Recap of triangulating
Here we go Unit 3. In last project, I explored how graphic communication design can leverage the potential for emotional engagement and personal narrative in data-driven interactions. And the outcomes of the work include sound visualisations of asthma conditions, publication depicting patients‘ breathing and data visualisation posters illustrating the relationship between asthma and air pollution in London.
And after the symposium, I also summarised some potential issues. When infusing my personal experiences with respiratory diseases into my visualization work, I often subconsciously aim to evoke emotions and resonance in the public, forgetting that such personal experiences and narratives are literally “personal.” So in Unit 3 project, I wanna to hand over the answers to the audience, hoping that all emotions arise from them. And I also wanna to break away from data visualization and explore new graphic communication design mediums, such as illustration.
Line of enquiry
How to utilise illustration as a storytelling device to subvert and translate the idea of compassion for nature?
And I’ve been researching some references over the past few days, and these are some illustrators whose work I really appreciate. They possess a gentle and poetic appeal that deeply moves me, creating a profound emotional resonance with their pieces. Especially Jordan Bolton‘s series stands out for me because he has created deeply moving comics derived from simple language and imagery, sparking my interest in story collections.
Written project proposal
I am someone easily influenced by the external environment, the slightest movement can stir my emotions. Positivity, openness, love, and inclusivity are crucial for my practice. I deeply understand that I am emotional and romantic in nature. Therefore, I enjoy continuously exploring the world. While exploring the external world, I find joy in gazing at nature. These radiant lives seem to remind us of the things we once loved, lost, and longed for, evoking an infinite range of emotions. This is why I always like to explore the close connection between human and nature in my graphic communication design works.
The audience
People who are not interested in nature or the external world.
Specific plans for engaging with them
In the work of Unit 3, Projection 1, I aim to continue exploring the network of relationships between human and nature, especially focusing on the subtle and ordinary moments of natural life. The goal is to evoke empathy towards nature in an audience that might not typically have interest in it. This time I want to pick up illustration, a medium I haven’t explored for a while, and combine concise and poetic stories with drawings to create visual narratives. Through artworks characterised by a poetic and romantic personal style, I aim to express my love for nature. I hope that the audience, especially those who are not inherently interested in the natural world, can be inspired to deepen their perception and emotions towards the pieces through the enjoyment of comic-style storytelling. And it is important for me to see how the audience responds.
What to do next?
- Plan the specific story structure, including each imagery and language.
- Define the illustration style.
- Begin the design and drawing process.
- Consider the medium and platform for publication and interaction.
Initial iterations
Based on the written project proposal, here are some initial iterations I’ve worked on this week. All the visual storytelling originates from my life experiences and perspective. This set of illustration drafts is called Window and is inspired by my Christmas vacation in Greece. I’ll never forget the beauty of the sunset that greeted me when I opened the curtains in the evening, along with the vast sea and the company of friends around me. My next step is to delve further into creating these illustrations and to continue crafting short illustrated story collections similar to these.
So small that it fits through a window’s view.
The world is vast,
So vast that the sky can’t contain all the hues.
15.01 Feedback & Reference
Pretend I am a tree, a part of nature.
Nature should be a part of my medium by figuring out how can I use the natural world. If I am on the seaside, is there a way for sand or salt water to be part of my medium?
There’s some great iteration with style and material, but there can be more experimentation in terms of how narratives come together, what materials gets I will get used, how those relate to a broader inquiry.
Using nature to advance enquiry, even as an illustrative practice, is thinking about nature.
Play around with materials, image and narratives together before get to the stage of planning. Materials, instant pigments, dies, graphite, charcoal mineral.
Think about dirt which is not a negative thing.
For those who have wanted to escape nature or the outside world, help them understand the cycle of nature, life and death.
Nature is all interconnected.
Look back to what I have already done and think about context and ways to connect.
Introduce the pollution to my work and create a contrast in the end.
Keep iterating and making.
Bring five new references with a short statement. Why is relevant to my practice, what I learn from it, how it challenge me, how it suggest possibilities.
With the intention of investigating social hierarchies, inequalities and domestic work, Ana Rita Otsuka worked as a cleaner in five houses across London. During this process, she recorded descriptions of tasks, houses and personal items and interactions with clients, which she then turned into an illustrated record. Recurring Cleaning questions conventional research methodology while also highlighting the actions of domestic workers, who are often underappreciated and invisible.
Through a triptych of risograph-printed illustrations, the studio project shows a non-linear narrative of growing older where a central, almost utopian childhood memory is nestled within margins that unfold how the experience of something has changed over time. The outer border, with mirrors and reflections situates the story in the present and makes its immediate surroundings and onlookers a part of frame.