Browsing by Author "Ma, Thia"

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    Exploration of literary parallelism in product design
    (2022) Ma, Thia; Pacher, Constanza
    A chocolate bar packaging design is inspired by the 'whole chocolate bars' found in the short story Chick-A-Chee by Souvankham Thammavongsa in her published book How To Pronounce Knife. The design for the bar is a reflection of the parallelism found in the story. Following the perspective of a young girl through the good and bad parts of childhood experienced through different interactions involving strangers at the front door. The chocolate bar's design similarly includes an interactive peel-away top panel, emulating a physical door. Inside the panel, there is either prose poetry of the 'good' nostalgic trick-or-treating experience or the 'bad' fear-induced hiding experience referenced in the story. Other notable elements of the chocolate bar's design include Book Facts as a stand-in for nutrition facts customarily found on the back of food packaging. The facts detail the important story beats in Chick-A-Chee while subtly adding some cheekiness characteristic of the author's writing. The internal bar wrapping includes some dialogue from the text that emphatically demonstrates the duality of the story in the back and forth between characters. For all design elements, the header typeface has a distinct humanist style that is heavy in appearance yet visually dynamic, echoing the writing style in How to Pronounce Knife. The secondary typeface is more clean and playful, highlighting all the lighter parts of Chick-A-Chee. Black and neon green are colours found in the text from the story around the child's glow-in-the-dark skeleton Halloween costume. These further illustrated the idea of opposition found in the story and complemented the design of a modern chocolate bar. Other deliverables included the chocolate bar collection box. Each story from the book has a unique chocolate bar flavour and design inspired by the central theme of that particular story. Together, they create the collection of story-telling by Thammavongsa and her characters' interactions throughout How to Pronounce Knife.
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    The application of 1920s Bauhaus aesthetic to contemporary album design
    (2022) Ma, Thia; Pacher, Constanza
    The aesthetic choices for this design reinforce the central idea of 3 into 1. Three individuals on three different instruments come together to become the Up and Over Trio. The three colours leading into the Trio's title demonstrate this relationship and signify the importance of each musician's sound. Conversely, take one colour away, and the design loses its balance. Red, blue, and yellow is used because, as primary colours, they create all other colours. Considering the Trio's history of playing back up, these essential colours show they are the focus of this album. Using simple shapes in the typeface and visual design elements keeps the overall feel of the cover clean and modern. The textured background adds visual interest and grounds the overall design, making it approachable and warm. Additionally, the brown paper texture is reminiscent of a wrapped gift waiting to be opened and enjoyed. The 3D placement of the text and colours adds visual rhythm, not unlike jazz music, in a contemporary style that is playfully unexpected. The typeface used throughout deliverables is Joost, a typeface intended to emulate the 1920s design aesthetic. It's pulling from the age of jazz while still appealing to modern audiences. The black type, in particular, stands out against the textured background and boldly draws the eye. The final design honours the Trio, their paths that led to the creation of this album, and the evolving world of jazz.