Parsons School of Design
BFA Communication Design
Thesis 2016

Parsons School of Design
BFA Communication Design
Thesis 2016

A Formal Analysis
Douglas Escalante

A Formal Analysis is an analytic book based on a simple premise, that the search for meaning creates more meaning, ad infinitum. The impetus for this inquiry arose out of an interest in the way we as humans perceive and discover meaning.

A Formal Analysis is then a demonstration of a system through which the meaning of any visual object could be understood. If followed in its entirety, the system allows you to conceptually take apart an object and study each of it’s visual elements in isolation. The objective is to study each element thoroughly, allowing you to achieve a deeper understanding of what that object means as a whole. A Formal Analysis is then a demonstration of this system and the kinds of understandings that can be achieved with it. In other words, the book is a physical representation of the system.

Not only does this book serve as a collection of examples, but it takes the system one step further in making connections between different visual elements that the system only considers in isolation; again leaving you with a more holistic understanding of the object. And while this system only considers objects free of context, the book allows you to consider each element of those objects with other outside elements in mind; providing context and expanding your understanding of the object 
as a whole.

Selwa Abd

Ashley Seung Hyun Ahn

Natasha Alia

Aviva Atri

Marissa Baca

Miles Barretto

Lili Marie Bravi

Olivia Brodbar

Carla Campos-Rodriguez

Jiaying Cao

Robert Capaldo

Janet Chan

Purwa Chauhan

Patrick Chen

Sarada Chen

Linette Cheong

Eunsil Choi

Sung Ji Choi

Brittany Cutrone

Arianna De Gasperis

Paola Delucca

Rubina Melati Diran

Ann Dwyer

Dilan Emre

Douglas Escalante

Joshua Estrella

Joe Louis Evans

Marius Franc

Ceilidh Fraser

Gaby Garuz

Jiayi Ge

Stella Giavos

Meher Goel

Em Grey

Alyssa Gruber

Yu Bean Han

Cherish Hsiaohui Ho

Jasmine Hong

Jay Hsiao

Irene Hwang

Louise Pei Foong Hyde

Sanghyun Ji

Sharon (Eun Rae) Kim

Lisa Kim

Sharon Kim

David Klein

Teresa Koh

Da Min Lee

Lauren Elizabeth Lee

Stephanie Sumin Lee

Dana Li

Haowei Lin

Lucas Long

Lisa Looye

Zongliang Lou

Ankita Menon

Lauren Miller

Katie Minchak

Isabela Montalvo

Nathalie Moreno

Samah Mudasar

Shirin Muradova

Supisara Ngaovithunvong

Gabriela Nisenbaum

Inyegumena Nosegbe

Zoe Oleshansky

Yeon Soo Park

Anna Peditto

Pamela Pombo

Lisa Sakai Quinley

Josephine Rahadi

Sarah Rose Reichert

Ana Julia Rodriguez

Rick Rodriguez

Fernanda Romero

Hannah Rosen-Hamilton

Ivana Roumiantzeff-Pachkevitch

Taylor Russo

Ariella Saragossi

Nengneng Shen

Kripa Sial

Maurann Stein

Kurt Stives

Minji Sung

Vanshika Swaika

Nicholas Tanzman

Ana Cecilia Thompson Motta

Joel Tschong

Yue Wang

Laurie Waxman

Kevin Wen

Yingmeng Xu

Anna Yamoto

Jiawei Yan

Vivian Yang

Xiao Q. Yang

McLayne Ycmat

Evelyn Zhang

Xuan Zhang