Writing from the in-between. Visual design with “shi” as generative logic across cultures

Abstract

This Master's thesis explores how the traditional Chinese concept of Shi (势) can function as a generative and non-normative logic of visual composition, offering cross-cultural insights for contemporary design practice. Rather than replicating calligraphy as an aesthetic style, the study returns to the fundamental act of writing – an embodied cultural practice rooted in everyday life, rhythm, and spatial awareness. Within East Asian writing systems based on Chinese characters, writing is not merely symbolic communication but a dynamic process in which meaning, form, and temporality emerge through bodily motion. Through design experiments, workshops, and case studies, the research conceptualizes Shi as a continuously generative logic privileging openness, ambiguity, and process over fixed outcomes. Its goal is not to replace Western graphic design traditions but to open a conceptual and practical space where distinct cultural temporalities, perceptual modalities, and embodied languages intersect in productive tension. The thesis also reflects on the enduring influence of Eurocentrism in design education, especially in institutions shaped by modernist traditions such as Yale and Basel. While these systems developed powerful formal and instrumental languages, they often elevate neutrality, control, and standardization, limiting plural perspectives and non-structural expression. Shaped by a sociopolitical context of collectivism and normative regulation, my learning experience within European systems raises a critical question: Can design transcend established rules to engage with subtle cultural rhythms and perceptual logics? Rather than proposing a comprehensive alternative, the study constructs an “in-between” space—an emergent narrative path where cultural, bodily, and affective intersections generate continually evolving visual languages.