Original Machines delves into how artificial intelligence engages with and interprets human emotion through visual communication. It explores the core concepts of module, system, and cybernetics, creating a living design system where structured, repetitive elements organically combine to self-regulate and evolve. The project interprets the machine’s precision, errors, and feedback loops through a visual language, demonstrating that design is not a fixed outcome but an ever-changing entity.

The project combines pixelated modules with AI-generated images of human sensory organs such as ears, eyes, and hands, building a visual language where mechanical order and human emotion coexist. These modules are meticulously arranged on a grid system and integrated with metadata extracted from the image creation process, forming a cohesive ‘system.’ Additionally, the concept of cybernetics is reflected by visualising the flow of information and feedback between humans and machines, completing a cyclical and interactive structure within the design.

This project began with that question—
a motion graphic work inspired by Alice in Wonderland, reimagining the journey of confusion, identity, and transformation.

This motion graphic piece begins as an experiment in visualising text, unfolding into an abstract journey that follows the flow of thought. Using minimal visual elements—squares, lines, doors, and holes—it visualises not emotions, but the architecture of thinking.

Each scene shifts through divided frames, collisions, openings, and distortions. 
The visual language metaphorically represents a mental process of confusion, exploration, and rediscovery—an inner navigation through uncertainty.

Accompanied by a calm female narration, ambient music, and carefully placed sound effects, the work invites viewers to immerse themselves in this non-linear path of reasoning. By breaking away from familiar logic, it encourages new questions to surface, offering an experience where thought becomes visual and the invisible becomes perceivable.

BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design takes a dynamic and exploratory approach to visual communication. The course blends fundamental graphic design skills with experimental methods across a range of media and technologies, encouraging innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Students critically engage with the design process, exploring contemporary graphic and media design in response to cultural, social and technological contexts. This showcase brings together a wide spectrum of independent and collaborative projects, reflecting thoughtful, conscious and forward-thinking design practice.

This year’s graduate showcase is titled ‘45²’, a name inspired by the unique significance of the year 2025.

45² = 2025 and marks a rare mathematical moment — the only square root year most of us will experience in our lifetime. The previous one was 1936; the next will be 2116. This concept highlights themes of rarity, precision and shared experience — symbolising the individuality and collective creativity of this graduating cohort.


Project Leader: Ian Carr
Showcase Identity: Dahye Kim, Jiyun Park, Yeojin Zoe Rue, Show Reels: Owen Wells
Social Media Motion: Dahye Kim
Social Media: Dahye Kim, Jiyun Park, Yeojin Zoe Rue
Catalogue Design: Pedro Pina
Proofreading: Siân Cook
Printing: Pureprint Group
Photography: Luke Macgregor

This project was developed in collaboration with Japanese beverage company Suntory, as part of a future-focused design brief.

Aquaorb is a speculative water bottle concept for children in the year 2040.
It includes 15 jelly-like water capsules (100ml each) to meet the daily hydration goal of 1.5L.
Made with biodegradable PLA, Aquaorb promotes hydration through playful interaction and eco-friendly design.

Key features:

• Magnetic lid for easy one-capsule use
  
• Ring handle for carrying
  
• Back display showing weather and hydration progress
  
• Customizable with stickers and collectable keyrings
  

Aquaorb makes drinking water fun, healthy, and sustainable for the next generation.

The Fragments of Scattered Memories project invites viewers into a mosaic of scattered moments captured across various journeys. Each photograph acts as a fragment of memory—sometimes vivid, blurred, suspended in time and space. Together, these pieces form a visual tapestry of recollections that feel both deeply personal and universally relatable.

As visitors move through the exhibition, the photos are arranged sometimes in isolation, sometimes layered or juxtaposed, reflecting the nonlinear and fragmented nature of memory itself. Just as our memories resurface unpredictably, viewers are encouraged to piece together emotions, stories, and impressions, creating their narratives through the fragments.

Evoking nostalgia, joy, or even mystery, this exhibition captures the fleeting and scattered essence of travel experiences and poses the questions:

How do we remember?

And what do these scattered memories reveal about the places we’ve been and who we’ve become?

We cannot remember everything from our travels. Instead, small, fragmented memories—whether sharp or hazy—linger in our minds, representing those moments. Through this project, I hope to convey the significance and value of these scattered pieces of memory.

This short film series is based on the six-part album Everywhere at the End of Time, which sonically portrays the progression of dementia. Set in a park, each 10–25 second film depicts a stage in the lifecycle of memory—its formation, fading, and eventual disappearance. Through abstract visuals and sound, the films explore how familiar spaces transform as memory deteriorates, capturing the emotional and cognitive shifts tied to forgetting.

Ep.01_The Beginning of Memory
Ep.02_Fading Traces
Ep.03_Signs of Confusion
Ep.04_Memory Fractures
Ep.05_Moments of Collapse
Ep.06_Endless Void

This project reimagines Seoul Forest, located in Korea, and its surrounding neighbourhood as a personal memory archive. By using a grid system, the book visualises sensory fragments—objects, people, sounds, and scents
—from my childhood to the present.

The early pages feature sparse, muted compositions to reflect faint and quiet memories. As the pages progress, the grid becomes increasingly saturated, representing the growing clarity of my recollections and the area’s transformation over time. The book invites viewers to experience memory as something spatial, evolving, and deeply personal.