Mission Statement/Manifesto

  What I have learnt in my first year? To be honest, I learnt many many things apart from graphic design knowledges. As UK isn't my hometown, when I started to study in this country I really found very hard no matter languages, weather or foods etc. However, I met many great friends in uni and they taught me many things about this country for example why people like to drink in here. In my uni life, I known that I have to be really independent because my parents is not in this country and it is university not the college anymore so I need to prepare everything by own, I am quite proud of myself that I did this really well in my first year even though I still have many things to improve but I feel really happy to overcame some challenges. The weakness point for me is English, I can't speak fluent like other local students because it isn't my first language but I want to push myself in this year, I hope I can be more confident speak in front of more people and won't be nervous to speak in a large group of people.

PPP Task1

  The summer is already over, I feel a bit upset because I have to wait my long holiday until December. During my summer, I backed to Hong Kong with my parents and sister just for about two weeks to visit our friends and family. After that, we backed to UK soon because we decided to live in here for few years because of my studies. Therefore, everything are new to us, for example the living style, cultures, food or people. Actually, I really miss the time when I went back to Hong Kong even it was just around two weeks as it is my hometown and where I was born from, everything I known more than here. When we get back to here, our house is in Wakefield now but as I said everything are new to us so we have to buy the furniture again from the Ikea which is much cheaper compare with others. To be honest, the style in here is totally different with Hong Kong, in Hong Kong, if you buy the furniture, the company will provide the installation service to customers and it is free, however, in here, everything need to count. As a result, we just decided to build by ourself. Therefore, in my summer time, I usually just go from Leeds (my student accommodation) to Wakefield (our house) to build the furniture until we have our beds. I quite enjoyed the process no matter it was a bit difficult to build, in the past, I was lack of patience, I couldn't be concentrated for a long time, however, during my summer, I started to improve it because I helped my family to build the furniture and I started to addict on this thing, it seems like playing a big lego which is really fun and enjoyable.

Module Evaluation

  I really like this module because it mainly about ourselves. I have a lot of feelings since I came to the UK as it isn't my home country and is quite far with my home country(HongKong). Therefore, I have a lot of feelings over the module. For example, the different style of study compare with HongKong and here, in HongKong, we have to study from morning until noon. However, in here, most of the time are independent study. Therefore, I also wrote this into my reflective brief. Actually, over the module, I learnt that we have to use our own time correctly which means when we have independent study time, we shouldn't spend it to play. As I think it is the main part that I must be improve. I really the second studio brief as I could introduce the HongKong culture to my classmates as only me is Asian in my class and no one know more about HongKong other than me so I felt really happy with that. While, as most studio brief in the module has to do a presentation and I am the worst on that so I felt really nervous with that, luckily that many people encouraged me and I started to become more confident to do that now. What I want to do better in level 5 or the future is that I can do a better presentation and manage my time better, during my presentation, I wrote too much text on the slides as I worried that if I could memorize all the things that I want to say as English isn't my first language. But I will try to prepare a speech for my presentation next time so that I can write less text on the slides.

Final Presentation

About Me:
  My name is Michael Chan and I am from HongKong, I am currently 19 years old, I can speak Cantonese, English but not good and a little bit Korean and Japanese. I really like k-pop that’s why I learn Korean, I like the style of their album cover design. I started to learn graphic design since last
year when I studied foundation in Coventry University. This is my second year learning graphic
design so it is quite difficult for me that I never leant in my high school.

How I am different from others?

  I have black hair and eyes, I can speak Cantonese or a bit of Korean and Japanese, I come from an Asia country (HONGKONG), English is not my first language and I am bad in that. And I lived in HongKong for more than 18 years.

My first year studied in UK:

  I studied foundation in Coventry University and I really enjoyed the foundation course and I started 

to know more about The UK, for example the life, weather or places in here, also, I met a lot of friends. However, I really hate the weather in here because the wind is too "STRONG" and always made my hair become messy.

Before I came to Leeds:

  I needed to practice English as it isn’t my first language. Also, I went to Korea to visit my friends in there and looked at different things/buildings in there and tried to get inspiration, it was really unforgettable because I met my friends in there and it was my third times to been there. I visited to famous place in HongKong(大澳 Tai O) with my family as a daily trip. When I came back to UK, I went to Coventry and packed all my things and then bring to here.

