Innovation Design Engineering (MA/MSc)
Charlotte Qin
Charlotte Qin is a designer working at the intersection of art and science. Born in China and raised in Canada, Charlotte has a unique background in visual art and science before joining the IDE programme at the RCA. Currently creating under QinTheory Studio based in Geneva, Charlotte's creation has always been motivated by her curiosity and love for nature.
As a designer and artist, Charlotte has contributed to the research of eco-economics, complexity science, quantum physics, neuroscience, HCI, BioDesign. She has worked and collaborated with various research institutes including CERN(Geneva, Switzerland), Graduate Institute of Geneva, Campus Biotech (Geneva, Switzerland), Bell Labs (Cambridge, UK), Imperial College London, and the University of Edinburgh.
Charlotte's vision for the future is that the long-divorced fields of Art and Science become one unified, dynamic dance of humanity. Her mission with QinTheory Studio is to continue combining art and science by converting scientific knowledge to design solutions and integrating artistic methodology into the process of scientific research.
Sponsors
QinTheory Studio
Growth and healing is the theme of 2020. The world is not going back to before Covid-19, just like we, as humans, are not capable of going backward in physical time to reverse our traumas. This is where healing comes in: to heal is to grow in resilience and compassion.
The following profile showcases a series of work Charlotte has created on her personal healing journey throughout her own mental health lowlands, but also her research in psychology and neuroscience that led to designing and developing methods for the healing of others.
Charlotte is also working for her solo exhibition in Geneva on August 13th, where she will be exhibiting four of her latest paintings that explore different stages of consciousness in the human psyche and its relationship to the cosmos.
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Mindscape is a mind-mapping tool designed to visualize intuitive thinking and to create an intimate self-inquiry environment for individuals.
Based on the fundamental working of the mind, Water Logic(1994, Edward de Bono), Mindscape offers a practice to visually explore the patterns and relationships of the momentary consciousness. Water Logic metaphorically describes the brain’s thought process as the flow of water, from one thought flows to the next, and eventually forms a cyclical pattern. By mimicking the way our brain is functioning, one’s seemingly chaotic thinking monologue can be reduced to schematics of perceptions that illustrate which are the dominant thoughts and which lead to cyclical patterns.
The visualization of mindscapes disrupts the conventional graphic usage of nodes and arrows by incorporating the shape of butterfly wings to indicate the direction of thinking. Butterflies speak for metamorphosis, which symbolizes healing and growth. This abstraction adds a layer of human touch to the interpretation of personal stories and emotional data.
Mindscape is an acquirable technique both in the forms of physical workshops and digital applications (https://mindscapes.io). It has been demonstrated through user testing that Mindscape has psycho-therapeutical potential that can be used as an alternative to traditional journaling practices.