Graphic Design Commons^™

West Coast Workshop To Southwest Institute, Hannah Marie Cerne

Art & Art History ETDs

This thesis considers Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico (originally established as Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles, CA), and its contributions to collaborative printmaking. Originally founded in 1960 by June Wayne with Clinton Adams and Garo Antreasian, Tamarind Lithography Workshop (the precursor to Tamarind Institute) revitalized lithography through structured collaboration between artists and master printers, alongside rigorous training programs. This thesis provides an institutional history of the workshop during its relocation to the University of New Mexico, highlighting its transformation into a university-based institute that integrated education and professional production. Using social and labor-based methodologies, this study analyzes how …

Jadughar: The House Of Magic, Dhruvi A. Shah

Masters Theses

Jadughar or the House of Magic is what people call a 'museum' in parts of South Asia. The practice of museum making, at its origin, is the act of collecting, preserving, interpreting and representing a culture’s tangible and intangible heritage to make it accessible to diverse audiences. Since the early 19th century such practices have been performed at various kala bhandars (art centers) in India, without the need of a formal or institutional organisation. The British introduced the model of a ‘museum’ in South Asia, with the aim of not only preserving ethnographic collections, but also showcasing their power and …

Draw To Breathe, Ranran Ma

Masters Theses

This thesis explores visual expression in drawing as an intuitive mode of thinking suited to everyday life—a form of expression that runs parallel to language and surpasses it.

The project begins with a daily Post-it note drawing practice. These drawings often emerge before conscious understanding, subsequently accompanied by brief text, allowing image and word to resonate through emotion and intuition. Through the use of small-scale, portable, low-pressure materials, and with immediacy and intuitive freedom as the foundation of making, a visual language system grounded in the self develops. Through this sustained practice, I developed an instruction-based card system titled Draw …

Menstrual Muses: Art, Storytelling, And The Care-Based Communication Of Menstrual Justice, Burcu Koleli

Masters Theses

Menstrual Muses is an artistic research project comprising a written thesis and a body of work developed across soft sculpture, ceramics, illustration, graphic memoir, digital media, and participatory workshops. The written component operates alongside the studio practice, outlining the project’s theoretical framework, methodology, and context while engaging questions of communication, accessibility, embodiment, and stigma. It situates menstruation within feminist discourse, examining how it has been culturally silenced, regulated, and shaped through systems of power.

The artistic work functions as research materialized through practice, responding to the central question of how my art can facilitate conversations around menstrual justice. It explores …

Alternative, Ashlynn M. Stroud

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

A series of illustrations, sculptures and comic book issues designed to introduce a series of stories and characters that represent the history and members of a fictional mythology depicting the cultural social group often referred to as the “alternative” community. Alternative takes place in a world that combines high fantasy and science fiction with elements of pop culture and music. This world uses iconography of the various genres of the alternative subculture and music, metal, post-punk, and the evolving scene of the underground with varying visuals from both gothic and industrial time periods. Viewers are encouraged to read and follow …

"Spectrum", Mackinzey H. Critzer

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

These body of works explores themes centered around ASD/Autism Spectrum Disorder, including symptoms involved, my personal views/experiences of it, social issues, and other related topics. My work consists of various mediums, digital pieces/prints and physical installations that involve bright color tones, human/humanoid figures, and various symbols.

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

An Interview With An Instagram Archivist: @404mph Interviews @Onlystarleft, 404mph (On Instagram)

Digital Laboratory: Publisher of Internet Journal

An Interview with an Instagram Archivist: @404MPH Interviews @ONLYSTARLEFT is a dialogue conducted entirely through iMessage, presented as both a publication and a designed artifact. Within this text exchange, the conversation navigates themes of digital preservation, authorship, and self-curation—examining how social media aesthetics transform personal experience into collective memory. @ONLYSTARLEFT reflects on the act of archiving not as static documentation but as a living, participatory practice shaped by the speed and impermanence of online culture. Formally, the project recognizes the iPhone as a cultural mediator—its interface shaping not only how we communicate, but how we perceive and construct value within …

A Personal Manual Of Escapism, Qing Wen

Masters Theses

In this fast-paced, information-saturated era, avoidance has become a common mechanism of self-preservation. Confronted with global crises and structural instability, the current generation increasingly adopt a pessimistic stance toward the future: some retreat into virtual worlds, others find themselves unable to bear the weight of real-life responsibilities, and many turn to art as a private sanctuary. But is avoidance only a pejorative term?

