An Ideal University Life: Empowering Chinese College Students to Revisit Their Values

1. UNIVERSITY
LIFE
AN IDEAL
MFA THESIS PROJECT
EMPOWERING CHINESE
COLLEGE STUDENTS TO
REVIST THEIR VALUES
RONGFEI GENG

2. PRELIMINARY
RESEARCH

3. Summer 2012, Beijing

8. Oct 31, 2011
Uruguayan lady saved girl
who fell in the Lake

9. Sept 11, 2012
American women helped
old men who fell on the ground

10. Sept 5, 2012
Chinese snatching grapes from
a turned-over truck

11. It was an Uruguayan girl who saved people in West Lake, an American girl
who helped fallen old man on the street, and an African student who bore
witness to the assailant on the airplane. It was foreigners who are helping
Chinese uphold justice in China’s land. ... Have you heard of Pavlov’s
experiment, dog’s conditioned reflex action on repeated ring bells and
feeding? When justice is being constantly punished, it is becoming a biggest
experiment lab here, and we’ve been trained for long.
跳进西湖救人是乌拉圭女孩，大街上扶起摔伤老人是美国女孩，出来作证武装政委打空
姐的是非洲留学生。在中国领土上帮中国人主张正义的却是外国人。肯定又有人会说懦
弱，自私。知道巴甫洛夫实驗吧，不断摇铃铛， 食，摇铃铛...狗就条件反射了。当正
义常受惩罚，这是最大的一个实验室，我们被训练良久。
— Chengpeng, Li. Critic & Author in China.

12. You Have To Win At Your Thirties:
Things that those successful people did
when they were still in their twenties.
Books on the Shelves

13. Apathy
Absence of Respect
Selfishness
Living Condition
Education

14. How do students look at the world?
What do they value?
How are they setting their goals?
How are they facing the problems in the current education environment?
Critically or apathetically?
How do I use design to help them critically think about the status quo?
How do I communicate questions related to value to them?

15. BACKGROUND

19. OPENING-UP POLICY
1978

22. POST-80’S
GENERATION

29. if you don’t suffer, you lost the meaning
of the final high school year;
if you don’t fight, your life in the final
high school year becomes in vain.

33. • studying hard, good grades in exams
• “useful” things, getting credentials
• student government, joining the Party

34. • not caring anything at all
• renting house outside
• not attending any school activities

35. PROBLEM
STATEMENT

36. What are their values now?
Are they aware of these values?
Do they have other options?
Why are they feeling lost?
How can they develop a critical judgement while
still being inundated with the pressure from the
social context and their parents?
In what way can they develop critical attitudes
about their current value views?

37. How can concepts, strategies, forms and
methods of graphic design be used to explore
and to communicate questions about values to
Chinese college students, in order to develop
their empathy and awareness for active and
critical thinking, and to empower them for a
more meaningful college life?

38. TARGET
AUDIENCE

39. Chinese college students
stakeholders of higher
education in China
(e.g. parents, teachers, to-be
college students)
English-speaking audience

40. PROJECT
PROCESS

41. PHASE ONE: AWARENESS
PHASE TWO: CALL TO ACTION
PHASE THREE: CO-DESIGN

43. WHAT TO PURSUE
IN UNIVERSITIES
POSTER SERIES
1

44. INSCRIBE YOUR CHILDHOOD
DREAM ON PAPER
HAND-MADE NOTEBOOK
2

45. 20 ACTIONS FOR A
MEANINGFUL COLLEGE LIFE
ACTION BOOK
3

46. AN UNIVERSITY DREAM
STORY WEBSITE
4

47. TIME-TRACKING CARDS
PRINTED CARDS
5

48. SHARE YOUR READINGS
SOCIAL MEDIA SITE
6

49. SHARE YOUR PROJECTS
SOCIAL MEDIA SITE
7

50. CARPE DIEM APP
COMPUTER-BASED
BROWSER-BASED
MOBILE
8

62. “My original dream is to become an
ILLUSTRATOR,
Using color and brush strokes to express
emotions, ideas, and many beautiful things,
and share them to others, so that myself will
have an enjoyment of achievement.”

