Different Ways
of Seeing

MFA Thesis

communication arts design | SHORTLIST

Writing&Interview | Design Research | Identity System | Book Design

Special Thanks to Monica Schlaug, Shan Lin and Ding Liu.

Graphic design shapes human perception and biases through visual storytelling, acting as a form of visual poetry that can convey complex ideas and evoke emotional responses, thus influencing cognitive and cultural shifts.

This thesis demonstrates how the storytelling in graphic design can subtly alter the observer’s consciousness, steering emotions, beliefs, and actions. It aims to create immersive experiences that provoke discussion on the relationship between design and perception.

/ The question and thinking

When I was a child, I once fell ill with a fever and felt as if the world was spinning. As I stared at the white ceiling of my bedroom, I was struck by peculiar questions: Why am I in a body looking like this? How is the world I see different from what others see? Then, I looked into some research and readings on neuroscience, and I came across many interesting findings:
The visual information received by our brains actually undergoes a process of inversion, similar to how camera works. We humans are creatures that are good at making up stories and giving them meaning. We love creating and listening stories.

Graphic design shapes human perception and biases through visual storytelling, acting as a form of visual poetry that can convey complex ideas and evoke emotional responses.

This thesis demonstrates how the storytelling in graphic design can subtly alter the observer’s consciousness, steering emotions, beliefs, and actions. It aims to create immersive experiences that provoke discussion on the relationship between design and perception.

/ ABSTRACT

/ statement

"Different Ways of Seeing" was born out of a simple question:
What is sweetness?
It’s so simple, yet completely indescribable. We’ve moved from our basic instincts to now creating virtual world, evolving from animal to AI. As our world becomes more and more immersive, bias occurs and perception becomes more subjective, moving our reality further from actual information in this unstoppable process.
Design structures people’s perceptions and changes the way they communicate with each other. My ideas have been influenced by a podcast talking about the boundary of the virtuality and reality by a postdoctoral researcher Ding Liu from Harvard. I realized how subjective we are as creatures in the way we perceive the world, and how interesting the biases occurred in the perception are to us as graphic designers. I will be composing a unique story, a journey in which I will share and interact with all the unexpected visual deviations of the experience for each viewer. We might be able to find a little bit of primitive romance through this journey. Humans used to acquire colors from nature at the beginning of our history, yet as technology has progressed, we’ve become less and less romantic.

This thesis “Different Ways of Seeing” will explore the delightful self-replication deviations that happen during the creation of art and design, the self-awareness that sprouts in one’s growth and how cognitive biases are influenced by technology like AI and internet, as well as the original romance we lose in the process of various tools gradually replacing our physical experiences. Interestingly, in the most fashionable devices (Vision Pro or image-generating AI tools) our familiar ways of cognition are transformed into incredibly precise but tedious parameters and prompts. As a designer, I no longer talk about vermilion, but rather series of numbers like #e34234, to show my profession and sophistication. However, is all this precision really necessary? Our lives are becoming more digital and virtual, our decisions planned and documented, and our experiences less spontaneous and filled with the discovery of natural variations and “accidents.” Projects in my thesis examined range from traditional print mediums to digital interfaces and extend into the realm of virtual reality as well, showcasing the versatility of graphic design in influencing perception across different platforms.

/ Truth Hidden Behind Reality

Face Pareidolia, the phenomenon of seeing faces in everyday objects is a very human condition that relates to how our brains are wired. (image 4 from left above), And “witness” and imagination of UFOs are part of the pareidolia at some level. (image 2 from left above)
‍
Before the invention of the photographic camera, transferring a real-life image onto paper or another flat surface was no easy feat. Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci first described a mechanism that would make drawing in perfect perspective much easier to achieve, something that would later be known as camera obscura. Rather than meticulously measuring out the lengths and angles of a subject or scene, camera obscura offers a shortcut. (image 1 from left above)

