In the modern world, information pervades our daily life. In most cities, we are surrounded by a plethora of advertisements, receipts, tickets, receipts, junk mail and more. This ephemera, because of its short intended lifetime, offers an immediate “snapshot” into a very specific moment in time. It is material designed to quickly disappear from the attention-sphere only to be replaced by the next more current iteration. What if the information contained within could be captured, recorded, and interpreted? How can we study these artifacts and use them as a way of understanding the information that flows around us, that goes unnoticed, that is so programmed, and processed, uploaded and downloaded, machine made and human consumed? What if this information could be collected and evaluated? What would it tell us about that specific moment in time, identity, cultural patterns, and the relationship of language and media?
To approach these questions, this thesis introduces a design research methodology titled Design Archeology. This methodology combines communication design with archeological methods for evaluating material culture to produce new forms of graphic identity.
It is a design research methodology that:
- Examines cultural practices and activities of the moment in order to create a “snapshot”
of a community’s identity from its material culture.
- Examines how media forms influence the reading of language and information.
- Creates a reflection back to the community to inform and inspire.
Examining Identity as it Relates to Material Culture: Case Studies
The case studies below explore media, information, artifact and identity and served as my foundation for later work.
Case Study 01: Patterns of Consumption
I began this project with a curiosity about where my money went each week. Always being too busy to actually track my spending, I decided to meticulously record the time, location and type of purchase over a one-week time period and translate this into a media form that would improve the understanding of this information. Patterns of Consumption is an information design piece that represents one week of spending of a graduate student. The 30-second short utilizes the unique aspects of motion to explore the pattern and sequence of the information collected.
Figure A: Patterns of Consumption stills.
After this project was completed, I realized it captured something more than just one week of spending. ). It captured an image of my identity at that specific moment in time. I could see that most of my money was spent on food, specifically take-out and coffee, and that my travel was limited to home, school, and surrounding areas for food and errands. I wondered, what else could be discovered by looking at my past transactions?
Case Study 02: Amy Sheppard: Non-Exchangeable
This project grew out of my interest in identity and transactions. The book titled Amy Sheppard: Non-Exchangeable is a series of visual investigations based on my personal collection of receipts and tickets, in which all of the information, text, colors and visuals, were pulled directly from this ephemera. New patterns began to emerge from the information. One could see a snapshot of my travel patterns, friends, my name written on public documents, movie preferences and preferred going-out times. The receipts and tickets also provided a visual framework from which to create new forms of identity, offering up a new way of constructing visual form associated with my identity.
Figure B: Amy Sheppard: Non-Exchangeable page spreads, and original receipts.
After the completion of these projects, I wanted to know if this could scale? Is it possible to take this method of looking at material culture (specifically ephemera) to reveal an identity and apply it to a community?
Research questions
a. What does a community’s identity look like when it is extracted from its material culture?
b. What is the relationship of content to media forms?
c. How does media influence the reading of information and use of language?
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