It wasn’t until recently that I realized, nearly all of my creative work has stemmed from a place, or an action of escape. The imagined worlds I’ve built, the spaces I created to flee from reality—without knowing …

Piecemeal, Max J. Eisenberg

Theses and Dissertations

Exploring the history of photographic manipulation both inside and outside of the camera from the late 19th century until today. My work plucks out cultural and local signifiers from the state of Florida, and the American South as a whole, and disseminates them using a constructed symbolic vernacular in the form of in-camera collaging on large format film.

Working To Achieve Flow, Vincente D.A. Fischer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This paper is a thesis for the body of work I created over the last 3 years called Working To Achieve Flow. In the following pages, I will discuss what inspired me to create this body of work, which entailed personal reflection on my own mental health and how it affects my art practice. I will also go over who my influences are: Eva Hesse, Willem De Kooning, and Jenny Saville. Each of these artists inspires me to think about my work in different ways, which has helped me develop into the artist I am today. Finally, I will break …

An Essay Of Images From Playlab Inc., Playlab Inc., Archie Lee Coates Iv

Digital Laboratory: Publisher of Internet Journal

A series of images depicting the illustrious Playlab Inc. as a collection of projects in different mediums. The LA-based design studio has contributed to fashion, art, and urban culture through collaborations with major institutions and emerging artists. The photo essay highlights Playlab Inc.’s diverse projects and installations, embodying its core philosophy: no focus. This principle guides the studio to the cutting-edge of contemporary culture, where innovation meets execution. The creative powerhouse has demonstrated a capacity to engage with contemporary cultural movements through its projects. For instance, in the OTW Vans project, the firm acquired images from notable skate photographers Atiba …

The Phantomwise Tarot And Guidebook, By Erin Morgenstern, Emily E. Auger

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Review of The Phantomwise Tarot and Guidebook [78 pp, illustrated]. Morgenstern, E. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers. An Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. © 2022. ISBN 978-0-593-57911-4. $24.99.

Cim316.2 Antville Example 1, Sae University College

Exemplars

Capstone Planning documentation for a video game.

The concept of Antville is a cooperative video game dedicated to boosting

social skills and teamwork among children. Inspired by the Young Minds

Matter survey, which reveals a gap in social skills development for kids aged

4-12 (The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020), Antville will

address these social skill deficits through game mechanics informed by

scholarly research.

Revelation Perth International Film Festival Academic Conference 2024, James Thompson

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

Drawing delegates from around the country The Revelation Perth International Film Festival's Academic Conference is a truly interactive two days of intense discussion and debate on all things cinema

Revelation is Australia's only international film festival to host and encourage academic discussion alongside its screening program and we look forward to taking its discoveries to audiences around the country and world. It represents an important platform in film discussion and analysis in this country.

Taking place on Tuesday July 2nd and Weds July 3rd 2024, the Revelation Academic Conference draws local, national and international academics to discuss and analyse issues …

Medical Graphic Novels: Comic Art And Medicine, Leesha Coleman

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Leesha Coleman, USA Biomedical Librarian, gave a presentation at the West Regional Library of the Mobile Public Library. She discussed the use of medical graphic novels and the incorporation of art in science degrees.

