ex perience

ex perience Thesis

Jose Chavero Rivera Master of Fine Arts Graphic Design School of Art Katherine G. McGovern College of the Arts University of Houston 2020

ex perience Thesis

Jose Chavero Rivera Master of Fine Arts Graphic Design School of Art Katherine G. McGovern College of the Arts University of Houston 2020

Thesis Committee Sibylle Hagmann Professor of Graphic Design Cheryl Beckett Program Coordinator, Associate Professor of Graphic Design Beckham Dossett Associate Dean, Associate Professor of Graphic Design Yoon Kim Assistant Professor Fiona McGettigan Associate Professor of Graphic Design Luisa Orto Lecturer Joshua Unikel Assistant Professor

Submitted to the faculty of the School of Art at the University of Houston in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements for Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design.

Book design, projects, and photographs by Jose Chavero Rivera. Š 2020

Table of Contents

14

Introduction & Justification

16

Antecedents & Precedents

22

Problem Statement

28

Process & Methodologies

40

Conclusion

43

Bibliography

06

07

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I would like to thank God Almighty for giving me the strength, knowledge, ability and opportunity to undertake this research study and to persevere and complete it satisfactorily. Without his blessings, this achievement would not have been possible.

I am grateful for a number of friends and professors in encouraging me to start the work, persevere with it, and finally publish it.

In Graphic Design, I thank Cheryl Beckett, Beckham Dossett, Sibylle Hagmann, Yoon Kim, Fiona McGettigan, and Joshua Unikel for academic support.

In Art History, I thank Luisa Orto for academic support and friendship.

In MFAGD Studio I am grateful to my cohorts, especially Jinyong Choi, Claire Elestwani, Amira Maruf, Hibah Osman, and Maryam Soltani, all of whom never stopped challenging me, and helping me develop my ideas.

A special word of gratitude is due to Speech Therapists Rene Anagnostopoulos and Sofia Tilton, who shared their knowledge about speech therapy and dysfluency with me and showed confidence in my work.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge with gratitude, the support and love of my family — my parents, Jose and Maria; my sister, Aby Cardenas; my brother and his wife, Angel and Amy Chavero; and my partner, Adrian Correa.

They all kept me going, and this book would not have been possible without them.

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Visual Record

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Mockup Digital 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Fabrication Print 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 2 : Still Video 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Exhibition Plan Digital 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 2 : Mockup Digital 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Design Digital 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 2 : Exhibition Plan Digital 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 2 : Still Video 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Fabrication Print 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 2 : Screen Digital 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Fabrication Print 2020

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 2 : Still Video 2020

ex perience: Part 2 : Still Video 2020

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10

Jose Chavero Rivera, ex perience: Part 1 : Plan, 2020

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Jose Chavero Rivera, ex perience: Part 2 : Plan, 2020

13

Introduction & Justification

Stuttering affects more than 15 million Americans.

People who stutter (PWS) suffer in what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention labels as social environment: the immediate physical surroundings, social relationships, and cultural milieus.2 In fact, while 39% of PWS believe they have experienced discrimination in the job hiring process, 80% of employers admit they will not hire them. 74% have been bullied and 94% have low self-esteem. With regard to intellectual skills, research shows that fluent children do not want to work with those who stutter.1 In addition, there are many myths that surround PWS, including that they are stupid, they are only nervous, or that stuttering can be "caught" through imitation.3 These stigma have detrimental effects on PWS. I have been wrestling with stuttering for 23 years.

Design allows me to communicate with people in a way that is otherwise difficult to do. My disfluency began in the 1st grade during story time when my teacher asked me to read a page from The Very Hungry Caterpillar out loud. After I finished reading, I looked up to see my classmates laughing and mockingly whispering: "ca-ca-ca-ca-terpillar."

Since then, I have witnessed the physical and social effects that this disorder has had on me and others — marginalization and physical, social, and mental punishment. This is why I have set out to increase awareness about stuttering. The lack of awareness about these ways of speaking has led to prejudice, stigma, and a strong bias toward corrective, "normalizing" speech therapies.

Stuttering, like most speech disorders, must be corrected, overcome, and erased.

As a person diagnosed with stuttering, my thesis project contends with this narrative of overcoming. Using motion graphics, photography and 3-D typography, my project presents stuttering as a visual, linguistic, and physical space that is rich with poesis and strife, materiality and meaning.

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1 Furnham, Adrian, and Stephen Davis.

Involvement of Social Factors in Stuttering: A Review and Assessment of Current Methodology. Stammering research: an on-line journal published by the British Stammering Association. U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 1, 2004. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC2231609/.

