As a practicing interaction design professional in hi-tech industry, my
insight is a bit biased towards practical matters, however I would presume
the following to constitute the minimum benchmark for a master's level
thesis for graphic design (or any design field, for that matter):
a) Project should demonstrate:
1. Mastery of visual (and where appropriate, behavioral) design fundamentals
(form, space, content, type, color, grids, etc.) with a sense of craft
2. Ambition of applying design process to solving relevant, meaningful, and
yes difficult problems (ie, not just a website or poster) of social
communication or personal expression
3. Innovative quality of method, form, or thought or expression
b) Paper should represent:
1. Critical and logical thinking of design issues of a social, pragmatic,
and/or intellectual value
2. Synthesis of knowledge from disparate domains and formats
3. Forming novel and compelling connections, or themes, whose value can be
translated into a possible design method, project, principle, etc. that may
be leveraged by someone else or can be easily transposed into another form
digestible by practical designers (as opposed to unique and original deep
inquiry typically associated with doctoral studies)
4. Clear, effective, concise verbal communication
Every one of these attributes I listed (paper and project) are the basics of
what's needed for successful design professionals who aspire towards
leadership roles in the field, senior roles, bigger salaries, challenging
projects, career advancement, etc. As well as being mindful of the rapid
evolution of the field with design thinking seeping into boardrooms and IT
centers and policy meetings almost daily. But designers who can create
stunning work AND can describe it eloquently while illuminating profound
issues can take the lead at those meetings.
The big caveat, of course, is that both paper and project should be
carefully scoped down to be doable in a year or less :-) It's not the "holy
grail" mission for a student, but simply a key milestone that shows she is
ready for professional design work at the leadership levels of practice,
serving as a senior or principal role...or passionate and prepared enough to
continue on to the heavy lifting of doctoral work.
Hope this is useful...Regards,
Uday Gajendar
menlo park, ca
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