by Bonne Zabolotney Dean of Design + Dynamic Media//

Few designers contest the idea that we cannot measure the success or failure of any design until the context in which it was created is fully understood. Understanding context, however, requires a knowledge of the culture in which the design in question is situated.

In his essay, “Culture is Ordinary”, Raymond Williams asserts that ideas of culture are insinuated in all aspects of everyday life: “Culture is ordinary… A culture has two aspects: the known meanings and directions, which its members are trained to [and] the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested” (2009, p. 93). For Williams, the idea of culture means everyday life and the hegemonic values that go hand-in-hand with the ordinary, combined with more concrete and experiential forms of culture, such as novels, films, and advertising. To pose the question, “what were they thinking?” about any society is to inquire about ideas and issues of economics, politics, ritual, technology, and culture. Design emerges as an intersection of these factors, with the nature of this intersection ever-shifting.

Charles Eames explained design as the overlap between the interests of the designer, the client, and of society as a whole. Eames considers design as a professional practice, with primary responsibility toward the client, and resulting benefits to society. He does not, however, examine what happens when the interests of society do not correspond with the interests of designers and their clients. When we begin to question the interests of society and its corresponding cultural systems, we increase “our understanding of the way [contemporary] design works to reflect or create values” (Drucker, 2008, p. xxi). To further illustrate this relationship between design and cultural shifts, I offer two assertions:

The meaning of design changes when its surrounding political and cultural ideology changes.

The swastika has been known for thousands of years as a positive icon of good fortune and prosperity:

The swastika also symbolized light or the god of light, forked lightning, rain and water. It represents Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva — Creator, Preserver, Destroyer. It appears in the footprints of Buddha… represents Jupiter to the Latins, [and] Thor to the Scandinavians… The swastika was similar to the ancient Hebrew letter tau, the sign of life… (Heller, 2000, p. 6–7).

Given these meanings of universal good, non-religious groups and consumer culture eventually adopted it as their own. During the early 20th century, swastikas could be seen on North American hockey sweaters, Carlsberg^® Beer labels, Coca-Cola^™ trinkets, and as Rudyard Kipling’s personal insignia. By the time Adolf Hitler became head of the German state, the swastika had also become the symbol for German nationalism. Expropriating the swastika allowed the Nazi party to corrupt the optimistic meaning of the symbol for their own cause. By 1940, Germans saw it as a sign of strength and solidarity while North Americans and Allied Europe viewed it as a sign of aggression — something identifiable to fight against. Although the shape has not changed for millennia, today the swastika is interpreted as “a vivid reminder of a mournful history, [and] an instrument of its depravity” (Heller, 2000, p. 12) due to the political and cultural ideologies associated with this symbol.

The value of design changes when availability of materials, technologies and economics shift.

Various types of lace have been made since ancient history, but it became widespread and very popular in Europe during the early Renaissance. Lace was hand-made; it took much time, energy, and skill to produce small amounts, and was consequently highly valued. The textile industry, which developed during the Industrial Revolution, greatly changed this perception of value. By the mid- to late-1800s, most lace was machine-made by a new thriving commercial industry. Improvements to equipment allowed cotton to replace the original silk thread, and the scale of production allowed various laces to be cheaply produced. A growth in transport, colonization and trade further expanded the marketing of lace. Chemical Lace, developed in the early 20th century, changed the method of lace-making altogether: cotton thread is embroidered on a base fabric, which is later chemically dissolved, leaving the lace pattern behind. By the mid-20th century, Polyvinyl Chlorine became a material was used to make lace-trimmed vinyl tablecloths. To achieve the visual aesthetic of lace we no longer require hand-crocheting of natural threads, we merely require a lace-like pattern to be stamped in plastic. The design and visual aesthetic of lace hasn’t changed much over 500 years, but its value has. It is no longer exclusive, expensive, nor difficult to obtain.

