Ian Corrigan

Design Seminar Proposal

Music and design share many things in common. In music we can hear rhythm, 

tempo, rhyme, pitch, repetition, structure or dissonance. These elements need 

to all work together for a song to successfully take shape. In design, we can 

see many of these same elements at play that work together to create strong 

design. Visually, rhythm, tempo and repetition can be found in design work, 

though we may not refer to them using music terminology. Structure is present 

in the framework of a design’s layout, and dissonance can be used for effect, 

much like it is in music. Pitch can easily refer to color or position, and rhyme 

relates to repetition or similarity in general.

Based off of these and other observations, I would like to pursue a thesis that 

makes a direct, systematic connection between sound and imagery. I would like 

to develop a system that translates design elements directly into audio format, 

writing pieces of music by creating simple but visually pleasing designs that will 

become a score to a piece of music that I will then record and play back. I think 

that with enough research into music theory, various systems of notation, and 

visual representation of sound, I should be able to produce pieces of music that 

sound beautiful because the designs that wrote them were beautiful. I also imagine 

doing the exact opposite system - allowing a piece of music to create interesting 

and beautiful design using the same systematic approach. If my system can 

translate both ways, I feel that I will have shown without a doubt that music and 

design not only share countless commonalities, but that the connections are so 

uniquely integrated that either one may produce the other in a strong, beautiful 

and clear way.