Digital Commons Network^™

The Design Brief: Conceptual Tool For Visual Resolution Of Professional Design Problems, Jason Andrew Neal

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I show how I have integrated the design brief concept with my art philosophy to help guide the exploration and visual resolution of three academic visual projects. The design brief is the most significant project management tool I have added to my design philosophy and production approach during my graduate studies. It has not changed the art I create, but rather has changed how I plan for and manage the production of my art. The brief consists of a series of questions that I can apply to all design decisions to make sure those decisions remain consistent …

Setting Expectations And Finding Respect And Job Satisfaction As A Technical Writer, Heather Iacobacci-Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Out of an unhappy work experience as a lone technical writer, I became curious about the experiences of other technical writers. Were they similar to mine? If not, what did they know that I did not? What does the literature say? I answered these questions using my personal experiences, literary research, and a three-part study that included an initial survey, an in-depth survey, and personal interviews. I found three common themes: 1) varied definitions and job descriptions for technical writers, 2) a common feeling that many employers do not understand what technical writers do, and 3) a common need to …

Unseen, Sohee Kwon

Theses and Dissertations

Photography conveys informative data, aesthetic value, and a conceptual message very much like graphic design. In the hands of the photographer, the viewfinder of a camera becomes an editing tool. Editing by point of view, use of color and cropping determines a great deal about the communication made by imagery. In my creative project, I will explore photography as a means to generate form, concept, and content. As a result of this exploration, I expect to find new ways of approaching graphic design problems. My goal is to develop themes that combine aspects of photography and graphic design. Themes could …

A Sense Of Place: A Personal Exploration, Analysis And Re-Interpretation Of Diverse Places, Hyejin Park

Theses and Dissertations

Every city/place has unique, distinctive qualities. Individuals acquire a sense of place in accordance with their own experiences and perspectives, which may not be the same as the experiences and viewpoints of another person. In this project, I explore, analyze, and re-interpret three places that have creatively and emotionally influenced me and remained in my memory: Times Square, New York City; Insadong, Seoul, South Korea; and Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia. To comprehend and draw a sense of place, I observe, feel, and document the characteristics of each place through different methods and processes, based on my own experiences. In addition, …

Mobile Exhibition System, Sanford Jillian Columbus

Theses and Dissertations

Through the development and design of a Mobile Exhibition System (MES) in this thesis, I will demonstrate the benefits and possibilities of a flexible and mobile system within an exhibition environment. A flexible system will be able to adapt to a wide range of content, while at the same time, maintaining a synergy between its form and function. By the reuse and reappropriation of shipping containers as the exhibition envelope, the goal of mobility can be achieved, reaching out to those who might not otherwise experience learning through an exhibition environment.

Contexture, Kimberly Winters

Theses and Dissertations

As I work with mixed media and computer technology, I am reminded at how evolved our lives and society have become in spite of how incredibly primal our individual needs remain. I began addressing those needs with drawing and painting; now, I find myself flung into a digital world of hard drives and pixels. Working with electronic imagery satisfies my immediate need to explore many options simultaneously but at the same time there is a detachment, a distance if you will, between me and my work. Developing a tactile-rich surface for a digital image by applying paint, wax, and surface …

Design By Accident, Mengfu Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Accident is a metaphor for life. From an arbitrary point in time, we potentially preview the entirety of existence. There is a Chinese idiom called “ blessing or bane,” which implies that a misfortune may perhaps soon turn into a blessing. Focusing on accident as a design method implies making the best out of a bad situation. An accident reveals invisible circumstances and potentialities in the world, both familiar and unfamiliar. Looking into the unpredictable world, I can begin to release my control, take a breath, and see what might happen if I do not fight the situation. I am …

Crafting Authenticity, Allison N. Schumacher

Theses and Dissertations

Authenticity is what we want from the world around us, from others, and crucially from ourselves and what we make. As it relates to graphic design, I define authenticity as a perceived match between form and purpose. For the designer, its quality is found in the process of simultaneously developing a concept and crafting the design/object.

Learning English Through Interactive Weblogs: Student Experiences Blogging In The Secondary Esl Classroom, Glori H. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative action research project examined the experiences of high school English language learners as they created personal weblogs and responded to queries on a class weblog. The data from the project demonstrates that blogging as a classroom writing activity is effective in helping students to obtain, process and construct the English language.

