COMING OF AGE:Christine Lai/Portfolio 2013

Por t f ol i o 201 0201 3 by Chr i s t i neYuHs uanLai

Coming of Age

In Japan, when a girl is 21 years old, she attends a coming of age ceremony. This portfolio is just like a gift to my self as I step into a new stage of my life. I hope in the future I will become a better designer as I grow more mature and wise.

About Me

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Graphic Design

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Basic Design CIS Design Logo Design Poster Design

Product & Industrial Design

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Tape Dispenser Chandeliano Future Bus Station City Medley

3D Modeling & Handcraft 3D Modeling with SolidWorks Handcraft

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About Me 賴厼蝒

Christine Lai christine19920220@gmail.com No.111-11 Shui-Yuan Rd. Taipei, Taiwan 100 +886920890706

Born in Taiwan but raised in Japan, I grew up with a very special educational background. Studying in an international school gave me the opportunity to know and appreciate the different cultures of the world. Japan is also known for its well-designed products, and living there has given me the advantage of knowing and understanding these things and the concept behind it.

As a designer-in-training, I still have a lot to learn and master at. I believe the purpose of design is to bring a better life to the world. We designers have the power to change things, and in the future I hope can use this to design a product and influence people.

about me

Education

hobbies

2010- National Cheng Kung University (Tainan, Taiwan)

Department of Industrial Design

Music Movies Fashion Traveling Photography

EXTRACURRICULUM 2011-2013

Jazz Club

Activity Planner

Art Coordinator

Violin Instructor

workshop/awards 2012 ID Exhibition - BEST DESIGN 2013 Mind the Gap International Design Workshop

Mind the Gap Int’l Design Workshop - CRITIC’S CHOICE

Internship

2012 July - August

National Palace Museum

Department of Education, Exhibition, and

Information Sciences

Language Japanese Chinese German English TOEFL iBT: 112 TOEIC: 970

design skills ADOBE Photoshop Illustrator InDesign Flash Premiere Pro CorelDraw X5 SAI Paint Tool

SolidWorks 3DsMax Design Microsoft Office WACOM Intuos 5

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GRAPHIC DESIGN

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Everything starts from 2D, including the main design course for NCKU Industrial Design students. Even after we start working on 3D projects, we still make posters, pamphlets for our products or other purposes. I also learned about CIS design in one of the university classes, which improved my skills.

I like graphic design very much, you can express so many things in just one surface, which is hard to make but wonderful when you finish. Constantly flipping through design books are web pages is a

really good way to keep oneself up to date with different layout designs.

Some of the projects in this section are from the Basic Design class in first year, which might be more like art. We experimented with different elements that could express a certain theme or feeling.

The process was inspiring and opened me up to more possiblities with basic elements.

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Basic Design

Dots This project was the third one for the first semester at school. I was inspired by the sound visualizations that iTunes has. We had to use dots to interpret different things; for me, I chose SOUND.I picked sounds that most people have heard in life and used dots and colors to express them.

Dots are like particles that make up larger things, and it is interesting how the same small particles can made into larger and totally different things.

The picture on the left is the original artwork, the one on the top is an improved work which I think more accurately expresses the sound. This is one of my favorite works in Basic Design.

graph ic d e sign

Hachiue - Font design (concept: small plants)

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gr a p hi c d e s i gn

Ripple - Font design (concept: ripple pattern on bottom of shoe)

graph ic d e sign

Traditional Grille This is an assignment that the teacher asked us to observe the traditional metal window grilles that are on most of the windows in Taiwan. They are unique in their own way, and sometimes, windows of the same area tend to have similar patterns on the grille.

Our task was to capture these beautiful patterns and digitalize them by using art software such as Adobe Illustrator.

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CIS Design: LOGO DESIGN

Designing the logo started out with desiging how the letters A and Z would be represented in the logo, and because the brand name is “A to Z”, I wanted to give the logo a rhythmic look. The A and Z are made up of one arrow that shapes the alphabets.

The “to” is embedded into the A and Z right at the connection point.

Because this is a logo for a bookstore, I thought that it would be necessary to add the element of a book into it. The different fonts have a contrast between them, it gives it an old and new image. As for the colors, I chose red to give it a passionate image, meaning that we are passionate about our business. As for the yellow, it is a 60 degree to red and gives people a energetic image.

