soojinkimcapstone-blog

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To Serif or not Serif

I think I am going to change the body text to a serif typeface from a sans-serif, gothic typeface. And my classmate/professor suggested this typeface called Chaparral Pro.

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BIG DECISION

I decided to focus on English and not include Korean due to the complication of dealing with two languages that look completely different..

However, I am going to include original interviews in Korean that will potentially be printed on Korean mulberry paper called Hanji.

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I am including 5 interviews of real Haenyeo and a portrait of them. Along with the portrait, I am planning to include an illustration of them when they first started muljil (the act of going to the ocean and harvesting seafoods by Haenyeo_.

This is the first portrait of the five.

This Haenyeo started muljil 5-6 years ago, so I assumed that she would not have looked too different from these days. Instead of focusing on a younger look, I put make up on her face and gave her a nice hair to show how she would have dressed up if she weren’t Haenyeo. Also, her face in the photo is all swollen from muljil, so I made her face little narrower and her eyes bigger.

I’m still debating whether or not I should render her face to look more realistic.

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Oops it’s not centered. But it is an idea for the cover. The Korean character reads ‘soom’, meaning breath.

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Comments

These are the comments I got from my classmates on my first draft. Clearly, I have a long way to go.

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First Draft

My first draft was due last week and I didn’t actually think I’d be able to put together everything into a first draft. Thankfully, I did. Unfortunately, I couldn’t put much thought into it but merely threw my text in. Ha.. It’ll be interesting to see how much my project changes from the first draft to the final (fingers crossed).

The good news is, I finally got all my text including translations. It is around 40 pages long on a Google Doc and I don’t know how I ended up with so much text but here I am. I am more ready than every to move forward. (YAY)

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Thumbnailing

I tried to do some thumbnailing before making the first draft, which was due last week.. My thumbnails are usually really bad and end up not looking anything like the final design, but some of the ideas were actually used in my first draft.

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A good example of the use of layers and fold outs.

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Translation

I gave up.

I.

gave.

up.

I paid almost $200 for someone to translate 3 interviews out of 5 that I am going to include in the project. I got super frustrated because I was spending way too much time on translation that I had no time for design.

Things should be moving faster now....

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Started working on the illustration component of my project. It is done in a rather flat design, instead of my usual drawing style (super detailed and realistic), because I want it to be more like an infographic.

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Interesting binding and construction of the book.

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Forms

Meanwhile I am spending tons of time putting my content together (plus translating), I did some brainstorming for the form of the book.

The sketches below are my two last options.

(1) Two separate books bound together into one.

(2) An accordion book with a huge illustration of Haenyeo going into the water on the back.

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Moodboarding

This is my moodboard for now. It will be further developed along the way.

Few things that I am focusing on are: (1) “Underwater” - Lots of blue and distorted types that look like they are underwater. (2) Layers. (3) Use of translucent paper to add illustrations on top of a photograph (4) Big, modular type - especially for Korean

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Content

I’ve decided to make a bilingual book for both international and native audiences, so I have been super busy translating all my text. I also decided to include actual interviews of 5 different Haenyeo because my peers showed more interest in getting to know the real people. My content is as follows:

Introduction

History of Haenyeo    -When did Haenyeo first emerge?    -Haenyeo during independence movements in early 20th century against Japanese government    -Chulgahaenyeo - Haenyeo who went abroad, to the mainland or Japan, to work because it was under contract and paid them more money

Basis of Muljil    -Muljil is a noun in Jeju slang that describes the act of going into the water and harvesting seafoods by Haenyeo    -There are 5 steps to Haenyeo’s muljil

Tools (Illustration)    -Kind of tools Haenyeo use

Collectibles (Illustration)    -Different kinds of seafoods collected by different seasons

Religion    -Youngdeunggut -an annual ritual praying to the Goddess of wind.

Soom (Breath)    -Different ranks of Haenyeo, determined by the length of their soom (Illustration)    -Definition of mulsoom (water breath)

Fear of Death    -A story told by real Haenyeo who saw her colleague being taken by a shark

Interviews    -KIM Jae Yeon, the youngest Haenyeo    -KIM Ok, the lowest rank (Ddonggun) Haenyeo who started in her 40s    -YANG Seok Bong, the oldest Haenyeo on Woo Island who earned enough money to send her children abroad to the mainland for education and is still working even though her children are wealthy enough and are financially supporting her.    -KIM Yeon Hee, the highest rank (Daesanggun) Haenyeo    -KIM Jung Ja, Haenyeo who lost her young Haenyeo daughter in the water but is still going to the water.

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What? Why? How?

Over the winter break, I was struggling with my original idea. I felt I like I hit a wall and couldn’t go further with the idea.  One day, I was watching TV while eating dinner by myself and saw a documentary program about an underwater photographer called Y-Zin and her project on Haenyeo (literally means ‘Sea Women’ in Korean). The photographer was not only taking photos but was attending international marine expos to let the world know about Haenyeo and their culture. I was deeply touched by her effort to spread the beauty of Haenyeo and its value as a cultural heritage. After the show, I did a quick research on Haenyeo and could feel that it had more potential to be developed into a seminar project than my original idea. The next thing I knew I was writing a new seminar proposal. 

Haenyeo (literally means ‘Sea Woman’ in Korean) refers to female free divers living on Jeju Island, or on smaller nearby islands, who go diving 10m under the sea to gather seashells and seaweed for a living. They harvest for up to 8 hours a day without taking a single break nor drinking a single sip of water and without the help of oxygen masks. More than 50% of them are older than 70 but they still manage to work all day, swim faster than anyone, and carry 50-60 kg (110-130 lbs) of seashells out to the shore.

Because the population is aging and younger women are leaving the island to find less dangerous, more educated jobs in land, the number of Haenyeo is decreasing faster than ever and the average age of Haenyeo passed 70. People believe that current Haenyeo will be the last generation of Hanyeo after a long history and tradition. Fortunately, the culture of Haenyeo was listed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016 and people like Y-Zin show interest and are helping the Haenyeo community to work in a better environment, thus trying to preserve the heritage. Through my seminar project, I would like to add a little bit to this effort and let my community know about these strong women.

After choosing a topic, I started questioning how would I take this widely unfamiliar topic and design an object for anyone to grab, read, understand, and admire the Haenyeo and their culture. I decided to make a book, but was unsure of the exact form. I could not quickly settle on one form because I couldn’t tell which form would be the most effective and relevant one. I visited a library, just to look at the variety of books, and also looked on Pinterest. As far as I know, I am going to make a journal-like zine that contains multiple layers to show different aspects of their culture and lives. It will also be a bilingual book, embracing their dialects, for Korean audience. Things are still kind of fuzzy, but I am slowly moving forward with the project.

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The Beginning

Is it really 2017? 

Is it really the last semester of college?

Is it really time for senior capstone??!!

It’s quiet scary how fast time flies. It feels just like yesterday that I was sitting in my drawing 1 class, freshman fall. I honestly didn’t know what Communication Design was and what was lying ahead of me. But now I am here, starting my senior seminar project with less than three months of time to complete it. It is surreal to think that I will have, hopefully, successfully finished my senior seminar project at the end of this semester and will graduate.

This blog will be a vehicle for me to express my thoughts and ideas on my capstone project for my friends, family, professor, and myself to read and understand the project. Please come back often to see where I am in the process.