2020
Our international cohort of Falmouth Flexible MA Graphic Design (online) students are encouraged to explore a diverse range of interests and specialisms with global exploration at the heart of the course, leading to a true spectrum of creativity. Scroll to view examples of their Final MA Projects for a taste of what you could achieve by joining the course.
Sasha Mitchell
Surrey, England
Project Question
How can graphic design be utilised to help improve the lives of individuals suffering from IBD related chronic illness?
Aim and Objective
The problem:
Supporting positive mental wellbeing of those suffering from fatigue caused by a flare of IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease).
Raising awareness of IBD and the more mentally challenging symptoms that come with it such as fatigue.
I am a website designer, freelance graphic designer and student finalising my MA Graphic Design course.
I am also someone who is diagnosed with Pan-Colitis, visceral hypersensitivity, anaemia, & chronic pain.
As a believer of the power of colour and creativity, I wanted to create a project that allows people to harness these tools for self-care and positive mental health.
If these unprecedented times have shown us anything, it’s the isolation that chronic illness patient deals with. As well as the community we can create in a digital age. I want to encourage a creative space for patients to both feel togetherness and educate people along the way.
Final Outcome
The solution:
Producing a platform that creates a community inspiring the use of creativity as a self-help tool to improve the mental wellbeing of those suffering from symptoms of fatigue during a flare of IBD that also is used to raise awareness of the disease. By focusing on three key areas we can successfully do this.
positivity | activity | creativity
“Some experts equate the benefits of crafting-induced flow with the experience of meditation. It’s like a kind of “mental exercise” that helps regulate your attention and emotions. [Creativity] can put you into a physical state of deep relaxation that alters your physical and emotional responses to stress.” Colette DeDonato.
Using creativity as a tool to inspire, encourage and motivate those that are struggling with their mental health during this time, I directly answered the question by designing a final outcome of a mobile application.
The application was broken down by the three pillars:
positivity – this is the home feed, where you can share your projects and explore others as well as discuss common topics with the community.
activity – Every month the theme will be updated to allow the chance to explore a new creative field and try something you may not have before. Here you can look for weekly or monthly creative tasks, or make your own.
creativity – The creativity section allows you to take part in bright workshops. Whether these are short recaps of past workshops or summaries to future live workshops that you can book into.
profile – The profile works similarly to most social media platforms. Allowing you to see your profile from another users point of view.
journal – This section works as a private entry system to allow users to track their symptoms during a flare of their illness. The history tool is particularly useful as you can look back over days and weeks to report back to consultants or doctors.
I am keen to continue this project. To gather patients feedback, I am running creative workshops with a local charity that is interested in taking part is Rushmoor Healthy Living. They are a wonderful charity in my local area that focuses on improving the health and wellbeing of those suffering from long term conditions and disabilities. Although they are not IBD patients, they all understand the struggle of fatigue. With my first session being booked for January 2021 with their coffee morning participants of around 15 people.
This session will be my first test of many on the live workshops, which allow me to see what does and doesn’t work. Helping me to develop this project to better help solve my chosen problem.
How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?
It has been a pleasure to work alongside growing designers from around the world. I even got the opportunity to collaborate with some of them in this digital space. Online learning is becoming much more favourable, but I never thought it would be as successful as this for a creative course. As someone who prefers analogue graphic design, I was scared my love for paper and hand-drawn illustrations would be lost. I was proven wrong early on. If anything, my skills in these areas have developed over my time on the course.
The course has allowed me to develop the skills that I am most passionate about at my own pace, at a time that suits me. All with the guidance of our online tutors and feedback from my cohort.
Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.
Jasmine Bashaj
Toronto, Canada
Project Question
How can we foster life lessons and humanistic exchanges through a multi-generational and cultural community?
Aim and Objective
The purpose is to develop, share and foster connections consisting of curated alternative learning between generations and cultures through an interactive online community platform.
The project aims to preserve, document and pass on multi-generational and cultural traditions, lessons and a glimpse into the daily life of everyday people from around the world.
