Formal Studies
Namjoon Park
My thesis project harnesses the most basic design principles to articulate the global catastrophe that unfolded during my senior year. Formally, it recalls the vernacular of International Style Modernism, but unlike the optimism that characterized that historical movement (a belief in the perfectibility of systems), my project is in many ways about failure and disintegration.
When the crisis began, I frantically booked my flight back to South Korea to escape the chaos of New York City. Upon my arrival, I began my 14-day quarantine session, and my initial fear was supplanted with laziness, procrastination, and depression. I needed an outlet to keep me sane and productive, and this project could be described as a kind of therapy.
Formal Studies organizes design fundamentals into categories such as Scale, Hierarchy, and Balance. Like the canonical design manual of a figure like Armin Hoffman, I limit myself to a palette of black and white, stressing aesthetic cleanliness and objectivity. However, the captions that run alongside my illustrations narrate the messy realities of pandemic living. This book is an archive, an artwork, and a journal that holds the record of my unforgettable senior year.