DESIGN PRINCIPLE

DESIGN PRINCIPLE - EXERCISES & PROJECTS

26/08/19 -25/11/19 (Week 1 - Week 14)
Chan Jing Wen (0340480)
Design Principle
Exercises & Projects

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Final Project - Cultural Relationship
21/10/19 - 18/11/19 (Week 9 - Week 13)

Week 9 (21/10/19)
Alongside our self portrait,  Ms Sherry and Dr Jinchi briefed us on our final project. For our final project, we will also have to explore places in Kuala Lumpur or Selangor to gather information to find our relationship with culture and create a final composition that presents it.

Any materials can be used and our canvas should be A4 (or nothing bigger than A3). It should include the design principles that we've learned in the entire semester.

At the end, we need to write a 150-200 word description on our composition.

After the briefing, I decided that I wanted to do something related to food since it represents Malaysia's diversity at its finest.

Week 12 (11/11/19)
I only started planning after the submission of my Project 1. Since I knew I wanted to do something related to food, I narrowed it down to hawker food since hawker centers are one of the places which has a variety of food from different culture. Hawker centers are always filled with people from different races, eating different kinds of food. Therefore, I think this is a very important culture in Malaysia.

With this in mind, I went online to do some research. I focused on the history of hawker culture and also the types of food do people usually eat at hawker centers.

Based on the research, I roughly understood that the hawker culture actually started before British conquered Malaya. Back then, hawker was mainly done by the unemployed and unskilled people of Malaya and also immigrants. These people didn't only trade or sell food, they sell basically anything they liked. Since my topic is on hawker food, I'll only explain about what I've learn about hawker food from the websites, but there is more to just hawker food in the website linked.

Since restaurant meals were expensive, hawker food were a cheaper alternative for people (mainly workers). They would get their meals there and continue working after that. This hawker culture weren't just in stores (like how we have today), they would sell their food on the street (which is still common in some parts of Malaysia), and some even travel to your doorsteps to bring you food.

The number of hawkers actually increased during the Great Depression. As we all may know, during this economical crisis, many people among the world lost their job, this includes the people of Malaya.

The Malays mostly sell food such as satay, mee rebus, which are currently still one of Malaysia's favourite hawker food; the Indians sold mee goreng, rojak, which are still popular in Mamak stores and Hawker Centres; the Chinese on the other hand sold practically anything they could sell, they didn't only sell food. Relating to our recent culture, I think this is why a variety of Chinese food is widely found at Hawker Centres because they practically sell anything they can.

Fun Fact : Hawker culture was actually considered something in the black market during the Second World War! This was because Japan limited the amount of rice and other materials each household could own. This meant that trading food was illegal.

After doing the research, I came up with the drafts :

Figure 11.1 Draft Sketch

I listed down all the possible Hawker Food that I could insert in my drawings.

I also went to hawker centre(s) during my free time. Here are some photos I took when I was there :

Figure 11.2 Hawker Centre @ Ara Damansara

I went to a hawker centre near my house during lunch time. A lot of office workers were also on their lunch break, so it was really packed. I actually noticed something that I've never really thought about previously. Hawker stalls usually all use different coloured plates and bowls. At first I just thought it was for standardization, but somehow I just found out the actual reason of it myself while staring at everyone eating. It's actually because the hawker stall owners don't wash their own plates themselves, there's usually a person in charge of washing everything. So, to differentiate which plate belongs to which stall, they use different colours! I don't know why I've never thought of that although I frequently eat hawker food.

Figure 11.3 Hawker Centre @ Ara Damansara

Here is a picture of the owners / workers cooking the food. They usually have small stalls specializing in one type of food. Usually, we just go over to them and tell them our order and where we're seated at. Then, they'll bring the food to our table and we'll pay them on the spot.

Figure 11.4 Hawker Centre @ Ara Damansara

This is the front view of the stalls. This is the stall I got my order from! I noticed that all of the stores have their names in Mandarin and English which made me wonder why.

Figure 11.5 Hawker Centre @ Ara Damansara

People usually eat and leave the plates on the table so the cleaners will take the plates and only then will they return it to the stall owners. After noticing this little secret, I think this is a good way to know what are the popular orders in the hawker centre. Since every stall has their own colour, it'll definitely be useful when I go to a new place and don't know what to order since there's just so much good food in Hawker Centres!

Figure 11.6 Char Kuay Teoh

I went there with my aunt and she ordered Char Kuay Teoh. This is a signature dish in Penang, but it's also very popular all over Malaysia. Although it looks like a small portion, it's actually a lot!

Figure 11.7 Curry Mee

I ordered curry mee but I changed the mee to hor fun and mihun because I'm slightly allergic to yellow mee. They actually come with roasted pork but I'm not a big fan of it so I changed to chicken.

Figure 11.8 Hawker Centre @ Aman Suria

Regarding to why hawker centres like naming their stalls in Mandarin and English, I finally understood why. First of all, most of the people who come to hawker centres are actually Chinese. But after thinking it through, it's also related to the population in the area. Since I went to hawker centres at Ara Damansara and Aman Suria, which are highly populated by Chinese, their main target audience is Chinese. Therefore, they include Chinese translation in their stall names.

Also, since Chinese use a lot of pork in different type of dishes, these stores are more likely to attract Chinese. This will mean Malays would less likely visit places like this because it's not halal. Even if some shops do not sell pork, the people who wash the dishes wash all of the dishes (meaning the ones which served pork also) together. They might not prefer to eat here compared to other halal places. But it's also a personal choice so it really depends on them.

However, there are a lot of Hawker Centres which are halal. For example, the Rock Café @ Subang Jaya, just outside Sunway University is a halal hawker centre. This is because it's a place where students like to visit. This means it's better to be Muslim friendly so everyone can enjoy their food there! Another thing is since students are the main audience, there are actually a larger variety of food there. They provide Korean food, Taiwanese food, Thai food, and many more.

Therefore, my conclusion is that the type of food sold at one hawker centre varies with another due to the target audience of that area, which affects the customer population.

Figure 11.9 Chicken Rice

Chicken rice is always my go to hawker food! I ordered this from one of the stalls at Aman Suria, and it's really good. :) My family would always tapao (takeaway) the chicken rice from here if we were too lazy to eat outside.

Figure 11.10 Nasi Lemak

This was my mom's order. Nasi Lemak is a very popular Malay dish and I think it's really one of the significant dishes that represents Malaysia! Fun fact : As a Malaysian, I do not really fancy Nasi Lemak. This is because I don't like ikan bilis (the small little fishes) , roasted peanuts, and fried food. I also can't really take sambal since I can't take spicy food (even if I do like it) and I'm allergic to eggs. So, you can see why I don't enjoy Nasi Lemak. But my mom enjoys it a lot!

Figure 11.11 Drinks

Usually we'll order a drink at hawker centres because I find it rude to not. Drinks are sold by the people in charge of the entire store, meaning it's separated from the food stalls. Sometimes, if no one on the table orders a drink, the people will obviously get angry at us. So, I just order a drink every time although I'm not a person to order drinks which eating.

Figure 11.12 Wanton Mee (without wanton??)

We always takeaway hawker food. This was my grandmother's order. This is actually wanton mee but I don't know where the wanton went.

Figure 11.13 Chee Cheong Fun

We also bought chee cheong fun for my grandfather. This and chicken rice was actually my everyday meal back in college. Me and my friends would always get them so we basically ate it once or twice a week.

Figure 11.14 Roti Canai

In addition, we went out to a mamak at Aman Suria that night to get roti canai. I know it's very unhealthy to get food past 11pm but it's kind of a thing that my family likes to do. Roti Canai is a very popular dish in mamak. It's very cheap but tasty! The sambal aren't actually spicy, it's more on the sweeter side.

Figure 11.15 Maggie Goreng

We also enjoy their Maggie Goreng with a fried egg. Although Maggie is an instant food and practically anyone can cook it at home, Mamak Maggie definitely taste better than homecooked Maggie. (At least for me.)

And that basically sums up my food hunt!

Moving on to the project itself, I created 3 layouts based on my draft. I also looked on Pinterest to get some inspiration on how I could really work it based on the drafts that I've created.

