USTB AD Design Research 01

设计研究方法 / Design Research Methodology陈键老师 / Professor Chen Jian

报告: 导师学术方向调查

Report : Present Context for a Future Thesis Investigation

丽芳 / Lai Guim2012年11月13日

University of Science and Technology Beijing

北京科技大学

设计研究方法 / Design Research Methodology 报告: 导师学术方向调查 - Page 1


项目描述：

通过该项目要了解你潜在的学科研究成员和研究资源。在约定的时间范围内拜访你的导师或相关成员。在行动之前要认真准备至少三个问题，了解他的过去、现在和未来的研究情况，或其它的学术工作和建议。通过拜访对你未来的研究兴趣有何影响。

提交：

报告问题和答案，以及你自己的思考。

分数：

共100分75分为报告。

包括：30分为拜访之前问题的提出；30分为如何清晰的获得答案；15分为对自我研究路程的思考和展望；25分视觉效果和沟通效果。

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The objective of this project it is to understand potential fields and the resources of each student for a Thesis Research. You must prepare an interview for your Tutor or Instructor for Thesis. Before this interview, you must prepare in advance at least three questions about his/her past, present and future, as well as his/her academic work and his/her recommendations. Consider the impact of these questions in your future research.

REPORT:

Interview questions and answers, as well as your own point of view.

SCORE:

A total of 100 points.75 points for the report.

Including:30 points for formuled questions30 points for answer clearly15 points for personal point of view25 points for visual presentation



TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. About my Tutor 1.1 Introducing Miss Jingyan Qin 2. About the Interview 2.1 Formulated Questions for an Interview with Miss Qin 2.2 The Complete Interview

3. About my Personal Interests 3.1 Introducing my Resume 3.2 Visual References

4. Visual Analysis of Collected Data 4.1 Map of Master’s Contents 4.2 Map of Personal Interest in each Master’s Content

5. Conclusion

6. List of Resources



JINGYAN QIN’S OVERVIEW

EDUCATION2001 – 2012 Associate Professor, Interaction Design University of Science and Technology Beijing 2003 – 2007 Doctor Degree in Information Design, Tsinghua University.She studied with Professor Lu Xiaobo and Professor LIiu Guanzhong and studied at the Information Art & Design Department while active in other disciplines including Computer Science, Sociology, Communications, New Media Arts and Contemporary Music. Her Ph.D dissertation is entitled Research on the Design Methods of Digital Cultural Heritage Based on Information Visualization.

1994 – 2001 Master Degree in Industrial Design, Beijing Institute of TechnologyShe studied at the Industrial Design Department while active in other disciplines including Computer Science, Sociology, Communications and New Media Arts. Her master essay is about Research on Universal Design in Intelligent Transportation System.

1994 – 1998 Bachelor Degree in Industrial Design, Beijing Institute of TechnologyShe studied at the Industrial Design Department with Professor Zhang Nairen. Her coursework included product design, computer science, major areas of artistic production, architecture, trade shows design, philosophy, science, video, and animation, with a strong emphasis on weekly critiques with peers, faculty, and outside practitioners. Her major project bachelor paper is Research on Product Design in City Destination Identity System.

SPECIALITIESWeb Design, Gameplay Design, Industrial Design, Animation, Art, Corporate Identity, Design, Interface Design, Marketing Management, New Media, Philosophy, Research, Television, Trade Shows, Interaction Design, Videox

CURRENT OCCUPATION– Professor at University of Science and Technology Beijing– Interaction Design & Usability Engineering Researcher at University of Cambridge– Senior Fellow at International Conference on Interaction Design organized by Tsinghua, PolyU & CMU

PAST EXPERIENCE– Associate Professor at USTB– Communication Designer at Acer Beijing Office– Interaction Designer at Ogilvy & Mather– Channel Packaging Designer at Beijing TV Station

1. About my Tutor

1.1 Introducing Miss Jingyan Qin



To prepare in advance the questionnaire for my interview with Miss Qin, I analized first which information I wanted to obtain and understand, before choosing a definetive subject for my future thesis. Behind each question relies a justification to recieve a critical piece of information that will help me to face the whole process each candidate needs to approve in order to get this Master Degree.

An explanation about the concept that entitles the Master: “Artistic Design“.

I want to understand the specific point of view of my Tutor about this Master, and I think a good tool is to analyse from the language the name of the Master “设计艺术“(translated into english).

Can you briefly inroduce me to your background in the Design field?

I want to know the personal experience of Miss Qin in the field of Design, in order to visualize the specific advantages of working with her instead other tutors.

What it is your personal motivation to teach inside the Design field?

I think that what we choose as a vocational occupation contributes to define us as human beings. I want to understand which emotions or impulses supported the choice of Miss Qin to develop herself as a person inside the Design field.

