Art and Design Commons^™

Colormoo: An Algorithmic Approach To Generating Color Palettes, Joshua Rael

CMC Senior Theses

Selecting one color can be done with relative ease, but this task becomes more difficult with each subsequent color. Colormoo is an online tool aimed at solving this problem. We implement three algorithms for generating color palettes based off of a starting color. Data is collected for each palette that is generated. Our analysis reveals two of the algorithms are preferred, but under different circumstances. Furthermore, we find that users prefer palettes containing colors that are compatible, but not too similar. With refined heuristics, we believe these techniques can be extended and applied beyond the field of graphic design alone.

And The Road Will Take You There: What The Cartographer Said, Cassandra Sharri Labairon

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis of mixed-media pieces, The Cartographer series, combines, with stitches and rough lace work, miniature acrylic paintings, weavings, and various other elements. The materials come from three different spheres: traditional fine art materials, such as canvas and paint; handiwork materials, such as cross-stitch or needlepoint; reclaimed materials, such as burlap, wire, or string. Thread is used to both draw and connect. Stitches not only lock each element in place, they create links and relationships between painted pieces, thread, and empty space.

The mixed-media pieces were made in conjunction with chapbook of poetry titled, _And the Road Will Take You …

Mobile Indoor Positioning For Augmented Reality Systems, Robert B. Glass

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the creation and setup of a prototype that allows users of the device to interact within an indoor real world environment and a virtual environment simultaneously using high-tech common technology. The prototype is comprised of a small mobile device such as a cellular mobile phone, Raspberry Pi computer, a battery powered handheld Pico projector, and software developed for the Android OS. The software can easily be ported to other mobile and non-mobile operating systems. The mobile device must contain accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope embedded sensors as well as 802.11 wireless network chip. The prototype software implements an …

Portraiture And Text In African-American Illustrated Biographical Dictionaries, 1876 To 1917, Dennis Williams Ii

Theses and Dissertations

Containing portraiture and biography as well as protest text and affirmative text, African- American Illustrated biographical dictionaries made from 1876 to 1917 present Social Gospel ideology and are examples of Afro-Protestantism. They are similar to the first American illustrated biographical dictionaries of the 1810s in that they formed social identity after national conflict while contesting concepts of social inferiority. The production of these books occurred during the early years of Jim Crow, a period of momentous change to the legal and social fabric of the United States, and because of momentous changes in modern American print industries. While portraits within …

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Scoring Hamline University's Production Of "Macbeth", Andrew Brady

Departmental Honors Projects

This project represents a practical investigation into using original underscore in the modern theatrical experience. Over 40 minutes of cinematic, orchestral underscore were composed by the author specifically for Hamline University Theatre Department’s 2014 production of Macbeth. Using electronic scoring methods and digital playback strategies, the music was “performed” with variable timing that was able to directly match the performance of the actor’s for each show. The accompanying written musicological analysis explores the score’s uses of themes, spotting strategies, and integration of the show’s artistic concept. The analysis, in conjunction with the recorded score, demonstrates a cohesive effort to …

Teaching Strategies: How To Explain The History And Themes Of Abstract Expressionism To High School Students Using The Integrative Model, Kirk Maynard

Honors Theses

The purpose of my thesis is to create a guideline for teachers to explain art history to students in an efficient way without many blueprints and precedence to guide them. I have to focus my topic on Abstract Expressionism and the model that I will be using to present the concept of Abstract Expressionism will be the integrated model instructional strategy. The integrated model will serve as the guilde to creating well crafted art history lessons in the classroom. This integrated model will also be laid out and summarized in a lesson plan designed to give the teacher direction in …

Reorientation: A Journey Through Spatial Sequence, Eman Alsulaimani

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction | The building for this thesis project is one with a long history. Originally built as the First Baptist Church, it was converted over the years to fulfill a role completely different from its original intent; a student center! During this process and after a series of renovations, the Broad Street main grand entrance lost its place and the arrival into the building became much less choreographed. Essentially, over time one could say that this building had been flipped around, it has lost its original intent, grandeur and purpose. Hypothesis | I challenge the idea of flipping the building …

