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POST 1: The Initial Post For my experimental publishing “manifesto” final, I decided to reroute and take a more personal approach to this project. Over the past semester, I have purposely forced myself to stray away from do-ing overly personal projects to see if I could proficiently immerse myself in the practical technicalities of graphic design. This in turn felt more beneficial to my work as I could use what I have learned over that time period to produce more substantial projects for the near future. Never having been blessed with the gift of articulated public speaking, I’ve relied on other mediums to fill in for the articulation I lack through spoken word. “Private/Public” is an experimental publishing project that investigates the sporadic nature of blog culture as well as its public/private accessibility. The overarching question that I hope to address within this project would be how do we maintain control over exposure through a public platform. I have decided to post to the public using the content generated from my personal blogs. Blogging, at least for myself, has always been a resolute form of documentation or confirmation of “having lived.” Beginning in middle school, I developed a habit of maintaining blogs and have kept up with it to present day. Primarily used as a method to segregate myself from “the now,” I created an online presence through blogging. Simply the idea of knowing that fragments of a more vulnerable side to myself was tucked away somewhere in the wide spectrum of the digital realm felt in a way self-fulfilling. The act of documenting one’s existence isn’t an uncommon practice in the world we live in. It is a practice that has existed for centuries… predominantly, through photography. The beauty of photography is its ability to capture and “preserve” a singular moment in time. Blogging shares similar features as it is also a medium that creates a reservoir of human existence. In the 21st century, its become second nature to publicly showcase existence to a broader audience through tools such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. It begs to ask the question of whether or a not a person exists at all, if his or her existence isn’t acknowledged by an audience.
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The word “blog” is interesting, as it kind of hovers over the gray area between personal and private. The notion of exposure has always been an imminent struggle for me—the question of who sees my work, who will judge me, and who will understand me. I seldom publicly promote and disperse anything overly personal because of this insecurity of being merely an annoyance to the general public. However, four years into my RISD career, I’ve grown more accustomed to the idea of exposure as it naturally comes with the occupation of a graphic designer/artist. Initially, the content produced within my blogs was meant for just my pair of eyes. However, as the years passed by, I came to an understanding that blogging only felt self-fulfilling with an audience, if even a minuscule one. Even just having a single person reading your blog initiates a somewhat more mutual dialogue. The web can be quite an exhilarating but at the same time dangerous platform because of its direct accessibility. If something exists online, it immediately becomes accessible to a vast sea of strangers from all around the world. Of course, there are ways to somewhat conceal what you post, but at the same time it still isn’t fully masked because of publishing through a public platform. In the end, it all comes down to whether you wish to expose yourself through a public platform, in the hopes that you are speaking to a proper audience without the wrong people reading it. From personal experience, I’ve singlehandedly experienced the web as a double-edged sword—I’ve found myself in sticky situations on countless occasions because of having the wrong people finding my blog. What I expect or hope to achieve from this project? Everything, something, or maybe nothing. If anything, I really just want to explore public and private accessibility through different platforms. On a personal level, I view this project as a way to place myself in the limelight or in a situation I would typically not ever find myself in. As I’m wrapping up my final semester of my undergraduate career, I hope to learn from this project in hopes that it might carry over to potential projects in the near future. published by J. on 04.13.15 at 10:02PM
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http://newhive.com/desfortunata/ public-private Platforms for Dissemination— Facebook Newsletter email Tumblr Instagram Methods of Dispersion: POST 2. Facebook Post to the World (posted on April 13, 2015 at 09:30PM) “Hello world—family, friends, enemies! This is a forewarning that for the next month, I will be embarking on an experimental publishing project that centralizes around Balconism. (http://i.imgur.com/ OJGr5zS.jpg) I plan on exploring Facebook as one of my social media platforms to disseminate my posts that revolves around blogging culture. I have devised a construct for myself in which I’ll be publicly blogging everyday a single post from my past, present, or future. Feel free to openly respond, whether that be through comments, shares, hatemail, and all that good stuff. (please don’t hesitate to respond even if I haven’t talked to you since middle school or something because as far as I’m concerned, that makes this entire process all the more interesting for me) published by J. on 04.13.15 at 09:30pm
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POST 3: Decoded Quote (published April 14th, 11:59PM) “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conversatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.� -Jon Krakaeur, Into the Wild published on April 14th, 2015 11:59PM
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POST 4: Just Right It’s 4:36 P.M. here comfortably sitting surface of a wooden slightly overheated
in Taichung. I am on a cushioned bench, with a laptop on my lap.
I look to my left. The window, parallel to my eyes, is wide open with sunlight streaming down on my face. The sun is still out, yet it isn’t overbearingly hot. I feel a breeze, slightly weakened having passed through plants perched on the windowsill, on my forehead. I glance to the right. My grandpa, sitting on a slightly tilted chair, has his feet comfortably propped up on a mini table. The television is blaring loudly in front of him as ambient noise from a basketball game, but he isn’t watching. In my grandpa’s hands, he holds a
Rubiks cube. Staring down at it intelligently, he turns slowly but surely, with each decision completely thought out. Although not evident on his face, there is a small determination emanating from him. Looking back at my monitor I can’t help but think to myself, “This moment feels just right.” published on 09.01.14 at 01:12AM republished on 04.15.15 at 11:59PM
private/public 2 hour open forum via Ask.fm ANON: How do you know that you’re in love? ME: You just know, I guess? 6 days ago ANON: Would you use a self-driving car or drive yourself? ME: Drive yourself because the thought of being enclosed in a self-automated car that leaves you no control over anything whatsoever is a terrifying one. 19 days ago ANON: How was your high school experience? What would you change about it and how does it compare to your college experience? ME: I absolutely loved high school. It’s interesting because I commonly hear or read stories about high school being the most miserable time of people’s lives. I rarely ever hear the word high school have any positive connotation to it. Maybe I’m just fortunate, but I found a small but great group of friends in high school and we were all just a happy-go-lucky group of kids. To be honest, I constantly think back to those days because I really miss that time of life. I don’t think I would change anything about my high school experience, because I am quite satisfied with it.Comparatively to college, the two are quite different. High school was routine but more care-free and laid-back—as you are surrounded by people in your ingroup, it can sometimes make you feel too settled and unwilling to experience something new. On the other hand, college is less routine but more experimental and free. As it is primarily a period for exploration and growth, you are able to learn more about yourself through the variant exposure gained from attending college. In conclusion, college and high school were very different but both are crucial to my development as a being. ANON: What kind of life do you aspire to live? ME: A fulfilled life.
