Alshawaf, Eiman2019-03-132019-03-132017-11https://hdl.handle.net/11299/202114University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. December 2017. Major: Design, Housing and Apparel. Advisor: Brad Hokanson. 1 computer file (PDF); vi, 191 pages.New digital imaging practices have risen with the emergence of image-based social media. iPhoneography as a contemporary imaging making practice is altering how we make and read images. What is also unprecedented is the emergence of aesthetics that are both visual and social in their nature, which both are clearly manifested on the user-friendly platform Instagram. While new visual aesthetics are rooted in the new attraction to vintage filters, social aesthetics manifest in embracing the mundane of human life as a source for visual communication. This qualitative dissertation attempts to further investigate how using a smartphone as the sole device for image-making and dissemination has encouraged experimental image-making and influenced the field of visual communication.enDesignDigital ImagingInstagramiPhoneographySocial MediaVisual CommunicationThesis or Dissertation