I begin this thesis with a brief overview of mnemonics, and I return to these methods throughout the investigation because they represent the logical and illogical, and fundamentally imaginative aspects of memory that I confront in my work.

Memory is rooted in methods of remembering or forgetting. John Berger, in his essay, “Drawn to that Moment,” says, “The static image of a drawing or painting is the result of the opposition of two dynamic processes. Disappearances opposed by assemblage. If, for diagrammatic convenience, one accepts the metaphor of time as a flow, a river, then the act of drawing, by driving upstream, achieves the stationary,” (422). Similarly, I have set up the structure of my investigation along an axis of remembering and forgetting. Each case study is the result of these two forces acting against one another, at times favoring the action of remembering, and other times favoring forgetting. Towards the remembering pole are projects that rely upon accumulation of data, and towards the forgetting pole are those that rely upon editing and the truncation of data.

The case studies that I choose to elaborate on are works completed at Rhode Island School of Design which explore specific aspects of memory that inform my thesis development, including mnemonics, landmarks, patterns, rhythms, collective memory, representations, and abbreviations. This is a collection of small views into a topic that is infinitely broad and expansive. Incorporating aspects of memory into graphic design projects is my attempt to activate contexts, situations, and opportunities for user participation. Objects are meaningless without interpretation; therefore, to identify methods that invite users into the creation of narratives can be a worthwhile pursuit for designers.