Hot New Things — Pon Huey Min, Media Design School

Welcome to Hot New Things 2019 – an opportunity to profile a selection of the top design graduates coming out of our tertiary institutions. This week, we speak with Pon Huey Min from Media Design School.

Pon Huey Min
Media Design School

You completed your full time studies at the end of 2018. Can you tell us what your final year’s project was about and what you focussed on?

2018 was an exciting year with lots of projects! My final year project explores political views in flat animation through symbolism. This is a collaboration project with a Malaysian indie rock band, KAYA to produce a music video for their song “Be Soul”. The song addresses the recent political events in Malaysia that caused significant change in freedom of speech in media. The aim of this project is to acknowledge the emotion and process that a nation has gone through to make change and to challenge the idea of how political views can be expressed. Through story telling, I aim to make politics a public conversation.

How has what you’ve recently been working on influenced your design process, and what momentum does it bring to your practice?

Directing and producing a music video by yourself is not easy! However this project has greatly taught me how to communicate with collaborators and manage expectations. No project goes as perfectly as planned, learning to adapt along the way is the way to work towards deadline. Through this process, I found my methodology that would be useful for me as a freelancer later on.

What were some of your most exciting discoveries?

In my project, fact checking the political events that happened is a crucial step in creating the characters. It is very exciting for me to follow up on the news about our ex-prime minister as he faces his consequences now for money laundering and corruption. It is also an exciting time to be a Malaysian, as we are making progress as a country to fight injustice!

And also some of the challenges along the way?

It was my first time doing path animations, so it took me a while to get the hang of it. Animating point by point was so different than cel animation!

What did you love doing most?

I really enjoy creating and animating flat character designs from complex subjects. The process of minimalizing the design to the simplest possible shape was challenging but satisfying. When their characteristics come through the animation, you know the keyframes are on point.

Where do you go to find inspiration (websites, resources, designers, etc)?

Instagram is actually a really good platform, I follow a lot of cool designers and motion companies for daily inspirations. I also frequently go to art exhibitions and workshops, it’s fascinating to see how other creative practitioners express themselves.

Why did you choose to study at your design school, and what do you feel you can take away now that you’ve completed your course?

Before coming to New Zealand, I completed a Diploma in Interactive Multimedia and discovered my interest in motion design. I chose to study at Media Design School because of the bachelor course they offer. During my studies here, I learn how to hone my soft skills to work together in a team to solve real design problems brought in from the industry.

Where to next for you? What does 2019 hold?

I’ll be working part time as a motion designer at PixelPush and also be freelancing at the same time. I have a few installation work to complete next year and hoping to pitch a few new ones to festivals. If anyone is keen to be on board, hit me up!