Abstract:
This thesis describes the artwork created in the exhibited work of Rethinking Lines. The
work is premised on the theoretical findings in the fields of linguistics and semiotics,
alongside philosophies tailored under the structuralist and post-structuralist movements.
These approaches were combined with the philosophies of artists found in the Minimalist
movement as well as abstraction movements like De Stijl and Constructivism. The
research culminates in a body of work that attempts to remove narrative from
communication design through visual treatments that involve the deconstruction of
typography, reconfigured grid systems, scale, and color theory. The exhibited works
examine the possibility of meaning making while taking into account the origins of
language and the use of epistemic knowledge in linguistics. The printed pieces provide a
visual representation of a new form of language that can be injected into our mainstream
communication channels, both print and digital applications, to create a break from the
abundance of narrative driven design currently found in these channels. The ability to
shift the inception of meaning and its making from the design phase to the experience
phase is proposed as a means of disrupting the reliance played on narrative and its use in
all forms of visual communication to include fine art.
