ID | INTERCULTURAL DESIGN: The Compilation
03.02.2025 - 24.03.2025 /Week 1 - Week 7
Loh Kai Xuan (0365780)
Intercultural Design, Bachelors of Design (Honours) in Creative Media,
Taylor's University
Compilation and Reflection
Introduction: Knives in Culture ✮♱ ༻¨*:·
Hello there!
We are "the Knifey Cult"
(don't worry we are not actually one)
We are Taylorian students who founded this group for an intercultural
design module assignment, which is themed... Everyday design! These
designs may not be iconic or extravagant but play a crucial role
in shaping the cultural and functional aspects of society. So us, group
32, has decided to delve into the territory of knives.
I hope you enjoy our journey.
Presenting to you... Knives in Culture!
Module Information ✮♱ ༻¨*:·
Task 1 ✮♱ ༻¨*:·
Research
✦ Initial Topic: Chairs OR Drinkware
Fig 1. Cat sleeping on chair photography (2024) -
Photography
Fig 2. Cat on mug meme photography (2024) -
Photography
✦ Chairs:
An everyday object in our life, whether it's for standing on or
sitting. We found it fascinating that despite the difference in
culture and everyday design of chairs it was still used ad design for
sitting.
✦ Drinkware:
Millions of drinks exists in the world. And we all drink water with
cups, mugs, etc. in one way or another. We wanted to use this topic
to explore the different ways cups are designed for different drinks
or culture.
˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
Task 2 ✮♱ ༻¨*:·
Data Collection
Fig 3. General Voice Channel Screenshot. (2025). Taken by Avery.
✦ Our Group decided to research deeper into knives in culture.
✦ Our goal is to promote the usefulness of knives to the general public
using the social media platform, "Tik-Tok".
✦ A discussion was done in a communication app , "Discord".
✦ Due to time constraints we withheld the idea of visiting knife galleries and recording our adventure there
✦ Instead, we went for a mix of Sketch 1, 2 and 3.
✦ A discussion was done in a communication app , "Discord".
✦ Due to time constraints we withheld the idea of visiting knife galleries and recording our adventure there
✦ Instead, we went for a mix of Sketch 1, 2 and 3.
˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
The idea
✦ An 8 episode short form video series.
✦ Each episode will be a trivia about knives in the 6 cultures we researched in our slides above.
✦ To attract viewers and keep them to stay, we went for a popular concept of characterizing the knives into humanoid designs.
✦ Having an eye-candy to explain and share info will help viewers stay till the end.
✦ Using our previous research with additional research, we came up with conventionally attractive yet as accurate as possible designs of humanoid knives in different culture.
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We combined both survey ad quiz about knives to make things more
interactive and find out the respondent's general knowledge of knives and
interests in educational content.
✦ Interview [Transcript]
We also decided to interview people from different fields, like
culinary, design, tech...etc. This helps with finding out the
difference in knowledge in different fields but also find the
common ground.
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My educational video Draft:
Knives in British Culture (British Etiquette)
Fig 4. Woods of Savernake Steak Knife. (2025). Savernake. Taken on 28 February 2025.
✦ For my part I chose to use one of the most popular and conventionally used knife in the England, "Steak Knife"
✦ After more research I decided on "Woods of Savernake" as my main inspiration. It is a luxury steak knife made in the England by the brand, "Savernake".
Brainstorming & Sketch
Fig 5. Sketch of Steak Knife. (2025, February, 28). Illustrated by Loh Kai Xuan.
Further Research and progress
Fig 6. Further Sketch of Steak Knife. (2025, March, 1). Illustrated by Loh Kai Xuan.
Cleanup
Fig 7. Cleaned illustration of Steak Knife. (2025, March, 1). Illustrated by Loh Kai Xuan.
Fig 8. Knives in England Storyboard. (2025, March, 2). Illustrated by Loh Kai Xuan.
✦ Data Collection
References:
1. Christofle. (n.d.). Different Types of Knives.
Christofle.
