zine process; yishun

The process for this project was quite an excruciating one as I totally scrapped off my idea almost 3 days final submission and did something outside my comfort zone.

Below are some snapshots of my previous designs.

The reason why I decided to redo was that I felt that there isn’t a main focus in my zine. While I knew I wanted to do a zine about the colours of the buildings in yishun, I felt my previous zine didn’t bring out this idea as much I wanted.

Hence, I did more research to discover more ideas and concept on how to improve my zine which shown below.

I was reading a fashion magazine one day and I saw a mood board that the magazine did. It was a sudden thought but I decided to come up with a mood board too as I wanted the audience to know more about the colours I used in my zine.

Below are some mockups I did during the process:

There were some deliberation with the cover page as I wanted something that will suit my theme better initially. However, after asking for my friends’ opinions, they thought that the first cover was nicer. Hence I decided to go with the first one but tweaking it abit to conform the theme.

The result is as shown below.

After much struggle, I managed to come up with something that I am satisfied with.

zine final; yishun

Imagine this zine as a lookbook. But not your usual one. This lookbook captures the colour essence of Yishun which is predominantly brick red and blue. We start with a short author’s write up and proceed to the introducing of colours in Yishun and finally, we top it up with a mood board.

Zine Presentation

义顺 / Yì shùn / Nee Soon / யீஷூன்

Yishun has a large population of up to 200000 people, comprising of many subdivisions within the town.

Yishun was part of territories inhabited by the indigenous nomadic boat-dwellers known as Orang Seletar – descendants of the orang laut or “sea people” who lived in boats and made a living as fishermen.

In January 2016, Yishun was designated as the first “dementia-friendly” town due to its large elderly population. Hence, in my final zine, I would like to show the transformation of Yishun from a kampong to what it is today.

To-do list:

Zine Research

ONE

This zine layout gives me a clear sense of how different principles of art is utlized within a zine and also it makes use of different art rules like the rule of third and hierarchy in the layout itself too. This zine also gives me a clear sense of what is expected from a zine and acts something like a guide for me.

TWO

The author made strong use of colours to give off an impactful message and grabs the readers attention within seconds. The coordination of colours within the pages tones down the biazarre0ly coloured images and seem harmonised in the viewer’a eyes.

THREE

The author made use of both illustrations and pictures in this zine which is what im going for in my zine. The author also arrange the different elements in such a way that although it might seem minimalistic, it is actually very congested with pictures and infomation.

FOUR

I like how the author made use of the pop art concept in her zine. We can see a uniform colour of pink her but the use of triad colours brightens up the whole zine, making it more funky and fun. The author also uses the true colour of images to highlight certain images.

FIVE

This is my personal favourite. I like how the words are placed in the photos and the utlisation of the world map to show the location. The designs are really simple but the overall touch still look classy and clean.

2D II Project 1- Que Sera Sera Final

FINALISED

Below are the finalised compositions:

Watermelon Farmer

For this composition, I used complimentary colours to represent that to be a farmer, it can tend to be tiring and demanding, but however, on the other hand, to be able to have a good harvest will even out the toughness of the job. Just like the colour wheel, although green and red, which is just nice the colour of watermelon, are on different spectrum of the colour wheel, they compliment each other well aesthetically.

Also, I have my text as LEE which is my surname as this job tends to be less interpersonal, hence, it is more common to address farmers by their surname. The text is tilted upwards to express that one needs to have a positive outlook and mindset to be able to handle the job well due to it’s physically tiring nature.

Having the stripes of the watermelon skin as a background mimic the scene of a plantation. Having the stripes down will countereffect the upwards facing text to create a balanced dynamic flow.

Cup Noodle Designer

I used illustration for this as designers will normally create an illustration of their designs before sending it in for publishing on the real object. I used triad colours here to represent the infinite possibilities and ways of designing or coming out with a design just like the three spectrums which covers the whole colour wheel. This also creates a balance in colour in the whole composition.

The utilisation of the decorative font type here is so that this can capture the attention of the viewer immediately due to the quirkiness of it and entice people to buy the cup noodle.

I used my English name, JAE, as cup noodle is very much international now and it will suit the international theme with an English name than my Chinese name, Yi Jie. However, I kept the essence of it being originating from Japan and using sakura flowers as my design on the cup noodle. Also, I transformed the chopsticks into paintbrush to further emphasize on the designer part and a “create your own’ concept. At this point, I felt that the colour scheme was abit unbalance hence I added watercolour(complementary with the paintbrush) as background with pink and blue to balance out the composition’s colour scheme.

Doctor

Using a cotton mattress(to signify patient) and a stethoscope as semiotic signs, this represents the doctor-patient relationship and hence letting the readers interpret that the job is being a doctor.

I used serif font here as serif fonts are normally associated with professionalism, formal and prestige which is also normally associated with being a doctor.

