Wise Monkeys

Fig: 1 - The oldest depicted mural form of the three monkeys is found in Toshogu temple in Nikko, Japan. (Credits: Creative Commons)

PICTURING THE MONKEYS

UNI invites Architects, Visual/Graphic Designers, and the student fraternity for the first edition of its series of Graphic Design Challenges as part of its unit block, Graphis. 

Challenges under ‘Graphis’ are carefully curated to bring out the best of visual communication and graphic language to educate, reflect, and inspire change with respect to pertinent world issues through visuals. 

A picture is worth a thousand words, and Graphis abides by that adage, to inspire participants to try and portray complex ideas and emotions through a still image. 

The competition understands the importance of efficient and effective communication in the digital age and aims to recognise innovative ideas and techniques that aim to redefine the notions guiding conventional graphic design, and foremost, create impact.

Fig: 2 - A type of modern interpretation of this motif is "Hear, see, and speak out loud for what you stand for", which resonates with many people in contemporary times. (Credits: Creative Commons)

THREE’S OF TODAY

The three wise monkeys are a pictorial depiction of legend hard to trace back to its origin but of significance in the Buddhist culture. The oldest legend is said to be of the belief that human beings have three wicked worms that live in them, that note down every sin they do and report it to a higher being once every sixty days. 

Various forms of the legend are found throughout Asia, but they all commonly depict three monkeys, one closing its eyes to see no evil, one closing its ears to hear no evil and one closing its mouth to say no evil. While the interpretations of this idea may change through religions and continents even, the message that it tries to convey remains the same, avoid bad things, do good things. 

The aim of the competition brief is to make a poster/artwork in the form of a visual illustration.

The illustration should depict the legend and message delivered by the three wise monkeys for the modern generation using just red, yellow and blue colours as a theme. 

The three wise monkeys remain a strong messenger even today, remaining unchanged for centuries. This project must propagate the social message to be relevant to the younger generation.

DELIVERABLES

You have to deliver a graphic/visual outcome representing the given theme, based on the following outlines. Only one final graphic design needs to be submitted. The image should be of size [2800px x 3200px] in portrait or landscape digital format (JPEG only). The graphic may be entirely hand-drawn and rendered, digitally created, or a combination of both. The usage of photographs, stylized/credited or otherwise, directly is strictly not allowed. 

The use of lassoed graphics lifted from an existing image is limited to half of the total graphic. (The guidelines are indicative, and are placed only to reduce plagiarized artworks – any infringement detected or reported will be notified, and may be removed from competition if found guilty).

The list of deliverables are:

1. Title

2. Subtitle

3. Artwork

4. A few process images

5. A statement in about 100 words supporting the artwork - You can attach this as an additional image below your artwork

OBJECTIVES

Awareness: Primary aim is to inform and spread information about this issue.

Expression: The graphic should effectively communicate its intent and idea to the viewer.

Lucidity: Clarity in composition and intent to communicate the idea better.

Visual Delivery/Aesthetics: A distinct visual language to help the graphic stand out for better communication.