Self-Portrait Process Book

FIVE YEARS AT THE NEW SCHOOL

An Information Design process book by Emily Sappington Graduate Design Studio

Fall 2011

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Assignment The Subject The Content Sketches Past Influences Design Choices Design Progression Final Design Lessons Learned 3

INTRODUCTION

A SELFPORTRAIT Our assignment for Dan Boyarski’s Graduate Design Studio was to create a poster that served as a self-portrait. We would begin organizing information about our lives using methodologies presented from Richard Saul Wurman and Edward Tufte. Particularly, we used Wurman’s LATCH concept, otherwise known as the five hat racks. In my final design, I would eventautlly use from these: time, category, and hierarchy.

For my self-portrait I wanted to focus on something I spend a great deal of time explaining about myself, my undergraduate studies.

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L Location A Alphabetical T Time C Category H Hierarchy I had an unorthodox approach to collegiate studies in New York, with two degrees, and one interdisciplinary program which allowed me to take courses in various departments. Often in interviews I’ve spoken to certain coursework in my undergraduate studies, but never have I had a chance to explain everything I’ve done, all at once, until now.

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THE SUBJECT

FIVE YEARS AT A self-portrait is often more than a mere reflection of a person, but rather a narrative of one’s life-story. A human’s life experiences can never be encapsulated by one singular media; be it audio, visual, or some other embodiment, but one can convey vignettes which reveal aspects of a life-story.

That is precisely what this design piece intends to do; convey a small vignette of five years of my life. In New York I expanded all possible horizons, but the most significant would be related to my academic and professional pursuits at The New School University.

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THE CONTENT

At The New School I found a home, academically and socially. I toured twentytwo Colleges in high school, pressured to get a Liberal Arts degree but determined that I wanted to pursue a Fine Arts degree. I found the Dual Degree Program at the New School, nicknamed the “BAFA Program” and knew immediately that I had found the place for me. I have been choosing between my two passions: Psychology and Design since I was sixteen when my high school’s two Advanced Placement Drawing and Advanced Placement Psychology courses occurred at the same time. Though I knew I would someday have to choose a path, I wanted to maintain this duality in my life, and keep straddling the line between liberal arts and fine arts. The New School’s BAFA program allowed me to earn my Bachelors of the Arts in Psychology and my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Integrated

Design in only five years. The credits break down as follows:

90 credits

90 credits This unique program would allow me the freedom to indulge my interests in both fine arts and design, and history and psychology, all passions of mine. At Parsons I would choose my major to be the “Integrated Design Curriculum”, a selfguided program which allows students the freedom to choose courses in any Major at Parsons, as long as they could defend why they wanted to pursue such coursework. I took many courses within 7

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the Integrated Design Curriculum itself as this particular group of faculty specialized in a type of design which drew upon ethnographic research models.

account of my coursework offers a glimpse into who I am as a person.

Why focus on my coursework at The New School?

Diversity: My diversity of interests harmonize between several subjects.

This self-guided design program and the dual-degree program I enrolled in at The New School are entirely reflective of my personality, work ethic, independence, motivation and diversity of interests. I am not easily defined by one type of profession, nor do I have one singular passion.

My interests overlap and intersect but are in essence rooted in separate fields. I appreciate them equally but find my life and coursework has pulled me in particular directions professionally. Still, this web of my self-selected academic interests defines me in some small way. This

Influences: The ways that each of these disciplines taught me something and helped form me academically, professionally, and personally.

What themes did I want to convey?

Time: Not only the years I spent in this program, but which disciplines I was more or less invested in at given times.

Anecdotal: I wanted to work with words after having worked with numeric information graphics for so many years. The shared stories are small narratives that reveal various aspects of my personality.

SKETCHES

In sketches I attempted to give content that would be mostly based in words a graphic metaphor. I thought of each of these schools as having spheres of influence in my life, and thus a circular theme emerged. Before I even settled on the theme of academics at The New School, I played with circular graphs outside the usual radial graph or pie chart, with sketches such as the one included below.

The following spread of pages includes a sketch which would inspire my final direction for the poster. Building off of the concept of bouncing between spheres of influence at The New School. I encapsulated each Major and then chose to build my courses off of that. This sketch here shows a first attempt at mapping time and the connection between classes.

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authority leaves, the “teacher” subjects seem less willing to follow orders and a few drop out of the experiment.

Once the second authority figure leaves the room the percentage of “teachers” that remain in the experiment begins to decrease even more so. After both authority

coat breathing down their necks and encouraging them to go on. At this point some may hear the cries of protest from the “learner” and stop and a small few will continue with the experiment as they were told to do so, despite having no present authority.

took place. Often the obedient killers said they were “Just obeying authority”. So Stanley Milgram offered compensation for a psychological test on what he advertised as an experiment on learning. Volunteers were added to a pair, and each member of the pair would draw a role from a bag, either

“Learner” begins to protest the experiement and asks to be released

“Learner”. The “Learner” who was supposodly hooked up to an electrical shocking machine, would be shocked for every wrong answer.

As the “Learner” protested of pain, the “Authority” took note of how willing the “Teacher” was to continue the test or quit due to ethics.

means is that the two are close enough to touch one another.