2. Emily Post. (n.d.). Proper Table Setting 101. Emily Post.
3. Victoria Eggs. (2023, February 22). Mind Your Manners - Great
British Dining Etiquette. Victoria Eggs.
4. Ernie Smith. (2017, September 28). The Secret History of
Steak Knives. Popular Mechanics
➤ Back to top ✮♱ ༻¨*:·
Task 3 ✮♱ ༻¨*:·
Creating the Outcome
Fig 9. General Voice Channel Screenshot. (2025). Taken by Avery.
Another meeting was set! We used this time to discuss how to
proceed and make our idea a reality. The tasks were split into
the following:
✦ Character Concept, Design and storyboard:
- Cleaver: Avery/Wen Chia
- Gyuto: Selina
- Dao bào nhỏ: Btari
- German Knife: Wallace
- Chef Knife: Yeng San
- Steak Knife: Kai Xuan
✦ Introduction and Ending Script:
- Everyone
✦ Video Team [in charge of bringing the story to life]
- Animatics: Kai Xuan
- Video Editing: Avery
✦ Social Media Team [Post and manages social media content]
- Instagram: Btari
- Tiktok: Wallace
✦ Documentation Team [Presentation design & Recording Process]
- Yeng San
- Selina
˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
My Sprite: Steak Knife
Fig 10. Steak Knife Sprite Sheet. (2025). by Kai Xuan.
This is the final render of my character sprite, the Steak
Knife! I went for a cool and sleek look, referencing the woods
of Savernake knife set. A waiter aesthetic is to reference the
knives being placed at dining settings and etc.
˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
Animatics
As I was in charge of animating, I get to work after getting
the images, character sprites, storyboards and the voicelines
from each group member.
Fig 12. Flipaclip audio edit Screenshot. (2025). Taken by Kai Xuan.
✦ After compiling and editing the audio sent, I import it into my
trusty software: Flipaclip. It may be known as a more beginner
tool but as we are tight on time and I had half a decade of experience
with it, I decided to utilize it for speed and
quality.
Fig 13. Timelapse of French Knife. (2025). Kai Xuan.
✦ It's definitely boring to tell my step by step so here's a process
video I took of me working on the French Knive's Video. I went
for a quirky, fun and simple animation to attract
viewers but also making it easier for us to work with in this
short timeframe.
Fig 14. Telegram Screenshot. (2025). Taken by Kai Xuan.
✦ After animating, I then pass it to my teammate Avery, who will add
subtitles and necessary audio. With that, video is
complete!
Fig 15. Tiktok and Instagram Homepage. (2025). Taken by Kai Xuan.
✦ The final step is to let the social media team proof check,
type descriptions and hashtags and post it on
our Instagram and Tiktok page. I also update the
documentation team so that they can record our video
making process!
˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
WATCH THE REST OF OUR VIDEOS HERE!
˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
Our presentation:
Feedback ✮♱ ༻¨*:·
✦ Week 1:
Choose everyday topics, having cultural relation helps.
✦ Week 2:
Weapons do not count as everyday design, at least in Malaysian
context. So choosing something else will be easier to research.
✦ Week 3:
Knives can be a good topic, can compare the different cultures of
cooking knives, or for eating
✦ Week 4:
Consider making our Tik Tok content about our group being knife
fanatics. make things interesting by doing short form content or funny
story documentaries.
✦ Week 5:
Use the results from our survey and quizzes to prove our problem
statement and why we chose to do educational shorts.
✦ Week 6:
Working on Task 3 [No consultation]
✦ Week 7:
Keep up the good work but be more constructive with the blog so
that it looks cohesive between group members. More visuals and
clearer, simple info in the slides.
Reflection ✮♱ ༻¨*:·
This assignment taught me a lot on the topic of intercultural design and
finding out that everyday design was not as simple as we think and is
also a crucial part of our lives. It made me much aware of the
connection between culture and design.
I had fun working with my teammates to create a series. It was a hectic
yet fun journey even though things don't always go our way. Being able
to bring the knowledge we observed, learnt and analyzed to the world was
an amazing experience I would want again in the future!
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