Thesis (Ed. D.) -- University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2006. / Title from title page screen (viewed on June 6, 2006). Thesis advisor: P. Mark Taylor. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2006. / Thesis advisor: Philip Halloran. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Middle School Mathematics." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 19-20). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (D.A.)--Illinois State University, 1994. / Title from title page screen, viewed March 31, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Robert G. Hathway (chair), Lynn H. Brown, John A. Dossey, Arnold J. Insel, Patricia H. Klass. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 33-34) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 31 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 31).

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This practice-led research is the result of an interest in graphic design as a specific critical activity. Existing in the context of the 2008 financial and subsequent political crisis, both this thesis and my work are situated in an expaded field of graphic design. This research examines the emergence of the terms critical design and critical practice,and aims to develop methods that use criticism during the design process from a practitioner’s perspective. Central aims of this research are to address a gap in design discourse in relation to this terminology and impact designers operating under the banner of such terms, as well as challenging practitioners to develop a more critical design practice. The central argument of this thesis is that in order to develop a critical practice, a designer must approach design as criticism. Adopting a mixed methods approach to research, this thesis draws on 'action research'(Schön, 1983) and is aligned with the proposition of ‘problem setting’ instead of the established ‘problem solving’ approach to design, using the following methods: 1)workshops at the Royal College of Art, Sandberg Institute, University of Westminster and London College of Communication; 2) selection of projects from professional practice; 3) self-initiated research projects; 4) critical writing, including essays, reviews,interviews and in particular the publication 'Modes of Criticism'. Following the theorisation of the terms critical design and critical practice, historical survey of criticism, politics and ideology in relation to graphic design, and reflection on the workshops and methods detailed above, this thesis proposes a critical method consisting of three dimensions: visual criticality, critical reflexivity and design fiction. It argues that criticism as design method offers a fundamental opportunity to develop a reflected and critical approach to design, and more importantly, society. This method creates opportunities to develop a critical practice; one that shapes a continuous agency and interest in wicked, systemic and infrastructural problems with a constant ability to critically adapt and research their multi-layered nature. That will on the one hand help the designer to become a substantial agent of change and on the other, in particularly difficult circumstances of conflicted personal, private, disciplinary and public interest such as commercial practice, to find opportunities for criticality.

This thesis reclaims the analysis of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. It is mindful of analysis of the stereotypical, and partial tendencies of orientalist representations of Satrapi’s work by both Iranian officials and “Western” media and readership. Themes are detected from this analysis and pertain to the message and intention of the author to create her work. The intentio lectoris1 (i.e. what audiences believe or led to believe) proposed that orientalist paradigms present the meaning of the work or Satrapi’s agenda, i.e. the intentio auctoris. Persepolis has been enthusiastically received all around the world, except in Iran. It has been described and interpreted as the critique of a courageous girl against the foundations of the Iranian Islamic Republic. Notwithstanding the success, the graphic novel and the animated movie derived from it in 2007 have been banned by the Iranian government, and subsequently Marjane Satrapi has been refused entry into the country. The polarised reception of Satrapi’s work in Iran and worldwide, is contextualised within (neo) orientalist critique. I detect in these receptions both potentials and problems. Reclaiming aspects of Persepolis’ analysis that have been excluded from and therefore devalued by external agencies is affirmed as a necessary and important contribution. However, I note that the overwhelming reluctance amongst “Western” media and news reporters to speak of Satrapi’s dual and neutral position, or to grasp at specificity her intentio auctoris, prevents us from a thorough discussion of their analysis. Satrapi’s work is ultimately left in the hands of clichés. I attempt to analyse Persepolis in such a way that it not only affirms rationality, fluidity, and duality, but also offers new and beneficial ways to argue Satrapi’s position and intention. My thesis is thus partly rooted in a feminist standpoint perspective to give voice to Satrapi’s agenda. What is more, it converses with similar restrictive regulations and contextualises them within an analysis of selected post-revolutionary autobiographical literature. My ultimate goal is to analyse the Iranian position towards Persepolis by making sense of the theological and political thought of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution, and the concept of velayat-e faqih (guardianship of the jurists) and the national and international responses to it in a way in which to take and transform the representation of Persepolis and Iranian culture consequently. This is done by explaining the current Iranian situation and Iranian responses to internal and external threats. Theological analyses and the explication of some of the historical complexities affecting modern Iran (especially after the revolution) would be beneficial along the way.