The “learner” is also positioned by a metal plate which appears to shock him, and the “teacher” is asked by the authority to hold down the “learner’s” hand to the plate to ensure that he is shocked. In pervious Milgram Experiments the “learner” is

the “learner’s” facial expressions, hear his voice more clearly and overall see the person he is harming. This adds an element of human compassion that is lacking in other versions of the experiment.

orders when their authority figures themselves question the experiment and have a verbal debate about it’s ethics. In this experiment, it is apparent that when two members argue about whether or not to continue with an experiment, the person who is doing the shocking

defy obedience and has questioned the experiment already for him. This scenario is likened to the angel on one shoulder and devil on the other image in how it raises both the good and bad outcomes of a situation.

90%

80%

“Learner” begins to protest with agonizing screams One “Authority” begins prepared argument with the other “Authority” about whether or not to continue with the test.

100%

One authority leaves the room.

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Here the “teacher” had to both hear and see the “learner”being shocked as well as hold the “learner”’s hand to a metal shock plate.

60%

Four Versions of the Milgram Experiment and what it all means

Second authority leaves the room.

“Teacher” is now left alone to administer test

50%

40%

30%

International Results for Follow-Up Experiments Australia United Kingdom Jordan United States Austria Italy Germany

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40%

20%

50% 62% 62.5% 80%

1o%

85% 85%

Spain Holland

Results Shown by Percentage that Remained in the

90% 92%

Information Design poster on the Milgram Experiment

PAST INFLUENCES

In the past my information graphics were either rooted in psychology and quantitative statistical information, or were more “fluffy� imagery such as the word cloud to the right, which indicates some hierarchy but is difficulty to translate to a judgement of values. To me, a perfect marriage of graphics occurs when the two collide. An old Information Design poster to the left in essence achieves this harmony with data.

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DESIGN CHOICES Parsons To the left is the color scheme of the branding guides for The New School University, and to the right are the colors I chose for my poster.

Eugene Lang

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The New School branding guidelines

My “Five Years...� color palette

I wanted to keep the colors paired with the New School divisions they are attributed to, and yet still create a unique palette for this poster.

I chose a more muddied grey with some yellow and green in it because that is more how I remember The New School.

There were some stainless steel elements in the buildings at the school, but most were aged. A strong, worn, gray with a touch of natural decay on the horizon coated the buildings.

The reds are more muted because they represent Parsons in my poster, and in my opinion and many others’, Parsons is too often viewed as the focal point of The New School. Other divisions, such as Eugene Lang often get overlooked because of the great success that Parsons and its alumni have achieved, and thus

I felt it’s elements on this poster did not need to be the bright red shades that The New School’s branding uses. Rather, the red should hold and require the same attention of the viewer as the orange shades used in this poster.

The orange elements represent Eugene Lang college. The first tee-shirt I was given from The New School was a Eugene Lang shirt with shades not too dissimilar from these on a black cotton that quickly faded to charcoal. I felt that these orange colors could stand up to, and at times challenge the red colors I chose to represent Parsons.

In hindsight, I see how the underlying politics of a multi-College University pervade seemingly aesthetic design decisions.

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DESIGN PROGRESSION

The following four pages include the four iterations that this poster passed through before I arrived at my final design. A circular theme remained as I altered elements of a time line of courses, typographic organization, and size hierarchy.

Circle Hierarchy The scale of the circles, the only numeric measurement in the poster, indicates a hierarchy. Circle sizes were determined by the number of courses I took in a particular subject. So, with eight courses taken in Integrated Design, the circle for this Major is the size of eight single-course circles both width-wise and height-wise. Meaning that if you were to line up all of the courses I took in Digital Design, you could include eight in a row inside the circle for Integrated Design. The same principle holds true for Psychology, within which

I took sixteen courses, as indicated in a sketch from my notebook below.

2D Integrated Studio 2

Drawing Studio 1

Perspectives in World Art & Design 2

3D Body as Form Studio

2D Integrated Studio 1

Service Concepts

Drawing Studio 2

3D Studio 1

FOUNDATION

Service Concepts

Laboratory 2

Global Issues in Design Media & Representation

Laboratory 1

Design & Sustainability Invention

Drawing & Painting

Design(ing) Culture

Elective Painting

FINE ART Painting 2 Advertising & Marketing

Corporate Identity & Packaging Typography and Visual Design

COMMUNICATION DESIGN

Typography and Visual Design Information Design

ART HISTORY

Perspectives in World Art & Design 1

DESIGN & MANAGEMENT

Senior Seminar

INTEGRATED DESIGN

Design, Research & Development Models 1 Solid Works

PRODUCT DESIGN

Senior Seminar Portfolio Strategies

How Things Work Technical Rendering 1 DIGITAL DESIGN

2006

2007

Web Media 1

2011

2010

2009

2008

Health, Inequality & Development

GPIA URBAN STUDIES

Public Space & the City

Writing the Essay 1

Psychology of Ethnic Conflict Statistics with SPSS

WRITING

Writing the Essay 2

Dream Interpretation

PSYCHOLOGY

Fundamentals of Psychology Fundamentals of Social Psychology Theories of Personality Psychoanalyzing Greek & Roman Mythology Methods of Inquiry Culture, Ethnicity and Mental Health Research Practicum 1 Research Practicum 2: Senior Work Proposals

Cambodia Study Abroad Origins of Contemp Visual Culture

Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology Visual Perception & Cognition Research Practicum 3 Human Computer Interaction

HISTORY

New Berlin & Place of Memory The FDR Years Berlin’s Moderisms

Independent Senior Project

Design Draft 1

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Drawing & Painting Perspectives in World Art & Design 1

2D Integrated Studio 1

ART HISTORY

Laboratory 1

Elective Painting

FINE ART

Perspectives in World Art & Design 2

3D Studio 1

Painting 2

Portfolio Strategies

Drawing Studio 1

FOUNDATION

DESIGN & MANAGEMENT

Senior Seminar

2D Integrated Studio 2

Typography and Visual Design Corporate Identity & Packaging Typography and Visual Design

