.: maria rogal : designer + educator :.

Associate Professor of Graphic Design
School of Art & Art History
University of Florida
PO Box 115801
Gainesville, FL 32611-5801 USA

Research Interests
design theory/semiotics, ethnography, typography/information design, intercultural design, popular culture

MFA
Design + Visual Communication, 1995
Virginia Commonwealth University

Brief Biography
I spent my formative years living in the US and internationally --traveling widely in southeast Asia, Latin America, and west Africa-- and living in Laos, Peru, and Liberia. My trans-cultural perspective influences my work, which focuses on the relationship between culture and design and how we can leverage the potential of design, broadly defined, to positively shape the human experience. I was awarded a Fulbright-Garcia Robles Scholar grant (2006-2007) and a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad grant (2007) to conduct research in the Yucatan region of Mexico and teach in the Social Communication program at the Universidad AutÛnoma de Yucatan (www.uady.mx). During this time I led the development of the identity, information design projects, and comprehensive website for the department of immigration for INDEMAYA (Instituto para el Desarrollo de la Cultura Maya) for Yucatan state. It was through these projects that I returned my focus to design for socio-economic development and am now working with groups in rural communities in the Yucatan peninsula.

After my extended research period in Mexico, I returned to UF in spring 2008 energized by opportunities that exist and have yet to be developed -- for collaboration, exchange, partnerships, design, and innovation. At this writing, the majority of my research is situated in southern Mexico, where I explore and analyze the visual representation of indigenous cultures; work on entrepreneurial projects with indigenous cooperatives; and develop design materials and products with indigenous constituencies that aid in demystifying and breaking down stereotypes. My projects continue to become more interdisciplinary and I use design as a conduit to work in areas of intercultural communication, cultural anthropology, environmental ecology, technology, globalization, entrepreneurship, as well as social, environmental, and cultural sustainability.

In addition to working with scholars, students, and government officials, I work with members of organizations in rural communities to support social and economic development. My writing includes ìMexico: My, Your, Our Fantasy: The Problem of Flatness in Intercultural Representations of Mexicanidad" (International Journal of Intercultural Communication), "Cultural Hybridization in the Visual Vernacular" (European Academy of Design), and "South of the Border...Down Mexico Way" (Visible Language). My creative design work has appeared in several national and international juried exhibitions in the UK, Hungary, Cuba, and the US. In 2003 I was the recipient of a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship to MÈxico and Costa Rica. I received my MFA in Design and Visual Communication from Virginia Commonwealth University (1995) where my projects focused on design, popular culture, and social responsibility. I received a BA in Political Science and History from Villanova University (1988). Before returning to study design at the University of Maryland, I worked at the Inter-American Foundation. My design studio experience includes work with firms in the Washington, DC area, for non-profit organizations, and, most recently, with Sapient (Atlanta office) on the design of large-scale websites for international clients, including the Dutch bank ING. Prior to coming to the University of Florida in 1997, I taught at the University of North Texas.