I am interested in two spaces obverse to each other: open and closed. An open space develops organically based on how people inhabit it. Interacting with an open space is a dynamic, sporadic, multisensory, immersive, and subjective experience. In such spaces, we are confronted with an alternative aesthetic, one that is in conflict with the seamlessness of a closed space. A closed space is anchored on definite variables like structure, use and boundaries. While interaction between people and space is important, the space is tightly controlled and interaction is designed. Through this thesis project, I present a method that metaphorically transforms the experience of a walk through a closed space into an open-ended and immersive experience. When space develops as a response to our actions, it affords intimacy and a sense of belonging. It facilitates deeper expressiveness through engagement. By applying a method that uses fragmentation, recurrence and motion, I am metaphorically transforming an urban closed space to open. Through this transformation I am creating a fresh person-space dialogue that temporarily destabilizes perception and encourages physical sensation which allows for an intimate experience of the space. An immersive interaction with an open space transgresses the urban sterility of a closed space and is capable of creating a diversity of distinct experiences.

Digital media are moldable spaces where an image is simultaneously a thought. This instance and flexibility enables digital existences to be malleable, transformative, situational, and unstable. They are plastic images. Video games generate digital bodies that are a fusion of subjectivities and cybernetic simulations, in a perceivable and ambiguous process. Such bodies are extensions of ourselves, being girlish, imperfect, unfinished and happening—digesting and emitting clusters of feelings, regardless of our biological gender and age. The performative experience of play is progressively departing from spectacle, gambling and competition, and increasingly shifting towards an emotional journey of alternate realities, spreading subjectivities into the visible and invisible areas of screens. Such experience, and our plastic identities that reside within, marks a collaborative attempt between designers and audience to establish a new protocol of liquid perspectives functioning within and beyond digital space. Digital plasticity itself is a practice, as well as an inextricable process of understanding and deploying identities in the contemporary media-saturated pluralistic environment.

A 3 (crisis response strategy) x 3 (medium) factorial design experiment was conducted to determine if information graphics conveyed through online news sources may be more beneficial for organizational reputations during some crisis situations than the use of news videos and text-based news stories. Variables examined include cognitive and affective appraisal, third-person effect, behavioral response and crisis response strategy. Recent research in organizational crisis communications has pointed to the fact that more information is needed regarding how individuals react cognitively and affectively to crisis communications. Current crisis communications literature is also sparse concerning the behavioral aspects of crisis message reception and social media usage. This study addressed these concerns and built on the established framework of Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT).

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the creation of a cervical cancer health prevention infographic, geared toward African American women ages 30 to 65, to be potentially used to raise health literacy and influence positive behaviors towards practicing prevention measures—ultimately preventing unnecessary deaths. This dissertation also produced a cervical cancer health prevention infographic prototype for African American Women ages 30 to 65 to be further tested and implemented within future health communication campaigns. Cervical Cancer is both preventable and treatable (if diagnosed during early stages); therefore the amount of individuals dying from the cancer should be minimal. Still, African American Women in this study’s target health population are dying from Cervical Cancer the most. Existing research highlights that social determinants of health (like income, education and literacy) play varying roles as barriers to prevention (Baldwin, 1996; J. L. Davis et al., 2013; Egbert & Parrott, 2001; Ford et al., 2013; McKinnon, Harper, & Moore, 2011; Sung, Alema-Mensah, & Blumenthal, 2002; Williams & Templin, 2013). . This dissertation specifically focuses on targeting the potential to increase health literacy on Cervical Cancer to potentially positively influence prevention uptake. Drawing upon fields like health communication, visual communication and social science research, this research endeavor presents an interdisciplinary approach to potentially solving health communication issue within an at-risk population. The theoretical framework in guiding infographic production for this dissertation was the Health Belief Model, which is widely used in health communication research to assess failure of prevention uptake (du Pré, 2014; Glanz et al., 2005; Maibach & Parrott, 1995; Rosenstock, 2000). The Health Belief Model in conjunction with existing literature regarding health literacy, cultural stigma and relevance in communication campaigns geared toward African American Women ages 30 to 65, infographic content was created and presented to study participants via six interactive focus groups. The focus group methodology of qualitative research allowed for 17 study participants to confidentially engage in dialogue with peers concerning the issue at hand while also helping to create the content hierarchy, enhance and suggest visuals, colors and themes of the proposed infographic. Iterative data analysis approaches allow for constant assessment of study outcomes and themes. This study produces theoretical, practical and methodological implications for future research on the lacking area of scholarly literature. Findings from this dissertation suggest a need to (1) test the proposed infographic for potential national health campaign usage, (2) a need for more long-term collaborative community efforts for continual population access in research on Cervical Cancer prevention, and (3) future assessment of a newer form of focus group research that focuses on incorporation smaller participant groups for increased hands-on interactivity.

