vis ad::senior thesis considerations

The senior thesis project is a topic that I've been grappling with for quite some time. I’ve written a number of questions that I’ve asked myself: What do I feel passionately about? What message do I want to send about design? Where do I see myself in regards to being an advocate? What is my place in this world as a designer? Do I want to pursue something I’m comfortable with, or try something radically new? But this exercise only engendered more questions than answers. After a time, I came to realize that I'm not much of an advocate of anything. This realization was a sobering one. Like most people, I do care about the state of our environment, and the whole "green" movement, but I wouldn't go so far as to call myself passionate. Our readings in studio have definitely made more aware of issues that we as designers must also consider. The Adbuster article made me realize that we cannot always rely on the clients we work with to set ethical standards. Instead, we have to establish our own. However, as thought-provoking as this proved to be, I don't think I would work with it for an entire semester.
After graduating, I do hope to work with web and interactive graphics. I am deeply fascinated by the level of depth and interaction that can be achieved though flash interfaces, etc. But the coding languages behind it are something of interest as well. (Whether it’s CSS, Ajax, jQuery, simple HTML, Actionscript, etc.)
As a general starting point though, I am avidly interested in new technology and its effects on our design considerations. There are numerous concept platforms on the horizon, many of which could even radically change how we perceive screen-based graphics now. I’ve seen ideas that break past the simple horizontal screen format, and begin to explore more organic to circular forms. There are a lot of designers out there who have been wary how permeated with technology our lives have become. Now, when we design something, we often need to consider how it might appear on a screen as well. Some embrace this. Some run like hell.
But I don't see it as the end of print media. Rather, technology can help to augment our visual experiences. (I’ve often had this “print versus digital” discussion with friends and fellow designers. Discussion has often been heated, often to the point where the two could be likened to archetypal conflicts such as ninjas versus pirates or humans versus mutants.) I’m very hopeful of where we are in design and technology, as well as where this path will eventually lead us as visual artists.