Figure 11.16 Inspiration 01

Figure 11.17 Inspiration 02

Figure 11.18 Inspiration 03

Figure 11.19 Inspiration 04

Figure 11.20 Inspiration 05

Figure 11.21 Inspiration 06

Figure 11.22 Inspiration 07

Figure 11.23 Inspiration 08

Figure 11.24 Inspiration 09

Figure 11.25 Inspiration 10

Below are the layouts :

Figure 11.26 Menu Layout

Figure 11.27 Table of food

Figure 11.28 25 Popular Food

After finishing these 3 drafts, I decided to do the second one. I actually liked the third one too, but I started the project late so I wasn't so sure if I could finish it on time. However, if I ever have time, I would like to explore it even if it's not for this project.

For the sketching of the food, I referred to the pictures I've taken at the hawker centres and also some online. Here are the remaining references that I used to help me sketch :

Figure 11.29 Kaya Toast 01

Figure 11.30 Kaya Toast 02

Figure 11.31 Rojak 01

Figure 11.32 Rojak 02

Since I'm quite familiar with hawker food, I didn't really reference the photos too much. It was more to a reminder of what I should add in.

Figure 11.33 Sketched Food

 This is how the food looked like after sketching them into the bowls.

Figure 11.32 Colouring of rojak

I decided to colour the rojak first.

Figure 11.33 Colouring of kaya toast and egg

I then moved on to the kaya toast and soft boiled egg. This was when I really regretted drawing the eggs like that because somehow I decided to draw the eggs standing (?) Like, eggs can't stand.

Figure 11.34 Colouring of Chicken Rice

Never the less, I just let the egg be and focused on other parts of the drawing. I coloured the rice very light at first because I wasn't really sure how to colour rice.

Figure 11.35 Coloured Chicken Rice

In the end, I manage to make the chicken rice look like chicken rice and I'm actually really proud of it. I also coloured the chilli and the soup that always come with the chicken rice.

Figure 11.36 Colouring of Curry Mee and drinks

I continued colouring the drinks first, then the curry mee. For the drinks, I coloured one as an iced kopi and the other as a cup of barley with blue pea flowers. For the iced kopi, I referred to the photo I took at the hawker centre because I didn't know how to paint ice. For the blue pea flower barley, a little bit of the back story is that there's a chicken rice shop in Subang Jaya which I really enjoy that sells this drink. I was really amazed by the blue colour but to be honest it's just barley coloured with natural food colouring.

Figure 11.37 Colouring of Char Kuay Teoh

This is the last dish! Don't know why, I really like how I coloured the soup spoon. :)

Figure 11.38 Final step

The final step was to colour the table! I also added a bit of the outlines and touch up some places. Overall, I think it's quite new for me because I don't use water colour that often and it's not a medium I'm confident with. However, I chose to use water colour also because I didn't want to do it digitally since my computer broke down a week ago and all my files were lost (including final projects of other subjects) so I was a little traumatized by it.

FINAL OUTCOME AND DESCRIPTION

Figure 11.39 Final Outcome

For me, the Malaysian culture I can relate to the most would be hawker culture, specifically hawker food. Growing up, I didn't really enjoy eating. Two years ago, I finally understood why after going on several medical check ups because my stomach / intestines / idk wasn't doing well. Eventually, the main reason of me having a love-hate relationship with food was that I was allergic to more than 90 types of food, and there might be more considering I didn't check for some food. However, knowing that I can potentially die from eating didn't really stop me from eating because I had to survive and also because there are things that I enjoy eating.

I actually really enjoy hawker food and I think the main reason for it is because they sell more Asian food. I don't just enjoy hawker food because I'm a Malaysian / Asian, it's also because my stomach reacts more to Western food than Asian food. Therefore, I thought that I would do hawker food since it's something that keeps me alive (since we need nutrition to survive) and it makes me feel safe and homely in a way.

Initially, I wanted to capture how hawker food can represent the diversity in Malaysia, but I quickly notice that the hawker centres around me were more targeted to the Chinese community. My final piece is also highly influence by it because in the end it's supposed to be my relationship with culture and this is what I'm more exposed to so I didn't want to just introduce a new concept into it when it's actually not there yet. I just wanted to capture it as how it is. However, this doesn't mean that I'm unaware of the culture out there, which is also why the image is cropped. You can see that there is more to the table, the dishes don't actually all fit into the frame. This is because I wanted to represent that this is what I'm exposed to now, but there's more to explore outside what I'm seeing.

I also focused on harmony whereby the plates are all circular but the food served are all different because hawker centres are really diverse in the dishes they provide but it all goes down to the same spirit where the uncles and aunties are just providing us good food for a living. In the end, we're all the same, we eat to live while also live to eat.

The perspective of this "photo" is from a bird's eye view because I really wanted to showcase to food inside the bowl since they are the main subject. It's also how we actually look at our dishes while we're eating, which is why I chose this perspective over a side angle that would focus more on the bowl and maybe the surroundings.

I also chose to colour it in water colour mainly because I wanted it to look more warm and closer to reality than having an illustrated flat look, but (lowkey) also because my computer broke down. Although I wasn't really confident in water colour, especially water colouring food because I've never really drawn food in the past, I really enjoyed it! I think the final outcome did achieve what I expected even if there are still a lot that I can improve on.

In conclusion, this final project was really insightful and fun because I actually learned more about hawker culture and worked on something that I wasn't entirely comfortable with!

Feedback :
Ms Sherry said she liked how I used water colour and that it's fun knowing more about hawker culture. My classmates also liked my piece. :) I'm happy that people can recognize the dishes (except the egg).

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Project 1 - Self Portrait
21/10/19 - 11/11/19 (Week 9 - Week 12)

Week 9 (21/10/19)
This week, Ms Sherry and Dr Jinchi briefed us on our project. For this project, we have to explore different spots in either Kuala Lumpur or Selangor to gather information on the visual, sound, smell, background story, and more about that spot and relate it back to our self-portrait. For the self-portrait, we should give thoughts on who we are as a person, how has the culture affected us, how people see us and how we see ourselves.

We can use any materials (recommended the materials that we've already explored throughout the semester. It should be A4 size. A3 is acceptable, something 3D is also acceptable. It should be able to show the design principles that we're explored throughout the semester also.

At the end, we should include a 150-200 word description on our piece.

Once I received the project, I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do but I had this idea of collecting people's opinions on me since we could try including how people see us as an individual. Therefore, I sent out a google form :) to my friends and family.

Figure 10.1 Message sent to my friends and family

Figure 10.2 Only one question because I didn't want to limit their creativity

I only sent it to people I'm closer with because I feel like these people are the ones that impacted my life the most. After receiving 35 responses, I noticed that not all of them were really useful because most didn't really answer me seriously. :) Some of them answered me truthfully while most of them answered me things like "human", "I see you with eyes", "I don't see you now", and more weird answers. However, I did have a good laugh and some were really heart-warming. In conclusion, I feel that most of them are actually really comfortable with me, thus them giving me weird response (or maybe I'm just hallucinating that I have supportive friends).

Through this little survey, I actually feel really grateful for these people in my lives so I had the thought of trying to incorporate them in my project in some way. This is because I think the person I am now is really affected by them and my surroundings. Without their influence, I wouldn't be me. Therefore, my rough idea was to use some of the useful text provided by my friends. Although I said most of them answered weird answers, most of them wrote A LOT when they answered seriously or answered twice (with actual useful answers) so I had a handful of descriptions that I could actually include.

For the places, I want to try relating it to the 3 main schools I've been at throughout my entire life which are : SJK(C) Damansara, SM Sri KDU, and Sunway College.

Week 10 (28/10/19)
I officially started planning during this week because I had a lot of other assignments due the previous week. During the start of the semester, I actually wanted to do something related to paper cutting or quilling for any of my work so I decided to include it to this specific project.

There's a lot of ways to paper cutting so I looked for inspiration on Pinterest to find the ones that I think would suit my idea well.

Figure 10.3 Inspiration #1

Figure 10.4 Inspiration #2

Figure 10.5 Inspiration #3

Figure 10.6 Inspiration #4

Below is my idea for the project :

Figure 10.7 Draft of idea

My idea is to include 3 different layers behind the frame. Basically, from the front you will be able to see all of the layers stacked together. The front layer will be about Sunway College, the colour theme will be Yellow; the following layer will be on SM Sri KDU, colour theme will be Blue; the last layer will be on SJK(C) Damansara; colour theme will be Orange.

