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Assignment 1:
Something I am!

Task

12 prompts, 3 picks.
Produce an artwork with the 4 stages of design process.

Empathy

We need to choose 3 prompts and use that to kickstart and explore the 4 stages of design thinking. The first stage, empathy, was the most initial stage where whatever that came to mind were put on paper. My 3 prompts were:

Something dark
Something hilarious
Something soft

Something Dark

The first and obvious 'dark' things were the literal ones, dark colours and objects. However, I also thought about dark in its abstract form. The dark feelings and vibes, dark humour and poems; those that you cannot necessarily see.

Something Hilarious

This was easy for me because I find a lot of things hilarious on a daily basis, but nothing beats my friends who makes me laugh which just their existence. I also whipped out my phone to and scroll through social media to see what appears on my feed. They full of puns, memes, and dumb TikToks! I also included my long-time favourite stand-up comedian, Bo Burnham

Something Soft

This one was a bit more difficult because I couldn't think of anything other than usual soft objects. Frustrated, I took a break and listened to Spotify. Then I realised that my taste in music is soft songs! With that, ideas came flowing in for things that are labelled as soft, but not necessarily what one would perceive as 'soft' like 'soft' drinks and 'soft' skills.

Define

I further looked into my three prompts, not just from Google's perspective, but my perspective. I asked myself alot of questions and questioned grey areas around each prompts. To me, what people define as dark, soft or hilarious is very subjective I dug deeper to address and re-define them.

Defining & Combining

As the stage named itself, I re-defined each prompt according to what I perceive it as. To me, 'dark' could be abstract, and any colour can be 'dark' when there's contrast. Also, i thought about a slang 'softie' would be considered as soft even though they look tough on the outside. I widened the scope of what would be defined as 'soft; things looks hard on the outside but soft on the inside would be 'soft' as well, like an egg. I also saw a pattern in 'hilarious' things: they were nonsensical!

Narrative

I realised what I was trying to achieve subconsciously, I was trying to think at perspectives that not many would, things that are out of pattern. My inspiration came from a video I came across on TikTok and this made me wonder how many things we assume so simply just because they have been integrated in our mind since forever. That ordinary pattern was the one I wanted to break.

Science is Cancelled

I realised where a lot of these patterns came from. They came from the principles and rules science has set. A big example I explored was the 'living'. Science has define living things as possession the 7 characteristics (MRS GREN). However, there are some things that seem so blatantly alive yet are defined as dead, like viruses, zombies and social media. Yet some that seem so 'dead' but are considered as 'living'. Imagine having Science dismissing your possession of life. That is so not cool.

Ideation

With the narrative and concept set, I proceeded to think about how to illustrated these concepts. This was something challenging because I wanted to be able to convey messages with just an artwork.

Idea 1: Social Media Has Fun

The first idea was to ideate what Social Media would look like if it was considered a living thing. My idea was a compilation of the most popular social medias as of 2021. I also wanted to showcase how 'alive' it was. It plays with the mind and the heart, and would still be ruthlessly smiling as it takes advantage of them.

Idea 2: Viruses are more alive than a murderer

The second idea gives to a virus. Especially in the pandemic today, it is intriguing to think that virus, in a way, murders a huge population, and is even able to mutate and evolve. My idea of showing this was to make it in a poster advertising a sneaker in which the virus is riding.

Idea 3: A Zombie's Yearn for Freedom

This idea brings life to a zombie. It escapes out from its coffin being 6-feet underground and flies to see the moon and stars. I decided to depict this miraculous moment in an Instagram Story because I believe that the Zombie would want to after envying the technological world he was shut out off by Science. The lyrics was my way of giving the Zombie its voice through the paper.

prototype

Prototype

I chose idea 3: A Zombie's Yearn for Freedom. I chose to explore on this idea because it emphasizes on my the message of my narrative the most. It also shows the frustration I have behind the pen of the paper on how much Science has set things into stone. The Zombie feels free after escaping from its coffin and sees the light. In a way, I am the frustrated Zombie, and I feel alive seeing the light this assignment had given me

I decided to experiment with the colours of the sky backdrop. For this artwork, the zombie breaks free in the midst of a sunset. But i realised a big problem, my lyrics wouldn’t match the artwork because it’s not a moon. When comparing the zombie to its coffin, the coffin appears to be dark and the zombie light. However, when comparing the zombie to the sun, the zombie is dark due to contrast. I’ve decided not to make the zombie’s facial expression too obviously happy. It is completely up to the viewer’s interpretation and understanding of the artwork to determine the feelings of the zombie

For this artwork, the sky backdrop gives more of a magical feeling at nighttime. I really like the magical feeling because it really emphasizes on the miraculous give of life. Taking note of my last mistake on the confusion between the sun and the moon, the lyrics for this one is valid. Perhaps it’s due to the darker backdrop, the moon looks brighter as compared the the previous artwork. This pulls attention to the zombie more, which i really like

For this artwork, I decided to make my sky even darker since i liked how the moon made the zombie ‘pop’ in the last one. However, it occurred to me that the dark sky (especially the black part on the top) distracts the attention away from the zombie. I tried experimenting with the patterns of the coffin as well but it did not turn out good. The coffin looks light in shade, which in turn makes the sky looks dark and that messes up the whole balance of the artwork

Final work

Final Work

Something I am:
I am not dead

A Zombie's Yearn for Freedom

Reflection

Lifelong Learning

I've learned to progress independently apart from the weekly tutorials available. During tutorials, I was capable of being intellectually engaged when my tutor provides feedbacks on both my progress and other's as well.

Discipline Specific Knowledge

I've learned to do research on the 3 prompts, and also to properly apply those knowledge by making them a guideline to dive deeper into its definition.

Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills

As the name of the module, I became capable of thinking creatively and critically, especially in the Define stage. I've grown to be capable of analysing problems and ideas and arrive at decisions in order to proceed.

Communication Skills

I've learned to communicate with my tutor whenever I was stuck, or when I was in doubt about what to do. With limited time in tutorials, I learned to ask smart and crucial questions

Intrapersonal Skills

I am now capable of reflecting upon my past work and ethics. I believe i have done well, and managed to split the workload over the span of 4 weeks equally. With this, I've learned that it is important to be consistent.

Assignment 1: Something I am!