I do enjoy using the form of symmetry in my design projects, because I think the interplay between repetitions and visual rhetoric in the realm of art and design is a powerful tool for shaping viewer perception, evoking emotions, and conveying complex messages. Here I’m going to explore the nuanced relationship between these two elements, delving into how repetition amplifies the persuasive power of visual rhetoric, thereby transforming the viewer’s engagement with the artwork or design. (image 3 from left above)
Repetition also enriches visual rhetoric by adding layers of symbolism and meaning. When a specific element is being repeated, it can acquire symbolic significance, contributing to the work’s overall meaning. This repetition of symbols can evoke cultural references, personal memories, or universal themes, adding depth and nuance to the visual message.

/ DIFFERENCE AND REPETITION

One can take this a step further as Joshua Ramey shows us; that if reality is a simulacrum, then the “truth” of reality cannot be discovered by distinguishing the authentic from the inauthentic, the accidental from the essential, the artificial from the real. The authenticity of the real is discovered, in Deleuze’s view, in certain kinds of betrayal. True vitality is found only in certain obsessions, knowledge in a kind of intimacy with the obscure, the true nature of time in discontinuity, and genuine health only in extremes. If the “upright” Platonist proceeds out of the cave, out of the world of appearances, the overturned Platonist is a diver who plunges into the depths of the cave itself, into the uncanny world of difference and repetition. Against Platonic representation we get Deleuze.

/ interviews

Ding Liu's speculative discussions on the brain, consciousness, and existentialism were the starting point for my thesis. As a result, I began by interviewing him and subsequently spoke with several excellent brains from the industry. We discussed how design shapes the human brain and cognition, as well as the impact of the rapid development of artificial intelligence on design. They shared me with many interesting and profound insights.

“And then actually one interesting thing is video games. A game maker came to me a week ago. It’s actually a Viking RPG and they wanna get it like, create an environment, which is basically that the Vikings can exist within the artwork. They would actually construct it, like the Sims kind of thing. And then they would fight each other in the artwork. It sounds similar to the Assassin’s Creed, one of the episodes. My son played that a hell of a lot. So yeah, I’ll have to look back at Assassin’s Creed. But it’s funny that, there was a lot of comments with the Abu Dhabi work and it went pretty viral: This looks like a game. People can walk through it and explore freely in a certain space, just like the sandbox and it’s interesting.”
Jim Denevan, artist, chef, and founder of Outstanding in the Field
‍
"Zoom is one of these tools to enhance our ability, to expanding our cognition."
Ding Liu, a neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher in Uchida Lab, Center for Brain Science at Harvard University

‍“Non-biased AI is an absolute scientific impossibility. But so is a non-biased human. It’s also about perception.”
Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, a writer, artist, and researcher born in Yerevan.

"A cursor I mean, it’s it’s almost like a tool, you know, like, like in the physical we would sometimes rely on in interaction design any kind of a button or control. They sometimes they call like an affordance. It’s just like a digital thing. So like a cursor is an example of affordance. I suppose you could design a whole bunch of those, you know, like, digital, affordances that are kind of like the next version of cursors, instead of a cursor in the future. We’re gonna need a whole toolbox of."
Todd Masilko, chair of Interaction Design and Media Design Practices , ArtCenter College of Design

"The almost meditative fulfillment due to the practice of mindless work processes may be undisputed, but in our fast-moving society only very few people can afford it. People are forced to keep up with human impatience. If we look at contemporary phenomena such as fast food or fast fashion, it is obvious to what extent quality suffers from speed. However, this does not have to be the case. In the example of a pocket calculator, the problem is rational and the mechanical process infallible. Therefore, the increased speed can even lead to an increase in quality."
Automation by Daniel Wenzel, senior art director at DIA Studio

"We have to always think about it like, Oh! that’s not a real person, that’s not a real person. But what we’re feeling is real."
Ida Persson, communication design lead at IDEO

