This body of work explores multiple technical and aesthetic methods of representing complex statistical information in an approachable visual language, bridging the boundaries between data science, graphic design and fine arts. Ordinary data charts are combined together with other charts and diagrams and transformed in unexpected ways in order to form the basic structure of mythical landscape scenes. Line plots over time become the rising and falling curves of hills and mountains, bar charts are morphed into industrial factories on the horizon, and bubble charts become billowing smoke, a forest of trees, or a school of fish. The hope is that the work will act as an engaging alternative to traditional data representation and will encourage curiosity and a fresh perspective.

This project is composed of two video games that look at multiple facets of the company Amazon through a critical lens. Fulfillment explores the working conditions of Amazon Fulfillment Centers through play. Amazon Invazion provides a critical look at the company from a consumer perspective, showcasing some of the many acquisitions made by Amazon from 1994-2018. Both games prompt the player to consider their own participation in the company’s growth.

A medical evaluation of physical impairment imposes the additional burden of “labeling” the patient with the condition. The binary nature of the normal versus abnormal label emphasizes difference and can lead to trauma. Understanding differences, however, can lead to the generation of new forms and thus, more sensitive differentiation and representation. Tension is created by exploring different bodily forms—a dialectic between form and essence. I am designing a space that visualizes and illuminates difference as a source of trauma and amplifying the tension by comparing figures that represent varying degrees of normalcy. This forms a critique of idealized form and creates a context for people unaffected by this type of trauma to reflect on possible realities outside of their assumptions of normality.

A fantasy world, that exists only in our minds, provides us a place where we can mentally escape from everyday reality. Escapism, such as indulging in daydreams, allows us to experience comfort and makes us feel safe, eliminating feelings of insecurity and vulnerability. This study aims to use playfulness and reverie as a tool to access and confront mental discomforts. Transforming disturbing situations into an experience of reverie; a correction of unsatisfying reality, by converting a solid component of the real world into a desirable infinite form will provide alternative viewpoints. Throughout my work, this method has been employed to address personal phobias, violent conflicts, political insecurity, and racial inequality. It is my hope to employ daydreaming as a form of serious play to provide a new way of perceiving unsatisfying reality.

This publication is the companion piece to “This Must Be the Place,” a 3D realization of my conceptual photography work exhibited in the Anderson Courtyard at VCU's 2019 School of the Arts MFA Show. I photograph scenes from nature and reproduce these images onto flattened plexiglass planes, arranging them in new, natural environments and photographing them again. The outcome is a scenic collage in which two unfamiliar locations become superimposed. It is my hope that as people experience the work they become a part of the texture of it.

La presente investigación permite conocer la problemática sobre el estrés infantil en pacientes pediátricos por la carente humanización del espacio hospitalario. El objetivo general consiste en demostrar que el Diseño Gráfico aplicado mediante la Gráfica Ambiental y la Iconoplástica influye en la humanización de un espacio de salud para reducir el estrés infantil en situación de hospitalización en el Hospital Nacional Cayetano Heredia, por ende, se genera la hipótesis: “El Diseño Gráfico aplicado mediante la Gráfica Ambiental y la Iconoplástica influye en la humanización de un espacio de salud para reducir el estrés infantil en situación de hospitalización en el Hospital Nacional Cayetano Heredia”. El enfoque empleado para esta investigación es mixto. El estudio es de tipo experimental – experimentos puros. La población estuvo conformada por 14 pacientes pediátricos de 5 a 12 años del área de Hospitalización Pediátrica. Se utilizó la encuesta y focus group como técnicas de recopilación de datos de las variables, hospitalización y estrés infantil; se empleó como instrumento el cuestionario para ambas variables. Por lo que se plantea como solución, la intervención gráfica del ambiente hospitalario para pediatrizar y humanizar el área de hospitalización. Esta se plantea en base a los resultados obtenidos y a la necesidad de adaptar un espacio hospitalario a las necesidades infantiles. En conclusión, la respuesta por parte de los pacientes pediátricos fue positiva y los resultados de los testeos indicaron un 90% de acierto. Motivo por el cual, se pudo corroborar la hipótesis planteada. / The present research allows to know the problem of child stress in paediatric patients due to the lack of humanization of the hospital space. The general objective is to demonstrate that the Graphic Design applied through the Environmental Chart and the Iconoplastic influences the humanization of a health space to reduce the stress of children in hospitalization in the Hospital National Cayetano Heredia, the hypothesis is therefore generated: "The Graphic Design applied through the Environmental Chart and the Iconoplastic influences the humanization of a health space to reduce the stress of children in hospitalization at the Cayetano Heredia National Hospital." The approach used for this research is mixed. The study is experimental – pure experiments. The population consisted of 14 paediatric patients from 5 to 12 years of age in the area of Pediatric Hospitalization. The survey and focus group were used as data collection techniques for variables, hospitalization and child stress; the questionnaire for both variables was used as a tool. As a solution, the graphic intervention of the hospital environment to pediatricize and humanize the area of hospitalization. This is based on the results obtained and the need to adapt a hospital space to children’s needs. In conclusion, the response of paediatric patients was positive and the results of the tests were 90% success, so the hypothesis could be validated. / Trabajo de investigación

