THIRD
It doesn’t matter if graphic designers are working on film titles or business cards. Designers are telling visual stories with every problem they solve. Everything from the typeface, to the color, to the form is part of the whole story they are telling. Designers should be studying masterful works of narrative in all their different forms.
SECOND
You should seek out books, movies, radio programs, plays and even dance productions to inform your sense of narrative, how it relates to your work and the visual voice you give your own graphic design stories. You have the responsibility to understand the story you are telling. You should have a sense of the historical and cultural impact of the forms and type you choose. You should study semiotics and world history. Any knowledge you gain can be used to be a better storyteller, a better designer.
FIRST
I am surprised it has taken me so long to realize that as a graphic designer I am a storyteller. It’s so obvious. I am equally scared and excited to tackle the story of Harry Clawson, to find my own visual language to tell his story as it intertwines with mine. I will try to examine the meaning of every visual choice I make. I hope my voice is equal to the task of telling this story to a new generation.
This thesis is not a documentary on World War II, or of the exploits of the 101st Airborne in Normandy and Holland. It’s not a chronological history of the life and death of S/Sgt. Harry Clawson. Yet it will take a great understanding and a depth of knowledge of these topics, especially the life of Harry Clawson, for this thesis to be succesful. This thesis isn’t an attempt to create an episode of the “Battlefield Detectives” or of “Unsolved Mysteries.” It isn’t about creating something for publication or broadcast. This thesis isn’t a travel journal, even though it must have travel and memoir to be effective.
This thesis does not attempt to appease family members with a glowing “hero” story. It isn’t about aggrandizing the history of Harry Clawson, it is about the search for truth. It’s about trying to tell that truth in a compelling way through the lens of personal perspective. It is a journey to find Harry for myself, it’s a journey of self discovery wrapped in a quest to connect to the past and finding a voice to tell that story.
This thesis isn’t about the validation of design research—such endeavors are past needing validation—but, it is an experiment in design research process using reading, writing, and creating, enhanced with experiencing and documenting. This thesis isn’t an experiment in new form making. It is an experiment in the process of doing what has been done by humans since the beginning of all time—telling stories. Graphic design is storytelling.