This provides an opportunity for connection, sharing, and understanding for those lacking access to people of different age groups and cultural groups in their lives.
The platform revolves around and is a collection of humanities and everyday life. Sharing old fashioned skills that are fading with the modern world, providing insight into home economics including cooking, gardening, personal finances and wellness from the perspective of older generations and diverse cultures.
Problems include:
– Lack of connection between generations
– Generational and cultural stereotypes creating barriers
– Loss of “old fashioned” or life skills
– Lack of well-rounded insights and ideas from a community
– Humanity lacking empathy and understanding of each other
Final Outcome
The final outcome will be a website with a community presence, including membership open to all. Reminiscent of a YouTube channel but with panelist biographies, a blog with related links and a messaging function. This pairs with the YouTube channel and is another option for a final outcome.
Users will have the ability to submit their questions to the community with a voting system in place to select the top questions for the panel to answer for that month.
The video segments are interviews of a panel answering questions asked by children aged 7-15. The answers are presented in a documentary style format using the familiar YouTube playlist on the website, as well as part of playlists per question on the YouTube channel.
Solutions
– Connecting youth and seniors from different parts of the world.
– Opportunity for cultural sharing and communication
– Preservation of lost skills, advice, and insights
– Encouraged bonding and human connection
– Non-traditional, humanistic education
How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?
Coming from the stock industry in a world of motion and illustration, along with my educator background, I knew I would progress in my own practice and grow in my fields. When I first started I realized how much I didn’t know, but was guided into the world of graphic design through amazing tutors and ample resources. My eyes were opened to different perspectives, methodologies and practices all while developing an appreciation for working in a collaborative environment for the final project, something I hadn’t practiced before.
Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.
Benjamin Parfitt
Bristol, UK
Project Question
How can variable fonts help aid accessibility for those with learning differences?
Aim and Objective
“According to the British Dyslexia Association, there is an estimated up to 10% of the population in the United Kingdom who live with the learning difference dyslexia, with other groups claiming it to be up to 16% which as of 2020 stands at 10,861,762 people” (British Dyslexia Association).
The aim of this project is to discover and present a viable option for people who live with dyslexia, in order for them to have more accessible experiences when using digital screens when reading.
Background information surrounding this topic will be informed by academic papers, and interviews conducted with people with the learning difference to obtain a clearer insight into how the learning difference affects people differently.
Final Outcome
‘Flexi-Read’ is a web browser extension which is a tool that allows people who have dyslexia be able to adjust type on the digital screen – ranging from spacing of the characters and words to the weight, height and weight of characters.
‘Flexi-Read’ uses variable fonts as the base typography format as variable fonts allow for more adaptability for different outcomes which helps enable a more unique and tailored adjustments for those who need it most.
How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?
Over the course of the two years, I feel that my practice has benefitted from speaking with people from alternative backgrounds and sectors of the world, as it has provided alternative perspectives when it has come to more social-orientated projects.
Being a part of a global cohort, it has also been interesting to take note of the different design styles, which have been brought forward from the cohort and seeing how culture has taken affect to inform a particular design aesthetic and approach towards a project.
Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.
Daire Taylor
Leitrim, Republic of Ireland
Project Question
How can graphic design enhance the message of protest music?
Aim and Objective
There is a strong correlation between protest songs and protest graphics. Both mediums deliver different messages in different ways, engaging viewers emotions through sound and vision, while educating and informing audiences on the most important social, political and cultural issue.
This project has two main aims; to tell the story of how music linked and inspired the Irish and American civil rights movements, and secondly; to discover how graphic design can enhance and amplify the message of the music.
The objective was to collaborate and converse with as many people as I could to meaningfully explore the subject matter. Designers such as Craig Oldham and Anthony Burrill, journalists such as Eamonn McCann and Dorian Lynskey contributed invaluable insights on music design and civil rights that would be added to the archive for the final outcome.
Final Outcome
The outcome to this project is an online multimedia exhibition called ‘Black and Green – How music inspired two movements in one struggle’. The exhibition has three rooms that tell the story of music, design and the civil rights struggle of both movements. Video, audio, story and song will guide the user through the exhibition and reveal the story and the history.