Which areas of Design can a Master candidate dig deep under your tutorship?

I need to know how wide is the range of knowledge I can learn under Miss Qin tutorship in order to select a more specific subject for my future investigation for this Master.

Which of all of them will you define as your main knowledge domain?

I want to understand which specific areas of the Design field Miss Qin dominates the most, for a more accurate choice of the subject of my future investigation.

Can you briefly explain what it is the methodology you apply to work with a candidate during two years in this Master?

Assuming that here in China, the superior edicational system applies diferent methodologies than in my own country, I need to know now which are the steps this Master will involve, with the objective of prepare each step in advance.

Is Design an expression that works inside specific cultural contexts, or just the opposite, that Design is evolving to be an universal discipline?

I want to know if for Miss Qin the idea of a foreigner from Chile that comes to China to study Design has sense or not.

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2. About the Interview

2.1 Formulated Questions for an Interview with Miss Qin



The following interview occured on october 24th, 2012, at 10:30 am in the Teacher’s Office of the Industrial Design Department of USTB, and lasted for more than one hour.For a better understanding of the dialogue, all verbal hesitation or duplicated phrases were edited.

LF: When I introduce myself to you the first time I also explained that in my country the Art field is a separated field from the Design one, and in here, what attracts me the most is that this Master it is called preciselly “Artistic Design”. I would like to hear your opinion or your own concept about “Artistic Design”, please.

MQ: About the Design field or both?

LF: Because this Master it is called “Artistic Design”, so I would like to understand your point of view of those two field, that for me are away, in just one.

MQ: Ok. First we need to know the difference between the Art and Design, it is the most important for you learn to how to transform from an artist to a designer. The biggest diference in my view is that Art is an individual perception of the world, but Design faces a mass production design to a product or service system to meets the demands of the social population’s needs. It is a social wisdom and a social objective in the target. Manufacture is facing the mass production, so it is quite diferent: the methodology, the target user, usability, everything. So, first, you need to know the diference between these two, and secondly you need to solve diferent problems, faced by a designer, it is quite diferent. Maybe artist only care about personal perspective about observing society, observing the enviroment, even can introspect herself or himself, but designer it is quite diferent, designers must face a whole society and use the mass production methodes or tools or technology to solve the problems faced by the most of the population. That is the biggest diference. Secondly, designers need to think about how to solve the practic problems, but artist it is quite diferent, they need to explain themselves to try to use their own unique ways to explain how the society is going or going where, from a unique perspective to understand or just to feel the world, and what is happening, or what it is happening in the next step for human beings or even their personal emotions, with their unique perspective and unique presentation. So, it is quite diferent.

LF: I understand your point of view, but still the Master it is called “Artistic Design”. What in your opinion it is the “Artistic” component inside the contents of a “Design” Master, because the english translation for this Master is “Artistic Design”, “设计艺术”, so...

MQ: It is a weird translation...

LF: Yes, it is...

MQ: Actually, in China we just have a new curriculum or mayor, even a new field about Design. We separate Design from Art, so I think Design it is quite diferent from Art. We only use designers, only use a presentation way to explain and try to solve the problems of the society and the enviroment, even of indivuduals. Maybe they use a similar ways to show what they are thinking about the world, but the perspective it is quite diferent, and the target user or audiences are diferent. Nowadays, for the conveinence of managment for


2.2 The Complete Interview



Ministry of Education, MOE, we just separate Design from Art totally, completelly, and set up a new field or mayor for Design, only for Design. Maybe Design tries to find its way to find more connections with science, or science and technology, but Art includes many aspects about sociology or psycology...

LF: Humanities, in general...

MQ: Yes, and humanities. Maybe, psycology is diferent because psycology is son or daughter of science...

LF: Right...

MQ: So, if Design wishes to develop further in China, I think that is better for Design to find some effective tools and methodologies from science and technology, specially the natural science, not social science. In a bigger scope, from about one hundred and fifthy years ago, the balance between the social science and natural science just can not keep in balance. The natural science it is much heavier than social science and we can find that many scientists and techniques and mayor just absorve more and more talents than social science.

LF: So, I must understand this master as one that combines “Design and Technology” instead of “Art and Design”?