In Pursuit Of Harmony: Calligraphy & Typography, Feifei Fan

Theses and Dissertations

Chinese calligraphy and Western typography have been evolving for around five thousands years. During this time, they have developed quite different characteristics. Compared with the geometrical form and precision of Western printing types, Chinese calligraphy features abstract shapes and spontaneous strokes. These differences result in a gap that prevents a harmonious and organic relationship between them. This project explores the possibilities of combining these two historical visual systems, demonstrates specific methods and approaches for creating compelling formal relationships, and endeavors to establish a friendly, organic and harmonious dialogue between Chinese calligraphy and Western typography. The outcome of this project is …

Vernal, Jason Orvis Dilworth

Theses and Dissertations

Culminating with a dream, this project transverses theoretical and geographical boundaries with explorations into the message-carrying potential of video, sound, performance, print, and web. Stories and content are extracted from an autobiographical history of one small western town turned boomtown. That town, the center from which the project emerges, is Vernal, Utah.

The Dismissive Actually, Alexander Egner

Theses and Dissertations

This project is about giving in to the impulse of ideas. My mind is a little messy and cluttered, swirling with bits of stimuli. The spark of an idea happens when the bits collide. I prefer not to initiate or control the process so much as keep it fed and active. Through graphic design, I bear witness to these ideas, giving them form as a series of visible, tangible objects. Viewed comprehensively, the work establishes an ongoing chronicle of my creative life and mind.

Modes Of Participation: Co-Creative Approaches To The Design Process, Carissa Henriques

Theses and Dissertations

This project explores the notion of participation within the graphic design and problem-solving process. Through projects using generative tools and collaboration, I explore ways to instigate controlled participation from designers and non-designers. I observe and document how the methods and means of participation affect the creative process during these projects.

Royal Images And Rebel Ideals: Contradictory Symbols In American Revolutionary Newspaper Nameplates, Autumn Lorimer Linford

Theses and Dissertations

Historians have long claimed that the newspaper printers of the American Revolution were instrumental in bringing about Independence. By focusing solely on the written words left behind by these men, however, researchers have erroneously believed the printers belonged exclusively to either the patriot or Tory camps. The masthead symbols chosen by the printers to represent their newspapers offer a more objective measure of their partisan affiliations than a textual analysis of the content. The printers marked major changes in their political ideologies by inserting and deleting political symbols in their newspaper mastheads. This study examines the use and meanings of …

Find Meaning Make Meaning, Karen Stein

Theses and Dissertations

Employing the designer William Morris as a source of inspiration, this project seeks to explore the call for nature and beauty as a part of our lives. Moreover, it interweaves the necessity for experience of the sensual world (the five senses) with the cerebral world (a requisite to igniting the internal imagination)—a concept embodied in the form of the book. It advocates a redefining of the book as an imagination sculpture (the external and the internal) reflecting this new definition.

The Open Road, Bryan Condra

Theses and Dissertations

In our journeys on the open road, we travel through a landscape of visual imagery composed of patterns, rhythms and a spectrum of changing colors. Our previous experiences, mental and physical attitudes and expectations, shape our perceptions. By visually interpreting and presenting my experiences of the journey on the open road I hoped to tell a story of how the open road energizes the creative spirit. My goal was to explore how the landscape is altered by motion and speed as we pass through it, and how the journey can be experienced in various ways. I wanted to investigate and …

Psychoeducational Dissemination Across Distance: The Viability Of Telehealth With The Deaf Population, Jaime A. B. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Within the deaf population, an extreme mental health professional shortage exists that may be alleviated with videoconferencing technology – also known as telehealth. Moreover, much needed mental health education within the deaf population remains largely inaccessible. Researchers have forewarned that the deaf population may remain underserved if significant changes do not take place with traditional service delivery methods. The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of telehealth in teaching psychoeducational objectives, with special emphasis given to its application to the deaf population. The results of this study indicate that telehealth can be considered to be an efficacious …

Making Time, Christine Coffey

Theses and Dissertations

We are living in an age where the quantity of information has exceeded its quality. No doubt the digital and information revolutions have provided the world with countless positive improvements, but they have also increased the speed at which we live and work to the detriment of the heath of our world. This project explores ways in which designers can aid in an effort to slow down in order to reinvigorate a more sustainable graphic design product.

Typography As Performance: Bringing The Stage Into The Design Process, Ann Ford

Theses and Dissertations

Graphic design is historically a visual language consisting of text and image composed for the purposes of sending messages in print format. The voice of graphic design is typography—structuring and arranging letter forms into visual language. Over the past two decades, new communication formats such as motion and interaction have frequently been related to performance. My intention, however, is to explore how performance can influence typography in two and three dimensions, and even in digital environments.

Fundamentals In Nature, Andrea Quam

Theses and Dissertations

This project explores innovative methodologies for design education. It is an investigation of teaching design fundamentals in an outdoor classroom.