The Fight room will include vodcasts and podcasts interviews with Journalists, authors and activists who would talk about the links between both movements and what effect the movements had on society at large.
The Music room would also include vodcasts and podcasts interviews with musicians Journalists, authors and activists who would talk about the impact of protest songs on protest and society. There could also be live streamed gigs with contributing musicians.
The Design room will be similar including interviews with designers who talk about their process and their purpose behind creating protest graphics.
The charcoal typography reflects the visceral, immediate and human idea of protest, while the clean, well-crafted digital type, reflects a more sensitive, reflective and respectful side of protest, remembering the historical importance of civil rights protest.
How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?
Collaboration has always been encouraged and promoted on this MA. It is not something that I have done enough of in my practice up to this. Throughout the two years, I have collaborated and interacted with industry, peers, journalists, authors, musicians, work colleagues and friends in a way that has enhanced my projects and added dimensions that would not have been possible on my own.
I have also realised the power of authorship as a way of pursuing personal interests, promoting my work and finding opportunities for work. Both of these approaches are a cornerstone of this MA and have aided the development of my practice over the last two years.
Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.
Sian Laüra
Skipton
Project Question
How can I use joy as a tool to counteract feelings of negativity and improve people’s every day experiences and overall mental health?
Aim and Objective
Simply to spread joy through design. After conducting research into how the brain creates and stores positive experiences – I found that we have to actively work our minds and pay attention to the good that is within the world as our minds instinctively emphasise negative experiences over positive ones. With this in mind, I set out to design and create a space that opens opportunities for interactive and creative play within my local community. Through this active repetition of joyful experiences, I planned to create positive and long-lasting effects.
Final Outcome
Joy in Numbers is dedicated to bringing joy to communities through engagement. Through collaboration with Historic England and Fresh Perspective, I was able engage with local creatives and talents to provide a series of live online workshops/sessions free of charge to the general public.
By creating an interactive space, we have managed to build a community that encourages people to engage in new activities, share their outcomes directly liaise with a range of creative practitioners. Thus, creating a space that brings people together and forms a feeling of community spirit and generosity – and most importantly, joy.
Due to the current Covid-19 regulations, the workshops up to date have primarily been based online. As soon as I’m able to, I’d love for these to evolve into in person workshops, taking place within local business indoor and outdoor venues.
How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?
For sure, I was able to meet a wide range of wonderful individuals, bounce ideas back and forth and gain interesting new perspectives along the way.
Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.
Rebecca Clulow
Macclesfield, England
Project Question
How can design help to uncover and reveal the hidden history of my locality?
Aim and Objective
1. Collaborate with local museums to ensure history is accessible outside of exhibition spaces and museum storage.
2. Digitise local historical offerings through an online interactive archive.
3. Create a fun and vibrant community that is passionate about the sharing of local history.
4. Increase knowledge of local history, highlighting both the positive and the negative sides of the story.
5. Ensure sufficient recording of our current era to prevent gaps in our future recorded history.
Final Outcome
Captured in Time is a not-for-profit organisation focused on the exploration and preservation of local culture and history. We offer a digital archive of Macclesfield’s history, making unseen documents stored in the Macclesfield Museum’s storeroom, as well as donations from the public, available online for members of the public to enjoy. We are keen explorers of Macclesfield’s heritage and are passionate about digitising our found local knowledge to allow easy accessibility and searchability of moments both past and present for future generations to enjoy.
With a primary aim of eliminating further gaps in our recorded historical story, community projects and collaborations with local volunteers, museums, and key stakeholders are the driving force of our success.
Our website houses the outcomes and research documents used for each community project, as well as hosting the interactive photograph map which showcases archived photos of Macclesfield in their relevant locations using Google Earth technology.
How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?
Before starting the course I had exclusively designed for pharmaceutical companies which meant I had not yet found the design path that I am most passionate about.
