Textual punctuation — those common marks that pace a text — are rarely static. They allow a message to flow, providing space and also emphasis. While words hold the stage, humble commas and periods coax the message.

This thesis urges another orientation to these tools, with the graphic designer assuming the role of one who principally punctuates. In Parentheses Asterisk Ellipses, punctuation becomes the primary driver of meaning — a perfect technology for rich associative networks of history, type, and the social. Tracing the grain of these forms, Parentheses Asterisk Ellipses offers a close reading of the three marks in its title. By examining this visual grammar, I hope to expose the marginal operations of graphic design and propose interrogative devices for a developing formal practice.

This website pulls together three components of the RISD MFA thesis. If you click on the boxes below [↓], you can read the essay and interviews that comprise the thesis, or you can view some of the work that I've catalogued in the book. If you would like to see the full typeset thesis, you can click on Parentheses above, which consolidates this site into a printable book.