Digital Commons Network^™

Visualizing The Risks: The Significance Of Graphic Design In Educating Women About The Risks Of Prescription Opioids & Pre-Existing Mental Health Conditions, Natascha Foret Truong

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the critical issue of educating women about the increased risks of prescription opioid use and misuse relating to a co-occurring mental health illness. The research-based graphic design solutions proposed in the thesis aim to create awareness and provide knowledge to women on this matter. It is imperative to address this issue as it has severe consequences for women, their families, and society. This thesis utilizes research and best practices from scholarly articles, case studies, visual analysis, personas, and mind mapping to present graphic design solutions based on evidence. These solutions aim to educate women about the gender-specific …

Stimulating Decision-Making Through Design And Advertising, Dardan Luta

UBT International Conference

The improvement of technology has made it possible for the masses to have easy access to graphic software, therefore even the products/advertisements of a category become very similar to each other and the design becomes a decisive element that makes this difference. To differentiate between products, each brand tries to create its own visual language and aims to give a message to the consumer about its identity.

Since advertising is such an important aspect of a brand, can consumer perceptions be stimulated or manipulated through graphic design? We will focus in the advertisements that companies in Kosovo have used for …

The Agency Of Graphic Design Towards Promoting Collective Awareness Of Heritage Inscriptions: A Study On The Erosion Of Palestinian Traditional Iconography, Belal Herbawi, Abhishek Chatterjee, Heitor Alvelos

IASDR Conference Series

This article discusses research to establish the extent of contemporary Palestinian graphic design's knowledge of traditional iconography and inclination towards its application in modern-day workflows. What new perspectives can graphic design contribute to heritage design? This paper discusses answers to these questions by examining the meanings and contents of the traditional Palestinian inscriptions by confirming those meanings and realizing the value of employing these inscriptions in the context of vibrant and developed creative industries in Palestine. Heritage has become an important research topic in recent decades and is now emerging as a priority area with research councils. Increasingly framed as …

Reimagining Discovery: Navigating Gutman’S Shelves, Annika Zitto

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

Designer: Annika Zitto (she/they)

Background: Annika is a graphic designer from Hanover, PA. She is studying Visual Communication Design at Jefferson (Class of 2025) and works as a student researcher for Professor Renee Walker. She is the President for Jefferson’s AIGA Professional Association for Design chapter. Annika is also a research assistant for Dr. Radika Bhaskar with a focus on information visualization about bioplastics for educational outreach. Annika's research interest explores the intersections between user experience, accessibility, environmentalism, and urban design.

Project: This project is from Thomas Jefferson University's Experiential Graphic Design course (SDE 373) taught by Renee Walker, …

World-Building Warnings: Depth In Creative Art To Consider Societal Paths, Kane Samuel Wright

Masters Theses

Addressing the issue of artists often failing to visually communicate through world-building concepts, this paper seeks to inform a design piece demonstrating the potential effectiveness of a message communicated through visual world-building in a manner that minimises audience disengagement and maximises articulate artistic communication. Questions arise as to what dangers a future society may face that could be worth using as a framework to address this communication problem, whether techniques surrounding visual world-building can be successful in this task, and where artists go astray in their own attempts. Research conducted suggests that psychology, culture, and semiotics play an important role …

Visual Communication In A Time Of Crisis: Insights Into The Relationship Between Visual Communication And Health, V Squire

School of Art, Design and Architecture

The impact of Covid-19 has taken numerous forms. It will continue to affect individuals and groups in a multitude of ways, due to the ever adapting, ever changing uncertain world. A shift has taken place in our perspectives, knowledge and understanding of health crises, with visual communication being integral to this process; through the visualization of health data, communication of scientific knowledge, and as a crucial force for knowledge mobilization. This paper will outline a research study of visual communicators’ experiences and visual manifestations of the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing greater insight into the relationship between visual communication and the Covid-19 …

Graphic Design And Artificial Intelligence: Interdisciplinary Challenges For Designers In The Search For Research Collaboration, Yaron Meron

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The introduction of electronic publishing, multimedia, the web and social media have influenced and presented challenges for graphic design. Now the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) features within graphic design software enables practitioners to automate many design processes. However, this threatens to deskill the profession and create a second tier of ‘non-professional’ designers, particularly within less creative work that emphasises fast turnover and functional artefact production. Research at the intersection of AI and graphic design has been led by computer scientists. This paper argues, from a designer’s perspective, that a paucity of scholarly engagement by graphic designers with their own …

