Jillian Mah

Information Designer

[jillianmah]

The view from the room that we had our conversation in.

[jillianmah]

Knolling/Type Week 10

20 items that all begin with the letter J. 

All of the illustrations were done with the same simplistic drawing style on square pieces of paper. The negative space around the images on the paper, as well as the negative space inbetween the papers are used to create a grid that helps the eye move through the illustrations. It also uses symmetry and balance. The vertical lines in the background also contribute to the grid. Natural wood contrasts with bright white paper.

[jillianmah]

Type Week 9: Personification of a letter

Found this groovy futuristic font (which I forget the name of), so it obviously had to be personified in a futuristic way. The letter “G” makes some awesome ears for this robot “human”. 

[jillianmah]

Knolling Week 9: Balance

This knoll uses pistachio nuts as items. Balance is not exclusively about symmetry, it is about balancing power and weight of objects. For this knoll, I chose to create balance by using symmetry. There is symmetry horizonally, vertically, and within each side itself of the knoll. The brightness of the pistachios contrast with the purple background. And, the organic shapes of the nuts are counteracted by the straight lines that they are arranged in. 

[jillianmah]

“They” in Times New Roman

[jillianmah]

Stretch Quest 4: Social

 Discomfort before: 3/5

Discomfort after: 1/5

This stretch quest, I decided to attend a community hearing about a new building that would be put into my neighbourhood. I’ve always been interested in public space, and since this would be near my house, it was perfect for me to join in on.

Since I only recently became a legal adult, I am yet to participate lots in politics or social issues. Even though I could have as a minor, I always felt that it wasn’t my place to be speaking out or offering an opinion. Nowadays, I feel lots of pressure and obligation to be socially involved as a citizen. Although this issue isn’t a life or death, I was excited and nervous to get started.

The hearing was held at my old community centre, and while I went in expecting to be talking with strangers, I ended up seeing dozens of old neighbours and family friends that I haven’t seen since I was young—probably when I was playing tykes soccer there. There was a lot of déja vu, and a lot of small talk to be made.

Once it began, the leaders of the presentation spoke very gracefully. But, the crowd was ruthless. I felt really bad for the presenters: people were slandering him and demanding that he tells them things way out of his scope of knowledge. Essentially, he was being attacked throughout most of the night. When a question period began and the crowd could finally speak out even more, the facilitators acted quite rudely and hostile in return to the crowd. I think that this strategy only made them angrier, a few people even left because of it. In university, you get used to the safe spaces provided for you to have conversations, so this was a surprise to me to see so many people having arguments in one room just for the sake of it.

Granted, most of the people that attended had lived in the neighbourhood for 20-30 years, and were quite reluctant to see any change. They complained about the height, construction, traffic… all valid things to complain about. But, lots of them seemed to be closed-minded. Since it was built, the population has dropped nearly 50%. It was very clear that our neighbourhood had the capacity to handle more people, but people were so afraid of change and outsiders that they didn’t want to see new things.

I contributed my share of thoughts, mostly in support of the development, but it was hard to stand out against the angry older population who were of the majority. I think that I partially got dismissed as young and naïve, but I felt like lots of the people there needed to be challenged to see the bigger picture of Calgary’s goals, rather than only their personal concerns - many that were exaggerated.

[jillianmah]

Knolling Week 8: Colour

(Please excuse the shadows, I promise everything is straight!)

This week, I chose to use a monochrome approach to colour using variations of yellow hues, tints, and shades. I tried to make all the pieces of the knoll fit together like a puzzle and fill as much negative space as I could to join the objects together, regardless of irregular shapes such as a banana or pepper. They are also fitting together from the fact that they are all similar hues. 

[jillianmah]

This illustration plays with the idea of unexpectedness. The word “short” is made to fill up the page with large, bulky letters. They are all put close together to emphasize their size and make them stand out. The word, “short,” has thick slab-serifs on both top and bottom of each letter-form, which is characteristic to country signage. The serifs are also curved into the legs of the letters, which fits them together more compactly by filling more space. The colouring of the letters also creates a splintery wood texture, as if the environment is dry and old as many country towns tend to be.

