RISD’s Graphic Design MFA thesis is an entity made of multiple parts which form over time: with consistent approaches to persistent ideas, the thesis communicates original research through varied analog, digital, experiential, and spatial forms. The thesis connects individual practices to external systems and structures, and engages in cultural discourse by placing the work in a social context.

The 2021 Graphic Design MFAs are bound together as a cohort—in spirit, in time, and across distances of interrupted space and circumstance. Their theses together represent a range of critical inquiry into form, content, histories, theory, and technology—reflective of our current collective moment, and pointing to diverse possible future practices.