Dallas Love Field Art Program

From the help of follow UTA MFA graduates, there was the opportunity to display some of our work at the Dallas Love Field airport, as part of the Dallas Love Field Art Program. The exhibition ran from March 15-April 05, 2014. Thanks to Seth, Morgan, and other UTA MFA graduates that were there to install the work. Below are some images of the illustration series in the exhibition:

Seasons Triptych is a series of illustrations that involves specific Chinese symbols representing different seasons of the year; illustrations by Gladys Chow

Seasons Triptych illustrations by Gladys Chow

Seasons Triptych 03; illustrations by Gladys Chow

Seasons Triptych 01;  illustrations by Gladys Chow

Seasons Triptych02; illustrations by Gladys Chow

book talk: The Graphic Spirit of Japan

The Graphic Spirit of Japan by Richard Smith Thorton provides an extensive collection of Japanese graphic design from the design history from the Meiji period throughout to the 1980s. Numerous design examples can be seen in this book from Japanese designers such as Hisui Sugiura, Yusaku Kamekura, Ikko Tanaka, Mitsuo Katsui, to name just a few. The book also looks at European influence on Japanese design, typography, illustration, poster competitions, packaging design, advertising photography, and graphic design education. One particular example that caught my attention was a poster design by Ryuichi Yamashiro, named Trees. The character (ki) means ‘tree’, when two of the same characters are combined, the character (hayashi) means ‘wood’, and when three of the same characters are combined, the character (mori) means ‘forest’. The characters are laid out across the space as to represent trees among a snow-covered hillside (source: The Graphic Spirit of Japan, Richard Smith Thorton, page 82). There are plenty of inspirational examples in this book to be learned from.

The Graphic Spirit of Japan by Richard S. Thorton

Research presentation – Fall 2012

Last Friday afternoon we had our vc meeting regarding the presentation of each individual’s research for the semester. It was another tough and challenging semester in research hours, but it was invaluable to my learning process and development of skills, techniques, and progress in the MFA program. Below are some images of the final presentation of my research:

prepared a PDF presentation of my research, process, and illustrations

some of the books I looked through for research, inspiration and ideas

final presentation of research (illustration print is weighted down by some of the research books)

The ‘symbol addition’ accordion fold booklet is placed on the covered poster–not sure if the sleeve will hold its shape since the sides were not glued, but I think a longer wrapped sleeve of a heavier stock without adhesive would work well, as it could also function as a ‘bamboo surrounding’ when unfolding the booklet. The black binder is the process book that shows more inspiration, research, and some of the process prints and experimentations throughout the research project.

Research on Japanese Modern Graphic Design, early 20th century

For my ART 5320: Art Criticism and Theory (History of Graphic Design) class, I decided to research on the influence of modernism on Japanese graphic design in the early 20th century. The paper outline included research on pioneer graphic designer Sugiura Hisui, a major influence to the contribution of modern graphic design development in Japan, and the influence of modernism on postcard design, matchbox cover design, and typography. Japanese artists and designers were inspired by European art movements such as Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Bauhaus during the early 20th century. Valuable references used in my paper were:

Art of the Japanese Postcard

Brown, K. H., Morse, A. N., & Rimer, J.T., Art of the Japanese Postcard: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (pp. 183-184). Boston, MA: MFA Publications.

Japanese Modern

Fraser, James, Heller, S., & Chwast, S. (1996). Japanese modern: Graphic design between the wars. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

In addition to a research paper, we were required to also design a booklet in the topic’s particular style. The book on Japanese Modern (Fraser, Heller, and Chwast) discuss the design of matchbox covers that were inspired by the Art Deco movement around the 1920s and 1930s. I decided to design my booklet to be held in a 5″x7″ matchbox cover, here are some images of the final product:

initial print out of the matchbox cover, because of the velvet paper texture a layer of ink remained on top

tried printing it again but on a different print setting, still a layer of ink so I decided to do a self-mini-print from the layer of ink

