Views and Reviews
Subject, Material, Tool: A Method for Harnessing the Visual Communication Possibilities of Physical Materials View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Anna Jordan
I am a book cover designer, working with typography as image. I aim to find that perfect point of verbal-visual connection, where the title and how that typography was made reinforce each other. I do this by incorporating image-making techniques that harness the visual communication possibilities of physical materials. Over the past fifteen years, I have developed a unique process to turn physical materials into engaging digital images that I call "Subject, Material, Tool." This process is a structured way to create images in which the materials used to make the images both form and inform the meaning of the typography. “Subject, Material, Tool” is a set of limitations designers can play with in order to get the most image-making possibilities out of any given material. Essentially, it prompts designers to examine each material through three distinct lenses: as a subject, as a raw material, and as a tool. My study demonstrates exactly how “Subject, Material, Tool” works via a series of applied case studies in book cover design. Image-making, the verbal-visual connection, and type as image are topics that have been well researched by colleagues such as Nancy Skolos and Thomas Wedell, Annabelle Gould, Renee Seward, Keetra Dean Dixon, and others. This is for good reason, because finding an ideal verbal-visual connection is one of the biggest challenges designers face. "Subject, Material, Tool” is a new take on image-making process, offering a unique structure and point of view, therefore adding valuable scholarship to this important area of research.
Cosmological Design Principles Reconsidered: Exploiting Cosmological Traits and Pattern Toward Expression and Resiliency View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Keelan Kaiser
This paper explores the reintroduction of complexity / pattern systems in the built environment based upon influences found in nature and evidenced in premodern material finishes and cladding. Striving not to merely appropriate, but rather seeking methods for exploring universal genomic, archetypal systems at these scales, the paper analyzes pathways for innovation in new and emerging materials that are synthesized with cosmological traits to reclaim elemental meaning and signification. Precedent studies include expressions in tile, carpentry, plaster, and wall coverings, while future works explore the incorporation of emerging material constructions such as bio-composites, possibly waste related composites.
Finding Jiang Jian: A Visual Design Project Unfolding the Forgotten Stories of the Mothers’ Movement During World War II in China
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jing Zhou
This paper presents the motivation, exploration, and growing outcome of the Jiang Jian project—a forgotten heroine who was the "Mother of Wounded Warriors," "Mother of Refugee Children," and "The Chinese Nightingale" during World War II. Through an unexpected journey, this project evolved from a web design initiative to scholarly research. Not only does this project portray Jiang Jian's extraordinary life, but also entails the overlooked Mothers' Movement—a major achievement of the Chinese Women's Movement in the first half of the 20th century, in which Jiang participated—to a broader audience. During its eight years of operation, about 30,000 wartime refugee children were saved and educated in more than 60 Refugee Schools throughout China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia organized by the Chinese Wartime Refugee Children's Relief and Education Association (中国战时⼉童保育会) supported mainly by donations. Furthermore, the Mothers' Movement in China and the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS) in the UK during World War II have inspired my latest project Cradlr: An Interaction Design for Refugee Children, which is a human-centered digital product and network concept designed to keep displaced children—a vulnerable population without cell phones—connected with their families, resources, and heritage on a global scale. The social impact of the Chinese Mothers' Movement and the WVS in the UK will continuously influence my work in the near future.
