JOURNAL NO.3
SELF REFLECTIVE JOURNAL IS A COLLECTIVE OF THOUGHT PROCESS, RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION.
- SELF-REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY : JANUARY 2019 PROJECT : THE SHANZAI QUIZ / BRIEF D
IDEATION RESEARCH When talking about Shanzai, I remembered the time when my mother took me shopping to this big mall in Jakarta, Pasar Mangga Dua. It is one of the biggest malls in Jakarta that sells Shanzai products. And with that experience, my mum always reminds me ‘you have to be able to tell which one quality it is’ and she is refering to the quality of the Shanzai Product and its hierarchy. And since then, this has always fascinated me how can my mum tell the difference. So my initial idea is to put all of the information and make an infographic. Listed are its own category: ORI = Original Product Original Product is obviously the ‘original product’, the Prada that you bought is Selfridges or the LV you bought in Plaza Indonesia. How to tell if it’s original? 1. It is usually really expensive, usually costs as much as a 6 months rent of an apartment in London 2. It lasts for years though, like you can leave it as an heirloom to your children 3. Usually just after you bought ‘the product’, you’d realise you’re only buying into ‘the brand’ 4. You can’t haggle the price, like really. How to use the word? “Is this the ORI?” “Mbak, tas-nya ORI ya? Wah bagus banget.” “My LV bag is ORI”
KW Super = High-end Quality KW Super is usually a product that has the same quality and looks a lot like the ORI. The price is slightly cheaper than the ORI because the manufacturer don’t pay royalty to the brand. However, sometimes the price can be more expensive just because of the product’s availability. The product is also usually a reject, it doesn’t pass the brand quality control. How to tell if its KW Super? 1. You can’t tell, sometimes. It will look head to toe the same. The stitching, engraving, leather are all the same. 2. It will be sold in not-so official ‘thirdparty’ shops 3. It doesn’t come with the whole fancy packaging How to use the word? A: “Aunty Wati said she got it from her trip from Jakarta” B: “Ah nice, this must be expensive..” A: “No not really, KW Super is not as expensive”
KW 1 = First best Quality KW 1’s product quality is less than KW Super. The stitches are different and loose, the product is also different than the real one. Creativity usually comes to play in KW 1, for instance that YSL bag that you always wanted but it’s only available in one colour? Guess what, KW 1 has it available in 12 different colours. How to tell if it’s KW 1? 1. Creativity comes to play from KW 1 downwards— for instance that YSL bag that you always wanted but only available in one colour? Guess what, KW 1 has it available in 12 different colours. 2. The price is way way below KW Super, for instance if a Birkin Bag KW Super is £500— KW 1 is probably less than £100 3. You can haggle it How to use the word? “It’s KW 1 the ‘LV’ bag. I got it last month in ITC Mangga Dua. I haggle the price a little bit, but it’s fine.”
KW 2 = Second best Quality KW 2’s quality product is way less than KW 1’s. This is where you can really tell that it is a counterfeit product— the product does not even look like the real one anymore. How to tell if it’s KW 2? 1. The design is much more experimental and avant-garde 2. You can really haggle on this one and even get a deal 3. It doesn’t last that long How to use the word? A: “How much is this?” B: “£10 for one but I can give you special price if you get more, it’s KW 2 Tory Burch” C: “Can I get 3 for £20?”
KW 3 = Third best Quality KW 3’s product usually only has the ‘logo’ or ‘brand’ attached to the product, the product is manufactured under the lowest budget. How to tell if it’s KW 3? 1. The quality is so poor, it’s probably poorer than your ex - partner 2. It will be broken even before the season changes 3. They usually altered the logo name —Channel, Diore, etc 4. You can tell that it’s fake How to use the word? “Di beliin KW 3 aja, yang murah-murah” “We can get KW3’s Kipling wallet in wholesale, it could be cheaper”
IDEATION RESEARCH First of all, the idea is to make an infographic, therefore, I was looking into the design of infographic. I always have had difficulty when it comes to putting a lot of information into one page. And taking this project or have this idea challenges me to design a better presentation for the information. I thought of calling it “How to speak Shanzai in Indonesia� - offering a guide on how to speak using the keywords and the lingo.
EXPERIMENTATION
VISUAL RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTATION
I tried making the infographic, but it still seems like it has loads of information inside and it looks a little bit everywhere. And with the tutorial I had, the tutors suggested me playing with narrative, making it more playful and watching the visual language carefully. And with that, I thought of scrapping the infographic idea- because I am not that good with it. Furthermore, even though it seems a little bit subtle- I want the language of the information to be ‘cheeky’ ‘funny’ and ‘satire’ - but I thought of how to making that reflected into the visual language. The quiz idea comes from where I remembered that it seems like a puzzle for me to guess which product is it and what quality it is, therefore, it seems like having a ‘game’ or ‘guessing game’ will be interesting.
