Discover
The One Liner
Before this project, I joined two design competitions in the Compete module (MACD105) - D&Ad and the ISTD Student Assessment Scheme. The briefs I have worked on sparked an interest in “Hybriditity” and anthropology alongside in-depth typographic and graphic design practices. It is like opening a can of worms, but in there lies something that speaks to me. So, in this project, I hope to develop further in this direction, making sense of what I want to do and narrowing my design focus while broadening my design skillset.
Ingold, T. (1993). The temporality of the landscape. World Archaeology, 25(2), 152–174.
“Whereas with space, meanings are attached to the world, with landscape, they are gathered from it”
- By Tim Ingold, from “The Temporality of the Landscape”
This sentence ignited my interest in anthropology, providing a new perspective on how we can perceive the world around us. At the beginning of the project, I considered different routes for my final design outcome. My initial brief directed me towards “how humans shape the linguistic landscape,” exploring the relationship between culture and design with an anthropological touch.
This article by Tim Ingold is the spark for this project, defining the foundation for how landscape should be perceived. Landscape is the manifestation of time and space, gathering all meanings made by mankind and telling the story of human nature. While deciding the trajectory of this project, I took on a case study, looking into the culture and history of Gibraltar and analysing the relationship between landscape and design.
Initial Idea
Design Anthropology and How to Use It
Design anthropology is a scope of anthropology that applies design thinking and ethnographic research methodology in the ideation and design process. It considers the audiences’ cultural background and practices to adjust the design for a better user experience. Design anthropology weighs a lot in this project, as it will serve as a guideline for how the outcome will be presented and as the foundation theory of the project.
Gunn, W., Otto, T., & Smith, R. C. (Eds.). (2013). Design anthropology: Theory and practice. Bloomsbury Academic.
The initial idea for the project was to develop a piece that uses typefaces and books as the medium to communicate the complex definition of landscape and explain the sophisticated relationship between culture, landscape, and design through design anthropology. This acted as the starting point for my project and allowed the final piece to lean towards a printed outcome.
Thinking Through Craft
Design Anthropology and How to Use It
To help myself actualise my thinking process, I have decided to brainstorm ideas through making. This included the medium of communication, the message, and the justification for making this project. These questions are meant to guide the thinking process and keep me from wandering off the original route.
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Which communication medium is the best one?
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How should the idea be laid out?
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Is the idea good? Is it a good idea for an MA project, or is it just flogging a dead horse?
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What is my area of interest?
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What critical theory is this project based on?
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How will the creative direction help communicate the message?
An idea I initially wish to include is to use the marks I created as a typeface, echoing the notion that landscape influences how our culture is shaped, and in return, human culture shapes the landscape to the community’s needs. This idea was put aside as it would take too long for me to analyse the details of font making, such as the x-heights and ascenders. On the other hand, I do not think this idea would convey the message of landscape and culture mutually influencing each other simply and nicely.
Speculative Anthropology
What if Hong Kong...
My previous project - ISTD’s “Linguistic Hybridity” inspired this project. I wish to include this element in my project, so I decided to take on Gibraltar and Hong Kong as the case study for this project, exploring the possibilities this project will head towards. When I was researching Gibraltar and Hong Kong’s history, I found out they have a lot of similarities, prompting me to lean towards Speculative Anthropology. However, I discarded this idea as it is not a solid theory, and the implication is too complicated to apply to the design field.
In the idea of speculative anthropology, I asked the question, “What if Hong Kong people had the choice to choose their sovereignty in the 1980s instead of the mainland Chinese government and UK government deciding the fate of Hong Kong?” For this idea, I would brand the “new” Hong Kong, speculating how the city would develop and present itself in present times.
Documenting the Journey
Summary of the Findings
Another idea I had was to document my research journey, curating my findings on how design, landscape, and culture interact and relate to each other. During this process, I explored the idea of cultural development through crafts, making Asemic writings and Wordscapes referencing cultural hybridity, landscape, and design practices. At this point in the project, I wish to conclude and curate my findings so that there will be an ending note for this project.
In the previous stages of this design project, I have done in-depth research into how landscape and culture interact, seeing that designs as a product of cultural development would indicate the characteristics of the relationship. For example, a small place with a high population density, like Hong Kong, would call for a more functional approach to space. Thus, there are a lot of skyscrapers in the city. The architectures are designed for functionality rather than aesthetics, creating the city skyline's landscape in Hong Kong.
Another finding is that hybrid cultures foster a significant leap in design practices when cultures encounter each other and synthesise harmoniously. This is seen through my research in Gibraltar and my personal experience from Hong Kong, where you can see that the mixing of cultures does not just combine two but takes characteristics from each and arranges them into a brand new culture.
Although I have been through quite a journey to this stage, I plan to utilise the most out of the journey without discarding most ideas. This archival piece would record the journey I have taken on, showcasing the ideation process and theory crafting that happens behind the scenes. I chose to use the changes in Hong Kong’s post boxes from the colonial era to the modern era to showcase the evolution of design practises in daily objects, reflecting the impact of cultural hybridity on design and landscape.