The Space Between, Aaron Joseph Mcelfish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This series of abstracted landscapes is a visual representation of a challenge to step outside of my comfort zone. The paintings are an expression of emotions never before presented in the artist's work. The series expresses the visceral sensation of isolation, anger, and solace experienced throughout the creation of the work. The abstracted landscapes are an expression of the journey from anger and frustration to a path towards understanding and enlightenment. In the early stages, there were no tangible plans, just painting on tar-paper. The work then evolved to black and white latex paints built up over joint compound and …

Why Pass On Fashion Viral Message? The Moderating Role Of Consumers’ Fashion Traits, Message Traits And Individual Dynamics Traits In Social Media, Caroline Makena Kobia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Social media is being used as platforms for viral marketing. Although there is some evidence on the usefulness of viral marketing from the marketers’ perspective, little is known about the motivations, attitudes, and behaviors of consumers engaged in this marketing instrument. As the social media platform continues to grow, understanding the characteristics and motivations of key players is invaluable for marketers and communicators who deal with message strategy and media outreach. Fashion companies have noticed this change and want to be present in the social media in different ways. This research represents a comprehensive attempt to examine the factors that …

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid: Exploring The Rhetoric Of The Monster In Political And Horror Posters Of The 20th Century, Julia Lane

Theses : Honours

Australia’s current social and political climate takes us back to a time when there was a strongly perceived fear of the other. This fear is heavily reflected by the monsters which we, as a society, create. This research unearths the constructed monsters of the 20th Century for a critical assessment of what makes a monster. More specifically, it focuses on depictions of monsters within political and horror poster designs. The purpose of this research is to identify and respond to the rhetoric apparent within and between poster images, specifically concerning the cultivation of fear of the other through the …

A Leap In The Dark: Identity, Culture And The Trauma Of War Mediated Thorough The Visual Arts Of North-East European Migrants And Émigrés To Australia After 1945, Eileen Whitehead

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores the contribution to the cultural life of post-war Australia by migrant artists from north-eastern Europe. It researches the lives and work not only of displaced artists arriving in the mass exodus from Europe after the Second World War, but also second and third generation artists descended from original migrant families, and much later émigré artists.

Art histories written to date about the post-war period provide little coverage of the contributionto the art and culture of Australia by migrant artists from north-eastern Europe. The coverage in the literature written about the visual art produced by established Australian artists …

Cultures Of Practice Within Design: An Exploration Of The Differences And Similarities Between Photography And Painting As Representational Practices, Alun John Price

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Contemporary designers and photographers face many challenges as the profession rapidly develops. This is especially the case in in the Western Australian context. A review into the recent history of the Western Australian design profession is evidence that designers and photographers are consistently shifting between commercial and self-expressive practice. However, the urge to keep up with technological advancement has masked conscious development of this shift, which is a key to self-realisation and improvement for a designer and photographer. This lack of conscious questioning limits holistic development in design practice. This research reflects on myself as a designer developing a response …

Slow Fashion: Developing A Conceptual Apparel Design Process, Stefanie Ann Ramirez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore the application of a pre-existing apparel design process model and design framework to the development of a conceptual slow fashion apparel design process and framework. A content analysis of slow design and slow fashion literature identified 38 themes related to specific design criteria, which were applied to design considerations from the Lamb & Kallal Functional, Expressive, and Aesthetic (FEA) model (1992). Additional design considerations were revealed due to the nature of the research topic and relationship to the stages in the applied design framework. For the Slow Fashion Apparel Design model five …

Side A, Side B, Hong Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

I believe that aural and visual language can contribute and inspire one another. Sound evokes the emotions and the senses. It is a catalyst for our imagination. It can be combined with imagery for the purpose of communication, harmoniously or contrastively. Both have corresponding characteristics—color/timbre, brightness/pitch, length/duration, scale/volume, composition/rhythm—and thus provide ways of transforming each other back and forth as input and output. Computer technology has increased the ease of transforming and manipulating the two. In my thesis project, I explore sound visualization, sound/image transformation and combination.

