Abstract
The case study is an investigation of a group of college students’ development of a mask project in a college graphic design course at Xi’an University of Technology (XUT), China. Horse-Ladle Masks, a famous folk art in China’s Loess Plateau region, have been preserved and promoted by the central government as an intangible cultural heritage. To highlight the historical and traditional value of the horse-ladle masks, an instructor at XUT developed a project that students conducted a field study about the origin of the masks at the village where the masks were made and then, designed their versions of horse-ladle masks. To examine the students’ creative progress on concept development, strategic planning and implementation, production, and presentation, the authors adapted Csikszentmihalyi’s (1975) flow theory, specifically focused on four characteristics: effortlessness and ease, challenge and skills, self-conscious rumination, and feeling of control over the task, to learn about the students’ conditions on knowing what to do, how to do it, how well they were doing, what to achieve, and how they gained freedom from distractions (Schaffer, 2013). Data including students’ visual journals, interviews, questionnaires, and observation, were collected and analyzed during the project. Findings indicate that the students’ behaviors on dealing with design tasks, use of knowledge and techniques, and level of confidence were key factors of the students’ experience in flow. The process, analysis, and findings of this case study will be presented visually in a multimedia format.
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