Art and Design Commons^™

Creating An Index To Graduate Theses To Support Their Discoverability, Ellen Petraits

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

As a Research and Instruction Librarian, one of the most frequent questions I'm asked is how to find past theses on a particular topic or theme. There is an active thesis culture at RISD that goes beyond writing and binding a text. An exhibition is held in the graduate gallery to celebrate a curated selection of theses at the beginning of the academic year. (See Book of Thesis Books) Theses can range in format from an artist book to a loose-leaf portfolio. Many emphasize the visual and are a bridge to the student’s studio work. They may include unusual or …

Ux/Ui Hub: User Experience/User Interface Information Hub For Navigating College, Sydney Yae-Rhee Leia Kong

Graphic Communication

The User Experience, User Interface (UX/UI) industry has grown exponentially in the last couple of years. According to a PubMed Central journal article, Understanding UX Better, UX has attracted an increasing interest in recent years, extending the views on usability. This growth exists both in academic institutions and the technology industry, evidenced by increasing numbers of UX-related degrees at undergraduate and graduate levels and also by high job demand (Marques). With this new emergence, the Graphic Communication (GrC) major, specifically the concentration in UX/UI, has caught the attention of numerous prospective Cal Poly SLO students interested in front-end design and …

I Hate The Beach., Isabela Isaac

Student Sequential Art and Comics

This 8-page zine illustrates a cat and its distaste for the beach. Luckily, a new friend makes things a little bit better.

Digital Transformation And Design For Maintainability In Industrial Design, Ahmed Tarek Mohamed Fathy, Salwa El Ghareeb, Yasser Shaban

Journal of Art, Design and Music

In this paper, we explore the impact of the rapid digital transformation in Applied Arts and Design and its influence on the realm of Maintainability. We examine how CAD, 3D modeling, have revolutionized the conceptualization and prototyping stages, enabling precise idea communication and immersive representations. Specifically, we focus on Design for Maintainability (DfMn) and its critical aspects such as repairability, serviceability, maintainability, and reliability, which significantly affect cost and user satisfaction. By leveraging this tool, designers can create highly maintainable and user-friendly products. The transformative potential of this tool in industrial design is highlighted, providing promising avenues for future research …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

The Integration Of Interactive Packaging Within Firestone Brewery Ipa Beverage Cans, Lauren Nicole Gibson

Graphic Communication

The use of interactive packaging to pair music with india pale ale would enhance and the customer experience.

Energy Analysis Of The Integration Of Hrv And Direct Evaporative Cooling For Energy Efficiency In Buildings: A Case Study In Iraq, Husham Al-Naseri, Robert Fryer, Ali Samir

College of Architecture and the Built Environment Faculty Papers

Responding to climate change and adapting to global warming requires creative solutions. In Iraq, the most reliable and popular tool to have buildings cooled is airconditioning units (AC). While an evaporative cooler is not enough to achieve thermal comfort in a very hot climate, AC units consume a lot of energy which causes a significant load on the grid in Iraq resulting in increasing the emissions of CO2. This paper investigates the potential energy-saving associated with adopting a new arrangement of heat recovery ventilation (HRV) unit and evaporative cooler to achieve thermal comfort with far less energy. Two sets of …

Apple “Porn” 2.0: Apple’S Vision (Pro), Suzanne E. Ferriss

Class, Race and Corporate Power

This article extends the argument made in “Apple ‘Porn’: Design Videos as Seduction and Exploitation” (Ferriss 2018) to consider the corporation’s filmed representation of its newest device: an augmented reality headset dubbed Vision Pro. It argues that Apple’s latest narratives further relegate human work and community to the margins by presenting human experience as thoroughly mediated by computer-enhanced simulation, its pinnacle achieved through its Apple Vision Pro headset that turns the home and workspace into one immersive audiovisual world. Rather than its devices and software becoming an inseparable part of our personal and shared spaces, they become the spaces. We …

Sustainable Product Design Education Through An Appreciation Of The Low-Tech, Ceri Almrott

Conference papers

The paper presents a case study on the implementation of Low-Tech development model to teach sustainability in design-led programmes. The author argues that sustainability education should include not only the technical aspects of sustainability theory but also the underlying social aspects. The low-tech approach fits well in design-led modules since it encourages students to consider appropriate technological solutions for design projects while focusing on user behaviour to develop articulate solutions. The study explores the pedagogical approach of the content used to teach the design module and introduces a low-tech design workshop to aid students in implementing learning. The results of …

Using Artificial Intelligence For Enhancing Human Creativity, Mayssa Ahmad Ali Elfa, Mina Eshaq Tawfilis Dawood

Journal of Art, Design and Music

Often the motive behind the use of any new technology is to increase the quality of innovative artwork. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the process of creating intelligent machines that can imitate or exceed human abilities in specific tasks. AI has become an important part of our daily lives, influencing many areas of our lives. As this technology evolves and becomes more sophisticated, it will eventually revolutionize the way we use computers. Researchers are looking for ways to expand the scope of artificial intelligence by providing people with more powerful tools to develop their creativity. At the same time, they are …

Moving In, Moving Up, Moving On : The Adaptation And Preservation Of Chinese Diasporas Through Food, Jieqi Yao

Masters Theses

Moving In, Moving Up, Moving On explores the processes of Chinese culture and space in America of adaptation, assimilation, and preservation that underlie food changes. As Chinatowns across the US have evolved and residents have relocated, former centers of Chinese cultural identity have progressively transformed into restaurant districts with increasingly diverse populations and space gentrification.

