Graphic Design Commons^™

Building A Brand For A New Generation, Joel Schlaudt

Senior Honors Theses

In a segment of the market as highly competitive as is the coffee industry, it can be difficult to forge a new brand strong enough to stand on its own and unique enough to stand above the competition. However, by choosing the millennial generation as a target audience and strategically constructing a creative strategy to reach them on an emotional level, a brand concept emerges with the ability to connect with consumers in a new way, transforming a daily necessity into an emotional experience unlike that offered by any other competitor. A Harry Potter-inspired brand built upon a delivery …

Paul Rand: Life, Work, Philosophy, And Influence On Modern Design, Benjamin Nicholes

Senior Honors Theses

Paul Rand is one the most influential graphic designers of the 21st Century. This thesis will cover his biography and show how the events of his life shaped him into the famed and prestigious designer we know him to be today. The thesis will then cover the many projects Rand designed and show the influences on his style and how his design philosophy is evident in his work. Finally, the thesis will look at how Rand’s style and philosophy has impacted graphic design in the modern era. This study will show why Paul Rand is considered to be one 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 …

The Call Of The Undertow, Rebekah Bradford

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Artist Statement

Prior to becoming a graphic design student, I was very interested in illustration. I wanted an opportunity to hone my illustration skills, focus on one consistent style of illustration, consistently draw the same characters, and practice writing. Creating a children’s book gave me the opportunity to do all of those things. And, after several semesters of work, it’s great to finally see The Call of the Undertow completed! I hope that you enjoy reading this story and looking at the images because I enjoyed creating it.

Zoetic Fitness, Brooke S. Fremeau

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Graphic design is a problem-solving field. A client or company tasks a designer with a problem, and to solve that problem the designer uses 2D fundamentals and technology. As a designer, one must carefully listen to the client to understand their needs before making design decisions. While graphic designers are responsible for creating stunning visuals for both print and digital media, one of the most important aspects of graphic design is branding. Broadly speaking, branding is the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product or service in a consumers mind. Through branding, the designer aims …

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 Effect Of Medium On Perceived Authenticity In Graphic Design, Micah Joseph Bauer

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Micah Bauer MFA Creative Project

Design, Programming, And User-Experience, Kaila G. Manca

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis is a culmination of my individualized major in Human-Computer Interaction. As such, it showcases my knowledge of design, computer engineering, user-experience research, and puts into practice my background in psychology, com- munications, and neuroscience.

I provided full-service design and development for a web application to be used by the Digital Media and Design Department and their students.This process involved several iterations of user-experience research, testing, concepting, branding and strategy, ideation, and design. It lead to two products.

The first product is full-scale development and optimization of the web appli- cation.The web application adheres to best practices. It was …

Finding Unfound_Graphic Hybridity, Yaeyoung Park

Theses and Dissertations

Hybridity is the result when visual form, color or tools interact. While not every combination of multiple elements result in success, I believe creativity, intuition and serendipity determines the successful hybridity. This is the documentation of my journey to develop a personal definition of successful hybridity in graphic design.

White Space: An Overlooked Element Of Design, Samantha Coates

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

There are many different elements used to enhance visual appeal in Advertising and Graphic design. While all elements of design are important, arranging all of these components effectively, affects the overall visual appeal to viewers. The use of space may be thought of as the single, most important element of design. How things are arranged contributes to how effective an advertisement is to its audience. While space is important, it is also vastly taken for granted, specifically in the form of “white space.” Whitespace is important to visual appeal in many ways. This includes readability, viewer perception of brand image, …

The Impact Of Branding And Marketing Strategies On Events With Sole, Jennifer Vucinich

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study was to research current marketing, branding, and social media strategies and apply those to Events with Sole, a nonprofit organization that establishes running and multisport races in Northern California. This study explored the impact of these strategies on nonprofit organizations and the importance of sustaining a brand identity. More specifically, this research defined effective logo design for nonprofits, and based on collected data, provided suggestions for potential improvements to be made to the current Events with Sole branding. This research also provided suggestions for improvements to be made to social media strategy and marketing tactics, …

Central Falls Welcome Sign Project Phase 2, Lindsay Guastefeste, Elyssa Roketenetz, Jorge Saenz, Jake Wheeler, Arnold Robinson

Graphic Design

For this design, the intent was to create a completely different identity for the City of Central Falls, as well as create a stronger connection with the state of Rhode Island. The curved shape that is created by the top portion of the design suggests a relationship with the Ocean State and the symbol of the wave that is seen throughout the State and even its license plate. It also creates a more modern approach with its abstract shape as well as creates a new and recognizable destination for tourists and locals. The use of brick for the base suggests …

Vogue As An Example Of Effective Fashion Magazine Covers, Kiefer Hackney

Graphic Communication

Abstract

In this study, my objective was to determine what cover design elements contribute to the success of Vogue, the world’s leading women’s fashion magazine. I found that color, fonts, layout, and photography all work together to make a cover that both catches the reader’s eye and gives the reader information about the magazine’s contents. I was able to narrow this down through extensive research on the background of women’s fashion magazines and, specifically, the history and future of Vogue.

