This is what Happy Looks Like
Ta Suranart Kasitipradit
Sunrise pink, baby animals, cotton candy, an ice-cream cone covered in rainbow sprinkles: these are some of the things that will always cheer me up. Now as a Buddhist, I was often urged to find happiness from within — through mindfulness and meditation. I have lived by and appreciated these teachings as far as I can remember, but as a graphic designer, I couldn’t help to wonder if I can also access happiness from outside in? Inspired by Ingrid Fetell Lee’s Aesthetics of Joy, I believe that happiness is a renewable spectrum of positive emotions and it takes a courageously active state of mind to perceive our daily world as a reservoir of positive graphics. We have a whole world of happiness around us and I wholeheartedly believe that we can access it through tangible design attributes such as repetition (100 confetti will always be happier than 1 confetto), symmetry, vibrant color, dynamic and playful shape, and expansive white space. So here we are now. You are looking at a thesis project that brings to life these happy aesthetics into poster designs. I’m respectfully arguing that if you follow these aesthetics, whatever you design will look and feel happy! I hope that it will spark some joy into your life as much as it did to mine.