MQ: I encourage you to try to use artist perspective to understand, comprehend or express what you are thinking about the world. I think that a designer can find many ways to express themselves besides the presentation way, because presentation emphasizes the visual thinking, and designers can learn from artists to express their ideas in a visual thinking and in a visual way. And this is the effective way to transform yourself from an artist to a designer. Another way you can learn from or transform from an artist it is that you can use telescope and microscope to observe the world to try to find some problems happening around, so if you try to think about the world in an artistic way, you can enlarge your emotion or enlage your perception, and use the six senses to express your ideas. I think that it is another way. You can use observation and expression, this two ways to enhance your ability to transform into a designer. And I think that you need to enphasize that, because you know the diference, so the next step for you I think that it is better for you to transform your emphasis from the perception into the methodology to try to solve the truth practical problems, it is quite important for designers, because designers can not go to this step. That means, that from this step artist cares about the concept of their own emotion expressive way. They don’t care about how to solve practical problem, but designers can not just stop here, they must to go further to try to find ways, try to find effective ways, some ways to make money, earn money to make some profits for the company or the organization that tries to solve practic problems. So next step, I think that you need to try to transfer your emphasis into how to solve practical problems. Maybe you don’t like your own unique expression way, but for designers sometimes you need, or most times, you need to locate yourself into one big team, for the teamwork to try to solve problems. Because nowadays, in the current times, one of the problems is complexity and comprehension, so they just intersect, which means interdiciplinary in the diferent diversified fields. If you want to start a program, you need to know a lot of knowledge from other fields, you need just communicate with other domains experts, to try to absorve the effective tools or methodologies to solve practical problems. It is hard for artists to obey other’s thinkings or ideas...





LF: It makes perfectly sense, in fact one of the reasons that I am a little “away” from “being an artist” is because when I work for something, for a project, I don’t like the fact that “the person” instead of the art it is the one that is protagonist of what it is happening. From the Design, you can be “behind” the work, and the work itself is the protagonist. I think the developer’s work it is more suitable for me.

MQ: I think that your way it is better for designer, because most of the artists just absorve in their own projects in the world, their own thinking and ideas and they try to express in a unique way and overlook other’s thinking and ideas, and sometimes they even can not experience the things in a standby way, it is just that make themselves absorved in the whole thing, and they can not abstract outside of their own world. It is hard for artists.

LF: That’s what I like about web design, because, when I’m coding design for making a web page, my work is not even in front of the screen, is behind the screen, is in the background, is hidden.

MQ: Yes. I just teach the bachelor students about the gameplay design, and in the gameplay design, just try to transer from the on screen design out to the off screen design. Because they noticed that one of the most smart spaces includes the whole smart environment and the internet of things to support the experience.

LF: It is like you mentioned in your class, that the noosphere it is bigger than the actual physical space.

MQ: Yes. I mention in my class, because I divide the world into tree spaces, so more and more intelligent information just merge with the physical world, the physical space.

LF: That leads me to my next question, I would like to know if you can briefly introduce me to your background in the Design field, just briefly, to understand you more and get in touch with your ideas.

MQ: Ok, I think a personal background, specially family from the childhood, from kids into adults it is very important for you value system setting and your living style, for many things, including your culture and philosophy. For me, I feel that I am lucky that in my past experience there are two key terms for me to absorb the east and the west culture. First, a critic experience for me is that I wanted to live with my grandma only in my city, and my mother, father and my younger brother lived together in another city. My parents can not tutor my teaching, so I just read a lot of books, traditional chinese classic books. And the scope it is huge: from the natural science into social science, fiction, mathematics, physics and chemics. I just rebuild my thinking from the tradtional chinese education system. You know? You obey the chinese traditional teaching system, just can not care about innovation, so I just abstract myself from that system. It is the first critic period for me. Another critic period for me is that I moved from one city to another city in my childhood, even before high school, before I entered the university, because my father just change his work from one city to another city. Because diferent cities can tell you diferent stories, can cut way your thinking it quite a rich way. It is diferent, so, it infuenced me in what I think about the world. It is very critic for me because diferent cities also brings a lot of diferent philosophy, it just expand from the capital of the whole country to the local capital of the province, and the province includes minorities, administration areas and some advance to development province into some not so developed provinces. The economy and the politics and the administration it is quite diferent, so this can bring a lot of fresh ideas for me and diferent perspectives for me to absorbe the world. It irritated me to try to find some not optime ways to try to solve





the problems. It is another impact about this personal experience is that the transfered space brought me another advantages that I can let out myself into diferent languages to understand the world, because this diferent cities just tell diferent languages, and the language it is an information symbol for how to express yourself, inspires to explain the world, what it is going on with the world, so that is another good thing for my personal experience.

LF: I’m quite impress, I have so many questions...

MQ: Another advantage is that move all around the whole country and even abroad, I can learn the west and the east culture, and the culture discrimination or the cultural shock can me and bring about many fresh ideas for me.

LF: May I ask in which cities did you lived abroad?

MQ: I lived at Cambridge, London and Bangkok...

LF: Wow, that’s a lot of experiences...

MQ: Yes...

LF: And in which moment of your personal history do you started to get interest in Design?

MQ: Actually, I didn’t think that time to be a designer, I wanted to be a designer in the future , but the first vision for me is that I wanted to be a chemist...

LF: That is slightly diferent...! (Smiles)

MQ: Yes. Just like Madamme Curie, nobel prize winner...