Designing Connection, Laurie K. Culshaw

Theses and Dissertations

Social connection is an essential human need. Personal connections exist at a variety of depths and within different types of relationships. Small daily choices determine the strength of those connections and their impact on our well-being as individuals and as a community. Modern society and technology have altered the speed and channels of connection, increasing communication but decreasing meaningful connection. It is critical to understand how the methods of communication affect the depth of connections. Through a series of participatory graphic design projects, I analyze the strengths and weaknesses of one-on-one, small group and community connections within an established taxonomy …

Pools / Dreams / Parental Gaze, Tal Gafny

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a testimony of thoughts and ideas that have been circulating in my studio for the past few years, in their current form. It is also an experiment in writing an autobiographical piece of prose. It was written parallel to, and after, making the film Double Take with Perrin Turner. The film is an exploration of a number of relationships, related and sometimes haunted by one another. I wish for this text to operate not only as an after-the-fact recollection of thoughts, but also in relation to what will follow it – similarly to the way a trailer …

Co-Creation: A Study Of Intimacy And Control, Erin Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing from ongoing revitalization initiatives in Richmond, Virginia, this adaptive reuse project creates a structured dialogue between public and private expression to create a more immersive gallery experience for viewer and practitioner. The gallery experience is twofold; traditional object-based display and nontraditional process-based display. Preservation of the historic fabric of the existing Handcraft building at 1501 Roseneath is integrated with the transformative potential of introducing voyeuristic opportunities in creating a community arts center. Notions of voyeurism will center around ideas of visual connection and physical separation. This project questions if tactics of voyeurism, which inherently create physical barriers, can facilitate …

Fluid Realities: A Light On Life's Journey, Neta-Grace Coleen Shepherd

Theses and Dissertations

Images of nature and family comprise the gestural and abstracted interpretations of my life events. I use my photographs as inspiration for my work. I fuse layers of color, light, and line into glass and onto wood to suspend a personal memory. I want to capture those moments that flit by in life and envelop them in the media.

In my fused glass work, I manipulate color, light, and line. In these pieces, I layer frits and sheets of glass onto an abstract sculpted relief of fiberglass and fuse them into one thick slab. The sculpted relief creates a textured …

The E-Volving Picturebook: Examining The Impact Of New E-Media/Technologies On Its Form, Content And Function (And On The Child Reader), Stella K. Reinhard

Theses and Dissertations

The technology of the codex book and the habit of reading appear to be under attack currently for a variety of reasons explored in the Introduction of this Dissertation. One natural response to attack is a resulting effort to adapt in a bid to survive. Noël Carroll, leading American philosopher in the contemporary philosophy of art, touches on this concept in his discussion of the evolution of a new medium in his article, “Medium Specificity Arguments and Self-Consciously Invented Arts: Film, Video, and Photography,” from his Cambridge University Press 1996 text, Theorizing the Moving Image. Carroll proposes that any …

The Effects Of Alternate-Line Shading On Visual Search In Grid-Based Graphic Designs, Michael P. Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Objective: The goal of this research was to determine whether alternate-line shading (zebra-striping) of grid-based displays affects the strategy (i.e., “visual flow”) and efficiency of serial search. Background: Grids, matrices, and tables are commonly used to organize information. A number of design techniques and psychological principles are relevant to how viewers’ eyes can be guided through such visual works. One common technique for grids, “zebra-striping,” is intended to guide eyes through the design, or “create visual flow” by alternating shaded and unshaded rows or columns. Method: 13 participants completed a visual serial search task. The target was embedded in a …

Using Brand Concept Maps To Examine The Extension Of Ford And Jeep Brands, Yao Wei

LSU Master's Theses

The intense competition in marketing today has led to excessive financial risks when a new brand enters the market. To avoid the extremely high costs and difficulties associated with this process, many firms choose to take advantage of established brands to launch new product lines or categories. The purpose of this study was to explore the evaluation of brand extension in fashion using brand concept mapping (BCM). Specifically, the first objective was to identify consumers’ associations with Ford and Jeep apparel using BCM, while the second objective was to categorize those associations using Korchia’s (1999) brand association categories to compare …

The Fabric Dock: Reeling In The Right Brand For A Sea-Inspired Sewing Shop, Katie Elaine Lee

Honors Theses

Creating a brand for a company can require much time, research, and ingenuity. When The Fabric Dock in Wiggins, Mississippi, opened in April 2013, I began work as their graphic designer and gained valuable experience that has taught me everything from learning to gather strong research for color and typefaces to being able to communicate with the people on the production end. Since I was dealing with a new business, I was able to start from nothing to create exactly what I felt would be the perfect fit for this sea- inspired sewing shop. I spent days conversing with the …