To contrast with the country aesthetic of the word “short,” the letters in the word country looks very little like its actual meaning. The word country was made with slender, linear letter forms to make it appear more modern and metropolitan. The letters of the word “country” are not spaced evenly, but are closer together in the middle and farther apart at the edges, to emphasize the wide spaces that the meaning of “country” describes. They are coloured solidly in dark blue, which is a colour that shows intelligence, stability, and cleanliness, opposite to the dustiness of the country-side.

By making both words appear not to reflect their own meanings, but the meaning of the concept of the piece, they come together to create one cohesive illustration that conveys the meanings of both words put together (’short’ appears large) (’country’ appears like a city) 

[jillianmah]

For the terms, “short country,” I decided apply the meaning of short to the word country in a literal sense. By removing extra letters, it shortens the text and emphasizes the meaning of the concept. I chose to use a thick slab-serif font with thin limbs to resemble old saloons and prairie signage, in order to reinforce some of the western, simple, yet wild connotations of “country.” A period, followed by negative space to the right of the text make it appear as if the type was unfinished, or cut “short”. It was positioned in the center of the page to draw attention to the word, instead of the space around it. All capitals were chosen because it made the letters appear more powerful and fearless, which are traits that are also attributed to “country.” The letters are kerned neither closely nor far apart, just kept simple.

[jillianmah]

Knolling Week 7: In public

When I was thinking about the idea of objects public, I began to think of items that people always take in public. Ironically, the items such as keys that we take in public with us everywhere are always kept on our person - making keys an interesting subject choice for the topic. 

I did this outdoors before tobogganing this past week on the back of a sled. I should be getting extra credit here for how hard it is to knoll with cold fingers! 

For the design principles, this knoll focuses on contrast, line, unexpectedness, direction, hierarchy, and symmetry. Hierarchy comes from the shape of the keys’ arrangement, placing the black keys as less important and metal keys as more important points of interest. The highest standing in the hierarchy is the green car, because it contrasts with both the colour and structure of the triangle formed. People are also drawn towards motion, which makes the car even more interesting to look at. Negative space is provided for the lines and motion to move into. The knoll is symmetrical along a vertical line. The idea of keys being in public, although not truly in public, is unexpected. Having a moving car, also contrasts with the stillness of the keys. Colours of the keys and car contrast with the red sled background. 

[jillianmah]

They said it couldn’t be done.

Displayed: “They” in Futura Regular

[jillianmah]

Curves are difficult to draw.

Displayed: Sketch of “123456789″ in Sathu Regular

[jillianmah]

Stretch Quest- Mental

Discomfort before: 5/5

Discomfort after:  5/5

For my mental stretch quest, I decided to attend a Sunday service at the St. David’s United Church.

I have only set foot in a church a few times in my life, never mind practiced religion before. I was not raised religiously, and know next to nothing about religion. It was a completely new experience for me, and I think it was my biggest stretch so far (It took a lot of courage to bring myself to do this one).

One of the biggest things that surprised me was ritualism of going to church. Everyone there knew exactly when to stand, sit, who to talk to, where to go – it was just routine for them. On the other hand, I had no idea what I was doing, so I really felt like I stood out awkwardly. There was lots of talking and socializing, which took me by surprise, since that’s something I dislike in itself. I had to introduce myself to lots of people since I was a newcomer, and I was easily the youngest person in the room. We also did lots of singing and repeating back hymns, which I did not expect either since I expected to only listen. Repeating back things without knowing the meaning myself seems to me more like memorization and an old-school way of learning, but that’s just how they practice faith. They know the meaning, so I guess it is not a problem for them. Faith is trusting in God, and to trust people often need reinforcement of what they are trusting in. The difference between the people there and myself is that they see their faith in God being reinforced, while I do not.

As a fairly progressive church, we discussed ideas of helping people and there were mentions of supporting other communities such as LGBTQ groups and Muslim groups following the recent shootings. As well, the pastor was a woman, which was a nice touch. I definitely support these ideas, but it’s a shame that they are considered to be, “progressive,” in the first place since they are something that just seems intuitive to me.