INTEGRATED DESIGN

Laboratory 2 Drawing Studio 2 3D Body as Form Studio

Web Media 1

Advertising & Marketing

DIGITAL DESIGN

COMMUNICATION DESIGN

Information Design Invention Service Concepts Global Issues in Design Media & Representation

2006

Design & Sustainability Design(ing) Culture Service Concepts

2007

Solid Works

Senior Seminar

PRODUCT DESIGN

How Things Work

GPIA Health, Inequality & Development

Design, Research & Development 2008

Technical Rendering 1 Models 1 2009

Psychology of Ethnic Conflict 2010

Statistics with SPSS Dream Interpretation

2011

Fundamentals of Psychology

URBAN STUDIES

Public Space & the City

Fundamentals of Social Psychology

PSYCHOLOGY

Theories of Personality Origins of Contemp Visual Culture Psychoanalyzing Greek & Roman Mythology Cambodia Study Abroad Methods of Inquiry

Berlin’s Moderisms

Culture, Ethnicity and Mental Health

HISTORY

Research Practicum 1

The FDR Years

Research Practicum 2: Senior Work Proposals Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology

New Berlin & Place of Memory

Visual Perception & Cognition Research Practicum 3

Writing the Essay 1

WRITING

Writing the Essay 2

Human Computer Interaction Independent Senior Project

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Design Draft 2

Laboratory 1

HISTORY

ART

My professor provided me with a knowledge of local

3D Studio 1 Drawing Studio 1

FOUNDATION

Senior Seminar Portfolio Strategies

I didn’t want to leave Parsons without a series of oil paintings, so in my senior year I took two painting courses as a way t to de-stress while working on two thesis projects.

2D Integrated Studio 2

Typography and Visual Design

2D Integrated Studio 1

Corporate Identity & Packaging

Laboratory 2

Typography and Visual Design

Drawing Studio 2

Advertising & Marketing

Invention Service Concepts Global Issues in Design

I learned the basics of Flash and Action Scripting.

Web Media 1

COMMUNICATION DESIGN

Information Design

INTEGRATED DESIGN 2006

unique resume.

calms me down in times of stress, and now I resume it whenever I feel the need to be creative

DIGITAL DESIGN

Media & Representation

I’d later use these skills in my Independent Study, and even later in Grad school.

Design & Sustainability Design(ing) Culture Service Concepts Senior Seminar

2007

I originally thought I wanted to be a product designer, but after taking some courses I decided my strengths could be better applied in other disciplines. I did not like having to choose materials and measure.

Solid Works

GPIA Health, Inequality & Development

PRODUCT DESIGN

How Things Work Design, Research & Development 2008

Technical Rendering 1 Models 1 2009

These courses did provide me with an appreciation for form though, and often I consider the tactical approach when investigating design solutions. Packaging concepts were also improved by what I learned in these courses. I learned a godo deal about user testing and interviewing from Design, Research & Development and gained a perspective of the design process.

Psychology of Ethnic Conflict 2010

Statistics with SPSS Dream Interpretation Fundamentals of Psychology

PSYCHOLOGY

I spent hours obersving people and doing ethonographic research in New York City for this course.

It lead me to appreciate observational research of a City.

URBAN STUDIES

Fundamentals of Social Psychology Theories of Personality Psychoanalyzing Greek & Roman Mythology

2011

Public Space & the City A project on corporate funding for private spaces caused me to have an interest in designing for public use, in public environments. I realized that those who design for public spaces serve a community of people, working essentially for a greater good.

In “Origins” I learned of classic film and artists which defined the progression of art and design. I feel enriched for knowing this

Origins of Contemp Visual Culture Cambodia Study Abroad

Culture, Ethnicity and Mental Health Research Practicum 1 Research Practicum 2: Senior Work Proposals Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology

Berlin’s Moderisms

HISTORY

The FDR Years In Cambodia my perspective on the US involvement in Viet Nam was turned upsidown.

Not only did I learn of a history that I never would have otherwise, but it changed my view of truth and exposure to history. In Berlin I gained an appreciation for memorializing history and how impactful deisgn can be as a place of learning, mourning, and memorializing. I learned that I’d love to live in Europ, and in Cambodia that I love to travel to Asia. I found Angkor Wat to

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This course was my first at Parsons and my teacher made me believe I’d pass.

I spent hours roaming the Metropolitan Museum of art for these courses, which I grew to love.

I gained an appreciation for ancient art history and now can find my ways around the ancient art galleries knowing exactly where the Byzantene and later the Medieval art lives in this massive museum.

In my “Foundation Year” at Parsons, I learned that sometimes repetition can be extremely constructive. We would draw for hours and hours, creating work off of the same still life or model pose and sometimes by the 20th drawing, a perfect composition would appear. It was this act of struggling through a process that fostered an endurance in me as an artist and designer.

ART HISTORY

3D Body as Form Studio Laboratory 1 3D Studio 1

Perspectives in World Art & Design 1

Elective Painting

FINE ART

My professor was a practicing artist in New York, and he provided me with a knowledge of the local art scene. It is because of this introduction to New York that I began visiting gallery openings around the City, something I still enjoy every Thursday I’m back in the City for.

Painting 2

Laboratory 2

2006 In the Graduade Program in Internation Affairs I met the most brave, conscious, and well-traveled students I had ever encountered. These students inspired me to be equally confident in traveling to the Third World.

