Design

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https://hdl.handle.net/10315/27709

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Open Access
A visual exploration of the transformation of cultural landscapes in little Jamaica between Allen Road and Oakwood Avenue, comparing two periods in history: 1969 and the current condition
(2022-08-08) Matovu, Fredric Kisakye; Schaffzin, Gabi
This research is a visual documentation of changes between Allen Road and Oakwood Avenue in Little Jamaica. The study visually maps cultural landscape elements and links cultural markers to groups living in the location from 1969 through 2021. "Cultural marker" is a term I used to describe elements that trigger memories and experiences in addition to being associated with a specific culture. I used a narrative to provide a human component. The images comprise a front elevation of the built form supported by detailed illustrations and photographs of the frontage. The research identifies the significant contributions of Caribbean immigrants to the study area and highlights the loss that occurs when construction erases these elements without documentation. The cultural markers provide a sense of place to specific groups away from home. The research is also a foundation of a visual framework for studying changes in cultural landscapes in urban settings.
Open Access
Visualizing Non-Visual Phenomena: Making Experiences of Tinnitus Affect Legible
(2021-11-15) Pryor, Carter Todd; Hadlaw, Jan
I have been suffering from chronic tinnitus for ten years. While the experiences of people living with disabilities have gained social and critical attention over this time, tinnitus remains invisible in both material and discursive senses, and little understood by the public. My thesis research asks, can graphic design be deployed to represent non-visual phenomenon? My inquiry focuses on making visible the ways auditory disruptions of tinnitus affect my everyday experiences, with the goal of accomplishing the following three things: 1) creating relational experiences for fellow tinnitus sufferers, 2) making the experience of tinnitus visible for the non-sufferer, and 3) participating in the broader discourse of exploring how to bring a visual legibility to non-visual disabilities. My research draws on disability studies, feminist and sensory visualization theories, and employs autoethnography and an exploratory research-through-design process to inform my research creation.
Open Access
AIR (Augmented Intelligent Reality) and packaging: Designing for socially sustainable practices
(2021-07-06) De Souza, Allan Gomes Mariano; Gelb, David
The increasing consumer demand for socially responsible products has driven companies to disclose their Environmental, Social, and Governmental (ESG) practices. In turn, the high interactivity and connectivity of Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies can contribute to better visibility of the ESG practices. The purpose of this thesis is to explore Augmented Intelligent Reality (AIR)a combination of AR and AIand packaging design to create engaging visual interactions. The goal of this research is to understand how AIR packaging, combined with brand transparency and brand personality strategies, can promote socially responsible products, ideas, and behaviours. This thesis/project employs two main methods, research through design (visual experimentation) and qualitative research (expert interviews and focus groups). This thesis implies that AIR packaging can perform as a powerful vehicle to provide two-way communications between consumers and companies. By helping companies offer more brand transparency to consumers about their supply chains, it can achieve positive outcomes for brands, creators, and society.
Open Access
Reflective Punch: A graphic design examination of the representation of the violence in the 226 hockey fights that took place in the NHL Regular Season of 2018-19
(2021-07-06) Arseneault, Nadine Marie; Norwood, Angela D.
The number of hockey fights has declined in the National Hockey League (NHL) in recent years but still occupies a cultural and physical space in the game. Medical research and studies have revealed the possible severity of repeated hits to the head on athletes brains in the long-term. It begs the question, why do many players, NHL management and hockey fans choose to continue to honour fighting in the game? This research challenges the perception and reaction to the violence seen in the 226 total fights of the 2018-19 NHL Regular Season through creative and exploratory graphic design works. This thesis demonstrates how graphic design can explain some of the complicated, violent nuances on NHL hockey ice rinks.
Open Access
A Visual Response to Mass and Social Media's Negative Portrayal of Mexican Indigenous People: A Cyclical Design Process
(2021-07-06) Mota Gamboa, Angelica; Gelb, David
Mass media and social media in Mexico have been depicting the visual image of Indigenous people through stereotypes that were established during the Spanish conquest. Not only have these stereotypes shaped the reality of a dominant group over a minority, they have also led to racist and discriminatory practices towards Indigenous people. This thesis creates a cyclical design process based on a practice-lead research and research-lead practice model to conduct a visual exploration. Through a cyclical design process this paper visually examines how the mass and social media in Mexico generates and reinforces stereotypes of Indigenous people. The artifacts designed for this thesis have been created as research pursuits with the intention of encouraging a reflective interaction between the audience and graphic design.
