Writing Is Thinking Bo-Chen Chen
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MICA We’re GDMA still writing because Writing is we’re Thinking Bo-Chen still Chen thinking writing is thinking Writing is Thinking Copyright © Bo-Chen Chen www.bo-chenchen.com Master of Arts in Graphic Design Maryland Institute College of Art | May 2020 Table of Contents 01 Introduction 02 Abstract 04 Problem Definition 06 Research 08 Primary Collection 10 A System of Movements 12 Precedent 14 Antecedents 18 Survey / Interview 22 Design Process 24 Collections 28 Object Experiments 36 Projection Experiments 42 PAUSE to THINK 46 Interviews 50 Storyboards / Films 64 A Fragmental Video 74 Exhibition Installation / Outcomes 76 Conclusions 78 Bibliography Introduction Direction of writing in Japanese Direction of writing in Chinese WRITING IS THINKING 01 Technology has given us a more Also, when I write in Chinese, I prefer convenient life through the many using thinner pens with 0.38mm or mobile devices that allow us to type 0.28mm tips because the structure on the keyboard with letters appearing of Chinese characters is intricate and instantly. People type a great deal of made up of many strokes and dots, texts a day to communicate with each especially traditional Chinese. Using other in a clean and more organized a thinner pen, I can arrange multiple visual language. However, as a strokes in a perfect square since designer, I still prefer to write down writers can see more white spaces my initial thoughts by instinct because between strokes. On the other hand, I have more flexible ways to connect English and Korean are more like my ideas in mind. Handwriting also symbols so I can use thicker pens with can help me to improve memory and 0.5mm, 0.7mm or even 1.0mm tips to to remember important things at the make a streamlined written form. For same time. me, handwriting has characteristics that show a personality and allows As a multilingual learner, thinking readers to imagine something about and writing are switches for me every the writer. Whenever I receive a second in a day. Writing directions postcard from a friend, I try to capture from any language are slightly different. the motion of this person’s movement Based on what I have learned, Chinese, and the habitual action he/she Japanese and Korean can be written in transfers through their handwriting. both vertical and horizontal directions. Those experiences make me want to In Chinese, writers can either write learn more about handwriting itself, from left to right or from right to and explore the main reason why left. More interesting, I am a right- people have different letterform styles handed person. When I write Chinese even though they use the same tools. characters in vertical direction, the text lines move from right to left so it easily messes up the ink by hand if the paper does not absorb the ink thoroughly. The writing experiences are very different from writing in English which is usually from left to right. 02 Abstract WRITING IS THINKING 03 Writing is Thinking explores how people use handwriting to form their own thinking. People often write in two ways: short-form and long-form. Short-form tends to be quick and means the writer is thinking fast to achieve a People often write in two ways: particular purpose such as making a note or a list. On short-form and long-form. the contrary, long-form writing, such as a birthday card or a letter takes longer, and prompts the writer to think deeply. Writing is not fixed, invariable, or limited. The flow of writing represents the process of thinking. This project explores these ideas as videos in multiple overlapping frames to show specific writing/thinking moments as deconstructed details which highlight aspects of each person’s experiences and identity. Each person featured in this collection has his/her individual habit of using handwriting to do an “action” of thinking. What he/she thinks is embodied in what he/she writes. 04 Problem Definition Today, we are still writing on paper even though we have digital devices that we can write. But we seldom notice when we use handwriting to think in our everyday lives. If we don’t write down what we think, can we still remember that moment exactly? What kinds of things do people write down depending on their personal habits? Looking at how people use handwriting in a particular situation influences what we think about their personalities. They might use handwriting for organizing or communicating with themselves or improving their memory. The goal of this thesis is to discover and collect moments that people use handwriting in daily life. WRITING IS THINKING 05 This thesis is not: • A critique of finest scripts • A history of handwriting in a culture • A way to persuade people to use handwriting in certain media • An attempt to compare individual handwriting styles • A lesson to teach handwriting in different languages • An analysis of why people use handwriting less or more • A comparison of how fast people can write Research If we don’t write down what we think, can we still remember that moment exactly? 