I couldn't go back to my primary and secondary school (SJK(C)Damansara and SM Sri KDU) because they said "NO VISITORS ALLOWED" unless a teacher in school request for my arrival and that it receives the approval of the principal. So, I decided to include some images on the web that showcases the environment of the schools.

Figure 10.8 SJK(C)Damansara Logo

Figure 10.9 SJK(C)Damansara Main Gate

In the past, this was where my parents would drop me off to school.

Figure 10.10 "Multipurpose Hall"

This is actually open air. Usually we would have to gather at this area during assembly. Students would also play volleyball, daibolo, and more here. The colourful clothing that the students are wearing in this picture is actually their sports attire. It's actually different from ours back then. Lowkey think that the new design is ugly and ours were better.
  

Figure 10.11 Gate 5

Besides the previous entrance, we also have another entrance here. This is the closest to our cafeteria, but it's relatively smaller than the previous one. I remembered coming back here once two years after graduation. Don't know why, but I feel like the ceilings became shorter (or maybe I just grew taller).

As you can see, there's a lot of orange in the school, which is why I think orange represents this place.

Figure 10.12 KDU Logo

Figure 10.13 Sri KDU International School and the swimming pool

Sri KDU Secondary School (my school), Sri KDU Primary School, and Sri KDU International School is actually all located at the same place although we have different buildings and facilities. However, 3 of the schools shared the swimming pool, and we usually have swimming classes twice a week.

Figure 10.14 KDU Main Entrance

This is our main entrance of KDU. Since I don't have an approval letter, I couldn't go beyond that "line". The security guard there wouldn't let me in. :)

Figure 10.15 Sri KDU Uniform

Our school uniforms are all blue. The different shades of blue differentiates which school we're from. The brightest (and ugliest) uniform is my uniform.

Figure 10.16 Classroom

There are actually different types of tables for different classrooms, but most of them are in blue. Our notice boards were also blue in colour. I couldn't find a photo for it, but they're usually dark blue and are hexagons. I used to be the notice board manager, which meant I had to update notices onto the board as well as decorate the board.

 As the pictures suggest, there are a lot of blue ton stuff inside KDU. Therefore, I will use blue to represent the layer for KDU in my composition.

For Sunway College, I managed to go back. So, these are the photos taken :

Figure 10.17 Admin Office

Figure 10.18 Study Centre

Figure 10.19 Brochure

Figure 10.20 Escalators near Boulevard

As there are a lot of yellows incorporated in Sunway College's interior, I chose yellow to represent Sunway College.

The colours also represented the main emotions I had during my time at these schools. Those emotions being cheerful for orange (SJK(C)Damansara), sad for blue (KDU), and happy for yellow (Sunway).

For each layer, I will include the personalities that my friends commented on and also some personalities that I think I have during the respective years I spent in the schools. I will also include some memorable events, food, and people to create the silhouette.

I decided that each layers should be detachable so it can be seen in detail but the entire composition will be seen through the front.

Week 11 (04/11/19)
I showed my draft to Ms Sherry and she said that the idea was fine and that she would like to see my final composition since it sound interesting. I was really happy that she approved my idea since I was a bit worried that the places I chose to relate to would be rejected. I reconfirmed with Dr. Jinchi if I had to fill up the indemnity form and she said that I have to for all 3 places.

Referring to the google forms, memories of my school days, and also how I see myself, I wrote down the words I would want to include in every layer.

Figure 10.21 Text to include

I then looked for photos I could use to create the silhouettes of my layers. In the end, I selected these 3 photos :

Figure 10.22 Photo for Orange Layer

A fun fact of this photo is that I actually used this for a project when I was in Secondary School. It was also for a self portrait for our art assignment so it's actually quite sentimental to me. Plus it's cute and I was eating ice cream at Disney. :)

Figure 10.23 Photo for Blue Layer

This photo was actually taken not long after I graduated Secondary School. It was taken in Hong Kong. Right after coming back from the trip was my orientation at Sunway College. The reason why I chose this photo was because it kind of symbolizes the transition of me from secondary school to college, which was actually the two year where I changed and learned a lot.

Figure 10.24 Photo for Yellow Layer

Similar as the previous photo, this was a photo taken after college, before university. This was also the photo I used in my portfolio to enter Taylor's. In conclusion, I tried to choose my photos that were somehow relevant to the timelines although it wasn't directly related to the places I chose.

Moving on, I went into Illustrator to plan the layers. My idea was to start by doing the whole layout in Illustrator since it's easier for me to adjust all the words.

Figure 10.25 Screenshot of Process 01

I start by outlining the figure. After that, I removed the picture and added the text into the space that I originally stood at.

Figure 10.26 Screenshot of Process 02

As you can see, each layer is done similarly. The text that I places at the sides are to be fitted into the empty spaces. The text that are currently outside are for the second (blue) layer. I then arranged it into the white space, just as how I arranged the orange text earlier.

Figure 10.27 Screenshot of Process 03

The last layer was actually quite tough because the silhouette is actually relatively smaller when compared to the other two. I had to resize it a lot and also change the position of the hand until I got a better sizing.

Figure 10.28 Screenshot of Process 04

Also, the white space created is actually slightly awkward if I were to follow exactly how the figure shape was; so, I changed the outline of the figure in order for it to fit better with the other layers.

Figure 10.29 Screenshot of Process 05

This is the outcome of the layers when they are all stacked together.

Figure 10.30 Screenshot of Process 06

I then decided that I wanted a thin border since I would eventually put a frame onto the final composition.

Below are the actual layers in JPEG format :

Figure 10.31 Layer 01 - SJK(C)Damansara

Figure 10.32 Layer 02 - SM Sri KDU

Figure 10.33 Layer 03 - Sunway College

Figure 10.34 Layers Stacked

After creating all the layers, I went on to print them out on transparent paper that I bought because I realized that there was no way I could cut the layers out since a lot of text were floating in midair.

Figure 10.35 Transparent Sheet

This was the transparent sheet that I found which can be used under a inkjet printer.

Figure 10.36 Printing

After many failed attempts, I managed to print them out with their base being transparent. However, I soon notice that this wasn't the only problem. As the sheets I'm printing on are actually sticker sheets, I had to paste it on another transparent sheet that isn't sticky. The problem here was that the sheets were too sticky to deal with and I couldn't manage to make it smooth after many attempts. Also, due to the sheets being transparent, the colours were also slightly different. I also noticed that since it's reflective, it will be hard for me to see the background layers. Below are pictures of the problems I faced :

Figure 10.37 Air bubbles, surface not smooth

Figure 10.38 Crumples up easily once I remove to try to restick the sticker

Figure 10.39 Colour not as bright as expected, text not very clear

What was worst was that during this entire week (Week 11), I had problems with my laptop. During the weekends, I sent my laptop for repair because it just stopped working. I'll only get it back during the end of week 12/13 so I couldn't really do much for my projects anymore. So, when I used another PC to try to make amendments, my copied file from my laptop were either corrupted or the layers and alignment were completely altered so I couldn't really use them.

Figure 10.40 Printed on normal paper, ready to cut

However, I just went along with the original design and printed it out on normal paper. I wanted to cut out all the words manually and then paste it on the transparent sheet since the colour will be sharper and the paper would be smoother.

Figure 10.41 Cutted out piece

I soon realize that this plan would not work either because the transparent sheet would still make the other sheet blurry because it's reflective. Furthermore, the glue would be really obvious since a lot of the text and lines were really thin, and it would also look really ugly from the back. It would also be too time consuming and I'll never finish it on time.


I decided that I wouldn't do the paper cut out because I don't really have any other methods in mind. Since I wasn't really satisfied with the final outcome (I felt that it was a bit messy) and that my files were already "destroyed", I redid the layout of the words. One aspect which made it messy was that there were uneven amount of space between all the letters. Some places were cramped whereas some had no words or just one or two words. As it would be hard for me to make it spacious since specific words had to fit at specific places, I decided to change the entire layout and just had the whole spread be filled with words. Since it would look way more congested, I also chose the remove the borders. It would also be fine to remove them since I wouldn't be covering any words with the new layout.

