Anastasia Kharchenko

Acting is closely connected to graphic design. The way actors create their characters, experience imaginary circumstances, and reflect the truths of the real world are all relevant to design practice. Magic If is an acting teaching technique created by the theater practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski. It calls for imagining oneself in a set of fictional circumstances, which drive the actor to make action choices. The project Magic If is an experimental collection of three books and a foldout poster based on the interaction between design and acting. Magic If proposes a different way of going through a design process. The books include exercises that help designers to make connections between ideas and their meanings. The project allows designers to connect with their process on a deeper level through understanding first each stage, then the concept as a whole, much as an actor responds with a visual presentation, an experience after a connection with thought. The books feature writings and exercises from theater and design thinkers such as Stanislavski and Michael Rock alongside visual and conceptual symbols that represent ideas. Magic If is a playfully serious resource. It poses the question how the choices we make affect the way we act and create under imaginary circumstances.