LF: Well, she died in her vocation...!

MQ: Yes... (Laughs) So, I wished to be a chinese Madame Curie, so I just joined the main Olimpic Games, including Mathematics Games, Olimpic Chemical Games and Olimpic Physics Games. And I’m lucky now with that, because my interests are so expanded, so broadly. So, my interests can bring a lot of good luck for me. I have a good fundation for natural science and social science, and nowadays I think that experiences in I my broad interests brough a lot of good things for me. I never try to stop a problem in a static way, I always try to solve the problems in a dinamic way, and in a system way, so it is quite diferent from others.

LF: I understand: you have a huge background in diferent areas, which includes social sciences, mathematics, physics, chemics...

MQ: Yes. And because that period I lived with my grandma, she did not forbid me to read some books or watch TV. I just try to select everything I could absorb, so I watched many interesting american movies and contents from the TV or video tapes. I just tried to freedom my thinking: no borders, no territory, no





domains, no feel discrimination.

LF: So you feel you were lucky that you had more freedom than the average chinese person?

MQ: Yes. And it is interesting that, because in China, chinese education system resticts your interests and your mayor. Before you entering a university, you must select your mayor and your university in advance, so it is quite diferent from your country’s education system. Before I selected my mayor I just absorved that I needed to be a chemist, a famous chemist. Actually, from all my classes, my chemic class was the best. The best. Just only because when I was a kid, or from quite earlier from my middle school, I place many pictures in the walls from the meadows in Japan, Korea and even America, so just wrote myself that my past experience, my past meadow winning experience. So my bachelor university just transformed my mayor from chemistry and computer into design, into industrial design. That is why I nowadays I am a designer. Actually I don’t want to be a designer in my past. Before, in bachelor university, I wished strongly to be a chemist, or going abroad, going abroad to study economy and MBA, only because I just passed the exam of chemestry and I didn’t have the working experience, so many MBA university just refuse to give me offers. And, because I am not a beijingner, my hometown is not Beijing, so before graduation I must think about how to stay in Beijing, how to stay in a big city. You know? It is another system for managing chinese population, it is a special thing for chinese city managment, the Hukou, I can not translate this into english. It means, from your hometown, Sichuan Province, if you can not find a good job to solve this problem, you must return to your hometown. Because I wanted to stay in Beijing, I just took my intership into Beijing TV station, and just watched a lot of interesting ideas from abroad, even learned a lot of advanced technologies and city technology. I needed to stay in Beijing, so I changed my mind to not to study Economy or MBA abroad, to just pass the exam and become a Master in Design. In just two months, I studied many classes and courses about design, and I passed the exam to become a Master Candidate. In the past about 15 years, going abroad can cost you a lot of money, it was a big burden for my family, for my parents, so I just gave up my dream to become a designer. Actually, after recieve my Master Degree, I must thing about how to stay in Beijing again, so I went to a lot of international companies, and gave me many offers, but I refuse them because many international companies can not solve the problem of Hukou. I must to stay in Beijing, so I come to this university to teach. It is very hard for me, because a that time, my first year I came to this university, my weight it is much lower than I got from international companies, because during the whole two and a half years of master candidate study, I just went to international companies to do my internship, but it was a full time employment. And I recieved a lot of payment from international companies. My weight it is ten time what I earn in this university, so the gap is huge.

LF: That was one of my questions, because now I understand that your path to the desing field was one part vocational, what you wanted to become in the future. But, it is also related with another aspects of life, for instance, economic support or the way you wanted to live your life. My question was: “What it is your personal motivation to teach in the Design field?”

MQ: Personal experience can influence a lot of things. Actually, I hate two carrers, two professions...

LF: You do not like them?

MQ: Yes, the first one is teacher. I hate to be a teacher...





LF: Oh my...!

MQ: (Laughs) Yes... And the second one I hate is the military career, because my father is a military, so I just move from one city to another city. Only after my father went back to hometown, just settled down. When I was young, I just hated to be a teacher and hated to be a military (Laughs)

LF: At least you are away from one...

MQ: You do not know why I hate to be a teacher....

LF: That was my next question...

MQ: When I was in primary school, my supervisior, or mentor or tutor was a chinese teacher, teached chinese and literature. And she just did something unfair, not to me, but to my classmate. That classmate is just not a good student. Because of my character, I tried to make it fair, and I standed out to make it fair. Because I saw that teacher did something unfair to my classmate, I hated to be a teacher in the future. Really, I feel guilty for my chinese teacher, and because of feeling guilty, I am affraid of being a teacher. And I hate to be a teacher, even after I grow up. I think that fate it is interesting. If you do not want to be someone, finally, you are that someone!

LF: You become the person you do not want to be, sometimes?

MQ: Yes, you cannot determine the fate. Only God determines the fate.

