Art and Design Commons^™

Rise, Fall And Renaissance Of Graffiti, Georgina S. Hallowell

Capstones

In a losing battle against street artists, “Make your mark in society, not on society” was the statement written in bold letters on Mayor Ed Koch’s 1982 anti-graffiti campaign. Graffiti writers decided why not? We’ll do both.

New York has witnessed the rise, fall, and renaissance of graffiti culture. There was a time when a “mark” on your property was considered vandalism. Today, those marks are used to drive profit, attract tourists, keep neighborhoods alive and are more than welcome through the doors of museums and galleries around the world. From scribbled tags to murals, graffiti writers have completely changed …

Erotic Manga, Its Artists, And The Pressures Of Censorship, Dominique Andrée Lief

University Honors Theses

Erotic manga (エロマンガ), a genre of adult-oriented Japanese comics is subjected to censorship that may seem irrelevant or confusing to people outside of the industry. Why is erotic manga censored? How is erotic manga censored? How does censorship affect erotic manga artists? These questions are examined through use of English academic sources, Japanese academic sources and news articles, and interviews with professional erotic manga artists translated into English.

Cultivating Creativity: Leadership, Organizational Culture, And Organizational Support For Design Teams, Nick Porter

M.A. in Leadership Studies: Capstone Project Papers

To assure that graphic designers are successful in their transitions from designers to design leaders, they must understand that, while the skills they obtained during their time as graphic designers are critical to design leadership, these skills are just a foundation upon which they must continue to build. There are many other supporting skills they must also acquire and hone in order to truly be successful in their new role as design leaders. Successful design leadership requires new design leaders to trade in their technical skills for organizational skills—to shift from “having” creativity, to “cultivating” creativity. This research reveals the …

Arts Et Métiers Photo-Graphiques: The Quest For Identity In French Photography Between The Two World Wars, Yusuke Isotani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the evolution of photography in France between the two World Wars by analyzing the seminal graphic art magazine Arts et métiers graphiques (1927-1939). This bi-monthly periodical was founded by Charles Peignot (1897-1983), the artistic director of the largest manufacturer of typefaces in interwar France, Deberny et Peignot. Arts et métiers graphiques has been recognized in previous literature as one of the principal vehicles for the modernization of photography in France, primarily because it functioned as an essential conduit for the radical practices developed outside the country. The interwar period is regarded as the watershed in the history …

Barriers: An Exploration Of Architectural Structures As An Indication Of Wealth And Socioeconomic Status, Lisa Demoranville

Honors Theses

I decided to explore the barriers and limitations of wealth through an investigation of architectural structures, focusing on popular industries and institutions on which our society commonly depends. I have noticed that places such as hospitals, schools, grocery stores, and restaurants differ dramatically depending on the neighborhoods in which they were located. This topic sparked my interest after living in Lima, Peru for a month, as I was able to observe the developing economy and dramatic division of wealth among the population. Certain questions about the divides and differences within a society and its culture started crossing my mind; not …

Interface Philosophy, June Yoon

Masters Theses

During a Grad Studio II crit in the spring of 2018, I presented my project Measurements of Space and Time (page 132) and right after I finished, someone said, “This is like interface philosophy.” I didn’t even know what that meant, but it just felt right. At that very moment, I knew Interface Philosophy would be the title of my thesis.

Interface Philosophy was built as much as it was written and designed. Its function is to define “interface philosophy.” To describe interface as a meeting point for communication; philosophy as a cognitive reasoning of structural patterns. What I have …

Plenty : Wanting, Choosing,, Overwhelming Unloading, Christopher Cote

Masters Theses

We seek well-being from products and fall prey to the media that promotes them to determine our wants and needs as equal. Consumption becomes an obsession. At some point we accumulate so much that we feel the need to organize or cleanse what’s overwhelmed us.

To highlight the aesthetics of consumption, advertisement, and brand proliferation, I turn their tactics against themselves. Plenty: Wanting, Choosing, Overwhelming, Unloading explores, points out, embraces, and edits the complexity we live within. With the hope of better navigating the abundance of consumer choice and its visual bombardment, Plenty tracks and exposes the cycle of material …

Record : From Signal To Atmosphere, And The Spaces Between Silence And Noise, Amy Auman

Masters Theses

Record is both a noun and a verb. Its meaning shifts through pronunciation, beginning with our cognitive interpretation and then emerging as a translation that we project from our mouths. This thesis book is an artifact, or record, of the past two years of artistic inquiry. My work, however, lives through movement in time—it records my impulses. This thesis is merely an open archive.