/ Evidence of Existence

In the midst of an illness marked by a high fever, I was transported back to a peculiar memory from my childhood, a memory that seemed to mirror the depth of my existential reflections during my fevered state. Confined to the small, dimly lit room of my present, staring into the vast whiteness of the ceiling, I was reminded of days spent beside a bustling road near my primary school campus. Back then, a close friend and I would stand as silent observers, our young minds fascinated by the stream of cars and pedestrians. We pondered the inner lives of those passing by, speculating about the myriad emotions, thoughts, and soulful experiences hidden within each person. This memory, a tableau of innocence and wonder, resonated deeply with my current state of vulnerability and introspection.

As I lay there, feverish and adrift in thoughts, the sensation that my soul might at any moment detach from my body was terrifying yet eerily familiar. It echoed those childhood musings about the essence of existence within others. Now, faced with my own existential crisis, I grappled with profound questions:
“Why do I exist as the person I am, bound to a body bearing my name? What is the essence of this ‘self’ I perceive, and what purpose does it serve in the grand tapestry of existence?”
This blend of past and present reflections brought to the forefront a profound sense of connection with the wider human experience, yet also a deep-seated feeling of isolation as I confronted these unanswerable questions alone, hovering on the brink of an existential void.

Emptiness & Impermanence by Park Ki Pyung (above)

/ love in graphic design

When embarking on an academic journey to explore the vast expanse of graphic design, I found myself irresistibly drawn to a foundational concept: “primitive romance.” This term, at once ancient and perpetually new, served as the cornerstone of my thesis. It is, after all, inevitable to talk about love in this context. Love, in its most unadulterated form, is not just an emotion but a powerful force that influences every aspect of human creativity and expression, including the realm of graphic design. The notion that love encompasses a “super large and universal topic” is not an exaggeration. It stretches across time and space, influencing cultures, art, literature, and yes, even the pragmatic world of design. For those of us who have chosen to walk the path of a graphic designer, it’s not merely the allure of aesthetics or the thrill of creativity that drives us; it’s love. Love for the art form, love for the message, and love for the impact our creations can have on the world.

This profound connection to love impacts how we approach our work. It becomes our muse and our critic, guiding us through the complexities of design with a gentle hand. When we talk about love in the context of graphic design, we’re not just referring to passion or affection; we’re talking about a deep, intrinsic motivation that compels us to strive for excellence, to push the boundaries of what’s possible, and to leave our mark on the world through our designs.Furthermore, love manifests in the criteria we obsess over in our work. It’s in the painstaking attention to the detail, the relentless pursuit of perfection, and the deep desire to communicate effectively and evoke emotions. Discussing love within the context of my thesis on “primitive romance” and graphic design is not only inevitable but essential. Love, with its multifaceted influence on creativity, expression, and motivation, is at the heart of what it means to be a graphic designer. It shapes our perspectives, fuels our passions, and defines our approach to the creative process, making it an indispensable element in the exploration of graphic design.

/ Tools as Extension of Body

"The nineteenth-century American clergyman and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher once wrote, “A tool is but the extension of a man’s hand, and a machine is but a complex tool.” These words presaged, by more than a century, a line of scientific research into “embodiment”: how humans’ wealth of sensory inputs-including the touch and visual perception involved in manipulating a tool-modify the sense of one’s physical self. Embodiment implies that when one holds a screwdriver, for example, the brain morphs its representation of a “hand” until that representation reaches all the way to the very tip of the tool.
Whether they are tools, toys, or mirror reflections, external objects temporarily become part of who we are all the time. When I put my eyeglasses on, I am a being with 20/20 vision, not because my body can do that — it can’t — but because my body-with-augmented-vision-hardware can.