2 Barnett, E, and M Casper. A Definition of Social Environment. American journal of public health. U.S. National Library of Medicine, March 2001. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC1446600/pdf/11249033.pdf.

3 5 Myths about Stuttering: Awareness Week Seeks to Set the Record Straight. Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter. Accessed September 9, 2019. https://www.stutteringhelp.org/content/5myths-about-stuttering-awareness-weekseeks-set-record-straight.

"there are many

myths that surround PWS, including that they are stupid, they are only nervous, or that stuttering can be caught through imitation.

The Stuttering Foundation A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter

15

Antecedents & Precedents

Comprised of five components (poetry, typography, motion graphics, sound, and materials), my thesis project, ex perience, is a twopart blend of adopted theories, concepts, and crafts from a variety of artists. These artists contributed to my project due to their personal experiences, expressive methods, and influence in society. In the ways of Ben Van Dyke (fig. 1), my project leverages language and letterforms as an expressive communicative visual system.4 It also adopts Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Intersectionality theory to refer to the kinds of challenges other socially marginalized people face by exposing the tragic circumstances under which gay people who stutter live. I, myself, have to defend these intersections from dysfluency and gay discrimination, independently and at times simultaneously.5 It also adopts Carol Twombly’s Chaparral font (fig. 2) to represent how my stutter often feels like to me.6 To me, it often feels aggressive, rough, and sometimes quirky. ex perience:Part 1 is a poetic interpretation of my speech in social situations. It adopts Dada poetry to serately challenge the Modernist’s ideologies of normalcy and fluency. My speech and Modernist’s ideologies, therefore, become embodiments of the deconstructed typography; causing disruption and exposing bias. This part of the project was influenced by Bruno Maag’s Shape my language (fig. 3). Like Mr. Maag, my work gives shape to my stutter and visualizes the emotion of my speech.7 Hung from the ceiling, noninvasive filaments (i.e. fishing line) grab the poetics of my stutter, that is, deconstructed text on tongue like material (i.e. heavy transparency). The nonlinear, hanging expressive typographic panels represent my feeling of disorder. ex perience: Part 2 is a poetic interpretation of the constant battle and cruelty I often face in social situations. In addition to expressive typography, the project adapts objects — that stimulate the homoerotic senses — from a failed ancient speech

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4 BEN VAN DYKE. BEN VAN DYKE. Accessed April 19, 2020. http://benjaminvandyke.com/.

5 Kimberlé Crenshaw: What Is Intersectionality?

- YouTube.” Accessed April 19, 2020. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViDtnfQ9FHc. 6 Chaparral Font Combinations & Free Alternatives · Typewolf. Typewolf. Accessed April 19, 2020. https://www.typewolf.com/site-of-the-day/ fonts/chaparral.

7 Kofler, Kathrin. Walking Chair DesignStudio GmbH, June 12, 2013. http://walkingchair.com/ gallery/fsysb8lnnuuffd2yq1lwi0bafutng1.

therapy technique to question the detrimental pain that society imposes on people who stutter.

Mixed with community noise, abstracted sound from gay culture to honor the impact homophobia has had on my life. The work, therefore, tells my specific story. This part of the project was influenced by Josh Penn. Much like Mr. Penn, I used type and motion graphics to express feeling and make a visual experience through type (fig. 4).8 To be more specific, it visualizes my experience as a dysfluent gay Latino male. The work was then juxtaposed with a large photographic print. Altogether, the projection is a nod of the abuse discharged onto me and other people who stutter.

8 Morris, Ali. Josh Penn Brings Awareness to Dyslexia with Kinetic Typography. Dezeen, January 9, 2020. https://www.dezeen.com/2017/09/15/ josh-penn-awareness-dyslexia-kinetictypography-animation-graduates/.

Other artists that contributed to my thesis project are: David Carson, Roger Hancock, Frankie Knuckles, Jordan Scott, and Wolfgang Weingart. Likewise, speech pathologists that contributed are: Renee Anagnostopoulos and Sofia Tilton.

Fig. 1 Ben Van Dyke Volatile!

2015

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stu tter

Fig. 2 Carol Twombly Chaparral : Specimen 2000

Fig. 3 Bruno Maag Shape my language 2010

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Fig. 4 Josh Penn What is dyslexia?

2017 19

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Problem Statement

The lack of awareness concerning stuttering has caused more than 15 million Americans, including myself, to suffer in social situations.

This has produced social injustices against people who stutter (PWS), including prejudice, stigma and a bias toward “normalizing” speech therapies.1 In turn, this has encouraged PWS to correct, overcome or altogether erase their speech (fig. 5, 6).

