Design Principles — Project 2 : Sense of Place

19.10.2022 — 3.11.2022 (Week 8 — Week 10)
Rachel Madeline Purwanto / 0356994 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Design Principles
Project 2 : Sense of Place

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❥INSTRUCTIONS 

In your PROJECT 2 - SENSE OF PLACE post in the blog, include:

1. a recap of Project 2 brief

2. your design process:

2.1 visual references (designs that have inspired your own)

2.2 idea exploration and description

2.3 final outcome in PEG and a short rationale

2.4 feedback given by the lecturer

2.5 reflection on the particular week

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❥DESIGN PROCESS 

1. BRIEF RECAP 

In this project, we are to utilise design principles to visualize and express a location of our choice. The location chosen becomes a subject of the composition where design principles are applied to capture the social and environmental aspects which requires us to explore the outside world and observe our surroundings which allows us to employ our skills. 

We are given roughly three choices which consists of a place you visited, a place you wish to go to and a place you are currently in. We should observe these places and document them with images and pictures and people that are relevant to the place are also allowed to be used to further emphasize the design. The place I have in mind is the MRT as it is a significant place with memories I'm fond of whenever I go traveling in other countries with my family.

2. DESIGN PROCESS 

2.1 Visual References

Fig 1.1 Inspiration for Design 'Your City Gave Me Asthma'  https://pin.it/32v7qF8

Fig 1.2 Fanart of 'Your City Gave Me Asthma'  https://pin.it/3CdGqGo

Fig 1.3 Album cover of "Your City Gave Me Asthma" by Wilbur Soot https://soundcloud.com/wilbur-soot/jubilee-line

Fig 1.4 Inspiration for design https://pin.it/UvJiVbn

Fig 1.5 Inspiration for design https://pin.it/6vcT4tF

Fig 1.5 MRT in London https://www.railwaygazette.com/europe/bidders-shortlisted-for-london-underground-4g-network-contract/54245.article

Fig 1.6 Image of MRT taken at night at Malaysia 

Fig 1.7 Image of MRT at Singapore

Fig 1.8 Image from inside of LRT in Malaysia

Fig 1.9 Image from inside of LRT in Malaysia

Fig 1.10 Image from inside of LRT in Malaysia

Fig 1.11 Image from inside of LRT in Malaysia

Fig 1.12 Image of me and my father at the MRT at Korea yrs ago

Fig 1.13 Image of me at the MRT station at Korea 

The images above are taken (Fig 1.6-1.13) at various MRT I've been to in different countries. 

2.2 Idea Exploration 

Chosen Place : MRT
Sense of Place : Nostalgia; Time Flies

Throughout my times of traveling to various countries such as Korea, Singapore, Japan, China, Singapore and other countries, my father would always take me to explore various places in that country by taking the MRT which holds a significant memory to me as it is the times where I bond with my father and have the most memorable moments because its a rare moment that happens once every 2 to 3 years and I only get to experience this when I travel abroad since there are no MRTs in Surabaya, Indonesia, the city where I used to live in. I also remember listening to one of my favourite song from the album "Your City Gave Me Asthma"(Fig 1.3) which is "Jubilee Line" during the time of waiting for the MRT in Korea so for a part of my design I tried to implement the concept of the album and the song in it. When I moved to Malaysia for university, I had to wait and ride the MRT with my friends instead of my father and waiting for the MRT to arrive gave me a sense of nostalgia, where I used to ride with my dad to explore certain areas of that country which shows how time flies by fast. 

Based on those experiences, I wanted to express the nostalgia I felt when riding the MRT now compared to the times in the past where I got to explore the city by riding that with my father and how time flies by fast which expresses that realization that I'm in university now. 

Fig 2.1 Rough Sketch for Design Idea #1

Fig 2.3 Rough Sketch for Design Idea #2

After receiving feedback for sketches 1 and 2, I decided to try and visualize the place from another angle and another perspective, from inside of the MRT, with an outside view of the window. The outside view of the window could be altered into a visualization of the sense of nostalgia I feel when riding the MRT. Since the album of 'Your City Gave Me Asthma' (Fig 1.1) express the emotions that are contrast from the sense that im trying to portray, I decided to scratch that idea of using the concept of that album.

Fig 2.4 Sketch Design Idea #3

The idea for this sketch is that it features myself sitting in the MRT looking at my past self with my dad.

