what I brought this week.

112909_2

some changes made!

jump features all added..

112909

adding up jump features.

It is on process. I changed little things here and there.
changed layouts slightly so you can read headline first before sub-headline.
changed colors of headline, if they are related, i left them in same color.
made sub-headlines more playful.
and jump features. I added little illustrations too.
I will try to finish all jump features and oh! change mickey and mini too. and maybe table of contents and introduction.

112609

Infography1:Korean American

Korean American Infographic

Logo

playing with color.

ideas for 'logo phrase'

I've been thinking about my phrase. My general topic is cultural assimilation, but if I go more specific, it is about identity of Korean immigrants and their next, america-born, generation. I've researched on their identity, not only for Korean immigrants but also for any immigrants, adopted persons, people born from interracial marriage, etc.


I digested all the information and got my own conclusion, which is ..

a person's identity is defined by a few factors.

1. fact-based, realistic (ethnic) self-perception.
2. What others think of the person
3. How close a person feel to a certain culture(s)
+maybe, What culture raise you when you were in early age and/or adolescence.

I will put a Nigerian as an example, no offense or nothing.
About 1, An Nigerian claims he/she is a Russian. (who never been to Russia or learn Russian, only born and raised in Nigeria)
That could happen but it is not realistic self-perception.
About 2, you don't think the Nigerian as a Russian.
About 3, The Nigerian feel close to nigerian culture, maybe want to feel close to Russian culture though.
About 4, The Nigerian spent his/her early age and adolescence in Nigeria. The period a person learns social norms(in early age) and matures(in adolescence). and those social norms are mostly based on Nigerian culture.


So a person's identity is defined by a person him/herself, people around the person, and the society.

"Me, you and us"

It also is connected to the thing about immigrants, Americans, and America society.

I would like to use a graphic like two circles have intersection in the middle. (Two different persons meet and find something in common. use pets I illustrated on my book)
or the words, me and you, create big US. (that US can have two meanings! us and the States, I just come up with this now..hehe)
or little dots(or something) are scattered everywhere and they shape the phrase..

Or is this phrase too general?

1. 16pages book

first book Rev110509_spreads
This is our first assignment, 16pages book. I've been creating my own images which are matched to the texts. There are a few things to change and the book cover! I will catch up soon. oh and the colors are washed out on PDFs, they look better in real.
My survey is done and I found some interesting facts. My infography is coming up soon and our new assignment.. will try my best to bring them all next week.

my survey!

http://www.tigersurvey.com/survey.php?survey=12630

The survey is for Americans, permanent residents, and long-term residents...

if you didn't take my survey, please spend three minutes for me! :)

I am not sure if there is any Korean American in our class to take another survey, (probably no) but.. I will post the URL tomorrow.

my thesis topic: cultural assimilation

This time, for sure, I announce my thesis topic!

My thesis topic is cultural assimilation. America is the nation of immigrants and I want to know mindsets of people and their stories.

Leaving everything behind, it is important for immigrants to settle down fast. For that, feeling accepted will help them a lot. The attitudes of people in the new environments will be one of the key elements for immigrants to feel accepted. So, I want to know how much open-minded Americans are to immigrants and new comers, how they feel about immigration and people from everywhere.

And somewhat immigrants seem to get used to live in different country, but there are something that makes us feel they are not really blended into new culture; for example, some people always wear their traditional costumes, hang out with people from their country, etc.

So for immigrants, I want to know how much they keep their own cultures and accept new culture.

And their America-born children. How they feel about their parent' culture and how they deal with two cultures at home, etc.

To make this thesis personal, I choose Koreans to represent immigrants.

I make surveys for each of them: Americans, Korean immigrants, and Korean Americans.

Surveys are on process, I am getting responses one by one.

I have more ideas to extend my thesis but we will see how the surveys come out first.

and at this point, I am revising my 12-pages book, creating my own images and figuring out typefaces.

Typespecimenbook

swipe book

This is my swipe book. Images are reference for my graphic elements.

Thesis Topic refined

topic: really meaning of success

people who society demand are really successful?

people who appear to have everything often commit suicide.

what is success? who set the standard?

We tend to say success is achievement. People emphasis on becoming successful.(highly paying job, good school) When you run into someone, you ask, how is school, work, study?

we judge people from their achievement.

and when we achieve something, we pursue another goal. It is an endless marathon.

when you die, you might wonder if your life was happy.

and propose some ideas help you live your life successfully and make your life richer.

Buddha said, "Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship."

from that idea, inform like immediate healing for depression, headache, etc..

for example, how to do 5-minute meditation, self-massage, reduce your stress, etc.

purpose:

criticize material world, awaken people, and let them pursue what they really like.

live the life they want and enjoy every moment of your life,

but shouldn't take this as "stay where you are and be lazy."

Thesis statement

1. The Topic of My Thesis: The Ideal

What type of person does a society prefer?

There are figures in societies which people prefer. And the characteristics of the person are slightly different from culture to culture. Even though people don't care about how people talk about them these days, there should be still standard for good men and women. For instance, a person with positive, confident attitude would be generally preferred. Then what about, say, quiet respectful people? They might be preferred in certain culture. I want to know how the characteristics are different in each cultures.  

It will include physical and psychological attributes. 

I would go more specific like body type, face, personalities, etc. 

From this idea, I have been researching and it seems like the ideal figures become identified internationally. I would say the power of media. Therefore, I developed my ideas more from my current statement but I would see how the research comes out first. and keep refining my ideas

one of proposals for thesis is ..to focus on the beauty out of the ideal; are we all wearing corsets? pursue the image which media shows us, try to get in great shape, whiten teeth, tanning, plastic surgery, and every effort for beautification.

The history of the beauty in culture, and figure out who is creating the ideal image behind the media. 

2&3 Intention and Purpose

(As a student from non english-speaking country, I am confused...Isn't intention same thing to purpose? I will try to put my word on my best...)

to understand different perspectives of culture and learn what forms different perspectives. 

4. Proposed Process

->research journals and books on similar topics like ideal personal traits in culture, maybe.. geography of personality traits as well. 

->also look through internet. 

->possibly do a couple of surveys, or interviews since we live in NY I can meet people from everywhere. 

->analyze information

->create infography

apology

I do full time intern and take three classes. one of the classes finished this Tuesday. They will be done one by one.. but I had so much to do and unable to spend much time on portfolio class. I apologize for that and will post frequently from now on. 

design works from last year

infography

typespecimen

spreads from visual language book

concert poster

I will have better this year!:)

types for thesis

Serif Types

Archer, PMN caecilia, Proforma

San Serif Types

Akzidenz Grotesk, Univers, Frutiger, Trade Gothic, Geometric Slabserif 730 BT

since my research is pretty much in the fields of anthropology, I tried to avoid too cute types which are hard to keep seriousness of the studies. I choose types which I think they suit the best to their role, delivering information.

Thesis Topic

People have a preference about women and men. Some people would love to get along with girls who are confident and smart. Other people would keep girls around who are humorous and adorable. All these people live in certain areas and form cultures. And by collecting the majority's preference, each culture is tend to have ideal man figure, and woman figure. 

Not only mental characteristics are considered but also physical characters. In some countries, people like men who have masculine appearance; thick eyebrows, straight shoulders, toned-up body, etc. In some other countries, people like men who look feminine; red lip,  fine jaw line, slender body, etc. 

Since the preference is slightly different from culture to culture, I would like to research on preference in countries. about ideal figures.   

research starting!