I think craftsman’s existence need to be awarded in society. Many craftsman’s businesses do not have a good marketplace. However, they have their own concept and skills worth inheriting. In my opinion, that is the reason for being uncorporate business. They will not force traditional crafts into the consumer market. Instead, they keep on running micro businesses to preserve the culture and spirit they want to remain.
Purpose
Craftsman brands are usually local and not well known. They don't have high profit, in order to stay afloat, they have to find the right customers. I am going to look at how a low profit independent studio runs by looking into its archetype, scale and scope, market position. Further, I am also going to discover the dynamic brand identity and find the best way for promoting the independent business through appealing to their target consumers.
Figure: Employment (number of jobs)
Three ‘W’s
Akira Satake
Why
Who Akira Satake
Born in Osaka, Japan moved to the U.S. in 1981
Musician (playing benjo)
Ceramicist
What
Background
Very low profit
Uncorporate business concept Local and small scope
Inheriting traditional culture as an art enterprise
Damfino Productions (music production company)
Alula Records (independent label)
Akira Satake Ceramics (ceramic studio)
Gallery Mugen (art gallery)
As a professional musician before, Akira spent his NY years running a music production company, and also produced world music recordings. In 2003 Akira start learning ceramics and he set up Akira Satake Ceramics and devoted himself to his growing passion for making pottery.
For Akira, the act of creation is a collaboration between myself, the clay and the fire. Collaboration means finding what the clay wants to be and bringing out its beauty in the way that the beauty of our surroundings is created through natural forces.
Archetype
INNOCENT
brand promise: SIMPLICITY
at best: at worst: optimistic honest natural irritating boring naive
① KOHIKI
② CHAWAN
③ YUNOMI
④ GUINOMI
⑤ TOKKURI ⑥ ORIBE
TANKA
WOODFIRED ASH
IKEBANA CONTAINERS
Market statement
market position: refined handcrafts
target market: shop website display in studio the gallery mugen
target audience:
mid-level/high-income aged 25 above reality and nature rather than cyber world
Akira Satake Ceramics
The symbiotic relationship between business and craftsman has been, and will likely remain, an ever-evolving landscape. Throw into the current social, craftsmen are trying to redefine their marketplaces, reach their audiences, and achieve new levels of equity in their practices. When we considering how to preserve the tradition handcraft in current market without turning it into a corporate business, it is paramount to be realistic about the situation.
I am aiming to find the way to catch more attention for Akira’s artworks, by considering from retail strategy sales, creative direction and publicity.
I was inspired by the modular reassembled form. I thought deconstruction and reassembling would be a good way to make living identity. I selected four collections from Akira’s ceramic work and transformed these into four shapes. These four shapes are very distinctive and there are many possibilities to combine them. I have tried to enlarge, reduce, extract and piece these four shapes to make an alphabet.
The clay is transformed into different looking by nature force and craft techniques. I think my design reflect this concept. Akira's concept focuses on nature and rusticity. My shapes are designed to be irregular, show the beauty of nature. Also, extracting shapes from his artworks bring out his work.
I try the standard combination for the initial version. Each parts are very closely connected to each other.
In the second version I focused on a sense of structure. I made the shapes more regular, so that the reorganisation has a modern feel.
In the third version I make it more loose from each other and look more casual.
The contrast between the two parts is very large, it is very incongruous. And has the lack of unified standards.
All shapes are like handwriting which reflect the natural, original concept.
Some letters are too abstract that they are hard to read. The modern style does not fit the brand concept.
Guides are added in the design process to make the whole more standardized.
The structure is too loose. It does not look neat and standardized.
Some letters redesigns are creative and interesting.
I made the line thicker to make the font look clearer.
The redesign of shapes arrangement is much better.
A letter contains many different shapes and elements are various.
• Dynamic extension
The gap between the shapes adds to the sense of interest.
This is my final design. I integrate the advantages of the previous three design drafts and avoid their disadvantages. The final design is a good representation of the brand concept. I will make more dynamic branding design base on this font design.
Different sizes of stamps can be customized to make various patterns and words to implement changes.
I made the rubber stamps at the graphic stamp studio.
• Tag
• Vinyl record cover
• Invitation card
• Printing process
• Tag
The four shaped pattern I designed can be freely combined to any pattern. This is a response to the dynamic branding design. I design 12 patterns for the different vessel collections. And also the text information on the back side.
