2023-604-joshualowe

[2023-604-joshualowe]

The Creative Updated

Added insight of Chinese culture

Coming into university, I was a shy and unconfident designer who often hid away from my lecturers and peers, fearing what they would say about my designs. However, during my time at university, I have built more and more confidence. Now, in the second year of my studies, I have started embracing myself in the graphic design world with the help of my like-minded peers at university. I have learned that graphic design is not only about making cool and visually appealing designs, but it is about the service of the public. In terms of branding, we only relay the information given to us, we are only the middleman in the process.

During my time at university, I have learnt many different skills like design conventions and the best tools you use to undertake research. With design conventions, I was drawn most to publications like magazines, bookmaking, and posters. One of my earliest assignments was to design a magazine in the style of Josef Müller-Brockmann. This led me down a path of researching his design journey and how he became one of the most influential designers of all time. That assignment was a turning point in my design journey, as I discovered the Swiss design technique: grid systems. Müller-Brockmann was one of the pioneers of this technique, and it changed my view on graphic design and how I saw books and magazines. The best method I have found to expand my vocabulary as a designer was to take pictures in my environment. After class every day, I walk down Queen Street to Britomart to catch the train home, and I always find myself looking at signage on storefronts, event posters, and billboards. If I see something visually appealing and exciting, I take a shot of it and, when I get home, look at it, try to understand it and research it, what conventions they used and so on. I have an album full of pictures that I have collected, and they serve as a great source of inspiration for my design projects.

But despite all this, I found myself disconnected from my culture. I am Chinese; my mother was born in Hong Kong, and my dad, just like me, is a Chinese-born Kiwi with my dad's side of the family, having several generations here in New Zealand. Earlier this semester, we saw Jordan and Kyani's work “What Makes Me Plastic”. It talks about how they felt like being plastic in their culture in New Zealand, using stereotypes of their respective cultures, and I related to their message. I found it hard to intertwine my Chinese culture with my Kiwi culture, which prompted me to create the design system for my research poster.

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Communities of Interest (So Far)

I am not in any communities myself, but I see AUT as a community. I am surrounded by like-minded friends and knowledgeable lecturers and I feel like I growing as a designer myself every week.

In terms of studios and agencies that I am most interested in is studios like Extended Whanau, where they celebrate respective cultures. In Aotearoa, in my opinion, it is impressive that a country of 5 million has world-famous design studios. Studios like Alt Group and Weta Digital/Workshop punch above their respective weights.

As a student here at AUT, our lecturers are teaching and preparing us for going into the industry. Finishing my second year, I am most drawn to in-house design studios at the moment. I hope that in my post-university period, I can further my studies and apply my skills in a studio. The thought of freelancing is quite daunting, but after gaining real-world experience working in studios, I could relook this option in the future.

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Research Poster

“Yum Cha: A Graphical Feast – The Creative Inventory of Joshua Lowe” is a collection of my hobbies and items I have collected throughout my design journey. It is a glimpse into me as a graphic designer through the concept of my Chinese culture and what I love, Yum Cha. Yum Cha is culturally significant to me. As a Chinese-born Kiwi,  who has never been to Asia and grew up with a Hong Kongese mum, it helps me keep in touch with the Cantonese/Chinese culture she grew up in. I have many fond memories of Yum Cha. When I was younger, in the school holidays, my family went to a restaurant called Crown Restaurant in Papatoetoe; Dad said it was the only good spot in Auckland. It was a drive because we live in West Auckland, so every time we went, it was a special occasion for my sister and I. The premise of Yum Cha is about community and is to share, so you commonly have it with your family. I found there was a parallel between the concept of sharing and me sharing my elements and design journey, so I found it fitting to apply it to my poster.

After gather elements three categories naturally formed: my hobbies, essentials, and design tools. The hobbies I displayed in the poster, were objects like football and video games and their significance and how I see them not only as entertainment and an escape but also through a design outlook with the design aspect. My essential items consisted of objects necessary in my everyday life—things like my glasses to my keyboard and how I see them in a design context, with the style of my glasses to the design on mechanical keyboards. Furthermore, my design tools display my arsenal of tools in my inventory, from my MacBook to my own assignments and their significance and how they help me in my design journey.