Arabic Type In Urban Environments: A Graphic Heritage, Shaima Elbardawil

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Graphic design as a cultural object can contribute to the design of heritage in various ways. This study investigates the meaning of heritage and graphic design in relation to culture and communication. It discusses cultural heritage in Arab states with reference to Arabic type and introduces Naskh-style typefaces in wayfinding systems and signage as a graphic urban heritage. This is done using a framework for analyzing urban graphic heritage alongside empirical field study from the United Arab Emirates and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The study reveals that graphic design provides a unique framework toward understanding the role of typographic …

Alien Encyclopedia, Zengqi Guo

Masters Theses

Alien Encyclopedia is a body of work that analyzes, expands, redefines, and leverages the definition of “alien” as both problematic and an avenue of possibility. By mapping the word “alien” as a fragmented play of alternatives, I translate the lessons derived from this exploration into a maker’s lexicon. I use “alien” to frame my identity, as a prompt to ground my projects, a factor to interrupt existing typography and to spark questions, a generative tool to explore the interpolation between the familiar and unfamiliar, and to incite new solutions and actions to solve the problems we are facing now. Alien …

Openness, Qiwen Ju

Masters Theses

We perceive the world as flat when we close one eye. When both eyes are open, the world takes on a three-dimensional quality.

Our childhood, education, family, and environment form and bind our cognitive perspective. As the ancient Chinese proverb goes: “You can’t see Mount Tai by blinding your eyes with one leaf.” Truth is exceedingly difficult to discern. Like the obscuring leaf, there are blind spots in our vision. Prejudice is often the narrow leaf that obstructs perception, preventing us from seeing with greater dimension.

For actual comprehension, we can only see through the eyes, hearts, and minds of …

Connect: Translating Complexity Through Visual Simplification, Ilhee Park

Masters Theses

CONNECT: Translating Complexity through Visual Simplification brings complex data into concise visual systems that encourage ease of access. With a background in Human Factors Engineering, user engagement remains a central focus in my design. Whether reducing barriers to scientific information or untangling deeply complex data, design must contain intuitive concepts without the need for extended explanation. Using bold color and geometric shapes as the core design language to render pictorial narratives, this thesis maps my development as an information designer through modes of gathering, deciphering, and interpreting.

Inch - Unpacking Measurements, Pallavi Singh

Theses

While global efforts to close gender gaps have taken great strides in the past years, broad cultural views and social institutions still exist to place women at a subordinate level to men. It is a common scenario to trivialize a woman’s achievements or power in instances when she does not conform to gender norms taken as “a given” in a cultural context. A few elementary examples of such social inequality could include unequal pay at the workplace or menstruation in cultures where it is considered a defilement of a woman’s body instead of a female bodily process. In most of …

Abakabadaf: Reclamation Of Queer Spaces And The Adoption Of Gayspeak By The Mainstream, Gel Ralfrey Louie O. Romero

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress

Gayspeak is a queer argot that was formed to shield the Filipino LGBT community back when discrimination was rampant in the Philippines. Today, gayspeak can be observed in the vocabulary of people that are not part of the LGBT community which shows progress in tolerance. Despite this, the fight for queer equality has still not been achieved. This paper explores the adaptation of gayspeak by the mainstream by interviewing non-LGBT users of gayspeak and gathering the perceptions of the LGBT community towards them. The research found that non-LGBT people use gayspeak because of its comedic nature, capacity for socialization, and …

Hidden Connections, Yazmin Goulet

Honors Theses

As a graphic designer pursuing degrees in both Art, from the College of Liberal Arts, and Integrated Marketing Communications, from the School of Journalism, the goal of the art that I create is for it to be seen by many and connect viewers to the messages that I am trying to get across through my work. Art is a form of visual communication, and as an artist, I am always looking at the world around me and seeing how art of all forms connects art to people.

Much how like art itself is used to connect people, for this thesis …

Personality Type Posters, Sabrina Awdi

Theses

Humans are highly visual creatures and have been responding to visual cues from the beginning of time for survival and information. Visual design is an important tool to use for to convey ideas through imagery instead of words or typed out information. Using design to help the person visually decipher and interpret information can serve as a solution in many aspects of life. I am using personality types to show introversion, extroversion, ambiversion, and empathy visually through the use of digital art (illustration) and graphic design. The goal is to evoke an emotional response from the viewer to be able …

Proceed With Caution: Safety, Peace, And Collective Responsibility, Rebecca Potts

Honors College Theses

Throughout my childhood, my parents often took me out into nature to go hiking, camping, and just explore. Now when I am in nature, I am reminded of my childhood and reflect on the memories of safety and comfort that I experienced, but through the lens of the person that I am today. As I have learned about and engaged with people in my community, I realized that their experiences and views of being outdoors and in the environments that I grew up feeling comfortable in are much different than mine. These different experiences are based on factors such as …