In order to find out what is different about Vogue’s printed magazine covers compared to other fashion …

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 …

Graphic Evangelism, Mark H. Cupp

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis explores the use of mainstream graphic novels as a means of Christian evangelism. Though not exclusively Christian, the graphic novel, The Beast Within, will educate its target audience by using attractive illustrations, relatable issues, and understandable morals in a fictional, biblically inspired story. This thesis will include character designs, artwork, chapter summaries, and a single chapter of a self-written, self-illustrated graphic novel along with a short summary of Christian references and symbols. The novel will follow six half-human, half-animal warriors on their adventure to restore the balance of their world, which has been disrupted by a powerful …

Central Falls Welcome Sign Project, Lindsay Guastafeste, Elyssa Roketenetz, Jorge Saenz, Arnold Robinson

Graphic Design

Our inspiration for this modern style welcome sign came mostly from the welcome sign for Vancouver, Canada. This approach would give Central Falls a look of it’s own among the more traditional syle signs of surrounding towns. The double paneled structure design of this option would make for the option of having a bilingual sign, showcasing the multi-cultural heritage of the City.

Herreshoff Marine Museum: Logo Redesign And Style Guide, Arnold Robinson

Graphic Design

No abstract provided.

Narrowing The Margin: The Role Of The Black Superhero, Julian S. Strayhorn Ii

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Comic books can be understood as a visualization of popular culture in the U.S. For a long time these tales were formed by a white power fantasy, circulating in mainstream culture as over-exaggerated narrations. To give an example of white power fantasy, Dwayne McDuffie, a prolific writer in popular entertainment states:

“…if I write, as I have many times, a story where Daredevil, who doesn’t have powers, gets the drop on Thor, who has unbelievable powers, people go Oh, that was so cool! Daredevil was so clever! If I have Black Panther do the same thing that’s impossible! It’s like, …

Re:Creation, Heather Boone

Theses and Dissertations

This intent of this project is to explore the importance of handmade objects in the age of information.

Arabic Typography Play, Sarah Alfalah

Theses and Dissertations

I believe that spoken and written languages are verbal and visual expressions of cultures. Language is used to convey and sustain values and the belief system of people. Arabic is a language of complexity and formal beauty that is being disregarded and pushed away by its own native speakers. It is losing its value in the Arab world. In other words it is dying. Both the written and spoken language is being affected. As the world is interchanging, integrating, and becoming closer, there has been a strong impact on many societies, threatening their original culture. Arab cultures are abandoning the …

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 …

Visible Trace A Series Of Selected Projects Reflecting My Graduate School Experience, My Interest In Mark Making, Typographic Collage, And Serendipity., Meaghan Dee

Theses and Dissertations

Mark-making captures movement and preserves gesture. Marks can reveal the motion behind their creation and convey thoughts through non-verbal, non-literal means.

Space: A Discovery Of Visual Language, Kelley White

Theses and Dissertations

Space is a visual communicator. The act of perceiving space is a neurological soiree that projects and negotiates meaning in our constructed world. The poetry that we observe within space is tied directly to our emotions and to previous experience. Within ourselves, we each have particular feelings, unconscious or not, relating to height, length, and depth, as well as light and shadow. For example, a long, narrow hallway may elicit anxiety, while an open, sunlit nave in a cathedral may bring about feelings of serenity and joy. Our observations and interactions within the perceptual confines of space reveal clues to …

Graphic Design As Projection, Bret Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

I imagined a world where designing is projecting and where the entire design field is called projection. My research into what it means to be a projector culminates in a participatory creative project that embodies concepts of projection taken from a range of disparate subjects.

Geologic Typography, Eric Karnes

Theses and Dissertations

In this project, I explore how the processes and structures of non-design disciplines can influence typographic form. Using the field of geology as a test case, I apply geologic processes to typographic form in order to create dimensional structures that speak to a wide audience.

Typography: From Internal Conflict To External Content, Ernest F. Bernhardi Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This body of work represents a celebration and pursuit of realizing an alternative language, one capable of expressing internal conflict through process and response to external typographic form and content.

Religion, Rock, Rhythm: An Analysis Of Graphic Design Problems And The Evolution Of Their Solutions, Chris Meux

Theses and Dissertations

The three series of works discussed in this thesis, Our Transgressions, a series of typography posters, the Vinyl Icon Collection, a series of album covers, and the Portraits of Rhythm series of image transfers, were created specifically to address areas in my art work that could be improved resulting in stronger designs. After my faculty advisory committee analyzed my application portfolio, they provided me with feedback on areas in my work that could use improvement. This thesis will analyze how these areas of concern were addressed in each series as well as demonstrate how improvements were made within the individual …

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, …

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.