So that’s who I am when I wear my glasses: a hardware-enhanced human with 20/20 vision. If you have thousands of hours of practice with a musical instrument, when you play music with that object, it feels like an extension of your body — because it is. When you hold your smartphone in your hand, it’s not just the morphological computation happening at the surface of your skin that becomes part of who you are. As long as you have Wi-Fi or a phone signal, the information available all over the internet (both true and false information, real news and fabricated lies) is literally at your fingertips. Even when you’re not directly accessing it, the immediate availability of that vast maelstrom of information makes it part of who you are, lies and all. Be careful with that."
‍When Objects Become Extensions of You by Michael J. Spivey

/ the research process

/ the thesis book

In which I collected articles, writings readings and interviews and intro to the projects.
And I added 3 project booklets which are inserted in the main book, showcasing the details of each project.

Project i / Identity That You Didn’t Know

The second project represents a deep dive into the exploration of self-perception biases, marrying conceptual with the tangible through an array of physical visual experiments. This endeavor stems from my longstanding relationship with the digital world, a relationship that began over two decades ago when I first encountered the personal computer. This tool, a gateway to the vast expanse of the internet, has since intertwined my reality with the virtual, creating an intricate web of digital footprints that map out my journey through the online world. From the initiation into social media, where I crafted my first digital persona, to the countless hours spent in the shoes of various protagonists in the realms of video games, down to the extensive history of my online searches and site visits, each action has contributed to a composite digital identity, a reflection of myself within the binary confines of the internet. I posit that the advances in artificial intelligence have now reached a point where they can synthesize a remarkably vivid and possibly more authentic version of myself, drawing solely on the voluminous data and history I’ve left scattered across the digital landscape. This digital doppelgänger, constructed from bits and bytes, could potentially offer a more genuine representation than the one I project in my day-to-day physical existence.

The premise hinges on the idea that our online behaviors, preferences, and interactions provide a raw, unfiltered glimpse into our true selves, unencumbered by the social masks we often don in the physical world. Building on this notion, my project endeavors to bridge the gap between the digital and physical realms by crafting a series of identity documents through the medium of graphic design. This collection, which includes items as mundane as shopping receipts and as commonplace as calendars, serves a dual purpose. On one level, it mirrors the everyday artifacts of our lives, grounding the project in the physical reality we navigate daily. Yet, on another, more profound level, it seeks to document and articulate an alternative version of my identity—one that has been silently shaped and molded by my own digital interactions. By reimagining these everyday items to reflect the nuances of my digital existence, the project not only challenges the traditional notions of identity but also prompts a reevaluation of the authenticity of our online vs. offline selves. It invites viewers to consider the complex layers of identity that emerge at the intersection of the physical and virtual worlds, suggesting that the essence of who we are might be best understood through the amalgamation of these two seemingly disparate realms. In doing so, it underscores the transformative potential of digital technologies to redefine our understanding of selfhood in the contemporary era.

"The PACKAGE"

Receipts,
Fingerprints,
Polaroid Calendar,
Mailing Bag,
Luggage Tags,
Shipping Labels.

Project ii / THE CURSORS

“The Cursors” embarks on an innovative journey, merging the tangible reality with the boundless possibilities of digital visualization through three meticulously planned code transformations. This endeavor not only showcases technical prowess but also invites us to reflect on our interaction with the digital realm, marking a very profound exploration of the interface between human perception and computer-generated realities.The first segment, titled “Camera,” serves as a gateway into this exploration. It utilizes the humble yet powerful lens of a computer’s camera to capture the world around us, only to reimagine it through the prism of ASCII art. This transcoding process converts the captured images into a mosaic of text-based visuals, effectively translating the physical presence of our bodies into a form that resonates within the digital landscape. This transformation is emblematic of our initial foray into the digital domain, where our physical selves are rendered into symbols and characters, thus questioning the essence of reality as perceived through digital eyes.