Functionally Intense Training (F.I.T.) Multimedia Rebranding Package, Kaitlin Manger

Honors Projects

Branding and social media outreach to customers is essential to small businesses that are looking to grow their business and attract new members. This paper covers the development and production of a multimedia rebranding package that was produced for the high-intensity, CrossFit-like gym in Wapakoneta, Ohio, owned and operated by Steve Knapke, Functionally Intense Training. This gym has been open since 2013 but has no consistent social media content or branding content for the business. This project includes the deliverables of 10 videos, 20 photos, 5 graphic design templates, a new logo, and new branding guidelines. Along with the final …

Message Journal, Issue 5: Covid-19 Special Issue Capturing Visual Insights, Thoughts And Reflections On 2020/21 And Beyond…, Sadia Abdisalam, James Alexander, Tom Ayling, Jessica Barness, Diana Bîrhală, Maria Borțoi, Bernard J. Canniffe, Patti Capaldi, Tânia A. Cardoso, Megan Culliford, Stephanie Cunningham, Meg Davies, Subir Dey, Matthew Frame, Aaron Ganci, Peter Gibbons, Sofia Gvozdeva, Elizabeth Herrmann, Chae Ho Lee, Alma Hoffmann, Hedzlynn Kamaruzzaman, Merle Karp, Holly K. Kaufman-Hill, John Kilburn, Joshua Korenblat, Warren Lehrer, Erica V.P. Lewis, Christine Lhowe, Xinyi Li, Kelly Salchow Macarthur, Shelly Mayers, Steven Mccarthy, Bianca Milea, Sara Nesteruk, Cat Normoyle, Jessica Teague, Paul Nini, Emily Osborne, Sima Elizabeth Shefrin, Kyuha Shim, Angelica Sibrian, Gianni Sinni, Irene Sgarro, David Smart, Matt Soar, Junie Tang, Rebecca Tegtmeyer, Ane Thon Knutsen, Isobel Thomas, Darryl Westley, Lisa Winstanley, Danne Woo, Dave Wood, Helena Gregory, Colin Raeburn, Jackie Malcolm

Message Graphic Communication Design Research

No abstract provided.

A Multidisciplinary Collaboration Between Graphic Design And Physics Classes Responding To Covid-19, Szilvia Kadas, Eric M. Edlund

The SUNY Journal of the Scholarship of Engagement: JoSE

Students from graphic design and physics classes at SUNY Cortland collaborated during the spring semester of 2020 on a multidisciplinary project related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In these collaborations, the students’ individual contributions were part of a larger project that required a diverse skill set, through which students learned how different skills can complement their own disciplines. The graphic design and physics instructors applied a project-based learning philosophy applying the Common Problem Pedagogy (CPP) framework to construct student-teams composed of both disciplines. This project explored how coordinated social actions can allow the public to exercise control in uncertain times. Students …

Phantom Scripting, Huiyu Yang

Theses and Dissertations

scripted performances enacted by human beings for the purposes of ordering the world. This “world” is seen as being comprised of social things such as male and female relationships; personal or individual things such as the untaught dispositions inherent in human beings; or nonhuman things such as rain, animals, or spiritual powers.

The Artemis Project: Exploring Mass Communication Utilizing A Visual Exploration Of Influential Imagery., Brooke K. Collins

Theses

Society struggles to have difficult conversations. Polite silence is often preferred to dredging up uncomfortable topics. This silence is deafening as the majority of Americans do not consider topics such as The American Sex Trafficking Crisis. In a post-pandemic world, how do we initiate difficult conversations in both digital forums and public domains? The Artemis Project seeks to visually explore this gap in conversation, undergoing an optical investigation of utilizing design and illustrative practices as tools for mass communication. This project conceptualizes the development and application of imagery to introduce a conversation, facilitating understanding and empathy. In short, The Artemis …

The Meaning Of Movement: Using Motion Design To Enrich Words For Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Children, Hannah Elyse Colasurdo

Masters Theses

This thesis aims to address challenging areas of vocabulary for deaf and hard of hearing children by developing an open resource for students, parents, teachers, and content creators that utilizes motion to enhance written words for deaf and hard of hearing children. This research seeks to study the means of nonverbal communication such as body language expression and paralinguistic prosody (i.e., tone, intonation, volume, and pitch) qualities within the framework of graphic design through motion design. Body movement and expression are essential during face-to-face communication, but written language lacks such context clues. Additionally, the hard of hearing may not fully …

