Responsive Mark (Bonny)

设计 THIS IS THE COVER FOR BONNY’S MFA DESIGN THESIS BOOK

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2015

2018

国 Qianying

Guo

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Sketchbook / Sketch from Ipad / Photo from Iphone 2015 summer

Sketchbook / Sketch from Ipad / Photo from Iphone 2015 summer

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Sketchbook / Photo from Iphone 2015-2016

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Abstract

Introduction

1. Design in General

2. Mark Making 1.0

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90 108

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3. Tangible Graphic

4. Tangible Graphic x Hand Drawing

5. White Cube Challenge |

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8. Last Chapter But This Is 252 NOT the End

7. Mark Making 2.0

6. White Cube Challenge || 182

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Drawing + Photoshop 2016-2017

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Abstra

This is an exploration process about mark making in the physical world.

I love this hands-on experience. It brings all kinds of surprises to me.

A visual vocabulary has been developed during these experiments. And the most important fact is :

act

I’M HAVING FUN!

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The conversation also happends among vairous marks and viewers.

The marks are influenced by the existing and new formed conditions and environments and generate unpredictable moments.

Abstract

I have been trying to start a conversation between the marks and physical world through applying different methods of leaving traces.

The “Responsive Marks� discussed in this book are based on all these different kinds of interactions.

These hand-made marks also have discontinuous forms seeing at different scales.

The visual hierarchy of physical artifacts shows that the accumulation of quantity eventually produces a change in quality.

the seen

between

hiding

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hand-made marks

between

spaces

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in the small

The beauty lives

see.

we cannot

and all

ALL THAT WE CANNOT SEE

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My mark making process generates surprises, unpleasant, unexpected and unique visual elements that can’t be repeated or reproduced. Yet it is also about the process of discoverying new findings.

The truth of graphic design lays in various scales / levels. The reproduced can only show or reveal partial truth.

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One of the advantage of digital tools is the perfection in various scales (from app icon to billboards) which indicates an universal truth and Utopian illusion.

This project explores the use of tangible tools and strategies during mark making to reveal the unexpected beauty along various steps in different scales.

Exploration process started from my doodle addiction.

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The transitions between 2D/3D and physical/digital world are also discussed in this book. The natural physical/chemical laws are amplified and emphasized. This is also a method of visualizing scientific rules in the world in which our bodies exist.

INTRODUCTION

Then it expanded into other materials/ media/... with more systemtical experiments.

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1 DESIGN IN GENERAL

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Why design school?

I already had a MS and was one year away from getting a PhD in engineering when I applied for the design MFA program.

I think I am pretty good at solving problems through years of engineer trainings.

I need to make objects ‘cool enough’ to sell. That was the major reason I came.

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Look back now

I think I was rather more ignorant than naive when looking back at myself today.

Yet, that same thought about design is pretty common among the people outside design school unfortunately.

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What is design?

“Graphic design, also known as communication design, is the art and practice of planning and practicing ideas and experiences with visual and textual content.”

“A design method is a repeatable way of doing things that can be further broken down into processes.” <The AIGA Guide to Careers in Graphic & Communication Design> Juliette Cezzar

After three years design education, the only thing I am 100% sure is my misunderstanding about design.

Yet, I am afraid I still donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what design really means.

But I learned new ways of seeing.

Design school gave me a new set of eyes with what to see this world and myself.

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Design itself became a tool/method/media for me to explore, discover and understand myself. I know myself better due to design.

I was also trying to create my own visual vocabulary. If design is a language without words, then I would love to have my own system of communication.

“Design … has become reflective process, going beyond pure function to take into account experience, knowledge, and emotions. Objects … now seeking new possibilities of communication to transmit our responses, feelings, and aspirations.”

<High Touch: The New Materialism in Design> Robert Janjigian

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INTERVIEW WITH YEN-WEI LIU (Y), MAXIME HARVEY (M) BY LINDA VAN DEURSEN (L) L: Do you think the idea of a thesis is beneficial to developing work?

