Bo-Yu Chen

As an international student, I was very excited about trying new things at the beginning of the term, but as a “non-proficient” speaker of English, I felt constantly frustrated by the language barrier which hindered my access to information and ability to communicate with my class. My frustrations contributed to a deep sense of loneliness which became the focus of my research. I became interested in personal perspectives of loneliness, in particular those of non-native/proficient speakers of English.

This digital space contains interviews conducted with international students in London. Through a series of playful Interactions in typography, it aims to facilitate empathy and an understanding of the challenges that communicating in a second language presents.
-
Please click the link to experience this digital space. You can also contact me for more information or to share your personal stories via the survey on the web.
-
https://aninvisiblewall.com/
-

At some point last year, whilst on the tube, I found an article in a discarded copy of The Economist about loneliness in London. This article indicated that Britain is the ‘loneliness capital of Europe’. In fact, London struck me as a lonely city when I started my new life here one and a half years ago.

As an international student, I was very excited about trying new things at the beginning of term; all the while, I felt quite frustrated with language barriers and cultural differences, which hindered my access to information and ability to communicate with my class as well as in daily life. According to research by the British charity The Forum, loneliness is also one of the toughest challenges facing migrants in London. 

Using this zine, I wanted to illustrate the problems with loneliness in London, through a combination of informative statistics and interviews conducted with migrants in the city. How does loneliness affect us in our day to day lives, and what can we learn from it?
-

A custom typeface, Arch is a fusion of architectural forms and bauhaus styles. Published in Type Family Reloaded 2019, the typeface combines high contrast and minimalist approach, and echoes my trip to Berlin at Christmas.