Graphic Design Commons^™

Trends Within Craft Beer Packaging, Aurelia See

Graphic Communication

While the print industry is facing a changing atmosphere, one thing is as sure as death and taxes— there will always be a market for print within the packaging industry. There is a growing market within the craft beer industry, and with that comes competition for each brewery. Many breweries are finding it difficult to use their beer’s first point of sale, the packaging, to their advantage when attracting consumers to their product. The purpose of this research is to provide the reader with knowledge and insight into package design, with special emphasis on designing for current trends and for …

Creative Advertising Portfolio, Hayley E. Sunderman

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Since I was a young child, all I wanted was to draw and write. I would compose entire binders of my artwork, as well as Microsoft Word documents of the beginnings of mystery novels. As I grew older, I let my self-doubt take over and I convinced myself that I was not talented enough to pursue any type of creative career path. I came into college as a Marketing major knowing that my future career options would be fairly vast. During my junior year, I realized my strong desire to work in creative advertising. Graphic design, copywriting, photography, videography, and …

"Design And The Creation Of Value." Review Of Design And The Creation Of Value Written By John Heskett And Edited By Clive Dilnot And Susan Boztepe, Kenneth Fitzgerald

Art Faculty Publications

(First Paragraph) If designers have a central precept, it's that their activity creates economic value for commercial interests, which practitioners regard as their predominant purpose. Within design, even among students, this pecuniary capacity is considered self-evident. But the eternal lament among design professionals is that business isn't grasping this certainty, or only does so erratically. Design is largely regarded by the outside world as a frivolous afterthought.

Katie Vogel Senior Art Portfolio, Katie Vogel

Senior Art Portfolios

No abstract provided.

Haley Kropp Senior Art Portfolio, Haley Kropp

Senior Art Portfolios

No abstract provided.

[Rebelution 17]: Gender Bender, Francesca Louise Inocentes

Scripps Senior Theses

Fashion embodies what is accepted and valued in a given culture or society and empowers individuals by building self-confidence, enabling them to express themselves authentically through their bodies and garments. The gender binary, perpetuated by the mainstream fashion industry, marginalizes individuals who do not conform to it. In Rebelution 17, I utilize clothing design and photography to empower and liberate individuals who do not conform to the standards of beauty in regards to gender identity and acceptability. The finished works are featured in a Lookbook – a digital and physical collection of photographs used to market fashion – designed …

Good As We Know It: Goodness In Design Discourse Since 1870, Garreth C. Blackwell

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the ways in which design and design practitioners have defined value in the design discourse through the vocabulary and concept of goodness since 1870. These definitions of value have been central to design discourse both past and present and deal with the impact and purpose of design work as well as its role in the creation of the approaching future. Since before the coalescence of graphic design as a separate field of design, these questions have been tied to the form, function or social impact of the objects created by designers. Despite the prevalence of this line …

Retirement Reboot: A Website Redesign, Christina Gillen

Honors Projects

A website could be created with the latest technology, but after a few years it will still need to be updated. This is what happened to Swanton Health Care and Retirement Center’s website. This project is designed to remedy the problem by creating an entirely new website with updated content, images, and interactive features to bring Swanton Health Care’s online presence back to life.

Rapid Response, James Chae

Masters Theses

Rapid Response is a design practice that responds to the accelerating speed of consumption. It holds a reflective and responsive mirror to our culture of overconsumption. With an informed critical eye and kleptocratic hand, I consume, sample, and render the visual energy of commerce and respond directly in the stream on available platforms and on a number of scales.

Central to this research-based practice is a desire to expand discourse. Through a close examination of commercial language, the visual techniques of corporate branding, and the aesthetic narratives of commercial spaces, I study the persuasive forces of advertising, subvert the myths, …

Seeking Solace: Regret, Grief, Anxiety, Rebecca Schroeder

Honors Projects

Seeking Solace: Regret, Grief, Anxiety is a triptych video and artifact piece inspired by the abstract analysis of my dreams. It recognizes worries held within my subconscious and brings them to life through graphic design, photography, and video. The process of creating provides a new perspective of looking at both art and occupational therapy as methods of solving emotional distress.