08 Primary Collection WRITING IS THINKING 09 I began this project by collecting people’s handwriting. Different people must have different handwriting styles. Even the same person will have two different types of handwriting depending on what situation he/she is in. I asked my friends, families, and classmates for many types of handwriting for different purposes including note- taking and the other daily routines. From what I observed in these collections, people who understand and can write two or more languages have similar ways of writing when they cross different languages. This made me more interested in handwriting itself. Handwriting seems not only a form of communicating, it also has more intangible facts which will affect a person’s thinking. RESEARCH 10 A System of Movements In his book, The Story of Handwriting, Alfred Fairbank mentions that Alfred Faribank Western handwriting has two writing The Story of Handwriting : Origins and Development / 1970 forms: formal and cursive writing. One is made up of a lift-pen more than twice from paper without connected strokes. The other one is written by quick handwriting without lifting a pen. Therefore, the forms of letters are influenced by the speed of connecting strokes (p78). It means the structure of alphabet handwriting is affected by how long of time the writer wants to write. WRITING IS THINKING 11 “Handwriting is a system of movements, involving touch. Touch is a very personal sense. (Of course, handwriting also requires action by the mind and the eyes) ” (p80). He indicates that handwriting is a really personal experience that shows how people form their writing through thinking and observing. During some experiments of collecting people’s static handwriting pieces, I realized that the value of handwriting is not only the result of people’s writing but also their process of writing what they think. “How” and “what” are more treasured than “which” way they document their thinking. Fairbank stated that, “Pattern is not confined to what is regarded as good writing, though it will certainly be found there. Even in illegible writing there may be a personal quality of rhythmical and fluent line that can be perceived to be pattern” (p82). This implies personal patterns are also hidden in handwriting so that people are able to recognize the difference in writing from others. RESEARCH 12 Precedent The British Library’s exhibition Writing : Making Your Mark / Apr. 26–Aug. 27, 2019 WRITING IS THINKING 13 In order to narrow my topic, I did basic research about past exhibitions on handwriting. From the article, “From Clay Tablets to Smartphones: 5,000 Years of Writing, the curator of Writing: Mark Your Own Mark, Adrian Edwards said Writing has never been static, the marks we make on the page have always changed and developed in ways in tune with our needs.” This was a turning point that gave me another direction to explore — handwriting in a moveable and floating I switched my focus fromway. I switched my focus from handwriting handwriting as letterforms toas a letterforms to a more invisible factor — more invisible factor — people’s action. Does People’s Action. the mood influence a person’s writing? Is there any specific situation? Will the weather or the environment impact their action as well? Why do they want to write rather than type on a digital device? A great number of questions came to mind and influenced my thinking and writing. RESEARCH 14 Antecedents David Hockney David Hockney Rober Littma Floating in my pool / Nicholas Wilder Studying Picasso. Oct, 1982 Los Angeles / March 24th, 1982 WRITING IS THINKING 15 An action illustrated as an image was not completed to reveal the hidden reason of people’s thinking and manifest the moment of their handwriting. So, most of my research on visual approaches about the moment are photographic references. David Hockney, a painter and photographer, used photographs to spotlight the moving subjects, especially people’s movement, by taking split photos in each second and putting them together as a whole period of time. Hockney’s collections of photographs not only recorded a moment, but also stretched time. David Hockney Prehistoric Museum Near Palm / Spring, 1982 RESEARCH 16 YouTube uploaded by Xavier Dietlin The living book : A poetic mapping animation for the Hublot boutique in Lucerne The mapping projection on the book for Hublot boutique in Lucerne inspired me to think about how a timeline-based object could be a conjunction of motion pieces and narrative. The living images on the blank book were also associated with the concept of the intangibility of time on tangible watches.