Past inquiry
How can I use graphic communication skills to express the formal characteristics of prayer as a verbal expression?
Conclusion: Through A designer is able to control and mold the narrative in which information is perceived, processed, or performed.
For this brief, I started asking the following questions:
What does Graphic Design have to do with prayer? What is a prayer to me? Who is the audience of my work?
I knew I wanted to keep exploring prayer as my theme but I needed to go deeper into research.
*Mapa mental de lo que es prayer*
This caught my attention: Contemplative prayer
Contemplative prayer invites us to embrace the gentle art of listening for God’s whispers, to open ourselves entirely to His presence, and to wait in silent anticipation. It’s often described using various terms such as meditation, contemplation, centering prayer, or ‘the prayer of quiet.’ In this sacred practice, our aim is to cultivate awareness of God’s presence and to dwell silently and attentively in Him.
Inquiry/Question: How can the tools of graphic communication be used to prompt people to engage with prayer?
I came across Practicing the Way an organization that aims to help people develop spiritual practices, one of them is PRAYER. I was interested in the way they approach prayer in a systematic way rather than liturgical or mystical.
I am exploring how different types of graphic mediums can prompt people to engage with prayer, through photography, illustration & typography.
| Booklet #1 | Characteristics of the environment | Photography |
| Booklet #2 | Characteristics of the posture | Illustration |
| Booklet #3 | Step-by-step instructions | Typography |
Feedback:
- It feels predictable. The booklets lack open-ended experimentation.
- I need to do further research into religions and sacred texts.
- The project needs to challenge something. What I’m I challenging? Type? Printed media? A specific font?
Week 2
I started this week, doing research about religions and how they transmit their knowledge.
Oral tradition → Printed media
What I found interesting is that for Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism, most of their doctrine started as oral traditions that then became text. Through the years these texts have been adapting to the context and changing visually.
The sacred texts became a book, an important object that not only facilitates the propagation of the message and reproduction of it, but it became an object that carries status and connection with the divine. Materials were high quality, gold, inserts, beautiful manuscripts, and elaborate layouts that represented the beauty of God. At the same time, there is simplicity, fragility, and harmony.
I decided that I wanted to explore the importance of material in my next steps. As well as look into some famous prayers from the Bible and Christian doctrine.
The Psalms
The Book of Psalms has 150 old Hebrew poems, songs, and prayers from different times in Israel’s history. Some were written by King David.
I chose 6 of my favorite Psalms.
My Plan
- Explore different types of paper.
- Use the Psalms as content for my explorations.
- Explore different layouts and play with the text disposition to find ways to represent prayer.
- Keep looking into the concept of solitude and contemplation.
- Step away from the lens of liturgy and look into the personal aspect of prayer.
Feed back:
- Improvement of methods since last work.
- The use of translucent paper gives the feeling of peace, and intimacy and supports the concept of prayer.
- Ideas could be explored through craft more.
- How can I explore further the idea of call & response? Methods of pairs, A+b, Text, and image.
- Think about who is the audience of the work.
- Think about what other visual aspects I can explore in the inquiry.