Intercultural Design

 Week 1

During the first week of our module, we had an online meeting through teams about the foundational aspects that lay the groundwork for the rest of our journey. The introductory sessions include framing the context, what we need to do for the assignments, expectations of the module, providing a clear roadmap for the weeks ahead etc...

Week 2

Coming to week 2, that's when we started forming our own group for our project with students coming from different courses. After we found our groups, I then initiated making a WhatsApp group so it would be easier for us to communicate in terms of our group work and our assignments. 

FIG 1.0 WhatsApp Group

I've been chosen to be the group leader by my group members and I would say we get along quite fast. Thurayya and Arman were my friends because we met each other during sem 1 and had classes together before so I was quite comfortable throughout the whole process and did not worry that I couldn't find anyone to work together as a group. 

After class ended, we had an icebreaker outside the lecturer, this session was almost great for all of us to get to know each other.

FIG 1.1 Group Member's Name

We then started to discuss what should be our theme for task 1 and everybody played their role in suggesting various interesting themes. To play fair, we then vote on the theme that all of us are interested in which is the crop top Kebaya.

FIG 1.2 Our Choosen Theme

I then start researching to understand more deeply about our chosen theme as I have very little knowledge about the kebaya and then I  put all the information that I've found on the internet and put it into a Google Doc so that it's easier for me to remember and reference it for our upcoming task.

Week 3 & 4

Arman then came up with ideas suggesting that we should do a comic poster in an old Malaysian advertisement for our choosen theme which I think was amazing and perfect for our theme.

FIG 1.3 Picture Reference from Arman

I was in charge of the rationale part after voting and basically, I'll have to explain the theme, kebaya origin and how it is related to society today. So I did some research and opened up a shared Google Doc so everyone with their part of the assignments can put their information or research in the document. 

FIG 1.4 My Rationale On Our Theme

For the presentation slides, I'm in charge of the introduction and I tried to make the visual elements of the slides into a more vintage feel to suit our chosen theme. 

FIG 1.5 Process of The Presentation Slides

After the slides, each of us had to record our presentation for the slides, so how we did it was to record it in Zoom and then upload it into a Google Drive. Each of us recorded our own parts of the slides

FIG 1.6 Voiceover in Google Drive

FIG 1.7 Our Recordings

Week 5 

For our field trip, we decided to go to a museum called 'The National Textiles Museum'. It is a museum dedicated to showcasing the heritage and history of textiles in Malaysia. The museum's exhibits include traditional textiles, and costumes coming from various Malaysian ethnic groups. We think going to this museum is perfect for our chosen theme as it helps us to gain a deeper understanding and see how the Kebaya looks like in real life

Unfortunately, not all of us were free to go to the museum so 3 of us only went there. Here are some pictures that we took.

                          FIG 1.8 Picture From Museum                                                    FIG 1.9 Picture From Museum

 
                      FIG 1.10 Picture From Museum                                                           FIG 2.0 Picture From Museum

                        FIG 2.1 Picture From Museum                                                       FIG 2.2 Picture From Museum

We did the interview after class with Mr JR.

                        FIG 2.3 Group Pic With Mr JR                                                         FIG 2.4 Behind The Scene

FIG 2.5 Behind The Scene

I'm in charge of the survey of our work after so I did that too. There are 20 respondents.

FIG 2.6 Behind The Scene

After that, we work on the slides. I opened up a canvas slide and did the structure of what we should contain in our slides so it's easier for all the members to put in their work. I also tried to make the visual elements of the slides to suit our chosen theme.

FIG 2.7 Structure and Visual Elements For The Slide

FIG 2.8 Guide For The Slide

Week 6

After consulting with Miss Maria, we then started on the sketches of our final task I provided some suggestions and we all agreed to stick back to our usual vintage theme.

FIG 2.9 Sketch 

Week 7

Me and Nabil were in charge of the colour and the texture of the poster. And we decided to find pictures and overlay them.

FIG 2.10 Skin Colour

FIG 3.0 Shadows and Veil

After that, I made some final changes to make it nicer. To put an old paper effect over the overall poster.

FIG 3.1 Old Paper Effect

Final Reflection 

In the beginning, I was similar to a lost fish in this big design sea. I was overwhelmed and confused, as I was not sure what am I supposed to learn in this subject, let alone how to approach it. But there was one reassuring reason to hope and a guiding light – my groupmates. They have a comforting presence that makes me comfortable talking about how lost I am and how much I don’t understand. However, as the week progressed, I began to rely on them more and more — they drew on my strength from the fountain of their combined knowledge and experience. The groupmates looked out for me, used a calming voice, explained everything to me as potentially as possible, offered their resources, and discussed.

While a bittersweet feeling comes over me as I look back on the fact that our period as a team is coming to an end, I hope it will be a time filled with achievements and fond memories. Even though I was the leader of our group, I did not even feel that I was the leader as I felt like I did not do my part as a group leader and that I hadn't done enough. In the end, though, I who played not such a leading role was impressed by the leadership contributed by each member of our group from different angles. Because of the advice and help, I came to the conclusion that leadership is not only about having all the answers or delegating authority, but about fostering an environment of trust, collaboration, and mutual understanding for our team to work in. In the meaning of that statement, we acted as leaders respectively in the group as all of us are contributing to the general development of our group.