Design Principle / Final Compilation & Reflection

29.08.2022 - 03.12.2022 (Week 10 - Week 14)

Jacquline Lim Xin Ying / 0351304

Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media

Final Compilation & Reflection  

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INSTRUCTION


Exercises

Project 1 - Self-Portrait

Project 2 - Sense of Place

Final Project - Visual Analysis

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SUBMISSION

Exercise 1 - Emphasis, Harmony and Unity, Balance, Repetition & Contrast

29.08.2022 - 30.09.2022 (Week 01 - Week 05)

Fig.1.1 - Emphasis (week 3, 12 Sep 2022)

"She lost in the woods, searching for light, forgetting she illuminates in her own way."

Fig.1.2 - Movement, week 3, 12 Sep 2022

Fig.1.3 - Balance (week 4, 19 Sep 2022)

Fig.1.4 - Repetition, week 3, 11 Sep 2022

"In the garden of memory, in the palace of dreams, my mind stays wide awake tonight in a wonderland of my own, with the endless possibilities given by life, just like a game of chess."

Fig.1.5 - Contrast, week 4, 21 Sep 2022

Project 1 - Self-Portrait

29.08.2022 - 30.09.2022 (Week 01 - Week 05)

fig.2 - Final Self-Portrait (Week 7, 12th Oct 2022)

This artwork depicts how I have never felt comfortable displaying my face, utilizing a street art style to depict my sorrow in life while still wanting to appear cool and nonchalant in front of peers and others. The addition of random doodling helps analyze what actually reflects me or what I truly want to say by giving the doodles deeper and more personal meanings. Every part of my artwork can so convey who I am and my current state of mind. The chain doodle wrapped around my neck reflects how I feel constrained in life and yearn to be free of it. The high definition of the eyes compared to the rest of the artwork is meant to represent how I am the only person that is able to see the sort of state I am in and no one else.







Project 2 - Sense of Place

10.10.2022 - 04.11.2022 (Week 07 - Week 10) 

Fig.3 - Final Sense of Place (Week 10, 3rd Nov 2022)

At first sight, it is obvious that the gardens are not equal in layout, yet they are balanced since they are polar opposites in terms of color scheme. The garden on the right uses strong cold colors, while the garden on the right uses strong warm colors; by using both, the artwork is not overpowered by a single color tone. This also serves to communicate the concept that no matter what extremes occur in life, everything eventually balances out. The gardens were greatly inspired by Howl's Moving Castle since they depict two separate worlds; despite their differences, both gardens share and reflect the same mood. I was inspired by the ukiyo-e art movement, therefore I added texture to assist imitate a similar sensation and aesthetic.

Final Project - Visual Analysis

31.10.2022 - 03.12.2022 (Week 10 - Week 14)

Fig.4.1 - Final Visual Analysis-JPEG (Week 15, 4th Dec 2022)

This artwork depicts how society views homosexual relationships negatively by having a homosexual couple dance in a ball with a red line connected to them surrounded by straight couples with their faces blurred out, representing how the homosexual couple wishes to reject society's views on their relationship and dance the night away with the red line showing how strong their love is. The artwork depicts a homosexual pair dancing while defying social norms and focusing solely on their love. The color palette of the design has a very historical tone to it, quite close to romanticism, which helps emphasize the couple's love. The homosexual pair is the main focus of the design, while the rest of the figures have blurred-out faces and identical attire. The blurred-out faces surrounding the couple convey the message of how society loves to look at and judge others who are different from their social norm; having the faces blurred shows that those in a homosexual relationship struggle to open up to those who are not in a homosexual relationship for fear of being treated unfairly or with hatred. A closer look reveals that the color scheme of the blurred-out figure fits and blends in with the color scheme of the background; this was purposefully done to emphasize the difference between the pair and everyone else. I modified the pair's color scheme to a brighter tone, such as blue and yellow, to emphasize the contrast between the couple and the rest of society while also demonstrating how much happier and better the couple is without according to society's social norms. The backdrop also employs a very monotonous tone to suggest how miserable the pair would have been if they had tried to hide their true feelings from society. The red line represents how, even in the midst of a bleak reality, their love endures and binds them together.

Fig.4.2 - Final Visual Analysis-PDF (Week 15, 4th Dec 2022)

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REFLECTION

Sincerely, the design principle module and the design fundamental I took at the foundation share a lot of similarities. Due to my background, Design Principle is the most comfortable and manageable of all the ones I have taken this semester. In the meanwhile, I've discovered that this module has assisted me in better understanding myself and that this module assisted me in growing my sense of self-love and self-awareness. The process of trial and error as well as the weekly evaluations were enjoyable to me. I've come to realize that design is more than just pleasing to the eye and the pleasure of sketching; requires using inspiration from various sources and the ability to convey meaning through imagery. Design has the ability to influence people and influence decisions. In order to design in a way that is visually readable to the viewer and conveys a direct and profound message that they immediately recognize without any form of difficulty or complication in deciphering the message behind it, I adhere to the processes of Design Thinking whenever I come across certain concepts or salient issues. Each assignment that is presented gets a continual review, which strengthens my routine and discipline because it happens once a week. I've seen that my task advances smoothly and is finally finished thanks to the required tenacity and the capacity to fall forward when failure or any other kind of difficulties come. This is also a result of my classmates because Dr. JinChi has other classes to handle which forces me to rely on my peers. To enhance our work, we would talk with one another and share ideas which resulted in the improvement of my social skills. To conclude, design principles contribute to upholding core ideals throughout the creation process. Design principles, when properly formulated and used, promote consistency in decision-making amongst designers and teams, removing the need to discuss straightforward trade-offs and freeing designers to focus on more complicated problems.