The thesis argues that food is central to preserving cultural memory and reducing the generation divide. In the context of the Chinese diaspora transformation, culture has changed food in different spaces, and it gives people more choices to acquire and exchange information and values through …

Food, Drink, Time, New Year And Cloth, Jian Li

Masters Theses

My project uses traditional Chinese calligraphy culture and my own family stories to create five daily use products to help my user find a sense of belonging to Chinese culture and also introduce my culture and stories to all audiences.

As an international student who came to the US, I have often struggled with a lack of cultural identity and belonging. This is a common issue faced by many who choose to leave their homes and venture to new places. However, I believe that we can overcome this by creating products that generate an emotional connection with their users.

Postindustrial Playbook++, Maxwell Fertik

Masters Theses

There is no such thing as an undisrupted ecosystem. Every inch of the planet is impacted by industrial development and its chemical legacy has mutated the soil and water. As a response, this thesis is designed to promote abundant over extractive resources and visualize a post-industrial reality. It consists of a series of objects, writing and design research on the relationship of industry and ecosystem.

In many ways it is a playbook++, laying out possible strategies or “plays’’ for making do with what exists around us amid collapse.

Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica)(ي'ڑ*), a plant that grows in the most degraded …

The Meaning Of A Choice, Julie-Louise Zeitoun

Masters Theses

If you are disabled or disadvantaged, you will be dismissed and stifled. Few people will actively care for your struggles. As a person with autism, I was deeply fearful of the persecution I had faced throughout my life; it was a fear that followed me with terrifying determination. I desperately wanted to blend into society. So I designed myself to be devoid of any weakness, and productivity was the way I chose to conceal any difficulties I faced. It was a way to measure my success — a way to measure my normalcy.

Standard medical textiles are generic, cumbersome devices. …

Freedom Is A Leaky System: Living Together In The Mess, Calgary Haines-Trautman

Masters Theses

Litter is upsetting.

People upset by litter often misunderstand its sources. Those for whom state power has worked look for simple solutions that seek to surveil, fine, and punish culprits.

Reality is messy.

The path of trash from hand to landfill requires a series of successful transfers between receptacles and responsibility. Wind, accidents, and spills in automated systems complicate trash’s path from here to away. Out of this complexity, leaks accumulate—visible issues without clear causes or responsibility.

Leaks are unavoidable.

There is an irreducible gap between the world as it is and our models of it. In this mismatch, …

Knot, Just Craft It, Qingxian Xu

Masters Theses

The thesis aims to explore the intersection of traditional crafts and modern design by modernizing traditional Chinese crafts like knitting and knotting. The objective is to preserve the aesthetic, cultural, and utility values embedded in these crafts while creating a series of home-scaled furnishing designs that offer a self-making experience.

By applying traditional crafts to modern daily life, the thesis seeks to give new life to the essence of traditional crafts and create new life experiences that are accessible to more consumers. The focus will be on creating modern designs that incorporate traditional knotting and knitting techniques, while also offering …

Making That Carries Over, Jae Nam

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the making and building of a motorcycle.

A Preliminary Guide To Building New Futures In The Narragansett Bay, Maximilian Werner

Masters Theses

Water, the Ocean and its coasts, estuaries, tidal zones, and waterways are fundamentally necessary to the existence of all life on earth. About half of the world’s population (3 Billion people) live approximately 120 miles from a coastline. The oceans themselves shelter half of all life and sequester about 30% of global carbon emissions – some two gigatons a year. Although they occupy only 0.2% of the seafloor, seagrass ecosystems absorb as much as a tenth of all the organic carbon absorbed by the ocean every year. However, only a fraction of Narragansett Bay’s eelgrass beds remain, having been compromised …

A Part Apart, Spenser Atlas

Masters Theses

I am fascinated by connections. Things that click, snap, slide, and hold. I care about the ways in which objects meet, looking for answers in the space between. What binds one thing to another?

I believe the world is presented to us in pieces. It’s hard to say how it all comes together. It's easy to believe things are shapeless and detached from each other. Connection is a bridge, a way of linking one thing to another that reveals interdependence, and eventually moves outwards to express a correlation between pieces, once assumed to be discrete and isolated.