First Day in LCA:

  When I first came LCA to meet other people from the same course, I felt very very sad because I

couldn’t see other Asian student, it doesn’t like my foundation year, most students were Korean

or Japan, even we were still from different country but the culture are quite similar and all of our 

English are “BAD” also, I can communicate to them by using my weak Korean and Japanese.

However, the first day I came to LCA I felt really scary because I worried that if they could 

understand my “Bad” English or not. Therefore, I didn’t feel happy at that moment, however, I met

a group of people they were local people and they were really nice to me, they taught or correct

my English mistakes, therefore, I didn’t feel that sad since that time.

Become a “REAL UNI STUDENT”:

-It is totally different with my foundation course, I have more independent time

-I have to work much harder and produce better quality works

-I must improve my English all the time because it doesn’t like foundation, tutors won’t help you

all the time

First project over the course:

  I felt very excited with my first project over the course as it was our first project in LCA. Therefore, I was so worried about that. Luckily that the result wasn’t too bad so I felt really happy about that. After the logo brand project, I designed a full typeface in upper case by used the word “Lucky”. In this project, I liked the idea using horse shoe with the word Lucky, also, before I did that project, I didn’t know that the horse shoe represent lucky in here, just people told me so I learnt that from this project which I thought it was really interested.

Made my own booklet:

  For the module 404, I have to make a booklet about pentone for a street in Leeds, that was my first time to make my own booklet so I wasn’t sure how I should made it so I asked my friends about the process and then I made by own. It was really fun that I produced my first booklet even it doesn’t look well but I feel quite happy. Since I made my first booklet, I got some experience how to make a

book so I felt more confidence to make my second booklet. I felt more interesting that time because I could produce a booklet with any theme, as I love k-pop so much so I made a booklet about k-pop. I 

really enjoyed this task because I this is what I want to do in the future.

Self Branding Project

  I really like this self branding project because it was mainly about ourself. I am so glad that I am from HongKong and no one know about HongKong more than me. Therefore, I also made my self branding related to HK. Basically, the aims of my self branding was to introduce more Hong Kong culture to western people. I really like the idea that introducing the Hong Kong culture to western people as it is totally different with western culture. Making my self branding related to Hong Kong can make myself more special as I am only the Asian in the class. Sometimes, I also taught my friends Cantonese so if you want to know more things about Cantonese or HongKong you can ask me anytime:).

What I want to achieve in Level 5

-Improve my English, able to speak better

-Improve my software skill such as using Photoshop and illustrator better

-Produce a better quality of works 

What I want to do after graduate

-I will go back to HongKong and eat many food

-I want to work as a graphic designer in Korea, may be working for the k-pop album cover

design as I really like that

-I can speak Korean well so that I can work in Korea easier

  I did a really simple mockup of a k-pop album cover with my favourite k-pop idol group "I.O.I", I did this really simple because many people said in my previous designs, I worked quite complex so I want to work really simple in this mockup, I just used type with the logo in this design.

                                     

  As it is my interest in graphic design, I designed some album covers as well, I tried to work with object but I thought it doesn't look really good, also, I did both colour for the other cover, I quite like the colour, I hope I can improve my adobe skill so that I can produce a better quality of works in the future. 

Self branding

Initial ideas 

 In this studio brief, we were asked to promotes ourself as an individual, designer and learner.   As I am the only Asian in my class so I wanted to make something related to Hong Kong. The Aims of my logo is to introduce more Hong Kong culture to western people. Therefore, I looked at the traditional things, food, words, transport, human life and street in HK and see how could I put in my logo so that I could introduce more our culture or things to more western people.

  
  As I am from HongKong, I thought the best representation for me is the flag of HongKong. Therefore, I found the flag as my started point. Afterward, I research into six elements about HongKong included -Make a brand that can introduce most Hong Kong Culture
to people 1)Traditional things, 2)Food, 3Words, 4)Transport, 5)Human Life, 6)Street. I thought it would be great if I could make brand that can introduce most Hong Kong Culture to people as I guess most western people haven't been to HongKong before, even some of them have been to HongKong, they may still don't know the details of HongKong culture, the best is to have a local people introduce these things to them.

