thesis ideas

I've been contemplating thesis ideas over the span of the past few quarters. Senior year can seem really ominous with the realization that senior project is coming. After writing all of the ideas I came up with down I started to weed it out and these are three possible senior thesis options (thus far). 

First option:

Vegan made sexy.
Project: create an app and packaging design that work together interactively to make vegan recipes seem less hippie and more mainstream. 

Thesis: Food and gender marketing. Sexualization of food products. 

Initially I thought that it would be really fun to create a vegan restaurant or food truck. I could expand product to grocery stores and local markets. The idea of a food truck has been really over-done (in my opinion) lately by seniors coming out of my school. As it is important to stand out I decided to drop the idea of a food truck and look into the idea of an app. App design showcases an ability to create UX and usability as well as differentiates graphic design students from one another. 

After meeting with Tony, I decided to chose one of the two following options:

Second option:

Ballard Grill & Ale House or 4B's Redesign/Overhaul

Project: create an entire branding and environmental graphics for 4B's bar in Ballard. Take the existing bar and change it to create an experiential brand and bar design.

Thesis: Experiential Branding. Creating the perfect bar.

For this project I would like to take real life design projects and create them during school. I currently work at the bar and we do not have a logo, business cards, or any REAL look and feel. The current managers have tried to create some consistent feel but haven't quite maneuvered it. I would like to change the environmental design as well as create a logo, business card, signage and menus. 

Third option:

Bar Design.

Project: create a bar from the ground up. Come up with any and all design that will be seen in the bar.

Thesis: Experiential Branding. Bar creation and user experience. 

This project would allow me to create my own bar. I would chose an experience that I would like create in the bar (for example apothecary style) and design the bar and collateral in a way that exemplifies that. I could potentially work with an ID student to create three dimensional items and architecture blueprints. I would create environmental design, menus, logo, signage, etc. 

project two: deliverables timeline (updated)

project two: project statement (updated)

unit 3: how people remember

CHAPTER SYNOPSIS
Chapter 3 goes in depth with how people tend to remember. It discusses the pros and cons of memory as well as the human reaction to memory. It is important to understand how the memory works when designing to help those viewing your design.

As you may have experienced in life, short-term memory can be unreliable. Working memory is memory that you need for less than a minute. For example, when you are at a web page and you fill out a form, the next page might have a captcha (the box that asks you to retype the letters/digits you see). You use working memory when you read the word and then look away from it to type it. In order for working memory to be successful, the user must have their attention focused. In design it is important to not ask people to remember information (such as numbers or letters) from one page to another.

As we understand, memory can be created from repetition. There are a few ways that this chapter suggests that we help create memory. People can handle 4-item chunks of information (think of phone number clusters 3-3-4 instead of 10 individual numbers). Memories are patterns of connections between neurons, so repetition can help the user create a memory. Recognition is easier than recalling something. Typically a user will be more successful in recognition because it will utilize context whereas recollection can lead to false information. People tend to remember the most recent information that they have been given, so it's important to focus the most impertinent information toward the end of whatever you are showing the person.

This chapter also discusses that memories can change. When we dream our mind is recalling events from the day and making them into memories and associations. Memories can change each time they are recalled. Flashbulb memories are usually relating to traumatic or dramatic events that become vivid memories to the storyteller, yet usually full of errors. The book uses an excellent example of a flashbulb memory when they discuss how you might remember the attacks on September 11th, 2001. The event was very traumatic, thus revving up the emotional amygdala that happens to be near the long-term memory coding part of the brain, the hippocampus. Emotions get tied up in the memory, causing information to change.

While discussing the importance of giving your viewer what they need to remember it is important to understand that it is okay for the user to forget. It's not a conscious effort to forget something (usually) and it is usually more helpful than detrimental. If you have important information that the viewer needs to remember its best to provide it in the design, or make it easy to find that information.

CHAPTER ANALYSIS
This chapter has been my favorite thus far. There was a lot of really great information to use as a designer and just for life in general While I feel like I have a good grasp of the lacking ability of short-term or working memory, I was surprised by the information that I read about memories and the fact that they are no concrete.

In my experience with online classes I have found it incredibly hard to read e-books. One of my biggest arguments is that the way the pages get broken up. For example, one page will have text that relates to an image that is on the next page. Typically in hard-printed books these pieces of information would be together. Online, I am forced to go back and forth multiple times to remember what the information about the picture is and to see the picture. This can be seen as an issue with working memory.