Open Access
In Search of a New Homeland
(2020-08-28) Kalash, Bashar; Hadlaw, Jan
The origin of my MDes thesis/project is a story I wrote to document my journey from Syria to Canada as a refugee. It motivated the visual and theoretical research that came to inform the thesis that follows and the three multimedia books that constitute its visual component. My thesis/project employs autoethnography and research-for-creation methods to capture and convey the experience of my journey. It marries this exploration of personal experience with theoretical investigation—specifically, Edward Said’s idea of “Orientalism,” Frantz Fanon’s notions of recognition, performance, and “interrogative subjectivity, and Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of hybridity—in order to examine refugee identity. Relying on self-reflection and the findings of my theoretical investigations, my thesis consider the importance of cultural identity in asking the question: “what is the experience of losing one’s homeland?”
Open Access
The Institutionalisation of Graphic Design: Investigating an Extended Contemporary Practice
(2020-08-28) Bilson, Lucy Georgia Elizabeth; Cabianca, David
Graphic design is an institutionalised discipline, afflicted by restrictive expectations of contemporary practice which operate under the guise of standards for “good design.” This thesis investigates the institutionalisation of the discipline, identifies restrictions institutionalisation places on contemporary practice, and explores the implications of “wilfully contradicting expectations”[1] in graphic design. Within this research, institutionalisation is defined as the establishment of norms within a discipline, especially as said norms relate to expectations of a discipline’s production. Such expectations of graphic design’s limits on practice include utility, beauty, financial restrictions, multiples or mass production, media, audience, and legibility. Expectations regarding each of these areas shape — and limit — thought within disciplinary discourse and contemporary practice. Drawing on methodologies from visual arts’ institutional critique, Umberto Eco’s The Open Work and Geoffrey Galt Harpham’s On the Grotesque: Strategies of Contradiction in Art and Literature, this thesis critiques the defined parameters of graphic design through investigative and experimental studio practices. [1] 1. Jeffrey Keedy, “Graphic Design in the Postmodern Era,” Emigre, no. 47 (1998), https://www.emigre.com/Essays/Magazine/GraphicDesigninthePostmodernEra .
Open Access
Improving the User Experience in Healthcare through Service Design: Developing a Digital Identity for Patients
(2020-08-11) O'Dell, Christine Alexandra; Gabriele, Sandra
Current healthcare systems are decentralized and siloed, comprised of multiple technologies and platforms lacking integration. Because of the absence of consolidated medical records, patient care is based on incomplete information. Currently, patients have limited access or control of their health records. A shift in ownership of medical records to the patient would serve to improve the user experience while supporting a more useful integration of patient information within the healthcare system. The field of service design examines the systems and processes at work in a chain of relationships with the goal of seeking out opportunities for improving a users experience. This thesis contributes to service design discourse by demonstrating the value of adopting a service design framework for the development of a blockchain-based digital platform to serve as a secure patient record repository. Six healthcare providers and six patients of care participated in two studies. The first study comprised of in-depth interviews and co-design sessions. The results revealed pain points within the current healthcare system which were categorized into six themes: communication, care, control, privacy, information and repetition. In response, a blockchain-based digital mobile application prototype was designed to address the pain points. The application places the patient at the forefront of their care journey by giving them ownership over their electronic medical records. In the second study, the prototype was tested with the same 12 participants through a user-testing session. Responses from the second study showed patients were satisfied with the features. Healthcare providers thought the application would improve their work experience and interactions with patients. Additionally, two studies demonstrate the value of adopting a service design methodology to improve service experiences. This framework can be applied to improve user experiences in digital transformations within healthcare.
Open Access
Design a Meme: Visual Representation, Creative Strategies and Memetic Culture
(2020-08-11) Han, Yaqing; Gelb, David
Millennials today are highly engaged with social media, which offers them a platform to openly express their emotions and opinions. These social media platforms have become important parts of their daily lives. In this environment, a new visual form of expressioninternet memeshas emerged. Cultural memes develop in an extremely fascinating manner and have gradually become mainstream on social media. Memes have a significant impact on young people; the emerging visual culture may alter their perceptions of visual representation through digital media. My thesis uncovers the emotions behind the development of memes that lead its popularization in the modern online environment. Additionally, I detail the creative strategies of meme-making to explore the potential to apply memetic methods to design as a form of criticism. It is essential to understand the culture behind constitutive memes and explore the community and emotions behind memetic visual representation in the modern context of social media.
Open Access
Design for experience: Evaluating the use of an emotion-mapping tool to support brand equity through the identification of emotions
(2020-08-11) Bacic, Marija Linda; Siuyi Wong, Wendy
The ability to form emotional connections with consumers has become an essential way to support brand equity. Emotional connections are essential as they help define memorable brand experiences. This thesis addresses the following question: How can an emotion-mapping tool effectively facilitate designers and marketers ability to identify emotions as a way to emphasize a target emotion in the creative brief? Through an interactive brainstorming workshop, this research tests a proposed emotion-mapping tool. During the workshop, participants were presented with a speculative brand scenario, target personas and specific design objectives. This research contributes to marketing and design disciplines through an examination of how the emotion-mapping tool can be used to enhance workshop outcomes and provide preliminary evidence that this tool can benefit the creative development process.