In both of these examples, design can be interpreted  “as a cultural practice, as a cultural phenomenon” (Drucker, 2008, p. xxi). While the visual essence of the designs did not change, the way in which they are perceived and therefore valued, shifted throughout history. Fully understanding the factors leading to shifts in perception of design allows us to assess and anticipate contemporary design practice. We are able to situate design practice as a cognitive process — as social behaviour — fully embedded in ordinary and everyday culture.

REFERENCES//

1. Williams, Raymond. “Culture is Ordinary.” 1958. The Everyday Life Reader. Ed. Ben Highmore. New York: Routledge, 2002. 91-100.

2. Heller, Steven. The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption? New York:
Allworth Press, 2000. 12.

3. Drucker, Johanna and Emily McVarish. Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2008. xxi.

by Michele Guimond//

ABSTRACT// The book Pleasure and Pain: 70 Years of Graphic Design, produced for a second year communication design project, intended to create a form that offered a unique and interesting way to look at the history of graphic design that was engaging for an audience of non-designers. This was achieved using categories to group design that suggested design’s various social functions; these categories had a broader context as opposed to being lodged in design paradigms. By focusing the ideation process on user needs, the framework for the book was established using the visceral and opposing human emotions of pleasure and pain to map a non-linear course through history. This framework enabled the various functions of graphic design to be viewed through a series of critical lenses. This article explores the design process for this book.

KEYWORDS// History, Design Writing, Process, Reflection,  Emotion, User-centered,  Communication Design

INTRODUCTION// Design is fundamentally a cultural activity and yet it is rarely discussed in these terms. More often design is presented as ‘applied art’, and as such it inherits theoretical tools that are not necessarily the ‘best fit’. Despite the fact that graphic design’s history clearly reflects its cultural and political context, design and society are discussed largely in isolation. This may result from the fact that, unlike many other disciplines, graphic design has developed without much “theoretical reflection” (Frascara, 1996). Therefore the bulk of the literature available on the subject of design, focuses largely on technical theory. On the subject of design history, the selection of literature, textbooks and scholarly surveys is relatively sparse. For the uninitiated, including students of design, the available literature seems somewhat self referential, predominately geared toward identifying the shifts and phases within design itself. With this as a starting point the book, Pleasure and Pain: 70 Years of Graphic Design was conceived as an exploration in developing an alternate set of critical lenses through which to view design history, bringing design’s cultural context to the fore and engaging the audience on a more visceral level. This article describes the development of the theoretical framework used to arrange, constrain and assess the book’s content.

RESEARCH QUESTION// Why would someone who is not studying communication design be interested in the history of design? This is a question that Michele Guimond, Kirsty Tsang and Nireesha Prakash focused on throughout the development of this book. How could a design history book engage non-practitioner and non-scholarly audiences in understanding design as a cultural activity and offer a compelling critical lens through which to view it?

Methods and Process// The following will describe the design process behind Pleasure and Pain by describing the three central factors driving its development: precedents, content and users. The effect of each of these on the final outcome of the project will be discussed individually and in chronological order.

Fig.1 Analyzing content

Fig.2 Analyzing form and protoyping

PRECEDENTS// Initial research revealed that “compared to other areas of design, graphic design has been given short shrift by historians” (Wikins, 2001). Books on visual forms and elements, design heroes, how to’s and stylistic trends abound but the majority fail to bring design into a broader cultural or social context. Compared to the number of art history books or historic surveys for just about every other discipline there is a strikingly slim selection for those interested in the history of graphic design.¹ The books that are available on design, historic and theory based, were found to share a common limitation for the non-specialist audience in that they are largely self-referencing and entrenched in design paradigms. The fact that early research into precedents revealed that so few “good scholarly surveys are written for lay audiences” suggests that a book like Pleasure and Pain is relevant to the untrained audience (Margolin, 2000). Some critical writers on the subject of graphic design point to the fact that this model of writing stems from the fact that “graphic design history is modeled on the earliest approaches to art history” (Wilkins, 2001). Consequently many of the historic surveys that currently exist on graphic design resemble art history books in both form and analysis. Arguably this limits the scope of analysis in design as it tends to follow a linear path marked by stages of design’s own history thereby isolating it from the social and political context. As Stephen J. Eskilson says in Graphic Design: A New History: “It is my belief that graphic design history has too often been presented through a parade of styles and individual achievements devoid of social context” (Ekilson, 2007). The challenge for this project was to take the same information provided in other design books and remodel it in way that established a new path through the subject’s history and provided a context that looks outside of design itself.

