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Chinese Aesthetics has been an important part of my research and inspiration for my practice. My work investigates how the principles of Chinese classical art can be adapted as part of a design research method, to help enhance designer’s creative capacities.
Despite the art forms being centuries old, the philosophical concepts and principles of the Chinese ink painting and calligraphy can be a great source of inspiration for creatives.
Through visual research, we study how Chinese culture can influence creativity and explore new ways to make this knowledge more accessible to the younger generation.
My teaching career and experiences interacting with my students motivated this book. I find that some students have great ideas, but many of them found it difficult to translate these ideas into their design. Through the years of my teaching career, I have been researching and refining my teaching materials. In this book, I have put together a design thinking method using visual research to guide my students in their design process.
The integration of Chinese Aesthetics principles as part of visual research has been an inspirational process for me, and I have introduced the research method to my visual communication classes.
Upon implementation of this method in my classes, I have found it to be useful in guiding my students through their conceptualisation process.
Several works by my students over a period of years have been documented in this book, to demonstrate the application of this design thinking method in their school projects completed in the School of Art, Design and Media, at Nanyang Technological University.