68. EDUCATION
evaluation criteria, publication/SCI, profit,
amount of PhD programs, etc.
EDUCATION
what is it for?
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
“the death of millions is a statistic”
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
“the death of one man is a tragedy”
NEW MEDIA / WEB
reaching a broad audience and is
therefore effective statistically
TRADITIONAL MEDIA / BOOK
limited audience, but deep reflection on
information without distraction
FAST DESIGN
commercial, profitable, like fast food
SLOW DESIGN
compared to slow eating
FOR THIS PROJECT
deciding which media to use based on audience
statistics, e.g. when participant number N < 50,
use printed media, otherwise use digital media
FOR THIS PROJECT
how is each form influencing the audience?
how are participants interacting and
participating?
QUANTITY QUALITY

70. CO-DESIGN

104. THOUGHTS

105. QUANTITY VS. QUALITY

106. DESIGN AS
PROBLEM SOLVING

109. PROBLEM

110. PROBLEM
social, cultural,
industrial, daily
need, etc.

111. PROBLEM
social, cultural,
industrial, daily
need, etc.

112. PROBLEM
Solution A
social, cultural,
industrial, daily
need, etc.

113. PROBLEM
Solution A
Solution B
social, cultural,
industrial, daily
need, etc.

114. PROBLEM
Solution A
Solution B
Solution C
social, cultural,
industrial, daily
need, etc.

115. PROBLEM
Solution A
Solution B
Solution C
social, cultural,
industrial, daily
need, etc.

116. PROBLEM
Solution A
Solution B
Solution C
social, cultural,
industrial, daily
need, etc.

117. PROBLEM
Solution A
Solution B
Solution C
social, cultural,
industrial, daily
need, etc.

118. DESIGN PROCESS
PROBLEM
Solution A
Solution B
Solution C
social, cultural,
industrial, daily
need, etc.

119. DESIGN AUTHORSHIP
+
CO-DESIGN

120. PARTICIPANTS DESIGNER
discussing visuals
stories
visuals, opinions
story book
influencing others

121. DESIGN PROCESS

122. create
design
concept
test
design
concept
create
design
prototype
test
design
prototype
introduce
design
solutions
brain-storming
mind mapping
interviewing brand matrix
visual brain
dump
action verbs
co-design
mock-ups
DEFINING
PROBLEM
GETTING
IDEAS
CREATING
FORM
Nini, Paul. (2004) Sharpening one’s axe:
making a case for a comprehensive approach to
research in the graphic design process.
Lupton, Ellen. (2011) Graphic Design
Thinking: Beyond brainstorming.
test
design
solutions

123. THANKS TO:

124. THANKS TO:

125. THANKS TO:
Maria Rogal, Brian Slawson

126. THANKS TO:
Maria Rogal, Brian Slawson
Marisa Falcigno, Rober Finkel, Joungyun Choi, Gaby Hernández,
Myda Iamiceli, Fuer Liu, Dan Luo, Jorge Pérez Gallego,
Shantanu Suman, Garima Thakur, Alston Wise, Daniel Ypsilanti

127. THANKS TO:
Maria Rogal, Brian Slawson
Marisa Falcigno, Rober Finkel, Joungyun Choi, Gaby Hernández,
Myda Iamiceli, Fuer Liu, Dan Luo, Jorge Pérez Gallego,
Shantanu Suman, Garima Thakur, Alston Wise, Daniel Ypsilanti
Dori Griffin, Murphy Zhang, Guolong Lai, faculty members who
taught me at University of Florida

128. THANKS TO:
Maria Rogal, Brian Slawson
Marisa Falcigno, Rober Finkel, Joungyun Choi, Gaby Hernández,
Myda Iamiceli, Fuer Liu, Dan Luo, Jorge Pérez Gallego,
Shantanu Suman, Garima Thakur, Alston Wise, Daniel Ypsilanti
Dori Griffin, Murphy Zhang, Guolong Lai, faculty members who
taught me at University of Florida
Brothers and Sisters at Gainesville Chinese Christian Church

129. THANKS TO:
Maria Rogal, Brian Slawson
Marisa Falcigno, Rober Finkel, Joungyun Choi, Gaby Hernández,
Myda Iamiceli, Fuer Liu, Dan Luo, Jorge Pérez Gallego,
Shantanu Suman, Garima Thakur, Alston Wise, Daniel Ypsilanti
Dori Griffin, Murphy Zhang, Guolong Lai, faculty members who
taught me at University of Florida
Brothers and Sisters at Gainesville Chinese Christian Church
Mom & Dad & Dan Zhai

130. UNIVERSITY
LIFE
AN IDEAL
MFA THESIS PROJECT
EMPOWERING CHINESE
COLLEGE STUDENTS TO
REVIST THEIR VALUES
RONGFEI GENG