Whilst studying with Falmouth Flexible I have discovered a huge interest in local histories and have loved learning about many local historical stories I was unaware of before starting the course. I love to use design to help educate people and have found a gap in the design market in my hometown which means I have made many invaluable contacts that will help with paid collaborations in my future practice.
I have a much deeper understanding of design fundamentals since studying the course and have gained a global insight on local cultures from my fellow students. Mostly, I have gained confidence in my own skills and feel the course has opened up doors to new opportunities that were not there before the course.
Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.
J Fidler
Los Angeles, United States
Project Question
Why not have a truth emerge at the moment and place of viewing, instead of struggling to capture and communicate a specific truth during the creation of the work?
Aim and Objective
Rather than find or – to use a more aggressive word – take someone’s story and attempt to express and recreate it, the prints act as scaffolding on which others are encouraged to construct their story and find meaning within them.
The project is a product of its time; whatever was happening will have made its way into the project. There are racial elements, Covid19 and the resulting lockdowns, riots and protests from a turbulent, unstable summer, and my own quiet tragedies. What remains interesting to me, is that the pieces will be viewed at a different time, in some cases, in a different place, and always by individuals who will be different from me. And to me, that is the crux of the project. How do different times and places influence how we read a piece of, in this case, visual, work?
The project name, ‘Translations’ is a veiled reference to Walter Benjamin’s thoughts on the task of the translator. It also refers to the viewer being asked to translate the visual into meaning and giving this translation equal or greater importance than to the piece itself.
Final Outcome
It is for each viewer to decide if there are multiple outcomes, one single outcome, multiple graphic elements that lead to a final outcome, or whether there is no finality but a potential circular project. It will probably be dependent on how, where, and by whom the project is seen.
Discussions can be a good thing, Ambiguities can lead to more interesting readings, so any thoughts on the outcomes or interpretations of the individual pieces are encouraged.
However, what can be stated is that there are currently five elements: The individual pieces, the exhibition, the book, the newspaper, and the video.
Any and all of the outcomes can be used to access the project.
How has your practice developed while studying the MA in Graphic Design with a global cohort?
Towards narrative, writing, and philosophy while moving further away from its banal and cynical application in the facilitation of commerce.
Please follow this external platform link, to view the Final MA Project in full and/or portfolio documentation.
Annie Bowers
London, UK
Project Question
How can design help us to connect with, and take notice of, nature that exists in urban environments?
Aim and Objective
Spending time immersed in nature has many proven physical and mental health benefits that are often experienced less by people who live in cities.
This project has two aims: to help users visualise the unseen and overlooked wildlife surrounding them; and to encourage playful exploration of our physical landscapes.
My objective is to create something that will help people get to know their locality better; to encourage them to get outside more; and to become more invested in taking care of their surroundings.
Final Outcome
I set out to produce a series of outcomes rooted in psychogeographical techniques, intended to encourage playful movement around cities. These were adapted to have a focus on finding nature and on seeing a familiar neighbourhood in a new light.
I coined the term ’Biopsychogeography’ to describe this area of study. I have designed a set of outcomes that work together as part of a system, the first being a deck of cards which users can take out on walks with them. Each card offers a different prompt – some to break the user out of their usual routines, and some to encourage them to take a closer look at what is living in their surroundings.
The cards are accompanied by a workbook which offers some more prompts and activities designed to be done at a slower pace, with the intention of helping the user to build up a body of research on their locality. And finally, there is a website that allows users to upload their research and any outcomes they might be inspired to produce, to create a shared archive of work.
The outcomes are largely handmade through a variety of techniques intended to capture the textures and colours of urban nature – instead of pristine greenery and pastoral scenes we are more often confronted with moss growing on walls, foxes in our front gardens and weeds growing through pavement cracks. Some of the graphics were created through fairly traditional techniques such as monoprinting, marbling and painting, but I also took inspiration from graphics and lettering in urban environments and used spray paint, sgraffito and chalk. All of this is designed to evoke the feeling of being outside in a city – an environment that is much more familiar to most of us than mountains and forests.