Figure 10.42 Resizing the silhouettes

As above, I actually tried to flip the colours, having the colour that would represent the layer be the colour of the silhouette. However, I quickly realize that the colours of the text would be really awkward so I changes it back to having the colour that would represent the time period as the background of the silhouette.

After that, I insert all the words into their respective places. I noticed that the original amount of words I had wasn't enough to fill the space so I added in more text. Most of the new text were events and things that happened during those time periods and also iconic phrases that people (in the respective time period) have said. I also added minor illustrations to make it slightly interesting.

Figure 10.43 Final Outcome

Description :
People are more than just what we see from the outside. Our stories are what make us who we are. Upon receiving this project, I wanted the self portrait to show how humans have different sides. Sides that we’re known for, unseen one, and even the forgotten ones.

For this project, I asked 29 people that played a significant role in my life to state their opinions on me anonymously (through google form). Although most of them answered very stupid responses at the beginning, they also replied a serious one at the end. Some responses were expected while some were quite shocking. I felt really grateful for receiving all those comments, which also made me want to include them into it. Their responses also helped me think about how I see myself and really think about who I've become now. In the end, I decided that I would like to add all these descriptions of myself from people, and also my own. This is why the design principle I mainly used in this composition is Text.

My concept of this composition is that the words in the middle of the silhouette describes the person I was then. As I grow, certain things remain but some leave or new things are added. Therefore, you can see that the bigger silhouette contains the smaller one in it because the past is what makes the present. It will always be a part of myself. I also added small bits of memories in it which includes the food I would always eat during school days, iconic phrases that I’ve heard throughout the whole school life, and also the people that help create those memories because they are the reason for who I am today.

The colours are also a representation of the school and overall emotion I felt in school. The colours that would best represent the respective schools are orange for SJK(C)Damansara (primary school), blue for SM Sri KDU (secondary school), and yellow for Sunway College (college) simply because of the amount of that specific colour they use in the school’s architecture, branding and marketing. Relating to emotions, orange represents fun and cheerful, which shows that I actually had fun as a child since life wasn’t so stressful then; blue represents sadness and depressed, which reflects how I really suffered mentally and emotionally during my years in secondary school; and lastly yellow represents happiness, which signifies me finally finding peace with myself and actually becoming happier.  I also chose to put the colours that represented the time period as the background instead of inside the silhouette since it represents me bringing those emotions into the new phase although the memories stay in the past.

Feedback :
After the second attempt, I feel like it's better than the first although it's still not the best but I decided to show it to Ms Sherry and Dr Jinchi in class for feedback. They commented that it was thoughtful and interesting. Ms Sherry said that the braid for the largest silhouette definitely saved the outline of the silhouette. I did ask if I could redo my self portrait, but Dr Jinchi said that this was fine, and that I should focus on my final project. Some of my classmates liked my final composition. They say it's creative and nice.

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Ilham Gallery Visit
24/10/19 (Week 9)

Me and my friends took the LRT to Ilham Gallery. It took us more than an hour to reach the gallery.

Overall, I think it was a really interesting visit. Usually, I don't really get to go for any gallery visits or even visit Kuala Lumpur because I always chill around my housing area. I'm really glad that we got this opportunity to see artwork from various artist, especially South East Asian artist.

Initially, I thought that the artwork would mostly be paintings and photography. However, there were a lot of mediums represented in the gallery. It was a mixture of 2D and 3D artwork. Below are some photos I took at the gallery :

Figure 9.1 "A Small Town at the Turn of the Century" by Simryn Gill

Figure 9.2 Talisma Dress by Foo May Lyn

Figure 9.3 Close up of the dress

Figure 9.4 Untitle by Sopheap Pich

Figure 9.5 "Pink Man in Paradise" by Manit Sriwanichpoom

Figure 9.6 "House" and "Knowledge" by Tawatchai Puntusawasdi

After walking around the fifth floor, we went over to the third floor for photography.

Figure 9.7 A set of portraits by various photographers

For some reason, I liked the fifth floor more than the third floor. Maybe it was because of the variety that they had at the fifth floor. However, the set of photography below really caught my eye :

Figure 9.8 "Goyo" and "Holy Night Girl" by Tim Franco

This portrait shows a part of a culture in Korea. Tattoos are technically illegal under Korean laws, but the girls in the picture have their bodies covered in tattoos. Since the photo is black and white, it gives me a rebellious vibes and it feels like the two girls in the photo have an interesting background story.

In the end, we visited the souvenir shop. The things there were really really beautiful but I only got one thing because the things there were a bit pricey and I wasn't expecting myself to get something in the beginning. The thing that I bought was :

Figure 9.9 Souvenir

I couldn't resist buying it because I really like cats and it's so cute that the cats are playing a Malay traditional game (congkak) while wearing "traditional" clothing. There's also rambutans at the back!

After returning, I went through all of my photos and data I collected to decide how I would write my paper. Based on the art pieces, I chose 3 different pieces that shows 3 different design principle to do further research on.



This is the paper I submitted based on the visit and further research. And that basically sums up my visit to Ilham Gallery.

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Lecture 8 : Symbolism, Image, Words
21/10/19 (Week 9)

A Symbol is a mark or sign that indicates or is understood as representing an idea, object or relationship.

There are a few type of symbols :
1. Pictorial Symbols are images, replicas or icons of an original element.

Figure 8.1 Icons of sea creatures

• As above, the sea creatures aren't illustrated exactly as their original self. These are just simple illustrations/replicas or the original species to symbolize the original species.

2. Functional Symbols can represent activities that are taking place.

Figure 8.2 Icons of sports

• Each symbol here represents a sport. 
• An example of using these symbols can be when we use these symbols to signify sport complexes. If we use a swimming symbol, people will understand that the function of that specific sport complex is for swimming as the symbol functions as an indicator.

 3. Conceptual Symbols are used to represent a feature.

Figure 8.3 An icon that represents eating

•  As the above example, the fork and knife can be used to represent restaurants/any place that you're able to grab food. If we think about it closely, it is not necessarily that we must eat with a fork and knife, we can use other cutlery or even eat with our bare hands depending on the food of choice. However, this symbol can still be understood as it is because we related these them with eating. Therefore, the icon is actually based on the concept of eating in stead of the exact representation of eating.

4. Conventional Symbols do not have any direct relationship with the element/function it is representing.

Figure 8.4 "Pi"

• "Pi" is the symbol we use to represent the fraction 22/7 (which is 3.14159...). 
• Unlike conceptual symbol where the symbol is still connected to the functionality of the element/activity, conventional symbol is just something someone created through their imagination and force a relation onto the element they wish to represent.
• As above, we will never relate "Pi" and the number 3.14159 if we have never learned about it. 
• Conventional Symbols are just used for conventional purpose so we people can remember something or be reminded of something without having to express it in detail.

5. Abstract/Geometric Symbols are shapes used to represent a certain feature.

Figure 8.5 Musical annotations and symbols

• Musical symbols are basically shapes that are used to represent a certain feature in a piece.

Image is a representation of the external form of something in art form. There are a few ways to make an image visually more interesting :
1. Blur

Figure 8.6 Blurring a specific part of a photo creates focus

•  For the top image, we can see that the focus is on the car.
• For the bottom image, the car is blurred so our focus shifts to the buildings.

Figure 8.7 Blurring effect creates a sense of foreground and background

•  Because the whole view is blurred and the water droplets are clearer in our eyes, we understand that there's a glass between the whole scene and the camera.

Figure 8.8 Blurring the whole image makes it mysterious

•  We can see nothing clearly in this photo but we can imagine night lights and cars. 

2. Black and white

Figure 8.9 B&W Illustration

Figure 8.10 B&W Photography

Figure 8.11 Light with a B&W filter

• Black and white are the most obvious contrasting colours. 
• With a black and white photo, the image might seem simple but the contrast is exaggerated.
• Shadows, concept of light can be exaggerated with the help of a B&W photo.

3. Monochrome

• Monochrome images are less noisy and helps portray a vibe or mood to emphasis the subject and feel of the composition.