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Creative Positioning

ThoughtFull Design Studio

A part from publication, an inspiration I constantly return to is the branding for KiwiBank. Designed by ThoughtFull Design Studio, an Auckland-based studio, it is a prime example of branding. As you can see, KiwiBank’s design system shows throughout the system, from the logo, the iconography, and EFTPOS cards to the physical sites. The design is inspired by Harakeke, flax. In Māori culture, Harakeke symbolises a thriving whānau and community. This branding respects the Māori culture that it is in, as KiwiBank is one of the only New Zealand-owned banks.

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Creative Positioning

Tyrone Ohia

Tyrone Ohia is a Kiwi designer. He is the creative director and founder of Extended Whānau in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. I want to focus on Extended Whānau’s Toi Tū Toi Ora book, edited by Nigel Borell. It discusses and celebrates the dynamic, ever-changing expression of contemporary Māori art. This was for the Auckland Art Gallery. As a Chinese-born Kiwi, I find it inspiring that Tyrone and Extended Whānau focus on their Māori culture, and I strive to celebrate my Chinese culture just like them.

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Creative Positioning

Kalee Jackson

Kalee Jackson is an independent Kiwi designer. She does publication/editorial design, and I look at her work for inspiration. After my formative assignment and voicing my liking for publication/editorial design, my lecturer, Emil, pointed me in the direction of Kalee. She has been in and won many awards in New Zealand for her books. What attracted me to her was that she was a Kiwi. As a Kiwi designer, I constantly look at designers overseas for inspiration. But looking at people like her or Tyrone Ohia, as I mentioned, and other designers in New Zealand, I find it inspiring.

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Creative Positioning

For creative positioning, for the 4 designers, I choose Josef Muller Brockmann, Tyrone Ohia, Kalee Jackson and ThoughtFull Design Studio.

Josef Muller Brockman

As I mentioned in “The Creative”, Josef Müller-Brockmann is one of my design heroes. He is one of the pioneers of the Swiss grid system commonly used in design today. His work is a constant source of inspiration for me, with his use of the grid system. These are some of his works I look at.

This shows one of his most infamous posters, Beethoven. The Beethoven poster was designed in 1955. It is most known for its clean typography and geometric shapes used in the poster.

The arcs in the poster are placed by doubling the diameter of each arc. This creates a clean and clinical design, which is an element of the Swiss style. (Whitehead, 2017) Researching the Beethoven poster expanded my knowledge of the Swiss grid system. Before, I only knew about vertical and horizontal grids and their uses.

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Intro Update

I added some insight into my liking for drawing when I was younger.

“You have to get bad to get good” is a quote I learned in my design journey, it is quoted by the brilliant Paula Scher. I come from a family of creatives, so it was not surprising that I had a creative brain. I have several sketchbooks full of drawings, Mum called them “大頭公仔 “, which is English for “big-headed cartoon” because my drawings had big heads. I did not discover what graphic design was until high school, and when I finished, I decided to pursue my studies at university, which led me to now. This essay discusses me as the creator, my creative positioning, and my creative communities. It will then reflect on my research poster and will end with a conclusion.

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Reflection on Research Poster (so far)

The design system of my poster is Yum Cha. Yum Cha is culturally significant to me, as a Chinese man born in New Zealand who has never been to Asia and grew up with a Hong Kongese mother, it helps me keep in touch with the Cantonese/Chinese culture she grew up in. When I was younger, in the school holidays, my family went to Crown Restaurant in Papatoetoe; Dad said it was the only good Yum Cha spot in Auckland. We live in West Auckland, and it was a bit of a drive, so every time we went, it was a special occasion for my sister and I, so it held a special place in my heart.

The premise of Yum Cha is to share and is about community, you commonly eat it with your family. It consists of food items called Dim Sum, which directly translates to “Touch Heart”. The poster is a collection of my hobbies and items I have collected throughout my design journey. It is a glimpse into my journey as a graphic designer through the concept of my Chinese culture and what I love, Yum Cha. Gathering these items, I found three categories: my hobbies, essential things, and my assignments. With my hobbies, I displayed football and video games and their significance to me. I see them not only as entertainment and an escape but also through a design outlook.