• Vinyl record cover
I also design the pattern of benjo (the instrument that Akira playing) for the vinyl cover of Akira’s music records.
• Invitation card
The invitation cards will be sent to guest. I researched the traditional Japanese letter wrapping method. There will be a paper roll and a cover.
• Printing process
I went to the printing workshop then asked for Kevin’s help to print on the special Japanese paper.
Study tour to Japan House
Research Material hunting
Practical wrapping
Design option
Tamago-tsuto(straw weaving) protects fragile object, making it easy to carry and preserve them, which is suitable for ceramic wares. In Japanese tradition, people used familiar natural materials and their wisdom to wrap stuff functionally.
Artistic wrapping
As the Japanese have also found the artistic aspect of wrapping. The paper wrapping is more elegant and aesthetic. I will design paper wrapping packaging for Akira’s products which suitable as a gift.
② AWAGAMI HOSHO ③ KITAKATA
Packaging making experiment
I use Japanese paper to prototype the packaging sample.
Straw
Paper wrapping
Modern Japanese architecture
Modular and simple geometric body block.
Modern Japanese decoration
Characteristic furniture
Extensive use of warm color light to show a mild feeling.
The floor area is small but the building is high which expands the space.
Simple appearance, less decoration, wide use of plain concrete.
Visually expand the inside space by using French windows.
Characteristics summary
• Modular blocks.
• Warm color lights.
• French windows.
• The simple exterior wall retains the natural color.
• Make expanding visually.
Using natural light and shadow to create decoration for the room.
Geometric, simple structured furniture with clean, light colors.
Plants that only have branches and stand alone.
Using techniques finishes the gallery wall.
No densely arrangement of furnitures and material uses log.
Characteristics summary
• Japanese architectural color is simple and elegant, give a fine sense of elegance.
• The room has harmony in the decoration, the style must be generated to be unified.
• The style is generally comfortable and minimalist. Most of the interior is in warm colors and mostly use log as material.
I am trying to find the best way for Akira Satake to build up the concept shop. As my interest is in business strategy, I am trying to find the cost saving strategy.
Location
Lightly constructed building
Lightly constructed building aims to create affordable building for the market. By providing a variety of spaces for different users, through the filling of neglected fragmented and irregular vacant vacant. Taking consideration of the environment and the suitability of the siting and the correct scale.
Advantages:
Easy, fast, no weather resistant to build
Clean appearance, light weight
Good structural integrity, thermal insulation and earthquake resistance
Low material cost
Land price: $150 - $200 (per square foot)
Cost saving strategy
• Simplify the form
• Go up not sideways
Reduce Foundation Corners. The more corners a house foundation has the more complicated and expensive it will be to construct. The simplest and cheapest house to construct and maintain has 4 corners.
Reduce site work, foundation, roofing and other costs. Foundations and site work are expensive in the mountains in North Carolina.
• Limiting the size of the footprint.
• Design upward not sideways.
• Maintain the shape as much as possible through all levels.
• Smart finishes
I would define “smart” finishes as products that are cheaper and are at least as functional as their more expensive alternatives.
① Cultured stone (synthetic) to replace real stone
② Vinyl / linoleum floor is cheaper than wood
Higashi-Yama
Functions
Restaurant
Tea house
Dessert bar
Artworks display
Functions
Shopping area
Collections display
Viewing room
Rest area
Fitting room
Cafe
Artworks display
Tailer service
Higashi-Yama Tokyo is a concept space which integrates food, culture, crafts and design to form his own unique Japanese cultural design concept. The teahouse and cultural salon are integrated, where food, utensils and space take care of each other and coexist, presenting the new Japanese aesthetics under the collision of modernity and tradition.
Autumn Sonata is a boutique concept store founded in Shanghai in 2015 to showcase fashion and accessories collections from leading international designers. The art gallery style of selection, space, utensils and atmosphere presents timeless elegance and poetry. The store integrates different functions to provide guests with an immersive shopping experience.
Autumn Sonata
Floor plan sketch Proposal
External appearance
Since I’m not familiar with 3D modeling software, I chose to do within my ability by using the architecture modeling function in the Sims game. I build up the model based on my sketches.
