract my attention when I pass by. It made me think that something supernatural is guarding the house.
Old Door Gods preserved in Chendejyu Shrine Museum , Tainan City, Taiwan
Moodboard 1
Inspired by Ai weiwei‘s Door gods posters, I want to add some current elements that are more relevant to our generation. Nowadays, there are many new ‘gods’ that we worship to, like Steve Jobs, Elon musk or Jack Ma.
Ai Weiwei, Menshen
Ai Weiwei and FAKE design office’s Door Guardians for 2011 (image from theepochtimes.com)
AI WEI WEI, Guardian Christmas screen saver artwork
copyright: Ai Wei Wei
Culture keeper 2015, illustrated by Min Liu
Moodboard 2
Inspired by a Chinese illustration artist, Song Xiaqi, based in Shanghai. His illustration embraces the tradition and re-touches it with contemporary feelings.
I like how he uses thick strokes and the way he treated each graphical elements.
门神 by Song Xiaqi
门神 by Song Xiaqi
Moodboard 3
Another approach is go for abstraction. Since the banner is very long and narrow, abstract patterns will give a strong visual impact.
猴年吉祥 Good luck for the Year of Monkey, illustrated by DO ON東
Panel testing
Based on Aiweiwei’s work, I created a rough styleframe to see if the elements work together on a long narrow panel.
Project 3 Zine
Concept
The intention of Zine project is to seek my own identity through the essence of Chinese culture – Food. We have developed a complicated custom, which is deeply based on food and determines our social behavior. It also rooted people to the soil they live on, as it is capable to produce abundant food. Especially during Chinese New Year, the reunion dinner calls every Chinese to return home and celebrate a brand new year with plentiful food.
To make the layout more interesting, I introduced elements like lines, and shapes. It also balances with and unifies the photographs and text. And all the elements are offset for the reason of dynamic composition.
FINAL LAYOUT
Back & Cover
IFC & PG 1
PG 2 & PG 3
PG 4 & IBC
A2 back poster
PROCESS
Initial development
Brain Storming
Initial Layout sketches on paper
Mock-up tryout
Tryouts of different layouts on mock-ups
Full spread of A4 mock up
Test Print
Test Print on black&white
Test print on color
Final mock-up with color
Color and Mateial Testing
Color testing on different scales and materials
Takeaway
In this project, I have learned a new software InDesign for the first time. I also had a chance to try different ways of creating a booklet, which is an enjoyable experience. What’s more, I’m quite interested in playing with images and typography to make a lively and dynamic composition.
TYPOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PROBLEM FINAL
Final Presented works
01
Concept
As a street photographer, I alway like to take a walk on the street and observe interesting scenes. Every one has an unique way of recognising things. An ‘L’ I composed from a building may not be legible to another person. And the most intriguing aspect of the street is the situation is never predictable. For instance, in the letters ‘L’ and ‘E’, a bird and a person emerged simultaneously when I pressed the shutter.
Process
Different compositions and bringing up contrast with black background.
02
Concept
Inspired by the low-shutter speed photography, where the light becomes traceable, I was using a light source as a brush to write my name in Chinese. The line of lights have various widths and weights, depict the essence of Chinese script Calligraphy, which ables to finish one character within one stroke.
Reference
Chinese script calligraphy
Slow shutter photography
Process
Chinese calligraphy requires the character to be squarish and structurally balanced.
03
Concept
The intention is to seek the essence of Chinese culture – Food. We Chinese have developed a complicated system and rules about how to eat and what to eat. And even daily greeting also involves ‘food’, like greeting people with ‘have you eaten already?’.
Reference
Process
I have chosen some iconic Chinese food, such as dumplings, bao, youtiao, sesame and century egg, to form strokes and shapes. And red chili represent my own taste as well as Sichuan food.
04
Concept
Living under censorship means only positive information about government is accessible to the public. And media, in China, becomes its mouth and agent, filtering, amending and twisting what is supposed to be right and true. Using newspaper collage indicates the process of how China media works.
Reference
I was inspired by Zhang Dali’s works, showing how China newspaper officials ‘photoshop’ some famous photos back to the 1950s and1960s.
Process
Different choices of font type
Week 2 Journal: Favourite Buddhist temple in Singapore
My favourite Buddhist temple is Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, at Chinatown. I like it because the it was based on Tang Dynasty architectural style, which has rich red color and majestic structure. And the temple houses the tooth relic of a historical buddha, which makes the temple more magnificent and holy.
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