May 5 – 8
Artists: Lily Cain, Carly de la Masa, Olivia Fedrizzi, Ethan Hind, Shayna Kaplan, Delaney Lien, Alexis Lord, Jasmine Lutz, Charles Marleau, Elle Prestegard, Andrew Sharp, and Kyle Vang
Reception: Monday, May 5, 6-8pm
Location: Gallery 7, Humanities Building, 7th Floor, 455 N Park St, Madison, WI
The words “art” and “design” often get used interchangeably, but it’s important to note that they are two very different disciplines. While art is all about creative self expression, graphic design is a practice firmly rooted in purposeful persuasion.
We most commonly associate persuasion in design with the simple act of selling—using branding to get more people into a store, creating ads to move more units, designing interfaces to effortlessly upsell services, etc. However, design is not solely the realm of capitalistic ambition. Effective design can increase awareness and understanding of important issues, encourage more active participation in worthwhile causes and ultimately result in stronger communities.
And that is the path that this year’s ART 560 students chose for their thesis projects. A common theme that spontaneously emerged was a desire to use design to unite specific communities—via both nonprofit and for profit endeavors. The underlying motivation behind all of the projects was to instill increased engagement in areas where real life connection has become increasingly fragmented.
You may be tempted to evaluate the materials presented here based on color and form alone, but the differentiating factor in each of these works is their ability to instill a communal response through storytelling and rhetorical appeal. Evaluate these works as a trained designer would by putting yourself in the shoes of the target audience and imagine how the artifacts of each project work toward enriching their day-to-day lives.