Importance Of Graphic Design

Visionary Buckminister Fuller once said, “When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” I embody this philosophy as a graphic designer. I constantly explored ways to design information that were carefully crafted to be easy to understand. I would meticulously adjust the kern between letters to make sure legibility was clear, choose colors and create visuals that appealed to my target audience accordingly–and it was beautiful. As a graphic designer, I focused on the art of making. Certainly, I took into consideration my target user groups, demographics, and designed accordingly, but the decisions–the insights–that I made were internalized. They appeared as if they were magic to my clients. If my clients liked my work, I was done. If they did not like my work, it could be difficult to convince them of my design decisions because of this internalization. Transitioning from a graphic designer to a visual communicator has allowed me to explore the design process and understand the importance of sensemaking and articulation. Design research has enabled me to understand the stakeholders involved from problem owners to implementers and gain a holistic understanding of the design problem. A beautiful solution is a solution that was developed through insights gained from this holistic understanding.

Through my Visual Communication Design MFA program at Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI, I have and am continuing to develop my Design Thinking and design research skills. However, my interest in Human Computer Interaction Design will allow me to apply my strong research skills with technology. Last year, I went to a lecture by Dr. Saul Greenb...

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...te and social media. I worked as a designer for Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center with Dr. Katy Börner and as a cover designer for a publishing company. Design is a large part of who I am, and my portfolio demonstrates the versatility of my experience.

Designers constantly iterate through the design process to create beautiful solutions. No solution is the same, and no problem is alike. The learning experience is the one constant throughout the design process. The HCI/d program will help me achieve my goals as an interaction designer through academic rigor, professional development, and faculty investment. As a t-shaped designer, my skill set and ability to work with people from various disciplines will enable me to build upon and strengthen the world class culture in the School of Informatics Human Computer Interaction program at Indiana University.