[2023-604-joshualowe]

The Creative (so far)

Coming into university, I was a shy and unconfident designer who often hid away from my lecturers, fearing what they would say about my designs. But during my time, I learned many design conventions, from animatics to bookmaking. Among all these, I found myself drawn most to publications like magazines, bookmaking, and posters.

One of my earliest assignments was to design a magazine in the style of Josef Müller-Brockmann. This led me down a path of researching his design journey and how he became one of the most influential designers of all time. That assignment ended up being a turning point in my design journey, as I discovered the Swiss design technique: grid systems. Müller-Brockmann was one of the pioneers of this technique, and it changed my view on graphic design as well as how I saw books and magazines.

Now, in the second year of my studies, I started embracing myself in the graphic design world with the help of my like-minded peers in university.

Throughout my time at university, I have learnt many methods to undertake research, but the best process I have found to expand my vocabulary as a designer was to take pictures in my environment. After class every day, I walk down Queen Street to Britomart to catch the train home, and I always find myself looking at signage on storefronts, event posters, and billboards. If I see something visually appealing and exciting, I take a shot of it and, when I get home, look at it, try to understand it and research it, what conventions they used and so on. I have an album full of pictures that I have collected, and they serve as a great source of inspiration for my design projects.

[2023-604-joshualowe]

Final

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Finished 20 Elements in Poster

Now I write.

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20 Objects

I found that there were three categories: hobbies, design tools and essentials.

Design Tools

Wacom Tablet

The Wacom tablet is significant because it is my design journey's first tool. In high school, they provided us with Wacom tablets, so I used them in many of my designs, and I see it as a factor in how I fell in love with design. I could express myself through digital drawing with the tablet.

MacBook

With the design world being digital in the 21st century, the Apple MacBook is the foremost essential item in my inventory. I bought it when I started university, and it is my primary tool throughout my degree. Whether it's exploring Behance or graphic design subreddits, my whole design process has been online.

Music

These earbuds are an essential item in my inventory. I listen to music daily: while on the train to university and doing my work. It helps my productivity, and I need background noise to focus while working. It also helps with my design work; listening to music while designing helps me find inspiration through different music genres.

Sony a6000 with Sigma 30mm Lens

I have a love-hate relationship with photography. I love the photo outcomes but must improve my photography skills. This is my first ever camera, I saved up all my money to get it while in high school.

Sketchbook

Ever since I was young, I always loved drawing. I have many sketchbooks full of illustrations, from Power Rangers to my dream house. At university, I learned that multiple scamps and sketches are behind every design. Dumping my ideas in my sketchbook is the best method in my design process.

National Geographic

National Geographic is my first glimpse into publication. My dad is a life member of National Geographic and has received them since the 80s. Before I was not too fond of reading, so I never paid attention to them, but now, with my passion for editorial design, I will read and take inspiration from them.

iPad

My iPad is an essential tool in my inventory. Ever since I was young, I loved drawing, but now, as a graphic design student, I can implement them into my designs. I enjoy using Procreate and doodling, it is a suitable method in my design process, an alternative to a sketchbook.

Posters in My Environment

To expand my vocabulary, I take pictures in my environment. Every day, I walk down Queen Street to Britomart to catch the train home and look at event posters and billboards. If I see something appealing and exciting, I will take a picture of it. I have a whole album on my phone of pictures.

Josef Muller-Brockmann Publication

This is one of my first assignments. It is a magazine in the style of and about Josef Muller-Brockmann, and this assignment was the beginning of my publication journey. Using the grid system style and deep diving into publication, I discovered a newfound love for typesetting and the grid system.

Sun Wukong Publication

This is my most recent assignment, it is a storybook about the Chinese folktale Sun Wukong shown in a modern design. Considering the cultural and time period aspects, I used a Japanese binding method and a more yellow stock of paper. This is the first book-style project I have done.

