PROJECT 2 - DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Julie Egebjerg Nielsen
0339712
Design Principles
Project 2
Self portrait

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INSTUCTIONS

We were to explore som spots, for the visuals, sounds smells etc. and by that research we had to develop a self-portrait, which included the questions

• Who am I?
• How has culture affected me?
• How do others see me?
• How do I see myself?

PROCES


I went to Melaka with my parents and at one point we visited this cafe at jonkers street called "Heesan kopi". The cafe is very beautiful and is very cozy. It has different wallpaintings and the interior is so interesting as well. For me Heesan kopi is a little asian inspired cafe, with a touch of the western and even the scandinavian culture.

The place inspired me a lot and because i thought it was a good mixture of asian and western culture. You see all of these colours the red on the pillows and the asian posters and wallpaintings. Then, as a contrast you have the raw concrete floor and in general a minimalistic look of the interior. For me this was a good reflection of how I see myself in Malaysia. I have all of these asian surroundings, but I don't blend in because of my scandinavian looks. I am as contrast to this culture.

I saw this poster/picture in the bathroom and I was quite inspired by the colours and the composition. It illustrates a boy doing different daily things, such as brushing his teeth and washing his face.

Poster at Heesan Kopi Cafe

With the inspiration from Heesan Kopi and the especially the poster i started doing some research of how i wanted my self portrait to look like. I looked on Instagram and Pinterest to find the right pictures, and i created this moodboard.

Moodboard of Selfportrait

I then knew i wanted to draw a girl, not necessarily looking like me, but having some of the same features such as blonde curly hair. I also knew that i wanted to use the colours from the Heesan kopi picture and then I knew I wanted it to have an asian twist.

So I started doing different sketches of the overall composition.

Sketches

I Knew i wanted to work in InDesign as well to add some chinese text as well. so i looked at Google translate and I asked one of my classmates if it was correct saying and she said it was. So i wanted to add "Danish Girl" in chinese and the chinese words were:  丹麥姑娘

Because I knew I wanted to work with InDesign I wanted to add texture and patterns in the different chinese letters. I wanted the different patterns to be from dresses from my favourite danish brand "Ganni". In that way there would be a lot of contrasting things, like the contrast of the two cultures, the asian and the scandinavian.

Then I Started drawing the face and then i would tak a picture of it and import it in photoshop to change some of the colours. I then edited the entire "poster" in InDesign, where I Added the chinese text, and the Ganni Patterns in them.

Proces of the drawing

First attempt with the composition

Pattern I Used from a Ganni dress

Pattern I Used from a Ganni dress

Finishing touches 

I made the first letter bigger than the others.

Under my Proces of editing the "poster" I did a lot of changes which is why i like working with digital design. I used the two different patterns in two of the chinese words, and then I used two of the colours from the original Heesan Kopi poster.

First try - self portrait. 

When I printed the first try, I didn't like the colour of the drawing. So i chose to change it to the pink color from the Heesan Kopi poster, and then change the some of the colours of the chinese letters. In that way there was also a repetition of the color green in the letters. Then I faded the drawing a bit more - to add the same effect from the first try.

proces - new colour of drawing.

FINAL RESULT

Final result - Self-portrait

RATIONALE DESCRIBING MY WORK AND DESIGN PROCESS
(150-200 words)

The piece illustrates me in this asian culture in malaysia. I chose to do the drawing and the background almost kind of faded, to enhance the meaning of that even though I stand out in Malaysia my identity kind of fades because I am only recognised and looked at as this blonde “danish girl”. 

I chose to add the chinese writing because that is something that has affected me here, all of these beautiful symbols and words, which is something you don’t see in Denmark or in Europe that often. It has affected me in that way, that i find it really inspiring because of the aesthetics of it. I then added the Ganni patterns because I wanted to add the feeling of mixed cultures, which you see everywhere, especially here in Malaysia. 

I think my final result is a good mixture of how I see myself and how others see me here in Malaysia. I used the design principle “Contrast”, which you see between the faded drawing of the danish girl and then the eye-catching chinese words.