montserrat design
design senior projects, ca 1998-2020

2015  <   2016   >   2017 course blogs : fall 15, spring 16

			Meg Bentsen Mariah Florez James Hillmann
			Angel Lukos-Algarin Juan Matias Cody Pelletier
			Samantha Perry Alexandra Rios Kayla Whelan

 

• Meg Bentsen
  eleMENTAL

  Design and construction of (modular) origami dresses and related objects
  Modular Origami process book at behance

• Mariah Florez
  Limited Exposure

  Developed ways to use the natural beauty of snakes to encourage the general public to become more open to repecting and accepting reptiles... Someone who already has negative associations with snakes, perhaps because of negative past experiences, might not hear my message. And so I would like to use my skills as an artist to create things that... create a level of empathy in my viewers in order to shed light upon the unfair consequences created by the Lacey Act of 1920.
  I don’t need every person who views my show to come away loving these animal as I do, but perhaps some can walk away thinking twice about their hatred or fear of them.

  formats —
  posters, (experiments in) bubble pack art; watercolors; photos...

• James Hillmann
  Digital Structures

  open source, open access, transparency, structure, container-vs-content — these were key concepts throughout the year, though a large number of exercises, many abandoned along the way. social media interfaces; typeface; SciFi sketches; music visualizations; an “unreal” interface; and various tool (and multi-tool) concepts.
  The final project was the visual identity for a speculative “Quantum” VR web browsing concept.

• Angel Lukos-Algarin
  Architypetural / Architectural Abstractions

  First semester involved exploration of 3D design and interaction, and “walking around” objects and virtual buildings (using a video game developer tool). This lead to a focus in second semester on 2D. Took photographs of buildings in Boston, which became the basis for progressive abstractions into simpler shapes. Project focused on line, shape and space; some of these forms were scaled up for installation in the Nonagon thesis exhibition.

• Juan Matias
  creation of the perfect Tinder profile

  The reasoning behind my decision to focus on Tinder came from my theory that this application is the future of relationships. It is predicted that by the year 2030, 60% of all American relationships will be started online. Whether or not one agrees with the morality of it... it’s a topic that shouldn’t be ignored. My thesis consisted of a how-to guide that basically holds the reader’s hands through a successful Tinder experience.
  thumbnail image above :
  model bio photo

• Cody Pelletier
  album design

  The initial concept was not what I have here today. Things changed and things happened. The result of all this has been five album designs, three shirts, two posters, and one cool GIF.
  the albums: Earth Wind and Fire; Kid Cudi; G-Eazy; Goldie Glocks...

• Samantha Perry
  instinctual vs process

  The project is about form, structure and the creation of bird nexts, in relation to human design of nests.
  Birds have a natural instinct to build a certain next. There is one singular purpose... to attact a mate and lay their eggs... Birds obtain the materials that are around them to construct the form.
  Humans have no purpose in building a nest...
  The end result of this project is to have people think about the instinctual process versus the design process...
  thumbnail image above:
  last abstract nest drawing.
  thesis project (and other work) at external website

• Alexandra Rios
  what’s the buzz

  fall semester:
  experimented with different things involving the honey bee crisis, including learning which herbs and flowers that attract pollinators, the foods that we will lose if the bees die off, how to make seed balls and seed paper, &c.
  spring semester:
  create a fully functioning info graph that lists all (or most) herbs and flowers that help pollinators and also helps newbie/professional gardeners decide what to plant in their gardens and how to do so.
  thumbnail image above:
  follow that specific plant’s circle through seven categories: herb/flower, fragrant/scentless, whether or not the plant flowers, if it is used in cooking or has medicinal uses.

• Kayla Whelan
  words and everything else

  first semester:
  I am exploring language, in particular its imperfections... “The Letter of Lord Chandos” by Hugo von Hofmannsthal spoke to me deeply... I am taking the text apart and putting it back together, often in ways that make it partially or completely illegible... Building off this text, I am exploring what the next stage of the crisis of Lord Chandos would be. That’s where the poem “What is the Word” of Samuel Beckett comes into play.
  second semester:
  I am going to explore typography in a pseudoscientific manner, drawing inspiration from molecular typography (the creation of Woody Leslie) and geologic typography (the creation of Eric Karnes)...
  thumbnail image above:
  one of several high-resolution scans of the letter A, zoomed and cropped