• Tea table
• Ceramic counter
• Vinyl showcase
• Rest and viewing area
Vinyl floor
Synthetic stone White oak Concrete countertop
#D0CCC8 #575757 #C0B1A4
Axiomatic view
Furniture plan
Decorativeplant
Ceramic showing counter
Artwork showcase Decorativeplant
Teatable Wood chair
French window
Artwork counter
Ceramicpulling machine
Wood bench
StairWindow
Ground floor
First floor
OrnamentsSpeakerbox
Vinylshowcae
Dimensional
Explanatory Text
In this project, I am designing for problem-solving. The issue is about the Chinese ceramic industries making pollution. My design strategy is persuading. And I am going to persuade Chinese ceramic manufacturers to avoid making pollution.
In my research, China is still the center of the global ceramic manufacturing industry, with the annual output and export of ceramics ranking first in the world. However, the pollution problem has being very urgent. Chinese local ceramic enterprises develop blindly and build before the government’s approval. Some of them choose to dump the waste residue directly in landfill. The data about pollution damage is very huge and incredible. So I think ceramics have not only brought economic benefits to China but also facing problems between industrial development and environmental protection. During my research, I see some environmental protection calls on don't work well is due to they didn't hit the point that pollution makers really care. I think it's important to find the problem and actually persuade them.
I read the book about why the importance of the family in Chinese society and the ‘upside down’ model of Chinese family. I think it's can be theoretical support for indicating that Chinese tend to put all efforts and hope into their children. What they really concern about is the next generation. So I start from this point. I want to tell them if they do not stop damaging the environment, then the most hurt and affected will be their next generation which is whom they care about most.
I was inspired an early Chinese ink animation. Almost all Chinese children and adults know this traditional story. By adapting this story, I hope to remind the audience that if pollution continues, the next generation of children will see a terrible world. I designed a booklet with my story and text on it. And I made a ceramic plated with story Illustration on it. Then I made a photography documentary book. The photograph is taken at the pollution scene I made. Both of them are planning to be displayed on the ceramic show or exhibition.
My intention is to use this dark story as a metaphor to tell my target audience if they do not stop damaging the environment, then the most hurt and affected will be the next generation The children will see a dark world in the future.
What I gain from my print practice block is skills and approaches to print. So I tried different ways of printing in this project. I tried different materials like tracing paper and organic paper which helps me a lot with a better realization of my work.
Bibliography
1. Pengpai News. “The New-Style Family Values Underpinning the ‘China Dream.’” Sina , 3 Aug. 2021, finance.sina.com.cn/tech/ 2021-08-03/doc-ikqcfncc0632053.shtml.
2. Yan, Yunxiang. Chinese Families Upside down Intergenerational Dynamics and Neo-Familism in the Early 21st Century. BRILL, 2021.
3. Perry, Francesca. “The Ware That We Breathe: How Air Pollution Is Used in Pottery.” Subscribe to Read | Financial Times, Financial Times, 15 July 2022, www.ft.com/content/0e500f9c-3c57-48b1-897dd80b831c9a5c.
/ Enquiry & Knowledge /
Brief and topic
Brief comprehension
My topic
My experience & observation
This brief is aiming to understand and connect with our audience in the aspect of communicating with them effectively. The target audience and a strategy will be given. As designers, we will find a topic we would like to engage with and deliver the concept to the audience.
Chinese ceramic manufacturers
Target audience Strategy
Persuade
Concept
Persuade Chinese ceramic manufacturers to avoid making pollution
Why China?
Context
Today, China is still the center of the global ceramic manufacturing industry, with the annual output and export of ceramics ranking first in the world.
Why ceramic manufacturers?
Core value
My core value is to bring ceramics and graphics together. And I always want to focus on the current context and try to make changes in social practice from a designer’s perspective. So I would like to find some urgent issues from the ceramic industry that deserve attention.
When I study ceramics in China, I noticed many pollution issues. And I took photographs of the polluted site.
Analysis
Problem behind
Thinking
Initial idea
Lack of conscious
They don't care about making damage.
Lack of supervision
They don't care about the legal.
High cost
They care about money.
I found out that most ceramic manufacturers are very greedy, selfish and self-centered. They do not care about destruction, nor do they care about environmental protection and laws. Environmental protection has always been a huge problem, and many different aspects of society have to make efforts.
