This year’s MFA Design class developed practice-based research out of a curricular framework organized around the theme of mapping. As a design process, mapping encompasses the framing, digging, arraying, and presenting of information, and is a useful way for designers to stake out territory and negotiate space and complex problems. Over the course of two years, we mapped commuting patterns, research interests, and influences.
Individual thesis trajectories emerged with various degrees of connection to the mapping theme: Amrita Adhikary mapped the efficacy of electronics recycling and developed a new approach to compostable dinnerware; Courtney Inge tested the limits of in-built constraints and defaults of software, paper, and printing devices; Meghna Pathak investigated ways of mapping and connecting virtual and physical space as information environments; Dale Wallain researched methods of bringing dimensionality and interactivity to illustrated narrative; Cathryn Rowe developed different ways of mapping eating habits, daily activities, and image composition; and Wei Wei explored ways of converging the real and fantastical in animated shorts.
Mapping does not necessarily define the projects represented here, but it serves as an underlying process, reminding us that design is an activity inextricably tied to pragmatic, real-world problems, where solutions emerge by carefully surveying the situation and the materials at hand.