Y: It helps you frame things. Having a thesis is setting ground rules or criteria of judgement for yourself to focus on what you can do. I think I work better with some given rules or framework.

L: Can you imagine applying this thesis to your practice after you leave school?

Y: My thesis if roughly based on the M: Yeah. fact of being a foreigner in a foreign country. I use it as a foundation to develop work that hopefully engages a wider audience, but I think it’s only natural if you shift the focus of your thesis in the future as your attention shifts to something else. For me, even if that happens, it probably will still fall within the canon of identity, considering that it’s such an overarching topic to start with.

L: Putting aside what you experience and learn as a designer at Yale, do you think the name Yale carries certain values on your CV? Does it open doors for you? Is there an intrinsic value to this?

Y: Well, I think it probably does int M: A bankable the beginning. Maybe right after neoliberal mark graduation, but it’s not going to last on your resume, long. In the long run, you’re on your that sounds own. You need to sustain an interesting right. practice without this name. The name is not bankable forever. <GRAPHIC> #22 Yale

2 MARK MAKING 1.0

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Keith Haring drawing in New York, 1985

Notes on a bottle of sparkling water

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I draw, therefore I am.

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INTERVIEW WITH WAYNE KOESTENBAUM (W) BY RYAN WEAFER (R) R: Your own identity and your works are closely connected. Could you say a bit about how you navigate this relationship?

W: What’s to navigate? I’m always me, even when I’m trying not to be. I wish I had a choice: I wish I could be not me.

Eileen Myles did a good job, in her great long poem “Not Me.” Her point: those of us who write autobiographically also reserve the right to be liars, fabricators, theorists, pontificators, generalizers.

I like to rhapsodize about “humanity,” even if “human” is an irrelevant word. ...

R: Who and what are you paying attention to right now?

W: I am paying attention to Jean Dubuffet. I am paying attention to what some art critics call “markmaking.” I am paying attention to lines, smudges, squiggles, curves, trapezoids, circles.

<GRAPHIC> #22 Yale

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INTERVIEW WITH BONNY BY BONNY

How did you start making marks? What media? And Why? I started by drawing all kinds of lines.

My choices of pens and paper are crucial. I have to say they partially decide the relative relationship between time and the mark making process.

Does hesitation leave a trace? What is the difference between one second, one minute and one hour for drawing one line?

Yes. I have been aware that time is inversely proportional to control during mark making. Worse lines with more time.

What role does intention play during this process?

The intension is less important then what my hands feel during mark making and what I observe and discover.

Does trained muscle help to make a better mark?

The muscle memory helps to translate the concept onto the media faster.

Yet, it also faces the risk of losing the sensibility of interaction between marks.

What is the quality of one line? Or a group of lines?

One line drawing honestly records the graphic and processes making the graphic.

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Trying to answer some of these questions, I started practicing one line drawing.

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After a few months of aimless attempts, I became addicted to drawing with those Sharpies.

They are cheap, handy and easy to control. Also they can draw on different surfaces.

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ates. ie cre arp Sh

I love t he sm oot h

lines

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At the same time, I am highly influenced

by Keith Haring after seeing his work. I started to believe in myself of the ability of drawing.

Drawing becomes an important and necessary part of my life. I feel relaxed and released through transferring thoughts and concepts from my mind onto a piece of paper.

A Sharpie drawing machine

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After doing endless similar drawings for a while, I started to question myself: o t o Id

n a c at e? h W rov imp e h r t e t s c e a o r d a t h a c h g W atin r e o f p f y re n? o g e d t n a i ra e k t s a m Is it nwash ? i g a r n i b t e k r a m , e c r e o i p n g t i r s a e n d a , Is it tration s u l l i ? d n bra

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I realized the lack of changes on line weight, scale and media.

After the visual languages of the lines are developed, I used ink and spray paint for more expereiments.

I also tried a few different scales of drawing with these new mark making tools.

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Large scale wall drawing drives movement of whole body during mark making, which creates limitations and new challenge.

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I also tried drawing on 3D objects.