I have recorded over 80 of my dreams in the past year. In these dreams, regret, grief, and anxiety are common themes. These themes are represented in three triptychs that cycle through past, present, and future problems. The cycling of …

Colaboratory: Design Collaboration For The Greater Good, Lindsay B. Tyson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Graphic design is a powerful tool, which has the power to shift perspective and create an impact. A recent shift in the design world has graphic designers using their skill sets to address complex social problems, to engage their audience in new ways that bring awareness to a social issue for the greater good of society. This thesis examines how graphic design collaboration ignites social change within a community and inspires transformation in human behavior. It explores how designing for the greater good impacts our society; and how these collaborative experiences improve the community and clients they serve. This thesis …

Roam: Where She Goes, Tamara Lewis

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The app, Roam, was designed to be a one-stop destination for all happenings and information related to, and tailored for, the lesbian community. With the world moving toward the digital age and mobile app development becoming its own category for streamlining information, I wanted to create a platform for consumers to access the information they needed that fit the fast-paced lifestyle of today. More specifically, I wanted to design an app for a travel guide that gave the user all the information and material in one source.

Colaboratory: Design Collaboration For The Greater Good, Stephanie Arends Neal

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

A university campus is comprised of countless students enrolled in an array of degree programs that logistically creates a diverse population that can and should culminate into a dynamic professional network for graduates. How can higher education capitalize on this melting pot to provide experiences for students and fuse this network? A place, where students collectively solve problems by applying knowledge from their degree-specific areas, will foster interdisciplinary collaboration. By requiring working-relationships between students that benefit their community, a design center will provide students with experiences across disciplines that mirror a real-world, collaborative work environment while they identify opportunities and …

The Digital Incunabula: Rock • Paper • Pixels, Patrick Aievoli

Zea E-Books Collection

“The Digital Incunabula is Patrick Aievoli’s personal sonnet through media, interaction and communication design. He carefully crafts each evolutionary step into ripples that are supported by his own storied professional and academic experiences. It’s full of facts, terms and historical information which makes it perfect for anyone looking to flat out learn!” ● James Pannafino, Professor, Millersville University & Interaction Design

“This is a serious work that will find a broad community of readers. The depth and breadth of Aievoli’s experience in the publication industry give his voice and ideas credibility in the extreme. This book will inspire deep reflection.” …

The Problem With Creativity, Con Kennedy

Conference papers

Creativity would seem to be the single most important competency of design practitioners. The literature would suggest that, in general, creativity is considered to be a positive thing generating positive outcomes of design practices and their clients. This paper investigates how creativity can be defined within the paradigm of design practice and practitioners and draws upon references in international literature to establish themes and concepts. Once identified, these themes are then investigated to identify potential problems or issues with creativity. Problems may include but are not limited to: practices undertaken by the individual designer; attitude responses from the individual designer; …

Visualizing Population Density Based On Wifi Router Location And Network Usage, Tyler Deitz

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

This research paper introduces a prototype of a feature for Robert E. Kennedy’s maps web application. The feature visualizes population density based off wifi router location and network usage within the building. The significance of the feature is noted by documenting the library’s transition into a hub for student life and campus culture, which increases the space’s occupancy and visitor retention for a longer time. The feature is based off a Voronoi diagram map distribution which strongly affects its technical and visual implementation. The end product is user tested by Cal Poly students and received a 93.5% satisfaction rate.

Brand Identity For New Artists In The Music Industry, Drea Achacoso

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the aspects of brand identity and apply it to new artists in the music industry. The research from this study was applied to Hills & Strongholds, an aspiring alternative rock band. Designs were created for the band’s brand identity on multiple platforms that attempted to portray the band’s musical vision. A survey was conducted to determine which logo and album artwork designs were able to effectively transport the bands genre and vision based on the audience’s perception. The results of this study can be used to develop Hills & Strongholds into a …

E-Volving Information Literacy Tutorials With E-Maginative And E-Ngaging Design, Damecia Donahue, Axa Liauw, Rebeca Peacock, Jill Wurm

Library Scholarly Publications

Presentation on May 22nd, 2014, at The Workshop for Instruction in Library Use (WILU), at Western University, Ontario, Canada.

Zoom In To The Layers Of Graphic Design, Paola J. Robelo

Honors College Theses

Graphic design is a lot like languages varying from place to place. It’s a way of communication that retains its own cultural characteristics even though it shares similar design’s aesthetics. Graphic design varies from culture to culture, influenced by a country’s culture, language, traditions, history, and society. Just like art and music, graphic design’s aesthetics differs and expresses different messages across every culture. There are common graphic design’s elements found in one culture that are not found in other cultures and vice versa.