However, I think some environmental protection calls on don't work well is due to they didn't hit the point that pollution makers really care. I think I will start by looking into their mind and finding what can actually persuade them.
What else do they care?
Family?
Next generation?
Inspiration
From the conversation with Mr. Huang (ceramic businessman), I was inspired to suspect that their family and the next generation matter.
What to do next?
Research
• Find theory and do research to support my statement.
• Learn from other design pioneers and artworks.
Make proposal
• Thinking about what can I do and what design could be helpful with this situation in current society.
Initial intention
• My initial goal was to find out what ceramic manufacturers really care about. To make their inner thoughts change, I think this is the focus of the design strategy. Otherwise, the strategy will be ineffective. Although almost all business man may have such a mentality, my audience is Chinese ceramics manufacturers and I want to study the influence of Chinese culture on their thoughts. Then make design that really works for persuading them.
Research support
Theory from readings
「Chinese Family Upside Down」
‘Families upside down’ means that the Chinese tend to put all efforts and hope into their children, not the elderly in the family. It not only refers to material and money but more importantly spiritual, including emotional and life meaning, are transferred to the children and grandchildren.
Research from online news
This book has a collection of research on intergenerational relationships among Chinese families and an exploration of the patterns of Chinese families from the perspective of "downward familism".
In this book, author Yan Yunxiang talks about why the importance of the family in Chinese society has skyrocketed in the past 20 years, and why it has received unprecedented attention in modern discourse.
The main observation is typical Chinese thinking, that is, the family benefits before the benefits of others. It only emphasizes selfcenteredness and selfishness.
Because familism portrays parents as selflessly dedicated to their children, this kind of advocacy is more acceptable in the Chinese context.
In China, however, parenting has grown into a moral obligation that every elderly person must fulfill, though it is also a generator of life meaning that most Chinese embrace. If any parent refuses to help raise her or his grandchild, that individual is likely to be seen as morally deficient.
The ceramic businessman (Mr. Huang) I interviewed, he has the same family obligation thinking as most Chinese have. He dedicated to his next generation.
Chinese Family Upside Down, Yunxiang Yan, 2021
Residents take a walk in a residential community in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, 2019. People Visual
A man plays Chinese chess with his grandson at a local park in Beijing, May 12, 2021. Kevin Frayer, Getty Images
Proposal
My interpretation and intention
Core problem
They only care about the profits at moment and haven't realize that their behavior s affecting the next generation.
Reference and idea
What can I do?
This is an early Chinese ink animation. Almost all Chinese children and adults know this traditional story. By adapting this story, I hope to remind the audience that if pollution continues, the next generation of children will see a terrible world.
Intention
Through investigation, it is found that ceramic manufacturers are typical Chinese thinking. They are also selfish, only for their own interests only for their families. So I want to start from this point. If they do not stop damaging the environment, then the most hurt and affected will be their next generation which is whom they care about most. I want to tell them that pollution is a cumulative effect that will be reflected in decades later. Generally, telling them they are hurting their children.
I will adapt the story to present a darker version. This story mainly tells about the animals living happily in the natural environment. I want to adapt this story to describe the great harm to the animals caused by pollution.
Inspiration
「Little tadpoles looking for mommy」
The storyboard of ‘Little tadpoles looking for mommy’, Shanghai Animation Film Studio, 1986
References
Animation
「A home to return to」
This animation uses digital ink painting. Telling a story about a little turtle’s life to show the concept of the environment being destroyed.
How does it influence me
This ink animation uses a twisted fairytale to tell the environmental pollution issue. I think it’s good to remind the audience of my concept with a twisted story.
Ceramic tableware
「Smogware」
Dutch designers Iris de Kievith and Annemarie Piscaer created the tableware, they collected air pollution particles that had settled in different locations across Rotterdam, in the form of dust and grime.
This was used to determine how much pollution one person inhales over a period of time from 10 to 85 years, which is illustrated through a series of five progressively darker mugs.
"To inspire people to change some of their choices and improve the air quality, we started to make this invisible problem visible in a personal and intimate way."
How does it influence me
The designers want to use daily use objects to make a strong impression in the audience’s mind. And that inspired me a lot to use the tableware with story Illustration.
——Annemarie Piscaer
Screenshot from the animation, Xiayingying, 2022
The tableware, Smogware, 2022
The series of five cups, Smogware, 2022
The calligraphy shows the traditional style. The words mean ‘Little tadpole looking for mommy’.
