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Date of Award
Spring 2024
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Communication Design
Department
Art
Committee Chair
Jamie Runnells
Exhibition Date
4-15-2024
Description
View the Digital Exhibition of The "Backpack" Methodology
First-year design students often need to pay more attention to research or, at the very least, allocate the necessary amount of time and effort to it. Through my personal and teaching experience, I have realized that this happens for a few reasons: for first-year students, the task of “research” does not sound exciting, some of them do not realize the benefits of doing research and exploration, and others, do not know how to do research properly. Our job as design educators is to teach students how to solve problems and think creatively, and to do that; we also need to teach them how to research.
The “Backpack” methodology is a research methodology designed for first-year design students. This methodology aims to help students collect their visual research and resources in one place, where they can make connections, reflect on their findings, and transform them into creative output. Also, it emphasizes exploration, creates research habits, and encourages a culture of sharing among students, which makes research fun.
In this thesis project, the methodology refers to the overarching strategy for identifying, capturing, and processing information. The “Backpack” system refers to the framework where all this information is captured, categorized, analyzed, and finally, becomes creative output. The methodology is “how,” and the “Backpack” system is “where” to capture and process research.