Analyzing Content// As aspiring designers, it was initially difficult to look at images from all of design’s greats and see beyond the compositions, colours and typographic choices. However, reading through the text generated collectively by our classes revealed the social and political landscapes in which the pieces were produced. This also facilitated a more relational view of the images (Fig. 1). It became apparent that the images marked not just distinct points in design history but moreover that they represented a kind of visual social history. With this new found perspective, the images began to reveal both the good and bad side of design as well as the good and bad side of human history. This was to become the
catalyst for an extensive ideation process.

In this project there was not the scope for an exhaustive anthology of either human culture or design. Constraints and boundaries within the ideation  process were important in deciding content and images while presenting them in a way that adequately revealed their relationship.

Relating Content to Users: An Emotional Engagement// Initial research into precedents and content analysis promoted a more critical view of design. This was to be the area of focus while relating content to users. In the search for universal paradigms on which to peg design history, an effort was made to look for concepts which would afford a critical lens. Although there was not enough time to conduct extensive primary research or user surveys, a large portion of the ideation process was focused on identifying the possible preconceptions of non-specialists. One of the key issues discussed was the fact that design is perceived by the general public as a primarily commercial and/or artistic practice. Therefore, a secondary goal became to challenge this perception by showing the variety of roles and social functions design has played.

Fig.3 Final Product in Square Format

The framework chosen to explore the history of graphic design was something personal but universal: human emotion. In order to show the “design in humanity” and the “humanity in design” it seemed pertinent to show both its good and bad sides (Gerber, 2007). As an example, propaganda can be employed as a weapon for a despotic regime or to promote cultural values for the common good. This concept developed into grouping images into two typically polar opposites of human emotion: pleasure and pain.

REFINING THE CONCEPT// The main headlines of pleasure and pain were divided into sections that facilitated the organization of content along cultural reference points. For instance, pain was divided into war, discrimination and social control while pleasure was divided into inspiration, lifestyle and culture. Although contextual content was generated as a class, considerable editorial material added another layer of interest to engage the user in the human aspects of design.

Editorial offered analogies that related design to subjects outside of the discipline. The emphasis was to move away from relying on the informed eye of those with “practical experience of spatial forms” towards those with more tacit knowledge of “conventional literate forms” (Swann, 2002).

PRECEDENTS, USERS AND CONTENT AS DICTATORS OF FORM// From the outset the class was discouraged from assuming the product’s final form. As such, the concept of Pleasure and Pain was chosen before the idea of a book was determined. As part of the brief, the final form needed to support the concept and respond to the way the user was intended to interact with the content.The final product was not confined to being a static piece of design; it could have taken the form of a website, motion graphic, poster, pamphlet, etc.

The decision to use the form of a book was primarily based on users. A static form of design enabled a certain amount of control in terms of how the user navigated through the images and saw them in relation to the text and categories. Further to this, it was considered that a book could more fully support oppositional sides and the broad categories of pleasure and pain. Various formats and prototypes of the book were circulated to a small survey group of non-designers to gauge reactions. In the end, the popular choice was a square format (Fig. 2). This format again supported the concept of expressing sides or poles whilst also removing it further from resembling a ‘textbook’. Debarking further from the art history model, dates and artists receded as secondary pieces of information through typographic choices and layouts. Exploring how a static piece of design could support a non-linear flow of information whilst imparting extensive historic information was a compelling challenge.

