Thesis - Form + Culture
This project investigates the relationship between form and culture through the lens of typography and visual language, including how it relates to the urgency of addressing existing Asian stereotypes.
The process includes visual research, experiments, and form explorations. This is my thesis project at Pratt Institute.
Thesis Website: https://sakuratateiwa.com/Thesis-Home
How does form affect value/connotation?
I distorted a letter “S” in Chop Suey typeface in various ways, to see how the distortion change the connotation of the font?
How do people associate aesthetic and culture? How does change in form affect viewer’s perspectives? I made a book, which is a collection of images that people associated to each letter form distorted from Chop Suey typeface.
It’s not easy to completely eradicate stereotype that’s already planted in our culture. But it’s possible to create something new by deconstructing and using it. I started deconstructing the chop suey typeface by making a grid system, based on the strokes, and I ended up creating a new typeface based on the grid system.
When we hear “takeout chopsticks”, it is easy to imagine these designs: There is no rules or guidelines for these chopstick case designs, but Why are they usually designed within the similar aesthetics? Isn’t this due to the stereotype on Asian Culture?
When we hear “takeout chopsticks”, it is easy to imagine a certain design. There is no rules or guidelines for these chopstick case designs, but Why are they usually designed within the similar aesthetics? Isn’t this due to the stereotype on Asian Culture?
Do they still convey the same connotation as the classic takeout box with the Chop Suey typeface? How do the box shapes change the meaning of “takeout box”? How do colors and patterns affect it?
Growing up in America as an Asian, the use of typography and visual aesthetic used for Asian restaurants stood out to me. Why do the majority of Asian restaurants use the same font and aesthetic? Why is there a certain typeface that people recognize as an “Asian typeface?” These are the store signs of restaurants that’s named “sakura” in America. I’ve noticed that a number of Asian restaurants use the brush-stroke typeface for their signs. The most used, popular brush-stroke typeface is Chop Suey. A social media survey that I conducted revealed that the “Asian font” gives people an impression of “cheap, fast Asian food”.
I was curious, how would a Japanese typeface look like, if I designed with the same element as Chop Suey font, so I designed a Japanese Hiragana typeface based on the Chop Suey font features.
Since the coronavirus pandemic has started in the U.S., I started to see more and more news about Asian people getting attacked verbally and physically because there are people who believe that Asian people brought the virus. The victims of assaults are not only Chinese people, but also anyone who’s Asian. These news articles and personal stories show that existing Asian stereotypes breed discrimination and fear. Covid-19 is making it worse today and therefore this problem needs to be urgently addressed.
