Visual language book4

visual language

SELF-ESTEEM IS THE BEST OUTFIT.

So......

Here’s An Idea

As an international student, I found there is a huge difference between Taiwan (or Asia in general) and the US(New York specifically.)When I arrived in New York City, I was so overwhelmed by the diversity of races, languages, and freedom here.

There is clearly a difference between NYC and my hometown. What is so fascinating is that everyone is so strange, unique and sort of not even trying to fit in any of the genres so that it provides me, who is a new in this city, the perfect camouflage to blend in this concrete jungle.

We Are Soaking In A Pool Of Other People’s Opinion

I started from making a mind map and explored the possibilities of our topic.

But Why? This the part I ask myself questions about my topic to find out if there is any deeper layer of it.

DISCUSSING YOUR (CURRENT) PROCESSESAND METHODOLOGIES IN DESIGN. 1.define"mainstream" and “alternative” especially in what people’s wearing.

2.Observe, understand the differences between cultures, take pictures of weird wearing people on the street, interview them, see what they thought. Define some of the phenomenon.

3.survey: Foucault: soft power, marginal group. Karl Marx: Alienation, Jürgen Habermas: marginal group.

4.also interview people from Asia, gather information, see what appears to them.

Definition

Questions Who? I want to pass down information to people particularly in Asia who considered themselves different from others but try hard to disguise who they are, to accept and express themselves.

What?

I as an Asian is shocked that in NewYork, the mainstream is alternative aka non-mainstream.

Where?

As an Asian international student in the US, especially in NYC. When?

2016, when the internet is rampant, and NYC is considered the center of all trends.

Why? As a designer, I like to observe others, no matter classmates, people I met, and even passengers on the subway. I discovered that everyone here is not afraid to present their unique personality through their outfits. Thus, there is no obvious fashion mainstream here in the NYC; you can see all kinds of style on the street. Amazingly, no body is judging them. However, In my country, if you didn’t dress as every one did, you will gain a lot of attention by others. Therefore we Easterners will sometimes amaze by those strange and unique clothing, thinking: why did he/she wear that? What makes he/she want to wear like that?

Why don’t other people feel strange?

How? Observe: understand the differences between cultures, take pictures of weird wearing people on the street, interview them, see what they thought.

Define some of the phenomenon.

Survey: Foucault: soft power, marginal group. Karl Marx: Alienation, Jürgen Habermas: marginal group.

Gather information: interview people from Asia, collect information, see what amaze them.

So What?

I want to find out do wearing “non-mainstream” outfits effect the person’s self-identity? Will they feel comfortable wearing such outfit in public? Is the person’s clothing weirdness direct ratio than their security?

From this tipping point, I want to pass down information to people particularly in Asia who considered themselves different from others but try hard to disguise who they are, to accept and express themselves.

WHAT DO I MEAN BY MAINSTREAM IN NYC AND MAINSTREAM IN TAIWAN? First, I’ll start with some definition of “mainstream": considered normal, and having or using ideas, beliefs, etc. that are accepted by most people.

But what divided people into mainstream and non-mainstream? I thought Michel Foucault and Jürgen Habermas philosophy of marginal group could somehow give me an idea of it.

In Michel Foucault point of view to explain why the marginal group will become the edge of the society is simply because the forces of the Authority controls people’s thought. He uses homosexual people as an example: In China Han Dynasty, homosexual people seemed to live like normal people and was discriminated by others. This is because the king himself is homosexual.

In Habermas’s perspective, the marginal group has become non-mainstream is because people only focus on their wellbeing and pay little attention to others. The lack of adequate communication between people makes them refused to care for each other, especially to take care of the minorities who does not belong to any of the “groups.” The community provides no opportunity for marginal groups to express their ideas.

CIRCUMSTANCE What would it take for a mainstream trend to happen now?

I think there are a lot of things can trigger off mainstreams to happen. Such as behavior of celebrities, trending commercial that tells you what to buy, memes on the internet, social value system……, etc.

Contrastive features How has mainstream I observed in NYC and mainstream in Taiwan been different for me?

The most direct things I found are mostly style on streets. In my opinion, people here in NYC I saw tend to wear casual outfits, such as leggings and sneakers.There are also much different clothing styles on the street, hipster, goth clothing, Lolita, Hip-Hop Dancewear & Sneakers. Also, people from a different country will have their tradition clothes, like Jew people’s hat and Muslim's hijab.

Research : Michel Foucault Marginal Group

So...... I Come Up My Semeotic Message I want to pass down information to people especially in Asia who considered themselves different from others but try hard to disguise who they are, to accept and express themselves. Maybe they suffered from anxiety or other suffered from other people’s view point.

Also My FIGURE OF SPEECH.

Foucault: Historian or Philosopher?

Author：Clare O'Farrell

Metaphor: Pop-culture is a superstitious.

Simile: the in-group is irresistible like chocolate.

Hyperbole: Cultivating self-confidence is like a chicken training muscles to be a Bodybuilder.

Synecdoche:The sound of the in-group is like the banging of the judge’s gavel.

ISH......?

WAIT A MINUTE! I thought a lot and found out I might be wrong with my semiotic message..

1. Originally, I want to help Asian people gain self-confidence by providing them what I saw in the US. However, I realized that it’s another act of lacking self-confidence.

2. I also realized that comparing one country to another is not right since we have different culture background and different education system.

SEMIOTIC MESSAGE. Teenagers in Asia sometimes don’t understand that they are unique and special due to the pressure from society, school, peer, teacher and even parents. This presure cause them lack of self-confidence to express themselves due to the high value of maintaining social harmony.

FIGURES OF SPEECH. 1.Self-confidence is like muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets.

2.Self-esteem is the best outfit.

Escape & REFINE After consulted the professor and classmates. I come two conclusions:

1. I need to make my target audient clear and precise.

2. I also think about solving the problem too much; I believe that it’s not about solving the problem but to discover and deliver the message. I will refine some of my previous work.

Self-esteem is the best outfit.

REFINE : Design Exploration & Experimentation.

First, I made my code like the dim or bright of the moon, because when I think of self-esteem, I think of the process of self-fulfillment. I still like the idea of fulfillment in my coded language; I think I will keep it.

2. It’s a little bit scary but I try to use muscle of the body to make a cypher.

Self-conďŹ dence is like muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets.

Final work