LF: And you ended teaching Design in this Master...

MQ: Yes, but my interest it is not Design. At first. And I just transfer from my university to this Design Mayor, that is the reason. Another reason is that, because I am interested in economy and chemestry, but I had not enough money to go abroad to learn MBA, so I must choose something. I must to choose to go to study a Master Degree. So, after graduation, because your mayor is Design, you must try to work for Design company or some other companies or go into a university to become a teacher, because only becoming a teacher you solve the problem. You want to stay in this city, right?

LF: Yes.

MQ: That’s a unique phenomena in China, chinese special phenomena. Ok?

LF: Yes. My next question would be, as long as you are here in this Master: Which areas of Design can a Master Candidate dig deep under your tutorship?

MQ: I think that Information Design and Communication Design are better for you to dig out, to study more.

LF: Is that a recommendation for me or your areas of expertise? Because I want to find out what you





dominate the most...

MQ: Dominate the most... Information Design and Interaction Design, absolutely! For example, this department was setted up in 2000, 12 years, just one year before I entered this university... I entered in this university in 2001...

LF: As a student?

MQ: No, as a teacher, so after 12 years. 12 years ago just emphasizes the importance of Industrial Design and Product Design. But after 12 years, just transfer the emphazise into my study: Information Design and Interactive Design and Interface Design. Why? Because the society transform itself from the Mechanical Industry society into Information Society. So, nowadays the age is Information Age. Design objects transformed in from the physical space into abstracts, into information. So, that why the dominant Mayor is Information Design, Interaction Design. That’s the future, is promising. Before 10 years, I just told my leaders in this department, I told them that: “Industrial Design it is dying. The New Media, the Information Design is promising, just the like the rising sun”. They just didn’t understand, they hated me. They hated me! To tell the truth! And now the trend is, just like this...

LF: You were quite visionary...

MQ: I just select the profit to tell the truth in advance.

LF: I am super impressed...

MQ: It was a prediction, it is prediction. I know the prediction because of my personal experience, because in my internship at Beijing TV Station I absorved so many advanced technologies, so many training interesting things abroad. For China I think that it is shorten the gap, between the west and the east, but the trend it is the same. Information, Communication technologies influences the world, influences what we are thinking about the world. That’s my personal thinking, my own IP thinking. I had set up the phylosophy system and mental model myself, so I absorve the world in my way. I am lucky that my past experience and my educatonal experience let me to know the world in an unique way, and in a proper way. Sometimes I even can predict some things. It interesting that my Master Mayor, my Master Research Area and my PhD Research Area after about 10 years and 6 years later, after these years many things become true, and I predicted many things in my Master Paper and in the PhD dissertation, and after over 6 years, over 10 years, they become true.

LF: I am impress because of those predictions, but also interest me that... When we started this conversation, you explained the diference between Art and Design, and you said the point of view of the Art, the unique vision of one individual was more relevant than solving some problems. It takes my attention that you are saying now that your unique point of view it is what “made the diference”.

MQ: Before I had too many tools in the methodology to solve the problem, I tried to absorve the world in the artistic way. Because when I was a kid, I joined many pictures. I tried to describe the world in an image way, to explain what I am thinking abouth the world. After these years, before I learn a lot of natural things





way to solve the problem, I just have the artistic way to know the world.

LF: So there is an artist inside of you...

MQ: Before I observe the world, I just try to solve the problems, just try to break trough from the problem I have observed from the world. And next, I had the techniques and tools from the natural science, I tried to solve the problems. That is why, what I think of the world now. Actually now it is quite easy, we can find a lot of ways, a lot of methodologies from natural science and try to transfer the natural science logic way into artist or humanities fields. It easy, the most effective way for me, I tried to reconstruct. Deconstruct and reconstruct.

LF: I understand. Art does the same.

MQ: Yes, that it is the easiest way. Easiest way. Is a bridge between the natural science and the social sciences, that is so, we, the scientist can understand from the artists, from the humanities, from the social science.

LF: I understand that as a class field... for instance, Professor Chen, who asign us this homework, is it preciselly Design Research, and when I go to his classes, my perception it is that is scientific method aplied to the design field.

MQ: You can learn a lot from some statistics, and you can let out a lot of research survey results and try to translate this survey results into pie ghraphs, or bullet charts or some data...

LF: ...which it is what we saw in the exhibition recently with you(1)...

MQ: Yes. Many natural science only believe in data. They don’t believe your feeling, don’t believe your feeling, so just give them data.

LF: Speaking of methodology, my next question is: can you briefly tell me or explain me what is the methodology you apply to work with a candidate during two years in this Master? Which will be the procces that I would take with you? What it is going to happend in the relation between candidate and tutorship with you?

MQ: I think “Story Telling” it is the better with you. “Story Telling”. You just try to find your own way to tell a story...

