Celena Jingze
1:
Brainstorm Stage
SELF-CRITICISM
BODY IMAGE
During our brainstorm sessions, we found many cross-sectional topics that we were both interested in. To better visualize our ideas, we decided to create a mind map. It is clear that our interest in topics revolved around self-criticism in societal standards and the lack of attention elders are receiving.
Because it is more difficult to put ourselves in the shoes of senior citizens, after trial-and-error we decided on the concept of “上岸”(landing ashore), a Chinese slang referring to passing an important exam, receiving a job offer, or achieving any significant milestone. However, it has become a norm to continuously strive for the next “shore” to a point where no accomplishment can satisfy us. This is the social issue that our group wants to highlight and present, to raise awareness and instigate reflection on viewers’ personal goals and real desires in life.
Stage 2:
Design Process
To begin with, we decided to use collage as our visual tool. We talked about how society, family, and the entire environement is pushing people to keep going. Thus, we started to play with realted images. While next, based on our explorations, we explored several ways to present our ideas. We utilized collage, hand drawing, photoshop, and mid-journey.
Attempt 1
This graphic concept aims to resemble a working class citizen fighting to stay afloat in a pile of work. The eye symbols represent the sense of constant surveiliance of societal pressures and the repetition of text generates a sense of urgency and stress.
Attempt 2
Attempt 3
We played with different backgrounds, colors, and font style. We also added elements like eyes to symbolize other people’s opinion on individual. By applying the layering effects on elements to create a hierarchy and make the layout more interetsing, we made the hand and the font in the middle attrac the mose attention.
Attempt 4
Attempt 5
A face is included in this poster iteration to emphasize one’s despaire and anxiousness through caricature. The face is half buried for a sense of “sinking” and suffocation.
Inspired by the literal meaning of “landing ashore”, this concept illustrates a person continuously walking in the water alongside the shore until they sink into the abyss. Here, there is a sense of irony because the man could “save” himself by stepping aside, but he chooses to stay in the water until reaching his sunken fate. This parallels the inability for one to satisfy their desires in today’s world; hence, they continuously take the hard route leading tiring lives.
As an edit to portray the passage of time, we replaced each figure with a person at a different state in age: student, undergraduate, employee, groom, and elderly. We also included the eyes once more to symbolize the glaring expectations of society.
This idea focuses more on the coporate side of societal expectations. In this graphic, a man is pressured to the edge of a cliff and is about to be pushed down by a force from above into society. The reaching hands are eerie and disfigured, producing a sense of fear.
This idea focuses more on the coporate side of societal expectations. In this graphic, a man is pressured to the edge of a cliff and is about to be pushed down by a force from above into society. The reaching hands are eerie and disfigured, producing a sense of fear. Figures in Different
Ages
The famous symbol of a “carrot on the stick” and “hamster wheel” represent our never-ending chase for the next goal through the progression of age. In this version, instead of a “carrot”, different goals specific to the age are being chased: toddler to pacifier, student to graduation diploma, employee to paycheck raises, groom to marriage proposal, and elder to family portrait.The phrase “Chase Your Dreams; You’re Almost There...” gives the false impression of almost reaching a satisfactory end goal, when in reality, the race never stops.
Version 2 is an exploration of a more cartoon style and sticking with just the “carrot” symbol for simplicity. This carries over to the play on words with “Desires Never Fed” as each person chases after the carrot to be eaten. We also explored layering with lower opacities to represent a passage of time in the poster.
Approach 2
Approach 1 Poster
Approach 2 Poster
From feedback received during our graphic presentation, we decided to add quotation marks around our text to imply the phrase as being one spoken by society (outside voice). We also decided to end the instagram series with just the text of “almost there?” to leave viewers with a question to ponder: what are their real goals and will they ever be satisfied when reached?
Stage 3:
Finale Compositions