The main character is a tadpole. Also painted in traditional ink painting style.
The whole picture use a large expense of space, which gives the sense of openness and solitude.
The objects in the picture are all simple and be centered. To exaggerate the impression.
Prototype
Glaze painting mock up
The character ‘tadpole’ will be centered and the ‘dead creatures’ are placed around the plate edge.
Ideas
The idea is to make a documentary book, where I'm going to use this plate and break this plate to make a scene of ceramic being discarded and polluted.
Deliverables
The concept I want to convey to the audience is like the story in the storybook, if the ceramic pollution is not stopped, then the children will see the pollution scene.
Booklet layout
• I think you have to think about how you can better present the plate, not just as a product.
• I don't think your story book can express your concept clearly, because without words, we can't understand it by looking at the picture alone.
On the basis of the original one, I added explanation text. There are two parts of the text, one is to tell the whole story, and the other part is to provide some real data about how ceramic pollution damages the environment.
I used Chinese because my audiences are Chinese, so I also chose a suitable Chinese font. I will translated the Chinese text into English in PDF.
The whole story
Spring is coming, and the muddy, dirty pond is full of dead water plants and a bunch of tadpoles are waiting to be born. Only one tadpole survives, and he begins a confused search for his mother. The river bank, underwater, and everywhere people discard garbage and waste pieces of porcelain. Not far away was a ceramic factory whose chimney was belching dust. Swim and swim, he met the chicken, and before he could ask his mother where the chicken was already dying. He saw the dead fish. Tenacious tadpoles continue to swim, he saw the dead shrimp. He saw tiny crabs that had been deprived of their homes by pollution. Tadpoles alone and helpless not far away from the factory continue to discharge sewage. Tadpoles swim and swim, and the brook becomes more and more turbid. He will never find his mother again.
The link to view the whole booklet : https://issuu.com/meixun/docs/booklet
Producing
Handmade ceramic plate
Since I did not have the access to use the csm ceramic studio, I chose to finish the ceramic plate by myself outside college. I used a model of a ceramic plate, then glazed and painted it and fired it. It was difficult to handle, so I didn't have many photo evidence.
Outcome
Glaze and ceramic testing
Glaze painting
Glaze coating
After firing (Black glaze)
Design
Book
design
I was inspired by the 3D book cover. As I want to combine graphic and ceramic in my design.
Inspiration Book design, Aaron Rinas, 2021
Making
The scene making
Break the plate into pieces.
Idea
I will make a 3D cover by way of putting the ceramic plate fragments into a lasercutting wooden cover.
The broken plate is a metaphor for the broken, dark future of the next generation.
Photography
I will build up the scene for photography in the book. The pieces will be found as garbage.
Producing
Book design
I choose the traditional paper which has the natural color. And I left a lot of space on the page to highlight the images. The texts are quoted from news and report about the pollution situation.
The link to view the book : https://issuu.com/meixun/docs/saomiao
Self-directed: Relationship
Brief and topic
Brief comprehension
As human beings - our relationship with the world.
As human, our emotions and mind give us various social connections. There are relationships between man and man, man and things, man and space and even man and nature. In the current social context, the relationships around human beings have become more complex and subtle. It deserves more diversified and in-depth exploration from an artist's or a designer's perspective.
Three keywords Relationship
Why relationship around humans is worthy of attention?
As a designer, use your own perspective to examine the relationship in the context of current society, and think what you can do in social practice.
What does the current world change brings to relationships between humans?
Current Involve
How do you see and involve social connections as a designer?
Lee Mingwei and His Relations: The Legacy and Deviation of Relational Aesthetics in the East
Explanatory Text
In this project, I am designing for helping couples in irrelationships. To encourage them to look at their problems, see the gaps in their relationship, recognize those problems and try to repair them. To help them have better ways to express themselves and communicate with each other when they have conflicts. I am focusing on these two points and want to design strategies to help couples with fake intimacy repair and communicate better.
