The Self & Identity.
Task 4:
The objective of this week's challenge is to gain a better understanding of myself, my work, and the values I bring to the table as a designer. The challenge is to select twenty words that best represent my personality and design each word uniquely. Developing a project based on oneself rather than someone or something else is arduous. We often think we have an idea of who and what we are, but the reality is that we learn something new that can affect us negatively or positively each day. It is easy to compliment things about ourselves; however, facing the true negative aspects of our identities is more complicated. Therefore, I will split the twenty words within this project into two sections. I will write ten words about my positive traits and ten about my negative. It is hard to share the things I hate the most about myself. However, I must recognize these traits without turning them into someone else's problem.
Distill from my understanding of my practice and my character my values as a designer (aspirational, honest, negative).
Make an initial list of 20 words I can then edit down to five words.
Create a visual mood board for each word.
Create a single visual expression that conveys me (e.g. a film, 3D, typographic, an artefact or an experience).
Document my whole process and reflect upon it on my blog.
Learning objectives:
Analyse and communicate my understanding of my practice, character, and values as a designer.
Imagine and communicate a single visual expression that conveys me.
Document and communicate my working process on my blog.
Participate in and reflect upon debate on the ideas wall.
Manage my independent learning through good planning and self-direction.
The 20 words I described myself : positively & negatively:
Survey Responses: positive word that describes me
Survey Responses: negative word that describes me
The Final 5 words:
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I am authentic. I am true to myself, what I believe in, and how I live my life, no matter how much pressure I am under to look a certain way. I am open and honest with myself and others and own up to my mistakes. My goals, values, and actions all match up. I love being one of a kind.
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I am an artist. I utilize my hands and imagination to generate new works of art. I am drawn to the beauty of nature, the variety of people, places, objects, textures, and sounds, and the acute perception of what looks aesthetically pleasing. I see my hands as an art tool. I can turn nothing into something using my power of artistry.
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I am trustworthy, which makes me reliable, responsible, and a level-headed leader. I show genuine interest in people and refuse to participate in gossip and negative talk about others. I am helpful and value people's time and efforts. Caring about others and giving them my all allows them to trust me entirely and see me as trustworthy.
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I am a perfectionist, holding myself to impossibly high standards and thinking what I do is never good enough. I often suppress my needs and desires, leading to anger and guilt over impulses judged as wrong. I am an idealist and work hard to improve the world, yet I put unreasonable expectations on myself and others, something I am trying to improve. The biggest thing that makes me a perfectionist is my fear of failing, self-doubt, overthinking, needing reassurance, and setting impossible goals. Some people think being a perfectionist is good, but it's not. Perfectionism makes me feel like I'm not happy with my life.
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I used to be addicted to salt. My craving for salt was my way of dealing with stress, boredom and ADHD. Salt sent signals to my brain telling me to look for more salt to satisfy my physiological needs. I used to eat salt while I was at university lectures, watching movies and going to art galleries. I had a bag full of different kinds of salt everywhere I went. Eating tons of salt all my life led me to experience a severe medical condition. However, although eating salt is bizarre and unhealthy, it somehow made me happy.
As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to make this project as honest and selfless as possible. So, I did an online poll on my Instagram asking my followers to tell me one positive and one negative thing about me. I was pleasantly surprised to get many positive responses. It made me smile and feel special. I'm glad my negative qualities weren't passed down to my followers. There were a few Arabic comments that I have attempted to translate. Unfortunately, the Arabic dialect has very different translations and meanings that are hard to explain. I wrote negative qualities about myself because who knows me better than me? Right. Finally, I'm lucky enough to be able to see my flaws and define them without judgement.
Discover:
Mindmap + Idea generation:
Define:
Mood board Process:
Perfectionist
Trustworthy
Artsy
Salt-Addict
Authentic
Final mood boards:
Develop:
Chosen word: “Authentic.”
After making my mood boards, I kept thinking about this word my friend said about me. She said I was "authentic". When I read what it meant and how it resonated with me, I realized how much I felt the same way. So, I decided to dig deeper into one word, "authentic", and make my custom typeface. I called it "It's me, myself, and I". The following posts show my process of creating my typeface and what it narrates.
Process of creating the Typeface:
Scanned Prints:
Deliver:
Final Typeface Design:
Zoomed In:
Typographic Zine process:
Final Typographic zine:
Case Studies:
The Self by Martin Hosken
I have never encountered the term "Jungian Psychoanalyst", but according to Martin Hoskenso, a lecturer in Critical Theory, Jungian Psychoanalyst is 'the essence of human nature, identity, self, behaviour and emotions'’ There are so many different interpretations of the word self. Some are positive, while others are negative. For instance, one person may be selfless, while another may be selfish. Both terms contain the word self within them, but they have opposite meanings. Martin questioned if we people are more defined by our genes and heritage or if we're born with a new set of values that come from experience. I think of myself as more of an open book, where my experiences and surroundings shaped my sense of worth. I look at my family and see people with different stories shaping what makes their "self"” So, genes might have a little impact on our personalities, but it does not make us who we are.
Tom Finn & Kristoffer Soelling
In their lecture, Tom Finn and Kristoffer Soelling discuss "How does the graphic design allow me to communicate my fundamental beliefs and ways of expressing myself?" and the various elements that must be considered to achieve this. I found multiple ways to express myself and my personality very interesting. For example, I can express myself by writing my name, a logo, a portrait photograph, or any other designed artifact. The following questions helped me consider how to approach the brief and describe myself in five final words. What constitutes you? How are you easily condensed into words? Into pictures? Are you happy to be easily condensed into something? Are you designing for frictionless communication, or are you designing for lengthy reading? Overall, I gained much knowledge from their discourse and obtained insight into the various methods of self-expression and self-identity.
Contextual Research:
As I browsed through the book, I felt like I was in a therapeutic session with myself; the words spoke to me provocatively and reassuringly, inspiring me to create my personalized typeface. The book explains that the best way to plan ahead is by keeping a diary and creating a personal autobiography, whether it be a fiction or a true one. Keeping a journal is like having my secrets out; I am always worried that someone will find and read them. However, after reading what Rainwater had to say about journaling, I felt different. Rainwater explains having a journal as a place, to be honest with yourself and learn from past experiences and mistakes to help you grow. Whether it's a notional journal or a real one, 'autobiographic thinking' is a crucial part of self-care. I had never tried having a private diary before, but I did try to draw out all my feelings. I'm an artist, so it's hard to express what I'm feeling in words, but it is much simpler for me to paint, illustrate, or conceptualize what I am feeling.
Self-Reflection:
This week's challenge took me to a new level of creativity. I felt like the air I breathed was full of creativity, motivation and passion. I was unable to sleep, eat or go out for a while. I was so consumed with the idea of creating something extraordinary and memorable, and I am happy to say that I did. I put my all into it, and it was worth it. There were many difficulties during the process, but I learned from them and reached better conclusions. While working, I screen-recorded my laptop to show my entire process of creating the typographic zine. Unfortunately, my computer malfunctioned, and all of my work was lost. However, I did not give up; I kept going and achieved my goal. I am so proud to have the strength and confidence to make something of myself and create a typeface with my fingerprints. Despite this, I was so preoccupied with the design bit that I didn't do enough research. Research is a significant part of the definition and development process. Therefore, I intend to conduct more research in future projects.
