BFA Communication Design

Thesis 1, Fall 2026 Friday, 9am—3pm, L 601 Pascal Glissmann

Schedule

Projects

Syllabus

Google Drive

WEEK 4

Thesis Proposal Thesis Topic Focus: What do I want to do next?

While you are wrapping up your 256 book, you will also begin exploring possible next steps based on your broader research interests.

At this stage, it is too early to formulate a final research question or define your thesis topic. Instead, focus on the four areas below and look for where they begin to overlap with your larger field of interest. This overlap may be where your thesis starts to take shape.

1. What do you bring to the process? Consider your own background, experiences, interests, skills, methods, and ways of working.
2. What can you reach? Think about the places, people, communities, materials, collections, archives, institutions, or other resources you can realistically access.
3. How can you use Communication Design as a lens? What means of Communication Design could help you investigate the topic or bring a particular perspective to it?
4. What are the subtopics within your larger research interest? Break the topic down. Then break it down again. You can hardly get too granular at this stage.

Below is a reverse-engineered map based on your reading of Vis, Dirk:

“Studying actual art or design practices and examples instead of general ideas (”illustrations in sex education in the Netherlands from 1890 until 1980” instead of “love”) can lead to meaningful conclusions.”

The goal is not to arrive at your thesis topic yet. It is to move from a broad field of interest toward something specific enough to observe, access, investigate, and work with through Communication Design.

FOR NEXT WEEK

1. The 256 Project Bring your final and printed book.
2. Research Map Use your Research Map and your Unseen Actions work to develop three possible directions for what you could do next. Each option should answer four questions:
   1. Which resource do you want to interact with? Visiting an archive, talking to a person, reading ten articles, visiting a site, …
   2. What do you want to find out? Identify the question, tension, history or process you want to investigate
   3. How will you document and circulate what you find? A pamphlet, website, publication, app, animation, poster series, video, archive, …
   4. Who could be interested in this? Consider a specific audience, community, group, institution, or field for this.

Typeset each of your three directions on a separate letter-size sheet of paper. Print all three and add them to your Living Archive.

SCHEDULE

Sept 18: 256 & Thesis Topic Sept 25: 256? & Art Book Fair

WEEK 3

FROM 256 TO RESEARCH INQUIRY

While you continue working with your image collection to identify emerging areas of interest, you will also begin exploring Unseen Actions. These are not separate projects. They can—and should—inform one another. A question that emerges from the image collection might lead you toward an unseen action; something you discover through Unseen Actions might shift how you read, organize, or expand the collection. You are the connection between these different activities. Your interests, questions, and decisions are what bring them together.