We should not have to do this in the twenty-first century. We should not have to defend ourselves from discrimination against speech dysfluency and its detrimental effects.5 To increase awareness about stuttering, my thesis project asks the following critical questions: How can design make a better understanding of the tools necessary for PWS to comfortably engage in social settings? How can design help create inclusive experiences for PWS? What does stuttering look, sound and feel? How can design involve the viewer in stuttering as an alternative epistemology instead of a stigmatized other?

And where can design leverage the poetics of stuttering to help shift the ideologies of speech-based norms?

"to correct,

overcome or altogether erase their speech.

Jose Chavero Rivera Graphic Designer

22

1 Furnham, Adrian, and Stephen Davis.

Involvement of Social Factors in Stuttering: A Review and Assessment of Current Methodology. Stammering research: an on-line journal published by the British Stammering Association. U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 1, 2004. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC2231609/.

5 Kimberlé Crenshaw: What Is Intersectionality?

- YouTube.” Accessed April 19, 2020. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViDtnfQ9FHc.

Fig. 5 St. Mary's Medical Center Speech Therapy 2017

Fig. 6 Johns Hopkins Medicine Speech Therapy 2010

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Jose Chavero Rivera, ex perience: Part 1 : Mockup, 2020

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Jose Chavero Rivera, ex perience: Part 2 : Mockup, 2020

27

Process & Methods

While the overarching goal of my thesis is to increase awareness about stuttering, each part has its own specific goal. ex perience: Part 1 focuses on challenging the Modernist’s ideologies of normalcy and fluency while ex perience: Part 2 focuses on questioning the detrimental pain that society imposes on people who stutter.9,1 In order to accomplish these goals, I employed the design method: (1) defining the problem, (2) empathizing, (3) ideating and (4) prototyping and testing.10 Additionally, I asked myself, How can the work be more compelling?

Intrigued by the alternative epistemology of language as it relates to stuttering, I assessed that the work would be more effective if dealt with poetically instead of scientifically. Given my familiarity with expressive typography, I knew instantly that I wanted to use this as the central visual representation of my stutter. Much like Wolfgang Weingart, I began exploring and experimenting with type to determine a visual language.11 I spelled stuttered words repeatedly on a page; wrote them spaced out and even made abstract woodblock prints from them. However, it was after looking at Ben Van Dyke’s work that I was able to develop the visual vocabulary (fig. 7).4 What form could I leverage for this part of the project as it relates to stuttering? I wondered at the start of ex perience: Part 1. While researching this question, I came across a note in Ellen Lupton’s Design Is Storytelling. In the book, Lupton writes, “A poster or illustration… eyes wander from across its surface, darting from detail to detail to build a whole picture. A book compresses time and space between two covers.”12 Although I did not create a book, this note and the inquiry of “what material can the graphics be printed on to extend meaning?” led me to the project’s final form: 3-D typographic panels (expressive typography on heavyweight vellum and transparency) (fig. 8, 9). A significant challenge worth noting

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1 Furnham, Adrian, and Stephen Davis.

Involvement of Social Factors in Stuttering: A Review and Assessment of Current Methodology. Stammering research: an on-line journal published by the British Stammering Association. U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 1, 2004. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC2231609/.

4 BEN VAN DYKE. BEN VAN DYKE. Accessed April 19, 2020. http://benjaminvandyke.com/.

9 The Stutter of Form. Chicago Scholarship Online. University of Chicago Press.

Accessed April 19, 2020. https://chicago. universitypressscholarship.com/view/ 10.7208/chicago/9780226657448.001.0001/ upso-9780226657424-chapter-14.

10 Roy, Elise. When We Design for Disability, We All Benefit. TED. Accessed April 19, 2020. https:// www.ted.com/talks/elise_roy_when_we_ design_for_disability_we_all_benefit.

11 Wolfgang Weingart. typo/graphic posters, August 27, 2017. https://www.typographicposters.com/wolfgang-weingart.

12 Lupton, Ellen. Design Is Storytelling. New York, NY: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2017.

Fig. 7 Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Design 2020

Fig. 8 Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Panel 2020

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Fig. 9 Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Panels 2020 30

here is, “how the panels are going to hang from the ceiling?” because the space that I was assigned to at the Blaffer Art Museum is an emergency exit. The narrow aisle needed to have 60 feet of consecutive free space in order for visitors to safely exit in case of a fire. Solving for and with this restriction was not easy. However, after many tests and failures, noninvasive clear filament (fishing line) with a tiny silver jewelry crimp worked both aesthetically and according to fire codes (fig. 10).

