Parsons School of Design
BFA Communication Design
Thesis 2022

Practice: Fold, Unfold.
Cecily Li

When interacting with objects in the physical world, we take advantage of skills developed over our lifetimes. The ordinariness of paper as an object produces complexity in content, material, and format. These inherent paper qualities challenge the relationship between the ephemeral and the ethereal, especially significant when a mundane object can be transformed to a state with context.

The folding of paper expands its potential; the folds make apparent its elementary tactility. The daily handling practices of folding paper surround its use: the enclosure of envelopes, the unfolding of maps for navigation, and the marking of contents with foldable tabs.

The experience of folding and unfolding paper carries messages and meanings through the interaction. Ideas of psychogeography are explored while the papers are folded—this reflects one’s response to a place in real or imagined space. The rapid passage through points of varied ambiance simulates the serendipitous alignments of the folded paper.

The practice creates these specific books: an accordion book of folded alphabets; a series of envelopes unweaving movies by Jacque Tati; a book re-presenting concepts from Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and Theory of the Dérive by Guy Debord. Additionally, a collection of paper gadgets serve as experiments to support and sharpen themes and actions previously mentioned here. These gadgets explore how disparate elements relate to the book and the possibilities the page, spread, and sequences reveal in the context of book design.

Eesha Agrawal

Paul Ahern

Aishah S. Ahmad

Luna Alatorre

Nadia Alhejailan

Seher Anand

Maren Hannah Anscheidt

Kayla Marie Isabelle Areglado

Zeynep Atik

Vee Authari

Amaya Avila

Vlora Bajrushi

Sophia Beceiro

Ilan Belokon

Madeline Benfield

Sophia Bevacqua

Sia Bishnoi

Tarra Boroumandi

Paul Brock

Sofia Cacho Sousa

Eunice Chan

Malini Chandra

Jacey Chen

Jamie Chen

Nico Chilla

Samantha Chun

Erin Clausen-McGee

Stephanie Cui

Chenguang Deng

Claire Dong

Shaanzya Dongre

Miranda Elder

Adelai Evans

Elizabeth Fan

Nicho Ferez

Emiliano Flores

Emily Force

Logan Frances

Jen Fu

Juriel Furukawa

Chloe Gad

Camila Giraldo

Avni Goel

Jess Gooding

Amanda Guo

Ethan Halpern

Aijia Hao

Nathan Harrison-Bokor

Meini He

Ashley Heo

Olivia Hepner

Joy Hsu

Yuhan Hu

Diwen Huang

Leanne Huang

Xinyi Huang

Dakoda Hughes

Hana Jacobsen

Emma Jaeger

Zeid Jaouni

Vivian Ji

Zhiyuan Ji

Hyunji Jo

Avery Kang

Simran Kanwar

Nicole Kapper

Sarah Kendric

Ashley Kim

Kyutae Kim

Sarah Kim

Veronica Kim

Nitya Kumar

Ivy Kurniawan

Danielle Lair Ferrari

Hana Lanzkowsky

Yea Sun Lee

Yingyi Lei

Cecily Li

Weihe Li

Zimo Li

Vivian Lin

Yiwen Lin

Kai Ling Kelly Liu

Zi Yun Liu

Nora Lombardo

John Luo

Patrick Yang MacDonald

Germaine Mai

Rachael Mattison

Arman McLean

Alex Mi

Ayesha Mirza

Noyonika Nath

Staicy Ngongu

Khe Nguyen

Helen Niu

Calvin Ogden

Sonya Olomskaya

Aly Orescanin

Alina Osborn

Hyunji Park

Min Jung Park

Albert Parson

Carmen Pleitez

Emily Popovitz

Haiqingqing Qi

Amaarah Rahman

Audrey Razak

Olivia Ries

Daniela Rodriguez

Eva Roso

Erin Rusek

Elizabeth Shavrick

Disha Shetty

Freeze (Jiating) Shi

Sophie Shron

Alisa Su

Haozheng Sui

Ziyi Tang

Oriana Teitelbaum Zwerdling

Ren (Karen) Thomas

Zachary Tinubu-Karch

Brigitte Ugarte

Julia Vidal

Tia Wagh

Stephanie Wang

Zhanyi Wang

Ali Waqar

Mary Wedd

River Wildmen

Duncan Williams

Amy Wong

Jiayi (Cassie) Xu

Shuming Xu

You Xu

YoonJi Yang

Allison Yick

Yejoon Yoo

Shamail Zahir

Arianne Zhang

Victoria Zhang

Regulus Zhao

Xinyi Zhao