Mandalas
DESN4000
Process Site
Research
PHASE 1
Initial Research
I was inspired to research mandalas because of a book called ‘Painting Enlightenment’ by Paula Arai, which documented the works of a Zen Buddhist painter named Iwasaki Tsuneo. I happened to pick up this book while looking for something to read and was immediately inspired by the stunning creations of Tsuneo.
There were several pieces based on a circular shape, and I was curious as to whether a sphere held any particular significance in Buddhists - which is how I became interested in the history of Mandalas.
Researching mandalas
After research on the origins, history and uses of mandalas, this is the high level list of the most captivating pieces of information:
Mandalas are blueprints for palaces that house deities.
Mandalas are a language that is composed of symbols that all communicate a specific meaning.
Mandalas are tools for meditation, and aren’t seen as artworks by monks.
Mandalas are thought to not be effective if even minute details are inaccurate, such as the spacing between a deity’s eyes.
Monks study handbooks of codes as well as drawing techniques in order to elevate their spiritual practice by producing accurate mandalas.
Mandalas can manifest in any physical form, object or being. Buddhists believe that there is flexibility to how they’re interpreted, and that the human body itself is a mandala.
The most significant piece of information that influenced my research question the most if the fact that Mandalas are seen as a way to communicate esoteric ideas that only practitioners and those who dedicate themselves to learning each individual piece, will understand. And the fact that they are not seen as artworks, but the process and journey of meditation - captured and drawn on thangkas.
Process as a Product
Eventually, I narrowed down the process as a product as a main focal point of my research ontop of my initial subject of study - mandalas. As a part of this research, I looked at various analogous practitioners who may knowingly or unknowingly follow the same meditative, process as a product approach to their work. I researched the following practitioners:
Hilma Klimt
Believed a higher power was divining her works to the world
Emma Kunz
Used divination via a pendulum to create unpredictable but methodical works
Agnes Martin
Expressed universal truths like joy or happiness via abstracting and symbolism
Park Seo-bo
Believed his repetitive process was akin to a Buddhist’s meditative state
Through visual research and synthesizing all that I had learned so far into a short question, I came up with the final research question of:
What are the historical and symbolic uses associated with Mandalas in Buddhist art in Eastern Asia from 1 BCE to today?
How can modern day designers utilize these principles to evolve design practices and foundations?
Design
PHASE 2
Design Proposal
I knew that I want to create some type of workbook that is inspired by a handbook that Buddhists may use to learn their deity codifications. Within the book, there had to be an educational as well as a self-produced visual component.
To come up with the visual component, I took a look at the similarities between the analogous artists I studied as well as the buddhist monks and found that all individuals had the following principles in their work in common:
What is similar between these groups of creators and their processes and work - Buddhist Monks, Hilma Klimt, Emma Kunz, Georgiana Houghton, Park Seo Bo?
Repetition
Abstraction
Symbolism
Impersonal
Esoteric
Emphasis on process or formula of creation
Creating output based on a self-defined system
I was also inspired by the workbook by Studio Moniker, whose core concept is also about exploring the process of creating something, in their case based on a set of shared rules between a group of people - in order to create a final product.
My final artifact will be a book that covers my research so far on the topic of mandalas, buddhist philosophies around creating mandalas, and the design process as the product. The tone and content of the book is meant to be straightforward and simple enough that individual user not familiar with the topic will be able to grasp the subject.
Writing the book
My first phase was to write the content for the book and create the visuals. I initially wrote a lot more than actually went into the book, as a design decision when reconsidering the depth of understand the average reader would have prior to picking this up. I decided for the sake of simplicity that a much shorter intro / research chapter was needed to avoid an overtly monotonous read.
The purpose of the book is educate the reader on the research area, demonstrate my take on the idea of the design process as the product with visual outputs, and a short guide for the reader to create their own design framework.
I intend for the book to cover the research journey from initial research area on Mandalas to where it ended up, which is the process of design as a product. Below are the sections that will be included in my book. Each of the following will be treated as a separate product I will need to produce that come together to form the publication:
Section 1: Introduction
Intention of the book and its purpose to introduce users to Buddhist concepts and the practice of design processes
Section 2: Research
Written portion of the book compiling my research
Section 3: Visual outputs
Visual portion of the book demonstrating my visual byproducts from aforementioned design process
Creating the book’s design systems
I was heavily inspired by the faded colour and tall aesthetic of old workbooks and handbooks that monks might have used to create mandalas. And so I gathered an inspiration board of similar visuals and grid systems I would want to employ in my work.
Grid system
Dimensions
The dimensions of my book are 8" x 4", my proposal for the usage of the book was to act as a handbook or short info guide on the subject matter, so it felt appropriate to choose a portable size.
Grid
I chose a 2 column, 8 row grid reminiscent of old zen buddhist text that employed very narrow columns but tall sets of rows.
Visual system
Typography
I used a lot of numbers that represented old textbooks where different elements tended to be numbered.
Carta Neuva
Tobias
Reckless Neue
Reckless Neue
Numbering
I used a lot of numbers that represented old textbooks where different elements tended to be numbered.
Dummy Book
The final design ended up with 104 pages in total, including the title page and back cover. This is the layout for the initial dummy book created after written content for the book was complete. The larger portion of the book, which is the workshop / visual portion, was later adjusted based on the results of the visuals.
Designing the book
Section 1: Intention
This section contains an intro quote by a Buddhist monk on Mandalas, a table of contents and a short introduction into the intention and purpose of the workbook.
Section 2: Research
This section is a pared-down synthesis of the research I conducted throughout the first semester. There are 4 sections about the core concepts of Buddhism, and an answer to the first part of my research question into the history of symbolic uses of the Mandala.
​
Following the intro into basic Mandala and Buddhist principles, I then follow with a 5th section on the concept of 'product as a process', which acts an explanatory bridge between the construction of a Mandala and how similar principles are used by artists in the subsequent section.
There is a 6th section where I show examples of the works and a brief history of practitioners I researched who employ the same sort of 'product as a process' methods as Buddhist monks.
Section 3: Workshop
The workshop section includes 3 different workshop ideas. For each workshop, I created a series of constraints and imposed variables such as the size of the circle, the number of concentric circles, and the the direction of the circle’s placement, in order to foster rules that will creative a formulaic, yet unpredictable outcome via following a methodical process.
The reader can then take these constraints to experience the process of creating an outcome that is unpredictable within the given constraints.
​
For each section, there is an example of my visual outcomes by using the given set of constraints, along with the variables that were rolled by me via the set of dice.
Sources
Front and back covers