The color, graphic, function, shape and characters of objects affect decision making.

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<Design as Art> by Bruno Munari

My studio space

â&#x20AC;&#x153;When the objects we use every day and the surroundings we live in have become in themselves a work of art, then we shall be able to say that we have achieved a balanced life.â&#x20AC;?

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Drawing becomes a part of my daily life, which separates my design work.

How can I design with my drawings?

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PHYSICAL INTERACTION XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX PHOTOGRAPHY XXXXXX DRAWING XXXX GRAPHIC DESIGN XXXXXXX

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This project is an experimental attempt for alternative experiences.

The oddness of graphic design helps the viewers to better understand the concept of this project.

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Poster design for Ji Won Jun with Tianfu Liu (left) Poster design from Geoff McFetridge (up)

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Poster design from Peter Bankov (up) Poster design for Hugo Eccles with Yangyifan Dong (right)

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3 TANGIBLE

GRAPHIC

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Expanding the canvas into various 3d objects. Especially applying craft during the design process.

Hand-made objects are not perfect. those human marks left in the process evoke emotions and memories.

I always appreciate the hand-making process. There are history, memory, warmth and emotions from the human traces.

The efforts of removing the human marks during craft process trying to make it â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;perfectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is the representation of human being as a race trying to be the elite and singularity on earth.

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There are many differences between graphics created by digital tools and tangible objects. Nothing is absolute good or bad.

It depends on the time, context anppd personal preference.

The recent trend of Wabi Sabi becoming more and more popular indicates the increasing need for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;human touchesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

I listed the elements what I think are important after comparison.

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Physical - no perfect lines - craft marks left - no two the same - follow natural laws - scale matters ...

Digital -â&#x20AC;&#x2122;perfectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; shape - simulated gradient - no laws/rules - same in all scales - can be reproduced - ...

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The process of making is presented in the final objects.

It becomes a message for time.

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Environment is crucial for tangible graphics.

Time is not the only influence.

But changes happened along time.

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They sit there quietly, until something happened.

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4 TANGIBLE

GRAPHIC

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HAND DRAWING

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Every mark gives evidence of some kind of physical contact. <Fire Signs - A Semiotic Theory for Graphic Design> by Steven Skaggs, p167

I discovered my interests, which are hand-drawing and three-dimensional object making, in former experiments.

The following projects hybridize these two things.

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We live in a world full of screens, which forces a 3D world onto a flat surface.

I become very interested in the

TRANSITION process.

I did an experiment about transition within 2D at the beginning of the book before moving on to different dimensions. The

years and name on page 2 and 3 were digitally designed and printed with margin marks. I drew on the print and scanned it. There is an offset of image when the margin marks match the pages.

There is always something missing, added, changed, or evolved during transition process.

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Steps of the experiments

1. Create clay sculpture 2. Take photos from different angles 3. Trace over photos 4. Imagine and draw the interaction and overlay

5. Apply drawing to connect the traced images 6. Recreate clay structures on top of the flat traced/drawn images 7. Spray paint the clay 8. Step on the clay 9. Spray paint the stepped clay 10. Scan the photos 11. Zoom in/out

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Photos for the clay made sculpture.

Tracing of the photos.

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Applying drawings to fill the space in-between top and bottom structures from the photos

Overlay of the drawing and tracing images

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Apply drawings to connect the tracing images.

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The tracing image

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The drawing

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Image (scan at 2400ppi) from different scales.

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The physical process generates different texture from different scales.

New forms and ‘surprises’ can be discovered from it.

It is an intentional strategy. Yet, they can’t be designed.

CHAP 4

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5 WHITE

CUBE

CHALLENGE

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Why white cubes?

A white cube can easily be transformed from 2d and 3d.

It lacks design details or character.

The application of physical material and crafts in visual design during this specific time is less about aesthetic in this world full of screens.

I am trying to question the historical and future roles of emotions, feelings and memories evoked by human traces and marks.

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Start from marker drawings on boxes. Keep the 3D shape in mind while drawing.