GPIA

Health, Inequality & Development

I’d later use these skills in my Independent Study, and even later in Grad school.

The other students gave me a “just make it happen” perspective with my projects.

Typography and Visual Design

In IDC, the Integrated Design Program, I found my home and my major.

The curricilum encouraged creativity and research, something I valued in both of my degrees. It is because of this school at Parsons that I discovered Service Design and then Interaction Design. I loved my projects in Service Design and felt that my Psychology background was finally being applied for ethical reasons, and not just in my advertising courses. The teachers encouraged an my psychological approach to research but also taught me the basics of ethonographic research methods.

Corporate Identity & Packaging

Drawing Studio 2

Web Media 1

Portfolio Strategies

I learned I sincerely enjoy advertising in terms of solving problems visually and with copywriting, however I’m not sure I could make it a career forever.

2D Integrated Studio 1

In this class I learned the basics of Flash and Action Scripting.

Senior Seminar

I didn’t want to leave Parsons without a series of oil paintings, and working with painters such as David Mann helped me improve a great deal.

2D Integrated Studio 2

One particular project forced me to get very comfortable with New York City very quickly. We were given chalk, an adjective, and a particular neighborhood in New York. We were to talk the chalk and make street art, not graffiti as the chalk would wash off, but something that engaged the pedestrians around with their physical environment. I was assigned Chinatown. This is arguably the most smelly, corwded neighborhood in Manhattan, with fish markets, small turtles, snails and other live creatures for sale right on the sidewalk. In addition, thousands of tourists grace the streets every day, and stopping to look around, let alow sitting down to draw, is a challenge.

Regadless, I got down on my hands and keens and drew on the dirty Chinatown pavement for hours.

DESIGN & MANAGEMENT

Drawing & Painting

Perspectives in World Art & Design 2

Drawing Studio 1

FOUNDATION

Design and management students gave me a fresh perspective on my thesis and encouraged me to think of a 360 approach to marketing the product towards all types of users. Similarly, a recruiter helped me polish a graduate admissions essay and create a unique resume.

I found that painting calms me down in times of stress, and now I resume it whenever I feel the need to be creative in a more physical way than design on the computer. I took painting courses durig my thesis year for this exact reason.

Typography and Visual Design Advertising & Marketing

INTEGRATED DESIGN

Information Design These courses in Communication Design gave me the foundation for making posters, ads, and all other two-dimensional, graphical pieces that communicate effectively. I learned the basics of color, composition and type.

COMMUNICATION DESIGN

Invention Service Concepts Global Issues in Design Media & Representation

DIGITAL DESIGN

Design & Sustainability Design(ing) Culture Service Concepts Senior Seminar These courses in the Integrated Design Curricilum allowed me the chance to meet faculty with backgrounds in Philosophy, Anthropology, Ethnographic Research, Service Design, and New Media Design, which gave me a diverse perspective on what design could be. These faculty would be helpful in advising me towards which fields of design would most benefit from my particularly diverse and acedemic skill set.

2007

I learned of problems that are “too wicked” to be solved by simple design. Directly after this course I volunteered abroad in Cambodia and witnessed such struggling systems first-hand while trying to offer what little help I could.

I originally thought I wanted to be a product designer, but after taking some courses I decided my strengths could be better applied in other disciplines. I did not like having to choose materials and measure.

Solid Works How Things Work Design, Research & Development Technical Rendering 1 Models 1

2008

The Fundamentals courses I took gave me a basic understanding of Psychology, and monumental studies and findings that I would continue to draw on years after these courses. Psychoanalysis was alsways an interest of mine, but it was more of a hobby than a career in my mind. I enjoy reading Freud and Jung but in the same way I enjoy painting, as a recreational break form the more intense practices of design and research. Conducting experiments and other sorts of research in my Research Practicum courses, alongside Masters and PhD students, proved to be the most stimulating environment for me. Conversations on cognitive neuroscience, theories of treatment for autism and experiments involving eye-tracking elevated my understanding of human behavior. While I knew I didn’t want to be a therapist, I debated becoming a Human Factors Psychologist, after a course in Human Computer Interaction. I decided I couldn’t do only psychological research and abandon the creative process, though, and thus I am a designer today. I owe everything I know about research to my Methods of Inquiry course, for it provided me with a foundation of approaching all psychological and design research in the future.

2009

Psychology of Ethnic Conflict Statistics with SPSS Dream Interpretation

PSYCHOLOGY

Fundamentals of Psychology

PRODUCT DESIGN

These courses did provide me with an appreciation for form though, and often I consider a tactical approach when investigating design solutions because of my time spent in Product Design.

Packaging concepts in Communication Design were improved by what I learned of form and material manipulation. I learned a good deal about user testing and interviewing from Design, Research & Development and gained a perspective of the design process. This was by far the most difficult course, however it taught me to work with all types of groups.

2010 A project on corporate funding for private spaces caused me to have an interest in designing for public use, in public environments. I realized that those who design for public spaces serve a community of people, working essentially for a greater good.

URBAN STUDIES

2011

Public Space & the City

I spent hours obersving people and doing ethonographic research in New York City for this course. It lead me to appreciate observational research of a City.

Fundamentals of Social Psychology Theories of Personality Psychoanalyzing Greek & Roman Mythology Culture, Ethnicity and Mental Health

In “Origins of Contemporary Visual Culture” I learned of classic film and artists which defined the progression of art and design. I feel enriched for knowing so much about the history of my field, and the way it shaped the World.

