From Consumer Behaviour to apply for graphic design with zero foundation, she won the offer of RCA Royal College of Arts and LCC London School of Communication for graphic design. Her portfolio contains 8 projects, more integrating physics, pure art, jewelry, interactive devices, human body machinery, clothing design, industrial/product design, animation, sound art, packaging, performance art, fonts Architectural space, user experience, book binding, behavioral marketing, interactive design and other nearly 20 professions and fields; Her portfolio projects span China, the United States, Germany, France and Sweden, integrate local culture and global hot topics, and pay more attention to the survival status and future of marginalized groups. She is Ziyi, a student of our interview today, who applied for RCA Royal Art Graphic Design by changing her major. Her portfolio won an offer from a famous British school.

　　 Have a clear understanding of her strengths and weaknesses, so that she can transfer from zero basis to major and win RCA

Zero foundation to major application for master of graphic design study, want to win RCA Royal College of Art For most students, it is difficult. In fact, it is also true for Ziyi. Although I had relevant learning experience in Fine Arts during my undergraduate course, my design foundation is still weak compared with other non major transfer students.

After realizing this, Ziyi soon started his own basic training courses and started his own collection of works under the guidance of his teacher. During the basic course, after continuous and in-depth contact with the teacher, the teacher also found that Ziyi had advantages different from other students:

First of all, she is very thoughtful, always has endless interesting ideas. She is good at discovering the other side of a thing, and is also keen to try new things and acquire new skills;

Secondly, she has a good plan for her application. She knows where she is weak and needs to strengthen to make up for it;

At the same time, her learning foundation of Visual Art Study&History during her undergraduate period has laid a deep awareness and foundation of "interdisciplinary".

With the help of these three advantages, Ziyi and her teacher started the portfolio course soon after the basic course was finished. First, on the basis of Fine Art related to design during the undergraduate period, Ziyi can extract the direction that Ziyi can grasp and is interested in, and show Ziyi's application advantages through interesting topics.

　　 Q: Can you briefly introduce your personal application background to everyone first? Including original major and applied major.

Ziyi classmate: I applied for Graphic Design Study Abroad Now I've got the offers from RCA and LCC, and I need to do an interview in St. Martin in a few days. I went to Canada for my bachelor's degree and studied a double degree of Consumer Behavior and Visual Art Studio&History. There is a little learning experience of Fine Arts Diagram, but in fact, there is still a big gap between Fine Arts and design, so it is equivalent to zero foundation.

When I was in school, I seldom took courses related to painting. Most of the courses were about media, sculpture, prints, photography and other media oriented and mixed media.

My graphic design portfolio courses have been taught for a year and a half. At the beginning, I had about 10 basic courses. Because I didn't know anything about software before, my teacher actually taught me from scratch. Then came my works. There were 8 items in my works collection, which seemed to be more than most of the classmates' meetings, so the time might be a little longer than other classmates' meetings.

Some of these projects are small projects that I started with Fine Arts, and then expanded and expanded.

Ziyi's work collection, 8 projects in total

　　 Q: Do you think the major of undergraduate study has any influence or help on your portfolio and application for master's degree?

Ziyi: Yes, I think so. In terms of applying for Huangyi Graphic Design as a major, during my interview, the interviewer said that he saw all my works. The most favorite thing is that I have been doing interdisciplinary hybrid applications. I think this is also because Fine Arts Diagram has helped me a lot in the process of making my portfolio.

Secondly, my graphic design professional teacher, Dong, especially encouraged me to try "interdisciplinary" creation in my daily creation and class, because first of all, I really do not have any art/painting foundation and background; In fact, it is easy to find some special starting points for Fine Arts, whether from the perspective of discussion or the topic it studies.

Therefore, Mr. Dong suggested that I could extract some professional directions that I am very interested in from my professional background of Fine Arts, and then do some interesting projects that can show my application advantages. At the beginning of our course, we determined such a general direction and way. After that, whenever I had an idea, I would immediately communicate and discuss it with Ms. Dong.

