Graphic design plays an important role in modern culture by communicating information, shaping messages, and evoking emotional responses from audiences. Although designers primarily rely on visual elements to achieve this, communication often extends beyond the boundaries of sight alone. In many design tasks, the challenge lies precisely in how to graphically express qualities that are normally perceived through other senses. In practice, this is particularly evident in product packaging design, advertising, and the deign of brand identities, where designers use colors, shapes, textures, and composition to evoke sensations related to smell, taste, sound, or touch. An interesting insight into connecting and translating information between the different sensory domains is offered by synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon in which the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway automatically and spontaneously triggers an experience in another, unrelated sensory pathway. Although most designers do not experience clinical synesthesia, synesthetic approaches can nevertheless represent a useful creative strategy in the development of multisensory graphic solutions.
The aim of this master’s thesis is to explore the relationship between graphic design and synesthesia, examine their intersection throughout history and across different artistic fields, and investigate the possibilities of applying synesthetic approaches in contemporary graphic design. The main objective of the thesis is to develop and present, through an infographic, a method of synesthetic design that can serve designers either as a tool for creating various graphic products or as a stimulus for the creative process. In this way, the thesis contributes to understanding the role of synesthetic approaches in graphic design and provides a basis for their further research and application in design practice.
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