¥ FeelTheBOOk µ Portfolio Book 2005~2008.
This book is dedicated to readers, writers, designers and artists, who love books.
Designer/ Artist Profile Hei Shing Chan Mr. Hei Shing Chan is a book designer and artist. He is a fresh graduate from MA Book Arts at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, with the award of Distinction. In 2006, he graduated from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University with a first honours Bachelor Degree in Visual Communication Design. He also won the YIC Young Design Talent Award and got the scholarship in the same year. Hei Shing loves books and typography. His book works always focus on a kind of multi-cultural diversity with a contemporary artistic sense. E-mail_ pumpkin33hk@yahoo.com.hk Blog_ http://heishing.wordpress.com
¥ FeelTheBOOk µ Portfolio Book 2005~2008. Hei Shing CHAN
TheCONtents ß 00 ThePreface | A Process of Deconstruction & Reconstruction |
page 006
2005
01 ChineseTypographyExperienceLog | Beijing2 字．旅．情 | 02 InternshipExperienceLogBook | City Magazine: Luxurious Internship |
page 007» 014 page 015» 022
2006
03 BAFinalBookProject | 我手畫我口 Drawing What I Say |
page 023» 034
2007
04 WorkshopLittleBookProject 001 | Structure Testing Dummy: 2 Sides | 05 WorkshopLittleBookProject 002 | Loneliness in the West | 06 WorkshopLittleBookProject 003 | My Little Body | 07 AnExperienceLogBook 001 | Golden Memory |
page 035» 042
page 043» 054
page 055» 066
page 067» 074
2008
08 UALStudentUnionMagazine | Less Common More Sense | 09 AFriends’BookProject | Be*friend | 10 AnExperienceLogBook 002 | Fire & Water | 11 MAFinalBookProject | Moon. Under. Alone. Drink. |
page 075» 082
page 083» 094
page 095» 102
page 103» 110
Flower | page 111» 122 Liquor | page 123» 130 Moon | page 131» 138 Shadow | page 139» 146 Myself | page 147» 150
¢ ThePreface | page 006/ 007
t PREFACE
∏
A Process of Deconstruction & Reconstruction Personally, designing and making books is a process of souldeconstruction and body-reconstruction. This is always a body-andsoul relationship. Making books is an actualization of an idea in my mind or in the mind of a publication team. After we think of an abstract and intangible concept, we have to try every possible method to realize that. Brainstorming is the first stage to bring everything possible from our minds to the table. Drawing mind maps can make us think ideally without any boundary. Always, this is the funniest process to throw out all the stuff (either related or unrelated) we thought of. At the end, we can conclude several big issues and continue to our research study. Research is an important stage to find information systematically in order to widen the whole project’s possibilities. After historical, theoretical, and art & design research, we have to digest and analyze the information we need. We can go deeper and deeper finding the main value and the possible contents of the book we are making. From now on, we can have a much more clear direction to work on. Testings and experiments are the processes I enjoy most in making books. Choosing different materials (including paper, fabrics, metals, wood, anything related), making papers, constructing structure, trying different bindings, considering colours and texture, testing the layout designs, making book dummies; all of these make the whole process more interesting and fascinating. Finalization of the book is another significant decision of the whole process. Always, there are many book dummies. Choosing the most suitable one is not an easy job. This choice decides a birth of a new book. A precious life is in my hand. From my eleven book projects, could you feel the strength of the soul from their tangible body of the books?
¢ ChineseTypographyExperienceLog †
Beijing2 字．旅．情
Time. Summer 2005 Venue. Beijing Topic. Chinese Typography in daily life _lead by Esther Liu & Lu Jingren
“Try to read typography in another way, you will feel different. ”
∂
¢ ChineseTypographyExperienceLog | page 008/ 009
q CONCEPT
OF THE BOOK
�
It is a log book recording the experience of a trip to Beijing for the learning Chinese typographic design in the summer of 2005. The book is a long piece of paper folded in at traditional Chinese expandable book format. Using time as its main axis, the story will flow from left to right with Chinese typography, photos and graphics for readers to join the journey. It is also a kind of challenge to the physical form of a book (i.e. the length of a book). How long a book can be indeed? Book, to some extent, is the actualization of time. The readers have to spend time on reading this long piece of paper. They can feel and imagine my journey in Beijing through reading.
2 Beijing 字．旅．情 †
Total length of the book= 3,300cm
Logo of this trip/ this book
¢ ChineseTypographyExperienceLog | page 010/ 011
e PREFACE
OF THE BOOK
∏ 〈自我感覺良好〉
香港人的本性，什麼也喜歡用秤去衡量、用尺去量度、用經驗把一些人和事作 比較。自從去過北京以後，不知怎的，我總是常常將之拿來與香港比較。在香 港的時候，常常也覺得很煩厭，有千百萬樣事情壓著；又常常埋怨香港的空氣 差，人煙稠密，吸不到半啖新鮮空氣；董伯伯的政府又官僚；總之就是對香港 諸多不滿。而未到過北京之前，我對北京真的有很大的憧憬，以為百般美好也 會在這千年古都找到。第一次去北京是在去年，首次碰到北京的各樣美好，但 不及我的預期，更有一些看得我「眼火爆」的事。今次到北京，看到北京與北 京人的各種進步，也使我進一步認識與了解這個城市。對北京有了深一層的體 會之後，再回望自己的老家；雖然真的有些地方比下去，但也終於感覺到自己 生於香港、長於香港、身為一個香港仔的幸福。 這 次 是 我 第 二 次 來 北 京 體 驗 生 活，而 這 次 課 程 的 主 題 是【生 活 中‘人 與 字（體）’的關係】（Chinese Typography in daily life）；所以我把這本 l a b log 改名為＜beijing2 字．旅．情＞。 「字」正 正 是 今次 課 程 的 主 要目的，學 習 中 國 字 體 學 ─ 怎樣運用與設 計 漢字，作為平面設 計的重要元素。「旅」就是 這 次北 京 旅程中的生 活 點 滴 的 積累。「情」是我與文字、設計、北京朋友、香港、北京等的情感交流。
2 Beijing 字．旅．情 †
Some Pages inside
¢ ChineseTypographyExperienceLog | page 012/ 013
Typeface Design
2 Beijing 字．旅．情 †
q CONCEPT
OF THE TYPE
∏ 〈甜到溜體〉
「甜到 溜」是 一 句香 港 話，意 思 就是 太 甜 啦；過 份 的 甜；甜到 不 行。這 是我 對很甜 很甜的冰淇淋的感 覺，字體非常滑溜，像有點溶化的冰淇淋，字體有 種「流下去」的方向感。字體筆劃方面，橫劃是幼的，而在每條橫劃的右端也 是肥一些的，豎畫由上而下一路肥下去的，也是有冰淇淋溶化的感覺，也是的 想表達的「溜」的感覺。 這張海報用了四個有關「甜」的字來表達那種「甜到溜」的感覺，那四個字是 甘、糖、蜜、甜，各自表達不同的甜，但加起來又是不同的東西，好像甘甜、甜 蜜、蜜糖等，加在一起就真的是「甜到溜」！而在平面結構來看，「甘、糖、蜜、 甜」四個字加「甜到溜！」正正是一支正在溶化的冰淇淋。
點
橫撇
橫
提
豎
鉤
撇
捺
橫鉤
橫折
¢ ChineseTypographyExperienceLog | page 014/ 015
Typographic Experiments
¢ InternshipExperienceLogBook †
City Magazine: Luxurious Internship
Time. Summer 2005 Venue. City Magazine (Hong Kong) Topic. Internship: Magazine Design _Workplace Supervisor: Ching Siu Wai _Tutor: Kith Tsang “Working in City Magazine gives me the chance to explore and sense the beauty of publication design. ”
∂
¢ InternshipExperienceLogBook | page 016/ 017
q PREFACE
OF THE BOOK
∏
Why did I name this report as “luxurious internship”? “Luxurious” means feeling or expressing great pleasure and comfort. I believe this internship is really a luxe for me. It is a golden chance of learning and experiencing. I learned more about publication, especially the magazine design for middle class. Everything surrounding me is luxe. Content is luxe; photo is luxe; text is luxe; mind is luxe; advertisement is luxe; design is luxe; fashion is luxe; learning is luxe; experience is luxe. LUXE does not represent something negative for me. It is just one kind of treasures. It is good to experience. Enjoy yourself in this luxurious world!
