My thesis project for the Pratt Institute’s Graduate Communications Design program began as a look into do-it-yourself culture and its effects on the professional designer.

To test my theories, I conducted a real-world experiment in participatory publishing. Visitors to a website submitted spreads for periodic “issues” for which I provided inspirational cover designs, themes, rules and guidelines. Four issues were filled over the course of one semester, and I presented my defending research in four companion volumes.

Issues

Issue 1: Sunday
Issue 2: Music
Issue 3: Supernatural
Issue 4: Faces

Research

Part 1: Then
Socialism, Craftsmanship and the Rise of DIY Culture

Part II: Now
Open-Source Publishing, Crowdsourcing and the D.I.Y Debate

Part III: Talks
Interviews—
The Educator, Ellen Lupton
The Journalist, Rob Walker
The Designer, Caroline Okun
The Non-Designer, Jacquie Osman

Part IV: Thesis
The Issues Project: The Making Of and Behind-the-Screens