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We are now in transition from an objectoriented to a systemoriented culture.

Now change emanates not from things but from the way things are done.

Jack Burnham, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;System Aestheticsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, 1968

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GRAVITY vs

BLOW

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FOLDING vs

UNFOLDING

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The orders of mark making

One process is making marks on the object and fully being aware of the three-dimensional shapes.

Then another step can be added, changing the relationship between the surfaces with marks on it. The relationships of marks changes along the surfaces.

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MARKS vs

SPACE

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FLAT vs

TEXTURE

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Rubber bands are introduced to help me lose some control over the intension of making marks.

Experimenting on making marks as a way of visualizing the physical interaction.

The shape of cubes are forced to change. The marks are made on an irregular surface.

REGULAR vs

IRREGULAR

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Spray paint

r

be

ub

er ov m Re nds ba

POSITIVE vs

NEGATIVE

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ZOOM IN vs

ZOOM OUT

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The mark records what it was before turning into a ball.

Veils

By Lauren Eden

Even our skin felt like it was getting in the way.

YESTERDAY vs

TODAY

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Why do I choose physical over digital methods to create graphics?

I think there are emotions involved.

The digital tools are too perfect and create this Utopian illusions.

No matter how many years you have trained in painting, no one can really make that perfect gradient. The software also simulates that perfection in different scales. It also kills personality and diversity

during the design process, because the digital tool marks are left instead of the ones from designer.

The digital tools for graphic design have existed for around 30 years. They revolutionized the complicated process of graphic design and released designers from labor-intensive design processes. Also, they provided new ways to think and design, which generated new aesthetics.

They were the trend of design, as least in my

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opinion. I believe the time marches forward in circles. I am getting tired of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;perfectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; graphics made with digital tools.

I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say the tangible method of creating graphics is better than digital. Because there are no standards for aesthetics. Yet, there are more attachments/memories from the former one. Maybe because that was the natural way of mark making we have been doing for thousands of years, or maybe just because that was the way it was when I grow up.

What will the new generation, who are born with iPhones, think?

I DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T KNOW.

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What is the special quality or beauty that I see from physically graphic making?

I like the materiality and physicality.

It shows the third dimension on a flat media.

Also, the physical objects can be manipulated and generate unexpected images.

The surprises are often discovered in different scales.

That ‘imperfection’ compared with digital graphic indicates the human touches, which create close ties with the viewers.

Also the efforts of trying to make it look ‘perfect (here it means at little human traces as possible)’ as possible touches people.

I enjoy making things by hands and I am dying to deliver that joy to my viewers.

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Do we really know the truth of what we see when we are looking at something?

A CUBE CUBISM

Different colors are representing the observation and tracing over the same object from left and right eyes.

LEFT vs

RIGHT

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Making a clay sculpture on top of the box before spray painting.

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1

vs

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Collect the clay afterwards to weave into another cube. It turns one cube into two.

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6 WHITE CUBE

CHALLENGE

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;System theory emphasizes holism over reductionism, organism over mechanism and process over product. In contrast to traditional western scientific approaches to knowledge, it shifts attention from the absolute qualities of individual parts and addresses the organization of the whole in more relativistic terms, as a dynamic process of interaction among constituent elements.â&#x20AC;? <Systems Thinking/System Art> by Edward A. Shanken

I remember that I was so confused about what I am going to learn at design school when I first arrived. The MFA design program in CCA is never about skills or practical projects happening in the ‘real world’. I tried to find every chance I had to ask that question. Yet, the answers are so blurry and almost become a philosophical problem.

From what I understand and remember of these answers, the design ‘tool set’ and design thinking are what we are trying to achieve.

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What is a design tool set?

What is design thinking?

I used to think coming up with great ideas are design thinking.

Yet, I disagree with that view now.

The ability to own a unique method of process, which generates endless new unexpected outcomes is what we are trying to achieve as designers.

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The ‘unexpected’ quality is crucial in the design process. That is the way of breaking our own limitations. It also indicates the designer’s struggle between control and freedom during a design process.