Figure 8.12 Greenery

• Adjacent colours help compose a monochrome image.
• As we can see, the photo is very calm and it's less distracting. There's not much noise to it.

Figure 8.13 Colours and their interpretation

•  Colours also help bring out meaning as every colour is interpreted differently.

Figure 8.14 Red

•  As red signifies danger, the photo seems a bit scary and you sense that something bad might happen.

Figure 8.15 Purple

• Purple is a mysterious colour. Although this photo does look a bit scary, but it would be even scarier if it was red. Purple makes it a bit more mysterious and weird.

4. Silhouettes

Figure 8.16 Silhouette of an ant climbing a branch

Figure 8.17 Silhouette of children playing at the sea

Figure 8.18 Silhouette of two people jamming to their guitars as the sun sets

• Silhouettes might make us neglect the details of the original element but it emphasis on the overall movement and composition.
• It also creates a contrast between the background and the silhouette itself because one has more rhythm and one is more subtle in colour.

5. Perspective

• Since we've actually discussed a lot about perspective in previous topics, I wanted to show more on how different perspectives can portray different meanings.

Figure 8.19 Photo taken from a high angle

Figure 8.20 Photo taken from a low angle

• A photo taken from a high angle suggest that the subject is weaker whereas a photo taken from a lower angle suggest that the subject is more dominant.

Figure 8.22 Photo taken of a paddy field

Figure 8.22 Another photo taken at a paddy field

• The positioning of the subject also creates different perspective.
• For the top photo, the man is behind the paddy field so our perspective is from the inside of the paddy field. For the second photo, the bee is placed closely to the paddy. This might suggest that the photo wasn't necessarily taken from inside the field. Our perspective is shift to as if we're outside the field.

Words in design is usually how we use typography in our design to further bring out the theme of our composition.

Figure 8.23 Typography used in a poster

Figure 8.24 Fancy Typography

• Typography can suggest the mood of the overall composition.
• As the first example is for a poster for a competition, the typeface used is more simple because it's easier for readers to understand the information inside the poster.
• For the second example, the typography is more fancy which makes it more fun and happy.

Figure 8.25 Words creating the silhouette of Zoro from One Piece

• Here's another example of typography creating an interesting illustration of a character from One Piece.

For the assignment, I initially wanted to create something monochromatic but I wasn't sure what composition I wanted. The reason why I wanted to do something monochromatic was because I feel like every colour has its message and it helps bring out a story.

Figure 8.26 Monochromatic Photo 

For the above photo, it gives out a very feminine vibe because pink is usually associated to femininity. The colour symbolizes femininity.

Figure 8.27  Colours and their meanings

Figure 8.28 Sorrow represents blue

I went along to search for the meaning behind the colours. As you can see, the tone of the picture really sets the mood of the composition. This was when I decided that I wanted to create a board for emotions while relating it to colours.

Figure 8.29 Inspiration

I also thought of including text to emphasis the emotions that I wish to protray. I really like how the words are placed behind the woman to create a background.

After deciding what my composition was, I went on to taking photos. For this assignment, I took photos of my brother (because I didn't want to take photos of me) with different expressions to show different emotions. I also got him to wear the colour that represented the emotion. 

Basically the colours and the emotions they represent are :

Figure 8.30 Red - Anger

Figure 8.31  Orange - Playful

Figure 8.32 Yellow - Happiness

Figure 8.33 Green - Disgusted

Figure 8.34 Blue - Depressed

Figure 8.35 Purple - Mysterious

I started off by laying down the colours so I would know where to place the images.

Figure 8.36 Screenshot of Process #01

Figure 8.37 Screenshot of Process #02

I then remove the white background to show the coloured background by masking the image.

Figure 8.38 Screenshot of Process #03

After that, I added a drop shadow behind the image.

Figure 8.39 Screenshot of Process #04

This is how it looks like after removing the background of all the images and adding drop shadows to them.

Figure 8.40 Screenshot of Process #05

I wasn't really sure about the colours I used for the background so I changed them.

Figure 8.41 Screenshot of Process #06

 Once I was satisfied with the background colour, I added the text behind the images.

Figure 8.42 Screenshot of Process #07

 I felt like it was a bit plain so I tried adding borders to each of the frames.

Figure 8.43 Screenshot of Process #08

 In the end, it felt a bit packed so I placed the borders alternatively.

Figure 8.44 Screenshot of Process #09

Figure 8.45 Final Composition

For this composition, I focused on text and image. I used the text to emphasis the emotions and had images that showed expressions related to the emotion. Although I didn't incorporate symbols in this composition, the colours really helped bring out the emotions as they are symbolizations of the emotions. Overall this is a simple composition but I actually do like it. I think it's a bit comical and fun. I'm also very grateful that my younger brother cooperated with me for this composition!

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Lecture 7 : Rhythm, Movement, Harmony
14/10/19 (Week 8)

Harmony is an effect created by combining similar elements. It can be achieved through adjacent colours, similar shapes or similar texture.

Figure 7.1 Colour Wheel

Adjacent colours are also known as analogous colours. It refers to the use of compatible color combinations that blend well together and are near each other on the color wheel.

Figure 7.2 Composition using adjacent colour to create harmony.

Figure 7.3 Repeating shapes/elements create harmony.

Figure 7.4 The whole composition is filled with the texture of the leaves, creating harmony.

Harmony helps bring unity. However, harmony without contrast may make the composition too monotonous. Therefore, we have two types of harmony. Harmony by unity and harmony by variety. Sometimes, compositions include both of the types.

Figure 7.5 Harmony by variety (contrast between purple and yellow) but also harmony by unity (repeating tree trunks).

Figure 7.6 Harmony by variety (contrast between blue and pink) but also harmony by unity (geometrical shapes).

Figure 7.7 Harmony by unity (use of adjacent colours) and harmony by variety (different textures in furniture) in interior design.

Figure 7.8 Harmony by unity because of the use of adjacent colours.

Rhythm is created by repetition with variation to make it visually interesting.

There are 5 type of rhythm :
1. Alternating Rhythm

Figure 7.9 Alternating Rhythm

• Occurs when positive and negative shapes change design at regular intervals.
• In other words, it is the repetition of two or more elements that are used alternatively with each other.
• It's common in the creation of patterns.

2. Flowing Rhythm

Figure 7.10 The waves created by the boat suggest a flowing rhythm

Figure 7.11 Flowing Rhythm is created by the curves

• Movement is shown through organic shapes.
• Repetition of waves suggest the movement.
• Typically, the elements are slightly different for every interval so the audience can see the rhythm in the movement.

3. Progressive Rhythm

Figure 7.12 Progressive Rhythm

• Uses motifs to show progression.
• We can see the elements change gradually, progressively. (eg : slowly enlarging which makes it seem like the larger ones are progressing towards us)

4. Random Rhythm

Figure 7.13 Random Rhythm

• This rhythm has no distinctive pattern, thus random.
• In my opinion, it's still a rhythm because there are its similarities between the elements but it's not as obvious as of how a pattern is.

5. Regular Rhythm

Figure 7.14 Regular Rhythm

•  It has identical motifs and they basically repeat at the same interval.
• It can be boring if it's overdone.

Movement is the path that leads the eye through the work to a focal point. Movement can be directed through lines, shapes, colours and more.

Figure 7.15 We see the ball bouncing towards the right due to the lines

Figure 7.16 The size of the circles suggest that the circle in the middle is the focal point as the other circles become smaller and smaller as their position to the middle is closer.

Figure 7.17 The triangles create a curve that disappears at the right top corner to suggest movement away from the corner or movement towards the corner.

Note Reference :
https://hhsartdesignprinciples6.weebly.com/rhythm.html
https://sites.google.com/site/learndesigns/alternating-rhythm

I wanted to do something related to movement and/or harmony after listening to the lecture. I went onto Pinterest to get some inspiration.

Figure 7.18 Inspiration #1

Figure 7.19 Inspiration #2

Figure 7.20 Inspiration #3

Below are the materials I brought to class.

Figure 7.21 Materials

I decided my composition based on my inspiration. First of all, I wanted a clean background. I didn't want my whole paper to be covered with stuff. For harmony, I decided to limit myself to a colour palette. I wanted things to flow out from a girls head to kind of signify movement. It would kind of give the feeling that the girl thinks a lot or that she has a lot of ideas. I only found one suitable portrait in all my materials so I just worked with that. I also found this picture of roses created by water colour so I decided that my main colours would be blue and pink.