here is the ‘print’ from the layer of ink from the inkjet print

matchbox cover design with match illustration as the cover of the book

taking the book out of the matchbox

opening up the book to the title page

opening up the booklet, with the research paper and presentation underneath

submitting the final deliverables: research paper, presentation, matchbox cover with booklet, and CD containing all digital files

director and designer Karin Fong

For yesterday’s mfa vc meeting we each were to research a designer/illustrator/interactive artist for a 10 minute presentation to the group. There are so many people that are inspirational in the work we create… after some searching, I’ve decided to research a little more on director and designer Karin Fong. Karin Fong is a founding member of Imaginary Forces, a creative studio and production company. A lot of her work involves the direction, production, design of film sequences for film and tv series. She has designed/directed film sequences for films such as Charlie’s Angels, Terminator Salvation, Charlotte’s Web, Clockstoppers, The Pink Panther 2, just to name a few. She has also directed commercial campaigns for Herman Miller, Target, and Honda. She has been involved in large-scale video installations at Lincoln Center, Las Vegas, Times Square, and her work as appeared in numerous publications on design and film. Karin Fong’s work involves the element of surprise, is full of cleverness, and resonates with the audience, taking the viewer on a journey.

Resources for more information to view some of the film title sequences designed/directed by Karin Fong:

http://www.aiga.org/design-journeys-karin-fong/
http://www.artofthetitle.com/designer/karin-fong/
http://www.imaginaryforces.com/directors/karin-fong/4717/
http://vimeo.com/17420895
http://www.watchthetitles.com/designers/Karin_Fong
http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/0047-Daredevil
http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/rubicon/

midterm group critique-fall 2012

Just completed a midterm group critique session yesterday. Guided by faculty, the midterm group critique is a discussion of work progress of MFA students from different concentrations in the art department. This midterm group critique was guided by Assistant Professor Tore Terrasi, and students included Elisha Burley, Maryam Rezaei, and myself. Each student discusses their work for about 20-30 minutes and the remainder of the hour is left for comments and questions. I presented my current research on Chinese symbolism and the series of illustrations to date. I’ve received some valuable feedback from Professor Terrasi and my colleagues. They suggested researching further into the significance of the symbols, perhaps how the symbols would be portrayed or conveyed in different context; looking at ‘polyculturalism’ instead of ‘biculturalism’; looking at the misunderstandings of society; merging of potential cultural tensions; seeing the balance between cultures and thoughts; turn misunderstandings/hate to appreciation; explore Chinese Canadian heritage with a wider vision; research at least five symbols that truly represent Canadian culture (mountains?); thinking about illustrations as design pieces compared to art pieces–what if the same illustration was completed traditionally as an art piece and placed next to a more modern method of a digital print?; continue with the concept of traditional contrast with modern; the line between art and design; perhaps illustrations could turn into a series of stamps to commemorate certain cultures, cultural activity; looking at the brand of China; researching the evolution of Canadian symbols; thinking about identity (a ‘melting pot’ of cultures); create Canadian symbols using a similar illustration style; how to give a voice/build awareness of culture/cultural groups?; sense of cultural identity; revisit exploration of Canadian and Chinese cultural integration; how to help cultures to interpret the design?; series of illustrations just about the image without type…

Thankful for all the valuable feedback–a lot to think about!

Presenting current research progress at my workstation

semiotics: definition?

Today’s vc grad meeting was a discussion on semiotics, and how it relates to design, visual communication, what we do in our areas of expertise. We discussed words that relate to defining semiotics, such as globalization, communication, ethnography, linguistics, pragmatics, visualization, symbols, synthesis, creation, organization…to name a few. Near the end of our discussion, we tried to combine our thoughts together to form a cohesive definition. Some of the definitions of semiotics: “a broad form of communication that is highly visual and engages a universal audience” (Mattman); “creating a universal language effectively mind controlling” (Kevin); “effectively communicating an idea equally to everyone” (Josh); “effectively universally communicating”, “effectively communicating universally”, “universally communicating effectively” (Shaban/Josh); “utilizing a variety of communication methods to convey an intended message to connect to an audience” (Gladys).

