Issue 01 Visual Culture 2017 November
Asian Design
Asian Design
By CHEN XIAOQI F16DM0406
Asian Design
Nowadays, Asian countries are progressing drastically. For Asian design, different countries have different cultures, every culture has their own values, beliefs and attitudes, different countries have different unique styles. They merge Western philosophy with their own style in design. Japan, Korea, China and Singapore are mostly perceived as the most influential Asian design.
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Asian Design
Chinese Design Chinese elements can be recognized easily, they are high differentiated and connected to cultural characteristic. They are signified in designs, arts, ideology, lifestyle and more. Chinese elements conclude Chinese calligraphy, Chinese ink painting and Chinese knot, those are renowned by world. Chinese elements are the important roles in the world stage.
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Nowadays, Chinese designers are more and more focusing on presenting Chinese elements when they are designing things. That is not only getting Chinese cultures popularized, but also emphasizing Chinese identity from the brands. Th o s e d e s i g n e r s m a ke C h i n e s e elements have a new life.
Asian Design
Iconology
Iconology is the study of art history concerning icons and the symbolic representation or symbolism of icons.
The logo of Bank of China is designed by Mr. Kan Tai Keung. For iconology, he designed it was inspired by traditional Chinese coins when he was designing it, the Chinese character Zhong ( ä¸ ) was put in the center of a Chinese coin, and the Chinese character Zhong ( ä¸ ) representing an auspicious ribbon. The logo was designed combine with Chinese elements perfectly, Mr. Kan Tai Keung made the logo delivered a strong Chinese flavor. The logo of Bank of China is a modern and special logo, and it also is a successful logo design.
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Asian Design
Everyday Things Everyday things in design is designers who create something with usual things we see in our daily life. The work of The Unity of N Monuments is created by Jiao Xingtao, which is located at the entrance of Asian Civilisation Museum in Singapore. Jiao Xingtao uses the everyday things to show the connection with human and art, and exploring the transformations between everyday things and the sculpture. There are 100 blue and red plastic stool chairs were put in neat lined rows, it makes visitors hard to miss such an eye-catching work. A single plastic stool chair may be ignored easily by us, but after putting them together represents a strong visual power.
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Asian Design
Semiotics Semiotics is a key tool to ensure that intended meanings (of for instance a piece of communication or a new product) are unambiguously understood by the person on the receiving end. Usually there are good reasons if someone doesn’t understand the real intention of a message and semiotics can help unravel that confusion, ensuring clarity of meaning. Signifier — the form of a sign. Signified — the concept or object that’s represented.
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Throughout China you can find the color red anywhere, Color red is also the color of the Chinese National Pavilion of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. From a semiologic point of the view, the color red is full of meaning in China. It is the “lucky” color a color of joy and grand special events, it is the color for health and nobility. Traditional money gifts are offered in a “hong bao”, or “red envelop”, and the color red is also linked to fire and blood in the 5 elements theory and used to be for warriors and the army.
Asian Design
Japanese Design
Most of Japanese design are simple, the style of Japanese design is less and fine, we can feel static and ethereal from the design. The principles of Zen aesthetics can be found in the Japanese design, there are seven principles of Zen aesthetics, which are kanso (simplicity), fukinsei (asymmetry), shibui (subtle beauty), shizen (naturalness), yugen (subtly profound grace), datsuzoku (freedom) and seijaku (calm). The principles of Zen aesthetics most will be found at Japanese garden of interior design. Modest designs of Japanese designs always are peaceful and simplicity. Cleaning, balance, order, natural beauty and ancient customs are always being evolved by Japanese style. That is Zen lifestyle.
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Asian Design
Spaces
For spaces, some Japanese apartments are small, so inch of space in the apartment is essential. For saving space, they use sliding doors instead of the normal doors. Also, there is not too much furniture in a Japanese home, because being clean and minimalist is important to Japanese design, so they do not contain clutter in their home. For Japanese style, everything should be placed with a purpose, and that is a good way for saving place in a minimalist interior.
Stairway storage was designed by Japanese architect Kotaro Anzai, and he designed it based on the traditional techniques of Japanese carpentry. For this design, Kotaro designed it combined stairway and cabinets in one, so that we can save a spacing for putting a cabinet. It is very suitable for somebody who want an uncluttered and clean home.
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Asian Design
Visual Pleasure
Visual pleasure which is visual images encourage viewers to look pleasurably.
Infinity Mirrored Room – The souls of Millions of Light Years Away is an artwork from a famous Japanese designer Yayoi Kusama. It is an immersive environment, it creates an illusion through the lights and the mirrors, there are hundreds of LED lights are hang in the room, they look like the stars in the galaxy, there is a special visual pleasure in this installation, very beautiful.
When you go in the room, you will feel that you are integrated into the artwork and you will feel the room is vanishing at the same time, seems the space and time are suspended. Yayoi Kusam was exploring the transience of life and the inevitability of death, she created such a harmonious and quiet place in order to make visitors think of their existence, the passage of time, and their relationship to the outside world.
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Asian Design
Korean Design
Until now, Korean design has been riding on global design trends originating in the West, so their next challenge is to move from fastfollower to trendsetter in design. To do this successfully, South Korea will need to tap into its unique culture and leverage its values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors in the creation of new design offerings as other countries have succeeded in doing.
