Institute of Art Design + Technology Dún Laoghaire
Ireland’s campus for the Creative Industries

Megan Coleman 

BA [Hons] Visual Communication Design

Hello, I’m Megan! I’m so excited to be exhibiting my work alongside my classmates. I'm a visual thinker, problem solver and collaborator. Research and strategy are a big part of my process, and I'm passionate about creating design solutions which are concept driven, impactful and user centred. I enjoy working across both print and screen appliactions, and bring confident typography, storytelling and UX considerations to all my projects. I was delighted to have the opportunity to intern with the amazing team at Image Now last year, and am looking forward to putting everything that I've learnt at IADT into practice in the real world!

Project Description

Hiatus. Going offline together.
With social media platforms becoming more addictive everyday, there is a desire among young people to spend less time on online. However, as so much of our lives happen on social media, there is a big a fear of missing out assoicated with switching off. Hiatus aims to take the fomo out of going offline. The app facilitates a collective break from social media, whereby teens and young people connect with their friends and collectively decide to block specific social media apps. When a group screen time limit has been reached, everybody in the group is blocked from their social media apps for a short time. Hiatus is a fun and collaborative way of breaking free from the cycle of endless scrolling on social media.


Extended thesis

“East is East, and West is West:” How Western media shapes ideas of empathy, apathy, and identity through its representation of Syrian refugees.
My thesis examines the curation of empathy and apathy in the representations of the Syrian refugee crisis in Western media, focusing on print publications from the UK, France, and America. It argues that these representations are both shaped and reflected by Western ideas of identity. This thesis demonstrates the power of the media in shaping public discourse through the argument that, while the media predominantly expressed empathetic rhetoric towards the refugee crisis, it also accelerated anti-refugee rhetoric. The front covers of publications such as Charlie Hebdo, National Geographic, and The Economist, among others, provide visual evidence for the themes and arguments presented.