A multiple step process, we were first asked to write a paper answering the question “What is the essence of graphic design?” A hefty question to answer, many of us struggled. Ultimately, I wrote that the essence of graphic design is about education, collaboration, creation, and questioning. Why do we do what we do? Have we as designers become inundated with the massive amounts of information and feel lost? The next step was to create a design solution in response to the paper that is executed across three different media types: tactile/print, experiential/environmental, and screen (tv, computer, projection, etc). My solution was the packaging of three “blank” journals with hidden questions inside creating a dialogue amongst designers or anyone who receives the package. The user then fills the journal with ideas or answers to the questions, photographs or scans the pages, and posts them to a blog that was created to further spread the dialogue of “why?”

Quite often, lots within neighborhoods become vacant, empty, or abused for a variety of reasons. These lots soon become holes in the fabric of the community creating gaps in communication amongst the residents of the area. REVEAL is a project and kit that shows the potential of these lots to patch those holes in the fabric. The kit contains the tools and directions to create community relationships, plan an event within the lot, and ultimately reveal the lot to the members of the neighborhood as a potential spot for growth, culture, and pride.

Quite often, built environments are created without consideration of those who inhabit the space, thereby leaving cultural identity and a sense of place unable to form. Such a case occurs in the halls and classrooms of the graphic design department of SCAD. The exploration showcases the essential role of visual communication in establishing place and its profound effect on forming a new context and identity through a graphic narrative experience.

A visual response to Ed Fella’s quote from his thesis work at Cranbrook. An exploration in free flowing work, the elements began in the center and grew with little planning other than small sketches. The illustration is placed into context on a chalkboard surface and extending past the borders, respresenting the pushing of boundaries and moving beyond the confines of an established educational framework.

A seemingly contradictory message, "Live Less" is an experiential commentary on consumerism and the objects that own us. The boxes act as a representation of objects we buy and keep for years and the space that we consume by doing so. The viewers are asked to remove the boxes labeled with things they can live with less of in their lives. The message of "living less" is revealed through dialogue on the wall and tops of various boxes. When all the extraneous is removed, what is left is the message and the aspects of life that hold true value: friends, family, experiences, curiosity, etc.

Using only typography, the book is a response to the design challenge of choosing a fairytale or fable and relating it to contemporary culture. The reader moves through the book experiencing the original fable of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” when their reading becomes interrupted by sad, but true facts of contemporary society. The red transparency acts as the rose colored glasses through which we often see the world and the denial we put forth, much like the characters in the story.

Rooted in graphic design having a vital role in social awareness, No Hunger Savannah is a food drive reinvented. Hunger is a growing and ever-present problem in Savannah, let alone the world. No Hunger Savannah utilizes elements of environmental graphic design, print, and installation to create an entire experience that ultimately brings awareness to the problem and helps attempt to solve it.

The Granada Theater is a historic music venue in Dallas, Texas that had an identity that was as varied as its past and artists that grace its stage. Such a staple in the Dallas music scene deserved an identity that would reflect its vintage theater aesthetic and music-loving culture. The new brand takes inspiration from the classic marquee gracing the facade of the venue combined with a simplicity that allows for adaptation to any genre that comes to town.