First of all, due to my cultural background. I come from China, and by knowing Chinese social customs and seeing around, I found that Chinese couples generally have misunderstandings about marriage. And I'm interested in this issue. I think paying attention to and trying to improve this problem will benefit Chinese couples' marriages. In my research, I learned about the history of Chinese marriage and some traditional Chinese marriage customs and their evolution over thousands of years. From the data of real facts research, I discovered that unhealthy marriage relationship is a common phenomenon in China in current society. There are still many feudal marriage traditions in modern marriage, but the existing forms have changed and are no longer as rigid as in the past.
I read articles about how to analyze the important factors in a marriage relationship. And it mentioned that evaluation should be divided into subjective and objective. I set up a structure and do test and investigation with my target audience to get the real data and have close observation on my audiences. After that, I found there are two core problems. Chinese culture impacts make many couples pretend loved just for showing outside to maintain their image. They pay much attention to how to pretend without seeing the problem they have. And Chinese culture also causes the vague and implicit way of doing things which leads to the inability to communicate and express inner feelings after the conflict between the couple.
For the design, I think the media I choose should be suitable for all types of couples. And I’ve tried a lot to find the most helpful design for my target audience. For the final outcome, the ‘hinged frame’ idea was taken. I split a photo frame and attach a hinge in the middle to make the frame collapsible. The aim of this design is to make a tool for couples with communication barriers who cannot express their emotions, they can use the photo frame to express their emotions. The design was led by my practice as well. I have done the Context practice block. In this project, I use my own perspective as designer to examine the relationship in the context of current society, and think about what you can do in social practice.
Bibliography
1.Xu, Anqi. “Quality of Marriage: Measurement Indicators and Their Influencing Factors.” Accessed 1998. 2. Nippon Design Center, Inc. 2022. Takamatsu Art Museum | Nippon Design Center. [online] Available at: <https:// www.ndc.co.jp/en/works/takamatsumuseum-2017/> [Accessed 23 May 2022].
Journey map
• My interpretation
• History background
Start point
The context research & reference
Interpretation & Intention
The important factors contributing to unhealthy marriage relationships.
Analysis
The interview question and development
• Data from result
Conclusion
The statistic after interview
Knowledge
Real data on marriage status
Knowledge
How to test the real status of modern marriage?
• Evaluation structure
Investigation
Interview process and record in texts.
Improvement
Re-think & prototype
• Photo frame
• Packaging
• The archive book
• Wood cutting
• Laser cutting
• Thread binding
Making
Deliverables
Testing & feedback
Audience test and Interview
Start point
Topic and initial thoughts
Irrelationship
The "irrelationship" refers to a relationship between couples or lovers, a new word that emerged after the movie "Gone Girl." The film tells the story of a couple in such a relationship. I watched this film and decided to use this new noun.
Definition
Very close couples running marriages or family life, however, there are topics that they can't discuss and emotions that they are afraid to express. The relationship is full of mistrust and insecurity. Superficial intimacy occurs when couples seem to be close but problems persist and are difficult to detect.
Why “China”?
First of all is due to my cultural background. I come from China, and by knowing Chinese social customs and seeing around, I found that Chinese couples generally have misunderstandings about marriage.
Our study on marriage quality is not only started late but also not active. Intimacy in marriage is often not valued in Chinese tradition. I think it's a matter of concern.
I think paying attention to and trying to improve this problem will benefit Chinese couples' marriages.
Reference
Chinese Marriage History
(Guyuan Chen, 1987)
This book has lots of historical and social reality data. It explores different marriage forms and customs in different historical periods of China and the development paths.
A one and a two
(Edward Yang, 2000)
The film tells the story of a family in Taiwan, China. Husband and wife relationship breakdown, family relationship is very poor, but to pretend to be peaceful in front of his son one by one. It shows a typical Chinese family relationship.
The false intimacy
(Steve Shi, 2017)
From the perspective of psychologists, which is the author, through the in-depth study of the relationship between lovers and themselves, analysis the formation of false intimacy, and guides the relationship confusion with the solution.
Self-directed brief / / / Relationship
The “Irrelationship” in China
Real data on marriage status in China
According to the latest statistics of the National Civil Administration (2021), the number of marriage registrations nationwide is down 12.2% year on year. The marriage rate has declined for seven consecutive years and reached the lowest level in history. Not only that, but the country is also facing a rising divorce rate, with the number of divorces soaring by 75% in 10 years.
"Chinese marriages are of high stability but low quality"
“60% of Chinese marriages are loveless," professor Guo Hua of Beijing Institute of Life Sciences said in “Marriage and Family Magazine” (Dec. 16, 1986). It was perhaps the first to write this assessment.