REFLECTION// This journal article is not a defense of a second year level design project’s ability to rival some of its undoubtedly more comprehensive precedents. As an excerpt from the introduction of the book sets out: “For someone interested in design […] there are a plethora of relevant books out there. […] This book will not serve those who are interested in gaining practical skills in graphic design or those seeking to learn details about its broad history. This book offers those interested in design a novel way to consider […] the function of design over time” (Guimond, 2008).

Like any other undergraduate design project, there are elements that could be improved given more time and research. Upon reflection the main failure of the book is that, despite best efforts and intent, it continued to appropriate an art history approach to design by over emphasizing the emotional impact of the design pieces instead of focusing on their performative role. This could perhaps have been improved with more extensive user-group surveys and comparative literature research.

Fig.4 Example of Two Double Page Spreads (top “Pain” bottom “Pleasure”)

CONCLUSION// In Basic Concepts of Human-Centered Design, Krippendorff discusses a discrepancy in the perception of design between “outsiders who see design as an applied art having to do with aesthetics” and “insiders to design [considering themselves] advocates for users, and trying to balance social, political, cultural and ecological considerations” (Krippendorff, 2006). This disparity was one of the key learning outcomes of this project. Increasingly in design discourse and teaching there is an emphasis on user-centered design and the importance of involving non-designers in the design process. However, the majority of literature on design, particularly that relating to its history, reinforces the outsiders’ perspective making it largely unapproachable to the uninitiated. The intention for the book was to challenge the popular view of design as applied art and in doing so encourage a relational understanding of design as a primarily cultural activity.

REFERENCES//

1. Eskilson, S.J. (2007). Graphic Design: A New History. New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 10.

2. Frascara. J. (1996). Graphic Design: Fine Art or Social Science. In Victor Margolin & Richard Buchanan (Eds.), The Idea of Design: a Design Issues Reader. London & Cambridge: MIT Press, 44-55.

3. Gerber, A. and Triggs, T. (2007). Comment. Retrieved November 27, 2009, from http://lcc.arts.ac.uk/ docs/080_BLUEPRINT_OCTOBER.pdf

4. Krippendorff, K. (2006). Basic Concepts of Human- Centered Design. The Semantic Turn: A New Foundation for Design. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis Group, 39-75.

5. Margolin. V. (2000). Toward a History of Graphic Design (Interview). Retrieved December 5, 2009, from http://tigger.uic.edu/~victor/articles/
interview.pdf

6. Guimond, M., Prakash, N., and Tsang, K. (2008). Pleasure and Pain: 70 Years of Graphic Design. Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

7. Swann, C. (2002). Action Research and the Practice of Design. Design Issues, 18(2), 49-61.

8. Wilkins. B. (2001). Design History’s Obsession with Appearance: No More Heroes. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://eyemagazine.com/opinion.php?id=35&oid=175

IMAGE REFERENCES//

Fig. 1. Guimond, M. (2008).

Fig 2. Guimond, M. (2008).

Fig 3. Guimond, M. (2008).

Fig 4. Guimond, M. (2008).

by Thais Amaral//

ABSTRACT// This paper reflects on brand identity and the designer’s role in translating client ambitions and values into effective visual communication.  Process played a key role in re-designing the identity of a small Thai restaurant in Vancouver, BC. The following aspires to reflect on the role played by research in creating a cohesive product that extends beyond decoration while still retaining cultural value. The benefit of multiple iterations and stylistic explorations is not understated here. This essay proposes that the role of the designer is to facilitate communication between business owner and clientele by portraying and translating emotions and values already inherent in the company.

KEYWORDS// Identity Design, Process, Restaurant, Visual Communication, Branding Identity

INTRODUCTION// The perception clients have about a certain business will influences its success. Because we live in a world where consumers are constantly bombarded with visuals and huge varieties of products to choose from, it has become essential for a business to make a good first impression. In this sense, identity design plays a huge role in setting a business apart its competition while also making it seem desirable and trustworthy. Identities with “character and personality forge connections with consumers through unique, evocative, and multidimensional messages” (Gobé, 2001). It is the role of the designer to understand the needs of both business owners and clients in order to translate these needs into a visual form that communicates effectively.

