An inflection point is defined as the moment on a graph in which significant change occurs. It is a tipping point, before the line changes in direction, flexing and curving towards an unknown destination.

We currently stand at a point of inflection, as we have many times before. Throughout our lives, we have reached many milestones—from the moment we took our first steps, to our first days at RISD, we have continuously changed and evolved. And with us, the world has changed too.

Our lives have recently been marked by major political and social shifts on a global scale, which have pushed us to respond with agility and endurance to these changing times both within our personal affairs as well as our design practices. As graphic designers, we cannot ignore them—from the social movements of Black Lives Matter and pursuits of racial justice, equity, and equality, to the impact of COVID-19 on our education and relationships—the world we live in informs who we are and what we do.

At our present moment, we, the RISD GD Class of 2021, sit at this tipping point between the end of our education and the beginning of our careers; a known and unknown, a collective past reflected against a divergent future. As we gather both physically and digitally, Point of Inflection sets out to not only serve as a document to our work, with its various points of perspectives and approaches, but to also function as a point of reflection. Through this show, we celebrate our growth and shifts that mark the time spent both in and out of the department, in hopes to map the spaces between, to honor the people we’ve met, the connections we’ve made, and the things that we’ve learned.

This website was made by Nicholas Park and Serena Shen.