Moving deeper into the interaction between the physical and digital worlds, the second part, “Cursors,” delves into the tactile experience of navigating the digital space. Here, the movements of our hands upon the touchpad are intricately processed and translated into cursor movements on the screen. This metamorphosis of physical gestures into digital actions embodies the seamless integration of human intention with digital execution. The cursor, acting as an extension of our hands, interacts with digital elements on the screen, creating a tangible connection between our bodily movements and their digital counterparts. This interaction not only demystifies the process of digital navigation but also imbues it with a sense of physicality and intentionality, blurring the lines between the tangible and the virtual.
Together, these three segments of “The Cursors” project unfold a narrative that traverses from the physical to the digital, from tangible actions to digital visualizations, and finally, to a reflective journey through digital memory. It’s a holistic exploration of how our digital interactions can mirror, transform, and immortalize our physical existence, thereby enriching our understanding of the digital world’s potential to capture, interpret, and augment our reality.

Project iii / Window of Memories

Throughout our lives, each of us amasses a vivid collection of memories—some joyous, others traumatic, but all indelible. Reflecting on my own life, there’s a particularly evocative memory from my childhood that stands out: falling ill with a high fever. During this time, my mind wandered into a chaotic state, clouded by the illness. As I lay in bed, my gaze fixed on the sterile white ceiling of my room, I found myself spiraling into a vortex of existential questions. These are the kinds of questions that, at some point in our lives, echo in the minds of many: “Who am I?” and “Why have I become this particular version of myself?” Such moments of introspection, while deeply personal, reveal a universal truth about the human condition—the ongoing struggle with self-identity and the quest for meaning in our lives.

Project details here ↗

The geometric visual of the pyramid has endured for millennia, gradually being shaped in people's perception as a symbol of eternity and supremacy.
Meanwhile, an ordinary hill, in an era where user interfaces are widely popular, gradually becomes a canvas that can be freely edited.

/ Bibliography

The History of Camera Obscura and How It Was Used as a Tool To Create Art in Perfect Perspective by Emma Taggart and Margherita Cole
What You Need to Know about Gustav Klimt by Alexxa Gotthardt
Automation by Daniel Wenzel
App, Lover, Muse: When your AI says she loves you by Rob Price
Another Lens by Airbnb Design
The Anchoring Etffect by Charles Leon
Why the brain is programmed to see faces in everyday objects, by Lachlan Gilbert
An Opera House Gives Contemporary Art a Major Role by Farah Nayeri
Art histories from nowhere by Mashinka Firunts Hakopian
Art and Visual Perception by Rudolf Arnheim
How AI reduces the world to stereotypes by Victoria Turk
AI tools paint a blurry picture of our current reality by Linda Dounia Rebeiz
What if we could just ask AI to be less biased? by Melissa Heikkiläarchive
Difference and Repetition by Gilles Deleuze, 1968
The Dark Fantastic: Literature, Philosophy, and Digital Arts by Socialecologies
When Objects Become Extensions of You by Michael J. Spivey, the MIT Press Reader
Astro Boy - Apple TV
Vermeer and the Camera Obscura
Repetition in Art - To Be Exactly the Same Over and Over Again by Widewalls Editorial
AT&T Archives & History Center
The World’s Love Affair With Robert Indiana’s ‘Love’ Series Endures—Here Are 3 Things You Should Know About the Pop Art Hallmark
How AI reduces the world to stereotypes by Victoria Turk
AI tools paint a blurry picture of our current reality – so what do these biases mean for our future? by Linda Dounia Rebeiz

Artists:

Wang Ximeng, Johannes Vermeer, Kessels Krame,r Gustav Klimt, Jim Denevan, Rene Magritte, Adam Frans van der Meulen, mschf, Tacita Dean, Yeongseok Do, MatterWiz, burn & broad, Robert Indiana, Nam June Paik, Allan McCollum, Daesung Lee, Park Ki Pyung, notderrian, Roy Lichtenstein, Titian, Jakub Geltner, Irving Geis, cyberianpunks...

Typographic
Journal Book