Thesis Show & Tell
Each graduate thesis asks, in a variety of ways, “What is graphic design?”
Graduate theses constitute multiple formulations and rephrasings of this deceptively simple question, deepening our understanding of what our discipline is, and what it can be.
Your task for this show and tell assignment is to immerse yourself in another RISD GD MFA student’s body of work—to explore and examine a completed thesis book as a reader. You might ask yourself a series of questions:
What works or doesn’t work? What styles are introduced?
How does their aesthetic communicate the research questions they set out to explore?
How clearly is a persistent line of inquiry communicated, and is the studio work successfully brought to life?
What effect does this investigation have on your own understanding of the thesis?
As a team, get to know your assigned thesis book. Establish a set of critical positions on the book, and prepare a presentation of your informal findings (no more than 20 minutes) to the larger group. The structure of your investigation is up to you, though special attention might be focused on the following sections: abstract, introduction, and body (see The RISD Master’s Written Thesis Handbook for detailed descriptions of each).
Group 1 - Sabrina, Ásta, & Zoey
Group 2 - Adam & Forough
Group 3 - Kevin & Katie
Group 4 - Louis, Ilhee, & Nick