EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION:
In the 21st Century, the pursuit and protection of freedom is both a personal and collective challenge. The 2025 Graphic Design Senior capstone exhibition, Common Ground: Perspectives on Freedom, explores how opposing viewpoints can reveal shared truths and foster unity. Through the lens of Communication Design, each project examines how perspectives can intersect, creating spaces for understanding amid polarization.

Each student will choose a specific intersection of opposing viewpoints to investigate the “common ground” that connects them. Using a Venn Diagram as a launch pad to brainstorm ideas, students will explore multiple perspectives, embracing differences and seeking convergence. They will uncover how diverse viewpoints can reveal shared truths. The exhibition is an invitation to expand perspectives and seek common ground, fostering dialogue that can lead to positive transformation.

. . .

QUESTIONS

What does freedom mean to you?
What makes you feel free?
What divides us in our pursuit or understanding of freedom?
What unites us?
What matters to you?
What matters to your community?
What recent event has widened your perspective or changed your mind?

. . .

CHALLENGE

Students are tasked with exploring and investigating opposing/multiple perspectives. They will respond with a transmedia project that seeks to find common ground and propose creative, inclusive ways to restore relationships and strengthen communities.

. . .

PERSPECTIVE EXAMPLES

Freedom of Expression: Exploring the boundaries and significance of expressing ideas in society.

Identity and Intersectionality: How overlapping identities shape perspectives on freedom and understanding.

Cultural Symbols and Their Meanings: The significance of symbols in conveying freedom and identity across cultures.

Political Discourse and Freedom: Examining the role of political language in shaping public perception and freedom.

Art as a Form of Protest: How artistic expression challenges norms and advocates for freedom.

Digital Activism: The impact of social media on freedom of speech and collective action.

Global Perspectives on Freedom: How different cultures interpret and experience freedom.

Freedom vs. Control: The tension between personal freedoms and societal regulations.

Translating Freedom: The complexities of expressing the concept of freedom across languages and cultures.

The Role of Humor in Freedom: How satire and humor challenge authority and provoke thought.

Generational Perspectives on Freedom: How different age groups perceive and prioritize freedom.

Mental Health and Freedom: Exploring the relationship between mental well-being and the experience of freedom.

Environmental Justice: The intersection of freedom and environmental rights in various communities.

The Role of Education in Freedom: How access to education shapes understanding and expression of freedom.

Historical Perspectives on Freedom: Learning from past movements to inform contemporary understandings of freedom.

. . .

POSSIBLE TOPICS (For Consideration)

~ Climate Change
~ Body Freedom
~ Religion and War
~ Territory and War
~ Democracy
~ Gun Control
~ Censorship & Suppression
~ Inclusive Language
~ Citizenship
~ AI / Technology
~ Social Media
~ Incarceration
~ Drugs: Hallucinogens / Stimulants / Prescription
~ Legalization of Marijuana
~ Vaccination
~ Science vs Ideology
~ Cultural Assimilation
~ Gentrification
~ Influencers / YouTubers
~ Gaming
~ Immigration Rights
~ Police
~ Disability and Accessibility
~ Healthcare Access
~ Mental Health
~ US Foreign Policy
~ Disinformation / Misinformation
~ Western Influence (in Design)
~ Minimalism / Maximalism
~ Functionalism / Aestheticism
~ Global Design Standards / Local Contextualization

CURRICULUM FOREWORD: Concepts for Understanding

Point of View: How do personal perspectives shape our understanding of freedom?

Perspectives: Recognizing the uniqueness of each individual’s viewpoint and the value it brings to discussions about freedom.

Convergence: Seek shared truths amidst different experiences.

Intersectionality: Understanding how various social identities intersect to shape individual experiences and perspectives on freedom.

Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of others, fostering deeper connections among diverse viewpoints.

Polarization: Exploring the impact of division on societal discourse and how opposing viewpoints can enrich our understanding of freedom.

Dialogue: The importance of open conversations in bridging gaps between differing perspectives.

Collective Narrative: How shared stories contribute to a greater understanding of freedom and community.

Critical Thinking: Analyzing and evaluating information to gain a nuanced understanding of freedom.

Unity in Diversity: Recognizing that differing perspectives can come together to form a comprehensive understanding of freedom.

FRAMEWORK

“Transmedia, used by itself, simply means ‘across media.’ …Transmedia refers to a set of choices made about the best approach to tell a particular story to a particular audience in a particular context… Transmedia immerses an audience in a story’s universe through a number of dispersed entry points, providing a comprehensive and coordinated experience of a complex story.”
— Henry Jenkins

The Senior Capstone Exhibition Common Ground: Perspectives on Freedom, will open in mid-April , 2025. The exhibition will showcase a rigorous research-driven design process and an exciting and unique visual rendition of your research. The purpose of this exhibition is to present your value as a professional designer by demonstrating what graphic design can do to communicate messages through compelling experiences.

