Senior Thesis: The Pitch

Michael Washington
Sep 8, 2018 · 3 min read
Senior Show Mood board By Michael Washington

Theme/Show Concept:

As a young child my mom would always tell me “Michael you see the world different never be ashamed you have a gift”. I have a learning disability an IEP in comprehension to be specific. I see numbers and letters totally different which drew me into the world of design. I fell in love with Environmental Graphic Design, maps help me feel confident to navigate through out all types of spaces. I am also inspired by Graffiti because it has the power to totally transformation whatever environment it’s in. In my humble opinion UI/UX design is the future of graphic design so I wanted show elements of UX/UI in my show. My senior show will in body my personally in design form. In my opinion design is about functionally then astatic so my show will display the power of Environmental Graphic Design, Product Design, Wayfinding, UX/UI, Computer Science working collaboratively together. My senior show can be marketed to other university’s to implement on their own campuses. I plan to not only change the astatic of the FPAC Building but to improve the other all function of the building as well, by not only helping students but guest and faculty members even people with disability’s such as hearing or even sight impaired. Having my degree in Media Marketing & Management at my previous university and completing my VCDMA and Advertising Design Degree my show will have a unique and diverse perspective.

Research: Though out my 2018 spring and summer I visited over 6 hospitals 2 airports and 3 casinos and 6 universities. My purpose going into all these different facilities was for research in development by taking photos and detailed notes on not only what worked good in the space but what didn’t work well. I determined that color and visibility played major part in the navigation throughout the different spaces. I also have done online research into a lot of environmental design firms such as Younts Design Inc that are based in here in Baltimore. Younts have done such projects like MICA’s bookstore building and signage and the Rhouse in Baltimore. I have visited both of these locations and got a lot inspiration from them. It was very important for me to not only look online for good way finding projects but to visit the spaces in person and truly experience them. I took a few surveys one Freshmen one Junior and three Seniors VCDMA majors and two faculty members that have experience the space. In Conclusion of these surveys I have collected some great feedback that I tailored my project around. My goal in this project is to help improve the other all function and aesthetic that helps the students, faculty members and guest experience and navigate through out the space better.

Budget: I believe my show will coast somewhere around $800 to $1,000. I will being making a monitor from scratch and writing the code on a raspberry phi 3 to display the content of the my show. The concept I created was $70 so the final product will be around $70 as well since I have just about all the elements. I will also be buying studio time at Openworks to help me fabricate signage that I’m developing. I have also factored in Paint, Tools, Printing services etc.

Promotion:I’m a coach a Bowie State so I have asked for permission to hang flyers for my show in the gym I can honestly say Since I have been going to Bowie State I haven’t seen any one put flyers for their senior show in the gym, also by using SocialMedia plat forms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. I still believe in the power that physical flyers so I have asked for my flyers to be hung in my local barbershop who is a family friend and a local soul food restaurant.

Michael Washington

Written by

Design inspires my creativity while Branding and Marketing fuels my life.

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