Weekly Updates
→ plenum 1 → first proposal
The first proposal for my masterprojectMy premaster project takes the form of a small publication that addresses the theme of anxiety within the design industry. The intention is to articulate and share my own experiences while connecting them to broader issues in creative practice.
The publication is structured in two parts: a zine and a smaller brochure.
The zine visualises several aspects of anxiety in the design process, such as procrastination and perfectionism.
It also reflects on the fear of public speaking and so on. To represent these themes, I employed diverse typographic styles and geometric graphics, designing the layouts around articles written by mental health specialists.
The brochure offers a more affirmative perspective. In this section, I collected and documented both personal and design-related objects, which serve as reminders of my original motivation to become a designer.
Alongside the premaster project, I also developed a number of smaller works within bachelor classes. These projects explored screen printing and risograph printing, techniques that I found both engaging and refreshing in contrast to my previous digital practice.
Throughout the printing process, numerous imperfections emerged, including misregistration, uneven ink coverage, and dried ink residue on the screen. While these results deviated from my expectations of technical precision, they became the most engaging and distinctive elements of the work.
As I continued printing, the number of variations increased. Rather than discarding them, I chose to keep all versions. For instance, in the series of New Year card prints, each outcome—regardless of its flaws—was retained to form a visual collection that demonstrates the process as a whole.
I also produced a poster related to my premaster project. In pursuit of a “perfect” result, I repeated the printing process many times. However, I later recognised that the unsuccessful versions conveyed the central theme of imperfection more effectively, making the decision of which print to present particularly challenging.
These experiences heightened my interest in the boundary between perfection and imperfection. This focus was further informed by my reading of Seven Types of Unfinishedness (Christophe Van Gerrewey, 2020), which suggests that the notion of a “finished” work is not an inherent quality but one determined by external conditions such as deadlines or institutional demands.
Based on these reflections, I have formulated three potential research questions:
My proposed plan is to design a series of posters that deal with emotional themes, using typographic and geometric approaches. These posters will be printed in limited editions through screen printing and/or risograph techniques. All results, including imperfect ones, will be compiled into a collection, the exact format of which will be determined during the process.
One of my key references is the Dutch graphic designer Karel Martens.
I was particularly inspired by his Small Prints series, which were produced through the layering of simple shapes, one colour at a time. Each outcome is distinctive, demonstrating how repetition and variation can generate unique visual results.
Another important reference is O.OO, a Taiwanese design studio well recognised for its expertise in risograph printing.
They published the Imperfection Booklet, which systematically documents the recurring errors and irregularities that appear during risograph printing, framing them as part of the creative outcome rather than as technical failures.
O.OO also developed the project Medium x Medium.
This project addressed the theme of information overload. For the visual language, dense imagery was printed over typefaces on old newspapers, and the results were exhibited at the entrance of the event space. The installation highlighted the tension between legibility and excess, echoing the project’s conceptual concerns.
Dankuwel.
Master in Visual Arts
Applied Context
@Sint Lucas Antwerpen, School of Arts