As an international student, this is a topic that has really interested me because I want to …

Aesthetically Designed Maps: Development And Perception, Catherine Wang

Graphic Communication

This research explored the creative element of subway map creation in light of its effectiveness. Printed subway maps, used often for metropolitan cities and areas, are limited in physical dimension and scale, carrying minimal information. The New York, San Francisco Bay Area, Tokyo, Paris, London and Moscow subway maps highlight similar design and abstraction that fulfill the basic necessary elements for subway patrons. Over the years since the first metro map for each city was created, maps have become more simplified by removing physical land features and reference points to make way for expanding and new subway lines, stations, and …

Colormoo: An Algorithmic Approach To Generating Color Palettes, Joshua Rael

CMC Senior Theses

Selecting one color can be done with relative ease, but this task becomes more difficult with each subsequent color. Colormoo is an online tool aimed at solving this problem. We implement three algorithms for generating color palettes based off of a starting color. Data is collected for each palette that is generated. Our analysis reveals two of the algorithms are preferred, but under different circumstances. Furthermore, we find that users prefer palettes containing colors that are compatible, but not too similar. With refined heuristics, we believe these techniques can be extended and applied beyond the field of graphic design alone.

Flexible Branding: An Explorative Case Study On The Effectiveness Of An Adaptable Visual Identity, Adam Scott Houghton

Graphic Communication

No abstract provided.

Unloosed: Designing Participatory Objects, Laura Schlifer

Theses and Dissertations

The ubiquity of technology has mediated the means of receiving content through digital networks; users have complete control over receiving, shaping, and sharing information. In contrast to the inherent elasticity of these networks, physical pieces of communication often manifest through a closed and highly controlled process. However, the increased prominence of user-interaction with media provides an opportunity to evaluate the design process as it applies to the creation of physical objects. Throughout much of my work, I investigate the potential for unloosening the control of designed objects by inviting others into the design process. By considering the audience as active …

Designing Connection, Laurie K. Culshaw

Theses and Dissertations

Social connection is an essential human need. Personal connections exist at a variety of depths and within different types of relationships. Small daily choices determine the strength of those connections and their impact on our well-being as individuals and as a community. Modern society and technology have altered the speed and channels of connection, increasing communication but decreasing meaningful connection. It is critical to understand how the methods of communication affect the depth of connections. Through a series of participatory graphic design projects, I analyze the strengths and weaknesses of one-on-one, small group and community connections within an established taxonomy …

The Contribution To And Effect Of Design And Architecture On Health And Activity Promotion (H&Ap) In The Workplace, Krystal L. Schumacher

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

Expanding the research and awareness on the contribution to and affect of design and architecture on health and activity promotion in the workplace (h&ap) is essential in moving forward in the design of working environments. As humans, we spend the majority of our time indoors, for an average American adult he or she spends the majority of the day in a working environment. The impact that our spaces have is much deeper than the aesthetic. Our environments can depict how we act, feel and operate based on the design of our surroundings. Through this research, the goal was to study …

Creating Pixel Luxury: Research And Design Of A High Quality Resource Website, Kendall Dea

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study was ultimately to create a website featuring useful resources for designers and creative individuals. This paper examines past studies dealing with user interface and design fundamentals of web design, and then applies their results when planning the basic layout of the final website. The website was then coded and uploaded online with the name, Pixel Luxury. After finishing and uploading the first version of the website, some of the primary challenges that arose during the creation process were documented, as well as many of the useful tools that aided the overall design and coding process. …

Is Retro Packaging Making A Comeback? Is Old The New “New”?, Andrea Hodgson

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study was to investigate consumer perceptions of retro packaging vs. modern packaging. A survey was administered to different groups of people around Cal Poly asking participants which packages they preferred in terms of design and perceived quality. The participants indicated their preferences and then expressed their views freely with an open-ended question.

The results of this study indicated that consumers had a strikingly high favor to modern packaging design over retro in terms of design and perceived quality. There was no difference across generations.

Although retro packaging may look appealing, customers are not likely to purchase …

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

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 …

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.