Research topics across my career as an Educator and Professional have been broad. Some of my most significant work has explored the various topics listed here.

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PRIMARY RESEARCH:
 

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and other Leading Edge/Future Technological Developments on Visual Communication Design Education 

We are currently in the midst of a huge paradigm shift and the next major technological revolution in our history. Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is having a significant affect on every industry including in Art, Design, and Education. There are many unknowns on what this advancement will do to the world and more specifically, how will it affect our understanding of truth and authenticity. Is using this tool in Art & Design moral, ethical, or even legal? And how will it affect Higher Education? A.I. is a genie out of the bottle that is here to stay and designers in the near future will need to know how to use A.I. as a tool in their workflow. It is imperative that educators and students wrestle with these questions now to find a way forward and up-skill to stay current and relevant in the industry.

Our students must be well equipped to operate in the looming realities of a fast moving tech driven world. So, one of the key things that I am doing is looking at these major developments in technology holistically to enhance Visual Communication curriculum and prepare students for their future careers.

Technologies like AI, VR, AR, and many more will become a key component in future graphic design and advertising work and we must look for ways to enhance other areas of our curriculum to meet these needs. Informed by my research and experimentation, I am researching ways that our students would leverage cutting edge technologies to create multi-platform integrated campaigns that use both traditional media tactics (print, direct mail, outdoor, etc) and digital media tactics (digital advertising, social media, app and website design, etc.). It is imperative that we challenge our students to conceptualize ways of incorporating a creative use of technology into their projects and in a manner that connects with the target audience and solves brand challenges.

ChatGPT and MidJourney are two very important parts to the AI Boom right now and they both have huge implications to creative advertising and design work. I am researching these technologies among others to have a full understanding of their capabilities. Over the next few years we will see students trying to use these technologies to do their projects. The future professional designer will need to know how to leverage these technologies as well. There must be a strategically and practically thought out approach to if and how we incorporate them into the creative process while still maintaining our artistic values of truth, authenticity, and originality.

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ADDITIONAL TOPICS OF CONTINUED RESEARCH:

Social Awareness - Today’s designers have the capacity to use their talents as more than just a tool of commerce. Creative practitioners can work to express meaningful solutions to contemporary social issues such as Child Sex Trafficking, Gender Issues, Sexism, Discrimination, Inequality, ESL Education, and Social Media Safety. By practicing greater human empathy for diverse people groups, and being thoroughly informed about cultural issues, we can address some of the most difficult problems facing our society and affect the world around us for good.

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Design Style Literacy - Another area of significant research and interest has been the communication and knowledge gap that exists within the creative community regarding design styles. In a fast-paced creative studio the ‘just Google it’ mentality is common place in a quest for instant answers. However, Wikipedia references and Pinterest visual research methodologies have fostered a complacency about the true contextual meanings and cultural underpinnings of stylistic references in creative research. This has led to an epidemic of limited visual literacy among many members of the Creative Class and a fundamental lack of regard for historical Visual Culture, which prohibits an informed expression of historical forms and design styles in contemporary practice. My thesis work focuses on design style literacy and the critical role that visual culture plays in establishing contextual meanings that underpin historical forms and style adjectives in contemporary advertising and design practice.

Branded Experiences Over Ads - The world is full of traditional advertising messages that people largely ignore. Don’t make ads that fail to break through the clutter. Instead, do something interesting, invite the audience to participate. Capture and share the experience.

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Conversation is King - Social/digital work where brands are coming up with fun and different ways to create meaningful engagement and connections with their audience. Concept + Content = Conversation.

Crafting Remarkable Ideas - Brand concepts and solutions that are worthy of remark and drive sharing.

Platform Hacking - Making things out of the internet instead of for the internet. Creative and innovative uses of social and digital platforms that make the most of the native tools and functionality of the platform to authentically engage an audience.

Target Audience to Tribe - Market research that shifts away from generic demographic and psychographic descriptions of target consumers to a deeper understanding of real networks of people gathered around shared beliefs, unwritten rules, rituals, and social norms.

Technology as a Brand Tool - Innovative and creative ways that brands are using social media, new and emerging tech, virtual reality, augmented reality, 360 degree content, gamification, and brand-led product innovation to connect with consumers.

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Creating Student Engagement in Virtual Learning Environments - In today's educational landscape, virtual or online learning is becoming more and more prevalent. One of the biggest challenges to this is replacing the in-classroom face-to-face personal experience that students are accustomed to with an asynchronous curriculum without sacrificing quality and engagement. In order to keep students participating, minimize attrition, and foster a rich and meaningful online experience, instructors must learn to adapt their thinking, increase their student outreach efforts, and evolve their teaching methodologies.