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    A user-centred approach to the design and evaluation of a patient information manual : this thesis supports a practice-based research project for the fulfilment of a Master of Design Degree, College of Design, Fine Arts and Music, Massey University
    (Massey University, 2000) Duthie, Glenna
    In our current technological environment, designers are encouraged to identify, define and meet people's needs by undertaking user-centred research, working with experts in other fields, and by becoming 'producers' of their own designs. In this thesis the designer has taken on these roles to address information and communications issues in the health sector. This research study seeks to improve the heath care and healing processes of adolescent patients by a practical application of visual communications design. The research takes a holistic approach by considering the social, therapeutic, and creative needs of adolescent patients as they relate to the use of typography, illustration, colour, and packaging design. Information design, communications theory, and play therapy inform the approach taken. Educational and recreational resources designed for adolescent patients are virtually non-existent in New Zealand hospitals. Instead, most of the information relating to the hospital services and the patients' conditions and treatment is communicated verbally by the hospital staff. This can disadvantage adolescent patients who tend to dislike communicating with people in positions of authority. Because adolescents have been found to be highly visually literate, adolescent patients needs can best be addressed by innovative visual communications design solutions. The designer used both quantitative and qualitative research methods to investigate the complexity of adolescent patients' needs. Because the questionnaire survey of adolescent patients and the interviews with health professionals were conducted in hospitals in Auckland and Wellington, the designer was faced with the daunting task of getting approval from three separate ethics committees and from the related clinical boards before the research could be conducted. However the many administrators and hospital staff approached willingly gave their time to help ensure that the resulting design would be both appropriate and relevant. With the research findings, the designer succeeded in developing a comprehensive communications system involving informative pamphlets, games, and activities that addressed the needs identified in the research. The designer also developed a packaging system that contained and displayed its contents in an appealing and innovative way. This thesis must be read in conjunction with the practice-based component of the research study described in chapter 5 (page 65-91). Ongoing evaluations with health professionals and adolescent patients have suggested modifications to improve the design and have also confirmed that the resulting Patient Information Manual (PIM) is both highly appropriate and extremely helpful in addressing adolescent patients' needs. There has already been widespread interest and offers of support to help ensure that this design is available for use in public hospitals in New Zealand.
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    Informative ornament: ‘The machine’ : enhancing the communicative potential of colour : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design in Illustration at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2009) Malcolm, Sabrina Barkley
    Both empirical and anecdotal evidence indicates that visual communication1 design practices implemented by designers with full colour vision often disadvantage, and sometimes endanger, colour-blind people. The thesis The Machine postulates that colour-blind people – comprising approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of females (Lewis et al., 1990) – are marginalized by such practices. It argues that this group could benefit from a design strategy that enhances the communicative potential and visibility of colour. The proposed strategy involves embedding pattern into potentially confusing colours such as red and green. The embedded pattern would function for colour-blind people as an additional clue to the identity of these colours. The thesis contends that while colour alone can be confusing for colour-blind people, patterned colour could offer a solution with a wide range of possible applications. The research aims of The Machine include: developing a system of patterned colour; creating a wordless picture book that demonstrates the effectiveness of the system; constructing a narrative around the condition of red-green colourblindness; and employing visual rhetoric2 to increase awareness of and sensitivity to colour-blindness among those with full colour vision. The design of the thesis is supported by research in a number of interrelated areas. These include the history of pattern post-1850, particularly in Western culture; precedents for patterned colour; and visual rhetoric in story-telling. The research also incorporates an analysis of the defining characteristics of ten late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century wordless picture books. The thesis is further supported by applied research into patterned colour and visual rhetoric. The Machine aims to benefit colour-blind people, a significant minority group whose visual needs are currently inadequately met. In addition, it proposes broadening the cultural role and significance of pattern. Moreover, by incorporating informative elements usually associated with pedagogic material, it aspires to extend the boundaries of the fantasy picture book genre. 1 Visual communication (n): communication that relies on vision (Wordnet, 2006). 2 Visual rhetoric: the use of visual techniques, such as the creation of visually ‘engaging’ characters, as a means of persuading a target audience
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    A small drop of ink, falling like dew : an investigation into the process of interpreting the written word into an illustration : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2008) McAuley, Michael
    This investigation’s origin is one born of pragmatism. It seeks to improve the teaching and learning of illustration, a visual communication design discipline. The specific focus is text adaptation and the process involved in interpreting the written word into a visual image. Common characteristics of poor interpretation, identified after many years of teaching illustration, are the creation of images which are either based on relatively insignificant details from a text, or so removed from a text’s theme, that decoding an image’s intended meaning becomes extremely difficult. This study therefore seeks to provide insight into the process of interpreting written text into an illustration and offer some suggestions as to how novice illustration students can improve their skills in this process. The chosen methodology of this study is action research, and within a constructivistinterpretivist framework, work carried out with three groups of novice students, during three linked cycles of investigation has been analysed. Two separate, but linked learning strategies were developed incrementally. These can be thought of as thinking tools. The first one relates to comprehension of text while the second strategy focuses on analogical reasoning as an idea generation method. The data suggests that these learning strategies were successful, allowing students to develop more awareness of their design process and also create concepts which captured the essence of a text. This suggests that, while designing does involve tacit, intuitive thought, explicit methods of thinking can also assist design creativity. Much of the literature on design suggests that a paradigm shift is taking place within the field, in education as well as design practice. One of the characteristics of this change is a call for design educators to develop an epistemology of what constitutes design knowledge. This thesis is an addition to that ongoing search for understanding.