LF: My question is what it is the process...

MQ: Yes, Story Telling it is a big methodology. You can find your own way to tell a story about the world or the problem you want to solve. You can use your own way, your language. You can use your... for example, if you are advanced or good at visual design or advertisment design, you can use visual design or advertisment design to tell a story, to tell what it is the problem jou had met, and try to tell a storyboard, or try to use pictures to tell us what the problem is. And what it is the way to try to solve the problem.





And another way it is observation. You can use some ways from antropology and crossed culture study to try to compare your country’s culture with chinese culture and try to find interesting ways to solve your own problems in the design field. And next, you can emphasize the design details including the patterns, the styles, the colors, and the living styles, and users’s behaviors and try to compare them. Comparative research it is a methodology.

LF: You are going to laugh, because my last question has to do about this “chinese and western culture”: Do you think that design it is an expression that works inside specific cultures, or the just opposite, that works in an universal way?

MQ: Is a good question. Because nowadays, our demands just expand broadly, you can think problems in an universal way. You must think about the problems in an universal way. Because our user’s behaviors can change from the west or mix or symbiosis with among east and west, and the piramid upper level and the deeper level, from the grass rooted class, middle class and the upper class, which is a symbiosis in the big whole world. Even we think about the universe in an universal way. The big network can include many things, so must think to try to find the problems in a universal way, but you need to express your thinking in your own way. In your own localization way. Can you undestand?

LF: Yes, I am just trying to find out if you think...

MQ: Yes, your big scope is universal, you put this problem in the universal scope, and you try to know why the problem it is coming and how to solve this problem. You can put it in a system. You can understand why it is comming and where it is going, but in a final presentation, your must to find your own way, to express what you are thinking about and try to solve the problem in your own way.

LF: So you don’t think it is pointless that a chilean person come here to study design then...

MQ: Yes. But it is hard to express... (Laughs) I think that it is... Actually, you observe “the way” in your own way, and you express “the way” in your own way. But you are living in this universe, in this world, so the mark you have brought, you had brought us a mark, that invaded the universe.

LF: How come “a mark”?

MQ: You must find your mark.

LF: Llike what distinctes me?

MQ: For example, most of my students, specially the female students do not smoke.

LF: (Laughs)

MQ: But it is interesting that even when I was at Cambridge University, in London, or in Germany, abroad, I found many females smokers. And in chinese big cities, like Beijing, Shanghai, I founded so many female smokers, but in some middle size cities in China it is hard to find...





LF: Well, I am aware of that...

MQ: Yes, because you come from your country, so these details, you do not care about. But for me, that I moved from one city to another country, I have observe the cities in a comparative way, from time to time... or always use the comparative way to observe the world around me. So, I can understand why do you behave like this and why my chinese students behave like that. Can you understand? So, it is your own way. I think that my responsabilty is that I must arouse your feelings and try to find some effective methodology for you to solve the problem.

LF: I am sorry, you used the word “arouse”? I am not familiar with that concept.

MQ: It means “irritate”... or... It means “let out your passion or motivation”.

LF: And I will appreciatte it, because I am super super lost... (Laughs)

MQ: Yes, I must find what it is your motivation, you study here and you want to study design, but you had an Art mayor, before. so I must find your motivation. And if you don’t have the passion, I must try to find ways to let out your passion... that is “arouse”!

LF: Well, we can have another conversation about what it is going be my choice to research in the future years. That will be another subject and I do not want to take your time for lunch. But I think you understand when I say: “It is just that the options are so many...”

MQ: Choose Information Design with time! (Laughs) The best way for you it is where do you come from. What abilities you have and what abilities you lack of. And what it is the next step you want to go. If you want to be a designer in China, you must find your advantages. To become a designer in China, you must know about the chinese design enviroment. Chines Design field, including the industries, education, right? And next step, you must to count down the time. Because you must spend your master candidate in two and a half years, at least two years. In these five semesters, each semester it is just count down the time. if you want to be a Information Designer or Interaction Designer in China and try to find a good job, in China, in Beijing, in the final semester, in the fifth semester you must had the experience of internship. In a international company or in local company. So, before you entered the company, you must prepare your portfolio. What are the elements for your portfolio? You must have done some projects, with your mentors, with your past companies or in your past country... Not past country, in your own country. (Laughs). Or in past cities...

LF: I sended you my resume, did you get the chance to se it?

MQ: Yes, I have your resume, but time it is going on, so in the final semester you must add many new projects in your portfolio. And the way of your portfolio, you prepared a hard copy of your portfolio or just put your portfolio in iPad or a digital way.

LF: It is published on internet, on my own website.





MQ: You can design your portfolio in a static way. Is not about your portfolio you have done, it is about the future plan, after five semesters studying. Can you understand?