Not Dead At All is a nontraditional thesis, a creative product, the result of a combination of media production and social research. This paper is an attempt to explain the creative and production process behind the creation of an original media content, using the social research as a tool to increase the likeability of our characters and therefore increase the show’s chances of success.

Objective: To determine which website characteristics are preferred by orthodontists, adult patients, and parents of patients. Materials and Methods: 1,000 active members of the American Association of Orthodontists and 750 active orthodontic patients/parents were sampled. Participants rated the importance of website characteristics, indicated presence of those characteristics on the current website, and ranked sample website images. Preferences were compared between orthodontist and the patient/parent group using t-tests and sample websites were compared using ANOVA models and Tukey’s adjusted post-hoc tests. Significance level was set at 0.05. Results: 11 of the 16 website features showed significant differences between patients/parents and orthodontists. Participants preferred sample websites with images of people, information at the top of the page, and an ‘about the doctor’ page with a greater amount of information. Conclusion: This study showed significant differences in preferences between orthodontists and patients/parents, by gender, and between adult patients and parents of adolescent patients.

Den här rapporten utgör dokumentationen av ett examensarbete som genomfördes inom Kandidatpåbyggnadslinjen vid Jönköpings tekniska högskola. Inom det jubileumsår som Nässjö stad firar i samband med stadens 100-årsdag var det Nässjö Järnvägsmuseums mål att ta fram en temporär kulturutställning i en tågvagn, vilken ska stå vid Nässjö tågstation under jubileumsårets gång. Genom projektledare hos Nässjö kommun kom museet i kontakt med en designstudent från Jönköpings tekniska högskola, vilken erhöll uppgiften att utveckla den temporära kulturutställningen. Syftet med projektet var att undersöka hur en temporär kulturutställning kan se ut för att locka till sig besökare och intresse från önskade målgrupper. För att konkretisera syftet konkritiserades de till en frågeställning som handlade om hur temporära kulturutställningar och deras grafiska kommunikation kan te sig för att locka till sig önskade målgrupper. Därtill togs fyra konkreta målsättningar fram, vilka specificerade att projektet ska leda till designen av en utställning, tillhörande grafisk kommunikation, skyltning för Nässjö järnvägsmuseum samt ett kompendie där den grafiska kommunikationen visades upp. För att exemplifiera hur en temporär kulturutställning kan te sig och infria målsättningarna inleddes arbetet med undersökningar observationer och intervjuer vid olika kulturutställningar. Därtill genomfördes även observationer och intervjuer för att ta reda på Nässjö järnvägsmuseums förutsättningar för dess utställningar. Innan designarbetet tog sin början utfördes även kortare analyser av skyltning. Designarbetet fokuserades till en början mot att skapa gemensamma preferenser för alla olika element inom projektet, exempelvis moodboard, färgschema och val av typsnitt. Därefter fortsatte de olika beståndsdelarna att utvecklas parallellt, med fokus mot utställningen och den grafiska kommunikationen. Genom tydlig utgångspunkt i de behov och krav som specificerats i designbriefer och funktionsanalyser tog logotyp, poster och foldrar fram tillsammans med bilder och texter till utställningen. Resultatet tog form av visualiseringar över en luftig, ljus och modern utställning inuti en tågvagn. Visualiseringarna ackompanjerades av ett komplett material för grafisk kommunikation, vilken sammanställdes i ett lättöverskådligt kompendie, samt tre olika skyltutföranden till Nässjö järnvägsmuseums olika jubileumsutställningar / The present report is the documentation of a thesis which was conducted within the Bachelor Postgraduate program at Jönköping University of Technology. Within the anniversary year as Nässjö city celebrates during the city's 100th birthday it was Nässjö Railway Museum's goal is to develop a temporary cultural exhibition in a train carriage, which could be showed at Nässjö train station during the anniversary. Through a project manager at Nässjö the Museum came in contact with a design student from Jönköping University of Technology, who was appointed with the task of developing the temporary culture exhibition. The aim of the project was to investigate how a temporary culture exhibition might look to attract visitors and interest from the desired target audiences. To concretize the purpose it was developed into a question, which asked how temporary cultural exhibitions and their graphic communication might be designed to attract the desired target audiences. In addition four specific objectives were brought forward, which specified that the project would lead to the design of an exhibition, accompanying graphic communications, signage to Nässjö railway museum and a graphic manual where the graphic communication would be illustrated. To exemplify how a temporary exhibition culture may appear and fulfill the objectives, work began with investigations observations and interviews took place at various cultural exhibitions. In addition observations and interviews was conducted to find out Nässjö Railway Museum's conditions for its exhibitions. Before design work began analysis of different types of signage was also performed. Design work initially focused on creating shared preferences for all the different elements of the project, such as trough a mood board, a color scheme and a font selection. Continuing, the various components evolved parallel, with a focus on the exhibition and the graphic communication. By basing all designs on the needs and requirements specified within design briefs and functional analyzes a logo, poster and leaflets were produced along with pictures and lyrics for the exhibition. The result took the form of visualizations of an airy, bright and modern exhibition inside a train carriage. The rendered pictures were accompanied by complete material for graphic communications, which were compiled in an easily understandable graphic manual, and three different designs of signs to Nässjö Railway Museum's various commemorative exhibitions.

