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For now, I want to develop my skills even further with new materials, try to master the Adobe programs, explore more about the movement and the future of design so I can set my own path and hopefully, that path will contribute to the development of the design world.

The base at the bottom of the portrait are tracks that allow you to slide each frame to left or right so you can have a look and read them individually. Each layer also has 1 piece of Ms. Sally’s portrait, aligning all the layer results in the whole portrait.

It took quite a while for her to response since she was really busy all the time taking care of her kids, studying,... Fortunately, I was able to receive the answers soon enough for me to prepare my presentation.

I absolutely love this Image and Identity workshop for 2 reasons: I get to work with my favourite material (paper) and tool (scalpel), it is exciting to design with materials once in a while rather than working with computer all the time, and I love playing with words/letters and using them to express something. Word is a powerful tools to explain a concept or thought but this assignment took a step further and challenged us to use the words to express their own meanings and personalities through their shapes, colours, textures as well as the characteristics of the materials that we were using. My biggest challenge was to try to choose the right elements, balance, combine them harmoniously into one final piece and try NOT to repeat the word twice. My final submission is the phrase “BREAK FREE” (inspired by the song I wan to break free (1984) - Queen) with 4 different approaches.

Looking back, not sure if I was actually trying to find letterforms or just cut randomly. I just followed the lines that I found interesting instead of thinking about a letter first and trying to make it. I also preferred using 2 colours for the background instead of one to bring in some contrast and also the composition of the coloured papers also emphasised the shapes and characteristics of the letters.

In my opinion, this workshop proves that letters are just as structural as everything we see in our life (buildings in this case, which are probably what we think of first when seeing the word structure). They are not just random symbols or signs but they are designed and created with logical reasons, measurements, that’s why we were able to recognise and tease out their shapes even in different environments or perspectives.

How does arranging an exhibition change the audiences’ experience? Will it enhance the works or will it cause distraction? Is it better to organise everything normally so that the audiences can focus on the contents of a work alone?

“What is this Bauhaus, anyway?” is probably my favourite lecture so far. I was truly impressed by how innovative they structured their courses and it also made perfect sense if we link back to week 2 lecture and workshop. Our ancestors were able to create those clay-tablets because they developed a skill set through experiencing and working with raw material (clay) constantly to provide for their daily life, later on, they applied those skills in order to create the clay-tablets and satisfied their need to communicate. The apprentices and students at Bauhaus were allowed to experience the same process through working and playing with raw materials at their will so that they could develop their own unique skills and techniques based on what they practiced in the courses. Finally, they could confidently start to design since they had already known what they were capable of and understood how to manipulate the materials to achieve their goals. Nowadays, we also go through that process but programs like Illustrator or Photoshop has replaced raw materials, but is that all we need? Is crafting and handmade skills are slowly fading away in the design world?

Again, working with materials to form numbers which reminds me of “My question is” project but in this one, I tried to change and manipulate the natural shape of the vegetable in order to create a theme, which is similar to a machine system that is connected together, throughout the design. Furthermore, I tried to explore between allowing the vegetables’ natural shape to do the job and shaping them exactly how I imagined because I wanted my design to achieve what I planned but the elements should also remain recognisable as vegetables.    

Big thanks to my 3 years old nephew for lending e his lego giraffe and wooden train tracks. 

We came a long way, some of the symbols were changed significantly, some of them were even developed into several letters but others suddenly stopped, I wonder why? Is it because they were unsuitable for the environment of communication?

This small exercise combines with the lecture also help answer the question “What is design made of?”, in my opinion, design is made of what we see, feel and work with every day, our ancestors and clay are the perfect example for what I mean, clay probably was used to make furniture (pots, containers,...) back in the day and since they practiced with this material constantly as their daily routine, they understood clearly how it worked and reacted so once they had satisfied their materialistic needs, they moved on to a higher desire, which is communicating, using the same material but with great understanding and experience, they were able to elevate its use and achieve their goal. 

Which version is better? What do my materials say about me? What other words can I create with these? How can I improve it?

For me, monochromatic is the most challenging section!

Fabric stores are gold mines for seekers who are looking for analogous colours, everything is all set up and well-organised, every colour has its own section or shelf. So lucky!

The last photo is probably my favourite photo because beside the powerful contrast between green and red of the centre of each flowers and the outer petals, the transition of colours among the middle layers of the flowers really bring in a harmonious feeling to the whole design, combine and ease the strong contrast between two colours.