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Art and Design Commons

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Virginia Commonwealth University

2013

Design

Discipline

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Art and Design

Shaping This Space Between Us: Using A Reflexive Journaling Process To Explore The Complex And Malleable Space In Which Identity Exists, Lina Mahusain Dec 2013

Shaping This Space Between Us: Using A Reflexive Journaling Process To Explore The Complex And Malleable Space In Which Identity Exists, Lina Mahusain

Theses and Dissertations

While some parts of identity remain constant throughout one’s life, many aspects of a person’s identity are subject to rapid and constant change and negotiation. Using theories regarding the role possessions play in the construction, reinforcement, and manifestation of a person’s identity, this thesis project explores the potential to facilitate meaningful insights and awareness into one’s own identity. This will be achieved by designing a reflexive journaling process. A qualitative evaluation of this prototype journal process used by a pilot group of young creative individuals will generate an assessment of the proposed process


Beyond The Stated Function: Showcasing, Through Everyday Objects, Social Obstacles Imposed On Qatari Female Youth, Kazem Esra May 2013

Beyond The Stated Function: Showcasing, Through Everyday Objects, Social Obstacles Imposed On Qatari Female Youth, Kazem Esra

Theses and Dissertations

This critical design project showcases obstacles that the Qatari culture and society impose on their female youth, hindering them from becoming independent individuals. It critiques the society and its social pressures. The project stimulates people to think by challenging their assumptions and perceptions, specifically social perception and judgment, family authority, and gender favoritism. This is achieved through hybridized accessories that are embedded with a meta-meaning that arouses curiosity, invites questions, and stimulates thoughts. Through the design of these appealing, high quality, and functionally viable everyday accessories, the project aims to communicate the social and cultural forces which impede Qatari female …


Lashes To Ashes, Exploring The Hidden Dimensions Of Human Hair, Rania Chamsine May 2013

Lashes To Ashes, Exploring The Hidden Dimensions Of Human Hair, Rania Chamsine

Theses and Dissertations

Hair is power, beauty and seduction: a reflection of ethnicity and religion, and even a canvas for self-expression. A key feature in defining identity and social status, it holds the essence of our individuality. However, once removed from its original and natural setting—the epidermis—hair is seen as waste, and often evokes disgust. The objective of this thesis is to explore human hair, which particularly in the Arabic-Islamic region, carries great significance and raises many religious, cultural, and gender issues. Through design, and informed by critical design theory, I explore how this corporeal material can be reused and re-presented as a …


Opportunities For The Sustainable Use Of The Camel In Qatar, Corby Jayne Elford May 2013

Opportunities For The Sustainable Use Of The Camel In Qatar, Corby Jayne Elford

Theses and Dissertations

In the course of the modernization of Qatar, the need for camels has greatly diminished; herds have reduced in numbers and are now confined to enclosures. Overall, neglect of this valuable resource means that the camel is threatened with extinction. Currently, there is a need to address problems about sustainable development in Qatar by taking actions such as investing in the existing natural heritage to develop the use of indigenous animals like the camel. Through a review of past and present use of the native dromedary, a new type of sustainable agritourism will be developed that will provide a type …


2314 West Main Street: A Place For Engagement, Annie Thompson Apr 2013

2314 West Main Street: A Place For Engagement, Annie Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

The design intent of this thesis is to deconstruct the elements of the beer brewing process to allow the public to engage, enjoy, and appreciate the process while dining. It is to create a site for a craft brewery that is local to the neighborhood of The Fan. Allowing the public to engage, cultivate and create enthusiasm for the brewing process. To deconstruct the industrial process of brewing beer to allow accessibility for the public to enjoy the process while eating, drinking, and learning.


Variations On A Porch, Jillian Chapin Apr 2013

Variations On A Porch, Jillian Chapin

Theses and Dissertations

Davida Rochlin said, “Nobody thought much about the front porch when most Americans had them and used them. The great American front porch was just there, open and sociable, an unassigned part of the house that belonged to everyone and no one, a place for family and friends to pass the time.” The landscape in which those porches existed has changed. Our traditional views of housing and neighborhoods (single family homes with a cul-de-sac at the end) really aren’t the norm anymore. In the last 10 years more Americans have moved to, and are living in cities than in the …


What?: Visual Interpretations Of The Miscommunication Between The Hearing And Deaf, Virginia Shou Jan 2013

What?: Visual Interpretations Of The Miscommunication Between The Hearing And Deaf, Virginia Shou

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis visualizes the communication challenges both latent and obvious of my daily life as a hard of hearing individual. By focusing on a variety of experiences and examples I demonstrate the implications of a hard of hearing individual’s life. The prints, objects and videos that I have created for my visual thesis aim to enrich the understanding of a broader public on issues regularly faced by Deaf people. At the heart of my work my goal is to generate mutual empathy between the hearing and the Deaf.


Experience As An Experiment, James Walker Jan 2013

Experience As An Experiment, James Walker

Theses and Dissertations

My work is an exploration of new media that demonstrates the influence a community has on visual communication. The community reveals content as objects go unnoticed after they become a permanent part of the landscape and assumptions are made from cultural archetypes. Through exploration, immersion, and reflection, I am able to recognize the invisible and expected, establish a familiarity with a community, and design responses that communicate directly to it.


Transforming Narratives, Lucia Weilein Jan 2013

Transforming Narratives, Lucia Weilein

Theses and Dissertations

Narrative, often considered synonymous with “story,” can be viewed from a structuralist perspective and analyzed independent of any particular content. Breaking narrative into categories of story and discourse, this autonomous structure makes possible a translation of content from one form to another. The various media and form types common in graphic design can serve as both recipient and translator of narratives, converting content into a framework that includes the concept of craftsmanship, aesthetic components and specifications, legibility and composition, and the physical form of the designed object. To examine how this framework functions in practice, I have developed a series …