Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Alex Ducie 

BA [Hons] Visual Communication Design

Hi there! I'm Alex and I am cuckoo for Design. I love the design process and thinking outside the box. I am drawn to communicating ideas and concepts in fun and interesting design responses, typography, and visual directions. I like to bring function and fun together in design. I like design challenges and always think "How can I make this fun" to bring out the charm of a project. I enjoy the iteration process and experimenting with ideas and new design techniques. I specialise in "cute" design as I like to call it but also specialise in character design, copy writing, branding, 3D and motion design. I hope you like what you see and I would be happy to show you more!

Cheerie " The power of you can do it "

Cheerie is an app for smart phones. Cheerie is an in your pocket cheerleader companion there to help you keep a positive mind and improve your well being. Cheerie is cheering for you! The app is designed to provide users with a go to source for
positive mindset, motivation, de-stressing and a source of positive news and for the user to be cheered on by Cheerie.


Selling Cute “ Cute Culture & Enduring Feelings for Inanimate Objects ”

My thesis focuses on the concept of Selling cute in a commercial space and how the design of cute objects or products influences or invokes a reaction in us as humans. I explore this by examining the history of cuteness and our contemporary understanding of cuteness through visual analysis of cute objects. I also focus on the concept of "Kawaii" the Japanese version of cute which has a far deeper meaning and look to "Kawaii culture" in Japan as a method of explaining our fascination with cuteness. I also explore the relation between cuteness and affect theory and how affect can explain our immediate and innate attraction to cute things. I also examine how cute product design has evolved over time and how contemporary cute product manufacturers are aware of our attraction to cute things but also manipulate this attraction into an emotional connection so we feel emotions for objects and thus desire to consume them.