ISTD 2020:
A Color Story
Red in East Asia's Culture
POP-UP BOOK
Fall 2021 Semester Project
The purpose of this project is to explore the different meanings of “red” color in East Asia’s culture in new ways and to create interactive experiences. This project’s target audience would mainly be children aged 7 to 13. I wanted to use typography that looks active and playful, so I used pop-up design and a fun layout.
Japan
Red and white are the colors on the Japan flag and red circle is a symbol of the sun in Japan. My red circle with the word “peace” and “justice” on the turning wheel idea is from the Japanese wheel of life (Bhavacakra). Bhavacakra means birth and symbolizing endless rotation of Shakti who represents strength, effort, power and capability. The symbolic meaning of red in Japan is peace and justice. I am using the text to present the sun rays coming out of the red circle.
Chinese
Red in Chinese cultures means luck, long life, happiness, vitality and success. My red boxes stuck on top each other are representing the red envelopes, because Chinese people live to give the red envelopes to each other. The red envelopes represent luck, success and happiness. The idea for the diagonal text layout is from the shape of the red envelopes.
Mongolian
My texts in a spiral shape were inspirited from the Mongolian dance “Young Girls” and the Mongolian house (yurt). The movement of the dancing clothes looks similar to the spiral shape. When the spiral is moving, it looks like a circle and it reminds me about a yurt (interior) that represents strength and passion. A yurt is a circular dwelling that a sturdy and reliable type of tent.
Taiwan
I explore the word “forbidden” in a shape flower, because in Taiwan they have a Flower Changing Ceremony （换花求孕，海上女神） from white to red or from red to white, in the temple. In this ceremony, the red flower represents girls, and white flower represents boys. So, if the family wants to change their next child’s gender, they will go to the temple to pray and change the flower’s color. If they want to have a boy, they will take red flowers and change them to white flowers with Mazu God. If they want to have a girl, they will take white flowers and change them to red flowers with Mazu God. My purpose of a color sliding paper is to make the color of the flower changes and make the reader interact with the page, while they are reading. On the back of the color slicing paper will be the meaning of the color change. The wavy line the words are on lettering represent the smoke of burning incense in the temple.
South Korean
The South Korean flag builds from the Yin-Yang symbol and four trigrams of black lines which present fire, heaven, water, and earth. My texts in the rectangle blocks were inspired from four trigrams in the flag. The words “creation”, “love” and “passion” line up to make it look similar to the middle line of the Yin-Yang.
