HUMAN UNIVERSALITY IN DIVERSITY
Sarah Kang
ABSTRACT
The purpose of my capstone is to create a compilation of short stories dedicated to various people in my life. The stories, based on personal interviews, will bring to light a diversity of cultures, while sharing the common theme that all people have universal human emotions, fears, and dreams. Each story will not only contain creative content, but will also have creative design that emphasizes the characteristics of each person to further convey this message of universality in diversity. The different designs will apply to the components including the book cover and text fonts, and will affect the reader’s perceptions of each character. Also, the choice to present my book as a print book instead of a digital book will bring into discussion the affordances and constraints of both mediums. Finally, I hope that my book will change the attitudes of my audience by inspiring them to embrace differences and love all people as fellow humans.
INTRODUCTION
It is said that no two humans are exactly alike. No matter where you go, all of the people that you meet will have different physical features, diverse cultures, and unique life experiences. It is also said, however, that we are only human. We all experience the same emotions: sorrow, frustration, jealousy, joy. Each of us may look different and act differently from other people, but we all have fears that we run away from and dreams that we pursue.
I aim to explore this idea of universality in diversity by writing and designing a book. This book will be a compilation of short stories with each story dedicated to a different person in my life. The content of each story will convey a certain aspect of the person’s unique identity, while all of the stories together will have similar themes of trials and tribulations, successes and joys. The design of the book itself will enhance the reader’s experience by emphasizing the diversity of each character while evoking universal human emotions in the reader.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
For my capstone, I want to create a book that not only conveys the essence of human life, but also explores the question, “How does the physical design of a book affect the way readers perceive the stories’ characters?”
The design of a book and its components can have a great impact on the reader’s experience. For example, it is often said, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. This is such a common phrase, even in its literal sense, because the book cover’s appearance is a large determining factor to whether or not we put the book back on the shelf.
Even the designs of the actual words on a page can change the reader’s experience. For instance, bolded words present a stronger emphasis of their meanings than do non-bolded words. This subconscious effect would not be possible to produce without changing the text’s actual design.
Furthermore, the experience of reading a physical book is different from the experience of reading a digital book. We can feel the texture of the paper each time we flip a page, while with digital books, we only have to press a button. Through my project, I want to show that the physical book, through clever design, can create a more immersive experience for the reader than can digital books.
Overall, I aim to delve deep into this relationship between content and form. What kinds of stories do I want to share? What plotlines will I choose that will satisfyingly represent each character? These questions are a matter of content. The form, then, will be based on the book’s materiality and design. In the end, my project will convey human universality in diversity through the relationship between the stories and their designs.
HISTORY
One ongoing project that also addresses this universality in diversity of human life and serves as an inspiration for this capstone is the book and blog, Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton. Stanton interviews and takes pictures of all kinds of people in New York City, and captions his pictures with significant quotes that give the audience a glimpse into each person’s life. His project has achieved social media fame because of the hope-filled, often relatable stories he shares. Likewise, I envision my book to contain short stories that are relatable and have a very human quality.
However, I also want to learn from the criticisms of Humans of New York. One critic comments, “the overall earnestness of his [Stanton’s] work, and the ‘positive’ brush with which everything is painted…is unacceptable. If you’re going to profile a city as diverse (and frankly troubled, particularly along class and racial lines) as New York, it’s your duty to profile it honestly” (“This is Why I Hate Humans of New York”). This critic believes that Humans of New York is biased towards the white race because of an incident when Stanton witnessed a white, Jewish man propositioning a black, Sudanese woman, and seemed to later defend the white man by taking the post down from his page. Because some people say that the blog does not truly capturethe city, I want to make sure that my work is honest to my interviewees. This means that I will not try to make everything a happy ending; I will embrace both hopeful and tragic stories to honestly represent human life.
As for my book’s design, I find my inspiration from book cover designer, Chip Kidd, and from my research on different design techniques. When discussing his thoughts about book design, Kidd says, “I want you to look at the author’s book and say, ‘Wow! I need to read that’” (Kidd “Designing Books Is No Laughing Matter. Ok, It Is”). One of the books that Kidd designed was Augusten Burroughs’ Dry. Instead of designing the cover in a way that conveys dryness, Kidd decided to make the ink of the title look like it was running down the page. This unintuitive cover caught the eye of the customers, making his design a success. Creatively designed books like these inspire me to take risks with my book cover, so that my readers will become engaged at first glance.
The design of the elements inside the book also make an impact on the reader’s experience. For instance, a book’s theme “might be repeated through an author’s dedication, illuminated letters, or borders. Such repetition can make a greater impact on the reader than mere text alone” (Harms and Lettow 18). Learning about these different options I can take with book designs helps give me ideas for how I can design each short story to further convey my messages to the readers.
SIGNIFICANCE AND DISTINCTION
It is astounding to me how prevalent racism, sexism, and other –ism’s are in the United States, a nation that is well-known for its diversity and fight for equal rights. Some people just do not associate with other people who look and act differently from them. Going along this bigger scale, I want the short stories in my book to change these peoples’ perspectives, helping them see that even though we are different from each other, we are all still only human.
My project is similar to Humans of New York in the sense that it will share stories about a variety of people, emphasizing the diverse world in which we live in, while at the same time, realizing that we all share the same human emotions. However, my book will also explore the concepts of book design and the reading experience. How will the designs affect the way that the reader understands the content and the overall purpose of the book?