City Magazine: Luxurious Internship †
y ABOUT
THE COMPANY
∂
The nature of Modern Media Group Modern Media Group has set its positioning as being the national media brand name since its establishment in 1993, with publishing high quality and stylish magazines as its ultimate aim. The first publication was named Modern Magazine《現代畫報》, and was later renamed as New Modern Magazine《新現代畫報》, which has become so reputable since launched and has been ranked as top three with Elle of Shanghai and Cosmopolitan of Beijing under the high quality magazine category in China. The Group has respectively launched Audi 《奧迪》in 1997, revamped Modern Weekly《週 末 畫報》in 1998, The Outlook Magazine《新視線》in April, 2002. In September 2003, the group bought City Magazine《號外》, a top class lifestyle magazine in Hong Kong with a publication history of over 27 years. With the joint of City Magazine, the Group’s resources and its competitiveness in the magazine market of China are further strengthened; moreover, its position as “the only one” is hence well founded.
¢ InternshipExperienceLogBook | page 018/ 019
c ABOUT
CITY HOW WHY LIMITED
∏
The nature of the City Howwhy Limited CITY HOWWHY LIMITED is a subsidiary of MODERN MEDIA GROUP. The CITYMAGAZINE《號外》is a lifestyle monthly magazine founded in 1976. It is a Hong Kong heritage that is ahead of its time. T h e t a rget audien ce of C I T Y M AG A Z I N E is t h e middle cl a s s a nd in tel lec tua l s . 「《號外》雜誌始創於1976年，為香港唯一一本屹立了四分一世紀的城市生 活 潮流 月刊，一直 以 尖 刻 獨到 的生 活 觸 覺監察 各方如 時裝、餐 飲、家 居、建 築、設 計、美 藝、環保、視像、音樂、閱 讀、文化 及藝 術等 不同層面的 發 展， 由HI-TECH到LO-TECH，又由LOW KE Y到HIGH TOUCH，並以摩登時髦 的視覺手法表現，讓讀者內外兼全的享受摩登城市的生活快感。」 ─ 節錄自《號外》雜誌網站
Size and Structure CITY HOWWHY LIMITED is quite a big scale magazine publisher and has a little bit reputation in the magazine industry. There are several departments in the company: Editorial Department, Art Department, Account Service Department, HR & Administration Department, Marketing Department, Finance Department, and I.T. Department.
Function of the Art Department The Art Department is mainly responsible for the graphic design and most of the photo shootings for the CITYMAGAZINE, The Outlook Magazine and the upcoming magazine “LIFE”. The Art Department also has to design the entire graphic within the company including the business card, the client related advertisement, the promotional items, the cityxtra website, etc.
City Magazine: Luxurious Internship â€
Usual Working Procedures
Week 1- Week 2:
Marketing Department is responsible for finishing the jobs about advertisements.
Week 1- Week 2:
Editorial Department is responsible for completing the manuscript submitted for publication. They have to pass the text and pictures to Art Department for layout editing.
Week 3:
Art Department is responsible for finishing the layouts and designs of the CITYMAGAZINE.
Week 4:
The period is for printing and the post-production. The magazine should be sold on 30 of every month.
¢ InternshipExperienceLogBook | page 020/ 021
d CITY-MAGAZINE INTERNSHIP
Ď€
My Role
I was mainly responsible for assistance in graphic design of the CITYMAGAZINE and The Outlook Magazine.
Range of Work
The range of works I did is quite wide, up to editing the layout of the two magazines and down to packing the books in the magazine library.
People Contacted & Interaction
Mainly, I contact and interact with the colleagues in the Art Department and the editors in the Editorial Department. My colleagues give the jobs to me to do and I will give the layout I did to them for proofreading. Then, the draft will be sent to the creative director and the editors to proofread again. Then, they will send back to us to improve the layout and correct the text. Sometimes, we will help the other colleagues to do other things such as packing the magazines, scanning magazines, helping to shoot photos, etc.
Tasks we undertake
Graphic Design and Layout Editing: CITYMAGAZINE ISSUE 347 CITYMAGAZINE ISSUE 348 The Outlook Magazine ISSUE 41
Learning Opportunities
There are lots of learning opportunities for us during my internship period. First of all, I can read lots of magazines, both foreign and the local magazines when I first come to this company. Actually, I can really learn a lot from reading all kinds of magazines such as the layout design, the contents, the typography, the fashion sense, the photography, the visual composition, etc.
City Magazine: Luxurious Internship â€
Secondly, of course, I learn a lot from the layout editing because it is my main responsibility during this period of time. Although there is a template before for us to follow, I also learn how to use the traditional, formal and modern way (following the grid) to design the layout. Thirdly, I once go to the agnes b fashion show with my editors colleagues in this internship period. I don’t know why it seems I learn something from this. It is totally not related to design work, but I know a lot about the attitude of the press working. Fourthly, I have followed an editor to help her for a photo shooting. I learned the professional way of fashion shooting. Finally, I experienced the whole process of publishing a magazine and the techniques needed. It is really a valuable experience.
Skills
The only practical skill I learn is the software, PageMaker, which is a useful software for layout editing. And later, it makes me easier to learn InDesign.
Knowledge & Understanding
Firstly, I totally understand the whole process of publishing a magazine. Before this internship, I thought there are many people working behind such a big magazine. However, the fact is not. Actually, there are just three graphic designers editing the layout of the whole magazine (almost more than 200 pages for the CITYMAGZINE). Secondly, I learn some design knowledge and theory, both from the creative director and colleagues in the art department. Thirdly, I know more about entering this industry. In fact, lots of the jobs in the industry are given because of RELATION & CONNECTION. Fourthly, I know the life of an editor. They properly do not have their healthy life. They always smoke. They have to writes and writes lots for several magazines. Besides, they always have to go overseas to do research and interview. They always have to join luxury fashion shows and social parties. Finally, sometimes, the working process is not well organized. Designers only have several days to finish a small fashion booklet before printing.
¢ InternshipExperienceLogBook | page 022/ 023
City Magazine Issue 348
¢ BAFinalBookProject †
Drawing What I Say
Time. 2006 Venue. School of Design The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong
Topic. Final Year Project about Hong Kong Dialect “Hong Kong dialect is a very special and unique language for Hong Kong people. ”
∂
¢ BAFinalBookProject | page 024/ 025
Drawing What I Say †
e BACKGROUND
OF THE PROJECT
∏
As an important part of the local culture, Hong Kong dialect is a very special and unique language for Hong Kong people. It is very interesting that Hong Kong is a special place combining different culture elements and forms its own culture. Because of historical reasons, Hong Kong is a place for Chinese, but these Chinese is not simple because they recognize themselves as Hong Kong people rather than Chinese. So as the language, so-called Hong Kong dialect is not the simple Cantonese but the changing form of Cantonese. It owns its special characteristics and features. Twenty keywords of the Hong Kong dialect are recorded and illustrated in this book. Book design and pictogram (picture words) design are also involved in this project.
