“Designers can’t solve problems they don’t understand. We have to first build relationships and trust with the communities we are designing for. That’s how you create common ground.”
DE NICHOLS, AIGA Senior UX Researcher at Culture Lab for YouTube

“Design is the intermediary between information and understanding.”
PAULA SCHER, Principal at Pentagram

“The role of the designer is to ask the right questions and listen carefully to those most affected by the problem. Only then can we begin to establish common ground and co-create solutions.”
BRYAN LEE Jr., Founder of Colloqate Design

“The way I see it, problem-seeking is the yin to the yang of problem-solving. Solving is narrow and practical. Seeking is expansive and brimming with possibility. Solving asks “What’s wrong?” and then tries to fix it. Seeking asks “What if?” and then shows how.”
BRIAN COLLINS, chief creative officer of COLLINS

 

As designers, we have the privilege to leverage creativity and empathy to shape experiences that improve lives and bring people together. We have the power to bridge divides, rebuild broken bonds, and create spaces for unity. By understanding diverse needs and perspectives, we can foster connection, strengthen communities, and help craft solutions that promote collaboration and collective well-being. Ultimately, design is about making a positive impact and creating a more inclusive, connected world.

Dear Seniors,

Welcome to Senior Studio Seminar II!

This course focuses on the conception, design, and implementation of your capstone project to be presented in the 2025 Senior Exhibition COMMON GROUND: Perspectives On Freedom at Project For Empty Space’s 800 Broad Street Gallery, opening in April of 2025. The exhibit will showcase self-driven capstone projects under a common theme. This experience will teach you to apply your expertise to communicate your point of view as a system and create impact through design.

In the 21st Century, the pursuit and protection of freedom is both a personal and collective challenge. The 2025 Graphic Design Senior capstone exhibition will explore how opposing viewpoints can reveal shared truths and foster unity. Through the lens of Communication Design, each project will examine 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 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.

The exhibition will present twenty one transmedia projects that use communication design to tell compelling stories. 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.

You will find the complete project description here: Capstone 2025

COMPONENTS

Your capstone project (which may be a collaboration between you and a class partner) will become the content of your Senior Capstone exhibition. It will be presented as a completed project or proposal backed by a rigorous research-driven design process and presented as visually exciting solutions that demonstrate how your capabilities as a designer and your personal voice, engage in social awareness and propel social change.

Your online portfolio will feature your personal identity system and 10 of your best projects including your capstone/exhibition work. Photographic documentation of finished pieces is required. Your project ideas, execution, and craft should meet professional standards and work field expectations, proving that you are prepared to pursue design with passion and cultural relevance. In addition, an updated off-line PDF Deck version of your portfolio is required.

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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.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES

+ Finesse independent critical thinking to solve communication problems through design.
+ Embrace and leverage technology to amplify and enhance your message.
+ Hone collaboration and presentation skills.
+ Refine your eye for detail and impeccable, appropriate presentation.
+ Learn how to properly document and present work.
+ Perfect your projects demonstrating creative knowledge, technical expertise and an original perspective.
+ Apply writing as a tool to strengthen critical thinking.
+ Demonstrate effective time management & planning skills.
+ Encourage class members to be critical observers of design.
+ Make observations verbal by making use of the professional design vocabulary.
+ Balance originality of expression and appropriateness of purpose for a target audience
+ Learn to effectively navigate our sociotechnical & data-centric landscape
+ Gain an understanding of the social and ethical responsibilities of communication design practice

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Please see further details of the course in the 2025 syllabus PDF at the link below:
SeniorSeminarStudioII_Syllabus_Spring2025

Student Folders:
Shared Google Drive