Origins of Contemporary Visual Culture New Berlin & Place of Memory Cambodia Study Abroad

Research Practicum 1 Research Practicum 2: Senior Work Proposals Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology Visual Perception & Cognition Research Practicum 3 Human Computer Interaction

Berlin’s Moderisms

HISTORY

The FDR Years

In Cambodia my perspective on the US involvement in Viet Nam was turned upsidown.

Not only did I learn of a history that I never would have otherwise, but it changed my view of truth and exposure to history.

In Berlin I gained an appreciation for memorializing history and how impactful deisgn can be as a place of learning, mourning, and memorializing. I learned that I’d love to live in Europe, and in Cambodia that I love to travel to around Asia.

Independent Senior Project Methods of Inquiry For two and a half years I studied with one particular Psychology Professor, Dr. Marcel Kinsbourne, who allowed to to meld my two fields of study; psychology and design. As a result I spent my time in the Psychology department designing experiment rooms, assisting the design of media presentations for other students’ experiments. I also used Adobe Flash to animate a transition of words and audio for an experiment on the Redundancy Principle with near significant findings. This professor also advised me and a Parsons professor I ran the first dual-school experiment on Human-Computer Interaction. I tested the significance an interface agent has on users who are frustrated and attempting to persist with an impossible task. Doing all of these experiments enabled me to look at a variety of types of data and analyze them in means of eye-tracking, statistical analysis, and qualitatively.

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The rate at which I wrote and completed pepers in this course caused me to start and efficiency finish papers expediently in the future.

Writing the Essay 1 Writing the Essay 2

WRITING

Learning to write at a Liberal Arts school, I found, prepared me to be a better writer than those who only learned to write at Design School.

Design Draft 4

to look around, let alow sitting down to draw, is a challenge.

Regadless, I got down on my hands and keens and drew on the dirty Chinatown pavement for hours as people walked by, pointed and took photos.

In this class I learned the basics of Flash and Action Scripting.

Web Media 1

2006

DIGITAL DESIGN

FINAL DESIGN

In the Graduade Program in Internation Affairs I met the most brave, conscious, and well-traveled students I had ever encountered. These students inspired me to be equally confident in traveling the World.

GPIA

I’d later use these skills in my Independent Study, and even later in Grad school.

Health, Inequality & Development

2007

I learned of problems that are “too wicked” to be solved by simple design. Directly after this course I volunteered abroad in Cambodia and witnessed such struggling systems first-hand while trying to offer what little help I could.

INTEGRATED DESIGN

comp ne

psychological approach to research but also taught me the basics of ethonographic research methodology.

FIVE Y Invention

Service Concepts

Global Issues in Design

Media & Representation

Design & Sustainability

Design(ing) Culture

Service Concepts

Senior Seminar

These courses in the Integrated Design Curricilum allowed me the chance to meet faculty with backgrounds in Philosophy, Anthropology, Ethnographic Research, Service Design, and New Media Design, which gave me a diverse perspective on what design could be. These faculty would be helpful in advising me towards which fields of design would most benefit from my particularly diverse and acedemic skill set.

want designer, b courses I decided could be better applied i disciplines. I did not like havin materials and measure. I did, howeve learning Solid Works and how things are ma

Solid Work

How Things Work

Design, Research & Development Technical Rendering 1

Models 1

2008

The final design of this poster includes negative space which provides breathing room in between large chunks of text.

The text is grouped in egg-like shapes surrounding Majors at The New School.

The title of the poster is at the top, bold and straightforward, contrasting the organically shaped text boxes below.

The Psychology Fundamentals courses I took gave me a basic understanding of Psychology, and monumental studies and findings that I would continue to draw on years after these courses. Psychoanalysis was alsways an interest of mine, but it was more of a hobby than a career in my mind. I enjoy reading Freud and Jung but in the same way I enjoy painting, as a recreational break form the more intense practices of design and research.

Conducting experiments and other sorts of research in my Research Practicum courses, alongside Masters and PhD students, proved to be the most stimulating environment for me.

Conversations on cognitive neuroscience, theories of treatment for autism and experiments involving eye-tracking elevated my understanding of human behavior. While I knew I didn’t want to be a therapist, I debated becoming a Human Factors Psychologist, after a course in Human Computer Interaction. I decided I couldn’t do only psychological research and abandon the creative process, though, and thus I am still a designer today. I owe everything I know about research to my Methods of Inquiry course, for it provided me with a foundation of approaching all psychological and design research in the future.

2009

Psychology of Ethnic Conflict Statistics with SPSS Dream Interpretation

PSYCHOLOGY As shown in the image to the bottom right of this page, favorite courses are indicated with a star. This recognizable iconography indicates which courses I found to have the most impact on me.

The stars serve as jumping-off point for conversation regarding why these particular courses served my interests so well.

Helvetica Neue is used as the sole typeface for this poster, for it’s clean and contemporary aesthetic.

