THE PAPER
THE EXPRESSIVE ABILITY OF PAPER

Experimental Design, Editorial Design, Book Design


Special Thanks to Instructors: 
Kuo-Jung Hsieh


Paper is a kind of familiar material for graphic designers. It can be used as the carrier to writing, painting, package and so forth. However, paper media is gradually disappearing in our lives. And I wonder if it can have more possibilities in this information age. In this project, I searched and classified common papers and explored the expressive ability of paper.

Paper Category

There are various types of paper. It is closely related to history, region and cultural development. Different grams of weight, color, tactility of paper can give people a completely different feeling. Inspired by these, I made the "Paper Category" to record and organize the common paper.



Paper Exploration

The culture and charm of paper evolved as time goes by. Paper is a kind of ancient but new media. On the basis of Paper Category, I extended my ideas. Except being as a kind of media in the traditional sense, are there other possibilities of paper?

In this part, I tried to explore different possibilities and ways of using paper.


︎︎︎ Exhibition 

Experiment 1


Paper is not only a kind of material, but also a language that enable itself to communicate with human.

In this part, I try to express the artistic conception of the verse by paper of different forms, making people feel the life of the paper, as well as the infectiousness and emotion it possesses. In this way, paper is endowed with other possibilities.



“The original spring torrent is hidden behind your desolate pupils.”

“Leaving her moonlight kiss on the clavicles of the sea.”

“Your scattered dreamland is retrieved from the isolated sea.”

“Every star should land in the most beautiful valley.”

“Hook your arm around the fire, changing to the whirling snow.”

“The remote land of death grows the wildflowers; The thousand-year history illuminated by the mirror-like moon above the grassland.”

“I can't mail you the whole spring, but my long-lasting loneliness.”

“As long as I recall the most regretful thing in my lifetime, the plum blossom falls onto all over the mountains.”

Rising to the sea horizon, your meditation rises above it.

In your eyes is a vast pool of sea, hidden the intangible moonlight.

Experiment 2


According tothe 道德经,我用一个展览来描述了纸张的不同境界。从作为书写的载体,到艺术媒介,再回归纸张本身的表达。



Simply as the carrier of calligraphy, drawing, and writing. Each piece of paper just assumes its mission, which is an expression as collective sensation, rather than an individual.




If you burn the Tao Te Ching by incense, you can see the flow of light and shadow. Is paper a carrier of text, or just paper? It aims to present the awakening of paper’s personality and the infinite possibilities. But paper is more of a material here, which doesn't have its own language.



I focus on the characteristics end expression of the paper itself. As long as it exists, it is doomed to give out its own light.


︎︎︎ Hand made paper and Book design

Inspired by the research, I began to explore the expressive ability of paper itself.

Tracing back to the fibers, each piece of paper has the ability to tell a unique story that targets our five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. For instance, this piece of paper made of grass can remind people of green grasslands and fields.

According to book The Characteristics Of Raw Fiber Of Chinese Paper Making, here I used a variety of fibers to present different handcraft papers, which are assembled into a book, allowing human to feel the culture and expression contained in paper.


In addition, I gave each piece of paper the space to express itself. I enclosed the information of microscope image, raw material, characteristic and the description of the emotional expression it carries.



︎︎︎ Research