LF: Yes, and my experiences in these semesters here.

MQ: Yes, what it is important it is you must know the chinese companies. What it is the procces for these companies for Information Design. And what openings of these chinese companies. Which companies have openings for Inteface Designer, Information Designer and Interaction Designer. So, just count down in the most excellent companies must interview and employee at least three months. So, you must have this experience. Internship experience. And in the four semester, you must prepare your master dissertation and the paper, so you must spend at least one semester for your dissertation, for your paper. And in the third semester, that means the first semester in your second year, you must have published at least two papers, two essays for your studies. So, if you want to publish at least two papers, you must prepare in your first semester. Because publishing can cost at least half a year, six months to publish one paper, one essay in one journalist or in a international conference meeting. Do you understand?

LF: Yes, I do.

MQ: So, in your first semester, nowadays, you must take many courses, to take many credits. To gain, to obtain enough credits. So, the time is tight.

LF: Thank you, Professor. I think I will come back to speak with you which path should I take. But I am super glad of comming here today, and had this chat with you. And I would like to thank you.

MQ: You are welcome.

(1) I am refering to GeoCity Smart City-International Information Design Exhibition, a featured exhibition for Beijing Design Week 2012 showed in the CMoDA, China Millennium Monument Museum of Digital Arts, from September 29th to October 14th, 2012. Miss Qin took her class to visit this exhibition on October 10th, 2012 and we get the chance to appreciate more than 80 international works in Information and Interactive Design.





In the understanding that my participation as a candidate in this Master it is diferent from the average student profile, here I present my academic and professional background as a precedent for my personal interests with the double objective of enlight my current teachers in one hand, and secondly, to enlight myself about what areas in the Design field I should focus my attention and dig deep into inside my future research.

EDUCATION2010 – 2012 Chinese Language, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China. 1997 – 2001 Bachelor in Fine Arts, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

PAST EXPERIENCE (IN CHILE)2006 – today Freelance Web Designer, “Workspace.cl” Studio.

2006 Background Designer for “Villa Dulce”, animated serie for television.

2006 Founder of “Workspace.cl” Studio, Art, Design and Technology Services.

2004 – 2005 Web Designer, “Anticipa S.A.”, Technology Services.

2005 Jury, “Maestros del Pixel 2005” Contest, El Mercurio Newspaper.


2003 Freelance Multimedia Designer, “Spock S.A.”, Advertising Agency.

2000 – 2003 Web Designer, “Ogilvy & Mather”, Advertising Agency.


2001 Collaboration in “Biennale for Young Artists 2001”, National Museum of Fine Arts.

2000 Assistant for the course “Introduction to Flash 4.0” Extension Courses, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

2000 Assistant for the course “Introduction to Computer Graphics” Art School, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

1999 Assistant for the course “Art History II” Art School, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

1999 Assistant for the course “Art History III” Art School, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

3.1 Introducing my Resume

3. About my Personal Interests

ART



3.2 Visual References


IMPPRESIONISM Claude Monet

POST-IMPRESSIONISM Georges Seurat

Vincent Van Gogh

ABSTRACT ART Frank Stella

Piet Mondrian

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM Mark Rothko

OP ART Victor Vasarely

GEOMETRIC ART Matilde Perez

Andy Gilmore

In this section I present my personal interests, with a special emphasis in my visual references from the field of Art and Design, as well as specific influences from diferent cultures. Three aspects are present inside this references. One is the use of color as a visual tool for different functions: from the transmission of a concept to the a form of expression of human emotions. The second aspect is a particular interest for deconstructed images, abstraction, geometry and simplicity, understanding all this resources as the basis for an universal visual language. And the third one is a great interest in the specific characteristics of Chinese Visual Culture.

DESI

GN





*Images from Personal Work. Full Portfolio can be visited on internet: http://www.workspace.cl