The Shanzai Quiz
You’ve been saving for awhile, how much is your budget for a Chanel bag? a. > £3000 b. < £3000 c. £200 - £500 d. £200 - £50
You’re hanging with your friends, can they tell if your bag is a fake? a. No, no, no —they are not ‘fake’ b. If they look really close, they can see the buttons are bit dodgy c. Um yes, the leather looks really cheap d. My bag is Channel, not Chanel Do you want your Chanel bag in black or else? a. Black reflects elegance and timeless b. If they only have black, then it’ll do c. OMG! I want options that I can choose from… d. Can I have more than one bag? .178
“FAKE PRODUCT”
Mostly A&Bs = KW 1 girl! If you answer mostly A & B - you are choosing KW 1 to be the most precious luxury bag for you. You are loving the elegance that it brings and total likeness to the original makes you feel special- and it is friendly to your bank account.
Mostly Cs = KW 2 girl! If you answer mostly Cs - You are the girl who enjoys the creativity that comes with KW 2. You love the fact that you have options and you are able to enjoy your bag, and the best thing about you is that you own it! you are proud of it!
Mostly Cs = KW 3 girl! If you answer mostly Cs, you are really practical about money and that is good, girl! you know that you can find your way to own a Channel or Chanel bag in the most affordable option. You are ressilient about this! Love!
THE SHANZAI QUIZ / JANUARY 2019
REFLECTION As I have mentioned previously, managing to put all the information in one poster is a real challenge for me- I find that difficult. Therefore, when I realised that I can solve this- I was very glad. I enjoyed working on this so much because this was very much inspired by my time when I was 15 and a lot of time with my mother. And I am quite happy with The Shanzai Quiz idea because I feel like I can stretch the idea and make different visual with the idea. And I also decided on three different visuals with it, two for the quiz and one for the guide of Shanzai Products in Indonesia with it.
- SELF-REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY : DECEMBER 2018 PROJECT : CONVERSATION WITH SINATRA / SELF-INITIATED PROJECT
CONTEXT RESEARCH Ruby and I ended up going to another Nicer Tuesdays over at Christmas holiday and there was this one guy, a documentary filmmaker from Edinburgh - Duncan Cowles. And little did I know that, he is a BAFTA winning documentary filmmaker- but anyway, he made this documentary titled ‘The Lady with The Lamp’ and what he did was he was recording for another documentary he was making but out of nowhere his mum came into his room and talked about ‘the lamp’ for about 3 minutes, and it was hilarious. And I think that was so eye-opening that mundane things like that can be so entertaining and fun. And I think that Cowles was able to create a very entertaining narrated documentary out of a very mundane situation. And that got me thinking of my relationship, I want to make something out of it that is entertaining.
IDEATION RESEARCH Sinatra is Indonesian and lives in the US. We were friends from primary school, and we were reconnected when I went to new york in 2014. I realised that we both are pretty stable when it comes to the relationship- compare to any other stories my friend has about their significant other, I’d have to say that we’re pretty chill. And I love that, and I guess it is that realisation I have reached 23 years old- I just really need someone to be there and that’s it, no extra drama or whatever. And I want to somehow highlight that with this project, in my spare time; plus I get to work on my composition and colour combination skills. Because I realised that each conversation we have every night, open up something about him that I didn’t know and that fascinates me, and my initial idea is to record our normal conversation and made a poster series about it. Working on this reflects back to my interest in Walter Benjamin’s quote book that I read in Susan Sontag on Photography.
by Torsten Lindsø Andersen
by Self Portrait Studio
VISUAL RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTATION I guess everyone can now see that I have fascination with Gradient, but in this particular context I really wanted to use the gradient because gradient looks like a combination and connection of two colours that make one image and that I feel like that symbolises our conversation- it is a mix of twoperson connecting through intimate conversations.
EXPERIMENTATION
It is important to note that I want the colour to have that ‘dreamy’ factor, colours that have ‘calming’ effect connoting the context of ‘when’ we are having our daily calls- 3 pm in the UK = 9 am in the US and 2 am in the UK = 8 pm in the US. We have our conversations usually when one of us is about to sleep or just woke up, therefore, one of us was always in a ‘dreamy’ state and I thought it’d be nice to capture that essence in colours and gradient I get to choose.
You can probably see the conversation I edit and chose are talks I found funny and a fun fact about Sinatra. I chose Futura the font just because I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be easier to read and its essence to be versatile connects with the conversations I have with Sinatra- because we talked about random stuff most of the time- and about everything to be honest. I experimented with the black colour, and it looks good however it gives the feeling that the conversation is attached on top of the gradient and that it looks separate and not blending it right. In the right-hand side, I experimented with Baskerville as well but it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel about right plus it is hard to read, whereas regular Futura already has a bit of a , therefore, it might be readable in white.
REFLECTION In this reflection, I would just like to say that this is also an on-going project that I get to enjoy doing in my spare time and to keep in mind that I have other 15 posters alongside this. I find this funny and endearing. Making project about a significant other is something I ever do because it’s like having a tattoo of your boyfriend’s name - it usually doesn’t end up well, but I thought I might challenge my self and if things will not work out (GOD FORBID) - I have good memory documented nicely of Sinatra. I have to put this project into this journal because it reflects what I want to do in this MA- to create more work that is personal for me and look at it from design objective. I also would like to add an important point as well, I have never made poster series or design that is self-initiated because making poster has always been about a brief or client work, therefore, I see it in that purpose. But I thought I’d experiment with the medium but with something personal and self-directed. I have not yet shown him any of the posters.