Intercultural Design: Final Compilation and Reflection
| 05.02.2024 - 22.03.2024 (WEEK 1-WEEK 7)
| Tang Chin Ting [ 0366473 ]
| Intercultural Design / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
| Tang Chin Ting [ 0366473 ]
| Intercultural Design / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
| Final Compilation & Reflection
INSTRUCTIONS
LECTURES
01. Culture & Design
- Introduction: Our culture is based on visual information. There has never been a visual picture explosion like this in history.
"Visuals are powerful persuasive medium to provide most of our information about the world. "
Figure 1.1 Introduction
Why do visual graphics exist? Why do they look the way they do?- Visuals are everything can be seen. The term "cultural" is broad and including, covering nature as well, although it should be noted that nature isn't regarded as culture unless it has symbolic significance.
- Besides, visuals are everything produced or created by humans that can be seen. Everything that is visible and made by people with the goal of creating visual representations with functions, content, and communication purposes is regarded as visual.
Figure 1.2 & 1.3 Sailor's Tattoo vs Japan Tattoo
For example, the sailor tattoo. They have tattoos from hands to feet, the stories of journeys over open waters are expressed by the symbols.
"Designers need to be aware of cultural nuances, symbolism, and context to create designs that are inclusive and resonate with diverse audiences."
Design Significance
- A designer is able to identify the social, cultural & political sphere where the design elements reside.
- By being aware of the graphics' importance in the fields of cultural studies, philosophy, sociology, and origin history.
Figure 1.4 Design Significance
- Basic Assumptions (Cultural Functions): The Purpose of the design.
- Norms and Values (Design Language): One fundamental design concept that describes a design’s appealing aspects is aesthetics.
- Artefacts & Products (Implementation): The use of it.
Figure 1.5 Design System
Figure 1.6 Design System
Design Sensitivity
Cultural Sensitivity Awareness
- Symbolism and Imagery: Certain symbols and images may carry different meanings in different cultures. Designers should be mindful of potential cultural interpretations to avoid unintentional misunderstandings or offense.
- Color Considerations: Colors can have cultural significance, and their meanings may vary across different societies. Understanding the cultural associations of colors can help designers make appropriate choices.
- Typography and Language: Choosing fonts and text styles that are culturally appropriate is important. Additionally, considering language variations and ensuring accurate translations is crucial for reaching diverse audiences.
- Inclusive Design: Designers should strive to create products and experiences that are accessible and inclusive for people from various cultural backgrounds, including those with different abilities and needs.
- User Research: Conducting thorough user research, including ethnographic studies and user testing across diverse groups, helps designers gain insights into cultural preferences and behaviors.
- Localization: Adapting designs to specific cultural contexts through localization can enhance the relevance and acceptance of a product or service.
- Cultural Awareness Training: Design teams may benefit from cultural awareness training to develop a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives and sensitivities.
02. Culture, Design and Research
"Design and culture are inseparable, so as you develop your creative talents as future designers, you must be able to comprehend and communicate both." It requires more than simply talent, instinct, and imagination for designers to be more cautious with their creations.
Research
- A designer is able to gather more data and process them into crucial information needed to kickstart your workflow.
- It will be used later to help visualise the projects, and of course, convey the messages properly.
- To ensuring the design is perceived in correct tone.
For your project, you need to do research
- Before writing the project proposal
- After producing the proposal
- During the creation of your artwork
- Before Writing the Proposal
- Wikipedia, websites
- Youtube documentaries
- Design sources, inspiration
- Sketches
- Storyboards
- Wireframe
- After Writing the Proposal
1. Primary findings: Data collected by you and team
- On-site observation
- Interviews / Surveys
- During the Creation of Artwork
1. Final design production of your artwork
- Processes
- Team contributions
- How to instructions
- Safety & regulations
PROJECT 1: PROPOSAL
Proposal Research Task (05/02/24 - 26/02/24)
For this task, we need to working as a group, determine a cultural driven basic assumptions or artifacts and products for our artwork project’s topic. Refer to the breakdown or expansion of the Design System to study our chosen topic or artifacts.
Instruction:
- The general theme is “Cultural Sensitivity in Design”
- You are to study a cultural phenomenon, or a particular subculture that is perceived as ‘sensitive’, and “frame” your study within the chosen theme.
- You are to convey this cultural aspect without altering the actual facts but within a presentable interpretation and adaptation that raises awareness from the viewers.
- Produce some preliminary ideas on how to visually express your interpretation using design language. Each idea is to be supported by a short rationale. Conduct visual research to help expand your idea generation.
Submission:
We're required to compile the findings in a presentation deck along with the 200 words rationale and minimum 3 preliminary sketches of project artwork for our proposal.
My group members:
- 0361521 Janice Marie Eng Chia Hui
- 0350857 Joey Lok Wai San
- 0369549 Siang Huey Yee
- 0366473 Tang Chin Ting (Me)
- 0364908 Teh Ming En
- 0360525 Vanessa Kei Kurniadi
Ideas Proposal
Initially, we begin by considering the subject topic of this task. We made the decision to upload our own concept on a Google Doc. When we finally get a tonne of ideas from every member, we present them to our lecturer for feedback on the choice of topic.
