New Slang Thesis Project

This was my culminating project at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Post-Baccalaureate program in Graphic Design, created around the theme Bellwether. My project investigates the way that slang can act as a bellwether of change, with new language often emerging at the forefront of cultural movements. A selection of American slang is presented that moves chronologically from the 1920s through the early 2000s. 

The accompanying short video weaves together archival material — radio, film, television, photography, and music — seeking to capture a sense of the zeitgeist of the moment in which new slang appeared in popular culture, when the words were fresh and potent. Together these words tell a history, chronicling major historical events, rapidly shifting technology, and changing systems and ideologies.

I used the typeface Knockout across both the poster and the video to give the words a bold, graphic presence. Its condensed forms allowed the language to stack, shift, and flow in dynamic and expressive ways, much like slang itself.