1. A to Z represents all the alphabets, in meaning that the bookstores provide different genres of book as well as products 2. Secondhand books are passed on from one person to another, we want them to be passed from A to B, even more, until Z 3. A to Z also symbolizes the letters and words that build up to a complete book MAIN FEATURES: new books, secondhand books, art gallery and events, design products

B O O K S T O R E

to

to

B O O K S T O R E

to

to

to

to to

to

to to to

to

to

to

to

to

to

graph ic d e sign

www.atozbooks.com P. +886 2 2368 1048

No.111-11 Shui-Yuan Rd. Taipei Taiwan, 100 B O O K S T O R E

read.inspire.give C H R I STI N E L AI , CEO christine19920220@gmail.com M. +886 920 890 706

A to Z Bookstores

B O O K S T O R E

title author publisher isbn genre

namecard & envelope design

I wanted to emphasize about the main product that we retail: books. Therefore, one side of the namecard is a fill-in-the-blank for the basic information that you find about the book. I also added a flip of page that gives an urge to turn the card over. As for the side with the employee’s contact information, I included a slogan for the company. The company’s contact information is beside the logo, and the name is larger and below the logo.

Choosing pink as the main color was because it stood out the most from the colors of the logo.

The envelope design consists of two white shapes and a place for the stamp. Both white areas are for the address and name of the receiver and sender of the letter. The shapes are of hardback copy books. I wanted it to have a clean and formal look on the envelope, but yet still a little fun.

No.111-11 Shui-Yuan Rd. Taipei, Taiwan 100 TEL:+886 2 2368 1048 www.atozbooks.com

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gr a p hi c d e s i gn

day ! h t r i B y p Hap at AtoZ iends ur fr ll yo a m fro

Dear Christine, Surprise! Thank you for being a part of our family.

We hope that you will have a wonderful birthday and enjoy the gifts that we prepared just for you.

Make sure to check our monthly emails for more details and discounts!

Sincerely & Best Wishes,

B O O K S T O R E

* 1. Discounts can be used only three times during the month of one’s birthday. 2. No minimum amount for free-shipping. 3. One must show his/her ID when collecting secret gift at any branch stores. A to Z Bookstores and related companies have the right to change all details.

A to Z Bookstores No.111-11 Shui-Yuan Rd. Taipei, Taiwan 100 TEL:+886 2 2368 1048 www.atozbooks.com B O O K S T O R E

Christine Lai

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

The best birthdays of all are those that haven't arrived yet.

All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much. May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine It takes a long time to grow young.

A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents ... and only one for birthday presents, you know And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

This is a CD of all the music that the bookstore plays during their opening hours in the year of 2012. The images in the background is gems, representing they are the best. The CD is designed to be sold at the Music Shop at the bookstore branches. The CD artwork does not include the songs, because I want to leave it in the album lyrics and introduction pamphlet.

As for the DM design, I went with the theme of a birthday card to customers who have memberships at the bookstore. The card can be mailed without an envelope and includes some of the discounts that the bookstore offers. The exterior of the card includes some birthday related quotes.

I also used pink as the main theme color because it is bright and gives a happy feeling to the receiver of this birthday greeting.

Whatever with the past has gone, the best is always yet to come.

Real birthdays are not annual affairs. Real birthdays are the days when we have a new birth.

You are only young once, but you can be immature for a lifetime.

You were born an original. Don't die a copy. Birthdays are like busses, never the number you want.

Your life is a gift from the Creator. Your gift back to the Creator is what you do with your life.

CD Cover & DM Design

No.116-325 Sheng-Li Rd. Tainan, Taiwan 701

Age is a high price to pay for maturity.

When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.

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logo design:

JAZZ

ZX

nc

ku

NCKU Jazz Club Logo

I was the art coordinator for two semesters in the NCKU Jazz Club, which is one of the extracurricular activities that I participate in at school. We are newly formed club, so there were a lot of graphic design I had to do when the semester started. First was the logo, which is one of the most used images in the club (ex. posters, fliers, etc.)

The logo, which includes the word “jazz”, is also in the shape of the first letter of Jazz in Chinese characters (“爵”士). With two different shaped notes at the bottom of the logo, it is finished with the acronym of our university: NCKU. The color of the logo can be changed according to different uses. For instance, it can be changed into the shade of blue if it is in the summer, or in shades of grey if the logo is used as a background.

