Rachel Byrne
With the public perception of safety in Dublin at a low in recent years, Illuminate is an initiative aiming to reimagine how the city feels after dark. For one weekend in November, typically overlooked and underfunded areas in the city such as isolated streets, tunnels, and late-night transport zones will be transformed into vibrant event spaces through lights, music, projections, performances, and public interaction. During the celebrations in these under-resourced spaces, visitors will be encouraged, through interactive installations and later the Illuminate app, to share observations, experiences and ideas about the changes they would like to see implemented, helping to collectively reshape the city through community and collaboration.
In the inter-war period of America (1918-1939), domestic beauty devices rose to prominence and through their portrayal in modernist lifestyle magazines, redefined the body, identity and home of the early 20th century woman. This extended thesis is an exploration into this phenomenon and connects the reliance of the period on mechanical and scientific discoveries and inventions, to the visual advertisements of these devices and products. This era called for the immersion of the user into the machine and in turn led to a rich visual reconstruction of the woman through the depiction of electricity and power. Among the lifestyles magazines explored and dissected are Vogue, Ladies’ Home Journal, The New Yorker and The Chicagoan. Many of the design elements developed around these products, and displayed in these mediums still exist today, with this period setting the foundation for the technologically reliant beauty devices that exists in the contemporary.
Hi, I’m Rachel! I’m a Dublin-based multidisciplinary designer with a passion for branding, motion, strategy and user experience design. I enjoy working across both print and digital spaces, creating bold visual systems that balance research-driven thinking with experimentation and creativity. My time in IADT has allowed me to embrace both my creative and analytical side, teaching me skills such as end-to-end design thinking and creative problem solving, traits which I bring to every project I undertake. I am a naturally curious person and am always eager to learn and to expand my creative skillset. Last year, I studied abroad in Hochschule Mainz where I honed my skills in typography and motion design.
