Bridge 1: Process Documentation
Spring 2019
PROBLEM:
In this project, we were asked to create a series of five visual images based on internal world journeys. The requirements of this project were to choose an object that stands out to you in a project and record the next reaction that you have towards this project and it would be images, thoughts, questions, ideas, felt-senses, and emotions.
COLLECT INFORMATION:
The first setting that occurred to me when this project was assigned to us was the room in the dorm that I stayed in in my previous school in Singapore. This room held a big significance to be as that is the place where I’ve changed the most and become who I am today.
Firstly, the image that came to my mind when I’ve thought of that place was Singapore. At times, I find it hard to believe that so many things and changes could happen in such a small city. Then, I associated the word Singapore with high school. As high school was the place where I’ve really grown up as a person, therefore, the experiences and friends that I have met there has left a big impact on my memory. Rollercoaster was what came after that as although being in a boarding school in Singapore was fun, there was a lot of ups and downs that I’ve experienced. I then linked the word rollercoaster to Winter wonderland as that was the last place where I last rode a rollercoaster. Then, the word light came into my mind. I have always thought light connotes to positive things, and because I’ve spent the most wonderful time at Winter Wonderland, it acts as a massive light or in other word happiness in my life.
Secondly, the object that I thought of was alcohol, rosé. In my previous school, my friends and I would always use champagne as a celebratory drink whenever something good happened and therefore it has motivated me as a person to work harder. Then, the next diction that came into my mind was Clarke Quay as that was where all of these events happened. As Clarke is a place by the river, the next word that I thought of was a river. Oddly, when I think about the river, I’ve always felt a sense of loneliness hence my next word being loneliness. This might be because of the silence that one experiences when they sit by the river. As someone who isn’t very expressive, whenever I feel lonely, I like to keep it in and therefore my next word is hidden emotion.
Thirdly, pink is the color of my sheets so when I think about boarding school, the first word that pops out is pink. Not only that, as pink is my favorite color since I was a little kid, I associate my pink sheets with the word favorite. The next word that links with favorite is my sister. She is the one person that would always be there whenever I need someone to talk to and she’s someone who will never judge me. Although she is my favorite sister, she is annoying at times and hence that’s my next word when I think about my sister. I associate the word annoying with my friends too, not negatively, but in a more positive way.
Fourthly, as I used to be a messy person, the next word that I thought of when I think about my dorm is messy. Then, the other thing that I link messy is my mind as I tend to overthink. However, normally I would be able to keep my mind under control and therefore my next word is control. Another control that I have over is my emotions, and this is due to the fact that I’m a private person. I then relate the word emotions to something happy and whenever I receive flowers, I would feel happy and that’s my next word.
Fifthly, when I was in the room, the one place that I usually like looking at is the window. As my window overlooks National University of Singapore (NUS), I enjoy watching people passing by and therefore my next word is window. The passing of people has reminded me of a city, especially a city like New York. The word city is associated with the word big. Then, as I have a big family, the next word that affiliates with big are family. In my family, although we’re related by blood, we all have different personalities and therefore I associate them as being different shapes. This is due to the fact that although the different shapes belong to the same category, they all have their own characteristics.
BRAINSTORM AND ANALYZE IDEAS:
My five final visual images are light, friends, hidden emotion, flowers, and different shapes. Through all of these words, I realize that they’re important aspects to a human’s life and without it, one may feel insecure about themselves and therefore I want my piece to be able to tell the readers that being yourself and having insecurities is also an acceptable thing. I wanted my piece to be both literal and figurative and therefore instead of fully portraying the five aspects, I want some of the meaning or visual images to be hidden.
For my first word light, I wanted to include a more literal approach and utilize a light source as the main feature of my project, so I have decided to use fairy lights that opens up like a flower. I wanted this to be a big part of the project because I want to urge people in our society to try to constantly see the bright side. This idea was further developed through the use of holographic material as I want to include the idea of closing the blinds (outside light) and switching on the lights from the inside, and in this case, the light is one’s personality.
Continuing with the idea of using holographic material, my second word is friends and this is represented through the use of holographic material. I wanted to combine the word friends and different shapes in one because I feel like in everyone would face challenges in every friendship and as holographic material can change the color of light, I want it to show how friends are really important to a person as they can change who they are as a person. I also decided to twist the material to highlight the challenge that everyone faces in their friendship.
For my third word hidden emotion, this is also represented through the holographic plastic sheet as holographic sheet only requires minimal light to shine and therefore I want the readers to know that sometimes one’s insecurity may shine through in a positive way.
For my last word flower, I decided to use baby’s breath flower as it represents long lasting love and purity, and I wanted to loosely stick the flower onto the product to show vulnerability and this is used to represent how stepping out of your comfort zone and being yourself takes time and its okay to feel vulnerable while doing so.
DEVELOP SOLUTIONS/ BUILD A TEST MODEL:
With this plan in mind, I bought all of the required materials and started building a test model for my product. Everything went smoothly, however, at one point in the making process I did feel that the product seems minimal. Thus, I tried to put it in a box with add-in features like a mirror to further enhance the experience. However, nothing felt right and later on, I realized that its the simplicity and vulnerability that I’m going for as I feel that we’re all very simple people but we just do complicated things to fit in.
PRESENT YOUR IDEAS TO OTHERS FOR FEEDBACK:
A lot of people in the class liked my project, as they felt the message that I wanted to convey. Son commented that he wished that there was a base that the product could sit on.
FINAL PRODUCT AND REFLECTION:
Overall, I really enjoyed making this product as I feel like it highlighted one of the main issues in the world – which is the idea of being someone else is always better and more “acceptable” than being who you are.
