Jacob Pham

This honours project emerges from my personal encounters with navigating unfamiliar cultural contexts abroad and their accompanying challenges. Being an international student myself, I assume a dual role as both the creator and end-user of the design outcome, embarking on this project with the explicit goal of directly enhancing my own sojourning experience, as well as others. Through its deliberate emphasis on personal cultural contemplation, this project aims to empower international students to embrace and celebrate their cultural heritage, nurturing their well-being and generating a ripple effect of cultural appreciation and understanding.

Inheritage — Audio Visual Experience — Close-up View

"Inheritage" is a designed experience focused on enriching the overall wellbeing of international students by fostering a stronger sense of (re)connection with their home country's intangible cultural heritage. The core of this project is a meticulously crafted audiovisual experience, aimed to provoke thoughts and reflections about their cultural roots. This is then strengthened as participants are invited to engage more deeply with their native culture on a personal level, facilitated through a collection of journaling and activity prompts thoughtfully integrated into complementary materials.

Inheritage — Audio Visual Experience — Full View

Inheritage — Journaling Postcards

To provide the audience with a tangible memento of their experience, I turned the main projected narrative posters into a series of printed postcards. Each postcard is thoughtfully paired with a reflection journaling prompt that corresponds to its respective storyline.

Inheritage Passport

A passport-inspired publication, introduced to enhance and prolong the impact of the main experience. The ‘passport’ integrates thoughtfully designed journaling and activity prompts, aimed to provoke the personal engagement of international students with their cultures in their own time.

Inheritage — Narrative Poem Poster Series

This poetic journey unfolds from the moment of departure from one's homeland, traversing the challenges of adapting to a foreign culture, grappling with questions of personal identity, and ultimately embracing the multifaceted dimensions of multiculturalism.

'Inheritage — Audio Visual Experience — Full Screen Version'

View full video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuEtnI-WVEo

Explore more

View all