Process

Process

This thesis was inspired by a trip to Japan as part of a business course in undergrad. I became fascinated with Japanese design and wanted to understand why it was so different than anything in America. In my recognition of food packaging, fashion, street signs, and menus being so unlike anything designed in America,  I began to realize how impactful culture is on design.

In my research of Japanese design, the term wabi-sabi was a reoccurring theme. Once I determined the scope of my thesis was to be centered around this philosophical mindset/visual aesthetic, I conducted research through an annotated bibliography, followed by a literature review. I first devised a list of characteristics that were most associated with wabi-sabi. I then tried to come up with a model for categorizing these characteristics in relation to ones that were not wabi-sabi. I realized that in doing so, I was trying to objectify a design aesthetic that is intended to be subjective. Here is my first iteration of a rubric to determine if an artifact is wabi-sabi. Through multiple iterations of this initial piece, I completed my thesis with the production of a visual map that represents the most notable aspects of wabi-sabi on their respective spectrums.

wabi-sabi is a Japanese worldview exemplifying imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness.

Outcome

View my full paper here.