爵爵 First Chinese character in the term for Jazz (爵士)

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poster design

NCKU Jazz Club 2012 Winter Concert “NOVA NOVA” (Poster)

graph ic d e sign

NCKU Jazz Club 2012 Winter Concert “NOVA NOVA” (Postcard: Invitational Card and Program)

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gr a p hi c d e s i gn

Gypsy Jazz Seminar - NCKU Jazz

Jazz Band Techniques and Improvisation by Stacey Wei (Tp.) - NCKU Jazz

graph ic d e sign

NCKU Jazz Club 2013 Winter Concert “Jazz on the Rise” (Poster & Postcard) The design concept for this poster is to bring bright colors to the dark, just like the theme for the concert “on the rise”. For the poster, the English name of the concert is not fully fitted on the entire poster, instead, it is slightly off of the poster. By doing so, if you put up a whole row of posters, you will see the letters connect together and form the complete English title.

The yellow contrasts great with the pink, blue, and purple, allowing me to add more details. For the postcard, I did not use the same “shifting” effect as the poster with the English title, because I wanted the title seen more easily and also making the postcard different from the poster.

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pRODUCT & iNDUSTRIAL DESIGN

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In this section, there are four projects that I did for my Product Design and Industrial Design class, taking place in my second and third school year.

It was a big transition at first, changing from 2D design in the first year to 3D design in the second year.

In Product Design, we mainly focused on the form of the product. We could create all types of shapes as long as it made sense; we were allowed to get creative.

For Industrial Design, we looked into interior of products: the mechanics and layouts. Restrictions were made due to the inner layout, and we had to do our best to balance the form and the mechanics to make the best final product.

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tape dispenser prototypes & model making

concept & progress

This project was the first assignment in the product design class. After doing a lot of research, I decided that I would like to design a tape dispenser that could fit two kinds of tape, and another one that can be carried around easily. The main reason for these two points is because they are not seen often on the market and

that I have these kind of problems when I use the tape dispenser.

After the research, I started to draw some sketches of the tape dispenser. I also focused on how the cutter of the dispenser can be improved because many people get cuts from the sharp edges of the blade.

research → define&sketch → solving the problem → final solution → model collecting current products on the market

sketching out all the possibilities and try to solve problems

solve the problems by sketching and making paper prototypes

deciding on the best solution so far and start to plan the details

make a model (working or partially-working)

pro d uc t d e sign

Final product

In the end, I made three tape dispensers in all. The first one is called lite wood.

It is made mainly from two small pieces of wood and has a water drop form from the side. The blade is made from ABS board, and is sharpens to a point that it can cut the tape easily, and still does not harm the user’s hand. When not in use, it can be hanged up on the wll to save space. In addition, you can change the tape by just taking th two pieces apart.

The second piece is called articulation, which means the act of joining things together, and in this case, the tape dispenser is capable of holding two different tapes of different widths. As for the shaped, it is designed after the G-clef and

Bass Clef in music.

The last tape dispenser is petit tape. Instead of having a plastic or metal holder, the tape is put inside a small pouch with a button in the middle. When not in use, you can release the buttons and close the zipper. When you use it, you simply open the zipper and click the buttons together to form the axis for the tape. There is a small ABS board blade that also allows the tape to be cut easily.

Making this project was a lot of fun, there were barely any restrictions and allowed me to explore the different possibilities in form and material for the tape dispenser.

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chandeliano For this project, we were supposed to make “a lamp with an adjective�. For me, I came up with the idea of a music playing lamp.

I had a few concepts and ideas that I wanted to include in my lamp, and they are: easy to control the brightness, save energy, and fun.

save energy

concept

The main concept of this lamp is to allow users to control the brightness of the lamp easily, without having to switch on and off the light so many times like the conventional lamp. Instead, there is a piano keyboard with 8 white keys and 5 black keys. Each key represents one row of lamp, the white connected to day lamp and the black to night lamps. Also, when you press a key, the note of key will be played out.

trying blue LEDs

day lamp LEDs

model making

fun

easy control of brightness

keyboard buttons with ABS

the entire circuit (messy & crazy)

the lamp lit up

pro d uc t d e sign

model making & Final Product Other than the cutting of acrylic boards with a laser machine, the main part of the model was making the keyboard and planning the circuit for the LED lamps. It was a lot of work, but I learned a lot more about circuits after I finished the lamp.

Another challenge was trying to keep the lamp together. Because it will be hanged from a board (ceiling), it needed to stick to the board sturdily, however, the lamp itself was very heavy so I tried different ways attach the lamp to the “ceiling� board.

The lamp really works and can light up according to the keys. For instance, if you want just 50% brightness, you can press a C7 Major Chord (C/E/G/B), and 4 of the 8 day lamps will light up. The night lamp can be controlled as well, which is different from conventional one-brightness-only lamps.

