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Booklet design for Harlem "monologue of a designed personae"


"How can physical traces observed in southern Harlem reflect the interpersonal relationship and the level or trust among people?"


(pic4: personae)


This booklet is about my observation and study on the neighbourhood, Central Harlem South and is designed based on the personae created for the last assignment. 

The booklet is divided into four sections. Each section consists a design based on the theme and imagined dialogues between the interviewer and the interviewee, which is the personae. 

Since the ultimate goal is not to solve problem in the neighbourhood, I tend to keep everything neutral including those that are usually considered negative aspects of a neighbourhood such as trash on the ground and cigarettes left in inappropriate places. The reason why I arrange the visual dialogue in an open way is that I would like to expand the topic, not only limited to how Central Harlem South is like, but also to level of trust and interpersonal relationship of people (in cities) in general. Ms.Sandra Smith’s “Race and Trust”  and Mr.John Zeisel’s “Observing Physical Traces” inspired me a lot during the process. To apply theoretical knowledge to the actual practice, I feel like the design intervention need to be more welcoming in order not to be too limited. Hence I tend not the judge anything observed but to present and analyze them.


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Whether it is the displeasing external environment or the lost of trust between people, I always tend to treat them as neutral facts about Harlem. Since sometimes, making a neighbourhood "better" does not necessarily mean that people will like it more, just like gentrifying Brooklyn did not make Brooklyn a better place, according to "My Brooklyn".


Same thing applied here, I will not modify anything that seem to be negative traits to superficially, or theoretically, make Harlem “better”. I would like to see why they exist instead. Why people tend to leave trash on the streets and not care about it? Why don’t people want to keep the space clean? Why 17 out of 20 people living there did not want to be interviewed and 14 of them said they did not trust me? Why do teenagers smoke in the park and leave cigarettes everywhere even if they know it is not appropriate?  An answer I can give now is that they are not satisfied enough with the environment. Many answered that they are aware of the fact that the environment is not clean, while they can still  live with it. Something interesting about this is that some also feel good going back to those familiar corners where they leave their own physical traces and feel welcomed by seeing them. They need those imperfect moments to live their life.


Regarding of trust, it seems to be a common characteristic that in cities like NYC, people tend to trust less and keep more private space. While it is not necessarily a negative aspect as long as people do not feel bothered. And it does not mean that people do not have chances to gather or meet with people they (want to) trust. They still have public parks, playgrounds and other places to go to. In fact, I’ve observed families with children gathering at the park very constantly and talking a lot. It should be a freedom of them to either trust or not trust, to either meet or not to meet.


With all of above being said, the way people live their life in a neighbourhood is much more complicated than how it seems, especially when they connect their memories with the land. A single detail that out-comers cannot understand may simply recall one of the residents’ memories about this space; the cold atmosphere to us may seem warm and familiar to them……The overall energy of the space is so fragile that even one little twist will shift the whole thing. It is the very natural consequence that people’s life style led to.


……Then why should I change anything about that? How am I qualified to do so?


Instead, I want to record and share those moments with my audience with my own interpretation. This is about the way people live in Central Harlem South but more than that. This is about how we find our own peaceful moment, how we combine love and hate at the same time and how we live imperfect life.


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