In this context, this paper reviews the design process, which deals with identity design for small businesses. I will review the phases of my design and learning highlights using this opportunity to reinforce the role played by research. This paper illustrates a project that aimed to affect people’s perceptions and behaviours towards a business, instead of acting as mere visual decoration.

BACKGROUND// The project analyzed here was part of a third year Communication Design course at Emily Carr University. The goal was to redesign the identity of a small restaurant, which offered good services, but suffered from poor visual identity. The design was to be informed by research and improved through the development of different iterations.

Even though this was an individual project, our class was initially divided into groups to share research and choose a restaurant to work with. My group decided to redesign the identity of a Thai restaurant, in Vancouver, BC. We wanted to work with an ethnic restaurant for the opportunity to explore not only the role of identity design as business strategy but how values from a certain culture can be integrated into an identity. While the final design was not implemented in the end, this project provided new design knowledge for all involved and contributed to transferable skills enhancing future projects.

RESEARCH QUESTION// According to Jorge Frascara, “the solution to a client’s needs is not the production of the visual communication, it is the modification of people’s attitudes or abilities in one way or another” (1998). In other words, quality and value in design should be measured by how adequately the visual communication solves the initial issue at hand. As the client did not adapt this project, there was not the true opportunity to test how the final design would impact an audience. Frascara’s point of view is one I agree with as it summarizes what I believe designers should always aim for. Since the beginning of this project I understood that only through research on identity design as well as on Thailand’s culture and cuisine would I be able to redesign not only the marketing materials but the experience of dining in the restaurant itself.

METHODOLOGY// When designers are presented with projects, they must ask questions of themselves and others in order to truly define what the problem is so that later it may be solved. It is now known that “design problems are ill-defined, [and] ill-structured” (Cross, 2001). With that in mind, the first step in our research process was to interview the owner of the restaurant to get a sense of the personality and core values of his business. According to him, the restaurant had been open for a little over a year and was his primary source of income. He showed the most pride in the friendly atmosphere, the staff, and in the authenticity of the food served. He told us the majority of customers were Caucasian, and young adults or students.

From visiting the restaurant we observed that the place offered really good food indeed, but lacked personality. The interiors were plain and the signage did not differentiate the restaurant from other restaurants nearby. There were three different versions of the logotype being used across different media. There were major issues of clarity for the brand.

The last stage of our group research was to find out more about local competition through their websites and online customer reviews. Looking at competition helps to identify possible threats and allows designers to position a client’s business so that it will stand out.

CREATING A DESIGN BRIEF// After doing some group research, it was time for the individual work to start. Separating the group was important because each person had their own perceptions of what the problem was and what approaches could be taken to solve it. By combining the findings I developed a design brief, outlining the main problems with the restaurant’s current identity, such as lack of uniqueness and cohesiveness.

I then presented my vision for the new identity as defined through keywords (youthful, personal and stimulating) that would later guide my visual explorations. Essentially, I wanted to create an identity that would appeal to young Caucasian customers while reflecting Thai culture in a fresh and modern way.

DEVELOPING MULTIPLE ITERATIONS// The first iteration I developed was based mostly on my first impressions of Thai culture and of the restaurant (Fig. 1). The visual style was inspired by Thai arts and crafts. At this point the brief had not yet been written and very little research had been done, because of this the work lacked the depth and research to validate it. From this phase I learned how important it is to move past first ideas, for the first one is never quite as informed or refined as it could be.

Fig. 1 Sketches for the First Iteration

The concept developed for the second iteration was strongly driven by my desire to highlight the experience of eating Thai food. First of all, I decided to rename the restaurant as “Bungalow”. The name choice was intended to preserve and highlight the feeling of intimacy provided by the small size of the restaurant. The term “bungalow” evokes the idea of a retreat, a place where one stays to relax. I wanted customers to feel as though they were taking a break from a stressful world when eating at the restaurant. The visuals I created were exotic, stimulating, and reflected Thai arts and colors (Fig. 2).I was happy this iteration, so it frustrated me to leave it behind and work on yet another concept. In spite of this, I now see how developing multiple iterations is beneficial for the design process; it allows the designer to see things from a different point of view and raises the work to a higher level.