Argent Sound Recordings: Multimodal Storytelling, Matthew L. Klimas

Theses and Dissertations

ARGENT SOUND RECORDINGS explores the integration of visual, written and sonic elements to tell a story. "The Silver Bell," a fairy tale, is delivered through the internet – providing users an opportunity to experience and interpret a constructed narrative under the guise of an independent record label website.

Evaluating The Benefits Of Software Engineering Principles In Mission Critical Environments, Doline Flaviette Ngueyap Patchong

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Voice By Design: Experiments In Redistributing Media, Bizhan Khodabandeh

Theses and Dissertations

In this project I conduct two experiments in redistributing media power and reflect upon how successful they were. The experiments include a poster campaign specific to Richmond and a project dealing with educating people about guerrilla media techniques.

Graduate And Employer Perceptions Regarding Job Preparedness Skills Of Design Technology Graduates, Bonnie Higgins

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate graduate and employer perceptions in regard to the job preparedness level of graduates from a design technology program at a single Midwestern university in five skill category areas: (a) general work habits and skills, (b) communication skills, (c) technical skills, (d) graphic communication skills, and (e) project management skills.

This study was conducted as evaluation research and implemented an internal formative evaluation conducted through the administration of surveys to two distinct groups. Fifty-nine (27.4%) program graduates from 2001 -2006 completed and returned the 19-item survey, while twenty-seven (67.5%) employers of program graduates …

Perceptions Of Value: An Analysis Of New Jersey's Public And Private Four-Year Colleges And Universities To Determine If Adherence To Recognized Design Principles Increases The Perceived Value Of Their Institution, Kathryn Marie Ponzi

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine how closely four-year New Jersey colleges and universities, both public and private, adhere to general standards for home page layout and design. This study also looked to determine if adherence to proper design standards increase the perceived quality of the institution. Field experiment participants rated the home pages of six institutions chosen by the researcher in her content analysis. Using Likert-type questions, 23 students rated the home pages of the colleges and universities, yielding results supporting the initial claim: the more closely an institution adheres to certain home page design standards, the …

The Power Of Color: A Study About The Influences Of Color On The Design Of Software User Interfaces, Jana Kruckenberg

Theses and Dissertations

This is a study about the relationship between color choice and operating system user interface (OSUI) design. The research was used to study the role color had in the understandability, usability, and student perceptions of the OSUI. Qualitative research was performed in a classroom of an entry-level Web Page Design course. Data collection occurred through the use of surveys, interviews, and classroom observations. Literature on research strategies, color preference, color perception, graphic design, and OSUI design provided the literature review background and validity for the study.

An OSUI is defined as the characteristics of a computer operating system which can …

Entry Level Graphic Design Students: Influences Of Sketching On The Development Of Creativity, Elizabeth A. Becker

Theses and Dissertations

Artists and designers typically utilized sketching for brainstorming because it provides them with a means to transfer their initial ideas from their head onto paper or a computer. Sketching is regarding by research in the field of design to be an essential part of the design process and is believed to be related to creativity and innovation in design. This study explored the role sketching played in the development of graphic design student's creativity. Participants in this study were recruited from six different sections of entry-level, graphic design courses. Their experiences, perceptions of creativity, and attitudes, bout sketching in graphic …

Digital Storytelling: The Application Of Vichian Theory, Karen Pierotti

Theses and Dissertations

Storytelling is often looked at as something archaic or something that simpler cultures engage in. However, in our sophisticated and highly technological world storytelling swirls about us though we may not always recognize it. This thesis looks at the phenomenon of digital storytelling that functions to create community on the Internet. In order to ground this phenomenon in theory, I examine the works of Giambattista Vico, the 18th-century Neapolitan philosopher/rhetorician, who lived on the cusp of the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment. Furthermore, as a teacher of rhetoric to youth, Vico admonished young people to study the arts of …

Applying Principles Of Information Design To Help Parents Accept Babies With Down Syndrome, Anita Eradla

Theses and Dissertations

My creative project is a system of resource materials designed for parents and expecting parents to promote acceptance of babies with Down syndrome. This project is also a study of information architecture and icon development, and an opportunity to study the universal and emotive qualities of an iconic system.

Conceptual Packaging, Thirada Raungpaka

Theses and Dissertations

Packaging and package design is commonly thought of as a tool to attract the consumer to material goods. Packages, however, have other attributes. In Japan, packaging design is very charming because of the delicate selection of materials, images, and interaction. Different kinds of material provide different emotions and appeal to our sense of touch, which can be interpreted in many ways. Packaging lets us directly interact with an object and this experience becomes memorable and intimate. The combination of image and interaction creates another dimension of story telling. My creative project, Conceptual Packaging, is an experiment in using materials and …