This dissertation describes and presents a new type of interactive visualization for communicating about evolutionary biology, the dynamic evolutionary map. This web-based tool utilizes a novel map-based metaphor to visualize evolution, rather than the traditional "tree of life." The dissertation begins with an analysis of the conceptual affordances of the traditional tree of life as the dominant metaphor for evolution. Next, theories from digital media, visualization, and cognitive science research are synthesized to support the assertion that digital media tools can extend the types of visual metaphors we use in science communication in order to overcome conceptual limitations of traditional metaphors. These theories are then applied to a specific problem of science communication, resulting in the dynamic evolutionary map. Metaphor is a crucial part of scientific communication, and metaphor-based scientific visualizations, models, and analogies play a profound role in shaping our ideas about the world around us. Users of the dynamic evolutionary map interact with evolution in two ways: by observing the diversification of bird orders over time and by examining the evidence for avian evolution at several places in evolutionary history. By combining these two types of interaction with a non-traditional map metaphor, evolution is framed in a novel way that supplements traditional metaphors for communicating about evolution. This reframing in turn suggests new conceptual affordances to users who are learning about evolution. Empirical testing of the dynamic evolutionary map by biology novices suggests that this approach is successful in communicating evolution differently than in existing tree-based visualization methods. Results of evaluation of the map by biology experts suggest possibilities for future enhancement and testing of this visualization that would help refine these successes. This dissertation represents an important step forward in the synthesis of scientific, design, and metaphor theory, as applied to a specific problem of science communication. The dynamic evolutionary map demonstrates that these theories can be used to guide the construction of a visualization for communicating a scientific concept in a way that is both novel and grounded in theory. There are several potential applications in the fields of informal science education, formal education, and evolutionary biology for the visualization created in this dissertation. Moreover, the approach suggested in this dissertation can potentially be extended into other areas of science and science communication. By placing birds onto the dynamic evolutionary map, this dissertation points to a way forward for visualizing science communication in the future

We are inundated by a constant feed of media that responds and adapts in real time to the impulses of our psyches and the dimensions of our devices. Beneath the surface, this stream of information is directed by hidden, automated controls and steered by political agendas. The transmission of information has evolved into a spiral of entropy, and the boundaries between author, content, platform, and receiver have blurred. This reductive space of responsive media is a catalyst for immense political and cultural change, causing us to question our notions of authority, truth, and reality.

Through research, inquiry, and an evaluation of Recovery By Design, a ‘design therapy’ program that serves people with mental illness, substance use disorders, and developmental disabilities, it is my assertion that the practice of design has therapeutic potential and can aid in the process of recovery. To the novice, the practices of conception, shaping form, and praxis have empowering benefit especially when guided by Conditional and Transformation Design methods together with an emphasis on materiality and vernacular form.