Fundamentals of Psychology

These courses provided me with an appreciation for form, and o consider a tactile approach when investigating design solutio because of my time spent in Product Design. Packaging concepts in Communication Design were improved b I learned of form and material manipulation. I le good deal about user testing and intervie Design, Research & Development an perspective of the design pro by far the most difficult taught me to w gr

2010

proj private space designing for pub that those who of people, w

URBAN STUDIES

Publ

I spent h ethonograp course. It lea research of a C

Fundamentals of Social Psychology Theories of Personality Psychoanalyzing Greek & Roman Mythology

knowin

Ori

Culture, Ethnicity and Mental Health Research Practicum 1 Research Practicum 2: Senior Work Proposals Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology Visual Perception & Cognition

Research Practicum 3 Human Computer Interaction Independent Senior Project Methods of Inquiry For two and a half years I studied with one particular Psychology Professor, Dr. Marcel Kinsbourne, who allowed to to meld my two fields of study; psychology and design. As a result I spent my time in the Psychology department designing experiment rooms, assisting the design of media presentations for other students’ experiments. I also used Adobe Flash to animate a transition of words and audio for an experiment on the Redundancy Principle with near significant findings. This professor also advised me and a Parsons professor as I ran a dual-school experiment on Human-Computer Interaction. I tested the significance an interface agent has on users who are frustrated and attempting to persist with an impossible task. Doing all of these experiments enabled me to look at a variety of types of data and analyze them in means of

HIST

students, proved to be the most stimulating environment for me.

Conversations on cognitive neuroscience, theories of treatment for autism and experiments involving eye-tracking elevated my understanding of human behavior. While I knew I didn’t want to be a therapist, I debated becoming a Human Factors Psychologist, after a course in Human Computer Interaction. I decided I couldn’t do only psychological research and abandon the creative process, though, and thus I am still a designer today. I owe everything I know about research to my Methods of Inquiry course, for it provided me with a foundation of approaching all psychological and design research in the future.

Psychology of Ethnic Conflict Statistics with SPSS

2010 In my “Foundation Year” at Parsons, I learned that sometimes repetition A can be extremely constructive. We would draw for hours project on corporate funding for spaces caused me to have an interest in and hours, creating work off of the same still life orprivate model pose designing for public use, in public environments. I realized and sometimes by the 20th drawing, a perfectthat composition those who design for public spaces serve a community would appear. It was this act of struggling through a working process that for a greater good. of people, essentially fostered an endurance in me as an artist and designer.

URBAN STUDIES

Fundamentals of Psychology

Laboratory 1

Fundamentals of Social Psychology

I spent hours obersving people and doing ethonographic research in New York City for this course. It lead me to appreciate observational research of a City.

3D Studio 1

Theories of Personality

In “Origins of Contemporary Visual Culture” I learned of classic film and artists which defined the progression of art and design. I feel enriched for knowing so much about the history of my field, and the way it shaped the World.

Culture, Ethnicity and Mental Health

FOUNDATION Research Practicum 1

Research Practicum 2: Senior Work Proposals

Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology

2D Integrated Studio 1 Laboratory 2

The egg-like shapes encapsulate Major names and course names as well as anecdotal stories about the courses.

These stories may be brief, indicating what I learned or which skills I gained that I still use, or may be longer stories of particular instances in a class. The content ranges from mentioning my first encounters with Action Script, a brief 200to 6 story of an assignment to draw with chalk on the sidewalk in Chinatown.

For two and a half years I studied with one particular Psychology Professor, Dr. Marcel Kinsbourne, who allowed to to meld my two fields of study; psychology and design. As a result I spent my time in the Psychology department designing experiment rooms, assisting the design of media presentations for other students’ experiments. I also used Adobe Flash to animate a transition of words and audio for an experiment on the Redundancy Principle with near significant findings. This professor also advised me and a Parsons professor as I ran a dual-school experiment on Human-Computer Interaction. I tested the significance an interface agent has on users who are frustrated and attempting to persist with an impossible task. Doing all of these experiments enabled me to look at a variety of types of data and analyze them in means of eye-tracking, statistical analysis, and qualitatively.

In the Graduade Program in Internation Affairs I met the most brave, conscious, and well-traveled students I had ever encountered. These students inspired me to be equally confident in traveling the World.

My professor was a practicing artist in New Yo with an introcutin to the local art scene. It is suggestions for how to get into the art scene in York that I began visiting gallery openings around the City, something I still enjoy every Thursday.

Cambodia Study Abroad

HISTORY

Drawing Studio 2

Berlin’s Moderisms The FDR Years

In Cambodia my perspective on the US involvement in Viet Nam was turned upsidown.

Not only did I learn of a history that I never would have otherwise, but it changed my view of truth and exposure to history.

In Berlin I gained an appreciation for memorializing history and how impactful deisgn can be as a place of learning, mourning, and memorializing. I learned that I’d love to live in Europe, and in Cambodia that I love to travel to around Asia.

One particular project forced me to get very comfortable with New York City very quickly. We were given chalk, an adjective, and a particular neighborhood in New York. We were to take the chalk and make street art, not graffiti as the chalk would wash off, but something that engaged the pedestrians around with their physical environment. I was assigned Chinatown. This is The arguably the most smelly, crowded rate at which I wrote neighborhood in Manhattan, with and completed pepers in this course caused me to start fish markets, small turtles, snails and efficiency finish papers and other live creatures for sale expediently in the future. right on the sidewalk. In addition, thousands of tourists grace the streets every day, and stopping to look around, let alow sitting down to draw, is a challenge.

Regadless, I got down on my Learning to write at a Liberal Arts school, I hands and keens and drew found, prepared me to be a better writer than on the dirty Chinatown those who only learned to write at Design School. pavement for hours as people walked by, pointed and took photos.

Human Computer Interaction Independent Senior Project

Perspectives in World

2D Integrated Studio New 2 Berlin & Place of Memory

Visual Perception & Cognition

Methods of Inquiry

Perspectives in World

Drawing Studio 1 of Contemporary Visual Culture Origins

Psychoanalyzing Greek & Roman Mythology

Research Practicum 3

ART HISTORY

Public Space & the City

3D Body as Form Studio

Dream Interpretation

PSYCHOLOGY

2011

I spent hours roaming the Metropolitan Museum of Art for these courses, which I grew to love. I gained an appreciation for ancient art history and now can find my ways around the ancient art galleries knowing e where the Byzantene and the Medieval art lives in this museum.

