Looking for a challenging position to explore the depth of my potential as a designer, I came across the Master of Design degree offered by Auckland University of Technology. By completing this course, I would like to enhance my skills of graphic design and improve the visual effects of my work.
I have always liked drawing since I was little. I chose oil painting as my major at university. I love and appreciate art works. This period of learning has significantly affected my graphic design studies later on. In the process of creating art works at university, I founded strong foundation in concepts and layouts which was very important to me as a design student. In addition, though the one year course of graphic design at Natcoll Design Technology Institute in New Zealand, I have acquired basic design knowledge of packaging, typesetting and publishing both in theory and in practice.
Among all the projects I have worked on at Natcoll, I became particularly interested in packaging design. Packaging design is extensively important in today’s market place. It has become much more than a simple element of manufacturing. More and more institutes have started offering packaging as a discipline itself. I am personally interested in the design perspective of this discipline. Every time I visit the supermarket or shops, I am always fascinated by the product packaging on the shelves. Great packaging can not only promote the product, but also protect and enhance the product. Millions of dollars have been spent every year studying how packaging design will impact sales of a product and how the product influences what consumers think about a company. Today’s packaging industry has become very interesting and competitive.
During my master studies at Auckland University of Technology, I would like to focus on the appearance as well as the practicability aspects of the product packaging. I would like to design the product packaging more convenient to use or store and prevent spoilage or damage, thus reducing costs due to delayed production or lost sales. Packaging is the most direct and effective advertisement vector and I believe that a good designed packaging can give an object a great character and value.
Through the study of Graphic Design, I had recognized my strengths and weaknesses. I enjoy working with illustrations and hand drawing. When I look back at my previous works, most of them are illustrated with a strong personal style. This can be clearly demonstrated by some of my previous projects, such as children’s book, calendar and even my campaign packaging. However, I failed to use illustrator successfully on some projects such as Annual General Report of a company. During my studies at Auckland University of Technology, I will try to avoid those mistakes I’ve made and elaborate my advantages. I will focus more on layout, choice of images and work with different styles of typesetting. This is what I need to strive for in the future studies, to expand ideas, and enrich variegated styles. Nevertheless I will communicate with the manufacturers about their marketing positioning and deliver their marketing concepts in my packaging design. As the marketers always say “good packaging makes products easier to identify and promotes the brand at the point of purchase and in use”. I will try my best to implement this concept in my packaging design.
Project Proposal
What I want to do
I love and appreciate art works,I want to be a illustrator(graphic designer) with passion, explore the depth of my potential, foster strengths and circumvent weaknesses.
Where this interest comes from and what it relates to
I have been interested in drawing since childhood, I had been study arts for 8 years- 3 years basic courses at high school, 4 years oil painting at university,and 1 year graphic design course at Natcoll Design Technology Institute in New Zealand.
What sort of media,methods and processes you would use
I would choose to use pencil sketch,water colour,oil painting,and illustration(adobe illustrator) to present different art works depending on the topic and needs. I am sensitive of colours,I like to use colour to express mood, I enjoy trying different method to give distinct texture. I offten go to book store and website to find photographs,packagings , paintings
that I think are interesting,I use them as resouces and get ideas from those to enrich my work. I do like try combine things together to increase visual impact, for example linking of photographs and illustration.
The field or discliplines
There are many people can draw in the world, I just one of them. What I really yearn for is to distinguish not a craftsman but an artist, here I would like to talk a bit more about the differences in between.
The craftsman's goal is to create an object of beauty, or an object of quality, and primarily to support him/herself, an artist creates an object to represent ideas and emotions as a statement, with the purpose of reaching into the soul of people and the community; Craftsman makes many copies of the same thing with small variations over time, artists normally is creating and pushing the boundaries of their field and normally does not create highly similar pieces. Craftsman summarize theory through work load and experience, artists create art works with surport of strong theory behind.
Through these years study,I have acquired basic knowledge of oil painting, typesetting and publishing both in theory and in practice. However I consider myself as a craftsman , I know the way to make the design looking good,but most of the works are lack of depth and maturity, can not be weighed by time, this bothers me a lot./
I wish to to create art works that can let people learn from it in the meantime to enhance my drawing /illustration skills.Art is a visual way to talk, to satirize, to cummunity, to tell a story, to give hope, designers has got the same mission with media professional,we are responsible to social morality as well.
I want to be evaluate not as a person who can draw or design, but an artist who can add soul into it, to use what I am good at guiding people the way. This is what I expect to study at Auckland University of Technology.