Design Principles / Project 1
Nurul Adlina Rizal / 0345429 / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Design Principles
Project 1: Self-Portrait
LECTURES
Week 6:
Lecture 6 - Self Portrait
Self
- How I see myself
- How others see me
- My experiences
- My interests
- My thoughts
Self-Portrait
- a self representation in the form of a
drawing/painting/sculpture/design
- it is a visual depiction of the self
- a self portrait artwork represents the designer/artist - how one sees
themselves , what they are feeling and how he wants to be seen by
others
- its not necessarily abt creating realistic image - self -
exploration.
INSTRUCTIONS
Project 1 - Self-Portrait
Visual Research
I look at self-portraits and portraits of people on Pinterest and found
many ideas and styles that I love and inspire me.
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| Fig 1.0: A self-portrait by Celia Jacobs (2/10/2021) |
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Fig 1.1: Bobby at Home by Holly Warburton (2/10/2021) |
Holly Warburton is an artist whose expression of emotion is best
captured by her vibrant colors. Her artwork ranges from her subtle yet
emotional animation to her vivid sketches of the many faces on the
London tube.
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Fig 1.2: Self Portrait Fall 2020 by Lizbeth (2/10/2021) |
Since I was sure that I wanted to do something related to vibrant colors I
tried to look at a certain type of art that is popular for being vibrant and
messy-looking - Graffiti. I think this style suits me best since I am very
expressive and playful.
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| Fig 1.3: Graffiti (4/10/2021) |
I love how the colors work well together despite being very bright and
contrasting.
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| Fig 1.4: A screenshot from the music video K/DA - POP/STARS (4/10/2021) |
Another style I am inspired from is the music video POP/STARS by K/DA. The brightness of the color is contrasted with dark colors which make them look like neon lights. I took note of the colors from these two design that have graffiti elements. This will help me later on when creating a color palette.
Idea Exploration
Mind Map
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| Fig 1.5: Mind Map (4/10/2021) |
To summarize, in the mind map, I write down on how I see myself, my experiences, my interests, how others see me and my thoughts. The mind map helped me create ideas of what I want my self-portrait to mean to me.
Sketches
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| Fig 1.6: Sketches #1 (2/10/2021) |
These two sketches have the same theme of being a combination of people or being driven around by people. However, I did not like them as much since the composition felt empty or well I did not really resonate with the design. It did not reflect me.
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| Fig 1.7: Sketches #2 (2/10/2021) |
This is one of the sketches that I really liked the composition of and the
message behind it. In this self-portrait it shows that I am a natural
worrier that questions everything and anything about my own future and past.
It also means I have many questions unanswered and it creeps behind the back
of my mind every now and then. The facial expression is bored and
uninterested because that is usually how I am first perceived by people who
do not know me well. I seem intimidating and have a scary resting
face.
Drafts
- How Others See Me
Before I digitalized Fig 1.7 however, I attempted to create a different
feeling of self-portrait based on how people perceive me which is soft, kind
and comforting.
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| Fig 1.8: Draft #1 (4/10/2021) |
I have my chubby cat - lychee - on top of me as it defines how people see me - a huge cat person that talks about her own cat 24/7. The pink background with flower pattern shows the type of aesthetic that I like that I tend to show to people. However, I rarely wear the color pink. I am colored in blue to symbolize that I am seen as calm and collected. I feel that this idea would be better expressed using traditional materials such as pencil colors and paint.
- How I See Myself / My Thoughts
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| Fig 1.9: Draft #2 (4/10/2021) |
I digitalized my favorite sketch and first focus on the colors that I wanted to have in the portrait rather than the details. It is found that this piece can also be about self-identity and being confused of what defines you as a person.
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| Fig 2.0: Color Palette (4/10/2021) |
From the color palette I used, I added black as a secondary color and desaturated the yellow so the bright colors together are not too distracting.
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| Fig 2.1: Draft #3 (4/10/2021) |
I made the background color darker to have the question marks appear brighter, in contrast and feel more like the neon graffiti style that I wanted to have. Other than that, I need to render the face more.