Inequality Development The timeline diagonally divides the &two GPIA Health, schools, Parsons and Eugene Lang, in the center of the page. Squares that coordinate with each Major indicate the number of courses I took in a particular subject at a given semester. With this design, viewers can see how my balancing act between the two schools shifted over the years, at times weighing heavily on one Major or New School division.

INTEGRA DESIG

Writing the Essay 1

Writing the Essay 2

In this class I learned the basics of Flash and Action Scripting.

Web Media 1 I’d later use these skills in my Independent Study, and even later in Grad school.

WRITING

DIGITAL DESIGN

2007

Et Media Design, which gave me a diverse per faculty would be helpful in advising me towa most benefit from my particularly divers

I learned of problems that are “too wicked” to be solved by simple design. Directly after this course I volunteered abroad in Cambodia and witnessed such struggling systems first-hand while trying to offer what little help I could.

2008

The Psychology Fundamentals courses I took gave me a basic understanding of Psychology, and monumental studies and findings that I would continue to draw on years after these courses. Psychoanalysis was alsways an interest of mine, but it was more of a hobby career in my mind. I enjoy reading Freud a in the same way I enjoy painting, as a rec form the more intense practices of desi Conducting experiments and other so Research Practicum courses, along students, proved to be the most s Conversations on cognitive neur autism and experiments involv understanding of human be therapist, I debated becom course in Human Comput psychological research a

FIVE YEARS AT THE NEW SCHOOL Emily Sappington

Graduate Design 1 October 2011

This course was my first at Parsons and my teacher made me believe I’d pass.

I spent hours roaming the Metropolitan Museum of Art for these courses, which I grew to love. I gained an appreciation for ancient art history and now can find my ways around the ancient art galleries knowing exactly where the Byzantene and the Medieval art lives in this massive museum.

In my “Foundation Year” at Parsons, I learned that sometimes repetition can be extremely constructive. We would draw for hours and hours, creating work off of the same still life or model pose and sometimes by the 20th drawing, a perfect composition would appear. It was this act of struggling through a process that fostered an endurance in me as an artist and designer.

ART HISTORY

3D Body as Form Studio Laboratory 1 3D Studio 1

Perspectives in World Art & Design 1

Elective Painting

FINE ART

My professor was a practicing artist in New York, and he provided me with an introcutin to the local art scene. It is because of his suggestions for how to get into the art scene in New York that I began visiting gallery openings around the City, something I still enjoy every Thursday.

Painting 2

Laboratory 2

2006 In the Graduade Program in Internation Affairs I met the most brave, conscious, and well-traveled students I had ever encountered. These students inspired me to be equally confident in traveling the World.

GPIA

Health, Inequality & Development

I’d later use these skills in my Independent Study, and even later in Grad school.

The other students gave me a “just make it happen” perspective with my projects.

Typography and Visual Design

In IDC, the Integrated Design Program, I found my home and my major.

The curricilum encouraged creativity and research, something I valued in both of my degrees. It is because of this school at Parsons that I discovered Service Design and then Interaction Design. I loved my projects in Service Design and felt that my Psychology background was finally being applied for ethical reasons, and not just in my advertising courses. The teachers encouraged my psychological approach to research but also taught me the basics of ethonographic research methodology.

Corporate Identity & Packaging

Drawing Studio 2

In this class I learned the basics of Flash and Action Scripting.

Portfolio Strategies

I learned I sincerely enjoy advertising in terms of solving problems visually and with copywriting, however I’m not sure I could make it a career forever.

2D Integrated Studio 1

Web Media 1

Senior Seminar

I didn’t want to leave Parsons without a series of oil paintings, and working with painters such as David Mann helped me improve a lot.

2D Integrated Studio 2

One particular project forced me to get very comfortable with New York City very quickly. We were given chalk, an adjective, and a particular neighborhood in New York. We were to take the chalk and make street art, not graffiti as the chalk would wash off, but something that engaged the pedestrians around with their physical environment. I was assigned Chinatown. This is arguably the most smelly, crowded neighborhood in Manhattan, with fish markets, small turtles, snails and other live creatures for sale right on the sidewalk. In addition, thousands of tourists grace the streets every day, and stopping to look around, let alow sitting down to draw, is a challenge.

Regadless, I got down on my hands and keens and drew on the dirty Chinatown pavement for hours as people walked by, pointed and took photos.

DESIGN & MANAGEMENT

Drawing & Painting

Perspectives in World Art & Design 2

Drawing Studio 1

FOUNDATION

Design and management students gave me a fresh perspective on my thesis and encouraged me to think of a 360 approach to marketing the product towards all types of users.

Similarly, a recruiter helped me polish a graduate admissions essay and create a unique resume.

I found that painting calms me down in times of stress, and now I resume it whenever I feel the need to be creative in a more physical way than design on the computer. I took painting courses durig my thesis year for this exact reason.

Typography and Visual Design

INTEGRATED DESIGN

Advertising & Marketing Information Design These courses in Communication Design gave me the foundation for making posters, ads, and all other two-dimensional, graphical pieces that communicate effectively. I learned the basics of color, composition, negative space and type.