Open Access
Perpetual Shuttling: An Investigation into Design for Chinese Diasporic Identities in Negotiation
(2020-08-11) Zou, Shenghui; Cabianca, David
In a global context, the conventional markers of identity are challenged and problematized. Although the dominant narrative in Western culture is Anglo-Saxon, the increasingly multicultural nature of Canadian society gives rise to a continual mapping of diverse cultures and identities. Historically, the Chinese Canadian diaspora was essentialized and constrained in its development and problems of alienation, invalidation and marginalization persist to this day. Furthermore, this community is no longer as monolithic as it once was and there are challenges in even defining it. This thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining postmodernist and post-colonial cultural theories with visual artifacts in an effort to embrace the cultural identities of the Chinese Canadian diaspora. Perpetual Shuttling is a subjective visual narrative of the Chinese Canadian community of which I am a part. The artifact uses images from my personal archive, which embodies the de-territorializing of Chinese-ness. Perpetual Shuttling expresses the temporary, fragmentary, and ambiguous qualities of diaspora lives, while also asserting a self-proclaiming stance in the discourse of Chinese Canadian diaspora identity and culture.
Open Access
Speculative Design for Ecological Literacy: Envisioning a Food Carbon Emissions Labeling System
(2019-11-22) Buck, Angeline Ruth; Wong, Wendy Siuyi
This thesis identifies one of the most significant causes of carbon emissions (CO2e) which is the production and transportation of animal products from producers to consumers. To envision a speculative ecological future and design, or, an alternative present as Speculative Design advocates, this thesis references environmental policy processes for the implementation of a new unit of measure, the CO2e gram. Canadian food laws can be influenced by a third-party actor, such as a non-governmental organization, that will significantly aid in influencing consumers. To implement the carbon labeling system, this thesis references the organic and non-gmo labels, as well as the Rainforest Alliance certified seal of approval by the Forest Stewardship Council and their applications. Through a series of Speculative Design works for a carbon label system, this thesis argues that the projects within the system will provoke consumer awareness, enabling the public to think, question and adopt a low-carbon lifestyle. This movement will pressure the Canadian government to implement a new policy that requires food packaging to include the CO2e label, indicating that a product is low-carbon. This new policy will influence consumer behaviour, transitioning the public towards to a more sustainable lifestyle, through their eating choices, that will contribute to attaining a sustainable, post-carbon future.
Open Access
On Virtual Becoming and Belonging: Visualizing the Performativity of Sudanese Cultural Identity and Resistance
(2019-07-02) Sharfi, Aala; Norwood, Angela D.
A contested history with turbulent political narratives has played a leading role in the formation of Sudanese identity. It is situated firmly in a romanticized past as it is in a troubled present. For the diaspora, social media platforms function as spaces for the continuous formation and expression of these identities. These platforms often serve as spaces to (re)produce the social and political relations that define everyday life in the homeland. This thesis explores the use of graphic design to discuss the performative articulation of these identities in virtual spaces. It follows understandings of identity from cultural studies as, always in production and never complete. By employing user- generated content found on online platforms for visual explorations, this thesis explores the ongoing dynamics between individual and collective narrations of identities; between personal reflections and public representations. The projects prepared discuss the complexities and nuances of Sudanese cultural identity online in the milieu of current political and social tensions. In the visual expression of Sudanese cultural identity, there is resistance, activism and a vision of triumph.
Open Access
Bridging the Gap: An Exploration of Visual Design Criteria Found in the "Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005" (AODA)
(2019-07-02) Abyazani, Arezoo Motavally; Cabianca, David
Information and communication technology such as World Wide Web have gradually become implanted in every aspect of individuals life such as education and training, employment, government, health care, and more. Web provides valuable resources and information for web users including people with disabilities and help them tackle several tasks that would otherwise need much more effort to be done. Accordingly, web accessibility creates a guideline with the aim of making the content of each web page available for a wider range of people with disability, has reached a new level of importance. For this importance, the government of Ontario passed a law titled the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), 2005, in which all internet and digital services must comply with accessibility guideline by 2025. Several researchers show a gap between professional design work and technically driven accessibility design guidelines. One of the reasons for this gap is an absence of concern for visual design during the process of implementing accessibility guidelines. The aim of this paper is to bridge the existing gap between accessibility and visual design to improve the overall usability and functionality of the system. In order to achieve this, I first identify and explain the visual design related criteria of AODA guidelines, their requirements and their impact on accessibility design. Then I demonstrate my experiment with utilizing visual design elements through the implementation of visual design principles on two selected websites to create an accessible web page that is not only usable but also has an aesthetically appealing interface.
