Added insight of Chinese culture
Coming into university, I was a shy and unconfident designer who often hid away from my lecturers and peers, fearing what they would say about my designs. However, during my time at university, I have built more and more confidence. Now, in the second year of my studies, I have started embracing myself in the graphic design world with the help of my like-minded peers at university. I have learned that graphic design is not only about making cool and visually appealing designs, but it is about the service of the public. In terms of branding, we only relay the information given to us, we are only the middleman in the process.
During my time at university, I have learnt many different skills like design conventions and the best tools you use to undertake research. With design conventions, I was drawn most to publications like magazines, bookmaking, and posters. One of my earliest assignments was to design a magazine in the style of Josef Müller-Brockmann. This led me down a path of researching his design journey and how he became one of the most influential designers of all time. That assignment was a turning point in my design journey, as I discovered the Swiss design technique: grid systems. Müller-Brockmann was one of the pioneers of this technique, and it changed my view on graphic design and how I saw books and magazines. The best method I have found to expand my vocabulary as a designer was to take pictures in my environment. After class every day, I walk down Queen Street to Britomart to catch the train home, and I always find myself looking at signage on storefronts, event posters, and billboards. If I see something visually appealing and exciting, I take a shot of it and, when I get home, look at it, try to understand it and research it, what conventions they used and so on. I have an album full of pictures that I have collected, and they serve as a great source of inspiration for my design projects.
But despite all this, I found myself disconnected from my culture. I am Chinese; my mother was born in Hong Kong, and my dad, just like me, is a Chinese-born Kiwi with my dad's side of the family, having several generations here in New Zealand. Earlier this semester, we saw Jordan and Kyani's work “What Makes Me Plastic”. It talks about how they felt like being plastic in their culture in New Zealand, using stereotypes of their respective cultures, and I related to their message. I found it hard to intertwine my Chinese culture with my Kiwi culture, which prompted me to create the design system for my research poster.
