Introduction
Prachya Compiranont
MA Graphic Design
Camberwell College of Arts
University of the Arts London
2005-2006
I: Case Study
Pearng Kwam Kleun Wai (Mere Movement)
Naowarat Pongpaiboon
Translated by Chancham Bunna
Original verse in Thai language:
ร้อนที่แผดก็ผ่อนเพลาพระเวหา
พอใบไม้ไหวพลิกริกริกมา
ก็รู้ว่าวันนี้มีลมวก
เพียงกระเพื่อมเลื่อมรับวับวับไหว
ก็รู้ว่าน้ำใสใช่กระจก
เพียงแววตาคู่นั้นสั่นสะทก
ก็รู้ว่าในหัวอกมีหัวใจ
Translated verse:
Tempers the heat of the sun.
The mere trembling of a single leaf
Announces the coming of the wind.
The mere glint in reflecting ripples
To proclaim clear water; no, not glass.
A mere little pain shining in the eyes
To declare the existence of the heart.
The sound of the orginal verse:
ron tee pad koh pon plao prah way ha
por bai mai wai plik rik rik ma
koh roo wa wun nee mee lom wok
pearng kra peuam leuam rub wub wub wai
koh roo wa nam sai chai kra jok
pearng waew ta koo nun sun sa tok
koh roo wa nai hua ok mee hua jai
II: The Context
The aim of the project is to give the audience, who is a non-Thai language user, an opportunity to experience the space created by Glon Subharp, one of the most popular forms in Thai versification. The poem called Pearng Kwam Kleuan Wai or Mere Movement (Bunnag, 2004), which is written by Naowarat Pongpaiboon, one of the most famous Thai writers and poets, has been chosen to be investigated. To be recognized as Glon Subharp, The poem has been constructed following the specific rules that control the structure of the poem. The result of these rules appears to be the sound of the poem which is as important as the content of the poem for the reader to consider its beauty (Thongloh: 2544, 13). From the research, the rules of Glon Subharp can be divided into four categories, which are:
A stanza of Glon Subharp comprises two groups, each group contains two sentences, and each sentence has eight syllables (7-9 syllables are acceptable). Each stanza connects to each other by the rhyme in a specific position (diagram 03) and become a series telling a message or a story. There is no rule about the number of stanza in each poem, thus it is considered by the writer individually. To make it clear, I shall illustrate the graphic measuring the stanza in Mere Movement:
Diagram 01: The Stanza in Mere Movement
Each sentence in Glon Subharp consists a series of three phrases of two or three syllables each. These phrases can be phonological or syntactic. The 3-2-3 rhythm is the most popular form.
Diagram 02: The Rhythm in Mere Movement
There are two types of rhymes appear in Glon Subharp, which are, external rhyme linking sentences together, and internal rhyme which is the connection between the specific syllables in the sentence. The external rhyme is necessary as it is a fixed structure of the verse while the internal one is considered by the writer to create more value for the verse. The rhyme can be divided into two types, which are vowel and consonant rhymes. The external rhyme must be a vowel rhyme, while the internal one can be either a vowel or a consonant rhyme.
Diagram 03: The structure of the Rhyme in Glon Subharp
In Mere Movement, the rhyme can be demonstrated by this diagram:
Diagram 04: The Rhyme in Mere Movement
There are five phonemic tones; middle, low, high, rising and falling in Thai language. These are certain rules for the tonality in each stanza of the verse:
- The last syllable of the first sentence may have any of the five tones, although the mid tone is rarely used;
- The last syllable of the second sentence may have any tone except mid, with the rising tone preferred;
- The last syllable of the third sentence may have any tone except the same tone as the previous sentence, with the mid tone preferred; and
- The last syllable of the forth sentence cannot have the rising tone, the mid tone being the most preferred for this position.
The rules about tonality are very complicated for those who are not familiar with Thai language, as they need to understand how Thai alphabet represents sound. Though, the tone indication can be revealed in these tables:
Table 01: Tone indication in Thai language
To illustrate these rules about tonality in Mere Movement, the sound generated by each syllable has been represented by transforming each tone into colour.
Diagram 05: The phonemic tomes in Thai language represented by colour
Diagram 06: The Tonality in Mere Movement
According to the information about the rules controlling the structure of the poem, I believe that it is almost impossible for a non-Thai language user to appreciate the beauty of the poem since their chance is limited by the lack of understanding the rules. Even though the poem can be translated to another language, from Thai to English for instant, the only information that the reader can gain is the content of the poem. Nevertheless, for Thai people, they do not seem to have any trouble appreciating the poem even if they do not know those rules entirely. That is because the structure of the poem will finally appear in the sound of it. For this reason, as a graphic designer, I would like to propose the method of visualizing this unique sound of Thai poetry, to give back my audience the missing significance of the poem.