Open Access
Learning from Toronto: An Experiment in Participatory Urban Data Visualization
(2019-07-02) Giambelli, Andrea; Norwood, Angela D.
Despite the unprecedented amount of data about the world that is collected and produced in our increasingly information-dependent societies, the possibilities for significant differences between human perception and actual data on the same phenomena are all but reduced, as are their potential effects on environments and communities. This thesis explores the opportunities offered by data visualization and interaction design to reveal and address such disconnect and to challenge widespread misconceptions by generating a deeper and more engaging understanding of information. These principles inform the proposal for a methodology for visual, interactive communication of data within urban environments, aimed at generating an iterative exchange of information between citizens and institutions. A concrete application of this proposal is investigated through the development of a digital platform for urban data visualization addressing issues within the city of Toronto.
Open Access
Systematizing Studio Practice: Working with the Known to Generate the Unknown
(2019-07-02) Sokolov, Egor; Gelb, David H.
The following investigation examines the use of systematized methods to experiment with new ways of graphic design production. The research is informed by research through design (RtD), multiples as variation, conditional design, and practice-based research. This thesis offers strategies and practices for systematic methods of studio practice, asking designers to evaluate the way they work in the studio and critique the use of systemized methods when it comes to graphic design production.
Open Access
Empowering Airbrush Design for Social Innovation: Building a Micro-Community Based Creative Platform
(2019-07-02) Zhang, Frank Jing; Wong, Wendy Siuyi
Airbrush is a mechanical painting tool using compressed air to spray paint onto various surfaces. Since its introduction with the first patent in 1876, commercial artists and illustrators applied its seamless color blending effects in a wide range of creative areas, and the medium reached its peak in popularity between the 1950s and late 1980s. Now, the medium is facing the challenge of being marginalized in the mainstream design industry due to the advancement of digital technology. To begin a critical inquiry of this situation, French art critic Nicolas Bourriauds concept of Relational Aesthetics will be the main theoretical reference for this thesis. Viewing the medium as a relational art form, this thesis connects Italian design theorist Ezio Manzinis Bottom-to-Top design methodology to facilitate the delivery of a community-based Airbrush Design platform. This platform will act as a catalyst to empower people to use the medium for social recognition and to mediate between individual (private) and institutional (public) spaces.
Open Access
The Role of Design in Picturebooks: Meaning, Image-Making & Typography
(2019-07-02) Saghir, Saarah Ahmed; Wong, Wendy Siuyi
This thesis investigates the role of design in producing unique experiences through the medium of contemporary picturebooks. The nature of the picturebooks format, in which text and image are combined, lends itself well to a design analysis. Furthermore, examining picturebooks through the lens of design adds a critical new perspective to current work in the field. Award-winning picturebooks were selected for a visual analysis, focusing on the formal elements, design principles, and compositions of the books and their affect on the meaning of the text and the readers experience of the visual narrative. Additionally, through a series of design experiments, the relationships between typography and imagery in picturebooks is explored. Through this research, this project investigates the designed form of the picturebook and the impact of design decisions on the overall visual narrative. This research demonstrates how the careful consideration of design principles can inform and benefit the process of creating picturebooks, and could lead to more practitioners in the field adopting a design-oriented approach to picturebooks.
Open Access
The Web Browser as a Tool: A Programmatic Approach to Graphic Design on the Web
(2018-03-01) Benoit, Francis Philippe; Gelb, David H.
In recent years, the web browsers rendering capabilities have grown considerably. However, it remains a window through which design is seen rather than being used as a tool. This thesis seeks to develop a programmatic method that questions the web browsers original role as a display and redefines it by investigating its alternative role as a tool in the graphic design process. Through exploratory work, this research demonstrates that the web browser can be a fertile space for visual experimentation. This thesis demonstrates that graphic designers can benefit from a more pragmatic and logical approach to creation and invites them to adopt a process similar to a programmers process using the web browser as a tool.
Open Access
Reviving Craft in a Context of Design: Physical Practice in a Digital Culture
(2017-07-27) Grzeskowiak, Julia; Cabianca, David
In the pursuit of speed and efficiency, contemporary visual communication eradicates the essence of the individual in favour of certainty. Mass production and the rational thought processes that steer Western Culture have caused much of the human relationship with the physical world to deteriorate. This graphic design research employs craft processes and theories of the discipline to explore the irregularities engendered by the human hand. It does so by merging production methods involving both analogue and digital operations. The unique vagaries of handcraft inform aesthetic experience by enriching communication culture with the haptic qualities of the individual. By combining strategies of risk and certainty, handcraft procedures complement the work of mechanical production and serves as a potential cultural instrument. Together these production methods culminate in a richer means of communication that reveals an ontological relationship between form and representation, one which affirms and counters the alienation of a modern world.