Figure 2.1 Ideas Proposal Pdf
After receiving the feedbacks from our lecturer, we selected "Dragon symbolism in the East and the West" as the topic of this task. We divided our study into six categories and assigned the work to the group. We upload our materials to Google Docs for review by others. Once our proposal is complete, we must include them as a slide in our upcoming presentation. Canva is what we utilize to complete this part of the process.
We have been separated into:
1. Introduction and History (Timeline) - Cathy (Ming En)
2. Eastern culture - Janice
- Their beliefs
- Types of dragons
3. Western culture - Joey
- Their beliefs
-Types of dragons
4. Similarities and differences - Huey Yee
5. Influences of dragon symbol on society - Joanna (Me)
- Research on the dragon symbol in the design
6. Preliminary Sketches -Vanessa
7. Citations (APA 7th Edition)
Figure 2.2 Final Proposal Pdf
Recorded Presentation
Instruction: Each group are to present your proposal in a form of a recorded presentation. Here are the details:
- Maximum duration for video presentation - 10 minutes. Kindly plan your presentation as to not exceed the limit.
- It is not necessary for ALL team members to speak in the recording. You may opt to if you want to.
- Ensure that all requirements (as per stated in Module Information Booklet) are met. Sketches, 200 words rationale, proof of research WITH CITATIONS is a must.
- The recording video must be submitted together with the PDF Presentation deck.
We decide to use Zoom to finish this section since it makes simpler for us to record our sound and show the slides.
Figure 2.3 Final Presentation Slide Pdf
Figure 2.4 Final Presentation Video MP4
PROJECT 2: DATA COLLECTION
Field Study Task (27/02/24 - 07/03/24)
In order to complete the work, we will collect information about the culture that is relevant to the subject and our research objectives.
Instruction: We are required to collect visual, oral, textual and tactile artefacts that would be part of our research materials for the ideation in Project 1 (proposal).
Some example for data Collection Methods:
- Observation study.
- Interview of relevant stakeholders
- Online and/or actual physical material* visual research of the selected culture (the people/arts/symbols/architecture/text/calligraphy etc.)
Task Delegation
Figure 3.1 Task 2 Delegation
Data Collections:
To collect data, we have separate our work into 3 sections, which is
- Site visit: Visiting Chinese temples to observe the decorational dragon architecture
- Online visual analysis: Visually analyse Western and Eastern artefacts that have dragon motifs
- Google online survey: Collecting the public opinion on dragon symbolism and what is the preferred dragon design.
In this task, Cathy (Ming En) and I were responsible for visiting Chinese temples where symbols of dragons could be found. After discussing the approach, we decided to interview both the Sunway Guan-Di temple staffs and visitors on how they think of dragon symbols in their culture and religion. Before our visit, I prepared several questions to ask the temple workers and visitors.
Figure 3.2 Interview Temples Worker and Visitor Questions
On the day of the visit, an unexpected incident occurred, the temple staffs were unwilling to participate in interview or answering our questions. Besides, as it's weekday, there's not much visitors at the temple site, therefore, none oral data was collected on our visit to the temple. However, Cathy (Ming En) successfully took some pictures of the dragon symbols present at the temple, which served as our visual data.
Besides visiting the Sunway Guan-Di temple, I also visited a Chinese temple in my hometown, Bentong, Pahang while celebrating Yuan Xiao with my family. During this visit, I collected numerous images of dragons symbols found at the Chinese religious sites.
Figure 3.3 Image that I take at Pahang Temple: Cai Shen Temple
Final Field Study Data
Figure 3.4 Final Field Study Data
FINAL PROJECT: VISUAL DESIGN
Timeline: 07/03/24 - 29/03/24
The final submission requirement:
- Final deck for Task 3 (Final Project) containing your progress, sketches, and final output.
- Data collection deck (containing all collected data and artefacts).
- 10 mins video recording of your final project presentation (maximum file size: 100mb)
- Group leader or representative, share your GDrive link in this post's comment.
Following the feedbacks giving by Ms Noranis, we decided to do a fashion zine with dragon theme crop top designs.
Task Delegation
Initially, we intended to have each member provide a drawing for the crop top design. In order to ensure that there are enough designs to include in the zine, we have a total of seventh designs.
After the task delegation, I started off my crop top design process by researching fashion styles that are popular these recent years in the market. Eventually, I decided to incorporate Y2K elements into my dragon themed crop top as this trend embrace nostalgic looks.
Figure 4.1 My Crop Top Design: Y2K Style
Figure 4.2 Dragon Symbol that I included in the Crop Top
Figure 4.3 All of my group brilliant visual design
Following that, we separate out our work into two teams: the team that designs magazines and the team that takes pictures. Since there isn't much time left for us to turn in our final magazine and slide, there is also a deadline for us to finish our work.