Every time, Mr. Dong would not let me think only in the scope of design, but would guide and expand my ideas from the perspective of Fine Arts or other majors. Then we will integrate our ideas and discussion results, slowly develop and sort out our ideas, and finally work out our ideas and results.

　　 Teachers guide and exchange ideas, independently control the direction of creation, more field visits, and make themselves "locals"

With the beginning of the graphic design portfolio course, Ziyi and her teacher found that although Ziyi has many ideas, not every idea is practical, and there may be ideas, but how to continue and carry out the ideas, Ziyi sometimes loses its direction.

Therefore, the focus of the early graphic design course is mainly on the improvement of thinking logic and the carding of ideas. The teacher will not force Ziyi to do anything, nor will he tell her directly how to do it to achieve the best results.

Whenever Ziyi has a new idea, the teacher will constantly communicate with Ziyi to discuss the feasibility and practical significance of the idea, and jointly determine the theme and creative direction of the project. Then Ziyi will independently control the direction and creative execution of the entire project.

Ziyi told us that of the eight projects in her professional graphic design portfolio, three of them had experienced overthrow and rework. Instead of being impatient, the teacher taught her in accordance with her aptitude to study together, consult materials and discuss with each other. In order to realize her own project, she went to the United States, Germany, Sweden and France for field investigation and street interviews.

She hopes that in this way, she and the local people can gain common ideas, understanding and ideas. So as to better respect the local culture and the research object group.

　　 Q: Can you tell us about your portfolio project?

As a whole, my collection of works tends to focus on the social vulnerable groups, marginalized groups, etc., with strong public welfare and cultural research.

My favorite works are two, one is about time extension, called Unfold Fold, and the other is about European refugee groups, called Lust for Life.

In Unfold Fold, I made a series of visual experiences about time extension. The reason why I particularly like it is that I have combined many disciplines in this project. Before the project started, I did a lot of cultural background surveys, and the teacher also gave me many directions and suggestions, telling me to do background research and cultural research.

Because at the beginning, I was totally incapable of combing my thoughts and creation. I might like to think about some messy ideas. These ideas are fragmented and may appear in my mind instantly. When I have ideas, I will study them, but I don't know how to integrate my ideas, It is reflected through a piece of work.

This is my first graphic design work. Since then, the teacher has been guiding me how to transform my "information" into "information I can use" and how to turn it into a visual element.

Because this project is to learn while doing, including many basic skills, methods, thinking, integration methods, etc., I learned in this project, so this project has a relatively long time, probably one summer vacation, half a month. When this project was going on, I would go to Shanghai Library to look up materials and do research whenever I had anything to do. My teacher and I also carried out a lot of small experiments on the project.

At the end of the graphic design project, I made a lot of visual displays about time. For example, I put a tomato there, observed its slowly decaying changes, and then extracted such visual elements to express a concept of "time extension". As shown in the following figure:

Ziyi's major transfer application RCA Huangyi Graphic Design Collection<Unfold Fold>

In fact, this is also useful for "interdisciplinary", because it uses the concept of a time crystal in physics. I combine it with my visual experiments, because the theme of my project is "time extension", so I combined the concept of physics to make a small pattern.

This project is a relatively philosophical one. It is not easy to extract visual elements directly or express them directly. So the first time I took this project to all professional teachers to criticize, everyone said that they did not really understand what I was trying to express; And the teacher also reflected that the finished products at the initial stage of this project were too Fine Arts to be suitable for applying for Graphic Design, so Mr. Dong helped me to sort out my ideas and discuss the scheme again.

The final product is more graphic design, which is an interactive poster and font. The final poster looks like it has been folded many times, thus replacing the visual content with an interactive display hinge in the space.