Cliffhanger, Micah Mickles

MFA in Visual Art

I am Micah Mickles, a mixed-media visual artist in St. Louis, Missouri. My artwork is deeply rooted in my personal experiences and serves as a memorial and monument to counteract the enduring effects of grief and loss. What sets my work apart is the transformative impact of my everyday encounters, inspired by my 14 years of experience working at Trader Joe's. These encounters have led me to reflect on my profound connections with diverse communities. By delving into the hidden narratives of mundane materials encountered in the workplace, I prompt a reexamination of convenience and supply chain origins. Inspired by …

My Daily Grounds: A Journal Of Creative Alchemy, Kathleen A. Donovan

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

My Daily Grounds: A Journal of Creative Alchemy is a project intended to renew artistic confidence and prepare a mindset for a writing retreat in Ireland in June 2024 by revisiting childhood memories and exploring the impact of early domestic abuse through a visual journaling process. This endeavor aims to stir up the creative voice and find authenticity in creation by gathering and clarifying personal data visually, following the Creative (CPS) approach to unlock new insights and ideas for writing. The resulting essays will illuminate the unseen effects of trauma and are intended for publication, reflecting a co-creative process between …

Ecological Functions Of The Document In Art And Design: Diplomatic Documents In Artistic Inquiries, Yann Aucompte

Proceedings from the Document Academy

A certain ecologist art form has been on the rise for the past twenty years. Those artworks include documents. The analysis will take two examples : Tale as Tool, and Chroniques de l’accueil. The use of documents doesn't deal with representation, as it used to be in art, but with inquiries. The ecological art tries to trigger testimonies and transformations of the common representation of nature. They don’t use documents as a trace but for their diplomatic capabilities. The document doesn’t record events or facts but it changes the situation. The ecological artists come with this paradoxical art stance : …

Handwoven Drawings, Lynn Bennett Carpenter

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In my Handwoven Drawings series, I developed an innovative method that unifies drawing and weaving. I draw and paint on the surface of soft wood, hand cut the wood into thin strips, and then weave the painted strips back together on a floor loom. The Handwoven Drawings teeter between drawing and textile and beg categorization. The drawing on wood could be thought of as traditional cartoons that instead of guiding a tapestry become the textile itself. The horizontal cuts across the wood articulate lines of weft undulating across the work creating a new sensibility within a woven structure and a …

The Favela Blossoms: Voices Of Favelas In São Paulo, Brazil, Vasti Cruz

Scripps Senior Theses

This project spotlights improvised housing in the peripheral areas of São Paulo, Brazil, better known as favelas. For over a century, the favela has been known as a place of death, violence, crime, and oppression. Paradoxically, the first favelas in Rio de Janeiro were named after a plant that produces flowers. However, today, these communities are rarely compared to their beautiful, symbolic-of-life namesake. Instead, this prejudgement is rampant not only globally, but also within the proper city– which perpetuates social division. When favelas are discussed in the media, they often reference those in Rio de Janeiro; however, favelas are present …

Body. Freedom. Choice: Creating Artwork In Post-Roe America, Erin Sedra

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

I knew from a young age that I never wanted children. Whenever I expressed my disinterest in motherhood, I was often met with bewilderment, disapproval, and hostility. The church I was raised in taught me that my value and worth as a woman directly correlated with the power of my birthing hips. This fundamentalist upbringing has significantly shaped my relationship with my femininity, my body, and my artwork. When I feel powerless, turning to my art gives me a sense of control and self-expression. This body of work began as a reaction to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and …

Otherworldly Gestures, Sadia Quddus

Masters Theses

OtherWorldly Gestures seeks to give form to the intangible. I work primarily with light as material substance to shape a speculative emotive space in which I make metaphysical phenomena experiential. I collaborate with ecological and technological elements to express a spiritual understanding of Self and World. Most recently, the work translates material objects and architectural elements from my cultural heritage, and gives visual and haptic form to the sacred relationship between body, soul, and natural world.