Reflip Type: Developing Visual Strategies For Teaching Typography To Collegiate Students With Dyslexia, Brittany D. Strozzo

Masters Theses

In educational facilities today, the approaches to teaching typography to college students with dyslexia are limited. This thesis provides a research-based pedagogy for teaching typography to students in a way that accommodates the visual, processing, and auditory differences present in students with dyslexia. Through the analysis of the learning disability itself, existing material for graphic designers with dyslexia, and current accessibility standards for those with dyslexia, this thesis offers a practical solution to provide a more balanced learning experience for all students, especially those with dyslexia. The aim of this study was to examine the current graphic design standards and …

The Public Poster: An Exploration Of Storytelling In Poster Design, Elizabeth Hiler

Theses

Research suggests that it is incredibly difficult for a person to change their mind. Confirmation bias and echo chambers are just a few of the reasons people do not give themselves the opportunity to explore new stories, ideas, beliefs. It is now our challenge to connect with people in unconventional ways and explore storytelling in new spaces to give difficult topics more accessibility to public discourse. The Public Protest Poster can be found at the start of most movements for social and political change by creating a simplified statement with a strong graphic for instant impact. Yet, protest posters rely …

Visual Communication – A Designer’S Guide To Reaching Target Audiences, Timothy Lerch

Theses

Visual communication is the cornerstone of graphic design. All graphic design projects communicate a visual message. As with all forms of communication, visual communication is a two-way street. For a message to be effective, a designer must understand how to reach their audience. Scholarly design programs focus primarily on visual cues, while marketing programs focus on in-depth audience analysis and consumer behavior. This creates a problem for designers as they complete their degree program and enter the job market, particularly if they intend to seek freelance work. This guide is innovative because it presents components of visual communication from perspectives …

Ctrl Shift, Kit Son Lee

Masters Theses

CTRL SHIFT makes a case for design under contemporary computation. The abstractions of reading, writing, metaphors, mythology, code, cryptography, interfaces, and other such symbolic languages are leveraged as tools for understanding. Alternative modes of knowledge become access points through which users can subvert the control structures of software. By challenging the singular expertise of programmers, the work presented within advocates for the examination of internalized beliefs, the redistribution of networked power, and the collective sabotage of computational authority.

Refiguring Relations, Daphne Hsu

Masters Theses

Refiguring Relations sets conditions for interdependence and visualizes the affective relationships that people have with one another. Through scripts and participatory experiences, my work explores, challenges, and formulates expressions of collaboration. I extend spaces of overlap between individuals to encourage connection and alliance building, however temporary, slow, or small. In reading experiences, both print and digital, models of circulation and accessibility allow the audience to see and affect each others’ interactions. This thesis assembles methodologies and blueprints for reciprocal engagement, between designer and collaborators, designer and participants, and among participants themselves.

Jettisoning The Frame: Strategies For Designing At The Threshold, Will Mianecki

Masters Theses

Jettisoning the Frame: Strategies for Designing at the Threshold explores graphic design’s capacity for facilitating critique and understanding of accelerating systems of technological control and complexity. Working across archives, architectures, and infrastructures, designing at the threshold is an approach that takes the opacity of systems and subjects alike as a starting point from which new possibilities, configurations, and relations emerge. It is a loose methodology predicated on shifting, jettisoning, and reorienting the role and frame of the designer from objectivity to subjectivity. From neutrality to implication. From scientific to messy. From solutionism to something else.

Parentheses Asterisk Ellipses, Everett Epstein

Masters Theses

Textual punctuation — those common marks that pace a text — are rarely static. They allow a message to flow, providing space and also emphasis. While words hold the stage, humble commas and periods coax the message.

This thesis urges another orientation to these tools, with the graphic designer assuming the role of one who principally punctuates. In Parentheses Asterisk Ellipses, punctuation becomes the primary driver of meaning — a perfect technology for rich associative networks of history, type, and the social. Tracing the grain of these forms, Parentheses Asterisk Ellipses offers a close reading of the three marks in …

Paperwork, Romik Bose Mitra

Masters Theses

This thesis is about the politics of identity and belonging. It is about the impact that practices of identification, government surveillance, and global systems of citizenship and nationality have on the people that live by them. Inspired by the various borders (both real and imagined) that I maneuvered around to get to Rhode Island, and enriched with perspectives gathered in conversation with theoreticians in the field, Paperwork is a set of documents and debriefs that details the work that I made in response to a migratory and investigatory journey. Through this thesis, I attempt to better understand various bureaucratic practices …