Aims.
*To uphold the Hong Kong dialect as a kind of local culture. *To promote the local language culture which is meaningful.
Objectives.
*To record this important Hong Kong dialect in this era which many people don’t think it is important for us. *To rise the awareness of the public to our own language through pictogram (picture words) design and book design.
Target Audience. General Public (Especially 15-24 Youngsters) Youngster is the chief target audience because they are those who always use and create our Hong Kong dialect without their awareness. They speak but actually they do not know what they are saying, even the meaning and the history of the words. It is interesting to record this local culture by means of Chinese typography (picture words), book design design in this project. This “actual life” cultural book with contemporary Chinese typography can stimulate their interests.
¢ BAFinalBookProject | page 026/ 027
d RESEARCH
METHODOLOGIES
π
Historical Research.
Various historical researches are done before. More book design and great book designers history have to be studied. Although the brief history of Chinese typography and Hong Kong are already found; digest and analysis of research materials have to be deeply done.
Design Research.
I have to find more research about book design. (the process of designing a book, choosing paper, editing layouts, learning printing techniques, etc.) A design research of song ti (宋體字) and Chinese typography has to be conducted. (How the Chinese characters are designed in terms of graphic design including the spacing, the strokes, the form, the positive & negative space, the visual balance, the optical illusion, the structure of a Chinese character, etc.)
Theoretical Research.
The main theoretical research is the findings of Hong Kong dialect as a sub-culture, sub-language, and Chinese typographic design theory.
Drawing What I Say †
q CONCEPT
OF THE BOOK
∏
The whole design concept of this book is related to “mouth” (about communication & integration). “Mouth” serves two main functions making the sound and tasting the food. The mouth includes lips, space in the mouth, teeth, tongue and saliva. These parts can produce sounds, languages, songs, music, etc to communicate with others. We are using the teeth and tongue to eat and taste food. It is also a kind of communication and integration. It is the communication between the emotion of cooks and eaters. Also, it is the integration of food and our body. Besides, words with “mouth” express the most typical features of the Hong Kong dialect. It is often the result of the combination of different cultures and languages. Communication and integration concept are expressed in the book design. The combination of the 20 booklets forms a large pictogram, and it is a kind of integration. If you read the booklets in details, you can see that lots parts of the book try to interact with the readers through the body of the book (content, graphics and physical parts).
¢ BAFinalBookProject | page 028/ 029
x NAME
OF THE PROJECT
∂
I
hand
draw
I
mouth
Title pictogram is designed with reference of ancient Chinese words
“Drawing what I say” (我手畫我口) is the name of this project and this book which has DOUBLE meanings. Firstly, the name “Drawing what I say” (我手畫我口) is similar to the slogan of the May-Forth movement “Writing what I say” (我手寫我口). It is a very important movement in modern China. Culturally, plain language (白話文) is recognized as a written language. The MayForth Movement further stimulated the New Culture Movement and Confucianism (儒家學說) and literary style (文言文) in writing were further discredited. The plain language (白話文) in writing was further encouraged when the government had declared that it would be used in schools. This in return helped to raise the literary level of the Chinese, and made it easier to popularize education in China. As this book introduces some words of Hong Kong dialect, and encourages Hong Kong people to write what they say “我手寫我口”. Therefore, the main aim of this book is similar to that of the New Culture Movement. Secondly, as the main content and theme of this book is the Hong Kong dialect with “mouth”. Therefore, I’m really writing, drawing and designing the mouth.
Drawing What I Say †
y ABOUT
THE CONTENT
∂
I have chosen the words with “mouth” in Hong Kong dialect. Why I choose these kinds (words with “mouth” or sound-related words) of words in the Hong Kong dialect? There are several reasons.
1.
I would like to choose the typical words, which can represent the typical Hong Kong dialect. The words with “mouth” are so right that they are with those kinds of features such as high speed of metabolism; influence from English language and other languages; some kinds of words or phrases becomes a lifestyle; Using some words to represent some ambiguous actions; and Many auxiliary verbs and words with sounds.
2.
I think the words with “mouth” are some kinds of words that can be very playful and interesting to be designed graphically.
3.
In the Hong Kong dialect, it is very obvious to see that there are lots of words that have a pronunciation (sound) but there is no exact Chinese character. These kinds of words can be written down or not depending on the historical and cultural reasons. Those words that are not usually used will be 1) eliminated; 2) forgotten or 3) replaced by the newborn words. Some sound of the Hong Kong dialect may be just some kind of local accent. Those words never exist. They can be accepted through common practice in the public. Then, some people use the words with same pronunciation to replace those words; or create new words that can be written. Always, the self-created words will be mostly the onomatopoeia (Phonetics) 象聲詞. They are used to be adjectives and exclamations. Therefore, the newly created words we commonly read are the onomatopoeia. The method is that they use the words with similar or same pronunciation and add the “mouth” 口字部 into it. Then, the new words are created such as 哎、咩、喲、啊、喎、哼 etc.
¢ BAFinalBookProject | page 030/ 031
Typographic Poster
Chinese Pictogram Design
Drawing What I Say †
c PICTOGRAM DESIGN
∏ These 20 Hong Kong dialect pictograms are mainly designed and developed with the reference of Oracle- Bone Inscriptions (甲骨 文) and the meaning (action) of that word. Everyone knows that the Chinese characters are just like a picture. I would like to take these interesting pictures and the ancient Chinese spirit into the modern Hong Kong dialect.
Design process: 1. 2.
Definition, meaning & concept of each word
Finding the visual images, mood and action of that meaning of words (from photos & historical reference)
3.
Visualizing the words in terms of pictogram design
4.
Testing (design things and ideas for choosing)
5.
Evaluating & choosing
¢ BAFinalBookProject | page 032/ 033
‘Drawing What I Say’ Book
Layout pages in the book
Drawing What I Say †
¢ BAFinalBookProject | page 034/ 035
BA Graduation Show
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject
001 †
Structure Testing Dummy: 2 Sides
Date. Wednesday 3, 10 October 2007 Time. 11am- 3:30pm Venue. Postgraduate Seminar Room Camberwell College of Arts
Topic. Structure Workshop _by Les “If the Western part were masculine, the Eastern part would be feminine. They can combine to form the whole world. ”
∂
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 001 | page 036/ 037
e BEGINNING
OF THE WORKSHOP
∏
Les had taught lots and we experienced lots in this structure workshop. Les talked about some thoughts about paper, folding, binding and basic structure of the book. He introduced 4 basic forms of the book which are blind, fan, concertina and codex. We had tried some of the basic bindings and folding of paper. Then, with this simple paper folding exercise, Les had demonstrated how these kinds of forms communicate what kinds of messages/ concepts to the audience. Another large exercise is that we have to develop a physical paper structure from a piece of “sound”. Firstly, we listened to an extraordinary sound produced by the collision between 2 steel objects. Then, we had to use line to describe the sound. After that, we cut out a square from the most interesting part of the drawing of the line. We stack the square paper (the most interesting part) onto another paper. Then, we started to describe the image. We had to feel that image and wrote down the 1) mark, 2) colour, 3) place, 4) person, 5) your feeling. Afterwards, we had to use these words to form a small piece of writing that express the same thing. There should be a image writing finished. Then, “image writing” with each other and others had titles we thought that is suitable for that writing. each of them. Therefore, there are lots of titles text now.
we exchanged the to write down the We gave a title for for the image and
Then, the original creator had to choose or rewrite the title for his/ her piece of work. Finally, a title is formed in this stage. Until now, you would probably think that it is a very complicated workshop. I think so, but it is also playful. After that, we based on the title we set and make a physical structure to that. Then, the structure is first form. In contrast, we have to make another structure that is exactly different from that. Another form of structure is form then.
