For the final Jade Peony Project, I was able to contribute to a number of different parts. In terms of brainstorming, I was able to come up with ideas for many of the rides, shows, characters and smaller details for the park. I was put in charge of fleshing out and writing the descriptions for the rides, as well as I helped modify and edit some of the show paragraphs. When it came to designing, I came up with the design for the brochure based off of a 1930’s brochure that my group found online. From there, Annie and I both worked on formatting the text and organizing the sections as well as adding illustrations and pictures for each of the spare parts. I also helped design the PowerPoint presentation and the three posters for each of the shows. I came up with my own script to present the rides, shows and merchandise with Annie. Throughout the entire project, I really enjoyed the creative freedom and had a lot of fun brainstorming and bouncing ideas with my group!
During the duration of the project, I think that it really helped me look at some of the bigger ideas and themes of the Jade Peony. Because the book feels very separate and in small disconnected ideas, the act of having to pull big ideas from each part and drawing recurring themes throughout was learning process. For example, for the Poh Poh rollercoaster, we really had to think about what connects all three kids, that person being the grandma. I also think that I was able to simplify a lot of the characters too. Up close, a lot of the main characters in The Jade Peony are complex and a bit confusing, but when we were forced to take a step back and simplify them, they were easier to understand. When I was looking at what made Jung Sum up, it was a bit difficult at first, but it was almost like a puzzle that I had to put together based off of the way he acts in certain situations until I got a simplified Jung Sum. To my surprise, looking at the project through the means of simplifying it made the book a lot more digestible!
