The Categorical Decade // Undergraduate Thesis Work
The Categorical Decade is an information graphic that illustrates the experiences of fifty individuals. Submitters were asked to provide 1-3 events from the past decade that has influenced their life. The information is organized in two manners: chronologically and contextually. Individuals who submitted more than one event are connected by a dotted line. The events were then placed in categories that provide context.
My challenge was to interpret and categorize the individuals and their experiences. I became interpreter and mediator of the data, trying to find connections through the events while maintaining the chronological structure. The diversity of the data, some sad, some comical, some expected, some unexpected made this all the more difficult.
Contemporary designers such as Edward Tufte and Mark Feltron, who have used design as method to simplify, engage, and present the world around them in clear, beautiful forms, influenced my work. Designer as author, designer as interpreter, and designer as a caretaker of secrets were hats worn by me throughout the duration of the project and served as methods to resolve the complexities created from anonymous, random data about human life.
