Design History
Theory&
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer (Wikipedia, 2022)
Share one topic that has inspired you today. It might be an art period, an art movement, or something that was said in a class by one of your classmates or your lecturer.
​
Week 1
One takeaway from this lesson is how design can come in many forms and is used in different contexts, in which one is renaissance art. Artists at that point in time produced haunting dramatic encounters or suggested the metaphorical battle of light and darkness with the technique of Chairascurro. It makes me ponder how people at that point in time steer the thought toward Humanism. It takes an entire movement and innovations from people, scientists, and artists to transform into a state of rebirth, which describes the main direction of renaissance art.
​
​
As a Creative myself, is there something that we can derive from this?
​
If we study each major art period, we can see that it took a lot of people and innovation to move in a new direction. Learning and understanding past works and implementing them onto projects in the future can be a way to design.
Research on Impressionism
Week 2
Our group was tasked to do some brief research and understand one of the 5 human art movements, which is Impressionism. At first, it seemed a little bit challenging to grasp the concept until we saw some references from some artists such as Claude Monet with Femme assise Sur un banc (women seated on a bench). It describes painting on the spot depicting what was happening or what they see at the moment, which was interesting for me considering the brief strokes with not much attention to detail.
​
​
It also relates back to how we observe people on what habits they do, what interests they have, or what issues lie under their mundane activities on the site. I learned that with the use case study on Impressionism, it is always important to practice observation in the scene and dissect it in order to understand our intended target audience.
The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali (Wikipedia, 2022)
Observe and investigate one ideology; using either an example of Fine Art or Decorative Art (Design) that best describes or illustrates it.
​
Week 3
Surrealism entails a philosophical approach instead, as – in artist Joyce Mansour’s words – “It is not the technique of painting that is surrealist, it’s the painter and the painter’s vision of life”. Salvador Dalí formulated his “paranoiac-critical method,” cultivating self-induced psychotic hallucinations in order to create art. Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory (1931) portrays clocks, otherwise hard objects, becoming inexplicably limp and bendable. Time literally bends, and the creature draped across the center of the canvas seems to be simultaneously melting, sleeping, and dying. Dalí’s “hand-painted dream photographs” present his absurd visions and dreams in an unbelievably tangible and realistic manner.
The ability to break the boundaries and rules of an object or world that we are commonly familiar with dictates the strategy of surrealism, to picture one's reverie of a certain subject.
Thoughts on National Design Centre's 50 Years of Singapore Design
Week 4
Overall, it was mind-blowing for me to see remnants of not only my childhood but also my parents' childhood as to what kind of design and technology we had at that point in time. Things obviously were not so advanced and not completely problem-solving on certain prototypes but it was still interesting how design in Singapore was experimental deriving from cultures introduced from around the world and modernizing itself to world-class standards.
​
There are a few prototypes that caught my eye, such as the PDA in 1995 before it was modernized and advanced into a mobile phone or pad. Local designers adopted new technology and new modes of working.
​
​
Visiting the gallery was a wonder as seeing how design in Singapore progresses in decades based on different timelines of issues and trends forging into our own identity.
Thoughts on Clip from "IloIlo" Movie
​
Week 5
Prior to watching the clip, I had already watched the movie out of curiosity and was pleasantly surprised at not only how the direction of the movie was thought out but also the accuracy of the livelihood of Singaporeans highlighting the issues of foreign workers as well as within the family. In general, it depicts the story of how the main character which is a Filipino maid struggles to adapt to the environment in Singapore while trying to get along with her employer's son.
​
​
Speaking from a design perspective, it was nicely shown in the movie how certain items play out a key role, such as the walkman the maid owns which happens to be the trigger for the main characters to bond due to the differences between access to items used in the maid's hometown (Philippines) and Singapore.
​
​
Another item they used that encaptures me is the way they incorporated such a simple item to tell a powerful story. In one of the scenes, the maid was secretly wearing her client's (boy's mother) lipstick behind the latter's back, before rubbing it away in order not to get caught. Her wearing the lipstick in awe while admiring herself in the vanity mirror before stashing the lipstick away signifies how she did not have the luxury of investing such items as she is struggling to face her own issues.
Design as Semiotic Construction & Vernacular
Week 6
Learning from the lecture, it was interesting to see how visuals can help to relay the intended message to the audience, some in different interpretations, some with one direct message. I wonder how symbols or icons from companies are able to establish their brands in a timeless manner just with the design of their logo, with the examples of Nike, Rolex, and SIA.
​
Attempting to understand signs in certain examples taught me how details in the message and art direction contribute a lot to the overall meaning behind the advertisement, with the example of Dior perfume to promote their floral perfume for beauty purposes.
​
Understanding the nodes from this lecture, my group attempted to create our own pictogram with the combination of one superhero we know as well as one sport from the Olympics. We decided to choose Batman and visualize him doing figure skating as a sport to contrast the pictogram to his image as a character who is a stoic, aloof and calm character with an expressive, graceful sport. The overall result turned out to be very interesting.
