Problem Solving

A graphic design project begins with a client’s brief: a summary of parameters that describe the task at hand. These restrictions will not be found in our class, for you are the author of your brief, occupying the roles of both commissioner and designer. You are a problem solver, but not in the way that phrase is commonly understood since the problems you are negotiating in a Thesis class are often personal or societal. In this lecture I will argue that it is your task to — if you will forgive the Post-Modern jargon — problematize graphic design itself, and in doing so perhaps rehabilitate it. Clarifying the scope of the study would be a helpful place to start.