The fact that memories can change is also an interesting one. I have heard my mom on more than one account retell a story but not exactly how it happened. Maybe feelings were misplaced from the beginning of the story and it has changed the whole feel of the story. I used to find it really annoying because it felt like she preferred exaggeration (the jury is still out on that) but now I know it might just be a serious of connections and patterns that are trying to be created and turned into memory (even if it is wrong memory).

contest entry options

My first potential entry into an illustration competition is an illustration I did of Wednesday Adams. I used mauve colored Canson paper as a base, hadowed with Prismacolor grey tones, and color with Prismacolor colored pencils. This is one of my favorite conceptual illustrations from school. The idea is that this is Wednesday's reaction to bringing home the new Adam's baby.

My second contest option is this image I manipulated in Photoshop. I took a photo of this building during the day (see below), created a night time scene, and painted the photo so that it looked like lights were on and illuminating the trees.  

Original photo.

Another possible contest entry. This is a charcoal illustration I did to pay homage to various fairytales. It's a bit like a photo hunt to find and identify each piece that comes from a story. This would be for the Forsaken Nature competition.

thesis response four

The fourth thesis I read is by Eric Davey called The Effects of Mise en Scene on Motion Graphics. Elements of mise en scene include "costume and makeup, setting, lighting, and point of view." These elements may also apply to motion graphics, which is what Eric decided to base his paper on. My initial problem with this thesis is that it didn't IMMEDIATELY give a non-dictionary definition of mise en scene. After googling to find out what it meant I suppose I could have figured it out know what a mise en place is, however, it would have been nice to get a person to person verbalized definition. Mise en scene basically covers what is scene on the screen at a given time including set, characters (in costumes and makeup), etc.

Being a picky designer, I found it humorous and ironic that when the author was discussing how important setting is and how an overwhelming set can cause confusion or lack of interest in the main object Eric's paper was presented in a way that was confusing. The fusion of images spread throughout the text caused my eyes to drift and created hierarchical difficulty in reading. But, back to the writing. I did like his examples of set design and how they did or did not affect the viewer negatively. His points about how important color usage is really rang true to me as a designer. It is so important to know the meanings of colors and hues and to be able to use them in a way that create a feeling without being overtly obvious to the viewer. I felt like the color could have been tied in with the lighting since they really work together. However, I did find his examples about key lights and fill lights to be very interesting.

Point of view is very important, not only in motion graphics but in all graphic design. I do believe that this was potentially one of the most important areas to describe mise en scene. I feel like Eric appropriately discussed it's use in movies however I feel like he fell short on examples of motion graphics.

In conclusion, I enjoyed Eric's thesis. I do feel like it left something to be desired as far utilizing motion graphics as examples. I found most examples to be strictly movie examples and that made me pull away from the subject of the paper. I also think that it would have been beneficial to incorporate videos into the paper like Corina did to really nail down what a motion graphic is for the reader.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1683194/ais_classes/portfolio_pres/13wi/thesis/Davey%20Thesis.pdf

thesis response three

The third thesis I decided to read was Cultural Fusion in Brand Strategy by Aeson Chen. This thesis focuses on Aeson's belief that "cultural hybridization which avoids the pitfalls of gentrification, exoticism and orientalism... will have a huge impact to create a new value to the world." While some might argue that cultural fusion can "dilute the original traditions and styles," I too believe that the future of design is a more conglomerate of many styles and cultures.

Aeson describes the potential problems of fusion as gentrification, exoticism and orientalism. Gentrification is a common term used in real estate that describes the action of renovation of housing to bring in an upper or middle class citizens while displacing lower income businesses and families. Exoticism is our draw to the unfamiliar. We often find ourselves interested in styles that we aren't used to and we might utilize a style to represent a look and feel of something. However, this can turn out negatively because misrepresentation can occur and it can lose its traditional meaning. Orientalism is a type of stereotyping that can again create misrepresentations and create a negative impact on a culture.

In his thesis, Aeson chose really interesting examples cultural fusion that has failed and succeeded. I appreciate that he incorporated food, fashion, and design. I too have found it interesting that most "foreign" food to Americans we take and bastardize to our taste. Italian food (pizza, pasta), Mexican food (tacos, rice and beans) etc. all take form of something foreign to the original food culture. Many people may find that when they travel the food doesn't taste like American versions of the food they are eating. I found the examples of successful fusion to be VERY beautiful and exciting.

In conclusion, I felt Aeson's thesis was very interesting and it made a beautiful argument for fusion the right way. We have come a long way in art and design and being inspired by other cultures and styles can create some amazing work.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1683194/ais_classes/portfolio_pres/12fa/thesis/chen_aeson_thesis.pdf

unit 2: how people read

CHAPTER SYNOPSIS
This chapter focuses on how people read. It is very important to understand how people are reading our information so that is it read correctly. It starts by disputing something we learned at a young age: that reading capital letters are more difficult than reading sentence case letters. According to "myth" we've learned that the eye is not so much triggered by the shape of the word, but more so anticipating the shapes of the letters for recognition.