During the past four years it has been easy to see that there has been no art direction in the visual communications of Utah State University. Recently the university has become aware of the importance of a good public relations program and has taken steps in that direction. Very little thought has been given to the visual design of these public relations though. Advertising gives information, plants ideas, and provokes interest in a service and company, but it must be designed well to be noticed. Corporate image includes many things, but I shall only deal with the visual or graphic design part. This is the corporate design. Product analysis, consumer research, and market analysis are investigated in connection with Utah State University. What makes a good advertisement is analyzed. The media most appropriate for the university is pointed out. Facts are illustrated with photographs of hypothetical advertising pieces. Each advertising piece is analyzed to show how it contributes to the complete corporate design of the university. A high level of quality in corporate design cannot be reached unless the university employs the talents of a professional designer. The conclusion of this thesis points out the three courses that could be taken to acquire such a person.

Em Paraíso perdido, de John Milton, Pandemonium é a capital do inferno, local onde todos os demônios se encontram em conselho para discutir seus planos. É também significado de confusão, caos e balbúrdia. Tal metáfora pode ser utilizada para descrever o processo criativo do designer gráfico, cuja mente funciona como um caldeirão fervilhante de informações interligadas em uma rede complexa. Ao contrário do que se imagina, as ideias não surgem de uma inspiração divina ou um pensamento ordenado e previsível. Nascem da prática repetitiva, do esforço e da experimentação, constituídos a partir do repertório particular de cada designer. O objetivo desta tese foi compreender o processo criativo em design gráfico no qual o acaso e a experimentação estão inseridos. A tese foi construída a partir de uma pesquisa prática e teórica e consiste de reflexões a partir da bibliografia sobre design e processos de criação, de entrevistas realizadas com designers gráficos e de experimentos que apresentam, na prática, o processo de criação em design, que é único para cada um, pois envolve inúmeros aspectos que determinarão o resultado final, e somente um envolvimento profundo faz com que oportunamente elementos não premeditados colaborem nesse processo. Por isso, Pandemonium foi montado como um caderno de experimentos e vivências que pode ser lido por inteiro ou folheado livremente. É uma pesquisa que leva em consideração as referências pessoais e os relatos do aprendizado teórico e prático de um estudante, designer e professor. Baseou-se nas oito fases do processo criativo descritos por Robert Keith Sawyer, que pesquisa a criatividade há mais de vinte anos. Essas fases constituem a estrutura da tese e visam a propiciar clareza e entendimento de todo o processo de criação, que não ocorre de maneira linear, e, portanto, as oito fases não acontecem necessariamente na ordem apresentada nesta tese. O processo criativo constitui-se conforme o projeto se desenvolve, havendo sempre desvios, erros, improvisações e surpresas que ajudam a construí-lo. / In John Milton\'s Paradise Lost, Pandemonium is the capital of hell, the place where demons have a board meeting in order to discuss their plans. It also means confusion, chaos, and commotion. Such a metaphor can be used to describe the creative process of a graphic designer, whose mind functions as an overflown cauldron filled with interconnected information in a complex network. Contrary to popular belief, ideas are not a result of divine inspiration or orderly and predictable thinking. They come to life due to repetitive practice, effort and experimentation, which are characteristics of the designer´s own repertoire. The purpose of this dissertation was to understand chance and experimentation inserted in the creative process of graphic design. This dissertation was based on the lines of a practical and theoretical research and consists of reflections from the bibliography on processes of design and creation, interviews with graphic designers and experiments that present, in practice, the design creation process, which is unique for each person, since it involves many aspects that will determine the final result. Thus, only deep involvement might eventually prove that unpremeditated elements collaborate in this process. Therefore, Pandemonium was organized as a notebook of experiments and experiences that can be read in full or leafed through freely. It is a research that takes the personal references and the reports of the theoretical and practical learning of a student, designer and professor into account. It was based on the eight stages of the creative process described by Robert Keith Sawyer, who has studied creativity for more than twenty years. These stages form the structure of the dissertation and aim to provide clarity and understanding of the whole creative process, which does not occur in a linear way; therefore, the eight stages do not necessarily happen in the order presented in this work. Creative process is formed along with project development as there are always deviations, mistakes, improvisations and surprises which promote its shape

