Fang Canyu (Jacob)

CONTACT.Lab X G.F SMITH is an experimental workshop designed to involve the public in the creation of experimental art. In the past few years of study, I mainly used digital media for creation, but it also made me realise that many designers, including myself, have gradually been limited by social media and digital art, and many original media and creation methods have been forgotten. The fixed process of creation and output gives me a sense of distance from the intentional design. I hope that today, with the rapid development of social media, designers can get rid of their dependence on digital frameworks, and beginners can have access to more design methods from different times to seek design thinking, experience, apply and combine traditional design culture and craft skills, and collide and contact with original and real media by trying paper, colour and system. Experience the combination of different paper and colours. In this workshop, people are encouraged to use paper with different textures (Provided by G.F Smith: The Collection Book), and customise different shapes of coloured acrylic sheets for creative collage. In this process, participants can experience the details of production and output to the maximum extent, and then hand over to me for the final colouring, editing, painting, publication production and binding. The final book is a collection of all the paper outcomes. For more than 135 years, G. F. Smith has been fascinated by the simple beauty and limitless possibilities of paper. It is hoped that this experimental creative collaboration can arouse the public’s attention to paper, traditional design process and colour cognition in all aspects.

“家和萬事興” is a classic Chinese blessing, which means that as long as the family is harmonious, everything will be great and natural. In Chinese culture, the meaning of family is great and sacred. The family closely connects the individual, the society and the country, forming a kind of thought and culture. This is a project that calls for an emphasis on the balance of roles within the family. We believe that the root cause of the problems between men and women in modern society is that people are subconsciously kidnapped by social expectations and gazes, and lose their inner freedom and goals. When facing roles and responsibilities, we should obey our inner thoughts and actively open up communication to become the roles we expect. We hope to open up family dialogue and communication through this design, so that every family member can face the most real thoughts and thoughts in their own and others’ hearts. The most important thing is to let go of prejudice and identity, to examine oneself equally, listen to others, and finally negotiate and communicate.

This was an experimental Self Directed Project, and I was involved in the annual #36daysoftype Challenge. Compared with past font design, this time I paid more attention to the unity and balance of the font style. The feature of this font is the ambiguous counter area, and I also extended the visual display of the font, using 2D, 3D and expansive effects (in illustrator 2022) to explore more possibilities of the font. Constantly trying new methods and media is the biggest harvest of this project, which also allows me to gain a more mature knowledge of font design.