  In one of the lecture, I shared my ideas to some of my classmates, I thought the description to describe myself is " The Real Hong Kong Designer Living In Leeds". It was really funny.

  Basically, I designed to name to be “HongKers” which inspired from “HongKongers”. As I am from Hong Kong and my idea is to introduce the HK culture to western people so I decided that I should make the name be easy to recognise Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, I always heard people pronounced HongKongers as “HONGKERS”. Therefore, I came with the idea “HongKers” to be my brand’s name. At the beginning, I sketched different things that represent HongKong the most such as Dim Sum, HongKong Tram or the HongKong old buildings. I wanted to make it as a pictogram at the beginning, therefore, I wrote the word represent the "12 animals zodiac".

  

  Since, I got the very basic idea with my branding, I stopped a while and looked at my research to see how I could make them related with my branding.

1)Tradition culture in HK:

-The biggest festival is Lunar New Year, we have

to visit to families or friends house.

-We have to be polite to elders (may be someone not doing this nowadays)

-We believe the “12 animals of zodiac” which includes Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, 

Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.Each year is associated 

with an animal.

  

2)Food:

  As a culinary capital of Asia, Hong Kong boasts various delicacies in the local or from overseas. The best known is Dim Sum, many visitors came to Hong Kong because of Dim Sum. Moreover, we have something call “Street Food”, it is one  of the city's unique experiences, it is characterised as the ready-to-eat snacks and drinks sold by hawkers in the street such as stinky tofu(臭豆腐) or fishball(魚蛋). As the price is cheap, many people really like “Street Food”.

3)Word:

-We use Cantonese in daily life or even English

-Cantonese has spoken language(口語) and written language(書面語)

-When we writing a word, we have to follow the handwriting step

4)Transport:

  The transportation in HongKong is really well, we have 

-Train which we call it as MTR,

-Ship which we call it as Star Ferry

-Buses which we call it as KMB

-Taxis which have three different colours, red taxis are for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, green taxis are for the New Territories and blue taxis are for Lantau Island

-Trams which is cheapest way to get around and only costs $2 HK dollars

-Mini-buses run all around Hong Kong, they have red and green

-The LRT which just for people who are in the New Territories, can go to the street

5)Human Life:

-Basically, people work from Monday to Friday and go out on Saturday and Sunday

-Work really hard because the houses in HongKong are too expensive

-Normally, people like to listen Asian music such as J-pop and K-pop

-Always care about the health so we eat really healthy

-We have a busy life-style

6)Street and buildings:

-A lot of shopping malls as HongKong named as “Shopping Paradise”

-The best view is the night, all area will light up, it is really beautiful 

-Buildings are really tall, unlike UK.

  When I looked at those research, I found that the "12 animals of zodiac" is an amusing idea, as I was born in 1997 so the animal that represent that year is OX. Therefore, I thought if I can put an OX into my logo of my branding, it would be great. Hence, I sketched an OX and then designed a really basic logo, I found that the result of using all in upper case was better than lower case, it looks more attractive.

  For the name,   I designed to name to be “HongKers” which inspired from “HongKongers”. As I am from Hong Kong and my idea is to introduce the HK culture to western people so I decided that I should make the name be easy to recognise Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, I always heard people pronounced HongKongers as “HONGKERS”. Therefore, I came with the idea “HongKers” to be my brand’s name.

  Since I got the idea how my logo would look like, I scanned the "OX" to my computer and then used pen tool drew again to make it digitally. Actually, when I designed my logo, I thought I have to make something related to HongKong and also can represent myself. As we believe the "12 animals zodiac", it was a great starting point for me to develop the logo. As I was born in 1997, it was the year of OX so I came with that idea. I wanted to make my design really simple so I just used black and white at the beginning. Afterward, I got a better idea, I used the flag of HongKong which was the "bauhinia". However, the result doen't look really good so I gave up with that and then I looked at the other thing, I thought it would be great to have some Cantonese in my logo because I asked some of my western friends, they feel really interest to see the handwriting style of Cantonese. And I also tried with other elements that could represent HongKong or me, such as the street in HK or the map of HK. However, I choose the one work with an OX and Cantonese.

