Becky's MPP

Do we need a more meaningful and appropriate form
of personal memorial in 21st century western society?
Can design be used to offer a solution to the problems
surrounding memorials today?

I am interested in the areas of: identity, audience and society.
The visible word: text, type and language studies. I want to
study the relevance, role and form of personal memorials in
contemporary western society and challenge the existing
visual language of memorials today.

I feel this is a subject area that is completely overlooked by
the design industry, we all die, why are the mass market
solutions so ugly and ill considered?

I also want to question the fundamental nature of the
memorial by exploring the longevity and durability of
messages through the experimentation of the media
and structure of typography.

My audience is the entire UK population alive today.
My project will be religion neutral although the nature
of this directs it towards an audience of agnostics and
atheists. I do not intend to confront or provoke any
belief system. Because I will be using design to explore
this area my audience will be people that are aware of
and interested in quality design.


Based on the visual language of an ‘iconic’ chair poster created for Knoll by NB Studio, the piece questions the role and aesthetic of memorials. Why are these things so ugly? Not enough quality design is invested in the area of ‘death’, yet we all die and the very nature of the ‘memorial’ means that they are the pieces of visual communication designed for longevity. Shouldn’t memorials be iconic?