3d model & use instructions

Chandelier + Piano = CHANDELIANO

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future bus stop This project is just a concept design of the future. My group decided on proving a bus stop in Taiwan, especially in Taipei. We focused on how the visually impaired people use the public transportation and want to design a bus stop system that can benefit them.

mind map

pro d uc t d e sign

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city medley

City Medley is a project that my team members Michael Ho, Sharon Chang, and Diana Simpson worked together on during the Mind the Gap Workshop. Our main theme was the “train station”, and focused on the bond between first time visitors and stations.

It’s difficult for people to face massive and chaotic information when traveling.

Therefore, it is important to give just the right information to the people who need them!

Team Members: Diana Simpson Michael Ho Christine Lai Sharon Chang

ind ust rial d e sign

concept of slot machine

Pull the lever

The method we designed for the information to be given to the travelers is through a sensational gaming slot machine. We call it City Medley.

The slot machine randomly recommends you places to visit, to eat, to shop and to have fun, and it prints out an unique kind of treasure map for the travelers to enjoy the city when they arrive at the stations or traffic hubs for the first time.

As for the logo, it can be designed to fit the culture of the city it is being used in. For instance, Big Ben for London, and the Confucius Temple for Tainan.

Check out the picked places

Print Map Tainan

London GO! LDN

TNC

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indus t r i a l d e s i gn

icons and sightseeing information

Shu ffle Adv y o entu ur res

Cards - sightseeing information will be displayed in screens on the machine, a little like playing cards, there will be a secret place thatusers who have accumulated a certain amount of experience points can unlock

icons can be different according to the city ex. Asian cities - rice, traditional toys Western cities - beer, fork & knife

ind ust rial d e sign

Cloud System

Through the cloud system, you have all the records of the places that you’ve visited, including the map and the sites. You’ll be able to rate the places that City Medley recommended you. One can also accumulate experience while traveling with the information provided by City Medley and get extra secret places for future adventures.

Future Development

We want to provide travelers with a quick and simple way to plan a trip around a new city, and also make it exciting by randomly picking the places.

With everyone’s comments and ratings loaded onto the cloud system, the entire planning system will become better as time passes, providing more suitable choices to users.

We collaborating with tourist bureaus to provide users with more complete service. Hoping that City Medley will bring better experience to users, we are working our best to improve and develop new features..

Left: Map printed out for the traveler to go sightseeing

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3d model & handcraft

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In addition to graphic and industrial design, I like computer 3D modeling and making handicrafts.

Our undergraduate program includes some 3D modeling classes, teaching SolidWorks and 3DsMAX. These two programs are very different from each other in terms of how you build the product from zero. It is interesting to experiment with different programs when you are trying to make a 3D model.

In my spare time, I also like to make handicrafts, and they are what inspired me as a teen to study design. They might be simple, but they wre designed to fit my needs, most of the time because I could not find the perfect product on the market.

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3d modeling original object

Royal Naboo Cruiser from Star Wars with SolidWorks This flying machine was a little hard to create due to all the curved surfaces. The difficult part was to get the shape and outline of the aircraft exactly like the original plane, where there was no images of it from front, top, and side view.

3d mo d e l ing

Embroy Chair by Mark Newson with SolidWorks This was part of the final test for the SolidWorks class at our department. I took two and a half hours to build this chair with SolidWorks.

The hardest part of building the Embroy Chair was the curve at the middle of the chair, as well as the leg sticking out from the back because you had to find the right place where it is placed.

original product

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handcraft CONCEPT This is a series of products designed by students of the Department of Industrial Design for the ID week in our university.

It is an annual tradition that we prepare small gifts that can be bought and sent to the person of your choice. While the majority of departments from the school choose to prepare dessert or special snacks as their “gift”, we as designers always design a small keychain or accessory instead of food.

This year we made keychains and necklaces. We worked with two different kind of materials: acrylic board and paper/wood board. Our theme was: Dream Catchers.

Dreamcatchers are normally hung above beds to “catch” the bad dreams and let the good dreams stay. We wanted to express this feeling of protection and guidance through our product.

The sender of the gift wants to be the “dreamcatcher” of the recipient, protecting him/her and always thinking about him/ her.

rose

leaf veins

ocean waves

sea leaves

girl in love

h and c raft

Experiments with different materials and components

final products with packaging

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Design Portfolio

by Christine Yu-Hsuan Lai First Edition: 2013.05.28 Published in Tainan, Taiwan