Figure 7.22 Cut out of the rose.

I cut out my materials using an extractor knife. 

Figure 7.23 Sticking my materials onto the paper

I also used the pattern that I received from my classmate after winning the Kahoot game. I feel like the beige and the rose would match well with the entire composition.

Figure 7.24Zhang Bi Chen (the girl in the composition)

I forgot to take photos as I was cutting the materials so I don't really have a lot of photos in between. However, halfway into the composition, I notice a lot of inspirational essays written in the materials I had. The colour of the headlines fit the colour palette that I was using so I came up with a story for my composition. The portrait I chose was actually a portrait of a singer, Zhang Bi Chen. She first debuted as a K-pop artist to chase her dreams of becoming a singer. As she was a foreigner and her company was a very small one, she faced a lot of difficulties. In the end, the group flopped and she went back to China and participated in The Voice of China. She received a lot of criticism and doubts in her journey. The blue word on top (噪音) actually means "voices, disturbance". This symbolizes how her ability and her experience were doubted by many. But in the end, she manage to win the competition and her career has become more and more successful ever since because she believed in herself and let her dreams bloom (thus the rose). She was a dreamer and because of that she became who she is now. She was able to find herself and what she wanted because she knew what she wanted. The red words "寻找自己的..." can be translated to "Find your ...". I wanted to say that she found her place, her worth and herself by placing that into my composition. The lightbulbs were also very interesting. They have the skies in them and they kind of look like hot air balloons.

Figure 7.25 The final composition

This is the final composition. I managed to finish it in class.

Feedback :
Ms Sherry said that the colours were interesting but she didn't know that there was a story behind it. I feel like I didn't really explain it well but it's also okay because I just came up with it as I was creating the composition hehe. I'm still happy that she thinks it looks decent and that I could make up a story for fun. My classmates also said that they liked the colours of the entire composition.

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Lecture 6 : Dot, Line, Scale, Size
7/10/19 (Week 7)

A Dot is the building block in design. Elements are created by combination of dots.

While we often think that dots are circular in nature, it's actually not necessary. Dots are actually points of focused attention. They work as focal points of our composition.

Figure 6.1 Tension created by different distance and size of dots

When there are 2 dots near each other, the emphasis shifts to the relationships of the dot with it's surrounding space. A structure is form using 2 dots. Tension increase when space decrease. When the dots are relatively close to each other, the space between the dots becomes more important than the 2 dots itself.

If the 2 dots are together, the audience will see it as a single object. We will not see them as 2 distinctive objects.

Figure 6.2 Overlapping dots create foreground and background

It the 2 dots become more closer and starts overlapping, the tension between the space between them decrease and a new tension is created - depth. One dot overlapping the other creates a figure/ground relationship. One dot is now in the foreground and the other is in the background.

Figure 6.3 A sphere created by dots

As we increase the number of dots, the emphasis will be on the structure created by the dots alignment in stead of on every single dot.

Dots can form an endless variety of arrangement and complexity. They then become lines and curves, which later on form shapes, patterns, textures and more.

One type of art style that revolves around dots is Pointillism.

Pointillism is a technique of painting using tiny dots of various pure colours, which become blended in the viewer's eye. It was developed by Seurat with the aim of producing a greater degree of luminosity and brilliance of colour.

Figure 6.4 "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat

 Here are other examples of pointillism.

Figure 6.5 Pointillism #1

Figure 6.6 Pointillism #2

Figure 6.7 Pointillism #3

A Line is a series of points. Dots do not have dimension, but lines are one dimension. The fundamental characteristic of a line is to connect or unite. Dots are about position, line are about movement and direction. Not only do lines connect elements, they also separate spaces and objects.

As lines become thicker, they can be seen as a surface. When there are a few lines with different angles existing in a composition, a perspective is created. The point where both lines intersect is seen as the starting point of the two lines/direction. Multiple joints create a sense of altered direction.
If the angle between the lines is less than 90 degrees, the movement and change in direction is perceived to be rapid.

Figure 6.8 The joints create an end/beginning of the space

Figure 6.9 Perspective created by lines

Rhythm can be created by separating lines. The difference in colour, weight, distance of the lines help create a rhythm. Lines further apart to each other will seem further (blend into the background) compared to lines which are closer to each other since there's less tension when there's a larger distance. It also helps create depth and perspective.

Figure 6.10 Brighter lines seem closer to the audience

Here are some examples of artwork created by lines :

Figure 6.11 A few lines creating a simple line art of a lion

Figure 6.12 Different type of lines used in a composition to represent different elements

Figure 6.13 Distance of lines used to create the shadows on the man's face

Scale and size. Here are 4 common words we use to describe scale.
1. Enormous

Figure 6.14 An Enormous picnic basket with the size of a building

• Very large in size. The element is exaggerated 

2. Oversize

Figure 6.15 An Oversize fork on a tree

• Oversize is something that is larger than it's original standard size.
• The difference between enormous and oversize is enormous is even larger than oversize. Oversize can mean that the object is just slightly bigger than the average size. Enormous is when the object is irrationally larger.

3. Life-size

Figure 6.16 Angelababy and her life-size wax figure

• Life-size is when the size of an object is the same as the original size.

4. Miniature

Figure 6.17 Miniature of the woods in a small box

• An object that is much more smaller than normal.

Note Reference :
https://vanseodesign.com/web-design/points-dots-lines/

After listening to the lecture given by my fellow classmates. I initially wanted to do something related to dots. I wanted to create something inspired by hennas. However, while looking through Pinterest to get some inspiration, I came across a photo that I have pinned previously.

Figure 6.18 Source of Inspiration

I then changed my mind and wanted to do something related to lines. The circle that should be a sun gave me the inspiration to do a sunset scene. So, I sketched all my ideas down on my sketchbook, including the ideas for dots since I wasn't too sure what I would end up going for.

After sketching my ideas down, I chose to use colour paper to create the lines.

Figure 6.19 Sketching the lines to cut

I drew the shapes and then cut it out.

Figure 6.20 Using the ones I cut as a stencil

After cutting it out from one colour paper, I moved on to the second colour to cut out longer lines to create a gradient effect.

Figure 6.21 Sticking the lines onto the paper

At this point, I notice that I might have chosen the wrong materials for this piece. First of all, it was very hard to cut the colour paper since it would go out of shape after you remove it from the original paper. Secondly, since I only had a limited range of colours, the colours that I used/would be using if I continued were not really the colour that I wanted. It would also take up too much time if I were to continue. Since I already dislike this composition, I chose to not waste time and try using another medium to finish this composition.

However, it was already the end of class so I had to go back home to continue doing it. After going back home, I decided to use water colours for this composition.

Figure 6.22 Draft of the composition

I started by sketching where I wanted the mountains and sun to be. While I was sketching, I was worried that it would be too overwhelming if I covered the whole paper with lines. Therefore, I decided to draw clouds. For the clouds, I would leave them white so it can be a place where the viewers can rest their eyes at.

Figure 6.23 Colour Palette

Before actually starting, I tried to create a colour palette so I won't regret putting a colour down after it's too late. I put down some colours to see if they would match and if it was the colour that I wanted.

Figure 6.24 Drawing lines pt.1

I used a brush and slowly draw the lines of the mountains first. I tried to create a gradient with 2 shades of green and also the intensity of the paint.

Figure 6.25 Drawing lines pt.2

Halfway through, I decided to colour the first shade first so the colours for the different mountains won't smudge together.

Figure 6.26 Mountains

After finishing the mountains, I felt like the end and starting of the mountains weren't very clear.

Figure 6.27 Adding the outline

I decided to add a border using the darker shade of green.

Figure 6.28 Mountains with outlines

This is how it looks after adding the border.

Figure 6.29 Creating the sunset

I slowly added the colours for the sunset. Since I wasn't really sure how much lines I would like to add for each colour, I thought of incorporating the science behind colour and wavelength. Since red has the longest wavelength, follower by orange, yellow, blue and purple, I tried to decrease the number of lines accordingly. Although I didn't follow the exact proportion for the wavelengths, I feel like it's still a cool concept (or at least I hope it is).

