EMILY YUN is a Graphic Designer based in NYC

DESIGN
ART DIRECTIONINFO

Cult of Cute: Visual Inquiry on Cuteness


Professor: Kelly Walters
Thesis, Print Design
Cult of Cute encourages dialogue on the matter, as an aesthetic so harmless in nature becomes equally menacing in different contexts. It uncovers contextual research that uncovers this aesthetic rooted in escapism, capitalism, and the subversive tools of soft power. The book investigates cultural perspectives from the West and East and explores the psychology behind cuteness, referencing ethologist Konrad Lorenz’s baby schema, or Kindchenschema.

The reader in later chapters can uncover how cute has taken over almost all corners of society through globalization and hyperconsumption, finding itself injected in darker corners of Internet subculture. Inspired by past research, personal writing, and archival images, this project set out to trigger a sense of eeriness through full bleed images of large round eyes and small creatures targeting its darker undertones, blurring the lines between Cute and Uncanny –– Power and Submission.

What is offered is an introspective reflection how the cute industry leads to harmful overconsumption and sustainability issues.  As for its oversaturation in media and evolution through the development of the Internet, it is somewhat easy to overlook dangerous rhetoric inherently tied to Asian-American identity politics. Why are we so drawn to cute and how far can it be applied as new definitions continue to emerge?

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