Design

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

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Open Access
Exploring Selfhood in an Era of Computational Optimization
(2024-07-18) Hodgson, Emma Helena; Schaffzin, Gabi
This thesis critiques “the self-optimization ideal,” which describes the social and cultural ideal of relentless self-improvement. The self-optimization ideal encompasses predominant beauty, bodily and lifestyle ideals that individuals, under neoliberal governmentality, are incentivized to strive for. Promoted and dispersed via everyday technologies, the subtle enforcement of the self-optimization ideal often goes unnoticed. My research aims to bring these things to the fore, asking: How can design unsettle the ideal of computational self-optimization upheld by neoliberalism? And, where does self-optimization begin to negatively impact perceptions of the self? Through critical design praxis, involving the construction of a parodic athleisure brand and product, I begin to answer these questions. Informed by feminist theory, as well as a historical analysis of the production, consumption and mediation of athleisure clothing, my research works to problematize and encourage critical thought around the self-optimization ideal, as well as the everyday technologies that promote it.
Open Access
Paths of Happiness: Exploring Joyfulness through Generative AI Image Creation
(2024-07-18) Borowczak, Ewa; Wong, Wendy
This thesis argues that Generative AI image creation shows promise as a personalized self-help art therapy tool for individual happiness, particularly in the changing landscape of Society 5.0 and post-pandemic mental wellness. It begins by exploring the interconnectedness of four key areas: art therapy and self-help during the pandemic, Society 5.0 and personalization concepts, Generative AI and image creation, and theoretical insights into happiness. Through auto-ethnographic exploration, the researcher reflected on her personal experience during the pandemic to gain insight into how the Generative AI tool – Midjourney – could facilitate self-help art therapy. Findings suggest that engagement with Generative AI image creation can enhance personal well-being when tailored to individual needs, emphasizing the importance of leveraging technological advancements in mental wellness pursuits. The conclusion proposes the design of a learning flashcard deck, "Create Joy with AI," to aid individuals in customizing their self-help art therapy practice within Society 5.0.
Open Access
Integrating Daily Rituals into the Design of Assistive Technologies for People with Dementia
(2024-07-18) Mutsuddi, Rupsha; Desai, Shital
Dementia is a family of diseases which cause cognitive impairments and impede the engagement in everyday activities. For people living with dementia (PwD), technologies can facilitate the process of engaging in these daily activities. However, many of these technologies are poorly adopted by PwD, as they are often designed without their input or involvement. This thesis aims to understand daily rituals and map those rituals into the design of technologies. This thesis uses Human-Centered Design (HCD) approaches, such as contextual inquiry, to understand daily rituals for PwD and identify ways to integrate rituals into technology design. Research data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 14 participants (8 informal caregivers and 6 people living with dementia). The interview data was then analyzed in ATLASTi to generate insights informing the design and development of several prototype iterations.
Open Access
Designing Unique Collectible Experiences: Exploring Designer Toy Strategies to Promote Local Artistry Through Funko Pop Figurines
(2024-07-18) Richmond, Ashley Rianne; Wong, Wendy
In the realm of collectibles, designer toys have emerged as a unique and immersive medium for promoting local artistry and engaging collectors in meaningful experiences. This thesis delves into the intricate world of designer toys, particularly focusing on Funko Pop figurines, to explore strategies that enhance the promotion of local artistry. By utilizing an autoethnographic lens to gather insights, I was able to create a series of figures that promote three Canadian cities and my own art style. Through this design exploration, customization, textural, and interactive elements were explored to generate a unique and personalized experience for a collector. This research contributes to the broader discourse on the creative process of Funko Pops and designer toy production, emphasizing their capacity to push boundaries and foster connections between artists, collectors, and local communities.
Open Access
Design for Plants: Posthumanist Approach to Speculative Design for Plants
(2024-07-18) Kim, Chaewon; Gelb, David
Plants have been viewed through an anthropocentric lens by humans resulting in the undermining of plant intelligence. More specifically, this happens due to the belief that the only correct way of expressing cognition is defined by the human experience. This thesis examines how posthumanism can be applied to Speculative Design strategies to reshape how humans interact with plants. The thesis project is split into two explorations providing viewers with alternative possibilities for how humans can rekindle their relationship with plants and the natural world. The first exploration speculates about how in the future humans might use wearable technology to communicate and build relationships with plants through meaningful interactions. The second exploration uses drawings to depict an idealized future for plants once stronger relationships between humans and plants are established. The goal of my thesis is to see how design can encourage a change in attitude toward plants.
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
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
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
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.