Nicole Simon

BA Honors | Visual Communication Design

DESIGNER BIO

My Senior Thesis Project was born out of a passion for my two areas of study: Visual Communication Design (VCD) and the Program of Liberal Studies (PLS). VCD requires technical skills as well as strategic creative thinking in order to communicate ideas effectively. PLS is a rigorous Great Books program centered on discussion of classic texts from Western literature. Their combination is somewhat unusual–traditional and modern; written and visual; established canon and creative innovation. While the dichotomy of the two disciplines is not lost on me, I find that my two majors actually complement each other more than they contradict one another. PLS is about reading and analyzing the most interesting ideas in human history. VCD is about taking complex concepts conveying them in the most economical, aesthetic, and impactful way possible. My Senior Thesis provided me with the opportunity to fully explore this intersection of VCD and PLS.

DESIGNER STATEMENT

Thinker is a leadership formation platform that seeks to make Great Books education more accessible to a new generation of readers, community builders, innovators, and entrepreneurs. It serves as a design intervention addressing a leadership crisis in our country. 77% of Americans think that poor leadership is the biggest problem facing our society today. We need to reimagine our conception of American leadership so as to prepare today’s young people to be informed, thoughtful, and productive leaders of our future. Thinker does this by revitalizing liberal arts education through an engaging and immersive platform that increases accessibility of the Great Books.