The biggest discomfort for me, however, was that every single message had to do somehow with god. In some way or another, the message was constantly being reinforced that, as individuals we have duties to God – we have God within us, we have God in our communities, we act alongside God. That, to me, is a totally and completely bizarre concept that makes me squirm – I have no clue how so many people can embrace such an abstract idea to live their life by. It is funny, because in one way it shows self-centeredness, that people believe themselves worthy of and equal to such a powerful figure. On the other hand, these people had a very strong sense of brotherhood and sisterhood among them with good intentions. I question their motives, because I do not see any reason at all why people need to act through god in order to be good people. I see that as having weak will, that people would need someone to tell them to be good instead of just acting decently. Regardless of their motives however, I think that their intentions were in the right place to always be helping each other and thinking through their actions.

Even though I try to be open minded and respectful, I knew going in that I had a pretty strong bias against religious ways of knowing. I was definitely a part of the popular media culture that sees religion as old-fashioned, bigoted, and judgmental. And, while I know that it is wrong and hypocritical of me to believe this since I judge religion myself, I still have a large difficulty with seeing past the popular image of judgement and closed-mindedness of religion over the course of history.  I know that no group has a completely clean record, regardless of their beliefs. I also know (abstractly) that no knowledge is definitive. Knowledge will change over time, beliefs will change over time, values will change over time. But, we all still get stuck in our own heads, and that’s one of our biggest flaws as humans.

 Overall, recognizing the extent of my bias was the main takeaway from this stretch quest. Like every past generation, I thought that as a young Canadian I was free from all the darkness of the past and could move forward. I thought that we finally had things figured out, and were embracing new ways of thinking. But when I saw myself mirroring all of the things that I would disapprove of, I was startled. I still have hard times reforming my though process, but this stretch quest was a wake-up call for me to see some of my own entitlement.

[jillianmah]

Knolling Week 6: 50 items considering repetition

For this knoll, I chose to use milk caps as my item of choice. There is repetition in the caps’ forms as individuals, and in their grouping as blocks of colour. Their equal spacing emphasizes the repetition of colour, shape, and position.

[jillianmah]

Knolling Week 5

20 items that are a metaphor for Valentine’s day

Bows are often seen as a superficial way to make things seem better than they are, which is comparable to how some people use Valentine’s day as a way to make their relationships seem better than they are. I don’t see them this way. I see bows as visible signifiers of effort and care. That is why I chose to use them to represent Valentine’s day in this knoll.

Valentine’s day is a gift. It is a gift to love someone, it is a gift to be loved. It is a day when we are free of barriers from showing our affection and appreciation for our loved ones, whether that is time, embarrassment, or 

Similar forms of ribbon create repetition. Red, pink, white, purple, gold, and silver are all colours that are associated with romance and Valentine’s day alike. Placing them on brown wrapping paper provides context for the ribbons, and contrasts with the bright, shiny colours of the ribbons. Sizes and shapes vary, because no two relationships are of the same qualities or magnitude. But, they are all gifts nonetheless. 

[jillianmah]

AY is for how annoyed I get when people say “ayyyyy lmao.” It’s probably not that funny.

Displayed: Sketch 14/20 of “A” and “Y” in Tamil MN in graphic pen.

[jillianmah]

Knolling Week 4

20 items that mean something to you about Valentines day.

In this knoll, I chose to use the theme of giving and offering on valentines day. Receiving valentines gifts, however trivial, is always a fun part of the day, especially when everyone would exchange cards and candy as kids.

The puppy holding a heart symbolizes giving, which is the central idea of the composition. Hence, he is in the centre of the image. The stickers, springy headband, chocolate, candles, and rose petals that radiate out from him are done to figuratively spread the puppy’s effect into the world around him. The areas of white space that they move into emphasizes the idea of sharing love. The giving cards were placed at the bottom of the image to create a strong base that the other items and ideas could rest on.