Publication Design | Research | Risograph

Senior Thesis: The Love Ethic

Throughout my time as an undergrad, I’ve learned to value connecting to my colleagues, mentors, and audience. Through this process, I’ve learned many things about myself and how I view relationships. In my senior year, I discovered All About Love by bell hooks. While reading this book, I found myself personally connecting with many of the values she expands upon. Especially the concept of love being a paramount ethic. 

When I look at the portfolio I’ve built thus far, I see where I put love first in collaborations, connecting to clients and audiences, and even in personal relationships. This realization inspired me to make my thesis around this topic. 

I chose print as the medium mostly because of covid. Covid restrictions made up nearly fifty percent of my time at college. So it only felt right to use the new freedom to experiment with craft and printing. I always had a fascination with the Risograph and wished I was able to use it more. So I decided to use only the Risograph to print my book, book inserts, and posters. Due to the dimensions of the Riso, the size had to be under 11 x 17 inches. I specifically experimented with color mixing, use of gradients, and layering. 

Book Specs:

7 x 12 inches

Printed on Risograph  - Colors Green & Burgundy

#100 c French Paper - Insulation Pink (main book)

#70 t French Paper - Tile Green (book inserts)

Plastic Coil Binding

Accordion-Folding

Poster Specs:

11 x 17 inches

Printed on Risograph - Colors Green & Burgundy

#100 c French Paper - Tile Green

Tools Used:

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Risograph

What the process looked like –

Process consisted mostly of reading, researching, self reflecting and journaling. After concepting for several weeks. While this was a mostly self-guided project, I chose to take my time to consider how I relate personally to the content I was researching. To the contrary, in many of my other research based projects, I try my best to approach it without my personal bias. This process allowed me to do the opposite.

Before beginning my thesis, I was tasked with creating a (wo)manifesto.

I decided to create a pink colored newspaper titled wo-manifesto. This short publication displayed a list of thoughts and ethics I believe and follow as a young woman. It has threads of feminism throughout which is what informed color choice.

After that process, I began reading more books and articles about feminist activists - which ultimately led me to the writing of bell hooks.