As the name tags of doctors are normally initials of the doctor, like E. Lim, I used this concept and have my initials Y.LEE. Adding on, we normally read from left to right, hence I have the letter panning from left to right. To further emphasize the reading pathway of the letters, I have Y in yellow as this is the colour which can grab the attention of viewers immediately followed by using red which will capture the secondary attention of the viewer. Thereby, this will force viewers to read all the letters Y L E E in order.

Plant Sculpture Artist

This is actually an experimental work for me other than normal techniques like photoshop and illustration. By having my name YIJIE, this evokes the sense of familiarity and closeness like how a plant sculpture works- to connect with the viewers so that they understand the whole form. The letters might be hard to see but I guess this also links to the sculpture industry where people tend to overlook in real life. San serif fonts are normally like to young, less formal and for personal use only. I feel that using san serif will create more impact with the viewers as this is more interpersonal and it creates more flow when viewers read the text (something to ease the difficulty in reading from the flower petals).

Reflection

This project gave me a good platform to try out different techniques and experiment new compositions that I have been wanting to try. Although some of them failed, but this gave me more exposure and experience nonetheless. Through this project, it really forces me to research more on the colour schemes and font types and how to relate them to your aim. I am also more sensitive to the orientation and dynamic of the whole composition after this. I also realised that I need to focus more on learning illustration as this is my second time using adobe illustration.

2D II Project 1: Que Sera Sera Process

Curating Ideas

Being someone who likes to try new things, when given this project, I found myself to quickly think of these few ideas.

Barista
Florist
Spy
Watermelon Farmer
Doctor
Culture Research Artist

Originally, I was very inspired by the Chinese and Japanese art culture and wanted to have all my 4 designs to be of the same job, Culture Research Artist.

However, after doing some research and thinking process, I find that I should incorporate more diversity into my designs and compositions. Hence, my 4 jobs are Barista, Florist, Watermelon Farmer and Doctor.

CUP NOODLE DESIGNER

My first thought was to do coffee art, hence I wanted my concept to be a barista. However, I have done coffee art before and least to say that it didnt work out well for me the previous time. Hence, I’ve decided to scrap off the idea of coffee art.

Moving on, I was quite inspired by this photo I came across online.

I wanted the milk swirls to form letters however, I tried to mimic the process with nail polish, but it turns out to be a mess and din’t work out too. 🙁

Therefore, I’ve decided to scrap off the idea of being a barista.

As I was thinking of a job to replace this, I had an idea one day while eating cup noodle and was quickly reminded of a cup noodle museum in Japan whereby people could customise their cup noodle according to their preference. Hence, I came up with the idea of being a CUP NOODLE DESIGNER.

I tried using watercolour for this but the colour didn’t turn out as well I thought.

Therefore, I thought of manipulating the words on the the and use illustration for this.

PLANT SCULPTURE ARTIST

My initial job was to be a FLORIST. But I must say this job took up the greatest time and part of my project and I spent alot of effort on this job.

I used mainly script writings initially as it has a more feminine and floral theme to it and gives the readers a more familiar feeling which is what the job entitles.

In the end, I changed my job yet again as the aesthetics of these does not meet up with what I wanted.

Again, I came across a moss writings online and wanted to mimic the style of it.

Therefore, I changed my job to PLANT SCULPTURE ARTIST. This time, I wanted to be experimental, hence, I bought some fake flowers and tried to create something using them.

WATERMELON FARMER

To create something out of watermelon was relatively easy to me as really like watermelons(HAHA) and I quickly have an idea on what I wanted to do.

However, after consultation with Shirley, she felt that I should emphasize the watermelon on the words and suggest I incorporate the text on the watermelon and I proceeded on to making some changes.

DOCTOR

As I was very inspired to do something like a top-down flatlay photography for this, I went to do some research on it. As I do not have a stethoscope, I used photoshop and collage style for this.

I did different text by hand and used photoshop to add into my collage.

2D II Project 1 Research

This project was fun for me as I was able to research on my dream jobs which I have been fascinated all along. My main source of inspiration comes mainly from pinterest and tumblr as both sources have a huge datebase of pictures and artist works. I am more of a visual person hence, I have a lot of inspirations photos.

Before I embarked on my project, I researched abit about font types.

1) Serif: Serif fonts have little “feet” or lines attached the ends of their letters. They’re generally thought to look more serious or traditional.

2) Sans-Serif: “Sans-serif” literally means “without serif” — these fonts don’t have the extra lines on the ends of letters. For that reason, they’re generally thought to look more modern and streamlined.

Though this point is often debated, it’s commonly said that serifs make long passages (in print) easier to navigate visually, helping move your eyes along the lines of text. However, because serifs are usually small and thin, they often don’t display as well on pixel-based screens (looking distorted and “noisy” rather than clear and crisp), so many designers favor sans-serif fonts for web use, especially at small sizes.

3) Script: Scripts are what we might think of as cursive- or handwriting-style fonts. They generally have connecting letters. You’ll find that script fonts come in many different styles, from elegant, to fun and casual, to hand-drawn.