1. Zine design team (Cathy, Joanna, Joey, Huey Yee)
- come up with the layout of the zine
- decide the aesthetic of the zine
- put together the zine
2. Photo team (Janice, Vanessa)
- decide location of photo taking based on the aesthetic of the design team
- take pictures (photographer/someone whos good at taking pics)
- edit pictures
Figure 4.4 Timeline for us to complete our work
Photo Shoot Details
- Time: 8.30am
- Date: 16th March (Saturday)
- Location: Stairs next to the lake (the stairs near Typography class)
- People: Joey(camera), Huey Yee(model/camera), Vanessa(model/camera), Janice(model/camera)
Magazine Design
We chose to create the magazine using Canva since it offers a tonne of templates that we could use to finish it. However, before doing this, we would like to conduct some research online to find some magazine layout references in order to verify our magazine design.
Figure 4.5 & 4.6 Magazine Layout Visual References
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Figure 4.7 & 4.8 Magazine Layout Visual References
We thus chose a retro look for our magazine. In addition, we conducted a vote to choose our magazine's title. The results are as follows:
Figure 4.9 Voting for our magazine title
Figure 4.10 & 4.11 Revised Layout of our magazine
Presentation Video
As our final product, we had to record our last presentation. We made the decision to film it on Sunday, March 24. Everyone agreed to present after completing their presentation slides. We divided up the presentation and gave each participant a time slot.
1. Intro (talk about dragons and data collection) - Huey Yee
2. Idea rationale (why we chose magazine and shirt) - Joey
3. Shirt design rationale(7 designs) - (Joanna, Cathy)
4. Show the b4 and after editing - Vanessa
5. Show zine as flipbook - Janice
6. Conclusion (Restate points of why it's sensitive topic and how we achieving the goal) - Janice
Figure 4.12 Presentation Video
Final Output
Magazine flipbook: https://online.fliphtml5.com/ksrkn/srhj/
Figure 4.13 Final Magazine Layout
Figure 4.14 Final Presentation Slide
Figure 4.15 Final Presentation Video
FEEDBACK
Week 3 (20/02/2024):
- Come up with 3 sketches for your project output. The 3 sketches combo can be for example: 1 rationale + 3 sketches or 3 rationale + 1 sketch each, and vice versa. The context must be based on the project brief and theme.
Week 4 (28/02/2024):
- You can proceed with data collection for 3 topics first, then we will narrow it down for final output to just 1.
Week 5 (04/03/2024):
- Good find. it would be great too if you could add depiction of dragons in other parts of Eastern culture (you can extract this from online info such as https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/dragons/asian-dragons).
- Based on your current compilation, it seems that you can sort of start thinking what are the design for the merchandise that you want to create. I suppose, you can base this on your target viewers as well, as younger people may have different expectations compared to older ones. perhaps concentrate more on streetwear that depicts dragons and portrays design sensitivity from that aspect? casual wear, but still present the proud, powerful nature of dragons?
- (08/03/2024) Impressive compilation of data. Since your group already decided to create a shirt design with dragon motifs, you can now sketch out the look + motifs to go with the shirt as well. perhaps you can also target a specific fashion trend (i.e. crop top feels like the 90s right? while the onesies feel more like the cutesy type) for the output. but i leave that to you to decide, as long you provide a rationale for your decision. Good job!
Week 6 (13/03/2024 & 15/03/2024):
- You can take a picture of yourself wearing a blank t-shirt and then photoshop the design on top of it. Give that one a try.
- Not a good choice of font type for the magazine, try to make the fonts in the magazine consistent. Don't include a large body of text in the magazine.
REFLECTION
Experience
I had a fascinating module this semester titled Intercultural Design. Initially, the assignments seemed overwhelming, and it took me a few weeks to understand what our lecturer expected. The overarching theme of the three tasks was "Cultural Sensitivity." In the beginning, I struggled to come up with any ideas. However, after looking at examples from our group's seniors, inspiration struck. I was also fortunate to have wonderful group mates. We developed a strong sense of teamwork throughout the module. Despite the time pressure of a short semester and the rush to complete our tasks, our group leader efficiently managed our timeline, ensuring we finished our work before the deadline. This experience taught me the value of motivated teamwork. I am truly grateful to my teammates for their support and to Miss Noranis for her insightful guidance on the interplay between culture and design.
Observations
In addition, I inquire about my friends on their topic and peruse other groups' submission, and I see that there are many excellent topics and pieces of information for this assignment. They provide interesting information that I had never considered before. My comprehension of cultural and the significance of context in design has greatly increased as a result of this module. By practicing cultural sensitivity, I was able to extend my viewpoint and become more aware of the effects that my design decisions may have on many cultural groups. The research stage was essential since it showed me the depths and aspects of cultures that I didn't know existed.
Findings
Throwback to this module, our topic was "The Dragon Symbol in Eastern and Western Cultures." I was ignorant of the cultural sensitivity of dragon symbols at first as I had only seen them in Western films and Chinese temples. But finishing this lesson has made a big difference in how well I understand cultural sensitivity. Furthermore, this experience strengthened the idea that a diverse design is a lifelong learning process. Every design forced me to go beyond my own cultural perspective and provided fresh ideas and depths of knowledge. This module reminded me that, in addition to being creators, designers are also guardians of cultural expressions.
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