Ziyi's major transfer application RCA Huangyi Graphic Design Collection<Unfold Fold>

Next, this project "Rust for Life" is the best work to show the overall direction of my portfolio. When this project was going on, I went to Europe to make a lot of street visits to see the local refugees and the local environment. At that time, refugees were a group of people who were very concerned and discussed topics in Europe, so I completed the preliminary research and data collection of this project in Sweden and Germany.

Ziyi's major transfer application RCA Huangyi Graphic Design Collection<Lust for Life>

Sweden was the first country to receive a large number of refugees, but it has stopped receiving refugees in recent years. Germany started receiving a large number of refugees in recent years. They are very representative countries, so I went to the local area to make street visits and asked many people. In fact, apart from Sweden and Germany, I also visited Paris.

There are only two simple questions. One is "What do you think would be the MOST challenging thing for reforms to settle in a new country?"; Another is "Would you offer your help if refuges in the street asked you for help?"

I hope that through this project, people can pay attention to more groups like this, not only refugees, but also many floating people in our society, which need our attention. During the project, I also did a lot of cultural research, including characters, symbols, etc., and extracted many elements from them for integration. And I think that not all things and news can be expressed through "words", so I hope to make our communication more smooth through visual things.

Application for changing majors RCA Huangyi Interview When the interviewer asked me about my idea of graphic design creation, I told him that I didn't really want to make such beautiful works, but rather something that was more practical and discussed with culture.

I think that in this respect, teacher Dong has given me great help. She did not force me to do any project, but she was very concerned about my ideas, hoping that I could do my own works. At the same time, this work is highly integrated to show my own ideas. She will always follow my interests and opinions, and give me many suggestions, whether technical or theoretical, according to my aptitude, so my whole project development has a high degree of freedom, but also has a clear direction.

For example, in this project, Mr. Dong inspired me to consider many things, including the feasibility, convenience, ease of dissemination, cost, etc. of the final scheme. Not only from the visual level to think, but also from other angles and professional direction to communicate and think. For example, I extracted elements from the perspective of refugees, and eventually expanded the audience to a wide range of people. One of the finished products is stickers, which can be used immediately and at any time.

Ziyi's major transfer application RCA Huangyi Graphic Design Collection<Lust for Life>

　　 Visiting experience and learning methods inspired her, and 100% trust in teachers made them friends in design and creation

Ziyi's work collection as a whole tends to focus on the research and exploration of social issues and marginalized groups. She focuses on the hot issues of contemporary globalization and also focuses on the details of life.

In order to allow more ideas of Ziyi to be truly integrated, the teacher, as her collaborator, also tried to consult materials and study with her. With the help of the teacher, Ziyi obtained the transformation from "information obtained" to "information I can use" and into visual elements.

Ziyi has devoted 100% of her energy and effort, and the teacher has also given her 100% support and sense of responsibility. The teacher constantly criticizes and combs out ideas. Through the comparison of new and old programs, Ziyi realizes that "interdisciplinary" does not mean that the more majors, the better. "interdisciplinary" also needs a project development line, which should be meaningful.

　　 Q: We found that many of the projects in your portfolio were done by you in various regions of the world for research or visiting. Do you think these experiences are necessary?

Ziyi: It is necessary. For example, many of my works are related to local culture. If you don't go to the local place, it is difficult to put yourself in the place and feel the atmosphere.

Many of my own personal experiences will help me think about how to express myself from my own perspective. If I didn't do these early work, I might not have thought of carrying out so many "interdisciplinary" attempts.

In the performance, there is a mode called methodology. I like to create in this way. Every time I create, I will regard myself as the person in the environment at that time, and let myself integrate into the project to clarify my feelings.

When you have a personal feeling, you will have more commonality, deeper understanding and respect with the group you are studying.

　　 Q: You have always mentioned Ms. Dong in the introduction of the previous projects. Has her teaching mode had a great impact on you?

