Symbiotic Relationship

The senior show of class 2020 at Arizona State University Visual Communication Design

Beginning

Symbiosis is a close relationship between two species in which at least one species benefits. For the other species, the relationship may be positive, negative, or neutral. 

My panel design is inspired by school bullying. Research on bullying started more than forty years ago, when the phenomenon was defined as aggressive, intentional acts carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot defend him or herself. School bullying is a social issue that has attracted attention in recent years. In this social issue, each of us is closely related. Whether the bullied children or witness, we are all in a symbiotic relationship. 

School bullying can affect everyone, those who are bullied, who bully, and who witness bullying. Bullying is linked to many negative outcomes including impacts on mental health, substance use and suicide. In North America, public concern about school bullying increased dramatically in the late 1990s, because the large part to the deaths of youth by suicide or murder. 

The senior students of Visual Communication Design at Arizona State University use design language to communicate with social issues in our lives to organize senior show every year. Each student has his own panel and space, using the design knowledge and skills they have learnt in the four years of college to show the social issues they choose. We firmly believe that design will make life better, and we are always working hard.

Designing

In order to better coordinate the various work of the senior show, the 44 students in our class were divided into different committees: event design, event managment, media marketing, print and web design. I belong to event design committe, we are responsible for designing the structure of the senior show. We have tried several options and finally decided the last one which everyone liked.

On my left panel, I asked four questions to the visitors to understand that each of us is not a bystander: Did you remember when you were a child? Have you been bullied? Have you bullied others? Have you witnessed bullying? Through the four questions, visitors can find their own positioning and corresponding colored balls. 

The visual effect design of the panel on the right is a maze, and each spick describes the psychological problems and possible consequences of the students who suffered from bullying, as well as the location and frequency of the problem. The visitor threw the ball from above, and the ball rolled over each spick to make people feel the psychological pressure of students.