Newfound: an empirical method through the lens of graphic design investigates the “ordinary” and the “extraordinary” in everyday life. This process aims to observe our surroundings and to translate them into new narratives through the lens of graphic design. Awareness of “ordinary” objects, actions, experiences, and routines such as looking out the window of a moving train during my daily commute—from Boston to Providence—or at the ticket stub each passenger receives along the way enabling me to collect a database of inspirations for design experiments. At the same time, I am observing and questioning “extraordinary” events, places, and phenomenon: a sunset over the city of Boston as I look out my living room window, or a grand landscape across the countryside as I travel by it. Although these events are spectacular, I believe there is a threshold between the two categories: they have equal visual value and meaning if I translate them through an empirical method of graphic design.
The structure of this empirical method is to observe and contemplate all around us for inspiration; to capture through tools such as still photography and video; and finally, to distill, edit, and present the captured footage in order to uncover the essence of the original observation and transform its content into a new context: whether it be a printed matter, a video vignette, an interactive screen project, or a physical installation. This method not only frames my creative process, but also encourages a shared process for a wide audience to discover and observe our everyday.
Shift 