ANON: What do you think is your worst trait? ME: Tendency to being overly analytical in many situations ANON:What is your biggest turn-off about a person? ME: My biggest turn-off is when a person is overly pretentious and is a selective talker. (somebody that only selectively talks to those that matter in their eyes). Stay humble. ANON: Irrational fear? ME: Death ANON: What do you do when no one is watching?! ME: Dance like it’s the 70’s ;P ANON: Do you believe in love? Sure, why not. ANON: If you could pick any place in the world to live in, where would it be? ME: Difficult to say. I don’t think I’ve seen enough/traveled to enough places in the world to really settle on a specific place to live in. Need to do more traveling, I think. ANON: What makes a situation feel “just right”? ME: Is it more based on the people or the environment? For me, I think it is more based on the people than the environment that makes a situation feel “just right.” I say this because in my experience, the people that you form relationships with ultimately creates the mental associations that you develop with an environment or place. This in turns can lead more to comfortable and “just right” situations. ANON: What is your favorite scent? ME: Fresh-baked goodies!
ANON: Do you consider yourself a good dancer? ME: Actually, no. I’ve always been quite horrendous at picking up choreography fast. I definitely need to get in a whole lot of practice before I am able to perform anything well. (my mind is always blown when watching those dancers who learn choreography within the hour and perform it almost as well as the choreographer. craziness!) That being said, I’m a much better dancer if I am learning a routine to a song that I really enjoy. ANON: What ‘s your expertise? ME: Procrastinating. ANON: What are your Saturday’s like? ME: I generally try to keep my Saturday’s available, just to hang out with friends and whatnot. On busier weeks, I’m mostly working though. ANON: Read a book or go to a party? ME: Go to a party, of course. ANON: Coffee or Tea? ME: Coffee for sure. That being said, it seldom ever works on me. Tea is nice too—I switch from coffee to tea in the summer. It’s weird. ANON: If you could perfectly speak any 3 languages what would it be? ME: Chinese, English, and Chinglish ANON: When one should stop learning? ME: When one dies. ANON: What color pencil you use for drawing? ME: I don’t use colored pencils for drawing ANON: When is the world going to end? ME: When the world starts using selfie sticks.
ANON: What product or service do you think is ridiculously overpriced? ME: Adobe Creative Cloud... anything-Apple related ANON: What is something that makes you angry or annoyed? ME: I absolutely hate when people say they don’t have time to do something. Okay, there are certain circumstances when it is fine to say that, but generally, it isn’t. Saying that you don’t have time oftentimes can come across as an act of laziness and lack of desire to fulfill a request. ANON: What is your schedule like this semester? ME: Monday, Packaging Tuesday, Degree Project Wednesday, Experimental Publishing Saturday & Sunday, Dance Practice Leftover time is spent doing homework, working on a Brown Motion Pictures film I am producing, making designs for RISD Dining, and dance.
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POST 5: A Story Between You and I I never intended on coming to RISD. In fact, I hated the mere idea of it. I feel like a sellout, having created all this public controversy and in the end announcing that I committed to the RISD class of ’15. Honestly, it’s a bittersweet feeling. My parents are probably right that I will probably fit into RISD better than Art Center because I will have more of a “regular college life.” In fact, I know that I will fit in and probably even like RISD better. However, for me, it becomes less about a concern for fitting in but more about future growth and development. I think that if you are already mentally aware of future endeavors, you can steer your path in a certain direction that ultimately shifts how the future is layed out for you. Of course this situation seems less than ideal in the present, but I have finally come to terms with it. Because in the end, I’m an opportunist and in those moments of time between the upcoming four years of college, I will have cognitively changed my thinking and opinions based on the here and now. That in turn will justify and consolidate my decision on coming to RISD. Four years down the line, I already foresee myself loving my time at RISD and feeling overly sentimental about graduating. I can already visualize my future self writing some dinky letter that starts like, “In hindsight, I’m glad I came to RISD instead...” So what the hell, here’s to a wonderful four years at RISD. published on 06.10.10 07:22PM republished on 05.04.15, 8:29PM
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Work Ethic Today, one of my friends asked me, “what is the one thing in your life that you are most proud of?.� I responded that the one thing that I am super proud of would be my work ethic and drive. I have always been a hard worker the majority of my life mostly because I felt that through hard work I was able to catch up to other people. From afar, I’d always admire and wish to be like those super talented and intelligent kids that seemed destined to have bright futures. I would constantly wonder how much I could accomplish with my work ethic and their natural talents/abilities. Being the realist that I am, I realize and understand that I will never be like those people. However, I am fine wth that. If I had it any other way, I would probably not be nearly as hard-working as I am now. published on 08.20.15 at 9:10pm republished by J. on 05.12.15 at 11:32PM
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