“Design is always taught through the Western lens,” says Ron Alabanza, Senior Practitioner in Residence Art. “There are almost no academic resources on the subject [of non-Western graphic design].”
Alabanza is working with three Bridgewater College students to develop such a resource thanks to The Research Experience @ Bridgewater (TREB), a donor-funded initiative that supports Bridgewater faculty and undergraduate students in conducting summer research projects.
The idea for this research stems from Alabanza’s Non-Western Graphic Design (ART 202) class, which was created in 2022. He wants students, regardless of their major, to learn how other countries and cultures use visual design and how that differs from the typical Western conventions. In class, students choose a country and write a research paper that becomes the basis for their visual design projects later in the semester. The success of the class pushed Alabanza to take his idea further with the TREB.
“It is time to open my own creative horizons as a professional and as an educator,” he says. “I want to explore visual design from other cultures to not only enrich my own knowledge, but also to share this knowledge with the larger Bridgewater community and beyond.”
Three students from Alabanza’s fall 2024 Non-Western Graphic Design class have joined him in his TREB research: Tess Dean ’26, a digital media arts major; Amir Suboh ’26, an international student and art major; and Kiya Whitaker ’26, another digital media arts major.
Their goal is to expand on the research conducted in the Non-Western Graphic Design class with further in-depth reading and by interviewing students, professors and practitioners from their chosen countries with experience in the design world. This research will be compiled into a white paper to be presented at Bridgewater’s spring ASPIRE and the University and College Designers Association (UCDA) spring design conference in May 2026. The long-term goal of the project, which was Alabanza’s goal before the inception of his class, is to publish a book on non-Western graphic design.
Alabanza, as the son of Filipino immigrants, has a profound interest in visual design in the Philippines.
“There is a compelling history of art and design in the Philippines, and I am drawn to finding out more about where it comes from; to study it is to honor it,” he says.
Dean is studying India, while Whitaker has chosen Algeria. Suboh is exploring his country of origin, Jordan. Suboh’s graphic design “upbringing” has been predominantly Western, and he says he hopes to gain further insight on how his home country differentiates.
“I hope the results of this research will influence my own practice for the better and stay with me as knowledge I can share with others,” Suboh says.
“Given the current scarcity of academic resources focused on Non-Western design, our team recognizes a unique opportunity to contribute as some of the leading voices in this area of study,” Dean says.
– Kiya Whitaker ’26
8/13/25