  For the font, I choose Helvetica because of it clean style, even my brand is about HongKong but the actual company will locate in Europe, as I know, western people prefer simple design so I decided to use Helvetica as the typeface. At the end, I changed the colour to red and white so that the logo can look more like the flag of HongKong. Moreover, in HongKong, red represent lucky. Therefore, I thought it would be more interesting and meaningful by using red and white rather than black and white.

                    

  Since I designed the final logo, I wanted to make some mockup to see how my logo works. I made a business card so that I can see how exactly my logo works as a business branding. Afterward, I made a mockup on a packaging, basically, it included some HongKong culture based on my research. To make the mockup even more interesting, I tried to make a simple website for my logo, I put some graphic works that I did in my graphic design learn journey.

  Overall, I think this project was really interested because it was mainly about myself, as a oversea student, I miss my home very much because of a far distance, however, when I did that project, it seems I was in HongKong. Therefore I felt really happy when I was doing that.

Reflective Practice

In this studio brief, we were asked to make an A2 poster  to identify and summarise something over the course

2 things that I have learnt in the course:
-I learnt more western culture, because I am the only Asian student in my class, I didn't really know much about the western before I came here, for example, I learnt that western people like to go to pub every Friday's night which is totally different with my home country(Hong Kong).
-The design between Asian and Western is quite different, Asian prefer more decoration in the design, while western people prefer simpler design.

2 things that engaged me:
-Keep studying and improving my English as it isn't my first language
-I am the only Asian in my class so I can introduce more asian culture to my classmate.

Aims and ambitions for level 5 or beyond: 
-To improve my English, especially speaking in front of more people due to the fact that it isn't my first language and I am not really good at English so I feel nervous all the time when I speak in front of many people or people that I don't know, however, in the graphic design industry, we have to do a lot of presentation so I really want to overcome this problem.

2 things that I have not enjoyed in the course:
-There is no more Asian student in my class
-I can't concentrate working in the studio if there are too many people

Mayor of London (A shortlist exhibition programme in London)

  I went to London with a friend on 18/2/2017. Actually, we just wanted to travel around London, however, when we went near the National gallery, I asked my friend if we could go into the gallery and see if there has any exhibition. Luckily that there was a limited time exhibition about playing with different objects. I took a catalogue from the exhibition, I didn't stay there for a long time because I returned in the same day so the time was really rush that's why I took a catalogue so that I can see all details afterward. The name of the exhibition was called " Fourth Plinth Commission Shortlist Exhibition", it held from 20 January until 26 March 2017. According to the catalogue, since 1999, Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth has been the home to world-class contemporary art. After sitting empty for 150 years, the plinth hosted three commissions by the Royal Society of Art. Building on this success, the Mayor of London set up the Fourth Plinth Commission, presenting works by some artists such as Mark Wallinger, Marc Quinn, Yinka Shonibare MBE and Katharina Fritsch.

  I really like this one because it was really funny, the name of this work was called "Higher" which designed by Damian Ortega, just used a toy car and the put a lot of things on it. I thought it would be very difficult to do that because if it is not balance, the things would fall down. However, in this artwork, we can see everything is very stable. Therefore, I think it was really funny. Actually, I looked at this because I want to play with different kind of objects in my graphic design journey as I always just worked with computer or digitally. Hence, it would be great to play with objects, stay away from computer.

                                        

  After I looked at this small exhibition, I went to the other part of the gallery, I saw some really famous paintings such as the " Two Tax-Gatherers".

  The description of this painting mentioned that the man on the left is writing out a list of taxes on items such as wine, beer and fish. Such tax officials were commonly allowed to retain in a percentage of the money they collected, and were criticised for their greed. The picture is probably intended as a warning against avarice. It was shocked me that as there are many meaning hided from this painting, I guess most people would just guess the man on the left is just writing something. Therefore, if I didn't look at the description, I won't know exactly the meaning of the painting.

                                       

  After that, we went to a Korea culture society building in London and then saw a lot of DVD's cover. Due to the fact that I want to work as the Kpop album cover designer, I went to there and see different cover designs.