Love in the Time of Borderline

A — INSPIRATION AND RESEARCH

This project is a book made for people who suffer from borderline personality disorder (BPD). As I know, this sort of mental issue cannot be diagnosed and patients cannot get proper treatment in China either. Thus, I want to create this work to express myself and let all of you realize you are not the only one.

BPD is a personality disorder characterized by a long-term pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships, distorted sense of self, and strong emotional reactions. Those affected often engage in self-harm and other dangerous behaviors, often due to their difficulty with returning their emotional level to a healthy or normal baseline. Somebody describe they move through the world without skin.

Reference literature

• Get Me Out of Here
• Sometimes I Act Crazy
• Understanding the Borderline Mother
• The Buddha and the Borderline

On-screen

• Actress Winona Ryder as Suzanne in Girl, Interrupted
• Matsuko in Memories of Matsuko
• Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

B — MOODBOARD

MY MOST OF FILES MISSING …..

C — PHOTOGRAPHY

The photographs were taken during the lockdown period of the pandemic, around my neighbourhood and the old downtown area. My friend and I shared a quiet, heavy state of mind at the time. On impulse, I walked barefoot across a construction site — feeling the cold rising from the ground, the roughness, and the hardness beneath my feet. It was a brief yet powerful moment of connection with reality.

D — STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

The work is presented in three sections, each different in size but all within an A4 frame to ensure consistency.

The first section uses photographs, drawings, and a small amount of emotive text to give a first-person representation of the state of mind of a person with BPD. The images are intrinsically linked to each other, thus giving the work a montage form. The second section deals directly with the characteristics, causes, symptoms, and co-morbidities of BPD. The third section offers possible patient ideas for finding treatment and gauging whether it is suitable for them.

The use of a riding staple binding better represents the large number of interleaved pages. And the book is made of vintage special paper to reflect the archival feel.

E — PRINT (BOOK DESIGN)

In each section of the book, I conducted different forms of visual and conceptual experimentation.

Part One was inspired by the Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi, whose work often reveals subtle connections between seemingly unrelated things. I explored this idea by searching for hidden relationships and emotional resonance within contrasting images. For example, the intertwined hands of lovers bound by red thread resemble parasitic trees — dependent on each other, yet slowly draining one another’s life. Through this juxtaposition of metaphor and form, I aimed to preserve a sense of immediacy while opening a synesthetic experience for the viewer.

Part Two focuses on typographic and layout experimentation. Within a modular grid system, I practiced free composition and type customization to reflect the emotional rhythm of the theme. The overall aesthetic follows an archival sensibility, emphasizing texture, space, and the quiet tension between structure and spontaneity.

Part Three centers on information design, returning to clarity and structure. It translates emotional narrative into a rational visual system, guiding readers through a layered and deliberate flow of communication.