COMMUNICATION DESIGN

Invention Service Concepts Global Issues in Design Media & Representation

DIGITAL DESIGN

Design & Sustainability Design(ing) Culture Service Concepts Senior Seminar These courses in the Integrated Design Curricilum allowed me the chance to meet faculty with backgrounds in Philosophy, Anthropology, Ethnographic Research, Service Design, and New Media Design, which gave me a diverse perspective on what design could be. These faculty would be helpful in advising me towards which fields of design would most benefit from my particularly diverse and acedemic skill set.

2007

I learned of problems that are “too wicked” to be solved by simple design. Directly after this course I volunteered abroad in Cambodia and witnessed such struggling systems first-hand while trying to offer what little help I could.

I originally thought I wanted to be a product designer, but after taking some courses I decided my strengths could be better applied in other disciplines. I did not like having to choose materials and measure. I did, however, enjoy learning Solid Works and how things are made.

Solid Works How Things Work

PRODUCT DESIGN

Design, Research & Development Technical Rendering 1 Models 1

2008

The Psychology Fundamentals courses I took gave me a basic understanding of Psychology, and monumental studies and findings that I would continue to draw on years after these courses. Psychoanalysis was alsways an interest of mine, but it was more of a hobby than a career in my mind. I enjoy reading Freud and Jung but in the same way I enjoy painting, as a recreational break form the more intense practices of design and research.

Conducting experiments and other sorts of research in my Research Practicum courses, alongside Masters and PhD students, proved to be the most stimulating environment for me.

Conversations on cognitive neuroscience, theories of treatment for autism and experiments involving eye-tracking elevated my understanding of human behavior. While I knew I didn’t want to be a therapist, I debated becoming a Human Factors Psychologist, after a course in Human Computer Interaction. I decided I couldn’t do only psychological research and abandon the creative process, though, and thus I am still a designer today. I owe everything I know about research to my Methods of Inquiry course, for it provided me with a foundation of approaching all psychological and design research in the future.

2009

Psychology of Ethnic Conflict Statistics with SPSS Dream Interpretation

PSYCHOLOGY

Fundamentals of Psychology

These courses provided me with an appreciation for form, and often I consider a tactile approach when investigating design solutions because of my time spent in Product Design. Packaging concepts in Communication Design were improved by what I learned of form and material manipulation. I learned a good deal about user testing and interviewing from Design, Research & Development and gained a perspective of the design process. This was by far the most difficult course, however it taught me to work with all types of groups.

2010 A project on corporate funding for private spaces caused me to have an interest in designing for public use, in public environments. I realized that those who design for public spaces serve a community of people, working essentially for a greater good.

URBAN STUDIES

2011

Public Space & the City

I spent hours obersving people and doing ethonographic research in New York City for this course. It lead me to appreciate observational research of a City.

Fundamentals of Social Psychology Theories of Personality Psychoanalyzing Greek & Roman Mythology Culture, Ethnicity and Mental Health

In “Origins of Contemporary Visual Culture” I learned of classic film and artists which defined the progression of art and design. I feel enriched for knowing so much about the history of my field, and the way it shaped the World.

Origins of Contemporary Visual Culture New Berlin & Place of Memory Cambodia Study Abroad

Research Practicum 1 Research Practicum 2: Senior Work Proposals Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology Visual Perception & Cognition Research Practicum 3 Human Computer Interaction

Berlin’s Moderisms

HISTORY

The FDR Years

In Cambodia my perspective on the US involvement in Viet Nam was turned upsidown.

Not only did I learn of a history that I never would have otherwise, but it changed my view of truth and exposure to history.

In Berlin I gained an appreciation for memorializing history and how impactful deisgn can be as a place of learning, mourning, and memorializing. I learned that I’d love to live in Europe, and in Cambodia that I love to travel to around Asia.

Independent Senior Project Methods of Inquiry For two and a half years I studied with one particular Psychology Professor, Dr. Marcel Kinsbourne, who allowed to to meld my two fields of study; psychology and design. As a result I spent my time in the Psychology department designing experiment rooms, assisting the design of media presentations for other students’ experiments. I also used Adobe Flash to animate a transition of words and audio for an experiment on the Redundancy Principle with near significant findings. This professor also advised me and a Parsons professor as I ran a dual-school experiment on Human-Computer Interaction. I tested the significance an interface agent has on users who are frustrated and attempting to persist with an impossible task. Doing all of these experiments enabled me to look at a variety of types of data and analyze them in means of eye-tracking, statistical analysis, and qualitatively.

The rate at which I wrote and completed pepers in this course caused me to start and efficiency finish papers expediently in the future.

Writing the Essay 1 Writing the Essay 2

WRITING

Learning to write at a Liberal Arts school, I found, prepared me to be a better writer than those who only learned to write at Design School.

23

LESSONS LEARNED

This poster is by far the most unique way I have displayed a narrative. In the past, my Information Design pieces have been strictly based in numbers, or have included words without much in the way of real measurable elements, or even much of a story. This poster employs its circular and egg-like shapes to convey numeric hierarchy at first-glance. It also allows for the reader with more time to step closer and read a short narrative about my time at The New School University. The organic linkage of how the shapes fit around one another on the page to me is reflective of the unique nature of my education. These spheres of influence map themselves in a similar way in my brain, in terms of my hierarchy of personal interests, hobbies and professional pursuits.

Finally, the poster is indicative of me: diverse in interests, at times disjointed, yet 24

overall fit-together harmoniously. I view “My Five Years at The New School� as just as much an information piece about my coursework, favorite subjects, and classes, as it is a reflection of my selfguided interests and personality.