Structure Testing Dummy: 2 Sides â€
Structure Workshop
Actually, the most important part in this workshop is using a concept with different medias including image, text and structure of form. We keep changing different form with the same origin (that piece of sound) at first. Lastly, we were assigned to use our own project’s working title to make a structure of the book. That was a starting point of our own MA project.
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 001 | page 038/ 039
q CONCEPT
OF THE BOOK
∏
This structure-testing dummy is called “2 sides”. I’m studying the cultural difference and combination of the east and the west. Binding of the book is one kind of difference in these two different book cultures. I would like to combine these two kinds of binding together. The traditional books in these 2 cultures are very different. In the West, the book is very heavy with very heavy materials and paper. So, I combined 20 signatures to form this book and a hard cover is used. As this is a symbol of knowledge and wisdom, the book should be strong and heavy. On the surface, the book is conservative and traditional but it’s different when you look inside. There are lots of small booklets inside this book. If you see the bigger pages outside as the mother, the small booklets will be sons. If you see the outlook as the traditional culture, the small booklets would be the sub-culture that is very funny, colorful, active, attractive and different. There are small boxes in the booklets; they symbolize “book as a container of knowledge”. For the Asian parts, I choose to use very different materials and paper. I choose to use light and soft paper. The traditional Chinese books are very soft and light. It is easy to take in hand to read. I used the Asian binding and the oriental fold book format to make the part of the East. I choose to use a variety of white paper, as it is harmonious and peaceful. It is always the philosophy of the scholars in Asia. If the Western part were strong and masculine, the Eastern part would be soft and feminine. They combined to form the whole world. The concertina/ oriental folded way of book format is used to be the transitional section linking the eastern part and western part together. The two sides can be far away, but they can also be close to each other. Putting this book as a circle form, a world that is divided into two parts. One is the East and one is the West.
Structure Testing Dummy: 2 Sides â€
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 001 | page 040/ 041
If you see the outlook as the traditional culture, the small booklets would be the sub-culture that is very funny, colorful, active, attractive and different.
Structure Testing Dummy: 2 Sides â€
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 001 | page 042/ 043
Relationship between East & West
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject
002 †
Loneliness in the West
Date. Monday- Wednesday, 15-17 October 2007 Time. 10am Venue. Gymnasium Studio Camberwell College of Arts
Topic. Workshop _by Helen Douglas “Waiting is lonely. Maybe reading and writing are lonely as well.”
∂
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 002 | page 044/ 045
e BEGINNING
OF THE WORKSHOP
∏
Book Artist Helen Douglas started the 3-day workshop with asking us to write two pieces of writings at the very first. The first writing is about writing the book you want to make at that moment. This is something called “creative writing”. Helen said, “You can just let your mind goes wherever it wants and you can just write what you think. If your mind is thinking about the book, then you write about the book. If then your mind changes to think about your dinner last night, just also write them down.” What we need to do is just keep on writing. My first piece of writing is about my main MA project, which is about the cultural difference and mixture and make a book about this. The second piece of writing is about a place. Helen just asked us to write about a place we remember in these several days. What I remember is the “bus stop”. On the Saturday before, I went to the Artist book Bookshop. After that, I was waiting for a bus at the bus stop there. Suddenly, when I’m waiting, I felt lonely. That is this small piece of writing is all about. Then, we have to underline the words in these two pieces of writings.
Loneliness in the West â€
This is the piece of writing.
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 002 | page 046/ 047
Reinterpretation of different texts After that, we have to read the writings of your partner. Your partner did not need to jog notes and just speak out the words they remembered from your passage. It is a reinterpretation of a story from a reader’s point of view. Book is like this. It is a container of something. The writer writes something, puts it inside and closes it. Then, the reader open it and put another things inside, no matter what that is, and close it and then pass to others. It is just a cycle and the book will become richer and richer. Different people have different interpretation of stories and books. The whole workshop is about this. Helen asked us to use these 2 pieces of writings to make a book in this one and a half day. We have to present it in the coming Wednesday. She asked us to collect a variety of materials and papers in the following of the day. And we have tutorial on Tuesday.
Loneliness in the West â€
This is the notes I took in the class.
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 002 | page 048/ 049
d IDEAS & TUTORIAL WITH HELEN
π
After that, I was thinking that I could use the theme of loneliness to be my theme to make a book. This is a book about “lonely”. To me, if I have to use a color to symbolize “Loneliness”, I would use the color “black”. It is just like the dancer in the dark. You have no help. You are standing or sitting there without any help. No one can enter into your circle. You even can’t see your own finger. Black also owns that kind of feeling of heaviness, which is like the heavy stone in your heart. Therefore, after the workshop, I just go to the college art shop and other art shops to buy different kinds of “black” papers (different luminosity of black and different texture of paper) and a black cloth directly. I also bought the tracing papers, which I want to test the images and effects on them. All the concept and imagination of making a book were in my mind. Then, I have to go to the bus stop to take the photos there. I sat on the opposite road in front of the bus stop. I sat there for about 20 minutes and took lots of photos of the bus stop which present the time and sequence of “waiting”. Last Tuesday, I brought several testing of images and sketches to the tutorial with Helen. Helen was very helpful to gave suggestions. Her eyes are very sharp. And she can feel the mood immediately and then told me what was better and what was not. She suggested the things I could do to improve the works.
Loneliness in the West â€
This is the notes I bought to the tutorial to discuss the concept of this book with Helen.
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 002 | page 050/ 051
q CONCEPT
OF THE BOOK
∏
Explaining the translucent booklet in the front, it is expressing the time sequence when you are waiting the bus. It may just spend 10 or 20 minutes for waiting the bus, but the time is very slow when you are waiting alone. The time expands when it is in your mind. You can just sit there and think about yourself or talk with yourself. In contrast, the environment surrounding you moves very quickly. The cars, buses, motor cycles are moving very quickly. The time for the transportation is running very fast. I would like to make this contrast and process. The layering effect of the tracing paper can give a feeling and mood of changing, passing, and moving very slowly to very fast. I need this mood. The photos are from clear and quite to blur and fast. I would like to combine all these images to express the feeling of time and loneliness. I also used a scanned book pages to wrap these small booklet because I think, “Waiting is lonely. Maybe reading and writing are lonely as well.” I like the blurred part in the middle of the pages as a transition to the images and also present that moody feeling. Behind the small booklet, I used the silver paper as the cover because I think you can just think about yourself, talk to yourself and reflect yourself when you are waiting alone. This is like holding this book and look at yourself inside the book. Moreover, the whole book behind is in black. I’ve said before I consider “black” as the color of lonely. You are like the dancer in the dark. You can’t even see your fingers. You are standing or sitting there without any help. Black also owns that kind of feeling of heaviness. That is like the heavy stone in your heart. You can never throw it away.
Loneliness in the West †
“Loneliness in the West”
But later, if you have that feeling of loneliness, you can hide it. The feeling will spread out from your mind to the other part of the body and even start affect others. Your feeling will influence others and they will also feel uncomfortable with this. Therefore, the black cloth is spreading out from the body of the book, from inside of the heart to outside of the body. It is what the black cloth’s function. Can you feel that? {It’s amazing that I spent just 1.5 days to make this book. I really think that it’s a challenge for me. I only slept for 2 hours yesterday but I really enjoy making it.}
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 002 | page 052/ 053
Loneliness in the West â€
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 002 | page 054/ 055
Shadow on pages
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject
003 †
My Little Body
Date. Tuesday, 23 October 2007 Time. 11am Venue. Wellcome Collection, London Topic. Poetics Workshop _by Redell Olsen “I think that the human body is fragile and easily to be broken, so I would like to express the fragility of the human body in this book.”