Ziyi classmate: Yes, first of all, when I have inspiration and ideas, I also have several general directions. Maybe I haven't figured out the final result, but there will be a general idea. For example, before I start a project, the teacher will ask me: "What have you done recently that you are particularly interested in?", I will tell the teacher a lot of things I was doing at that time, or ideas I was thinking about.

In the creation of professional work collection, every idea teacher will discuss with me. We all think it is fun or can continue to develop. We will try to do it. No matter whether the project will eventually be put into my work collection, I will try to complete it with the teacher.

Every week in class, I may bring new ideas and new plans, and then Miss Dong will take me to try.

I don't know if you are the same as me. At the beginning, there were many ideas. I think the teacher is very critical at this time, because although you have many ideas, not every idea is "reliable". The role of the teacher at this stage is to help you select ideas, help you sort out ideas, and simply try every idea, and then discover what topics you really care about.

Then put your attention and experience into the final idea. For example, if you want to combine the direction of other majors to do this project, you may feel that you need to do more and combine more majors. But in fact, truly interdisciplinary works should not be "fancy". They have their own main lines and the most important concerns. Your "interdisciplinary" should be meaningful.

Therefore, it is very important to communicate with the teacher at this time, because your ideas are not necessarily meaningful, and the teacher will guide you from other perspectives, so that you can find out what the best breakthrough point of this project is.

The most helpful thing for me is that Ms. Dong has also given me the greatest space for development while "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude". In view of my weakness: weak design foundation and chaotic logic, she is patient every time to help me smooth my thinking and give me suggestions on typesetting.

In fact, there are three projects in my works that have experienced the process of dissatisfaction, overthrowing and redoing. At this time, the teacher was not impatient, but compared my new and old plans, analyzed the pros and cons of the two plans from a professional perspective, and then let me make my own choice.

In addition, in the process of learning from Ms. Dong, most of the time we don't just discuss the works, she will also give me a lot of experience to share as a designer, which is very valuable for me who has no design background at all.

For example, when I went to see some exhibitions, they would be sent to the teacher, and when the teacher went to see the exhibition, they would also be sent to me. I think this process of discussion and sharing with everyone is very helpful to my whole cognitive construction of the design discipline.

　　 Q: About To study abroad by changing majors in art Do you have any experience in the interview that you can share with us?

When I interviewed, there were three interviewers in total, which lasted about 17 or 18 minutes. In fact, I was quite nervous. Before the interview, the teacher sent me some preparation materials. I think it was really helpful because most of the questions recorded above were asked.

First of all, he asked me what my favorite work was. I first introduced to them the focus of my entire collection of works, and then said the project "Lust for Life".

Because my entire collection of works is very special and targeted. For example, my favorite project is about floating population, followed by depression patients and women. So the last question of the interview, the interviewer asked me: Why do you want to do this?

Ziyi's Collected Works<Feminist Orange>

Then about my project ＜Feminist Orange＞ He also asked me some questions such as "Why should I express my ideas in combination with these disciplines?". I answered these questions based on my own experience and ideas.

Finally, the interviewer said that for students applying for Huangyi, it may be worth paying attention to, that is, the interviewer said that they appreciated my cross media attempts and creative expressions. I think if you are interested in applying for Huangyi, you can do more of these attempts.

The integration of nearly 20 majors enabled her to win the graphic design of RCA Royal Academy of Arts. Her rich personal experience is the support of her creation. She has ideas, is interested in the new world, has independent ideas, and has her own views and interpretation methods on the world and hot issues of globalization.

Natural light shares more topics for you:

How does the Royal Academy of Arts apply for self help? Explain step by step the DIY application on Huangyi RCA official website

Studying abroad in visual communication major - applying for changing majors in visual communication won the offer of RCA Huangyi, LCC and other famous schools

This article belongs to the original article of Natural Light International Art Education Team. Without permission, it cannot be reproduced commercially in any form. If it is found, it must be investigated for legal responsibility.