How much control should be applied to the design process?

It is impossible to plan ahead.

I guess you know it when you reached that sweet spot.

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My system

1. Apply multiple flat paper cuts of cubes to compose into a large canvas.

2. Apply 3D clay structure on canvas followed by making marks using Sharpies.

3. Drip acrylic ink with bottle and draw with a brush.

4. Apply spray paint 5. Remove clay and tape

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“It’s so fine and yet so terrible to stand in front of a blank canvas.”

by Paul Cezanne

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This is how they linger.

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7 MARK MAKING 2.0

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I learned interesting things from former explorations using white boxes as canvas: Unique materiality (density / viscosity / ...)

Interactions between different materials

Surprising details at various scales Three dimensional objects generating volumes + ...

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;The uniqueness of every painting was once part of the uniqueness of the place where it resided.

Sometimes the painting was transportable. But it could never be seen in two places at the same time. When the camera reproduces a painting, it destroys the uniqueness of its image.

As a result its meaning changes.â&#x20AC;?

By John Berger

The charm of a 3D object is how it interacts with viewers.

THE ACT OF LOOKING AT IT IS A CHOICE. What distance/angle?

Which/How big is the area? How bright is the environment?

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I moved into other less regular three dimensional objects as canvas for further experiments.

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WHAT IS THE CANVAS? WHAT IS THE ‘FRONT/ BACK’ OF THE GRAPHIC?

I started to ask myself several questions during the process of physically generating graphics:

This is the paper underneath, which indicates the processes and orders during mark making.

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Exploring different ways to look at the work becomes a

playful journey .

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During this process, I fell in love with looking at the interactions on the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;backâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of the canvas.

THE ‘HIDDEN’ MARKS ARE REVEALED.

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This mark making process is about physics, order and material.

Not only the observed (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;frontâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;) side is designed, the other side is also considered during the design to maximum the natural law influence.

During this process, several materials are applied following certain orders to generate the most interesting details.

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8 LAST

CHAPTER

BUT

THIS

IS

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THE

END

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“... laughter is synonymous with hope.”

<Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam> by

In this last chapter, I am trying to apply the marks into functional design.

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Book cover

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Identity

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Identity

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Clothes

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DO YOU MISS

An abstract comic

M E ?

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An abstract comic

The trend of visual design has been largely changed after digital tools. The ‘perfect’ line with exactly same width and ‘perfect’ gradient, were invented calculated by computer simulations have become more and more popular among these days. One purpose of designing the software is improving efficiency and accuracy through the removal of human marks, which creates an unique

When the breeze brushes the water, it leaves marks; when the sunshines on trees, it leaves marks. Humans leave marks. So does a computer.

That generates some level of unfulfilled feelings and powerlessness for people who make and are exposed to them. Don’t even mention that in the near future, a designer solely relying on these digital tools might be replaced by AI. Living in this ‘perfect’ world becomes a false carnival.

digital tool mark instead. It also creates a different understanding and interpretation ‘perfection’ and aesthetic. The ‘perfection’ created in digital world is an Utopian illusion, as we all know there is no perfection in the reality.

My exploration for his project is applying tangible process to make graphics more emotional and personal. That includes experiments on material, environment and scale. The unexpected events, which only happen during physical making, becme very interesting. No two pieces are the same.

The aesthetic and emotional value are critical in these objects. The transition and collaboration between 2D and 3D mediums also became the focal point during further experiments.

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The application of physical material and craft in visual design during this specific time is less about revival in this world full of screens. What I am questioning are the historical and future roles of emotions, feelings and memories evoked by human traces and marks.

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RESPONSIVE MARK 国 倩 颖

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By Bonny (Qianying) Guo

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A Project Presented to The Graduate Faculty of California College of the Arts In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Fine Arts in Design

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Approved:

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Chair of CCA MFA in Design Jon Sueda

颖 国 倩 颖 Thesis Advisor Martin Venezky

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Thesis Writing Advisor Stuart Kendall

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Date

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