∂
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 003 | page 056/ 057
e BEGINNING
OF THE WORKSHOP
∏
In the poetic workshop with Redell Olsen at the Wellcome Collection, I mainly found three apparently very different objects in the exhibition “Medicine Man” that I felt could be related. I chose the 1) the Doctor’s signboard hung with human teeth (Chinese, acquired before 1936); 2) Lock of hair, said to be King George III’s (1760- 1820); 3) the tattoos on human skin (French, 1850-1900). They are implicitly related because all of them are the removable part of the human body. Then, I wrote continuously for three minutes in response to each of them after looking at them carefully. I set to myself that I have to feel the exhibited items and write it continuously without thinking for three minutes and I have to group them into some kind of text format I think that would be suitable for each of them. After that, I have to consider the words and phrases that I have collected as objects for my own gallery on the page. Actually, I have to make an arrangement of groups of words or phrases on a page. It is a bit like the typographic exercise or something like concrete poetry. In the end of the first little workshop, I have designed a page of visual texts.
My Little Body â€
This is the sketch I draw at the Wellcome Collection.
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 003 | page 058/ 059
Combining found & intuitively produced text
1. the Doctor’s signboard hung with human teeth (Chinese, acquired before 1936)
My Little Body †
2. Lock of hair, said to be King George III’s (1760- 1820)
3. the tattoos on human skin (French, 1850-1900)
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 003 | page 060/ 061
d SECOND
LITTLE WORKSHOP
π
Furthermore, the second little workshop started with choosing an object from the “Medicine Man” exhibition that suggests a potential book form to me. We were told to consider the book as a container of information: boxes, bottles, hinged objects, receptacles, jars, etc… At the same time, we had to produce a text that could be stored in this book form. That could be the text I wrote in the first workshop or found the existed materials/ texts from the exhibition, which might include titles, lists, names, vocabulary and descriptions. The further work is deciding how I will develop my text further in relation to the possible making of a book form that might be related or grow out of my interest in the original object. In this second workshop, I chose the Acupuncture figure Papier-mâché (Japanese, acquired before 1963) to be the ideal book form as this is a human body that contains all the texts on the surface of the body. I want to make a book of a body. According to Taoist philosophy, the life force “chi” flows around the body. It is similar that the body texts flow around the body of book as well.
My Little Body â€
The Acupuncture figure as the Book Form.
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 003 | page 062/ 063
q CONCEPT
OF THE BOOK
∏
The above is the inspiration or starting point of making this “My Little Body”. I think that the human body is fragile and easily to be broken, so I would like to express the fragility of the human body in this book. I can explain the concept of this book from “inside” to “outside”. Firstly, I have found the meaning and definition of different parts of the body first which as the content of the book. Then, I designed the layout with the consideration of the layering effects, visual expression of the text and the sequence of papers. The feeling of layering effect and accumulation of different rhythm of dancing typography in pages should be shown in this book. In choosing the paper, I used the most fragile paper—the tissue paper to be the main part of the book body. That can both express the feeling of fragility and layering effect of the layout design. After printing different parts of the body out on different sheet of papers, I tried to sew all these papers (body parts) together. I am like a doctor doing cosmetic surgery to sew/ combine different parts of the body together to form the human body. It is a real process to make the body of the book. These red threads could be treated as the blood vessels that circulate throughout the body. They can also be the hair of the book when you combine them together. I also made the pocket to contain this little fragile book, which is made of flock paper. This paper texture is a little bit similar to the human skin. All the materials chosen and the layouts designed create the whole feeling of the inside and outside of the human body. It is also a little bit related to my main project of “2 sides”. I tried to test how to make a book of “oriental” or “Asian” style. The paper chosen, the binding ways, the Chinese titles, the feminine feeling… all of these show some kind of “Asian”.
My Little Body †
胃 眼心 面 齒 腸 肝 腦 耳 腳口 脾 身 手鼻
髮肺
】’ 】’ §•lung §•hair . .
】’
§•eyes 】’ §•stomach . 】’ . §•heart §•face 】’ . . 】’ §•teeth . 】’
§•intestines . 】’ §•ears 】’ §•hand §•mouth 】’ . . . 】’ 】’ §•hand§•nose . .
】’
§•liver §•brain】’ . 】’ . §•spleen 】’ §•body . .
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 003 | page 064/ 065
My Little Body †
¢ WorkshopLittleBookProject 003 | page 066/ 067
Fragility of the body of a book
¢ AnExperienceLogBook
001 †
Golden Memory
Time. August to November 2007 Venue. London Topic. Memory in a brand new city
“I really enjoy making books here!”
∂
¢ AnExperienceLogBook 001 | page 068/ 069
Golden Memory â€
¢ AnExperienceLogBook 001 | page 070/ 071
q CONCEPT
OF THE BOOK
∏
I really enjoy making books here! This experience logbook is a record for this short period of time after I arrived London. I have experienced so much in this three-month time. If I have to choose a colour to describe this period, I will say this is a “golden season”. Although I am not living in a luxurious environment or eating some delicious food, I feel I gain and experience a lot in this period. I can even reflect myself clearly and has a kind of independent thinking here. Therefore, I would like to set the theme of this book as “Golden memory”. This is a golden chance for me to study aboard. This is also a golden opportunity for me to enrich my thoughts about books in London. London is really a good place to explore more about books. Because of the environment and people surrounding me, I feel joyful to think, write, and make books here. Moreover, the museums and galleries are golden treasures which I can never visit all of them. That is why I start to like or love here. This is a golden experience to reflect myself and see my strong points and weaknesses in a foreign country. When I’m here, I can hear some different voices and opinions from others who are totally different from me. Through this, I can learn more and know more different ways of living and thinking. Understanding others’ attitudes and minds is really a good learning process.
Golden Memory â€
This is a golden place to meet people from different countries. I have met my first Japanese friend here. I also met lots of people from different countries. Although I am not the one who is very active and good at socialize with others, I want to meet some more foreign people here. Understanding and communication is important between us. They really broaden and widen my horizon. This book is also a golden platform to express what I feel here. I tried to design different layouts for each chapters and print on different papers. The audience and reader can feel the different texture of paper. Paper as concrete materials can give us different kinds of enjoyments. All the things in the book are my personal expression of the experience I got in this short period of time. I feel really good in this golden world!
¢ AnExperienceLogBook 001 | page 072/ 073
e EVALUATION OF THE BOOK
∏
It is very happy that I finished this experience logbook. I appreciate myself who can finish this book. I got a variety of feedbacks that they enjoyed reading this book. Book artist Helen Douglas asked me that, “Will this book be a major part of your final project?” She asked me this after she read my book. She truly enjoys reading it and she think that it is good to be personal and that experience logbook really showed my life and myself. I am very happy to hear that. I always like to record the life when I am travelling and it is so important to show my own existence as a human. It also helps me to remember how I feel in that period. Therefore, making book is a way to recognize one’s existence. I can say, this “Golden Memory” is my fantastic memory of the first three months in London.
Golden Memory â€
¢ AnExperienceLogBook 001 | page 074/ 075
To be continued ... •
¢ UALStudentUnionMagazine †
Less Common More Sense
Time. January to June 2008 Venue. UAL Student Union, London Topic. 1_Political Issue. 2_Subversive/ Subculture Issue. [Magazine Design] “The Designer role is to design layouts for Less Common More Sense which I feel new and exciting.”
