Date of Award
Spring 5-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Graphic Design
First Advisor
Anastasiia Raina
Second Advisor
Ryan Waller
Third Advisor
Travess Smalley
Abstract
I compose graphic design like I would a piece of music. Using input sources such as sound signals and noise algorithms, I create generative systems that alter or adapt typography and graphic form to output audio-textual compositions in real time. I call these systems graphic instruments.
In this book, I present a methodology for constructing and performing visual instruments as hybridized, real-time feedback systems, tracing a lineage of apparatuses as well as works of art and design that share a similar orientation. Through short-form essays and interviews with artists who operate between designer and performer, this thesis explores the performance and interaction with instruments as a means of generating graphic form.
I see graphic design as a practice of continual composition and recomposition. By shifting from fixed outcomes to fluid, iterative recordings, graphic design becomes both recording and the instrument.
Recommended Citation
Romano, Elliott M., "INSTRUMENT" (2025). Masters Theses. 1415.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1415
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.