Senior Thesis: discovery portfolio

What do you want to accomplish with this project?

I hope to legitimize multimedia design efforts within the aforementioned institutions. Particularly, I plan to facilitate the understanding that when proper execution meets proper intent, the investment in design services pays off. Furthermore, I expect that decision-makers will become armed with information to make better long-term decisions.

I have an idealistic goal that students of the future can find better education. Aside from the market-focused role of design, hopefully the D-I-Y movement can be a springboard for educators to exploit the new media paradigm for educational purposes.

Also, I have a cynical goal of critiquing the double-edged sword that is a purely market-driven society.

What interests you personally about this project?

I have grown up in a period where severe financial shortcomings have limited educational institutions. I have seen well-intentioned teachers armed with only one manner of addressing their students of varied learning styles. I have seen aged and worn books and facilities with no repair or replacement in sight. I have seen disinterested peers, failed by the educational system. I have been enthralled by exhibit designs, only to experience shame and frustration from their oft-failed executions. I have seen a market-driven society filled with cheaters, liars, misanthropes and opportunists. I have seen peers who succeed in the educational system through cheating and lying. I have seen well-intentioned cultural systems reward those same mis-guided peers. I have furthermore seen those same peers find rewards from the market-driven society.

I also just happen to like both information/exhibit design and new media.

What interests you academically about this project?

The opportunity to connect-the-dots through research within my chosen field of study is exciting. I want to increase my macro understanding of contemporary American culture by reading and writing.

Within “design academia,” I see people enthralled with glitz-and-glam, hype-over-substance and generally “the next big thing.” I plan to explore what contemporary relevance exists for the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement in the late nineteenth-century.