Fig 2.5 Sketch Design Idea #4

This sketch features myself looking at windows of the MRT that depicts different stages of my life as I grow up. On the floor of the MRT and the sides, I decided to add things that symbolize my university life such as pencils, books paint brushes, calendar and other art related stuff since I'm taking a design course.

Fig 2.6 Line art Progress

The message wanting to be put forth in the design isn't consistent since only the first panel has both me and my father in it, therefore the scene of the MRT must be adjusted accordingly. After receiving feedback, the clock and the calendar were removed since it seemed out of place and cluttered so I decided to replace it to a backpack. I also changed the scene of the MRT to have a longer window to have more space to portray me and my father in different stages of life and different ages. 

Fig 2.7 Line art Progress after receiving feedback on Week 10

Fig 2.8 Progress of design with base colours

I wanted to go for a pastel colour scheme that complemented each other which is why I went for pink and turquoise, as pink was my favourite colour as a child and turquoise was the colour that represented my father since its one of his favourite colours.

Fig 2.9 Progress of design with shading and lighting

Fig 3 Progress of design after colouring lineart and adding multiply overlays 

Fig 3.1 Rule of Thirds on Design

The design principle that is utilized in my design is balance as the lines of the MRT are parallel to the rule of thirds. The main composition of the design is divided into three panels of the MRT, with the panels on the left and right being in equal length. The position of the placement of the eyes of the girl in the middle and the right are also aligned with the line. 

Fig 3.2 Lines showing balance

The composition of the design shows balance through visualizing an equal length of the MRT panels on each of the 4 boxes above with the 2 top boxes representing the window panels which consists of the portrayal of nostalgia where I'm observing me and my father in 2 different ages, and the 2 bottom boxes consisting of things that represent my university life which shows how time has passed.

2.3 Final Outcome

Fig 4 Final Outcome for Project 2 "Train of Nostalgia

This artwork is based on a sense of nostalgia and comfort visualized through a simple cartoony art style with a pastel colour scheme, inspired by the nostalgia I feel when riding the MRT during my university days without my father, as I used to ride them with my dad to explore the area whenever we travel to a different country and it reminds me of how much time flew past by. The composition is expressed through the design principle of balance where it is divided into 3 panels vertically and 2 parts horizontally. That sense of nostalgia is portrayed with myself observing the panels on the above parts of the composition which feature me and my father holding hands, starting from the left which portrays me and my dad at a younger age and the center panel portraying me and my father at an older age. On the bottom parts of the composition features things that represent my university life such as the backpack, polaroids, books, etc.

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❥FEEDBACK 

Week 9 — The dark concept of the album "Your City Gave Me Asthma" clashes with the sense of place being nostalgia. Sketch design idea #1 needs to divert due to being too similar to Fig 1.1. Try a different approach to further emphasize nostalgia from inside of the MRT, showing an outside view of the window to visualize 'time flies by fast' by drawing images. 

Week 10 — (Fig 2.6) Maintain the sitting pose on the right as it shows eagerness and that sense of longing feeling observing the windows in the MRT. The idea of the nostalgia where the MRT reminds me of the times where me and my father used to explore the areas in the various countries that we've traveled to needs to be more consistent since the 2 window panels in the center does not portray that so the center window panels should be changed into a longer window panel and have my father there holding my hand. To make sure the girls in the window are the same person, keep the colours of the clothings same for each of the characters. The clock isn't really necessary as it doesn't really fit in place, as well as the calendar. A backpack is suggested to be drawn instead of the clock and the calendar to portray university life.

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❥WEEKLY REFLECTION 

Week 8 — This week was independent learning week, so on the day me and my friends planned to go to Pasar Seni by using the train, I decided to take some pictures observe my surroundings and take pictures of the areas I found appealing. During the train ride with my friends, I felt a sense of nostalgia since I used to ride them with my father whenever we travel abroad to various countries which is where I got my inspiration for this project.

Week 9 — I began my sketches which were also inspired by Wilbur Soot's 'Your City Gave Me Asthma' (Fig 1.1) album cover. I did 2 sketches which features myself standing infront of the train in the subway station. I was told that the sketches i did were too similar to the fanart of Wilbur Soot's album so I had to scratch that idea and concept.

Week 10 — After receiving feedback I came up with 2 new ideas and sketched them out. I was fond of the 4th idea sketch (Fig 2.5) as it managed to express more of nostalgia as well as portray new depictions such as the stages of my life through one of my hobbies which is traveling, since I travel overseas to a new country every 1 or 2 years and everytime I do travel, I'd go on small night trips with my father on the MRT .