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Cultural Identity (thesis)
With this research-based undergraduate thesis project, I challenged myself to use design as a tool to express my own cultural identity. This augmented reality (AR) typographic poster and informative zine assert the hybridity of my own cultural identity.
Language can act as a proxy to convey one’s cultural identity.
This project is an expression of my cultural identity including English, German, and Cree to represent my Canadian, Swiss, and Indigenous identities. Awarded Honourable Mention for Print Design by RGD (2023)
Timeline
Research: Oct-Dec 2022
Design: Jan-Apr 2023
Role
Designing, Researching, Concepting
Tools
Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, AR
The Challenge
How can design be used for identity assertion when expressing hybrid cultural identity?
The Solution
Creating a visual identity for my own cultural identity using typography and colour to express cultural hybridity.
I created a 24 x 36 inch poster that fuses symbolic graphical elements such as plus signs to reference the Swiss flag. Select typefaces represent each of the cultures that make up my cultural identity. Augmented reality (AR) helps illustrate how cultural identity changes over time and how it can be different in various contexts and situations. Identity is not always visible, but is always present.
The zine I created is 5 x 8 inches as an informative and reflective piece that accompanies the poster. It is small and intimate to reflect how personal the topic is to me.
After synthesizing my scholarly research and conducting interviews to gain other’s perspectives on the topic, I developed a visual identity and wordmark for my own cultural identity using the languages of my cultural identity - English, German, and Cree. The AR portion of the poster adds the new dimension of 3D letterforms, movement, and hierarchy featuring Cree syllabics.
Helvetica was an easy choice for representing Swiss culture through type. In this wordmark, I play with the commonly present umlaut in Swiss-German words. Since the umlaut is used to change the pronunciation of a vowel, I changed them to be in the shape of pluses so they would not be read as changing the pronunciation.
The wordmark for the project features a variety of carefully selected typefaces that represent the cultures that make up my identity They are playfully and harmoniously incorporated together to form the project title.
Cree syllabics are symbols used to express consonants and vowels. When a few syllabics are placed in context with other type in the wordmark, syllabics are read as part of the English word.
To represent my Canadian identity, I chose the typeface designed by Rod McDonald, Gibson - a famous Canadian designed typeface.
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