El congestionamiento vehicular es el segundo problema más grande de los limeños, este se debe a que el sistema de transporte actual tiene algunas deficiencias. Sin embargo, existen sistemas vehiculares que han tenido más éxito, como es el caso del Sistema Metropolitano de Transporte de Lima (Metropolitano). No obstante, este también presenta algunos déficits, sobre todo, en la aplicación del Diseño Gráfico Ambiental que no permite que los usuarios se desenvuelvan correctamente en sus instalaciones. Por esa razón el objetivo del presente trabajo es identificar los principales problemas encontrados en el Metropolitano para poder crear una propuesta de solución basada en las herramientas que brinda el Diseño Gráfico Ambiental para comprobar si es que la implementación de Diseño Gráfico Ambiental, haciendo uso de sus elementos acompañados del uso de branding, códigos visuales, y un método de proyecto enfocado a diseño en el Sistema Metropolitano de Transporte de Lima puede mejorar la experiencia del usuario. Para el presente trabajo se realizó una investigación a nivel exploratorio y de enfoque cualitativo, ya que el objetivo era hallar las causas por las cuales los usuarios no logran conectar totalmente con las instalaciones del Metropolitano. La propuesta fue el replanteamiento del sistema de Diseño Gráfico Ambiental que va acompañado de una nueva identidad de marca. El resultado de los test fue en su mayoría positivo y por lo tanto se puede decir que la hipótesis presentada fue validada en el presente trabajo. / Traffic congestion is the second largest of the limeans problem, this is due to that the current transport system has some shortcomings. However, there are vehicular systems who have had more success, as it is the case of the Metropolitan system of transportation of Lima (Metropolitan). However, this also presents some deficits in its environmental design that not allows that users can manage is correctly in its facilities. Therefore, so the objective of the present study is to identify the main problems encountered in the system Metropolitan Transportation of Lima (Metropolitan) in order to create a proposal for a solution based on tools that provides design Environmental to thus be able to check if it is a good implementation of environmental graphic design, making use of its elements accompanied by the use of branding, Visual codes, and a method of project focused on design in the Metropolitan system of Transportation of Lima will allow that their user experience is improved. This study was an Experimental investigation level exploratory and qualitative approach, since the objective was to find the causes by which the users unable to connect completely with the metropolitan facilities. The proposal was the implementation of a system of environmental design that goes along with a new identity. The result of the test was mostly favourable so we can say that the hypothesis presented was validated in this study. / Trabajo de investigación

This study is concerned with representation. It considers the nature of a culturally located narrative form called talanoa and its creative translation into film. The film Talanoa: Matala ‘o e Fonua that constitutes the designed outcome of this project considers the memories of three Tongan women who left their homeland to settle in New Zealand between 1970’s and 1990’s. It is designed as three related garlands that exist as a related unit. Talanoa: Matala ‘o e Fonua is therefore, a creative synthesis of their talanoa, into a new form of documentary that is designed to capture the cultural and emotional resonance of their stories. The work orchestrates photography, animation, sound design, filmed footage and extensive postproduction research into a unique text that seeks to move the parameters of documentary beyond the visual interview. In doing so, the research draws heavily on Tongan paradigms of narrative and representation.