After arriving in Boise in the summer of 2024 to teach graphic design, Assistant Professor Mahshad Faridfar’s first experiences were of wildfire.
“Even my department chair was contacting me. He said ‘I’m sorry about the smoke,’” Faridfar said. “I told him, ‘it’s not your fault. It’s part of nature.’”
Now in his second year on the visual arts faculty at Boise State, Faridfar is joining an interdisciplinary team of researchers on a $4 million wildfire grant from the National Science Foundation. The team, led by Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Mojtaba Sadegh, will explore the role that prescribed burns play in developing a healthy relationship with wildfire.
Like most investigating teams working on National Science Foundation grants, this one consists mostly of scientists. As an artist and graphic designer, Faridfar brings a unique skillset to the group that will transform the impact of their research.
“I, as a visual storyteller, can tell you a story about science that is easy for other people to understand,” Faridfar said. “And it could be interesting for them to observe that story.”
Faridfar’s involvement will elevate the way the group presents its data. He will take the typically-bland charts and graphs that fill scientific research papers and transform them into powerful data visualizations that share the story the science supports.
“You have to give a different character and personality to different charts,” Faridfar said. He can do that with new technologies available to graphic designers today, like motion graphics and generative design.
Faridfar’s background is in traditional graphic design. He earned a BFA at Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University in Iran and worked in an advertising agency for 10 years. “I was responsible for editorial design, annual reports for large financial institutions and their subsidiaries, and also the Art Director of Negahe Sharghi Magazine, which covered topics including marketing and advertising.”
Those professional experiences helped him refine his skills, but they also left him wanting more. “I got bored because it was too much work and it was super stressful,” he said. “I also realized the possibilities of generative design and I wanted to experiment with that.”
Those experiences led him to pursue his MFA in graphic design at Oklahoma State University. There he produced his thesis using generative design and visual storytelling within the context of Iranian migration. Shortly after graduation, he joined the graphic design faculty in Boise State’s School of the Arts.
The wildfire team will begin its research soon. Watch this space for opportunities to see Faridfar’s graphic design work in that project.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under award number 2521103.
“Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.”