8 Morris, Ali. Josh Penn Brings Awareness to Dyslexia with Kinetic Typography. Dezeen, January 9, 2020. https://www.dezeen.com/2017/09/15/ josh-penn-awareness-dyslexia-kinetictypography-animation-graduates/.

13 Stuttering with the PoetPatriot Poems, Haiku, Rhymes & Writings About Stuttering. Stuttering w/the PoetPatriot-PoetPatriot.com-StutterStammer-Stammering. Accessed April 19, 2020. https://www.poetpatriot.com/poemsstutter.htm#expression.

Fig. 10 Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Panels 2020

In the beginning of ex perience:Part 2, I questioned, How motion graphics can help the poetics of stutter? Keeping the visual language of ex perience: Part 1 aligned with this part, I followed this lead. I adapted Roger Hancock’s Struggled Expression haiku to address my experience with dysfluency.13 I also leveraged Josh Penn’s use of kinetic type to manipulate the work and express the feeling of stuttering (fig. 11, 12).8 Then I wondered, How can I extend the piece’s meaning with sound? Having explored instrumental music and my own voice as potential sound, I concluded that recording social dialogue and mixing it with borrowed abstracted 31

32

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vibratos from gay culture were my best options.

The social dialogue allows the viewer to experience the essence of me speaking in a social situation.

Once the video animation was finished, I continued to question further. I asked, How can I show the detrimental pain that society imposes onto those of us who stutter? and How can I honor the impact homophobia has had in my life? This compelled me to project the video onto a photographic screen of marbles. These marbles reference a painful and failed speech therapy technique that speechlanguage pathologists used on stutterers in the early 1900s.14 They also represent sex toys used by gay men. This added representation is a hyperbolic example to question why sexuality has to even be political? This has given agency to society to single out gays. Although we have made remarkable developments since the early 1960s, we have a small degree of power in American society. For this reason, foolish antagonisms call for radical representations (fig. 13).15

14 The Kings Speech, n.d.

15 Sexual Revolution And The Politics Of Gay Identity.

American Homo. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/ view?docId=ft0q2n99kf&chunk.id=d0e655& toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e655&brand=ucpress.

Fig. 11 Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 2 : Design 2020

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Fig. 12 Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 2 : Design 2020

Fig. 13 Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 2 : Screen 2020

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Initially, my assigned space at the Blaffer Art Museum challenged the way both Part 1 and Part 2 were to be experienced (e.g. lighting and installation control). I also learned early on that there was only one entrance to my designated space. This meant that the work would be experienced in a specific order. I took this as an opportunity for visual storytelling, so I installed the work in a way that the viewer would enter (fig. 14) the narrative encountering my confrontation with Modernist’s ideologies of normalcy and fluency (Part 1) and, exit (fig. 15) the narrative viewing my disclosure on the detrimental pain that society imposes onto me and other people who stutter (Part 2). Thus, supporting the overall goal of the project: to increase awareness about stuttering.

Fig. 14

Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 1 : Mockup 2020

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p

Fig. 15 Jose Chavero Rivera ex perience: Part 2 : Mockup 2020

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"Stuttering embrac

so well that it leav complete, and norm them as if they we the disjointed and members of a sup

Gilles Deleuze, The Stutter of Form, 2009

ces language ves words intact, mal, but it uses ere themselves d decomposed perhuman.

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Conclusion

Conclusively, both multimedia, ex perience: Part 1 and Part 2, were produced altogether by using digital and print processes. By also adhering to design best practices, the project successfully visualizes my encounter with dysfluency and increases awareness about stuttering.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, University of Houston – School of Art’s 42nd Thesis Exhibition was postponed. The project, therefore, was presented virtually and in mockup form.

As a result of this to reach beyond its original intended audience, I shared the work with a few local and national speech dysfluency organizations. The work was virtually exhibited in Katherine G. McGovern College of the Arts’s My Art My Story (Fig. 16) and Blaffer Art Museum’s My Virtual Blaffer.16,17 The work has also received positive feedback and praise from Words of Wisdom, Heights SLP, The Stuttering Foundation and American Speech-LaguageHearing Association.

Although my thesis project accomplishes what as I have intended overall, I have made the following observations: Part 1 could have used panels with English words to keep the audience captivated throughout the entire piece. Part 2 could have displayed the video and large photograph separately to clarify the concept.

Furthermore, the project could have juxtaposed the visual language of Part 1 and Part 2 to make it more inviting. In addition, the work extends the conversations about race, LGBTQ culture and intersectional issues of speech dysfluency in gay Latino culture, but it loses these connections because the issues are only briefly mentioned and perhaps too subtly.