Fig.2 Colour Experiments for Second Iteration

My third iteration was inspired by the flavours and characteristics of Thai food. This concept highlighted not only Thai culture but the product being offered to the clients. Through the name “Naturally Thai”, I hoped to convey both the authenticity of the restaurant and the healthiness of the food. I then attempted to convey healthiness and authenticity visually by implementing earthy tones and organic shapes (Fig. 3).

THE FINAL PRODUCT// After creating different concepts, I chose one to be developed into the final identity. I decided to work with my second concept, “Bungalow”. This was the time to make refinements of form, typography, colour and format. It was an experience that taught me how to summarize my learning and integrate the best of each iteration into one final solution.

FINDINGS// During my research process, I came across the idea of how brand identities should touch on the emotional needs of customers so as to meet their expectations. A quote that really caught my attention in that regard was one by Marc Gobé: “sensorial research leads to emotional states that help bring a new set of communications on how people experience brands. There is a loyalty to a brand when the brand connect with our senses” (2007).

Fig.3 Final logo as it would be applied to business cards

This quote inspired me to create an identity using colour to evoke feelings and flavours while telling a story about Thai
culture that is memorable. Adding elements that provoke the senses and emotions is like adding a whole new layer of meaning to identity design. Identity is not just a logo or how a package looks, it is the “visual and verbal expression of a brand. Identity supports, expresses, communicates, synthesizes, and visualizes the brand. You can see it, touch it, hold it, hear it, watch it move” (Wheeler, 2006).

Aside from “touching” people, brand identities are more effective when they are sensitive to a culture and the social activities and customs it relates to. As reinforced by Marc Gobé, “food is a form of social exchange, and is imbued with special meanings in many cultures. Brands that recognize this and respond accordingly will never leave customers with a bad taste in their mouths” (Gobé, 2007). This way of thinking is really important to my design: in Thailand, food has a special meaning, so much that it is seen as an expression of their own identity. The importance of sitting down and enjoying food for Thai people is such that the Thai equivalent of the casual greeting, “How are you?” translates as “Have you eaten rice?” (Thai, 1998).

CONCLUSION// Even though I believed the outcome of this project to be quite satisfactory, I realize that further primary research would be essential to make it more valid and prove its success or failure in impacting the audience. Unfortunately, the primary research done was limited to informal surveys conducted over the Internet, information gathered from visiting the restaurant and the development of a persona, which was helpful but had no data to back it up.

On the positive side, something of importance that I learned from this project is that designers, in their creative processes, can always go further than once thought. Shifting perspectives and coming up with dramatically different concepts after developing a first is essential for the growth of both the project and the designer.

REFERENCES//

1. Cross, N. (2001). Designerly Ways of Knowing: Design Discipline versus Design Science. Design Issues, 17(3), 49-55. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier, EBSCO.

2. Frascara, J. (1988). Graphic Design: Fine Art or Social Science?. In Bennett, A. (Ed.) Design Studies: Theory and Research in Graphic Design. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press.

3. Gobé, M. (2010). Emotional Branding. New York, NY: Allworth Press.

4. Gobé, M. (2006). Brandjam: Humanizing Brands Through Emotional Design. New York, NY: Allworth Press.

5. Thai, B. (1998). Thai Cuisine: The Spice of Life. Thai Airways International.

6. Wheeler, A. (2006). Designing Brand Identity: A Complete Guide to Creating, Building and Maintaining Strong Brands. John Wiley & Sons Inc.

IMAGE REFERENCES//

Fig 1. Amaral, T. (2009).

Fig 2. Amaral, T. (2009).

Fig 3. Amaral, T. (2009).

Fig 4. Amaral, T. (2009).