A range of stimuli competes for our conscious attention. The signals we choose to notice emerge from the periphery of our atmosphere, which includes everything from noise to silence. I use design to amplify and alter …

Groundwork, Marcus Peabody

Masters Theses

This is hardly groundbreaking, but graphic designers

(or at least this graphic designer)

should gather up information first hand

(rather than waiting to be handed content)

using multiple points of view

(because design needs to be rooted in the broader world)

and then address the resultant multiplicity

(which is chaotic and confusing)

by charting a somewhat linear path through it

(because I have an editorial point of view)

while still acknowledging the underlying complexity

(because it's not the only point of view)

giving structure that is coherent with the subject

(because without structure you just have a pile of content) …

Re-Creation : A Package Design For Daily Life, Wei-Hao Wang

Masters Theses

This thesis grows out of my observations of and inquiries into daily scenes,+ which are wrapped within what I am calling a package. The human mind often puts daily encounters into manageable packages to facilitate interaction with them. This process, however, makes us dull or neglectful. Looking into daily scenes allows me to unpack these packages and reflect on ubiquitous objects, notions and actions so that I am able to see them anew. To me, it offers a break from the habitual responses in life.

Re-creation: A Package Design for Daily Life intends to create a similar occasion for my …

Lateral Movements : In Multifaceted Time And Space, Jieun Kim

Masters Theses

Orient, shift, calibrate, and soar—these four lateral movements provoke new ways of seeing beyond flatness: the single fixed point of view. I question the reasons and consequences of the dominant point of view and suggest interpretative and playful versions of possibilities.

The distribution of the internet and satellite photography has heightened the perception, interaction, and access to the world—time and space have become flexible. I use these tools deceptively to shift toward dynamic and multiple perspectives both in physical and digital space.

I create graphic environments into which people can enter, inviting people to maneuver in this multifaceted time and …

Body Of Work, Oliva De Salve Villedieu

Masters Theses

This yellow book filled with short stories, indexes, and a bright body of work, is a little bit rebellious, a little bit scandalous, but mostly self-indulgent. It is an invitation to release, unhinge, and get, consensually, tied up. Here graphic design is not a thinking tool, but rather an attitude—a desire to engage and skew. It is a place where affection translates into practice and lifts an eyebrow to modernism. The work is one of contrast; it contradicts and plays. By excavating simple systems for complex reasons, it deconstructs the fundamental primaries of graphic design and recontextualizes them by holding …

Cosmosis, Angela Torchio

Masters Theses

Cosmographies deal with the order of nature. They are general descriptions of the universe, and this thesis is a cosmography, dealing with visual content, constraints, and the complexity of symbolism.

Visual experience is dynamic, interrelated, and inherently tied to a value hierarchy. On a micro level, design is my way of understanding the world, while on a macro level, it is a tool to generate new perceptual structures for engaging with, not merely seeing, design.

The work is based on the idea that multiple symbolisms are inherent to all things, and these symbolisms will shift based on context. Cosmographies are …

Among : A Series Of Enactments, Joel F. Kern

Masters Theses

AMONG captures the practice of a constructionist designer, one who oscillates between the characteristics of typography, multi-materiality, and spatiality yet does not attach solely to the physical or digital. The fundamental principles of this practice include open platforms that foster generative collaboration through modular systems. AMONG straddles the borders of graphic design, environmental design and social sculpture. At its core, this practice encourages new ways of connecting communities.

Abjad Orientations, Mohammed Nassem

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates verbal and visual language through a lens of translation, queerness, and diaspora . Looking at graphic design as a reconciliatory space , I make use of its formal and typographic systems as devices to tell stories , examine cultures , and negotiate conflicting principles .

Abjad Orientations is a process of shifting the focal viewpoint to reorient myself and/or my audience and allow for a closer probe of our cultural reality . My eclectic identity as a Queer , Muslim , multilingual Arab living in the United States drives the form and content of my design inquiries …

Let's Meet Over There / Eury Kim., Eury Kim

Masters Theses

Small communities that were once reliant on the land for basic sustenance progressively grew into large urban states. Our current cities manufacture items that are exchanged for other goods, by building factories that exploit resources from the ground. These commodities are providing much more than just food and shelter. Industry makes sustenance a secondary need to production by objectifying nature.

Italian writer Italo Calvino compares the weight of two Industrial Revolutions, depicting the first with “rolling mills” and “molten steel,” the second “with bits of information that flow” also noting that everything we “value for lightness quickly reveals … unbearable …

Making Common, Elaine Lopez

Masters Theses

Making Common sets conditions for communication around cultural diversity and inequality. Through my practice, I create new ways to share, honor, and celebrate the stories that have been neglected for too long due to white supremacy, patriarchy, and other forms of structural oppression. I create immersive graphic design experiences that challenge people to question and expand their worldview. This methodology models an alternative way for designers to work towards a more just society

Softweave, Annaka Olsen

Masters Theses

The contents of this volume are a weaving.1 The text lays parallel to a graphic design practice that emerges from research into computation, digital publishing and speculative design. I ask how we can change the structures of world building to become collaborative and ethical practices — resisting hierarchy and reclaiming agency in the spaces we occupy. By making soft modifications imbued with feminist praxis across a variety of automatic processes, softwares, feeds, and streams, this thesis explores ways to open up critical avenues of making in order to speculate on fluid futures that we can co-author.

Standards, Rules, Setting, Robert Mcconnell

Masters Theses

Greetings. Welcome to Standards, Rules, Setting. This short preamble serves as a user guide to the material that follows. It is, essentially, a set of standards that govern the organization and progression of the various items in this publication.

