My first week
back in school

Returning to LASALLE after eight months away felt both nostalgic and exciting, especially with the prospect of working on my final year project. Over the summer, I filled out a form for atelier preferences and chose computation in design without hesitation—it’s the field I see myself thriving in and something I know will keep me engaged throughout the year. We also had a briefing for the Industry module's Option B, but honestly, I wasn’t too eager about it. None of the briefs aligned with creative tech, which is really where my interest lies. But then, Andreas reached out with an opportunity to contribute to an upcoming exhibition as part of Singapore Design Week—a chance I was genuinely excited to take on.

Since I spent last semester on exchange and didn’t have a research compendium to build from, my project topic was still fairly open, with a few different directions I could explore. I was certain—or at least, I thought I was—that I wanted to dive into the intersection of typography and technology, as those are the two areas I’m most passionate about. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of combining the two is generative type, but that felt too broad and undefined in terms of where I wanted to take the project. My main goal this week is to zero in on that specific area of interest.

I began by asking myself a few guiding questions: What kind of work is inspiring me right now? What areas of exploration could align with my future practice in design? And most importantly, how do these interests connect back to computation or technology?

When I feel stuck, I’ve realized that getting inspired again helps me shift my thinking and approach solutions in new ways. So, I started looking for projects to use as case studies or sources of inspiration for my own work. I revisited a few references shared in the slides and found Zach Lieberman’s talk at MUDA especially captivating. I’ve followed his work for a while, but many of the projects he discussed were new to me and really piqued my interest. ( Zach Lieberman projects with captions here)

The slides presented on Thursday were really helpful in guiding me toward developing a project topic with enough depth for both research and writing—something I quickly realized would be crucial for a final year project. I knew I was drawn to the idea of interactivity between humans and machines, perhaps even exploring the connection between physical and digital spaces. Most of the projects that have inspired me so far involve some form of physical interaction, so that might be an area I want to delve into further.