As we've all experienced, reading and comprehending are not one and the same thing. The chapter discusses the use of a Flesch-Kincaid formula can aid in determining how difficult something you've written is to read. For example, thus far my synopsis is rated at a 12th grade reading level and has an ease of 41 to read (on a scale to 90 where 90 shows ease of readability as seen in comic books).

A few more take aways I found important in this chapter: It takes different areas of the brain to view, listen, speak, and generate words. As humans we naturally look for patterns and the use of serifed fonts can help lead us letter to letter. Font choice is extremely important; an overly decorative or difficult to read typeface will result in the reader losing the meaning of the text. Font size is important; it's important to have your font big enough so that your readers of varying ages may read it (this blog is a bad example of this). Reading on a computer screen is more difficult than reading in print and there are necessary steps to take in order to make it easier for your viewer to do so such as adding contrast between foreground and background, breaking up text into chunks, and using larger point size. People read longer line lengths more quickly, but are more comfortable with shorter line lengths.

DEFINITIONS
Saccade- movement of the eyes between fixed points. An example of a saccade is the rapid eye movement between words when we are reading. We might not realize that the eyes are moving rapidly because we feel like we read in smooth sentences, but realistically our eyes are bouncing from word to word.
Fixation- fixation is the moment of stillness or pause between the saccade when reading. The eyes bounce between words and usually take a small pause which is called fixation.


CHAPTER ANALYSIS
This chapter felt like a review of earlier classes in my study. As a graphic designer I absolutely must have a tight grasp on typography and readability in order to express my ideas with type. Hierarchy and the use of titles and headlines is very important in my field and in our society. Unfortunately, I feel like people take-away the headline more than the information written after it, so it is immensely important to get the overall idea of the piece in the headline. I can't begin to explain how many times I've seen people post exclamations on facebook by quoting the title of an article from The Onion as truth instead of farce. It's incredibly frustrating, but our society is more interested in speed than content it seems. Portlandia hits home in a funny skit, "Did You Read?" about competitive reading. To me this sums up more than just our obsession with headlines, but really our obsession with knowing many things and being less focused on one specialty.

My favorite section in this chapter was the section that focused on checking readability with the Flesch-Kincaid formula. I think it is a really useful tool to use when writing for a specific audience. Of course, this means that you need to know your audience before writing for them. I will really use this tool in my future when designing and copy writing for specific audiences.

thesis response two

The second thesis I chose to read was Kinetic Typography: Implementing Narrative by Corina Rivera. She explained the ways that kinetic typography can be used as a "means of storytelling and character development." She focuses on the use of kinetic typography for movie title sequences. According the Saul Bass, a movie sequence will set mood and the underlying core of the story of the film.

I really enjoyed Corina's examples of kinetic type in movies. I feel like there are a number of films that always stick out in my mind as having a really wonderful opening sequence with interesting type. It's always fun when a film starts out with interesting type for the credits and I find that many animated films from Pixar and Disney utilize new ways to incorporate otherwise "boring" information. Even older Disney movies had an element of interest in the opening credits (specifically Cinderella where as the opening story is told there are pages turning, etc). Its a far departure from older films such as The Wizard of Oz, where you see static type on a page and are less likely to pay attention.

The fact that Corina also delved into the world of typefaces and their meanings was very interesting. I felt like it was an integral part of her argument. As a graphic designer, I know the value of a typeface choice as well as the way its general shape can be read and dissected. I'm really glad to see that she used the example of the opening scene for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It is one of my favorite recent opening scenes, and while the typography is not the focus, it FITS extremely well with the dark imagery. The Shop Vac example reminds me of the music video for "It's Alright With Me" by Eric Hutchinson. Using the typography in a playful movement really emphasizes the exciting nature of the film or video.

Overall, I felt like Corina's thesis was very interesting and I learned about some 2D art rules that can be used in animated type and a 3D world. I have been very interested in kinetic typography for a long time and it is interesting to dissect that world.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1683194/ais_classes/portfolio_pres/13su/thesis/Rivera_Corina_Thesis.pdf

thesis response one

The first thesis I chose to read is one by Kwan-Yi/Candy Chan. She wrote about manual or user guide design. She discusses the problems that may arise with the design of manuals that might have "too much text, a lack of pictorial information, ambiguous and difficult to understand directions." She also brings up the issue of when the selling of a product enters international territory and the problems that arise with additional language information and barriers in instructions. Her paper is focused on how our current "media and technology can effectively sharpen manual and procedural instruction design."

I really enjoyed learning about technologies that I wasn't even aware of (such as Texture lab application and haptic technology) in this paper. As a designer, it's important for me to understand the cutting edge of technology. The idea of utilizing various types of forward thinking technologies to help an seemingly ancient practice (when was the last time you FIRST read the manual before putting something together?). I feel like if these manual practices were more tech-forward more people would be willing to watch or learn before putting things together (although I'm certain that LEGOs gave us incredible practice with building).

