MUSIC POSTER
BY Xiaoyi Cai (Mia) DATE: October 2, 2020
This music poster is designed to represent the song “Aimahuo” by Jun Zheng solely through the use of typography. The song and poster are attached below:
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1xt4y1X7SS?from=search&seid=15635178593988143277
PDF File:Mia Cai poster
CONCEPT and DESIGN:
With the help of Gestalt theory, the figure/ground has more possibilities of styles to make it more vivid. And it is because of this theory that more meanings can be added to the figure/ground.
By practicing One Black Square, I gained a deeper understanding of Gestalt theory, which made it not only a theory but a useful tool for us to design. One Black Square also inspired me with plenty of types that I could make with figure/ground.
During the process of designing my poster, I attempted to use the proximity to make the stick of the prayer wheel more tridimensional. I also tried the principle of similarity, and put it the petals of galsang flowers, which made of different language to express the meaning of “How Wonderful!” Also, continuity has been applied to the petals, which meant they could be spread to every corner of the world. At last, to make the wheel more real, I used the principle of closure on it.
Process:
In my opinion, the biggest failure and success simultaneously occurred on my designing of the prayer wheel, the core pattern of my poster. Because of the first use of illustrator, I could not turn the prayer wheel that I have imagined into reality. I had tried every method, even having used the PowerPoint to make it. However, it still did not work well. The prayer wheel that I had designed was much more like a flower instead of a wheel, and the problem of clarity also existed in it. Thank the mid-critique, I overcame these obstacles and even made further progress with suggestions from classmates and teachers. I iterated the whole design of my prayer wheel and deleted the part that was made by Powerpoint, which enabled it to become more precise and authentic. I also added more petals on my poster to let the poster to be more integrated.
Conclusion:
If more time is given for me to continue my work, I think I will probably do more research on the culture of Tibet, for there’s something left in my present poster. And I will definitely have more study on the use of illustrator and tried many other styles of the poster to determine the best form to express what I wanted to deliver.
Black Squares: Final Pieces
Here are my eight black squares for final pieces.
Black Square Thumbnails
Here are my six thumbnails, and each of them is made by one black square.
Story of Your Life: Reading Notes
Summary:
Louis, a professor of linguistics, changed her thinking into a totally different way because of the arrival of heptapods (aliens). She deciphered their languages and even learned them. During this process, she gained the knowledge of how heptaods thought, instead of perceiving the relationship of events as cause and effect, they perceived a purpose underlying them all, which enabled her to foresee the future. Despite knowing the future, she did not do anything that would change the future, and just obeyed the original path of the future.
Heptapod:
A creature that looked like a barrel suspended at the intersection of seven limbs, which was also radially symmetric, and any of its limbs that had no distinct joints could serve as an arm or a leg. There were seven lidless eyes ringed the top of the heptapod’s body. The texture of its gray skin was like corduroy ridges arranged in whorls and loops. Hetapods fluttered thee sound as their verbal tool, which was quite different from human’s way to speak. Their script isn’t word-divided; a sentence is written by joining the logograms for the constituent words. The writing of heptapods didn’t appear to be writing at all; it looked more like a bunch of intricate graphic designs. The writing system referred to ‘Heptapod B,’ and ‘Heptapod A’ referred to the spoken language. Heptapod mathematics and human mathematics were equivalent, which indicated that heptapods and humans experienced the same world, but used different approaches to explain themselves. They experienced all events at once, and perceived a purpose underlying them all, which varied from us.
Final Thoughts:
After reading the “story of your life”, I obtained a new way to think about the world. Also, the conclusion that the story impresses me a lot, which expresses that there is only one choice between free will and predicting the future. In other words, everything is doomed in fact. Last but not least, I want to emphasize the writhing style of Ted, which I have never experienced before. He let all the timelines be disrupted and alternate narratives with two clues advancing side by side. One line is to decipher the language of the heptapod barrel, and the other line is the life of the future child. This unique writing style makes rational discovery and perceptual memory be combined organically, which let the article to be more interesting.