I have spent a lot of time this semester thinking about, not surprisingly, what I want to do when I graduate. I have come to the conclusion that I really don't know, and that is ok (for now). This is the first year in school that I have begun to seriously pay attention to what I believe in and realize how important it is for my happiness to stay true to those beliefs, let alone stand up for them. I came to graphic design because I was inspired by the idea that what I created could be used by someone other than myself, and beyond that, the idea that design has the power to change.
My vision for the degree project is probably not far from many of my classmates in some respects. I want it not only to reflect my three years in the design program, but showcase who I am both as a designer and a person. With this in mind, throughout this semester in Visual Advocacy, I have come to realize how passionate I am about sustainability and the "green movement." I had been conscious of these movements before, but I had yet to dig deep into the research of "Cradle to Cradle" and the like. One of the things that I have always been interested in is sociology and anthropology. I want to figure out some way that design can visualize the ideas of what it means to live in a sustainable world.
I am not solely talking about the environment, but the planet as a whole. As I have begun to think deeper about what these "buzz words" really mean, I think the general public has gotten so caught up in the green movement, myself included, that we have lost sight of what it really means to be sustainable.
Beyond considering the materials used in the design, I want to create something that not only informs people about what sustainability really means, but encourages them to act with the knowledge they have gained. Going back to the ideas in the first paragraph, I want to create something that is in some way physical, because I think it is the only way to get this sort of idea to stick. Think of the design building, and all the little reminders there are about the importance of reduce, reuse, recycle, and are we not reminded of these ideas every time we see it on the wall?
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hey corie. you have some good ideas here, and i appreciate getting some insight into your personal growth through your time in this department. that's cool to read about.
your general direction about sustainability sounds just peachy to me. you already know you want people to move from having the right opinion to acting on that opinion, so that level of specificity is good. it focuses you on a particular audience's relationship to an issue. that's different from defining an audience by demographic info (age, interests, income, etc). you could have two very different people who are united by a belief in the ideas of sustainability, but both have yet to really act on those beliefs. so your job will be to figure out how to make them act, of course.
i would recommend digging more into some specifics about the subject matter so you can have some options about what kind of action your audience could take.
i would also recommend thinking more about what you want graphic design to "do" in this situation. what is the design issue here? persuasion? education? information clarification? interaction? audience participation? etc etc.
don't worry too much about the form right now (poster, booklet, whatever) unless that form is wrapped up in the design issue in some specific way. by that i mean that your design issue would be about exploring book typography as a way to communicate about sustainability issues or something like that. it's enough for now that you want your form to be physical, material.
there are a few previous degree projects that address sustainability in various ways, and i can let you look at those in class if you'd like.
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