I also really appreciated the honesty in the areas of problematic solutions to international audiences. Though I have rarely had problems where I couldn't read the manual (I think I've picked up an item or two from IKEA that had directions in Swedish but not English) I can imagine how incredibly frustrating that can be. Being fluent in Spanish has taught me that rarely can words and sentences really be directly translated. I think a great idea would be for a company to offer to pay a variety of people for their instructional videos on youtube in other languages.

Overall, I thought that Candy's paper was well-written and well researched. Since she is originally from Japan, I appreciate that she chose a subject that has potentially affected her life. She posed great questions and solutions for updating a design area that really needs a make-over.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1683194/ais_classes/portfolio_pres/13su/thesis/KwanYi_Chan_SeniorThesis.pdf

project one: final

project one: deliverables timeline

project one: project statement

unit 1: how people see

CHAPTER SYNOPSIS
This chapter is all about how people see. It explains that vision is not simply what our eyes bring in, but also how our brain interprets these things. It helps if you think of an optical illusion.

This particular illusion suggests that our brain can take what our eyes see and misinterpret it. It appears that the second shape has a longer line than the first, when in reality the lines are the same length. This is an example of what this chapter focuses on. 

There are a few main take-aways from the chapter: peripheral vision accounts for most of what we see, humans by nature attempt to find patterns, people can scan screens and look at them in a way that relates to what they have seen before, people pick up visual cues from shapes, and things that are placed closely together are typically interpreted by the viewer to mean they belong together. All of these lessons can help a designer to build something for a customer. If you have a good understanding of how things are read and seen you are better prepared to create something that is not only readable, but understandable to the viewer. 

DEFINITIONS
Geon- geometric shape icons used to help identify objects.
FFA- fusiform face area that allows the brain to recognize faces by using interpretive channels.
Canonical Perspective- a perspective similar to a three quarter view, that usually shows an object slightly from above and skewed to the left or right.
Affordance- cues from an object that help communicate how you can and should interact with them. For example, a can opener has a twist knob that fits your hand and is attached to a circular device that might indicate that you turn it.


CHAPTER ANALYSIS
I found this chapter to be very interesting. Personally, I know I am plagued by patterns. I constantly scan life around me to see patterns; kitchen counter tops, tile floors, carpeting, and ceiling panels never escape my wandering eyes. I am so obsessed with finding patterns that I try to live a patternless life. I see them everywhere, so I attempt to get away from them.

In design, it is especially important to understand what your viewer expects. I have web design in mind when I discuss this. If you create something that looks like a button yet is not click able you will find that a user of the website will quickly become frustrated. A viewer is used to different tabs or links on a page to typically stay in the same order and place from page to page. Imagine how frustrating it would be if on each page the links changed order or were placed in a different area.

There were many good take-aways from this chapter (mostly what I've listed above) that I found to be interesting. However, I do feel like I had a lot of the knowledge from this chapter already. I feel like a lot of these "rules" or ways of changing design for usability are very often focused on in this school. An artist can make something pretty, but a designer can make it work.

contest entry options

Communication Arts Magazine - Illustration Design Contest http://www.commarts.com/competitions/illustration
Fee- Student $35
As one, if not, THE most renowned design magazines, I think it would be awesome to take the chance to send in a student illustration. I have a particular piece that I am fond of, my illustration of Wednesday Adams that I created earlier this year.

Hiiibrand Awards 2013
http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/graphic-design/hiiibrand-awards-2013 http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/jump.php?contest=hiiibrand-awards-2013
Fee- Identity $12 (60 hi coins) Logo $8 (40 hi coins) Package $8 (40 hi coins)
While I need to do more research into the hi coins to dollars conversion, I like this contest because I have some identity systems that I really like and would be interested in entering them. For this particular contest I am thinking of using my Backdoor at Roxy's or Bathtub Gin logos or identity systems.

Creative Anarchy - HOW Books 
http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/jump.php?contest=creative-anarchy-call-for-submissions
Fee- None 
This contest discusses the nature of following and breaking design rules. You enter two pieces that showcase each following and breaking of rules. While I'm not sure I have a piece right now that I would be interested in sending in, I know that I could potentially create something interesting.

Forsaken Nature 
http://allartcompetitions.com/art-competition/foresaken-nature-call-for-entries/#.Uk3fymSgnJY
Fee- $35
This competition wants a piece that the artist creates of a "Forsaken Nature." Being a fan of all things creepy and dark, I feel like this would be a great fit for a contest for me. I have a large charcoal drawing of a somewhat messed up fairytale that I think could be a good entry. I would also, however, be interested in creating something new for this contest.