Background texture - Chinese ink dissolve in water

I dropped Chinese ink into a basin of water. When the ink touch the surface of water, it dissolve into a beautiful natural random texture pattern. Before the pattern disappear in the water, I kept it by using a rice paper, touched the surface of water immediately. The process is very interesting and I never know what kind of pattern it will form, and the texture effect is like the Chinese traditional painting. I use these patterns as the background of my kinetic typography design work.

Some excellent Kinetic Typography works

Here are some excellent Kinetic Typography works I choose from Vimeo Kinetic Typography Channel.

Provense - Spoken Word from Rickard Bengtsson on Vimeo.


Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.


The Social Network Kinetic Typography from Spencer Bailey on Vimeo.


Conan O'Brien Kinetic Typography from Jacob Gilbreath on Vimeo.

A protriait of Chinatown NYC

A Portrait of Chinatown from Nicole Stone on Vimeo.

Chinatown NYC from Ian Lucero on Vimeo.

Copy modified by writing center

I went to writing center the second week of this semester, to ask a tutor help me to modify my copy writing, and here is the copy before and after modified by tutor.

       Before modified by writing center

• This place is a potent symbol, both culturally and politically, of an ancient Eastern culture in New York.
• This place has a rich history that tells the story of a group of Orientals and their foreign land experience.
• This place is about blend, it encompasses the old and new, eastern and western.
• This is a place where you can appreciate exotic landmarks.
• Each of the streets in this place possesses its own distinctive personality.
• Each restaurant in this place has its unique size, shape and interior atmosphere.
• You can find reasonable priced restaurants, unique shops of knickknacks, cheap booming fruit and fresh vegetable in this place.
• Neon light covered with mysterious characters is the most eye-catching symbols in this place.
• Walking in this place make you feel like an adventure which full of fascinating culture experience.
• Don’t forget bring a good mood and enough curiosity with you! You will definitely like this place!
• Then where is this interesting, colorful and unique place?
• It is Chinatown Manhattan!

       After modified by writing center

• This place is a potent symbol - culturally and politically - of an ancient Eastern culture in New York.
• This place has a rich history, which tells the story of a people of East Asian descent and their foreign land experience.
• This place is old and new, east and west: neon lights covered with mysterious characters.
• This place is ancient yet familiar, with colors red and yellow, of a nation’s spirit, and Pandas black and white, and dragons powerful and strong.
• This place has its own distinctive personality: exotic landmarks, narrow restaurants, and buildings unique in size, shape, and atmosphere.
• This place is filled with sounds, soft and melodic, prices cheap, English broken, and yet comforting.
• This place is Chinatown Manhattan!

Some photos I took from Chinatown Manhattan

Here are some photos I took in Chinatown Manhattan at the first week of this semester. I tried to find some inspiration of my digital design project from the Chinatown streets.  I think even I'm familiar with the Chinese culture, I still need to find more exact feelings about the eastern culture which exist in a western country.

The most eye-catching visual elements which can represent Chinatown I think are these different sizes of neon lights full of Chinese characters. Refer to colors, red and yellow-the most popular color showed on the billboards, are also the colors of Chinese national flag.

When strolling along the streets, I found many Chinese traditional elements such like Chinese dragon, Chinese lantern, cheong-sam, old Shanghai calendars, Spring festival pictures and the stone lions, which usually been put in front of the temples and stores, were been used to welcome customers and exorcise evil spirits. 

The streets in Chinatown are noisy and crowded compare with other neighborhood in NYC, and the size of each restaurant is confined yet full of people who love veritable Chinese food. People come here also for reasonable prices of fresh fruits and vegetables. I hope I can convey these abstract atmospheres by using proper visualized expression methods.