Hobbies

Football kits

I have been watching football all my life, and the primary identifier of a football club is the kit. Football kits are a constant source of inspiration with their designs from retro to new. Football clubs commonly express themselves through their kits. This is a kit for my football team, Manchester United.

Football Balls

Football is a constant source of inspiration. Things like football balls and football kits change every season. For example, tournament football, like the World Cup, has balls inspired by the host countries' culture and designs. This football is from the recent Women's World Cup in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Australia.

New Page Design

New Page Design by Wang Shaoqiang is a must-have for people passionate about publication/editorial design. It has countless layout examples and provides foundations for editorial design, including paper size, typographic units, the history of typography, etc. I have learned much from this book, and it will further my understanding of editorial design.

Grid Systems

Grid Systems is a book by Josef Muller Brockmann, one of the most influential designers. It is a must-have and is an essential book in my arsenal. It gives you many examples of typography: sizing, leading, how to use grid systems and the gold ratio. It is the first design book I have brought myself.

Video Games

I have been playing video games all my life. Many people find games fun or as an escape, but I see games through design. I like modding with the designs. For example, the game I like to design is FIFA. I have spent hours creating my own kits and badges.

Threaded Publication

Threaded Publication is a publication that showcases designers from all around but also focuses on designers from Aotearoa. Many lectures from AUT are showcased in the publication. This is the first design publication I have received. It is inspiring how many lecturers I see around the WE building here at AUT have their work showcased in this publication.

Essentials

Cup of Tea

Most days, I drink a cup of tea, and it is the perfect companion when designing. Tea originated in China, dating back to the 3rd century BC. It is a common pastime in Asian culture, most times, I have it with my mum and dad at the dinner table, talking about our day, so I associate tea with community/family.

Mechanical Keyboard

I'm a massive fan of mechanical keyboards, especially with the design. From the colourway of the keycaps to the design of the backplate, I like the design aspect of mechanical keyboards. This is my keyboard. It's a cherry blossom theme Ducky Miya Pro keyboard, and it is the first I bought myself. 

Glasses

My glasses are an essential item in my everyday life. I have worn glasses pretty much all my life, and growing up I never considered the style of my glasses. With a newfound eye for design in recent years, these are the first I have considered the style and design.

Yum Cha

Finally, the theme of this poster is Yum Cha. Yum Cha holds cultural significance to me because my mum was born in Hong Kong. I have never been to Hong Kong or Asia, so it helped me keep in touch with the Cantonese culture that my mum grew up in.

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Introduction

This is an initial draft of the intro of my essay.

‘You have to get bad in order to get good’. I have learnt this quote from one of my design heroes, Paula Scher, one of the most influential designers of our time. Ever since I was little, I have always liked art, but I didn’t discover what graphic design was until high school. But ever since then, I have fallen in love. So when I finished high school, I decided to continue my studies at University. This essay discusses me as a designer and my three C’s (the creator, creative positioning, and creative communities). It will then reflect on my research poster and end with a conclusion.

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Week 10

This week, we went over the essay. We went over different sections and their word counts. I found this really helpful and insightful

[2023-604-joshualowe]

20 Objects

Wacom Tablet

The Wacom tablet is significant because it is my design journey's first tool. In high school, they provided us with Wacom tablets, so I used them in many of my designs, and I see it as a factor in how I fell in love with design. I could express myself through digital drawing with the tablet.

MacBook

With the design world being digital in the 21st century, the Apple MacBook is the foremost essential item in my inventory. I bought it when I started university, and it is my primary tool throughout my degree. Whether it's exploring Behance or graphic design subreddits, my whole design process has been online.

Music

These earbuds are an essential item in my inventory. I listen to music daily: while on the train to university and doing my work. It helps my productivity, and I need background noise to focus while working. It also helps with my design work; listening to music while designing helps me find inspiration through different music genres.

Football Balls

Football is a constant source of inspiration. Things like football balls and football kits change every season. For example, tournament football, like the World Cup, has balls inspired by the host countries' culture and designs. This football is from the recent Women's World Cup in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Australia.