∂
¢ UALStudentUnionMagazine | page 076/ 077
q LESS COMMON MORE SENSE
�
Less Common More Sense (LCMS) is a Student Union Magazine of the University of the Arts London. This Art and Design magazine is a student led publication with the majority of contributions from current students and alumni. I was the Lead Designer of Less Common More Sense for a year (2007/208) and set the art direction of the last three issues ((11: The Political Issue; 12: The Subversive/ Subculture Issue; 13: The Cyber Issue). The Designer role is to design layouts for Less Common More Sense which I feel new and exciting. I have been working closely with my partner (another designer), Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor. Through this, I learned skills in working in both design and editorial team to achieve a common goal. It is vital to be available to provide information to the Editors of the magazine and to develop close working relationships in order to complete set layouts.
Skills and experience I have developed Communication Teamwork Project Management Working independently Leadership Self-Management/Organisation
Less Common More Sense â€
11: The Political Issue
¢ UALStudentUnionMagazine | page 078/ 079
e EVALUATION
OF THE POLITICAL ISSUE
∏
I pick up a copy of the student union’s magazine “Less Common More Sense” today. I really try hard to do it for a long time. I have learned several things this time. I am the lead designer of the magazine this time. It is not an easy job. I am responsible to set the art direction, which can truly match the theme of each issue. The theme of this issue is “politics”. I want the whole magazine to have that kind of feeling of a political propaganda. The design direction would be strong, bold, dynamic, asymmetrical balancing, contrast, shocking & exciting. Because both of the designers like typography so much, we play much of typography in this issue. I take reference of Russian avant garde such as graphic designer El Lissitzky but we al so want something contemporar y. Co-operation is a very important skill when working design layouts in a group. I learned how to co-operate with my partner well. She is quite a strong girl and we both have strong point of view towards layout design. We have to discuss and negotiate to make compromise to complete the layouts in hands. Of course, I have to make sure the consistency and the beauty of the whole magazine. At the same time, I have to consider that I have to modify her layouts as little as possible to be nice and don’t upset my partner. I learned how to explain my intention and reason of the layout design. This is really a good training of being the role of the leading position in the future design agency.
Less Common More Sense â€
11: The Political Issue
¢ UALStudentUnionMagazine | page 080/ 081
11: The Political Issue
Less Common More Sense â€
12: The Subversive/Subculture Issue
¢ UALStudentUnionMagazine | page 082/ 083
12: The Subversive/Subculture Issue
¢ AFriends’BookProject †
Be*friend
Time. December 2007 to January 2008 Venue. London Topic. 7 Books for my 7 friends
“A friend in need is a friend indeed.”
∂
¢ AFriends’BookProject | page 084/ 085
q FRIENDS*
ARTIST’S NOTES
∏
“A friend in need is a friend indeed.” If everyone were a book, w hat kind of book would you be? These seven books are m y own interpretation of my seven friends in London. The totality of their attitudes, interests, behavioral patterns, emotional responses, and some of my own expectation to them are re-interpreted in these books. T he personality of each of them is expressed through book structure and materials/ p aper. E ach book shows the quality of existing as a person. W hen they go together, t hey start to influence and interact with each other. T heir b ehavioral p atterns and emotional responses c ould be felt by the experience of physical and tactile reading o f these books. The title of this project is “be*friend” which means, “act as a friend”. Honestly, I didn’t know them for a long period of time, just about half a year; I even don’t understand them thoroughly; but I don’t think it is a problem. I just know that I made these friends wholeheartedly. I think it’s enough. At least, they occupied a place somewhere in my heart. I remember to make presents for them in Christmas or their own birthdays. All of us are international students, I truly want to give them a kind of warmth in these important dates, as I understand no one can get used to “lonely”. No one deserved to be alone. Main Aims: ¹Book as gifts to my friends in London ²To acquire the knowledge of using structure and materials of books (instead of text & image) to express and interpret one’s personality and attitude ³To set my own language of structure & materials Hei Shing
Be*friend â€
A concept book of that 7 books of my friends
Preface Page in this book
¢ AFriends’BookProject | page 086/ 087
Introducing these Seven Books
Be*friend †
j SHIN
TAKEMURA
∏
I put quite a lot of effort on this book. I think my Japanese friend Shin is a typical Japanese. That is what I feel. Shin is a well-organized, wellplanned, clean person with a strong sense of Japanese spirit. Thus, colour “white” can best represent him. This kind of white would have a little bit sense of warmth and soft. The white flannelette covered on the hard cover presents that. I used a variety of white paper here, which symbolize the deepness of his personality. These varieties of paper give us a multisensational feeling. Because of the translucent paper, the layering effect of this book is being emphasized and accentuate. They also give different senses of touch, for example, Bible paper is smooth, Glassine Linen is grid-embossed, Bib Tengu-jo is soft, comfortable, but at the same time, fragile. Nonetheless, it seems he has another side inside his heart/mind but he doesn’t want to show it so often. He ever said that he always doesn’t want to say “no” to other (maybe that is a kind of typical Japanese attitude); he rather says, “might be” which already suggests the meaning of “no”. I can feel that, all of a sudden, he will change to a kind of colour “red” for a second when he is really stress out. So, I inserted a piece of red tracing paper into the middle part of this book. When readers flip this book, you can see a second of red with all other purely white pages. Although I made a white hard cover for it, I also used exposed binding for the spine of the book as I really think he can open himself more to others.
¢ AFriends’BookProject | page 088/ 089
i JUNG-HYUN LEE
�
I used different kinds of papers including transparencies, glassine linen paper, green colour tracing paper, Muji grid paper and cartridge paper. The green colour is truly my feeling of her who is fresh, young, always with selfmotivation. I appreciate her in this way. I especially made the folding of the pages more interesting and resulted in multiple interactions between pages to pages. This is a kind of expectation for her, as I believe that she has her own talent, which is not yet entirely discovered. The action of folding and unfolding symbolizes the process of discovery. Besides, elements of light and shadows have poetic interaction with the typographic images on transparency cover. This makes the whole book more related to the audience and the surroundings. The size of this book is 29.7cm x 14.5cm which is a long and thin portrait size. It is also similar to actual her who is thin and quite tall.
Be*friend †
o NING LAI TAM
∏
This book is about rhythm. It is about rhythmical musical performance. On the inside cover, I wrote to her that “Maybe, I will not remember your face anymore after ten years; but your voice of laugh is unforgettable for me.” Hence, the whole concept is inspired by her voice of laugh. The graphics on the cover also illustrate the process of hearing her voice of laugh. Always, the spine is so important in my book art practice. This one is especially essential as it is the summary and accumulation of spirit and beauty. This spine symbolizes the tone and rhythm of sound. The position of the black area tends to rise from left to right. The colourful pattern on the spine best shows her optimistic view to life. The rainbow colours used in this book can best represent her. As I know, she is a funny and happy girl who always smiles and laughs loudly. It seems it is always colourful and full of joy in her heart. The paper chosen for the body of the book is the newsprint paper which a very light in weight with a little bit of rough feeling. I think that is exactly her personality as she is not like that kind of pure white girl; instead, she is that kind of girl who is quite casual, careless and without organization. Hence, her feeling is not purely white but a little bit grey and rough. The colourful pages and the black belts interact with each other so well and they form an implicit rhythm and have progressive tones of sound. The size of this book is A6, which I think, that would be small enough to handle. It is exactly like her physical body size as she is quite a small and cute girl.
