De-SIGN
Michelle Lin
Textual Provocations
Signage surrounds us.
From blinding lights to overwhelming structures, each of our lives are overwhelmed with text and icons. Yet, amidst of this abundance, many of us have been desensitized to these heaps of garishly bright words — Each attempting to grapple our attention for even half a second.
How can we recover from our alienation with the objects we see around us every day?
With this question in mind as well as being fed up with modern design’s fear of ornamentation, De-Sign is an exploration of the use of text in everyday artifacts. It manifests as a series of provocative objects meant to reignite our connection with language as well as prompting thoughtfulness with how we engage with these objects.
Each piece of this collection is constrained to the use of aluminum, acrylic, and vinyl. Rooted in a deep and personal connection to the signage industry, this project is solely constructed using reclaimed offcuts for commercial signs.
