Graphic Research
MA Graphic Design Thesis 2008
We live in a society where we are constantly being told what to do. We are continuously bombarded with street signage, surveillance devices, spatial demarcations, awareness campaigns and a variety of other interventions - all with the intention to control our actions, movements and behaviour. This visual thesis aims to research and interrogate the effect these various interventions of deterrence have on their intended audience. For the purpose of this investigation, these interventions will be classified into five distinct typologies - signage, surveillance, spatial interventions, humour and campaigns that control. This series of visual mappings of the various typologies of control will provide a contextual overview of the micro and macro influences they impose on their target audience in today’s society. It is hoped that this series of investigations will remind graphic designers that their role as designer is more that of a graphic visualiser, and that there is often an alternative method to control one’s actions and decisions. Last but not least, this visual thesis hopes to serve as a critique to the society we live in.
