Dissertation Briefing

dissertation briefing

- level 6 dissertation board on moodle
- critical analysis of subject, choose a narrow topic so can do in depth research
- collect information relevant for that area of interest
- must be relevant to your work
- the things the markers are looking for are underlined on the brief on moodle
- need a breadth of sources, web, books, magazines, films, exhibitions, journals, people
- keep looking back over the brief to ensure doing what is needed
- look at presentations and documents on moodle
- google scholar
- write to companies who can send you information
- british library catalogue - can order books in advance
- individual proposal form on moodle, list the issues you want to address, how is it relevant to your practice
- proposal to be submitted before 7th June before 4pm

researching briefing

- library research contact chris.graham@leeds-art.ac.uk
- make sure research is focused and relevant, be aware of what you should discard if its irrelevant
- focus on a case study, defined topic
- look at bibliography hand out
- questionnaires - pilot it first, make sure it makes sense and people are answering properly, mix up the type of questions, time limit for the return
- arrange an interview, give them advance warnings of the type of question you will ask
- case studies, site visits
- literature search - academic books, journals, websites, blogs, online forums, videos, dvds, CDs, TV / radio, newspapers / reports, printed ephemera
- know where to look for effective research, think of keywords/related terms you can look for to narrow/broaden search terms
- look at contents page of book and index
- read the introduction or abstract
- use a books own bibliography to inform further reading
- LCA library book search http://library.leeds-art.ac.uk
- LeedsMet library www.leedsmet.ac.uk/lis
- University of Leeds (sconul) - a card you can use in any uni library www.leeds.ac.uk/library
- The British Library in Boston Spa www.bl.uk
- COPAC http://copac.ac.uk - all uni librarys in UK combined catalogues
- when searching put speech marks around so specific search
- journal search - InftoTrac http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/leedscad - a store of online magazine articles
password: tryinfomarks
- JSTOR - http://www.jstor.org. - only available on college computers
- internet search - Athens - http://www.athens.ac.uk  - need to access librarian for login and password - internet catalogues
- WGSN - database of fashion information and trends - www.wgsn.com - leedscollege wgsn13

Dissertation Categories

I have been re-thinking my ideas for my dissertation as it needs to be interlinked with my design work and my PPD. I can sign up for three of the seminars, relating to my initial idea to help me finalise the area I will chose to write 8000 words about. Then over summer I can gather my research and write my proposal.

Design and Social Change
- Designers who are concerned about how graphics effects change, ethical, political...

Design for Accessibility
- Functionality, communication theory, e.g. signage, working for all cultures, disabilities... audience driven design

Design for Sustainability
- How can you be sustainable as a graphic design? What does sustainability mean? How can you create designs that last? Design is needed for charity events but with it comes an ethical dilemma.

Design for Consumerism
- Branding and identity, how you communicate with consumers, ethical concerns

Design in the Future
- Technology driven design

Design Form and Function
- How this relationship has impacted design

Globalisation and International Perspective
- How this effects your practice

Initial Ideas

I'm going to go to the design for social change, design for accessibility and design for consumerism seminars, as I think these are the ones that will link in with the subject of gender, which is what I am most interested in. My initial ideas are:

- Does graphic design aimed at men work for women?
- How do companies communicate with women to feed consumerism from their own lack of self esteem?
- Can graphic design make the world a better place for women when so many examples objectify women, and make a profit from their vulnerabilities? [argue for and against, e.g. yes - powerful communications fighting for change, or no - it is a capitalist society, run by men for men with only the intentions of making a profit]

After the seminars, hopefully I'll have some points to start researching from so I can decide on a dissertation topic.