New-Tro
This is an overview of research and the installation process for my thesis show, New-Tro.
Today, every part of our surrounding is quickly changing with a highly developed technology. People now text and call rather than writing hand-written letters and take pictures on their phone rather than an actual camera. However, millennials, people who seem to seek more developed lifestyle, are following a trend — retro — that has happened a long time ago before they were born. Why is this happening? My thesis will reflect my own answer for a question “Why retro style is a trend nowadays?” and how it represents a similarity and difference in a field of graphic design, especially in packaging design, in the past and now.
I went through several types of research for the thesis topic and I was able to collect inspirations and examples which represented retro style in packaging design. Retro style was shown through color choices, label design, and textile designs. This research allowed me to define what exactly retro style is. I was also able to find my answer for the question, “Why retro style is a trend nowadays?”, that designs are reiterations and combination of past and future. Now, I propose a pattern design as a recontextualized form of a retro trend mixed with a modernized design language within a context of graphic design. This pattern design will not only portray the fact that trend is a repetition of past and future but also by using an old printing technique, silkscreen, to execute the product which emphasizes the harmonization of two different time periods.
Inspiration
I was more visually intrigued for my project so most of my inspirations for derived from my collection of old packaging design. However, I was inspired by one project called Re: Birth by Thomas Olliver who is a creative art director. This Re: Birth project repackaged nowadays media into past gadgets with a touch of humor. The way he combined idea driven platforms into an object was really creative but simple enough for everyone to understand his idea.
Process
I was inspired to create my patterns, especially from three selected retro packaging designs. I tried to select some elements from each of packaging design such as color and illustration but recontextualize with my own language. Since I have decided to create my pattern, I was deciding the way to apply or print the pattern that will portray my focus: the combination of past and future. I decided to print my patterns with the silkscreen method on the long canvas fabric to emphasize the rawness of the old design. My recontextualized patterns have some sort of modernism so it still can create the harmonization with the colors, methods, and materials.
At first, I was just going to hang and display my patterns by draping it down from the top. However, I decided to add some interactive aspect in my show by having a stamping workshop in front of my pattern display. People will be not only to enjoy the repeating patterns draping from the top but also be able to interact with some elements from the pattern to create their own type of a pattern (creating their own language within a boundary of that I set up for them).
Installation
I encountered an unexpected situation during my installation process. It was not easy to put up three canvas fabrics which were 10ft long each. I first was going to use a wooden dowel to put my fabrics up to and have some type of curtain brackets. However, fabrics were too heavy to be only held up by wooden dowel. I ended up using pretty long extensive curtain dowel to put it up with brackets. For the workshop table, I painted elements from my patterns to add more playfulness.
Exhibtion
I was able to see people highly interacting with my stamping workshop and they were really engaged during the moment. Also, some people were taking pictures in front of my pattern as a backdrop which was a great outcome for me.
