I will continue to build this, but here is one thesis that relates to the topic I have interest in…sorry for the lengthy post. I also created a post to collect other thesis inspiration. I love when I see a design being creative about their approach and interest. I hope something grasps me that way.

SCAD graduate Karl E. Dinkler’s thesis, Commandshift : how the graphic design community can command greater value in the design process in exponential time, touches on the exact topic that I wish to explore. We share very similar interests including concerns about the graphic design community being undervalued in the world due to automated software processes of newer technologies, the creation of novice designers who believe that they can do the job of the professional graphic designer, and leaders in the workforce who do not see our value prior to the steps of a product’s execution.

Dinkler acknowledges that the profession of graphic design has been seen primarily as a “service-based” profession. As the growth of technologies continues, so does the rise of automated software capabilities. Those who are not part of the design community believe that our purpose is to solely execute their ideas. Once this begins to happen, a ripple effect occurs. Those novice designers who have dabbed in some software programs are flooding our market while claiming that they are designers as well. This then makes leaders of the workplace consider us as incapable of becoming professional design thinkers. Dinkler puts forward the importance of graphic designers taking back what is ours by telling who we are and what we do. Right now most of us are operating like “service-based” designers, so we will be seen as “service-based” designers until we demand more.

I like that Dinkler touches on us showing more of our processes so that we stand a chance on becoming a part of an organization’s leadership.  He also states the importance of incorporating a new definition of graphic design in education. Rather than us all taking design related courses, we should be incorporating some business and financial lessons as well. 

I have discovered that the concerns that Dinkler and I share are almost identical. If I decide to go this route with my thesis, I would need to see what else there is to explore in regards to this topic. I believe that I want to have the majority of my work target the world outside of design. I think that if I target this group, the professional graphic designers who are advocating their roles in society as visual communicators that solve design problems based on design thinking and methodologies, I can help meet them half way by convincing outsiders that we should be an essential part of any message or design problem that is in need of a solution.