Figure 6.30 Final composition

This is the final composition. Although I couldn't keep the number of blue lines to be lesser than the number of yellow lines, I feel like it's still okay since after the sunset comes the night. I really like this one more than the colour paper one. The part that I like the most is the clouds. I'm happy that I added them for my second attempt. They turned out better than I expected. However, I don't really like the sunset because it's slanted :(. I didn't really notice it after finishing the composition. Maybe I was too tired after I finished the whole composition haha. I only noticed it when I was uploading the pictures into my blog. Next time, I think it would be better if I use tools to measure the distance and angle for each line.

Feedback :
We didn't have a critic session for this topic but I asked my classmates for feedback. My classmates said it looked cool and they could tell that it was a sunset. But then after awhile, they told me that it also looked a bit like a rainbow. This comment also reminded me about Ms Sherry's comment when I was doing my first attempt in class. She also thought I was creating a rainbow.

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Lecture 5 : Alignment, Hierarchy, Direction, Perspective
30/09/19 (Week 6)

Hierarchy is a method of organizing design elements in order of importance to influence the audience so that their attention is on the element that should be focused on.

Based on my research, there are 12 ways to create Visual Hierarchy.
1. Size and Scale

Figure 5.4 Size and Scale

• Larger objects draw greater attention that smaller ones.
• However, the size of an object can only be shown through scale.
• There must be another object for it to compare, creating a balance and an emphasis on the difference in size.

2. Colour and Contrast

Figure 5.5 Bright vs dull colour

• Bright colours draw greater attention that duller colours.

Figure 5.6 Contrasting colours

• Dramatic contrasting colours (eg : purple and orange) can also emphasis specific elements when compared to using a more similar colour scheme.

Figure 5.7 Colours on different backgrounds

• Warmer colours used on a darker background would seem closer to us than cooler colours. Vice versa, cooler colours appear closer to us when on a lighter background.

3. Typographic Hierarchy

Figure 5.8 Hierarchy in Typography

• Can be created with text of various size, weight and spacing.
• Major headings can be shown by giving them a larger point size.

4. Spacing

Figure 5.9 Spacing

• Space provides emphasis and movement.
• According to the Rule of Space, a design should not be too cluttered. There should be a "white space.
• If the whole image is filled with elements, the entire composition will be too busy.
• Creating space will allow the audience to be able to focus more on a specific element.

5. Proximity

Figure 5.10 Proximity

• Elements appear in relation to one another
• Placing related elements together will suggest that they are related.

6. Negative Space

Figure 5.11 Negative Space

• (aka empty space) Makes information easier for the audience to digest by grouping elements into compartments.
• It also creates focus as it helps the audience to focus on individual items.

7. Alignment

• Alignment is arranging elements to lines or margins. It is an important design principle as it :

• allows us to arrange elements in a way people can easily scan the page
• it makes the image more visually appealing as it creates balance
• creates a visual connection between the elements

• Basically, there are two types of alignment. The two alignments are edge alignment and center alignment. To understand how alignment work, we must be able to see the invisible line. This invisible line is the margin created for the alignment which your design is arranged.
• Edge Alignment

Figure 5.1 Edge Alignment

• Edge alignment positions elements against a margin that matches up with their outer edges.
• The two most common edge alignments are flush left and flush right. 

• Center Alignment

Figure 5.2 Center Alignment

• Center Alignment positions elements so that they line up with one another on their center axes.

• Justified

• Another alignment that we're able to find in Design, mostly for Typography, is justified.
• Justified aligns text along the left margin, and letter- and word- spacing is adjusted so that the text aligns also on the right margin.

Figure 5.3 Difference between the types of alignment in Typography

• Designs featuring text are often aligned to the left margin for cultures that read from the left to the right size of a page.
• Simple visual designs most frequently align in the center of the frame, a format that provides balance and harmony, and is also aesthetically-pleasing.
• Right alignments are often employed to provide balance to an overall design that may be more visually heavy on the left side.  

8. Rule of Odds

Figure 5.12 Rule of Odds

• It allows designers to emphasize particular images by placing them in the center of a group. By placing an equal number of neighboring objects on either side of the main focal point—thus creating an odd-numbered group—the result clearly points to the most important visual element, located in the center.
• A group of one or three elements is more striking than a single pair. 

 9. Repetition

Figure 5.13 Repetition

• It creates unity.
• Repeating the same styles throughout the design clearly unifies the list and tells readers that each entry is part of a whole. 

10. Leading Lines

Figure 5.14 Leading Lines

• Leading lines suggest movement
• Movement is the most effective way to attract the audience attention
• It directs audience to the most important element

11. Rule of Thirds

Figure 5.15 Rule of Thirds

• The rule involves mentally dividing a composition into a grid composed of two horizontal and two vertical lines—or nine separate sections.
• When an element is placed on the points, it is more noticeable to the audience.

12. Perspective

Figure 5.16 Perspective

• Perspective helps create an illusion of depth.
• We generally perceive larger objects to be closer to us than similar smaller objects.

Note Reference :
https://www.printwand.com/blog/basic-alignment-principles-in-graphic-design-with-examples 
https://visme.co/blog/visual-hierarchy/

I was quite lost in the beginning because I didn't really know what to do with the materials and also which topic I would like to cover. Since I mainly brought ice creams sticks and cardboard, I was thinking of incorporating lines and circles so I just placed them around the canvas. While thinking about hierarchy, I thought about creating something that was 3D so I could relate to hierarchy in space. Therefore, I thought of having mickey pop out from a photo frame since I really liked Disney and Mickey is the most classic character.

Figure 5.17 Materials brought to class

These are the materials I brought to class. Some of them were leftover cardboards from an old assignment that I can't even remember, carboard from chocolate packaging, old newspapers and ice cream sticks that I stole from my brother who collected it over time.

Figure 5.18 Making the background

For my composition, I created the frame using the thickest cardboard I had. I also created a wood background using the ice cream sticks. It was tiring than I expected because it was actually quite hard to cut it using the extractor knife. It also took up a lot of time but I felt like it'd be a cool background so I just continued with it.

Figure 5.19 Creating Mickey's silhouette

Since I didn't have a black cardboard, I went through the newspapers to find black pictures to paste on a cardboard. This was where I stopped before the critic session since our class was ending. I had to bring it home to continue.

Figure 5.20 Mickey's silhouette inside the frame

This is the finished silhouette of Mickey.

Figure 5.21 Creating Mickey's face

For the face, luckily I had white cardboard because it would be too hard for me to find white paper from newspaper.

Figure 5.22 Making Mickey's face pop up

I used the remaining cardboard as a base to make the face pop up.

Figure 5.23 Material for Mickey's clothing

For Mickey's clothes, I used an old angpao that I found in my room. I received this angpao during my birthday which was quite recent.

Figure 5.24 Material for Mickey's nose and details

For Mickey's nose, I found a small box to cut out from. I also used it for small details and also to create outlines.

Figure 5.25 Material for Mickey's mouth

For the mouth, I used a broken hair tie.

Figure 5.26 Using buttons as the eyes

For the eyes, I used buttons that were just lying around my house.

Figure 5.27 Final Composition

This is the finished composition. To be honest I'm not really sure if it represents hierarchy and I'm also not really sure if I like the composition. Also, the photo does not really show the shadows that are created by the different layers, hence it's hard to see the layers. Since I don't have time, this will be my final composition as for now. Hopefully I get to make a new one if I have time and if the deadline isn't up yet.

Feedback :
Since I couldn't finish it on time in class, I didn't participate in the critic session. As I was doing it at home, my mom saw my composition and she found it very interesting and cool. Not really sure if it's a relevant feedback cause my mom usually just supports whatever I create (because she's my mom haha) but at least there's someone that likes it (if she's genuine) even when I don't.

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Lecture 4 : Pattern, Repetition, Texture, Surface
17/09/19 (Week 4)

Since today's topic was our presentation, our research and knowledge are all in the slides we presented.



 For this exercise, Ms Sherry wanted us to bring vegetables for our next class.

23/09/19 (Week 5)
This was the first class where we actually did our compositions in class.

