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As I nearly arrived at my final line for this PhD, the latest PhD abstract and info will be upload soon. As for now.. what ever underneath here is just the process and have not been finalised yet. -August 2010

In this page I try to capture my research direction. Below is my idea of my research in 2008-09. The research progressed and the idea evolved.

Research Directions:

2010

Stereotypical icons and graphic representations plays a significant roles in shaping the construction of a country’s identity, and influenced in positioning the nations’ notion of their motherland national identity.
This study explores the relationship on how popular print mediums construct the notion of Malaysian national identity through stereotypical icon images.
It will examine through five decades spanning from 1957 to 2007 Malaysia as an independent nation. The case studies are made up of women magazine, cartoon compilations from various publications and national advertisement.
This research also attempted to follow on primary research questions. First, how Malaysian national identity is constructed in stereotypical icons and, second, how popular print mediums as populist, mass-culture oriented, unlike more elitist and officially sanctioned modes of cultural memory (i.e. national museums and achieves), as a ephemeral repository of cultural representation and images, has a significant role in construction of Malaysian national identity that often has been overlooked.

2009

Aim
The main aim of this PhD is to provide demonstration, through theorizing and documentation of design projects and exploration, on how the stereotypical concept of Malaysian national identity has been manufactured, packaged and contested through icons in Malaysian popular print media.

Contribution
This study intends to contribute discourse about graphic design and its connection to construction of national identity in educational institution level and practice, and to provide documentations to demonstrate its roles as icons manufacturer and identity constructer through popular print media, thus highlighting its significant contribution in shaping the construction of Malaysian national identity.

2008

This PhD research project is looking at how visual metaphors/stereotype image and cultural symbols are used in newspaper and magazine advertisements; and comic, to find out its influences in conveying and creating belief in shaping the nation’s identity so that it can/in order to demonstrate the significant role of communication design in constructing the evolution of Malaysia National Identity from 1957 – 2007, 5o years of Independence.