MINA CAGLAR

SERIFO GLYPH

Zine, Experimental Design, Type Design

Serico is a calligraphy style font that rekindles the past, designed with smooth shapes and crisp and precise strokes, introducing a organic hand-done touch. It supports one hundred fourteen languages and was designed by Stefano Giliberti. The glyphs I designed were inspired by the angular qualities and thin strokes Serico has.

WHAT IS SEX?

Experimental Graphics, Editorial

I grew up in a culture of erotophobia—the fear of nudity, sexual images, homosexuality, and sex education. Even though these topics were taboo, I grew up seeing people get judged for being “too much.” Too emotional, too muscular, too edgy, too bossy, too weak, too feminine … the list goes on. I’ve seen people repressed from expressing their sexual identities, resulting in generational shame and trauma. Author Napoleon Hill said, “Sexual Energy is the Creative Energy of virtually all geniuses.” Yet, as a culture, we've criticized individuals for simply wanting to exist and express themselves freely. Shame is a huge part of what keeps us from creating unique, intimate, and sexual relationships with ourselves and others.

In this thesis, I challenge our perception of what sex is and hope to educate people on sexual well-being. Whether with a partner(s) or with yourself, sexual well-being means the quality of sexual relationships, and it matters because it directly affects one's confidence and overall happiness.

My mission with this project is to build sexual literacy and to remind people that our sexual energies are our creative energies and that we should have an open dialog on sex. What is Sex? is a collection of experimental posters that challenges people’s idea of what sex can be and uses sexually charged ambiguous imagery that focuses on the human body. I hope to cause an uncomfortable confrontation with whoever comes across these guerrilla-style posters and to encourage self-reflection and open discussion about what sex can be.

SOLO

Digital Product Design, UX-UI Immigrating to a new country can be a challenging and disorienting experience. Even for the most fortunate it's often confusing and lonely, and the person might settle for a tribe or a relationship in order to fill the void. Therefore, I created an app that embraces becoming one's own companion first by sharing a wide variety of location-based activities. The individual discovers themselves through exploring their surroundings.

In this workshop, I developed my own project through a process of research, defining a problem, proposing and validating possible solutions, and used formal design skills to realize them. I explored the potential of design beyond simple aesthetic problem-solving and used empathy to come to my final product.

CASTLE STERKENBURG

Illustration, Zine

Wayfinding design helps contextualize humans within physical space. At closer glance, many signs and wayfinding systems also carry within them deeper stories with cultural, economical, political and historical associations. For this project, I selected a 13th century castle, Castle Sterkenburg. The castle is currently being used as a hotel and a wedding venue.

I visited Castle Sterkerburg and took videos and photos of unique shapes all across the castle. Later, I selected five distinct locations and designed a unique symbol to compliment the environment. Lastly, I created a guide book that tells the story of Castle Sterkerburg and included a map with the locations of each symbol.

ANATOLIA

Brand identity, Campaign

Anatolia is an imaginary brand that I’ve created that aims to attack one of the core problems of femicides, which is the feeling of vulnerability in women. Anatolia wants to help build confidence within Turkish women. Therefore, women can see the repetitive pattern that domestic violence has and start to build a better future for themselves. Anatolia achieves this by four main objectives:

A website that allows Turkish women to sell their own products world-wide.
Creates jobs for women in lower socioeconomic locations.
Profits from the merchandise gets donated to platforms that fight for women’s rights.
Organizes an entrepreneurs event for Turkish women to socialize and build their own network.

AMS AIRPORT

Identity design, Wayfinding

Airports are represented with a unique, three-letter code known as an IATA station code. I choose the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport with the IATA code, AMS. Using these three letters, I created a dynamic mark that responds to a series of rules and conditions. Later, I demonstrate how these conditions alter the mark by showing at least 5 different states.

AN INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO FOR GROWTH

Zine, Experimental Design, Web Design

I’ve created a zine inspired by the text, An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth by Bruce Mau. Since the text focuses on growth, I thought the accordion book format would fit. I also looked into the symbolism in each bullet point and used found imagery to compliment the writing. Lastly, I’ve created an interactive website in response to the manifesto. I wanted an easy method to distribute the manifesto online. Each title has its own moveable tab and the image bellow. I wanted the audience to play around with the text and see the changes that happen once they discover the button.