Everything in this book has been conceived and constructed in line with the Graphic Design Thesis Book Protocol. As my body of work deals with the communication of messages and the manipulation of their governing conventions and norms, this publication — as well — has been organized along similar principles.

There are five types of components in this thesis book: sections, …

Every Data Point Counts: Political Elections In The Age Of Digital Analytics, Julian Kehle, Samir Naimi

Honors Thesis

Synthesizing the investigative research and cautionary messages from experts in the fields of technology, political science, and behavioral science, this project explores the ways in which digital analytics has begun to influence the American political arena. Historically, political parties have constructed systems to target voters and win elections. However, rapid changes in the field of technology (such as big data, artificial intelligence, and the prevalence of social media) threaten to undermine the integrity of elections themselves. Future political campaigns will utilize profiling to micro-target individuals in order to manipulate and persuade them with hyper-personalized political content. Most dangerously, the average …

The Migrant Times, Jessenya Guerra

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This senior capstone newspaper shows how the Mexican diaspora has become integrated into American culture.

M0mentary Lapses, Alice Salyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition Momentary Lapses, held at Tipton Gallery, February 25-March 8, 2019. The mixed media works and video examine the intersections between digital, somatic and societal decay through the mediation of the digital image by physical anthropogenic efforts.

Themes in the work include glitch art and theory, entropy, memory, decay, and loss. Contemporary American society’s desensitization associated with the oversaturation of digital imagery is discussed, as well as Guy Debord’s theory of the Spectacle, and the artistic practices of Kurt Schwitters and Robert Rauschenberg.

Once Upon A Time, Simon Saqueton, Todd Richardson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This paper is a short reflection on exposing myself to a variety of different media, (books, comic books, and television shows), that contains concepts on time travel. With this exposure, I will then attempt to draw my own comic book with time travel in it.

Framing The City: Photography And The Construction Of São Paulo, 1930–1955, Danielle J. Stewart

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Between 1930 and 1955 São Paulo, Brazil experienced a period of accelerated growth as the population nearly quadrupled from 550,000 to two million. In response, the municipal government undertook an aggressive public works program and commercial building boomed. Photographic representations of the cityscape were essential in directing modern São Paulo’s physical evolution because they reflected both the real—a chaotically growing megacity—and the ideal—a literally new, modernized space. This dissertation centers on four case studies of artists practicing different photographic modalities in order to analyze the symbiotic relationship between São Paulo's urban development and its photographic representation.

Construction sites, scaffolding, and …

Creating Visuals For A Start-Up Company, Andrea Goetting

Honors Projects

As part of the capstone in the Visual Communication Technology major, this project is intended to help a community member with a visual/graphic need as well as help me to understand the process of being a professional in the field. The main objective was to determine the basic visual needs of a start-up company and how to successfully produce those materials.

Critical Discourse: Thinking About Power, Privilege, And Voice, Stephanie Werth

Honors Projects

We Can Do Better is aimed at creating a space for a dialogue to occur, designed to facilitate conversation around the relationship of resources and identity. As a college student, engaging with difficult or unfamiliar topics is easier when participating in low-pressure, casual settings. Students will have to take chances and make choices, and may change their view of how opportunity affects everyone so they can make informed decisions. We Can Do Better intends for students to expand their knowledge of privileged identities in their community, understand constructed social systems through a dialogue of anecdotal evidence, gain empathy for those …

Analyzing The Gender Gap In Second Language Acquisition: A New Esl Curriculum For Latina English Learners, Cheyenne Peters

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Freiden Skincare: Evolving Stigmas For The Sake Of Wellness, Gabrielle Graham

Honors Theses

Frieden (pronounced free-den) is the German word for peace and self-reconciliation. Frieden is a skincare line infused with Cannabidiol, a natural compound found in marijuana plants that can be used for treating pain without the hallucinogenic side-effects (thanks to no THC being present in the product). Health benefits of Cannabidiol extend to topical relief from chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and a multitude of other forms of reprieve from discomfort.

Through my research, I discovered that in a world of fast fixes and reactive remedies, visual communication has influenced consumers to be more thoughtful with their purchases. Thanks in part to …

Digital Detox - Addressing The Issue Of Screen Addiction In Millennials, Tyler M. Hicks

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This conclusive study is based upon a project of a social awareness campaign designed to reduce screen time in older children and Millennials. This is achieved through the uses of all modern aspects of a campaign: posters, advertisements (social and print), as well as a trio of posters that explain the concept of the campaign. Lastly, this all pulls together with the intended use of both a microsite and mobile app.

Something’S In The Water: A Look At How Creativity And Innovation Can Prevent Future Water Crises, Tristan Holiday-Nowden

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The purpose of this project is to raise awareness and create a level of consciousness about water, unlike anything we have seen in the past. This project presents a synthesis of current writings and ideologies from the fields of Environmental Science and Water Research. As well as think pieces and informative news articles from various publications.

To illustrate the damaging effects of water contamination, water pollution, and water scarcity; Flint, Michigan will serve as a case study. After diagnosing and defining the problem using the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) framework. This project will explore the challenge and look at the …