Announcing the Thesis Book Project

Design Observer, in partnership with Blurb, is excited to announce a new initiative for BA/BFA and MA/MFA design students.

We’re calling it The Thesis Book Project.

The thesis book—the final deliverable for most graduating students in design programs—is a dazzling encapsulation of intense study: an entire body of work researched, crafted, written, designed, edited, and bound into a single volume. Despite the fact that these books represent countless hours and result in hard-earned expertise, they are too often automatically relegated to archives and libraries where they are seldom, if ever, seen again.

We want to change this. With this new initiative, we invite graduating Master's and Bachelor's level students to share their thesis books on a new site launched this week, where all the details for entering books are provided.

Simply put, we have three main goals:

—To celebrate the Blurb-produced thesis book as an example of design excellence

—To honor the student—as author and maker—at the center of this discussion

—To elevate the importance of book design and engage a wider audience

We hope that you will enter your books, share the site with your students and friends, and help Design Observer and Blurb validate the the great efforts put forth in student work.

Top image: Hong Wei, , Maryland College Institute of Art, 2014 MFA
Homepage image Javier Lopez, Young Sun Compton, Luiz Ludwig, Maryland College Institute of Art, 2013 MFA

Design Observer was founded by Michael Bierut, and Jessica Helfand.

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