38 years of research and professorship.
6 genres of Chinese storytelling.
Hours of footage on her hard drive.
Emeritus Professor Susan Blader has retired from Dartmouth with a video collection of China’s most accomplished storytellers. At the DALI Lab, we created a website to honor this cultural art form.
Time: Jan - Mar 2020
Tools: Figma, Procreate
Team: Worked closely with a product manager, 1 designer, and 1 developer.
1. Research
2. Illustrations
3. Information Architecture
Dive into the world of Chinese storytelling and experience the rich history of Susan Blader’s research. Explore each genre as you wish.
Storytellers across China have different dialects, instruments, props, and narrative style. Peruse the nuances of each genre and pick a video that interests you most.
Watch the storytellers perform. Pay attention to the tone and rhythm. Read the plot summary if you don’t understand the dialect, or enjoy the live translation of Susan Blader herself.
The primary challenge of this project was understanding the history of Susan Blader’s work. Over many weeks of conversation, Susan Blader stressed the nuances of the art form. I grew a strong desire to honor these storytellers, many of whom have already passed. The best way to do so was to ensure cultural accuracy.
Having grown up in Shanghai, my familiarity with the language and culture helped me effectively communicate with Professor Blader about the specific instruments that were used in each storytelling genre. Carefully referring to each instrument, I drew illustrations on Procreate for each of the six genres.
Susan Blader’s collection included 22 videos from 13 storytellers, categorized into 6 genres. I organized the videos and created the structure for the website.