This work is …

Barbershop Brand Redesign, Fady Tawfik

Graphic Communication

My friend Julz has been a barber for 6 years and I recognized the opportunity to assist him in rebranding his barber business. I faced challenges such as finding a brand identity that aligned with the business owner’s preferences while effectively representing the business to the target audience. Despite encountering some delays in completing initial deliverables, such as logo design and brand guidelines, these challenges were essential to ensure thorough research and crafting of a compelling brand strategy. The project encompassed redesigning the website, creating an enticing logo and brand identity, developing a cohesive color palette, and selecting appropriate typefaces. …

The Center For Centering Dome, Olek Piechaczek, Ryan M. Scharf

Architectural Engineering

The Center for Centering seeks to create a large-scale healing center, conducive to individual centering of the mind and body. This mobile installation provides a relaxing, enclosed space while still maintaining a connection to the outdoors. The clients liked the idea of having a pop-up installation that could be easily set up as a touring display. With a deadline for installation looming in June 2022, a team of students had five months to design and manufacture the structure.

In winter 2022, the students developed custom geometry to minimize the number of individual parts and built a ¼ scale model of …

Or Read The Wikipedia Entry For The Parable Of The Tower Of Babel But Imagine It’S 2023 This Time And We’Re Getting So Close Just Give The Artist A Little More Of Your Money, David Thonis

Theses and Dissertations

Systems and their inherent design underlie everything in contemporary life. Design exists to facilitate interaction, to ease workflow, to keep us producing. As such, it exerts its own control.

Through disassembling recurring conventions in design, I look to break with preconceptions of logic. To deny functionality. In doing so, my intention is to dislocate the user from the usual patterns of applicable systems.

The resulting discomfort may feel strange, disembodied, but it should be embraced. Long have capitalism’s solutions created more problems. In the face of this complexity, and beyond it, there can be freedom.

Student Preferences On The Development Of A Non-Alcoholic Beverage Product To Alleviate The Negative Impact Of Alcohol On College Campuses, Cecilia Azar

Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Alcohol abuse and peer pressure to drink are prominent issues on college campuses across the nation. More than 50 percent of college students aged 18 to 22 consume alcohol monthly and 33 percent consistently engage in binge drinking (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2021a). A non-alcoholic beverage product marketed to students as an alternative to alcohol in social settings could alleviate some of the negative impacts, such as peer pressure and the dangers caused by overconsumption.

Through two phases, this study implements University of Arkansas student preferences and recipe modification in the development of a non-alcoholic beverage product …

Creating Character, Alexa Tenney

Honors Projects

This project explores the relationship between merchandise development and narrative development, with a specific focus on the creative development between dolls and animation. Through exploration of these creative mediums, I began to question: How does the creative process combining animation and merchandise develop, and what is the impact on the final product? This concept is broken down even further to focus specifically on characters, and how creative characters are developed for dolls. This project provides an overview of the history of animation and merchandising beginning with Felix the Cat in the 1920s. Felix represents an instance of an animated character …

Making Space: How The Engd Makerspace Promotes Inclusion And Belonging, And Its Success In Doing So, Noah Crow

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This project is a comprehensive overview of efforts made in the ENGD Makerspace to strengthen community, make the space welcoming and inclusive to all students, and combat techno-centric norms and stereotypes that keep people from learning and participating in makerspaces. It includes research conducted on WWU students’ feelings and experiences in the Makerspace, which found that women and non-Engineering-and-Design-major students have lower self-reported feelings of belonging and being part of the Makerspace, and concludes with proposals on how to continue work facilitating an inclusive environment and increasing sense of belonging and participation for women, trans students, and non-majors.

Wheelie Clean Utility Table, Jacqueline Doto, Ots, Phoebe Perkins, Ots, Kyndall Scheffey, Ots, Jacob Rodriguez, Ids, Michael Leonard, Ma.Ed, Ms.Ed, Idsa

Program of Industrial Design Posters

Poster is of the "Wheelie Clean Utility Table" that has cleaning supplies which are attached and easily removed, as well as has lockable casters that are low profile and easy to maneuver.

Ez Leader, Kate Alonzo, Ots, Jordaniel Duran, Ids, Lauren Ettore, Ots, Serena Shim, Ots

Program of Industrial Design Posters

Poster is of the "EZ Leader" that is a buckle that was modified for K. due to specific client factors: 1) Easy release buckle; 2)Incorporated K.'s preferred dog collar, the gentle leader; 3) Incorporated cross body bag with magnets to store items while moving; and 4) Added adjustable Micro Educator to position wherever K. prefers it.

Ez Reach From Cabinets, Dabrina Konowal, Ots, Michelle Schlechtweg, Ots, Ryan Beenders, Ids

Program of Industrial Design Posters

Poster is of the "EZ Reach from Cabinets" that allows those with limited range of motion in shoulders to reach objects from the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet.

The Roll & Go Basket, Emily Christina, Ots, Sydney Melillo, Ots, Devon Franek, Ots, Benjamin Lentz, Ids

Program of Industrial Design Posters

Poster is of "The Roll & Go Basket" that is a multi-use storage basket for a rollator and on person use.

Ez-Go Stairs, Jaclyn Jankowski, Ots, Kristina Camille Manapat, Ots, Bokyung Seo, Ots, Cariah London, Ids

Program of Industrial Design Posters

Poster is of the "EZ-GO Stairs" that is a device that will provide support when walking up and down the stairs with a basket attached to carry the items hands-free, and is adapted to client's staircase, height and ensured storability.