Some scholars have suggested in the past few years that "Chinese marriages are of high stability and low quality”.
In 2021, a research team from Zhejiang University conducted a survey on marriage satisfaction among couples aged 20-49 in China. They asked couples to score their marriage from 1 to 5 points. The survey found that the marital satisfaction of Chinese urban families was under the average level. 30%-40% of couples are unsatisfied with their marriages.
Interview
Research and evaluation structure
I refer to the paper “Quality of Marriage: Measurement Indicators and Their Influencing Factors” written by Anqi Xu in 1998. Which mainly analyzes the important factors in a marriage relationship. And mentioned that “evaluation should be divided into subjective and objective”(Xu,1998).
I learned that marriage life itself is complex so the evaluation should also be multi-angle and specific. Therefore, I want to adopt a series of measures in the aspects of questionnaire design, index establishment and survey methods. I summed these up and drew this table.
Feeling about spouse Feeling about relationship Thought about leaving or divorce
Subjective index
is to know the inner thoughts and feelings from the spouse.
Feeling about spouse
Thoughts and feelings about the spouse are the most important to understand the spouse's image in the interviewees' minds.
Feeling about relationship
Is it to understand how the interviewees personally view and feel the relationship.
Thought about leaving or divorce
Find out whether the interviewee has a positive attitude towards marriage and whether they have divorce thoughts.
Objective index
To see the conditions of marriage life and if it possesses important factors.
Living standards
The substantial life conditions contain the basic evaluation of the spouse in both social and family roles (especially in China, where the living standard is relatively low).
Interaction between couples
The interaction between couples, whether there is positive communication is an indispensable factor.
Subjective index
Marital status
Objective index
Interaction between couples
Interview
Process and record
Who?
I interviewed 23 couples from China. They are my friends, relatives and some strangers interested in my project. (I posted Information online).
I interviewed them through messages and phone calls because we were far away. My interviewees were very cooperative with me. They answered my questions and told their marriage and love stories in detail, and here I recorded and organized some representative ones in words. Since most of our interviews and dialogues are in Chinese, I will not elaborate on the dialogues, but translate and summarize them in English.
“Why do you always force me to eat breakfast? I didn't eat breakfast before I married you. I'm down with it..”
We got married due to love. When we were dating, we were very sweet and we often tolerate each other's shortcomings. But after a few years of marriage, we found that our habits were very different. We always fight over little things that are customary. We both don't want to change our attitude.
“When we having dinner, both of us hold chopsticks in right hand and mobile phones in left.“
We got married on a blind date. We were always like strangers and didn't have much to talk about. We also have different interests. We don't seem to have any compatibility. Every day after arriving home, we always do things separately.
“We were married on a blind date arranged by our elders. I felt like we are strangers.”
We've been married for years, but he never says he loves me or is romantic. We were married on a blind date arranged by our elders. We were very poor at that time, and we worked together for many years to have the better life we have now. But there was always something missing between us. We were never like lovers.
“We had a fight before the party, but we hold hands during the party. This is to maintain our marriage image and pretend to be in love.”
We got married after falling in love, and we were in love in everyone's eyes. We have the middle-class economy. But we both aren’t satisfied. We can’t communicate well after a fight because we can't speak calmly. But we always pretend to be compatible in front of outsiders. In fact, we often go weeks without talking at home.
Results Conclusion
My statistic after interview
Feeling about spouse
Reflection after interview
Feeling about relationship
Through research and interviews, I heard many different marriage stories and different marital conflicts. I found that the main problem for couples with irrelationship or poor marriage quality is that most of them seldom or never do things together or express love for each other. Usually, couples who have been married for a long time have problems that build up over time and they never communicate. As an impact of this lack of communication, they often ignore their spouse's needs and don't understand each other, and lost compatibility.
Thought about leaving or divorce
Through the marital quality investigation, the results after interviews reflect the true marital life of couples around us and where the problems are. I interviewed 23 couples in all. Every part of the data came from a percentage of 23 couples in each category. I think these data are reliable and very helpful for my investigation.
At present, it is known that the main problem of irrelationship couples with is the lack of communication and interaction.
Living standards
What's next?
