Method and process
who is sophie
Caring for people, subjects and issues is an essential characteristic of my design practice. I care about the world by producing socially engaged projects with a variety of topics and interests, in city culture, tourism and so on. I concern about the cities, care about different social groups. I care about some people’s action and their potential impacts. The design is essential for communicating and making tools for humankind to solve problems and make changes. I, therefore, use my design knowledge to understand and research on my topic of interests in order to create real-world outcomes through ideas communicating, expression of opinions and achieving social influence.
I care about the work I created by experimenting and researching extensively. I use techniques from different design mediums, from visual communication to film and from material design to illustration that is most suitable for the project. To situate my project’s identity, I draw influences from disciplines across and beyond design such as anthropology and sociology. Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach is to create outcomes that are specific and sensitive to a particular audience.
Fitting into the design profession
I am interested in two design areas that are in line in my vision of how design can be applied to a real-life context. A lot of current issues are caused by people’s ignorance of complicated information and using their presumption to make judgements and actions. Information design is a field that communicates complex ideas through clarity, precision and efficiency, using skills from visual communication. I appreciate how design is used to deliver complex knowledge in a more accessible manner so to educate people and resolve social issues. I am also interested in the material culture of design. Existing fields such as product and UX design, research on how designed artefacts shapes our behaviours and environments and applied related theories to contexts and issues to create a better overall product for the end-user. I appreciate how using material culture theories with design thinking can create subversive and practical outcomes.
In future, I would like to explore and extend the creative industry beyond traditional design and studio environment, using my design knowledge in areas that do not normally involve designers. Some industries often do not recognize their needs for designers, which in fact design can help improve their work. This can be achieved by either starting my freelancing career or create a start-up so that I can fluidly work on different platforms and fields. I am interested in seeking opportunities to introduce information design to the government sector and the education field as well as the public.
Multidisciplinary designer CV
1. Simplified CV
2. Traditional CV
Meeting with 2 individuals
Meeting with 2 individuals
To understand different working modes in the creative industry, I have contacted a freelance illustrator Andres Lozano. His illustration work is both personal and commercial and I am interested in how he has balance both interests and communicate with his clients effectively. He talked about networking was the biggest gain in his education, using people to develop his illustration career.
Andres
Lozano
aryA
Huang
I have also met Arya Huang, who is a RCA student and currently working on a virtual reality project that is involved with a business in China. She mentioned about how different social environment affects the professional practice of designer as the nature of creative industry in different countries is drastically different.
5 placement hosts
After meeting in Arya, I have decided to do internships in two different cities, in order to understand different natures of creative industries. My overall learning goals for my placement are:
1. Improve current techniques
2. Learn from my host’s design process. Understand how they develop their ideas and make decisions.
3. Understand how design is used in the professional context
information design
1. Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
This is an animation studio and Youtube channel based in Munich. They produce videos that teach topics from the fields of science, history and philosophy, making complex information more understandable. As their visual style is very unique, I would learn illustration and animation skills from them to create better aesthetics and motion designs. I can also learn different stages of their animation production, including researching, storyboarding, editing of information and storyboarding. I have motion graphics techniques, using Aftereffects and extensive research skills. To improve my portfolio for this placement, I can work more on animation to have better understanding on related software.
2. Cognitive Media
This studio delivers complex knowledge in a simple way through their whiteboard animation and infographics in order to make learning easier. I am interested and would to learn from their design process in transforming head-scratchingly complex material into cogent, memorable visual forms. I can apply my illustration and researching skills for this studio to create infographics and animations. To further improve my abilities, I can create information designs and practice how to apply my illustration skills in explaining sophisticated topics.
3. RTHK
RTHK is a Hong Kong broadcasting organisation. Their TV programmes provide fresh and critical perspective on Hong Kong social topics. I am interested in how their discussion on these topics is transformed into TV programmes. I can learn a great deal about interviewing people, researching and film production from them. Currently, I have film making and researching skills. However, my film techniques are still from professional as the current films that I have produced still need further improvement in storytelling, sound design and editing. Therefore, practicing film technique and researching more about TV programme will be beneficial for me for this internship.
material culture
4. Cultural bank
The cultural bank is an organisation that uses design to combine traditional customs with daily-life objects in Taiwan. I am intrigued by their design mission of using integration as a mean to preserve traditional cultures in Taiwan. Their design process first analyses tradition culture through sociology and historical means, then uses design thinking and material culture theories to reapply traditions to modern contexts. Learning their design process will be a valuable experience as I gain experience in using design to resolve complicated, intertwined matters of cultural loss and damages. My workshop skills in working with a variety of material, such as wood, plastic and clay will be beneficial in creating practical and functional outcomes. A better theoretical understanding of the application of design in traditional culture and the relationship between tradition and modernization can improve my application.
Their ecological design on sky lantern which this tradition is threatened by environmental issues.
5. Dave Hakken
Dave is a designer who has worked on projects from reducing e-waste with a modular phone to biodegradable materials. His design practice is subversive, aiming to change current industries to resolve issues. I can learn how he presents and communicate his ideas and also his process of idea generation as his work is ground-breaking. My skills in modelling, film and drawings will be useful for concept communication and pitching for ideas. I have not done any projects on ecology design and finding more about this field of design will be beneficial for my practice.
Dave's works on phone blocks & plastic recycling