GRAPHIC DESIGN John Maeda

Shinnoske Sugisaki

BAUHAUS SCHOOL Josef Albers / Theory of Color

Wassily Kandinsky

PIXEL ILLUSTRATION Eboy

TYPOGRAPHY

PATTERN DESIGN*

CORPORATE IDENTITY*

WEB DESIGN*

INFORMATION DESIGN*


Report : Present Context for a Future Thesis InvestigationCH

INES

E VI

SUAL

CUL

TURE


3. About my Personal InterestsOT

HERS

ART Traditional Painting

Traditional Patterns

BAUHAUS SCHOOL Advertising Visuality in Early 1900

Propaganda Poster Art

CALIGRAPHY Simbology behind Radicals

Handwritten Visuality

Chinese Typography

CRAFTERY Cutted Paper

SACRED GEOMETRY

MANDALAS

Visual Thinking

Storytelling

Research Visual Theory

Web Des

ign

Interface DesignInfor

mati

on D

esign

Infor

mation

Sele

ction

Infor

mati

on C

ompr

ehen

sion

Data

Stru

ctur

e

Participated Design

Mental Model

AGILE In

terac

tion D

esign

Usability EngineeringUser Centered Design

New Media Gameplay Design

Indu

stria

l Des

ign

Grap

hic

Desi

gn

Animation

ART

Interaction Design

Prin

ted

Desi

gnCo

rpor

ate

Iden

tity

DESIGN

Interactive Advertisement

Installation Art

TelevisionTrade Shows

ADVERTISEMENT

Metaphor / Storytelling

Scenario Design

METHODS

DISCIPLINES

RANGE OF KNOWLEDGE INSIDE THE MASTER



4. Visual Analysis of Collected Data

4.1 Map of Master’s Contents

After the interview with my tutor for this report, I have a clearer comprehension about the range of knowledge that a candidate can learn inside this Master. This infography is a visual mapping of these contents that includes three sources of information: concepts obtained from the interview in this report, Miss Qin areas of expertise from her resume, and also a list of keywords my tutor gave me during classes, in order to explore new areas for a future research. This visualization is my personal understanding of the range of knowledge given inside the Master, specifically under Miss Qin tutorship.

Visual Thinking

Storytelling

Research Visual Theory

Web Des

ign

Interface DesignInfor

mati

on D

esign

Infor

mation

Sele

ction

Infor

mati

on C

ompr

ehen

sion

Data

Stru

ctur

e

Participated Design

Mental Model

AGILE In

terac

tion D

esign

Usability EngineeringUser Centered Design

New Media Gameplay Design

Indu

stria

l Des

ign

Grap

hic

Desi

gn

Animation

ART

Interaction Design

Prin

ted

Desi

gnCo

rpor

ate

Iden

tity

DESIGN

Interactive Advertisement

Installation Art

TelevisionTrade Shows

ADVERTISEMENT

Metaphor / Storytelling

Scenario Design

METHODS

DISCIPLINES

RANGE OF KNOWLEDGE INSIDE THE MASTER



4. Visual Analysis of Collected Data

4.2 Map of Personal Interest for each Master’s Content

This infographic represents the depth of my interest concerning each content area taught in the Master. From my past personal experience in Web Design learned through practice, I have found that the technologies behind Internet are evolving faster than the time I require to learn and dominate them. For this reason currently my deepest interest is to specialize my knowledge and develop my skills inside Information Design and Graphic Design fields, oriented to produce real and printed objects in the future. Secondly, I would like to learn more about Web Design.

LEVEL OF INTEREST

Regular

High

Deep

Deepest



The interview with Miss Qin for this report represents a significant tool to understand several aspects inside this program of studies. In the first place, it helped to understand that, despite its name, this is not a Master between Art and Design, but a Master that teaches inside the relation between Technologies and Design instead, taking Art only as a support for the visual aspects in that relation.

Secondly, it helped me to understand Miss Qin’s background: from her personal choices and circumstances that lead her to choose her academic vocation inside the Design field, to nowadays that she became my tutor. I also understand now that the chinese educational system and the variables each person considers in order to define a career for themselves has some diferences from the same context in my country. I appreciate the experience of Miss Qin because her wide range of personal interests allow her students to be aware of more ways to face a same design requirement, including tools from science and philosophy, for instance, as well as an open minded cultural approach to solve design problems.

Also helped to me to clarify which disciplines a candidate can dig deep into during the two years ot the Master, specifically under Miss Qin tutorship. It is a valuable contribution and a great motivation to know her academic background in a deeper aproach, in order to find a personal path inside the Design under her specific tuition.

I understand now the process each candidate needs to approve during the two years of the Master. I consider taking this studies as an important oportunity to validate what I already achieved as a designer though working experience and self teaching. But most importantly for me it is that being here in China it is also an oportunity to expand my abilities and knowledge. In this context, working in this report helped me to define a conceptual intersection between the Master’s contents and my personal interest for a future research.

It is only after gather all the information for this report, that I can choose Information Design as the main field to focus my attention during the two years of this Master, with the future perspective to work oriented to printed design and real objects design, combining the tools I achieve previously in my Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts with the new knowledge I will learn here in China.

My goal it is to understand Information Design in a wide perspective, merging knowledge from several disciplines inside a personal visuality from one side, and secondly, merging also cultural aspects between western and chinese concepts, in order to be able to develop a more efficient and universal design.

5. Conclusion



Miss Jingyan Qin Linked In Profile [online][Consulted 2012/10/21] http://cn.linkedin.com/pub/jingyan-qin/9/448/753

Beijing Design Week Exhibitions [online][Consulted 2012/10/27]http://www.beijingdesignweek.org/index.php/en/exhibition_article/?id=177

6. List of Resources

Documents

USTB AD Design Research 01