National Geographic

National Geographic is my first glimpse into publication. My dad is a life member of National Geographic and has received them since the 80s. Before I was not too fond of reading, so I never paid attention to them, but now, with my passion for editorial design, I will read and take inspiration from them.

Cup of Tea

Most days, I drink a cup of tea, and it is the perfect companion when designing. Tea originated in China, dating back to the 3rd century BC. It is a common pastime in Asian culture, most times, I have it with my mum and dad at the dinner table, talking about our day, so I associate tea with community/family.

Football kits

I have been watching football all my life, and the primary identifier of a football club is the kit. Football kits are a constant source of inspiration with their designs from retro to new. Football clubs commonly express themselves through their kits. This is a kit for my football team, Manchester United.

New Page Design

New Page Design by Wang Shaoqiang is a must-have for people passionate about publication/editorial design. It has countless layout examples and provides foundations for editorial design, including paper size, typographic units, the history of typography, etc. I have learned much from this book, and it will further my understanding of editorial design.

Grid Systems

Grid Systems is a book by Josef Muller Brockmann, one of the most influential designers. It is a must-have and is an essential book in my arsenal. It gives you many examples of typography: sizing, leading, how to use grid systems and the gold ratio. It is the first design book I have brought myself.

Sony a6000 with Sigma 30mm Lens

I have a love-hate relationship with photography. I love the photo outcomes but must improve my photography skills. This is my first ever camera, I saved up all my money to get it while in high school.

Josef Muller-Brockmann Publication

This is one of my first assignments. It is a magazine in the style of and about Josef Muller-Brockmann, and this assignment was the beginning of my publication journey. Using the grid system style and deep diving into publication, I discovered a newfound love for typesetting and the grid system.

Sun Wukong Publication

This is my most recent assignment, it is a storybook about the Chinese folktale Sun Wukong shown in a modern design. Considering the cultural and time period aspects, I used a Japanese binding method and a more yellow stock of paper. This is the first book-style project I have done.

Glasses

My glasses are an essential item in my everyday life. I have worn glasses pretty much all my life, and growing up I never considered the style of my glasses. With a newfound eye for design in recent years, these are the first I have considered the style and design.

Mechanical Keyboard

I'm a massive fan of mechanical keyboards, especially with the design. From the colourway of the keycaps to the design of the backplate, I like the design aspect of mechanical keyboards. This is my keyboard. It's a cherry blossom theme Ducky Miya Pro keyboard, and it is the first I bought myself. 

iPad

My iPad is an essential tool in my inventory. Ever since I was young, I loved drawing, but now, as a graphic design student, I can implement them into my designs. I enjoy using Procreate and doodling, it is a suitable method in my design process, an alternative to a sketchbook.

Posters in My Environment

To expand my vocabulary, I take pictures in my environment. Every day, I walk down Queen Street to Britomart to catch the train home and look at event posters and billboards. If I see something appealing and exciting, I will take a picture of it. I have a whole album on my phone of pictures.

Threaded Publication

Threaded Publication is a publication that showcases designers from all around but also focuses on designers from Aotearoa. Many lectures from AUT are showcased in the publication. This is the first design publication I have received. It is inspiring how many lecturers I see around the WE building here at AUT have their work showcased in this publication.

Video Games

I have been playing video games all my life. Many people find games fun or as an escape, but I see games through design. I like modding with the designs. For example, the game I like to design is FIFA. I have spent hours creating my own kits and badges.

Sketchbook

Ever since I was young, I always loved drawing. I have many sketchbooks full of illustrations, from Power Rangers to my dream house. At university, I learned that multiple scamps and sketches are behind every design. Dumping my ideas in my sketchbook is the best method in my design process.

Yum Cha

Finally, the theme of this poster is Yum Cha. Yum Cha holds cultural significance to me because my mum was born in Hong Kong. I have never been to Hong Kong or Asia, so it helped me keep in touch with the Cantonese culture that my mum grew up in.

[2023-604-joshualowe]

Week 9

Today we cover the assignment (essay and poster). Emil gave us some poster conventions to consider in our posters, white space, composition rules, etc.