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III: The Outcome
For the outcome of my project, I began my design with an experimental graphic dealing with The Stanza and The Rhythm of Glon Subharp, and here is the result:
Graphic 01: The first attempt to visualize the structure of Glon Subharp by transforming each syllable into a geometric form
Although the graphic could illustrate some structure in Glon Subharp, it was not powerful enough to communicate the information of the verse to the audience. Thus, I tried to design the grid to deal with The Stanza and The Rhythm, and here is the result:
Graphic 02: The grid controlling the position of each syllable in one sentence
I then develop the grid to the poem I had written using the structure of Glon Subharp. Here is the result:
Graphic 03: The example of the poem controlled the position of each syllable by the grid
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IV: Visual Materials
I continued my experiment trying to develop the visual outcome in term of communication with my audience. For this attempt, I tried to transform the sound of the poem into a series of colour representing each tone. The method I used came from a scientific approach that colour is the perception of the frequency or wavelength of light, and can be compared to how pitch (or the phonemic tones in Thai language in this case) is the perception of the frequency or wavelength of sound (Wikipedia: Colour).
Diagram 07: The perception of the frequency phonemic tones in Thai language comparing to the visible spectrum
Diagram 08: How the colour represents each tone
When this method was developed to the poem, I came up with this result:
Graphic 04: A series of five colours representing each sound of the syllable in the poem
I then became aware that there was a problem when trying to compare colour and sound by scientific approach since it is more usual to the audience to evaluate the colour in a cultural context rather than a scientific one. Hence, I decided to test my design with only one colour but different saturations, and here is the result:
Graphic 05: A series of five different saturations in a colour representing each sound of the syllable in the poem
With this result, I found it was quite significant since it could create some dimension among the different saturations. However, I found later that there was a time involving in the poem. When reading the poem, it means the reader is spending a moment with it. And here is the diagram analyzing the issue:
Diagram 09: How the saturation represents each tone in Thai alphabet
I then developed the idea about duration in each syllable using specific software called Design By Numbers (DBN) to generate the visual graphic representing each tone in Thai language.
Graphic 06: Visual graphics indicating tone in Thai language generated by DBN
Before I move on, I shall remind you about how the project was developed. First I tried to visualize the poem using the idea about visible spectrum as an approach. I then experimented with the idea about the saturation, and finally, the idea about duration was added to the project.
Graphic 07: Visual materials for the project
And I finally came up with this graphic for the poem.
Graphic 08: A series of five different graphics indicating tones in Thai language representing the sound of the syllable in the poem
At this stage, there were several issues in the project that I was concerned. First is about the outcome of the project. I always wanted it to be a still graphic, same format as the poem, which is a writing, and left the space for the audience to create the movement within the graphic in their own mind. Still, the result never reached the effect I wanted it to be. Thus, I thought I had to change the direction of my project from a still graphic to a moving one in order to reach the aim of my project. Another concern is the complexity of the outcome. I was aware that there was too much information in my outcome that the audience needed to understand entirely in order to appreciate my project. It would be very difficult for my project to reach my audience with this graphic direction. Come to think about it, the idea of using the blinking light representing the sound came into my mind. Consequently, for my final outcome of the project, I decided to approach my design with the idea of using A light-emitting diode (LED) to generate the light representing the sound of each syllable in the poem just like while we are listening to the poem, but rather than hearing it, my audience would see the light generated by LEDs instead. For this method, I think it would be easier for my audience to participate with my design. Nonetheless, these LEDs are controlled by the structure of the poem. It is not appeared randomly to signify the sound but rather controlled by the system of how Thai alphabet represents sound (table 01-02). And the colour of each LED is decided by the designer according to the visible spectrum’s approach (diagram 07). Here is the diagram to show the result:
Graphic 09: The diagram showing the positions of LEDs corresponding to each syllable
The operating of LEDs can be demonstrated by giving an example of how does this system work. Let me show how the system is developed to the word "น้ำ(Nam)", which means water. The class of the consonant of this word is low, and this word has a falling tone mark. It means the final sound, according to the table 01, is high. Hence the LED representing this word will appear like this graphic (all the process will be analyzed and developed to the poem by the designer, the audience will only see the final result of it):
Graphic 10: A LED system representing the word "น้ำ(Nam)"
Picture 01: The physical light box developed from graphic 10
When developing this graphic to the poem, I came up with this final graphic to be represented by LEDs in the form of the light box.
Graphic 11: The final visual material to be developed to be a physical light box
The graphic can be analyzed by the diagram here:
Graphic 12: The visual reference for constructing the light box
From this diagram, there are 66 units of LEDs. Each one generated by following the diagram in graphic 09. Each unit will appear one by one exactly the same time that each syllable of the poem has been read. For the ones which is in The Rhyme’s positions, they will appear at the same time to represent The Rhyme, number 08 and number 11 (graphic 10) for instant. Moreover, by this method, the number of LED units will show the rules about The Stanza, and the time when the LED appears will demonstrate The Rhythm. As a result, my audience will experience the space created by the poem just like Thai people do, but rather than hearing it. They can see it instead.
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