PAUSE,

This is a project mainly based on a simple shape square.

I have done researches and experiments to proceed my final outcome which is called "PAUSE". It is a brand that encourage people to to divide more time to pause for self-awareness.

After doing some researches, I found that the squares and circles are always being set together and they can represent opposite meanings, such as land and sky, or quiet and active.

In ancient Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organised into the cycles of Yin and Yang and formed into objects and lives. Yin is the receptive and Yang is the active principle.

Square is another side of circle, they complement and coexist with each other. Circle is more dynamic and active while square takes the receptive side, stable and quiet.

Square and circle

As squares and circles are always showing up together and they coexist with each other, so I decided to research them together to find out the differences and similarities between this two shapes.

Square and Pause

Square is a shape with 360 degree which is same as circle but with edges and corners. Hence the pause is needed while drawing a square. To prove the importance of pause, I set a visual experiment:

I have asked a few people to attend this visual experiment to draw two squares with continuous lines. The first one is a strict square, you need to draw every specific corner and straight line carefully. The second one is a casual square, you need to avoid any pause or deceleration at this one, and draw it in less than one second.

Case study

Pause is vital for forming a square. Square has also been used by some artists to represent or express the idea of pause.

Pause in music

In musical notation, the tune is represented by the oval and the pause is represented by the rectangle. Pause is another side of sound. They complement and coexist with each other.

Pause in life

The connection between two floors is a process of pausing.

Traffic light is one of the most common pause sign in life. How can colour-blind people accurately identify traffic lights?

I tried to change the shapes of traffic lights without changing their colours. I combined the shape of the light and the shape of wheels. As if the wheels are round then cars can move so green light is round, while the cars have to pause if the wheels turn square so that is the shape of red light. Yellow lights are a buffer from green to red lights so I regarded it as a connecting line.

Icon design

Punctuation is the pause of written language, above all the punctuation marks, comma is the most commonly used one. It is used to seperate parts of a sentence but not to end the words, there is always something after this mark.

Font design

I used the square module with different square holes to create this font. The black parts represent the pause of light.

I added the comma into my branding to create an open-ended atmosphere. The comma will actually become a pause while reading it, and it is easier for people to think that what will it be after that.