Detailed schedule

Intro

Projects

• Start Sense mapping
• During class, go on a walk for Sense mapping. Create a sketch map with your field notes. Work on creating a more polished version of your sense map, with studio/small group critique.

Illustrator/vector

Topics

• Illustrator intro

Projects

• Continue work on Sense mapping on your own. (You should always be working on projects on your own, through the due date.)
• During class, studio work and final critique for Sense mapping
• Start Graphic translation (see Blackboard)

Reading

• Alissa Walker. Why I Write About Design Now. Good Magazine, May 22, 2010.
• Start reading Graphic Design: The New Basics. The book covers key ideas in visual communication and image-making, illustrated with exemplary student projects. The material will improve your work for this class, make you a better designer, and enhance your employability, but you are accountable to yourself for doing and scheduling the reading.

You need to know how to use the Mac Finder

• Do you know how to manage files and folders on a Mac? (Do you know what the Finder is? You should.) If you have the slightest doubt, start working through sections two and three of the Lynda Computer Literacy for Mac course. (Log in through AU Library/MyAU).

Applying Illustrator

Topics

• Applying Illustrator

Projects

• Bring 15 preliminary sketches of an object, experimenting with position, angle, light/dark areas, shadows and reflections, and shapes. Work by hand—rough is fine.

Reading

• Shea, Andrew. Designing for Social Change: Strategies for Community-Based Graphic Design. New York, N.Y.: Princeton Architectural P., 2012. 111–123. Using graphic language to reach street vendors and to advocate for public interest design. [On Blackboard.]

Software tutorials

Work through these tutorials if you find that you need to develop your software skills. There is no due date; choose as much or as little as you need in order to support your project work. (We will be using Illustrator much more than Photoshop.) Sign in through LinkedIn Learning—see the AU Library if you need help.

• Illustrator basics
• Photoshop basics

Typography

Topics

• Typography introduction

Projects

• Studio/small group critiques for Graphic Translation
• Choose three possible designers for Designer Presentations and enter your choices in a form.

Reading

• Matthew Butterick. Typography 2020: A Special Listicle for America
• If you want more background on Illustrator, look at the Lynda Illustrator tutorial (log in through AU Library/MyAU).

Illustrator tip

• The Bézier Game coaches you through increasingly complex drawings that use the pen tool

Type hierarchy

Topics

• Type hierarchy

Projects

• Print Graphic translation at start of class
• Final critique for Graphic translation (as usual, turn in PDFs on Blackboard)
• Start Type flyer

Reading

• Tip: if you would like more practice with drawing tools, try bezier.method.ac.
• Norton, Peter D. Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT P, 2011. 65–69. How automotive interests created the concept jaywalking through a publicity campaign, redefining the street from being a shared space to as a place for motor vehicles alone. [On Blackboard.]

Grids + alignment

Topics

• Grids + alignment
• Type collage/composition exercise

Projects

• Studio time for Type flyer

Reading

• “First Things First 1964.” Image of original spread.
• “First Things First 2000: a design manifesto.” As published in Emigre #51; live text.
• Poynor, Rick. “First Things First Revisited”. Emigre Magazine, 1999.

Color

Topics

• Color
• Color exercise

Projects

• Studio/critique

Reading

• Working File, Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic (podcast w. transcript)

Data visualization

Topics

• Data visualization
• Data visualization exercise

Projects

• Final critique for Type flyer
• Start Data visualization

Reading

• Anacostia Rising

Studio

Projects

• Studio

Reading

• Cairo, Alberto. The Truthful Art: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication. Hoboken, N.J.: Pearson Education, 2016. 41–65. Thinking about excellent data visualizations, working from the hockey-stick chart that describes the climate emergency. [On Blackboard.]
• The Data Visualisation Catalogue (read: bar chart, line graph, multi-set bar chart, dot matrix chart, pictogram chart, illustration diagram, donut chart, and histogram)

Type + image

Topics

• Type + image

Projects

• Studio/critique

Reading

Choose one:

• Should the United States Save Tangier Island from Oblivion?
• High Tide in Dorchester(Watchable in its entirety on Vimeo.)
• Or one episode of Sinking Cities, a PBS miniseries about climate adaptation in Miami, London, Tokyo, and New York.

Posters

Topics

• Posters and scale
• Poster history

Projects

• Final critique for Data visualization
• Start Issue poster

Posters

Topics

• Posters

Projects

• Studio/critique

In class

• Photos (ZIP)

Reading

• 99 Percent Invisible, Norman Doors (article/video)

New design practice

Topics

• New design practice

Projects

• Semifinal critique for Issue poster