Some of my notes written down from the discussion:
-synthesizing information
-concern for meaning
-study of signs
-language: structure
-metaphor, analogy
-communication
-syntax relationship
-summarizing images, relationships
-designers control
-morphology
-mind control
-terminology: words to feed into discipline
-delivery of media
-ethnography, anthropologists
-globalization
-expectations
-delivery
-computational syntax
-arrangement of symbols
-syntax-rules used in signs
-pragmatics: context contributes to meaning
-visual communication: theory, history, research, presenting information
-theoretical vs functional
-persuade/convey info
-universal language
-levels of signs/understanding
-international language
-primary languages
-consumption
-designers have influence
-systematic process
-graphic design

What’s left on the page from the team? “universally communicating a message and having it understood”; “achieving a desired result to make known by everyone in every case” Some images from the meeting:

writing down words related to semiotics

Shaban mentioned that designers are the ‘arrows’…connecting to globalization, communication, ethnography

a cat ‘synthesizing information’ (Mattman)

more words on semiotics (Shaban and Josh)

more words on semiotics (Kevin)

the team hard at work (Matt, Kevin, Josh, Shaban)

MFA committee meeting

Just finished a semester MFA committee meeting (this is the meeting before the MFA mid-program review in February, mid-program review meeting determines whether one can continue in the program or needs further work to continue in the program). For this meeting, I presented my research on cultural symbols and their influence on design. I received several suggestions and guidance continuing on with my research and developing potential thesis projects. Comments/questions: thinking about the target audience (broader audience, not just CBCs), elements of culture, cultural sustainability, have the symbols been lost? what have the symbols been lost? should people care about the symbols? how does this lead to interpretations of the symbols? need to have a more obvious statement of what the research is about, what is the problem/message?, present solutions, stronger narrative/statement, is culture more on sustainability or preservation? what do you want to say? broaden scope?, seek out areas/habitat, exploration, animation, sound, identity peaks of decline in culture, identify dying arts, where are you headed? contemporary designer–how is it presented? need to be more in control of the presentation, work on projection of voice, work on the end of program statement, what is your product as an individual when you leave?, how do you resonate as a person? what do you want that to be? beginning point-discovery, what are you comfortable, interested to pursue?, final discovery for oneself, solid idea express what you are doing, work on statement/expression, innovated/elevated experiences, write about the journey, think about 10 potential thesis projects…

Books to consider:

Lost Japan, by Alex Kerr

Dogs and Demons, by Alex Kerr

outline of the meeting

City of Arlington branding: design process with identity

The city of Arlington contains multiple signage and branding elements. As part of our presentation, I’ve experimented with some potential logomarks–looking at shapes, frames, the star, and typographic elements.

experimenting with potential logomarks for the City of Arlington

experimenting with the relationship of a frame; segments of each frame representing a specific area/section of Arlington

experimenting with color–each color to represent a specific area in Arlington

potential way-finding signage

potential way-finding signage with an interactive screen

potential t-shirt design for Arlington

potential t-shirt design no.2 for Arlington

potential t-shirt design no.3 for the Arlington

City of Arlington branding

At the beginning of the semester, the UT Arlington visual communication graduates were given a unique opportunity to develop potential taglines/slogans, and provide branding solutions, to the City of Arlington. Guided by our faculty mentor, Professor Robert Hower, we worked hard as a group, researching, taking, gathering photographs that represent Arlington, and also coming up with potential slogans as well as other branding solutions related to identity, way-finding signage, advertising, interactive/online solutions, t-shirts, and preparing all the research and materials to present to city representatives. We narrowed our slogans to the top three: Arlington (with ‘in’ highlighted); Something for everyone; Uncover the Culture. Below are a few images of the creative process and the team!

our bulletin board of research on the City of Arlington

printouts of our research

printouts of our research

the Visual Communication grads at UT Arlington (left to right): Matt, Kevin, Maryam, Shaban, Josh, Gladys

first page of our presentation slide

presentation agenda

presentation slide: words to describe Arlington

presentation slide: potential slogans for Arlington