Through these explorations, I begin to propose a speculative OtherWorld. I delve into the precolonial, ancestral teachings of a mystical spiritual path, referencing Sufi …

Infinitely Incredible Configurations, Jenni Oughton

Masters Theses

As a designer, I am intent on charting out a radically different perspective on the future. To instigate movement beyond current design thinking centered on problem solving, I propose a shift toward design fiction—a deliberate and direct inquiry into the realm where design meets science fiction, and how that merges with reality. My practice uses science, speculative fiction, and technology as positive models to both generate prompts and spur design outcomes. I borrow from the author Isaac Asimov's three categories of science fiction narratives to instigate a way of structuring this design endeavor: What if ..., If only ..., If …

Making Then Meaning, Ben Denzer

Masters Theses

This is an artist talk contained within a book. It is 816 pages and 49 minutes long. Closed captions run across the spreads. A video of this talk can be watched on bendenzer.com/making-then-meaning

At RISD, I’ve been prompted to expand the scope and tools of my practice and to reflect on questions of meaning in my work.

I spend my days making things, but I’ve never really had good answers to questions of why I make the things I make, or what their meaning is. I don’t think there are simple answers to these questions.

I think meaning comes from …

Rethinking Graphic Design Pedagogy For The Cuny Academic Commons: On Process, Generosity, And Creative Collaboration In Mapping A Foundation Graphic Design Course For Faculty And Instructors, Suzanne Dell'orto

Publications and Research

The creation of an Open Education Resource with the CUNY Academic Commons for a foundation course in graphic communication at Bernard M. Baruch College, City University of New York (CUNY) is a natural extension of the generous visual and written communication that is at the heart of Graphic Design. Graphic designers are inherently collaborative, working through a shared visual and written language to communicate. This Open Educational Resource (OER) serves as a base template to be shared department-wide with all instructors at CUNY and beyond to provide a framework for instruction for this studio course that is taught as a …

What An Interesting Video To Put On The Internet (An Amusing Economic Indicator), Dahlia S. Bloomstone

Theses and Dissertations

My exhibition reconciles representations of domesticity, labor, and morality through the lens of sex-work (SW). It consists of video work, a video game, and free-to-take objects, where donation, the strip club, and the fish tank converge. My work concludes that SW is a timeless construct that will always exist even after reimagining multiple worlds.

Vaccinate: Posters From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Aaron Sutherlen, Judy Diamond, Meghan Leadabrand, Julia Mcquillan, St Patrick Reid

Zea E-Books Collection

In 2022 we are living through a global pandemic, and vaccines are one of the most effective strategies for slowing the spread of infectious disease, minimizing symptoms, and lowering healthcare demands. In short, vaccines save lives and can reduce the risk of contagion from social interaction.

In the United States in late 2021, after the vaccines had been broadly available for almost a year, one in five adults still chose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Art can disrupt what is embedded in our minds and open us up to new perspectives and insights. We hope to offer access to …

Cultural Formation Of Place: Making Yourself At Home, Olivia Arratia

Art Theses and Dissertations

The environment you grow up in can become a pivotal part of your existence. The sights, smells, people, and places you experience every day can transform the way you see the world. Growing up in a Mexican-American household has brought its own set of experiences that have made me the artist I am today. I am one of many contemporary artists building on the foundations of their heritage and the Chicano movement. I am also a Mexican-American artist expanding the identity and extending the legacy in the 21st century. This paper will investigate how Mexican-American heritage has influenced my artistic …

Spectrum Of Shit, Hannah Hiaasen

Theses and Dissertations

Contending with the loss of a parent to a mass shooting in their workplace, a newsroom, I find myself suspended in time, in an office. Post-its, fans, button-ups, snow globes, clipboards, reporters notebooks, scrap paper, jot downs, keyboards hold me up. I crave the comfort of repetitive cumulative hand work. Quilting, weaving, and cutting away help me breathe, haptically process and memorialize these grieving objects, this grieving person. Weed-wacking towards intimacy, my work employs a range of materials to mourn the mundanity of a workday, fantasize transformative justice, and steward embodied grief to the surface. My only speed is slow-- …