Each of you will formulate the conceptual framework, develop, design and deploy an integrated “transmedia narrative” or campaign composed of three (3) distinct stories or narratives which together create a “comprehensive and coordinated experience of a complex story.” (Henry Jenkins).

Each student (or pair of collaborating students) will establish a direction or micro-theme that can be explored through a 3-part narrative lens. Each narrative will have its own focus within the larger “story” and take a different point of view on the topic. The narratives should be able to stand on their own, but taken together they broadly address a single issue.

Students will develop a long-term working plan and execute the technical and technological implementation, whereby the narratives are arrayed and experienced across multiple media platforms to culminate in a unified exhibition installation set, with interrelated narrative content, where “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” The goal is: form/medium and content inextricably working together.

NARRATIVE

Narrative is one of the principal ways we organize our experiences of the world. Narrative helps us communicate with one another, chart our way through new experiences, and make order out of the complexity/disarray of events, characters, actions, and time periods that make up our lives. Narratives come in many forms — written, image-based, diagrammatic, static, time-based, or any combination. While narrative is often bound to a sequential structure, shifts in place or time add depth and complexity to what might seem at first to be a straight “linear” story. Shifts in narrator or point of view from which the story is told can expand how a narrative functions.

CAPSTONE COMPONENTS

+ Abstract: the name, working title, and a 100-200 word description of your capstone — subject and point of view, research interests, background history/research, target audience, use of media, exhibition considerations, strategy for design approach, and description of your solutions.

+ Narrative/s: a larger “story” made up of three distinct narratives, utilizing 3 different media

+ Exhibition: design of exhibition installation of your narrative/s

+ Documentation: presentation of your research and design process

PROCESS OVERVIEW

Phase 1: Ideation & Research

Ideation & Research will consist of the formulation of the conceptual framework for your project, identification of larger narrative “theme” or story, and the development/collection/creation of content and other raw materials. Write an approx. 100-200 word abstract that describes your topic.

Phase 2: Design Development

Design Development, will encompass the creation of multiple narrative content (your “Story World”), the planning of a systems-oriented functional framework of three (3) distinct narratives that work independently and as a “whole:” the goal being: form/medium and content inextricably working together. An extensive research and sketch process will be an essential aspect of your work.

Phase 3: Design Implementation

Design Implementation will involve the refinement of your narrative/s, the build-out of all technological requirements (i.e bookbinding, interactive prototyping/simulation, etc), and the design and planning of your individual exhibition.

Phase 4: Design Validation

Design Validation will focus on the completion of your Capstone, and the coordination and presentation of a cohesive transmedia narrative experience.

CONSIDERATIONS

/ What point of view will you take on the capstone theme?
/ What is the goal of your communication? (inspire, educate, prompt action, etc.)
/ What strategies can you use to gather and document data/raw materials about your topic?
/ What different strategies can you use to structure these raw materials to create a compelling visual narrative?
/ Explore/create the user journey/map that represent the “touch points” of the experience.

WHAT TO RESEARCH & COLLECT
+ Imagery (photographs, drawings, diagrams, charts, maps, textures, colors, etc)
+ Verbal language/copy (audio transcripts, contextual copy or other language i.e.
in artifacts such as signs, conversations, letters, menu’s, instructions, etc.
+ Sound/audio
+ Newspaper articles, etc.
+ Take notes, etc.
+ Anything else that you can think of! Be creative.

HOMEWORK OVER THANKSGIVING: Due Monday, December 2nd

RESOURCES & INSPIRATION

Research website created by Natalie Borisovits, Research Librarian >

Capstone Didactic Presentation Examples from Last Year’s Cohort >

Please see this post which we will continue to update with resources, references, and inspiration for the Capstone >

CAPSTONE IDEATION DUE AT CROSS-MEDIA EXAM: Wednesday, December 18th, 3-6pm
Capstone Presentation Components
Ideation & Research will consist of the formulation of the conceptual framework for your project, identification of larger narrative “theme” or story, and the development/collection/creation of content and other raw materials. Write an approx. 100-200 word abstract that describes your topic.

Capstone Project Ideation which should include:
1. Refined Capstone Abstract
– Identification of larger narrative “theme” or story
– Preliminary Topic Research
2. Discussion of Potential Mediums (3) for your capstone
3. Preliminary Visual Research (including inspiration, visual language research and/or studies; imagery exploration, typography exploration/type studies, color palette exploration, etc.)
4. Plan for Next Steps of Capstone Research & Exploration, and design exploration to be undertaken over Winter Break.