Resume:
- Royal College of Art - Visual Communication
- Royal College of Art - Information Experience Design
- Goldsmiths, University of London – Computer Arts
- University of Brighton – Graphic Design
- Loughborough University - Graphic Design
- University of Creative Arts, UK - Graphic Design
Hey! I'm a chicken leg hehe, and I studied at Dalian Polytechnic University as an undergraduate, majoring in art and technology. During my college years, I liked to work on 3D software on my own, such as the combination of touch designer and Kinect, or do some interaction with unity.
My favorite artist is Kutluğ Ataman, a Turkish filmmaker, and I love his unique way of telling and the various mediums he produces, such as video, photography, installation, sound, etc. One of his words always makes me read it often: "Talking is the only meaningful activity we can do." ”
01
Application planning and admission to schools
In order to be able to shoot the ideal portfolio material, I fought hard!
The teaching philosophy of the Royal College of Art suits me well
As an undergraduate, I studied graphic design interdisciplinarly because I was interested, and later I learned that the RCA of the Royal College of Art encourages students to challenge conventions and push the boundaries of what they have always believed. At the same time, I am also looking forward to working with students from different backgrounds and majors to have creative collisions and exchanges!
So I kind of planned my application with the Royal College of Art as my dream school. My undergraduate major was Art & Technology, so I had little to no foundation in graphic design. My mentor at Lingchuang is really my "old teacher", she helped me with the application and portfolio planning, although I want to learn the knowledge and practice of graphic design from scratch, but she escorted me with professionalism and patience, fortunately I did not disappoint Mr. Gong haha~
I really paid a lot myself, and for this goal of my dream school, I almost broke the boat and fought hard!
Since the theme of my portfolio is mainly about the marginalized people in society, such as the mentally ill, the scavengers, the cleaners, the migrant workers....these people are usually very sensitive, resistant, or numb to the camera, so when I collect materials and shoot, I spend a lot of time preparing and researching, such as going to the ruins of unfinished buildings at 4 o'clock in the morning, for example, I will sleep at airports, train stations, and even migrant workers' sheds.
I do everything I can to reach out to my research subjects, sometimes even helping them cook, buy groceries, look after the shop, tidy up the house, walk the dog... With my unremitting efforts, they gradually accepted and got used to me, and I was able to photograph their relatively real side as a result.
During the time I was preparing and working on my portfolio, I sometimes barely slept for days on end, and while this may be the case for many students, it was really a great adventure and growth for me!
02
Application planning and admission to schools
Stand firm for interdismence, because I have a story to tell!
The reason why I chose to apply for the Visual Communication major is because I am deeply aware of the powerful narrative contained in graphic design in the process of interdisciplinary study, and I am eager to convey what I see and hear to the audience through narrative. Combined with the software skills I learned in my undergraduate major in Art and Technology, I was able to tell stories to my audience in the right medium more subtly.
One of the protagonists of the portfolio project The Life
The portfolio was inspired by the environment in which I was raised. I am a native of Northeast China, and Northeast China has experienced the ups and downs of the era of reform and opening up, from the prosperity of heavy industry in the last century to the withering depression of people going to empty buildings today, I have personally experienced the insignificance and humility of individuals under the torrent of the times. However, it is the power exuded by these small ordinary people that belongs to the truth of life and survival.
I empathized with them so much that I told myself that I had to create a work that belonged to "people".
That's why one of my works, "Tianchi Bathhouse", was born. The bathhouse is one of the important imprints of the life of the Northeast people, and it is also an important place for citizens to socialize on a daily basis. However, due to political and economic factors, anti-urbanization, population loss, and aging have led to the demolition of many places in Tohoku, such as the "Tianchi Bath".
I designed an exhibition for "Heavenly Pond Bath", which includes an installation, a book and a documentary. In this way, the disappearance of public spaces that carry collective memories is documented.
In the exhibition, I used different types of materials and media to create visual effects, and some of the bath tickets, price lists, locks, and other items I collected in the Tianchi Bath were stacked on an old dark brown Northeast bath bed. I want people to be aware of what seems to be an ordinary public place, but in fact it is the spiritual world of the elderly who live here.
The process of making an art installation
In addition to the aforementioned things that I put into the shoots on location, another challenging part was the process of generating inspiration and building the art installation. Before I made a portfolio, I had never been exposed to the production of installation art. Therefore, it was very difficult for me to choose the right direction among the many creative methods.
In addition, there are often many mistakes in the process of experimenting with materials, and how to achieve the desired result in the final professional shoot is a tricky problem for me. However, through trial and error, I found that the whole process of exploration was actually a very interesting experience. For example, I've never been in a hardware store to compare different steel bars and other materials, and these experiences have made me a more diverse person.
The final product is very fulfilling!
03
Summary of application experience
My teachers and classmates are my life's treasures!
Looking back on my whole application process, it was hard but fulfilling, and Ms. Gong was my most important mentor in the process of learning at ZeroCreate, she was like a mother who cares for her children. Because I changed my major and had no foundation in graphic design, and in the process of making a portfolio, I paid too much attention to detail and made the progress slow, which made me often lack self-confidence and feel stupid, but Mr. Gong always supported me. Many times, I was able to persevere because of her loving encouragement.
Within a month before the first round of deadlines, I completed 3 projects, and it is really thanks to the careful guidance of Mr. Gong that I was able to catch up with the schedule and ensure the quality of the works.
At that time, I chose Lingchuang because of the reputation and quality of Lingchuang, my sister graduated from UAL and was an early student of Lingchuang Ken, so when I was thinking about studying abroad, my sister got in touch with Ken as soon as possible, and after several in-depth interviews, I decided to go to Shanghai for offline learning.
The learning atmosphere is ideal, there are many excellent peers here, and there are students focusing on their projects in the self-study area every day. I was fortunate to meet like-minded friends and we learned, encouraged and grew together every day.
I'd also like to thank one person – my old tablemate, Kyrie. He is the first friend I met at Zerotron, and we are not smart kids, but we also have the same experience and personality. In the past two years, he has always told me: buddy, that's not a problem! Last year, he went to Huangyi one step ahead of me, and now we have become graduate alumni of the same school and major, and it is precious to have such a confidant brother in the journey of life.
Finally, I would also like to say to the younger students who are still studying at Zero Creation:
The person who fights with himself is worthy of every inch of time in the years of struggle.
Because being who you are is more important than what you have.