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Asian Design
Bizarre
Bizarre design which is something design is odd or unusual in appearance, style, or character.
This is a bizarre coffee cup lid, Coffee Lid: Take Kiss Out, which is designed by a Korean designer Jang WooSeok. This idea was came from his everyday coffee, he thought that it just like kissing a warm kiss when he was drinking a warm coffee with a coffee lid. This design is different from the other normal coffee lid which just have a little hole. And Jang WooSeok also thought that if the kissable lid without the nose that will be felt missing something, so that is why he added a nose on the lid. This lid of coffee cup is a bizarre design, it can make a coffee drinker have a funny and special experience when they are drinking with this coffee lid. Also, it will make the coffee drinker who is using it stand out among other coffee drinkers.
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Asian Design
Singapore‘s Design Singapore has long been known for its thriving economy, a strength that has shaped a largely business-oriented culture. But in recent years, the city has begun a coordinated effort towards fostering a local design, art, and architecture scene. In the years since 2003 (which marks the official launching of the government’s efforts), global design influencers have steadily migrated to the city, establishing retail operations, websites, and an array of design-centric events. Singapore’s reputation as a preeminent global destination for design was recently recognized with its designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Design.
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Asian Design
Ideology Ideology is the lens through which a person sees the world. Within sociology, ideology is broadly understood as referring to the worldview a person has that is the sum total of their culture, values, beliefs, assumptions, common sense, and expectations for themselves and of others.
In Singapore, there are four languages in signs, English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Singapore culture has a strong influence of Chinese, Malay and Indian cultures. English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil are the four official languages spoken in Singapore and the national language is Malay, English is the most common language used and is the language which unites the different ethnic groups. Singaporeans who speak English as their native language tend to lean toward western culture, which those who speak Chinese languages as their native languages tend to lean toward Chinese culture and Confucianism. Malay-speaking Singaporeans tend to leant toward the Malay culture, which itself is closely linked to the Islamic Culture.
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Asian Design
Images, Power & Politics Images: Images are assumed to be truthful and factual representations of the real world. Power: Images have power because they present ideologies of the dominant discourse. Politics: Politics are presented from the images.
“To Singapore, with Love� is a film which is produced and directed by Tan Pin Pin. For this film, Tan Pin Pin travelled to Thailand, Malaysia and United Kingdom to interview Singapore political exiles about their feelings about Singapore. Some have not been home for 50 years. The film though banned in Singapore for undermining national security, has moved audiences the world over.
As the film "To Singapore, with Love", thinking about how much "love" would be willing risk the separation from their families and go into jail. So far, these people still cannot go back their home. The ban on "Xing Guoxing" shows that although there is "democratic election" in Singapore, there is no freedom of speech. Hong Rui Chai also lamented in the end, perhaps this generation of his efforts is not enough! But at least they have tried before.
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Asian Design
Conclusion Asian culture is very special culture in the world, it is a combination with different coultures in Asia and it has a long history. Because of the continuous integration of the entire Asian culture, there is a certain similarity between Asian cultures. This similarity is very important because it is a cornerstone of the new Asian style for Asian design. Because of the similarity so that it is possible to extract the new style of common characteristics that exist in harmony with each other.
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Asian Design
Reference CONTENTS
IMAGES
<http://iconictheory.blogspot.sg/2010/05/iconology. html> “Night workers - the iconic image" Iconology. Mon, 24 May. 2010
<https://creativemarket.com/Palau/916486-Chinese-NewYear-icons/screenshots/#screenshot1> Creative Market. Chinese New Year Icons. By Palau.
<http://www.signsalad.com/semiotics-explained/> Signsalad. Semiotics explained.
<https://www.pinterest.com/pin/550494754437559925/>
<http://vanseodesign.com/web-design/semioticssignifier-signified/> Vanseo Design. An Introduction To Semiotics — Signifier And Signified. By Steven Braddley. March 29, 2016 <http://labbrand.com/brandsource/isue-article/ semiotics-vs-semiology> Lab Brand. Semiotics vs. Semiology: What the Difference means to brands. Nadège Depeux. Feb, 2010. <https://www.huffingtonpost.com/oren-petersen/ korean-design---developin_b_4387477.html> Huffpost.The Blog, Korean Design - Developing a Design Culture. By Soren Petersen. Feb 03, 2014 <http://www.visitsingapore.com/mice/en/bulletinboard/singapores-design-movement/overview/> Passion Made Possible. The historical, indigenous, and contemporary are all blended in Singapore’s design movement. As seen on Quartz, originally published on Feb 2016.
<http://www.klandk.com/news_show.aspx?id=203> 中 国 银行 29 Dec. 2015 <https://creativemarket.com/LucionCreative/49410-AsianPatterns-Background/screenshots/#screenshot1> Creative Market. Asian Patterns Background. By LucionCreative. <https://creativemarket.com/everdrifter/739782-MandalaLogo-Creator-Kit-CS6/screenshots/#screenshot6%5C> Creative Market. Mandala Logo Creator Kit CS6+. By Everdrifte. <https://www.pinterest.com/pin/400750066833492340/>
CONTENTS <https://www.thoughtco.com/ideologydefinition-3026356> ThoughtCo. The Definition of Ideology and the Theories Behind It. By Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D. June 27, 2017 <http://www.tosingaporewithlove.com> To Singapore, with Love.
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