To expand and develop the project further, I wonder: How can the work evolve beyond increasing awareness and exposing my experience with stuttering? How can the project leave a deeper imprint? How can the project’s visual and sonic rhythm shift and generate

40

16 UH KGM College of the Arts (@uhkgm_arts) on Instagram • 781 Photos and Videos. Instagram.

Accessed April 19, 2020. https://www. instagram.com/uhkgm_arts/.

17 #myvirtualblaffer hashtag on Instagram • Photos and Videos. Instagram. Accessed April 19, 2020. https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/ myvirtualblaffer/.

a more emphatic moment? And how can the project make a poetic interpretive festival from stuttering? These curiosities still remain and will certainly frame this project and others as I move into the next stage of my design life.

Fig. 16 KGMCA My Art My Story 2020

41

"curiosities still

remain and will certainly frame this project and others as I move into the next stage of my design life.

Jose Chavero Rivera Graphic Designer

42

Bibliography

1 Furnham, Adrian, and Stephen Davis. Involvement of Social Factors in Stuttering: A Review and Assessment of Current Methodology. Stammering research: an on-line journal published by the British Stammering Association. U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 1, 2004. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC2231609/.

2 Barnett, E, and M Casper. A Definition of Social Environment. American journal of public health. U.S. National Library of Medicine, March 2001. https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC1446600/pdf/11249033.pdf.

3 5 Myths about Stuttering: Awareness Week Seeks to Set the Record Straight.

Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter. Accessed September 9, 2019. https://www.stutteringhelp.org/ content/5-myths-about-stutteringawareness-week-seeks-setrecord-straight.

4 BEN VAN DYKE. BEN VAN DYKE. Accessed April 19, 2020. http:// benjaminvandyke.com/.

5 Kimberlé Crenshaw: What Is Intersectionality? - YouTube.” Accessed April 19, 2020. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=ViDtnfQ9FHc. 6 Chaparral Font Combinations & Free Alternatives · Typewolf. Typewolf. Accessed April 19, 2020. https://www.typewolf. com/site-of-the-day/fonts/chaparral.

7 Kofler, Kathrin. Walking Chair DesignStudio GmbH, June 12, 2013. http:// walkingchair.com/gallery/ fsysb8lnnuuffd2yq1lwi0bafutng1.

10 Roy, Elise. When We Design for Disability, We All Benefit. TED. Accessed April 19, 2020. https://www.ted.com/talks/ elise_roy_when_we_design_for_ disability_we_all_benefit.

11 Wolfgang Weingart. typo/graphic posters, August 27, 2017. https://www. typographicposters.com/wolfgang-weingart.

12 Lupton, Ellen. Design Is Storytelling. New York, NY: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2017.

13 Stuttering with the PoetPatriot Poems, Haiku, Rhymes & Writings About Stuttering.

Stuttering w/the PoetPatriot-Poet Patriot.com-Stutter-StammerStammering. Accessed April 19, 2020. https:/www.poetpatriot.com/ poems-stutter.htm#expression.

14 The Kings Speech, n.d.

15 Sexual Revolution And The Politics Of Gay Identity. American Homo. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://publishing.cdlib. org/ucpressebooks/view?docId= ft0q2n99kf&chunk.id=d0e655&toc. depth=1&toc.id=d0e655&brand= ucpress.

16 UH KGM College of the Arts (@uhkgm_arts) on Instagram • 781 Photos and Videos.

Instagram. Accessed April 19, 2020. https://www.instagram.com/ uhkgm_arts/.

17 #myvirtualblaffer hashtag on Instagram • Photos and Videos. Instagram. Accessed April 19, 2020. https://www.instagram. com/explore/tags/myvirtualblaffer/.

8 Morris, Ali. Josh Penn Brings Awareness to Dyslexia with Kinetic Typography. Dezeen, January 9, 2020. https://www.dezeen. com/2017/09/15/josh-pennawareness-dyslexia-kinetictypography-animation-graduates/.

9 The Stutter of Form. Chicago Scholarship Online. University of Chicago Press. Accessed April 19, 2020. https://chicago. universitypressscholarship.com/view/ 10.7208/chicago/9780226657448.

001.0001/upso-9780226657424chapter-14.

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Master of Fine Arts Thesis Book, ex perience, was produced by Jose Chaverwo Rivera, a graduate student in the School of Art. The typeface used is Operetta designed by Jan Tonellato. The binding is perfect bound.

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