¢ AFriends’BookProject | page 090/ 091
s CHEE YEE TSUI
∏
I treat this friend as one of my best friends in London. I treat this boy as my younger brother as well. Thus, I put in my own expectation to him in this book. To me, I think he is an honest, quiet, steadfast boy with a kind of smartness. So, I used the colour “black” to present this kind of feeling. The mood of quiet and steadfast is best represented with black flannelette decorated hard cover. The hard board cover gives his feeling of steady; at the same time, the texture of black flannelette also makes us feel warm and comfortable which matches his personality. It makes this book easier to deal with. In addition, the weight of this book is important. The main paper used in this book is Cartridge paper, which is 130gsm. The whole book is a kind of heavy weight that matches the impression of my friend. Also, the size of this book is A5 that, in my perception, is the standard size of a young man. I put much effort on the first signature of this book which I used lots of different paper including black sugar paper, cartridge 130gsm, gold paper, detail paper and black tracing paper 112gsm. All these materials build the colour and feeling of the book. It is like someone discovers a large gold ore in the dark. I want that kind of surprise and excitement with joyful. The exposed spine is in golden colour that is highlighted with two hard black covers. The golden colour, in fact, may not represent Cheeyee right now. Nevertheless, this is my wish that he will have a bright and gorgeous future. I know he works very hard and I hope he will become a successful graphic designer in the nearly future.
Be*friend †
f ARISA
AKIMOTO
∏
This Japanese girl is my first best friend in London. Its cover is made of a fake leopard fur; with a tail on the back, which shares a humorous feature with the audience. This fluffy fur is attractive and impressive for most of the audience. They are engaged to touch it and feel it. It can also express my own interpretation of my friend who is quite wild, quite strong and independent, at the same time, with a sense of humor. More importantly, I know Arisa loves this kind of touching engagement as she is studying textile in design. The tail on the back makes the whole book much more interesting and that can also present her another side, which is a totally different her. I used Stow Cartridge Natural 150gsm as the body pages of this book because she is quite honest and open to me. She hides nothing and we can truly be best friends. Thus, I used this purely white to be the content pages. The size of this book is 15cm x 15cm which is a square. This square shape is Arisa’s favourite and this also simplifies her physical body size.
¢ AFriends’BookProject | page 092/ 093
x DAVID DONG
∏
If I have to choose a colour to describe David, I probably choose “brown”. So, this book I made for him is a whole brown book. He gives me a feeling of rough in manner and behaviour. I should say I chose the right colour and right paper (that is a brown Sugar Paper Bluff 100gsm) for him. Although I am Chinese, David is a typical Chinese which I feel his Chinese character in daily life. Thus, I want to use a Chinese printed typeface to strengthen the feeling of the whole book. I printed a Chinese traditional birthday story on the wrapping paper, which is used to wrap these seven signatures of this book. Chinese character really shows a kind of Eastern impression that shows his nationality by this book. I used all the hard covers for the three male books, which is strong, hard and protective for themselves and others. Maybe this explanation is little bit usual, but “they are men”.
Be*friend †
w VIOLETTA
ENSIOUKOVA
∏
This book is about “self-reflection”. On the first page of this book, I wrote: “Recognize your direction; go forward courageously!” which points out the main theme of this book. I wish that she would find her own path after her 20-year-old birthday. I always think she is in lost and haven’t found her own target to work hard. This book is a good gift for her to reflect herself clearly and honestly. The silver cover and back cover give her to look at herself and truly think about her own existence and her own path of life. I believe that her future will be bright and shinny after she find her direction. The size of it is a kind of small and easy to handle. However, after you open up this book, the pages are combined with 10 sheets of square folded paper. The opened book is the actual size of this book, which symbolizes her actual height and size. The folding structure of this book looks complicated. It can be used in pages or as a piece of large paper. Its flexibility and changeable appearance gives a feeling of possibilities. Everything is possible in life; and there are always some surprises! This book interacts well with the readers. When you open up this book, it gives a feeling of a lion with an opened large mouth. It is a little bit scary and aggressive. Actually, Vita gives me an impression of mature and strong when I first met her. But her appearance is different from her attitude as she is, in fact, a very young girl with carelessness. The binding of this book is like the concertina binding which is mostly depending on the physical mechanism. Therefore, if a reader is not careful enough, the book will be opened in an uncontrollable way because of force of gravity.
¢ AFriends’BookProject | page 094/ 095
Relationship of these friends
¢ AnExperienceLogBook
002 †
Fire & Water
Time. Decemeber 2007 to April 2007 Venue. United Kingdom Topic. Personal Feeling & Memory
Edmond Jabès: “The book is as old as fire and water”.
∂
¢ AnExperienceLogBook 002 | page 096/ 097
q CONCEPT
OF THE BOOK
∏
Edmond Jabès: “The book is as old as fire and water”. I titled this experience logbook as the “Fire and Water” because I truly feel my emotional feeling fluctuate in this term. I’m sometimes on fire and sometimes feel extremely cool. My mind and my emotion cannot keep steady. I feel really stressful, contradicting, confused, problematic, and moody in these several months. Therefore, I used this concept of “fire & water” to make this book. The approach of this experience logbook would be like a textual and visual diary. Half of the book would be called “water” book. Each page of this part is written a one-day diary. This is the continuity of the last experience logbook “Golden memory” This part contains mainly the text. Comparatively, the second half of this book is called “fire” book. A picture would be on each page, which echoes with the text on the exact page on “water” book. The “fire” book mainly contains visual images. They interact with each other well.
Fire & Water â€
Inter-relationship between them
¢ AnExperienceLogBook 002 | page 098/ 099
Fire & Water â€
¢ AnExperienceLogBook 002 | page 100/ 101
Fire & Water â€
Layering of Water texts
Fire & Water
¢ AnExperienceLogBook 002 | page 102/ 103
Cooling & Burning
I hope my negative thoughts can burn and my emotion really cools down after making this book.
¢ MAFinalBookProject †
Time. 2007 to 2008 Venue. London Topic. A whole year Book Project “This inspiration is from my own experience in London as a Chinese. This is definitely a self-reflection in a different world.”
∂
¢ MAFinalBookProject | page 104/ 105
q ARTIST
STATEMENT
∏
“Studying in and experiencing London is like standing in front of a polished mirror, my reflection is clear. I regain awareness of the feeling of my body and its existence in a new and different world.”
Moon. Under. Alone. Drink. †
This project, moon. under. alone. drink., mainly consists of a series of five typographic posters, as well as a series of five sculpturelike books. The inspiration is from my own experience in London as a Chinese. This is definitely a self-reflection in a different world. A 1300-year-old Chinese poem, “Drinking alone with the moon” [月下獨 酌] is applied to explain my story and complex emotion in London. Five keywords in the poem are highlighted; each of them is made into one book and one poster. 1
“Flower” [花] is a representation of London. It illustrates the positive and beautiful aspect of London, such as English garden and parks. 2
“Liquor” [酒] is a combination of fire & water. Liquor is in liquid form but it burns in mouth and stomach. This exciting drink symbolizes my favorite Book Arts. 3
“Moon” [月] is extremely attractive but too far away from me. This signifies the friendship (I established in London), which is so fantastic but also unpredictable. 4
“Shadow” [影] is my self-reflection, which shows a mixture of complex feelings including confusion, happiness, and loneliness. 5
“Myself ” [我] demonstrates my own personality, which is quiet, fragile but spiritually strong. Deconstruction of this poem with a kind of experimental typographic treatment are made to show my own confusion about language along with a feeling of lost in translation in a different country. A series of five posters is designed as a result. With a thorough thought, different materials, various binding methods, and rhythmical structures are customised for each of the five books in order to produce a rich visual, acoustic, tactile, smellable languages which engage audience to experience these books. A totality of these five books is one narrative. After experiencing all five books, readers can completely feel my sensation and emotion in London.