4) Decorative / Display: When you hear a font categorized as decorative, display, or novelty, it all means the same thing — that font is meant to get your attention. They’re often more unusual than practical and should only be used in small doses and for a specific effect or purpose.

BARISTA

Finding fonts related to coffee was abit challenging as people seldom relate to coffee or beans regarding fonts and I was able to find much inspiration as seen below.

Hence, I decided to just source anything that I could make out from being barista and collate them together later on.

I was deeply inspired by the milk stains in the coffee.

FLORIST

I really like the aesthetic of flowers hence I decided to go forth with florist as my job. My first thought for florist was to paste flowers on my work. Hence, I did some research regarding and surrounding flowers.

Some types using flowers

DOCTOR

Being a doctor is my lifelong aspiration hence I decided to go with being a doctor as my job.

I found this interesting overlay and it gives me an idea to do a layout print.

Watermelon Farmer

I really like watermelon hence I decided to go with a quirky job like watermelon farmer.

PLANT SCULPTURE ARTIST

From a florist, I developed the idea into a less generic job like plant sculpture artist.

SEMIOTIC SIGNS, SYMBOLS & WAYS OF MEANING

Group 1- LEE YI JIE & TAN JIAO JUN

WHAT IS SEMIOTICS?

While the word, ” SEMIOTICS”, can be quite distant to many of us, it is actually ubiquitous in our everyday lives. Signs like traffic lights, toilet icon and even fast food icons like the colonel sander a.k.a white beard man from kfc, these are all part of what we call semiotics.

So what actually is semiotics?

It is the study of signs.
It is both the theory and analysis of signs and
signifying practices.
It is the study of meaning-making and meaningful communication.

Formation of Meaning

Cultural and personal experience will curate how people first interpret the sign. It helps us to understand that reality depends not only on the intentions we put into our work but also the interpretation of the people who experience our work. These meanings are actively created, according to a complex interplay of systems and rules of which we are normally unaware.

For example, in this Panzani advertisement, our first impression screams Italian.Colours used are red, white and green which can be related immediately to the Italy flag. However, on the other hand, the texts are in French. Viewers with French background will understand that this is a French company marketing their Italian product. Whereas, for non-French or people who do not understand French, their first interpretation will be an Italian company selling Italian perishable.

Signified and Signifier

To further elaborate on what is signified and signifier, here’s an example below.

Here, the McDonald’s iconic yellow M is the signified whereby we can relate to McDonald’s immediately when we see it and the slogan, “i’m lovin’ it”, which is their tagline is the signifier where people link easily to the famous fast food chain.

In certain cases, the signifier have more than one signified meaning like the examples above.

Connotation and Denotation

Connotation and Denotation are two principal methods of describing the sign.

Icon, Symbols and Index

A signifier can also be explained through 3 elements:

Icon
Symbols
Index

Symbols are learnt culturally, which explains why culture can develop unique traits.

A common example of a symbol is the male and female icons representing the presence of toilet facilities. These icons have become symbols because it takes on extra meaning.

The smoke cannot exist without fire. The signifier is the smoke, which leads to the signified being a fire.

Syntagm and Paradigm

A signified can be explained or described using the syntagm and paradigm framework as explained below.

RECAP

Life Examples of Semiotics

Semiotics in Advertising

The signifier is represented by a public bus as well as a woman holding on to hand rails that are shaped like hands. There are also words, “WHOSE HAND ARE YOU HOLDING?”, which adds to the signifier.

What is signified to you?

Perhaps the feeling that it can be dirty, unhygienic and full of germs.

Semiotics in Architecture

Church being the signifier, it inspires people with the concept of god. The concept of god is also represented by the sign or symbol of the crucifix. Certain architectural elements like the crucifix are expected from a church of any architectural style. The signified meaning of the church is a place for pilgrimage.

Semiotics in Photography

Signified:

Text anchors the image and sets the narrative of the scene.

Signifier:

Red lips connotes passion.

Black background connotes meanings like mystery, forbidden and power.

Tattoo suggests the whole motion of danger and forbidden.

References

Boulton, Mark. “Mark Boulton.” Icons, Symbols and a Semiotic Web | Journal | The Personal Disquiet of Mark Boulton. Accessed January 15, 2017. https://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/icons-symbols-and-a-semiotic-web.

Hodge, By Challis. “Semiotics: A Primer for Designers.” Boxes and Arrows. May 08, 2014. Accessed January 15, 2017. http://boxesandarrows.com/semiotics-a-primer-for-designers/.

“Min’s fyp process.” Mins fyp process. Accessed January 15, 2017. https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/mwang6/tag/semiotics/.

“Semiotics.” Wikipedia. Accessed January 15, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics.

Ajamesjr. “Semiotics of Architecture.” ARC 612. October 25, 2012. Accessed January 15, 2017. https://arc612.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/semiotics-of-architecture/.