By Juljka Klingler//

Nigel Cross describes the relationship between science and design. He writes that science requires standardized formulas and repeatable results, that it requires objectivity and absolutes, and that it is concerned with the nature of what already exists. Design, on the other hand, thrives on innovation through changing methods, allows for subjectivity and experimental knowledge and is concerned with things that which do not yet exist. This division is debatable and fluctuates. For example, your early work focuses on sustaining the civil liberties and quality of life in women. Is this work mainly concerned with what already exists (inequality, old power structures and social conventions) or do you feel you are more inspired by objectivity versus subjectivity?

It depends on the design work, how you approach it. There are times when you have to follow certain formulas. Sometimes I like to follow a formula but depending on the work I can just explore and be freer with it.

Every designer has his or her own processes and methodologies. How do you feel your process has changed from your education to actually working in the industry?

In my case, coming from an advertising background, I did not intend my work to be so driven by process. It was more about time management; the work was extremely fast paced. During my education I learned the value of process and therefore, while my approach to process has changed, the process itself has not.  Now, because of my master’s thesis, I have learned not only the value of process but how to present it so that an audience too can value it.

The dynamics of process are certainly dependent on time. Do you feel you design better working on long-term projects or under a short time constraint?

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I work better under pressure, as perhaps many designers do. I feel I am able to do both types of projects. If the project is larger the scope increases and there is more to explore; with short-term projects there are limitations. However, designing better based on scope? That is questionable. Whatever the circumstances, you just have to keep your focus.

Designers often think vertically and horizontally using both their left and right brains. They are forced to consider the conceptual, the practical, the visual and the psychological aspects of their design. What helps you make this shift or how do you know when to make this shift?

I am aware of it but I am not thinking, “Now I am making the shift.” I am a very visual person. It has been a challenge for me. With my master’s degree I have learned to think with greater versatility as my thesis naturally involves writing but also incorporates a crucial visual component. If I am writing about the work, maybe because English is my second language, it is harder for me.

Not everyone feels like it is important to share process. Some designers feel sharing the process involves exposing trade secrets. In your opinion, why is design process important to the designer and important to share?

I used to think sharing process was like exposing secrets, that I would rather keep it to myself and just show the end product.

What made you change your mind?

I think if we share process people will value the design work more. They will be more averred. If you show the research they will appreciate the time and effort that went into the work, this is especially important for non-designers.

Working with other people is also an integral part of the designer’s process. How do you keep these relationships healthy?

You have to be able to learn from others, designers and non-designers alike. People are a great wealth of information and everyone may have an opinion about your work. The work itself, branding for example, is not just for the designer, it is for everyone and will be seen by all people. In terms of keeping the relationships healthy, I guess it is about respect for the ideas of others. When I am presenting work, if I am explaining process, I try and keep it as clear as possible and consider the audience.

Can you tell me a little bit about your thesis, what is it you are working on?

It is a branding design project for the National Research Council Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation. My project started off with my internship. There were a few small design assignments and from those I thought it would be an exciting opportunity to work in this new field and bring in my skills. It is a branding project that deals with emotions.

What is emotional branding?

It is a branding strategy. The French designer Marc Gobé came up with it. It is about creating an emotional connection between the brand and the user. My project is about creating it through multi-dimensional, multi-sensory design tools so that you actually feel very attached to the brand. It is about using conventional branding in an unconventional way. For an institution such as the National Research Council Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation it may not seem relevant but I think it can work and it should because they are working towards clean energy. The fuel cell, hydrogen technology, is purely clean energy. If more awareness is created and if there is more involvement, they can actually develop it. This project is for a good cause and is not only commercial. I try to use storytelling in branding design. I have 2D and 3D deliverables, a tactile book object and an animation that showcases the brand identity. My written thesis is about, again, storytelling and branding, examining emotional branding and way-finding behavior. I have a whole chapter on research and mental mapping. Very briefly, it involves the physiological aspects and how I can use this unique theory to enrich my visual work.

Defne Corbacioglu is currently immersed in graduate studies. Her work, discussed above, will be viewable in the upcoming 2010 grad exhibition held at Emily Carr.