¢ MAFinalBookProject | page 106/ 107
Book Title
Concrete Poetry
Artist Book
Colour
Yellow
Red
Binding
Special Binding just for this book
Coptic Stitch Binding
Moon. Under. Alone. Drink. â€
Translucent
Black
White
Concertina Fold Book
European Binding Style with exposed spine
Chinese/ Japanese Stitched Binding
¢ MAFinalBookProject | page 108/ 109
d LOGOTYPE
OF THE PROJECT
π
Layer 1: Shadow
Layer 2: Liquor
Layer 3: Flower
Layer 4: Myself
Layer 5: Moon
Moon. Under. Alone. Drink. â€
Exhibition Planning
¢ MAFinalBookProject | page 110/ 111
¢ FinalBookProject
001 †
Flower
“Flower” is a representation of London. It illustrates the positive and beautiful aspect of London, such as English garden and parks.
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e RESEARCH
OF THE FLOWERS
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Flower â€
[11 May 2008] I visited St. James Park to experience the beauty of flowers in London. I have to further analyze the form and smell of flowers and reinterpret the features into my own flower book.
¢ FinalBookProject 001 | page 114/ 115
Flower Paper Making Process
These two are made of yellow rose petals.
This one is made of rose’s leaves.
This one is made of this flower.
Flower â€
I have made some flower papers that are made of yellow rose petals without any other raw material. After I made these papers, I am not satisfied with the final result. Therefore, I will not use them in my book. The process of making paper is interesting and finally I know how a piece of flower paper looks. It is good to make a paper of flower. I like to experiment.
¢ FinalBookProject 001 | page 116/ 117
Flower †
I tested to stitch the Chinese word “花” and English word “flower” onto the paper. These are the paper and material testing. The colourful thread gives the feeling and texture of flower. The colour trace also matches the feeling of flower petals. The colour and texture is so nice and so attractive.
¢ FinalBookProject 001 | page 118/ 119
Flower †
I ever thought of using Japanese paper for this “flower book” as I try to insert the rose tea into the pages of the book. It can let the reader really smell the taste of flower. It is quite suitable to use Japanese paper. However, finally, I choose colour trace because of the colour and the smooth texture. I also punch holes to release the smell of the rose petals inside.
¢ FinalBookProject 001 | page 120/ 121
Flower â€
Smell is a very important sense for human being. We can always remember the smell. I try to make the “flower� book smelling good and the reader can remember it well. The memory will last longer. The rose tea inside makes this book smell fascinating. I tried to use different colours and different binding for each of these five books. I made these curvy pages and bind it with a customized method.
¢ FinalBookProject 001 | page 122/ 123
The Flower Poem
¢ FinalBookProject
002 †
Liquor
“Liquor” is a combination of fire and water. Liquor is in liquid form but it burns in mouth and stomach. This exciting drink symbolizes my favourite Book Arts.
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¢ FinalBookProject 002 | page 124/ 125
I tested to burn transparencies.
Liquor â€
I tested different materials.
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e COLOURS
IN THE WATER
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Liquor †
¢ FinalBookProject 002 | page 128/ 129
I used red transparencies as the main material of this book as it gives a feeling of water and fire. This material is in transparent, which looks like liquid form. However, the “RED” colour gives a feeling of fire. I further put this book into a box of water. It is a presentation of fire in the water. It is like liquor. On appearance, it is water form; but inside, it is fire that burns the body after drinking it. Studying book arts is like playing with fire and water; which is really exciting and unpredictable. I tried to burn the edges of the book. It makes the whole book becoming “fire-like” form. I also bound this book with Coptic binding which can be more flexible.
Liquor †
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The Liquor Poem
¢ FinalBookProject
003 †
Moon
“Moon” is extremely attractive but too far away from me. This signifies the friendship (I established in London), which is so fantastic but also unpredictable.
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¢ FinalBookProject 003 | page 132/ 133
e RESEARCH
ON MOON PHASES
∏ New Moon
This is the first of the moon phases
Waxing Crescent Moon “Waxing” means growing amd refers to the size of the illuminated part of the moon that is increasing.
First Quarter Moon
Waxing Gibbous Moon
Moon †
This moon book is expressing the friendship and time when I am here. This includes the very important 11 months in my life. In Chinese, “月” means “moon” as well as “month”. It is a representation of time. As the full moon comes once thirty days on average, the character 月 has come to mean “thirty days”, in other words, “a month”.
Full Moon The full moon occurs when the Moon lies on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun. The moon as seen from the surface of the earth is fully illuminated by the sun at this time, presenting a “full” round disc to viewers on earth.
Waning Gibbous Moon “Waning” means shrinking. When the Moon is said to be wanng, we see a little less of the Moon each day until it completely disappears when the Moon is New.
Last Quarter Moon
Waning Crescent Moon
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Moons of these 11 months Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun New Moon
First Quarter
Full Moon
Last Quarter
Year 2007 Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
12 11 11 9 9
23:03 12:44 P 05:01 23:03 17:40
2008 8 11:37 7 03:44 A 7 17:14 6 03:55 5 12:18 3 19:23
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
20 19 19 17 17
23:54 16:48 08:33 22:32 10:17
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
28 10:35 t 26 19:45 26 04:52 24 14:30 24 01:16
Jan 15 Feb 14 Mar 14 Apr 12 May 12 Jun 10
19:46 03:34 10:46 18:32 03:47 15:04
Jan 22 Feb 21 Mar 21 Apr 20 May 20 Jun 18
13:35 03:31 t 18:40 10:25 02:11 17:30
Sep Oct Nov Dec Dec
4 3 1 1 31
02:33 10:06 21:18 12:44 07:51
Jan 30 Feb 29 Mar 29 Apr 28 May 28
05:03 02:18 21:47 14:12 02:57
Moon †I used the shiny fishing wire as the binding thread which like the shiny feeling of the moon.
In the last page, I used a full moon which I expect I can be with these friends forever and we can meet at last.
I used moon as a representation of friendship because it appears to change its shape all the time. It is like the friendship here. I don’t know when it will be broken down.
¢ FinalBookProject 003 | page 136/ 137
Moon â€
I used this concertina binding as the pages can be easily separated or easily combined together. It signifies my relationship with my friends in London.
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The Moon Poem
¢ FinalBookProject
004 †
Shadow
“Shadow” is my self-reflection, which shows a mixture of complex feelings including confucion, happiness, and loneliness.
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¢ FinalBookProject 004 | page 140/ 141
e EDGES
OF THE BOOK
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Shadow †
Can you feel the blurr y texture of the book edges? The shape of the f irst signature is designed with the reference of the black shadow graphical block in the “Shadow Poem”.
¢ FinalBookProject 004 | page 142/ 143
Shadow †
¢ FinalBookProject 004 | page 144/ 145
Shadow â€
Reflection and extention of the complex feeling from all the black materials. Simply feel it.
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The Shadow Poem
¢ FinalBookProject
005 †
Myself
“Myself ” demonstrates my own personality, which is quiet, fragile but spiritually strong.
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¢ FinalBookProject 005 | page 148/ 149
e ALL
ABOUT MYSELF
�
I used tissue paper for this book as I am like tissue which is fragile. Besides, this book is bound with Chinese stitched binding which tells my origin. I am a Chinese with Asian mind. You can see that the binding closes three edges. This shows I am a quite passive person and sometimes isolate myself in a personal space without any communication. Finally, the red stick means my own spirit supporting me to survive and work hard.
Myself â€
¢ FinalBookProject 005 | page 150/ 151
The Myself Poem
Š COPYRIGHT 2008 All right reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
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