Final
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| Fig 2.2: Project 1 Final in JPEG (13/10/2021) |
Fig 2.3: Project 1 Final in PDF (13/10/2021)
RATIONALE
For the final, I made a self-portrait to which I title '?'. It is a
portrayal of my character and how I am a chronic worrier. I worry about
the past, the future and even the present of my life. I worry about what
I have and have not done. I never miss a day where I do not worry or
have questions fill my thoughts. I think that this trait is both a flaw
and advantage of mine that keeps me on my toes and continue being
productive. I have something to look forward to when I am thinking about
tomorrow. However, one should also be able to enjoy the present.
Other than that, it is also a representation of not knowing one's
self-identity. I do struggle with finding out what makes me, me. Is it
my interest? My personality? Different people will say different things
about me so who's judgement should I believe? My own? It does make you
feel like a stranger in your own body sometimes.
In this design, I paid more attention to color and the design style that
displays the message of the self-portrait. The blues and cool colors
represent my calmness and how I tend to seem calm despite overthinking
and worrying a lot. The bright and contrasting colors use of blue and
purple represents my expressive personality - how I am open to talk about
how I feel and love to share with people about happy things. Such as
these contrasting colors, it can be a little too loud and suffocating.
For my expression, my face seems unamused and blank, some may say
unapproachable. It is usually how I look when I am in deep thought. Most
people would say I seem scary at first glance. That is usually not the
case, as seen in the colors of the self-portrait, I am a bright person that has a
rich inner life.
Design principles that exist in this design are repetition and contrast
in the background. There is also emphasis with the color yellow being
the only warm color in the design. It highlights the main subject which
is my face.
FEEDBACKS
Week 7
General Feedback: Explain your visual research so you can see the
direction you are looking at / interested for your design.
Week 8 (Independent Learning Week)
General Feedback: -
REFLECTIONS
Experience
During classes, we had a good amount of feedback given to our sketches
and drafts. Ms Jinchi's suggestion to create a mind map help me dive
deeper into not only the message I wanted to share but also to find out
who I am and how I can portray it best. Classes are as productive as ever
and the process of Project 1 was enjoyable. I was able to push myself to
doing different types of styles and explore on self-portraits. I learned a
lot from seeing professional's works.
Observation
I observed that I am hardworking and adaptable. Despite trying out a new
style and digital brushes, I managed to fulfill the general idea of the
style based on the inspirations that I looked at. I wanted to portray an
oil painting type of design and managed to do it even
digitally.
Something that I struggled with in this project is deciding how to
portray mental concepts such as overthinking and self-identity. It was
difficult to imagine how to show concepts like these and be able to have
the audience understand or have a general idea of what the design is
trying to say. Because of this, I took some extra time to make sure of
what I wanted to share in my self-portrait.
Findings
I found that doing proper research can benefit you in the long run.
Rather than starting the work blind without any point of reference or
understanding of the project, it is easy to get lost and one may find it
hard to create any ideas. I could say that research is a vital part of
design, it is the first step to a good design that has covered each and
every aspect of what it needs to fulfill.
Other than that, I learned that it is good to explore different
variations of one idea, especially if you are unsure which one is best.
Testing out the different sketches made can help one make a proper
decision and set a direction to the progress of the project.
FURTHER READING
The links and video here are provided by Ms Jinchi on Times.
Self concept, self identity and social identity | Individuals and Society | MCAT | Khan Academy
Self Concept is being self aware.
Two aspects of development of self concept:
1. Existential
- sense of being separate and distinct from others
- self is constant and it does not change
2. Categorial
- each objects has properties
- categorize themselves by age and gender, skills and size when we were young
- as we grow older, categorize ourselves by traits, careers
Self Concept Components by Carl Rogers
1. Self Image
- what we believe we are
2. Self-Esteem
- self worth, how much value we put in ourselves
- how much do we love ourselves
3. Ideal Self
- what we wish and aspire to be
Social Identity
1. Personal Identity
- personality traits
2. Social Identity
- groups you belong to
Categorize > Identification > Comparison
Categorize
We categorize objects to understand and identify them.
Identification
- adopt the identity and behave and act as the category we belong to
Social Comparison
- we're comparing ourselves with other groups
- to maintain our self-esteem
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