• Explore the reasons behind
An investigation targeted at the audience around me helps me to better understand the real life of married couples. This is important since only close observation can lead me to the real needs of my audience.
Interaction between couples
However, I believe that a small range cannot fully represent all the audiences (Chinese couples in the irrelationship), so I decided to continue my research. To study the main reasons behind and then through the analysis of the reasons to design solutions.
Self-directed brief / / / Relationship
Study and analysis
My statistic after interview
China remained a feudal society for too long, with a deep-rooted tradition of arranged and sold marriages and marriages of convenience. In 1950, the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China was officially implemented and became the first law of New China.
What's happening now?
① Family members and elders arrange marriage due to the Chinese tradition of keeping the family name alive. The blind date was arranged and young people are forced to marry involuntarily.
Nowadays
Legal restrictions on marriage began very late, and the transition period from the bad tradition of marriage for thousands of years to free modern marriage in China was too long. As a result, there are still many feudal marriage traditions in modern marriage, but the existing forms have changed and are no longer as rigid as in the past. However, problems always exist in modern marriage.
② The marriage in modern society attaches more importance to the objective conditions of oneself and ignores love and feelings. For example, according to economic, social status, prestige.
③ Chinese tradition has led to the demise of many marriages in name only. They pretend loved just for showing outside to maintain their image.
More and more people want to get the counselor certification.
④ In Chinese culture, vague and implicit way of doing things causes the inability to communicate and express inner feelings after the conflict between the couple. Marriage counsellors are increasingly in demand in China.
I want to focus on:
The problem of traditional culture is difficult to change. It will take more from the power of society. What I want to focus on is more about relationships and feelings between people.
The newspaper announced the implementation of the marriage law, 1950
History background
The information on the dating corner lists the family property and background.
Elders meeting at the dating corner to find a marriage for their child.
Self-directed brief / / / Relationship
Scamp
Sketches and ideas
Scamp and idea
• I will split a photo frame and attach a hinge in the middle to make the frame collapsible.
Material
• Wood board
Deliverables
• This is going to be a tool. When couples with communication barriers cannot express their emotions, they can use the photo frame to express their emotions. For example, after the conflict, those with bad moods can fold the picture frame. To express their anger or demands for negotiations.
Making
Media and material
Practice
Laser cutting learning
What did I learn?
• The laser cutting machine operation and safety guides.
• The color rules and computer settings for drawing laser cutting diagram.
• Laser cutting is suitable for wood, fabric, and plastic materials.
• Laser cutting can do cutting, scoring, engraving.
Design
Packaging for the frame
Why doing this?
• My implementation is to give the photo frame to my audiences as a gift so that they can use it at home, so I designed the packaging.
• According to Chinese folk, red represents happiness and reunion. In ancient legend, a red thread can lead couples to meet their destiny and marry each other. In Chinese marriage tradition, people often use a red thread to pray for a good marriage.
Scamp and idea
• My idea is to bind a white packing box with red lines, which not only plays the role of binding and fixing the box but also reflects my concept.
Development
Improving ideas
How to convey the concept better?
• I think the white box could not convey my concept well, so I replace the box and into tracing paper. Tracing paper looks very thin and fragile, just like their relationship. I hope their relationship can be maintained by the red line.
Making
Packaging making
Material
• White paper box
• Red threads
Deliverables
• I want to convey the concept that this photo frame is designed for rebuilding their relationship, just like what red represents in traditional Chinese culture.
Inspiration
Outcome
The Photo frame 01
Outcome
The Photo frame 02
I took the feedback of my audience and decided to make another frame that could fold inwards. Technically, the edges of the frame had to be very thin so that it could fold inwards and I made another frame in the same way in practice aspect .
Thinner edges than outcome 01
The Archive Book
The link to view the whole publication : https://issuu.com/meixun/docs/the_archive_book
Development 01
The Archive Book
Idea
• It’s humdrum to left much spaces in the page.
• I think the ‘red line’ element and the concept should be continued. It is good to use my graphic skills to design the archive book. So I decided to use thread binding.
Making
Outcome
Development 02
The Archive Book
Idea
• I want to try different styles and make the book design playful.
Outcome
• Readers have to tear every page when they read this book and that inevitably apart couples. It is a sign of their fragile relationship, they are pretending closely but are easy to tear apart.
Making
• The both right and left sides of each page are glue bound.
