Boston University

Political Design Series

For a project preceding the 2016 Presidential Election, I created one poster in support of each candidate, and one poster opposing each candidate based on another student's poster. I chose to design my Pro-Hillary poster about wildlife trafficking, and my anti-Hillary poster took elements from a peer's poster—the image of Hillary, and the words "Lawyer and Politician"—and used those words and images against her. My anti-Trump poster was inspired by a peer's poster that stated that, if elected, Trump would not cut social security. I instead created a poster about Trump's plans to cut funding for the Food and Drug Administration.

Thesis Show

Colors & Names as labels

How can we use what we know about human psychology to make a positive impact in the world? Specifically, can we use research provided by psychologists and scientists to our benefit? Can the color of your bedroom affect how aggressive you are? Would you have gotten that promotion if your name was easier to pronounce? My two projects explored the positive and negative effects of colors and the way that names work in the same way as labels therefore creating bias.

The posters on the walls represent different scenes overlaid with certain colors. These colors evoke specific feelings, making an environment seem more hostile, calm, safe, and more. The corresponding books for each color detail the mental and physiological effects that those colors can have on humans. Whether these associations that we have with colors and certain emotions and feelings are created by society or inherent, we must be aware that they exist.

"Names as Labels" displays hanging pieces that act as a game. On one side, you choose a name that you believe would be more likely or less likely to have certain characteristics. The back explains statistical data linked with a specific name, explaining why a person would assume that name to have that characteristic. The two sides point out biases that exist and the information that causes people to be biased. Being aware of these biases that we subconsciously form hopefully can educate the public to actively try to be less biased.