The ideas for the designs of my book will be inspired by my research of a variety of other books. These inspirations range from picture books to fairytales to pop-up books, all of which utilize some form of design element to create a more engaging reader experience.
Not only will my project consist of short stories uniquely designed to bring each character to life, but it will also address the issue of physical versus digital books as a medium. Digital books are becoming increasingly prevalent as we become a more digitized society. I will discuss the affordances and constraints of both print books and digital books, and show that print books function better to create an immersive reader experience and change the reader’s perspectives on human universality in diversity.
EXPERTISE AND SKILLS
I have the writing skills and creativity that are necessary for forming the short stories. I also know a diverse group of people, and this network will provide me with various kinds of identities to write about.
I need to learn the book publishing process, so that I can have the final product that I want.
APPROACH
In order to gather ideas for the content of my short stories, I will conduct interviews with the people I want to write about. These interviews will involve broad questions in the beginning to discover more about each person’s identity. Based on his/her answers, I will tailor my questions to dive deeper into a specific part of his/her life, so that the story that I write represents the person a deeper level.
The design of each story will also help convey each person’s personality and culture. I will think about aspects such as, but not limited to, fonts, pop-up pages, graphics, colors, and textures, according to what I think best represents each person.
WORK PLAN AND TIMELINE
Timeframe / Objective / DescriptionEnd of Dec / Prepare general interview questions / Come up with a template for the personal interviews. This will include several general, conversation-starter questions.
Dec/Jan / Interview Person 1, Person 2, and Person 3 / Conduct personal interviews with people and make transcripts. Expand on each person’s specific story.
Jan / Rough drafts of Person 1, Person 2, and Person 3 / Create rough drafts of stories based on the personal interviews.
Jan 22 – Jan 28 / Interview Person 4 and Person 5
Jan 22 – Feb 4 / Contact self-publishing companies / Explain to self-publishing companies my project idea. Ask questions about the book publishing process and the plausibility of publishing my book idea.
Jan 29 – Feb 11 / Rough drafts of Person 4 and Person 5
Feb 5 – Feb 11 / Interview Person 6 and Person 7
Feb 12 – Feb 25 / Rough drafts of Person 6 and Person 7
Feb 26 – Mar 11 / Final drafts and brainstorm design ideas / Edit all rough drafts and finalize details. Start thinking of design ideas for each story.
Mar 12 – Apr 1 / Make designs for each story and the book / Make book cover, decide on fonts and borders, decide on illustrations and graphics, and decide on the general design of the book.
Apr 22 – Apr 29 / Go through the publishing process / Meet with the self-publishing company and make final touches
AUDIENCE
I want to reach my generation ofAmerican young adult millennials through my project. Because millennials will be the future leaders of the nation, I want all of us to embrace diversity, so that we can fight the long standing racism, sexism, and other –isms.
Furthermore, because millennials are a digitalized generation, I want to keep the art of reading alive and show that the affordances of non-digital technologies can be greater than those of digital technologies.
BUDGET
- $240.00 for manufacturing and shipping of 20 copies of my book
- Full color, 5.5” x 8.5” trim size, 150 pages
- $11.35 per book
- $227.00 for manufacturing 20 copies
- $13.00 for standard (5 business days) shipping
OUTCOMES
I desire to meet different people from all over the world and learn about various cultures. My project allows me to do this by getting to know my interviewees and hear their stories. Even after my time in DCC, I may add short stories to my project as I continue to explore the world and meet more people.
This project will also give me experience with design. This may become useful for my career in computer science because I may have a position that requires me to think about the design of the products that will most relate to the customers.
In the end, my project will open my eyes up to the lives of other people, inspiring me to love others even more to help make the world a kinder place to live in.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brown, Susannah and Towell, Janet Leigh. “Engaging Young Writers Through Book Design.”
Kappa Delta Pi Record, vol. 51, no. 4, 2015, pp. 185-19.
Kidd, Chip. Chip Kidd. Chip Kidd, 2016, chipkidd.com/home/. Accessed 20 Nov. 2016.
Kidd, Chip. “Designing Books Is No Laughing Matter. Ok, It Is.” TED Talks, March 2012.
Conference Presentation.
Harms, Jeanne McLain and Lettow, Lucille J. “Book Design Clements: Integrating the Whole.”
Childhood Education, vol. 75, no. 1, 2012, pp. 17-24.
Maeda, John. How Art, Technology and Design Inform Creative Leaders.” TED Talks, June 2012.
Conference Presentation.
Mangen, Anne and Kuiken, Don. “Lost in an iPad.” Scientific Study of Literature, vol. 4, no. 2,
2015, pp. 150-177.
Mangen, Anne. “The Evolution of Reading in the Age of Digitization: An Integrative Framework for
Reading Research.” Literacy, vol. 00, no. 00, 2016, pp. 1-9.
“This Is Why I Hate Humans Of New York (And You Should, Too).” Thought Catalog, 10 Aug.
2014, thoughtcatalog.com/anonymous/2014/08/this-is-why-i-hate-humans-of-new-york-and-you-should-too/.
Sitar, Dana. “How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book? 4 Authors Share Their Numbers.”
The Write Life, 21 Jan. 2015, thewritelife.com/cost-to-self-publish-a-book/.
Stout, D. J. “The Role of Book Design in the Changing Book.” Collection Management, vol. 31, no.
1-2, 2008, pp. 169-181.
“Street Harassment and Facebook and Orthodox Religion.” Feminist Media, 8 May 2012,
feministmedia.tumblr.com/post/22676599205/street-harassment-and-facebook-and-orthodox.
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