I had to cut potatoes. It reminded me a lot of primary school where we had an assignment that was close to this.

Figure 4.1 Potato cutting

 For the first composition, I chose to carve these two shapes. I ended up with something as below.

Figure 4.2 Pattern - Attempt One

Feedback :
For the feedback, Ms Sherry wanted us to comment on 8 other compositions created by our classmates. Based on the feedback I received, they say that this composition is quite nice. They liked the texture and also the colour of it. The feedback I received from Ms Sherry was that it's actually quite bold as not a lot of us used squares and weird but she can see it as a pattern.

Figure 4.3 Potatoes for second attempt

As you can see, I reuse the line I carved for the previous composition as I didn't really include it in the first one. I use the lines on the pineapple.

Figure 4.4 Final composition for pattern

Feedback :
Based on the feedback from my classmates, most of them really liked the brown lines. They also like the colour and one of them thinks it'll be a cool print on a shirt. Another classmate commented that it looked like a bee and that he/she hates pineapples, but he/she still thinks it's nice. The feedback I received from Ms Sherry was that she also liked the brown stripes. She thinks it gives the pineapple some character and attitude.

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Lecture 3 : Symmetry, Asymmetry, Balance
10/09/19 (Week 3)

Figure 3.1 Symmetry vs Asymmetry

Symmetry is a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance.

Types of symmetry :
1. Reflection Symmetry

Figure 3.2 Reflection

2. Rotational Symmetry

Figure 3.3 Rotational

3. Translational Symmetry

Figure 3.4 Translational

Asymmetry in design is distributing elements, moving them around until they feel balance.

Figure 3.5 Asymmetry

Balance in Art is how the elements of art (line, shape, colour, etc.) relate to each other within the composition in terms of their visual weight to create visual equilibrium.

For our exercise, I decided to create something symmetrical. My inspiration actually came by looking at how our classroom is mainly just windows. It reminded me of the glass detailing that my front door has. I thought about recreating it.

Figure 3.6 my house's glass detailing

I then sketched some grids to help me draw the pattern on to the paper.

Figure 3.7 Grid

Figure 3.8 Draft sketch of symmetry

Finally, I coloured it.

Figure 3.9 Symmetry

Feedback : Ms Sherry said it was indeed symmetrical and she liked the colour palette of this piece.

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Lecture 2 : Gestalt
03/09/19 (Week 2)

Since Monday (02/09/19) was a holiday, our replacement class happened on Tuesday (03/09/19). We only had 2 hours of class time so Mr Sherry gave us a short lecture on GESTALT and we then moved on to critiquing last weeks assignment.

Based on what I've learned and research, gestalt is actually a psychological term that suggest people tend to group or unify elements when some principles are used.

Below are a few principles :

1. Continuation
 - When the eye is leaded to a direction by continuing one object to another

Figure 2.1 We automatically connect all of the circles and picture an "S" although the circles aren't actually connected.

2. Closure

 - When an element is incomplete or it's not totally enclosed

 - Still, we automatically fill in the space an picture the entire figure

Figure 2.2 The cat's entire outline isn't complete but we still fill in the gaps and picture the tail and head as a complete figure

 3. Similarity

 - When object looks the same, people view them as a pattern

Figure 2.3 As the little feathers look the same, we see them as the feathers of the peacock although they aren't position correctly as an actual peacock feathers would.

4. Proximity

 - When things are close to each other, we group them together

Figure 2.4 As the 8 dots are placed together, we group them together. Since there's a gap between two groups of 8 dots, we automatically divide the 16 dots into 8 groups. As for the 6 blue dots, we see them as pairs.

5. Symmetry

 - Elements that are identical / similar to each other

Figure 2.5 For this logo, when you cut it in half, you can see that the right half is a reflection of the left. This shows symmetry and helps us connect the lines which makes us see the letter "W".

6. Figure and Ground
 - When our eye differentiates an object from it's surrounding
 - Identifying a figure from a background

Figure 2.6 The shoe is the main figure from the blue background. Also, the silhouette of Cinderella is drawn our from the background.

A source that I found really useful in understanding Gestalt is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FryaH599ec0

Even after doing my own research, I wasn't entirely sure as to what Gestalt is. However, I started jotting down some ideas and what theme I wanted to go for. I really wanted to do something related to the environment because there were a lot of things going on for the past few weeks. A lot of people that I follow on social media were posting about the Amazon fire, animals getting hunted and also the haze in Malaysia.

Figure 2.7 Sketches of Ideas

It's quite obvious that I wasn't sure what Gestalt is when I was sketching out some ideas. I then went on to create a piece (that wasn't really Gestalt) with pens and markers.

Figure 2.8 First attempt

As you may see, this piece represents nothing of gestalt and I only realized it halfway through the process. At this point I was quite lost and it was already 2am so I decided to stop at where I was and continue the next day.

The next day, I decided to start a new piece after looking at more examples. I initially thought of changing the theme but luckily I came up with a new idea. I merged some of my initial ideas together (which is fire, Earth and hands). I then went on to sketch the new idea out.

Figure 2.9 Sketch of second attempt

Figure 2.10 Final piece of second attempt

The background of this piece is that humans are the ones who are supposed to take care of our world. It's as if the fate of the world is in our hands. Instead of protecting it, we "squeeze" and drain all the resources we can get from it to build our world (therefore city landscape). What we don't notice is that the more we take, the more we're destroying the world. The concept of the cup is that we're collecting all the resources we can for our civilization but we don't see that we're taking too much and it's not what we can handle. In the end, the cup will be too full and it will spill. This signifies that if we don't stop, it won't be just the end of the world, but also our own end.

Feedback : At this point I was struggling to decide if I should draw the whole hand out so I asked some of my friends and classmates. They commented that the hand wasn't obvious and it might be better if I try drawing more of it out. However, I felt like the hand being not obvious was what made the piece Gestalt and so I left it as it is. In class, Ms Sherry commented that the hand represented Gestalt well! She also said that I seem to enjoy doing the composition although it's tiring.

I'm happy that it's accurate and that I don't have to redo it again. :)

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Lecture 1 : Contrast
26/08/19 (Week 1)

Today, Ms Sherry explained that we will be learning 8 types of Design Principle through this subject. The first one we covered was CONTRAST.

Contrast is to generate impact and highlight importance.

Contrast can be shown through different ways. One of the most obvious contrast would be between black and white, hence our assignment. Besides contrast in colour, contrast can also be shown through different shapes, positions, direction, texture and more.

My understanding on the importance of contrast is that it gives more meaning to an object. When an object is alone, we only see it solely as it is. For example, when there is a black circle beside a grey circle drawn on a piece of white paper, we might focus more on the black circle as it is darker than the grey one which shows more contrast with the white paper. When a big black circle is placed next to a smaller one, we know which one is bigger and smaller due to the contrast of the size. However, without the smaller circle, we may not be able to determine the size of the bigger circle.

A video that I found really helpful in understanding contrast is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0SAPEw0ru4

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Below are some examples of contrast that I found from Pinterest :

Figure 1.1 The contrast between the black and white diagonal lines and the horizontal lines are used to represent the hair and background. The girl's face is coloured which shows contrast between her face and the hair + background. The shapes are also more organic which gives more contrast.

Figure 1.2 The stairs are spiral but the shadow is straight. Also, the red background creates a contrast for the white stairs.

Figure 1.3 For the black background, the match isn't burnt. For the white background, the match is burnt. Also, the matches are aligned slanted whereas the two backgrounds are aligned straight.

Figure 1.4 The contrast is shown by having the silhouette of the building being black and the sky being colourful.

Once I got home, I started by journaling some of the ideas I had in mind.

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Figure 1.5 Exercise 1 sketch 1

Figure 1.6 Exercise 1 sketch 2

 In the end, I chose to go with the "BLACK" design.

Figure 1.7 Planning where the words should be

Figure 1.8 Cutting the shadows out of white paper and transferring it onto black paper

Figure 1.9 Cutting the smaller letters out of the black paper

Figure 1.10 Contrast front page

Figure 1.11 Contrast back page

Feedback : Ms Sherry said that it shows contrast although it was more to Typography. However, the front page was enough, I didn't have to create a back page since we only have to pass up one side of the A4 paper.