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ETD Abstract Container

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Regionalism in Graphic Design

Hunter, Darrin S
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367928330

Abstract Details

2013, MDES, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Design.
Regionalism arose in the 1980s as a design theory meant to address growing discomfort with perceived placelessness and lack of identity in modernist and postmodernist architecture. The modernist movement's original ideals were to create environments that improved the quality of life for everyone using universal design principles which could ostensibly be employed anywhere with equal success. But many theorists have rightly pointed to the modernist project's failure to create such universal places that are also affordable, humane, and relevant to local cultures. It is a question, in the words of French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, of "how to become modern and to return to sources; how to revive an old, dormant civilization and take part in universal civilization." Even though a great deal of inquiry from various writers and practitioners benefits the field of architecture, almost nothing has been written about how to promote regionalism as a basis for resistant critical practice for visual communicators. In short, there is no theory of regionalism for graphic designers. This research attempts to lay modest groundwork for regionalist practice in graphic design, including discussion of a specific case study: the design of event graphics for the 2010 International Viola Congress held at the University of Cincinnati. Graphic design at first appears to be resistant to such ideas, given that its lifeblood tends to be the visual planning of mass distributed and increasingly digital media products for companies who carefully cultivate universally extensible and placeless "brand space" that is indifferent to geographic and cultural barriers. What is needed to formulate a critical regionalist practice are ways for graphic design to be rooted in a specific place ("sited") while still harnessing the power of mass communications and serving client needs.
J Chewning, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Catharine Carroll, D.M.A. (Committee Member)
274 p.
Design
regionalism; graphic design; modernism; International Style; ; ;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hunter, D. S. (2013). Regionalism in Graphic Design [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367928330

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hunter, Darrin. Regionalism in Graphic Design. 2013. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367928330.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hunter, Darrin. "Regionalism in Graphic Design." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367928330

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1367928330
284
© 2013, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.