Mid-Autumn Festival Project – Design Thinking

October 23, 2021

Mid-Autumn Festival Project – Design Thinking

Mid-AutumnMid-Autumn Festival,Festival, one of the most important traditional Chinese festivals, is a symbol of the Chinese worldview. As designers, how we represent the “moon” is not only informed by our heritage, but influences our ideas about cultural memory.

‍DESIGN THINKING

1. How to link the Mid-Autumn Festival with our culture and living environment, while finding the inner connection, in order to “reflect” on the things which have been taken for granted.

2. How has cultural memory “influenced” our designs, and how to represent East/West moon symbology with FRUSTUM design language.

DESIGN CONCEPT

e regard this project as a link between our culture and memory: according to the traditional legends about the moon, the combination with our life/work environments, and their interaction, we have been informed that our cultural memory has an unavoidable impact on our design thinking, and becomes a kind of "inner design language". Chinese mythology was born from the observations and imagination of the environment by "the ancients", which later became a part of our culture. In the Mid-Autumn Festival project, we drew upon the Chinese tradition of "colorful paper lanterns" and FRUSTUM's geometric concepts to create a "spatial memory design" that reflects the spirit of the moon.

DESIGN STRUCTURE

Our style combines Eastern and Western classical aesthetics and expression with the present geometry of our workspace. These "East/West life elements" not only exhibit and represent art and culture, but also trace our past, which have been passed down to us imperceptibly with each succeeding generation. This "memory" has entered our daily work space as a conversation between the past and the present, and we try to represent the tension between them by using design structure, art direction and materials.

The image of the moon conjures up the worship and respect for the unknown, which is a perfection that we constantly seek for without ever achieving. The entire configuration is based on the balance between the rationality and the aesthetics of classical architecture. The Romanesque dome and pillars are the center of the building model, which demonstrate the dignified beauty and interplay of light and shadow combined with FRUSTUM's spatial sense. Three yellow balls compose a changeable triangular structure which forms the core tension of the picture, and attracts other elements by their gravitational pull.

Architecture represents a cultural trend. We chose the elements from Chinese traditional life and culture as the content of the building. The couplet, the ancient commercial signboards, and the traditional garden are more expressive oriental elements than just symbols of happiness in China. They also evoke a cycle of visual and emotional memory and create multiple layers and depth.

STRUCTURE I

A traditional Western, triangular structure combined with a Chinese classical, and the symmetrical design, circular pattern to form a stable construction.

STRUCTURE II

The same kind of elements form "independent and intersecting" triangular structures that decompose the picture into multiple fixed components, in order to evoke an experience of inner beauty.

STRUCTURE III

Multiple triangles formed by solid colors, with one point of each in continuous motion. These points become dynamic breakthrough points in the network formed by five rabbits, and create tension between one another.

‍COLOR

Color is one of the most powerful design languages. This design model attempts to integrate cultural memory with our daily living space. We want to express the beauty of history and culture, and deliver FRUSTUM's design concept through the overall color language. The main colors of the work are Deep Blue and Dark Green, supplemented by Violet, Indigo and Gray, which form a dark, noble style and represent the dark gravity of the moon. As the moon is the principal figure, Yellow becomes an essential visual element. The moon, which we believed was only in the dark to reflect light, is like our cultural memory, and it transmits far more energy and influence than we have thought.

MATERIALS

The colorful paper lantern is the tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and paper is one of the most traditional creative materials. We primarily built the model with paper, supplemented by wood. Paper itself has become a cultural memory, just like its history and manufacturing techniques. We selected the SKIN Curious Collection series produced by the ARJOWIGGINS. The paper designer was inspired by his travels in Singapore: the southern sun is shining on a girl’s skin, emanating warmth and luster. Like its name, SKIN is a paper with dark gravity, and born from the imagination and inspiration of life, which also exemplifies our design concept.

TYPOGRAPHY

Visual communication is one of the elements that make up cultural identity. In Chinese tradition, calligraphy has become an important part of architectural language, and the first responsibility of calligraphy is cultural expression, followed by the delivery of a message.

Msunghk-xbold is a font which combines traditional Chinese characters with the Sim Song font. It’s stable and powerful, and also reflects the charm of traditional characters. This font reflects traditional Chinese culture, and also speaks to the overall architectural style, which is handsomely proportioned and elegant.