Working steps
Selection word
Word exploration / Brainstorming
Word elements collection
Typeface exploration / selection
Color selection
Poster design
Poster display
Working steps
Selection word
Word exploration / Brainstorming
Word elements collection
Typeface exploration / selection
Color selection
Poster design
Poster display
Working steps
Selection word
Word exploration / Brainstorming
Word elements collection
Typeface exploration / selection
Color selection
Poster design
Poster display
Working steps
Selection word
Word exploration / Brainstorming
Word elements collection
Typeface exploration / selection
Color selection
Poster design
Poster display
Case study
Case study
Case study
Case study
Case study
How to visualize the pronunciation characteristics of Wu language
Feature 1: Wu dialect’s pronunciation rules are complex, with eight tones (only four in Mandarin)
The Chinese names of these eight tones are very complicated and difficult to remember, so I want to symbolize them.
I chose to sprinkle a small amount of fine salt on the black cardboard before placing them on the speaker. Observe the vibration trajectory and distribution of fine salt by playing the same tone repeatedly.
What surprises me is that they do reflect different patterns and textures, and have a certain regularity. Later, I tried to organize them into different symbols through simple lines.
After I finished drawing all the patterns, I found an interesting coincidence. The tones of all the "yin" parts have black patterns, just like the ancient Chinese yin and yang pictures.
Combination of soft and hard
Wu dialect is often called Wu Nong soft language, because it sounds so soft and sweet, even when arguing, you can't hear some harsh and mean syllables.
Wu people speak Wu language, giving a very elegant feeling, especially women, the voice language calls 燕恰莺啼 to describe nothing, but in fact, Wu language pronunciation is rigid. One of the biggest characteristics of Wu dialect is that it has entering tone, just like many other dialects which retain more characteristics of ancient Chinese. The entering tone of ancient Chinese is short, vigorous and neat. Another feature of Wu dialect, voiced voice, is characterized by intense vocal cord vibration. Therefore, Wu Nong's soft language is not soft at all.
Speaking of hard and soft materials, I thought of heat-shrinkable sheets. Under the action of high temperature, they will become very soft, but they will become very hard after cooling.
“Looks soft but actually hard“
I conducted a small visual experiment, writing a piece of Wu Chinese poetry and pinyin on the shrink film, and then heating it. Finally, hang up the finished product with fishing line and observe their edge lines and overlapping parts.
I am thinking about integrating the heat shrink film into my final creation. Light and shadow can project the text on the heat shrink film more abstractly on the wall, which is very atmospheric in conjunction with related concerts.
Considering that sound waves can express the characteristics of Wu language more directly, I chose a piece of Kunqu opera as the material, and used more rounded graphics to deal with the shape of sound waves.
I tried to pass the light through the heat-shrink film and project the pattern on the wall, but the heat-shrink film was too thick and the pattern was not clear. I was considering using a thinner plastic film or glass plate for this experiment.
