What Is in a Name? A Deep Look at How Names Factor into Our Identity
Meredith Newman
Exhibition and Experience Design
About this Item
- Title
- What Is in a Name? A Deep Look at How Names Factor into Our Identity
- Contributor Names
-
Newman, Meredith (Author)
-
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Exhibition and Experience Design (Degree granting institution)
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Marwit, Dan (Thesis advisor)
- Date
- 2024
- Degree Information
- M.A. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 2024
- Department: Exhibition and Experience Design
- Advisor: Dan Marwit
- Committee members: Brenda Cowan; Christina Lyons; Brooke Carlson
- Abstract
- This document is written in order to qualify for graduation from the Exhibition and Experience Design Master of Art program at the Fashion Institute of Technology. This document is organized in two parts. The first part focuses on research around a topic in exhibitions and/or experiences. The second part is an application of the research in hypothetical practice.
- To expand, the first part is a deep dive into the presentation of text in exhibition or experiential spaces and how two-dimensional text changes form when utilized in a three-dimensional space. Different mediums such as books, newspapers, websites, and apps consistently explore and experiment with their usage of text and layout. However, three-dimensional exhibit spaces have yet to establish the same language. Many exhibitions stick to two-dimensional methodologies meant to be displayed on flat walls, causing visitors to hug the walls as they move about an exhibition space. By fully activating an exhibition space with text and keeping the overarching theme of the exhibition in mind, the visitor is encouraged to investigate the space and experience content contextually.
- This part of the document will present sources that explore why text in exhibitions is important, best practices for writing exhibit labels, how audiences influence text within spaces, how text adapts to those audiences, how museum fatigue plays into a visitor's stamina with text, and an exploration of common experiential text practices. The first part will also investigate existing case studies that explore how less text within exhibitions encourages more engagement and how successful internal practices often include a common understanding of exhibition goals and main objectives. Interviews with graphic designer Elizabeth Ward and exhibit planner Judy Rand examine how successful exhibition design and integration of text often starts with a common understanding of exhibition objectives. Lastly, the research portion of the paper includes methodologies, documentation, and analysis of two prototypes conducted with participants. All of these elements combine to inform the design of text within an exhibition, causing the designer to think about not only the content of the words, but also the purpose they serve to the visitor as well as the overall goals of the exhibition.
- The second part of this document showcases how this research applies to a hypothetical exhibition about names, a subject that is inherently text based, at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. The exhibition will debunk the myth that names were changed at Ellis Island while broadly discussing names and how names affect an individual's sense of identity. This part of the document will contain, but is not limited to, audience analysis, content development documentation, visual system implementation, and fabrication concept drawings in order to complete a full proof of concept and implementation of part one.
- Rights
- In Copyright
- The copyright for this work is held by its author/creator(s). Usage of this material beyond what is permitted by copyright law must first be cleared with the rights-holder(s). This work has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for this work and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].
- This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.
- Identifier
- FIT Repository ID: etd_001009
- URN/ISBN: 9798302851864
- Related Materials
- Also available from ProQuest
- Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 86-07.
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,
Citation
Newman, M. (2024). What Is in a Name? A Deep Look at How Names Factor into Our Identity [Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York]. FIT Institutional Repository. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/599953
Newman, Meredith. What Is in a Name? A Deep Look at How Names Factor into Our Identity. 2024. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, Master's thesis. FIT Digital Repository, https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/599953
Newman, Meredith. "What Is in a Name? A Deep Look at How Names Factor into Our Identity." Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2024. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/599953