Detailed schedule

Intro

Topics

• Intro
• Observation exercise for Sense mapping (Tue)

Projects

• Start Sense mapping
• Before Friday’s class, go on a walk for Sense mapping. Come back with a sketch map—your field notes. Details are, as usual, in the assignment sheet. (Project work for critique or submittal should be complete at the beginning of class.)
• Critique/studio (Fri)—show sketch map during crit and develop concepts during studio.
• Start collecting drafts and materials for your process book.

Course survey

Fill out a course survey.

Illustrator/vector drawings

Topics

• Illustrator intro
• Bezier curve, tracing and drawing exercise (exercise file, ZIP)

Projects

• Continue work on Sense mapping, on your own.
• Limited studio time for Sense mapping (Tuesday)
• Critique, studio, then turn in Sense mapping (Friday)
• Start Graphic translation (Friday)

Reading (for Tue)

• Chappell Ellison, Can Designers Save the World Without Creating More Stuff?
• Dieter Rams’ 10 principles of good design
• “First Things First 2000: a design manifesto.” Live text; compare the text as published in Emigre #51.
• Optional: “First Things First 1964.” Image of original spread.
• Optional: Poynor, Rick. “First Things First Revisited”. Emigre Magazine, 1999.

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).

Vector drawing / negative-positive space

Topics

• Negative/positive space
• File management and versioning

Projects

• Check-in for Graphic translation (Tue). Choose an object, and bring the object and sketches to class. Project setup and limited studio time in class.
• Photograph your object
• Studio (Fri)

You should be making progress on projects for every studio class or critique.

Reading (for Tue)

• Point, Line, Plane (NB2 32–).
• Gestalt Principles (NB2 98–) or Figure/Ground (New Basics 1st edition, p. 84–)
• Optional: you can practice drawing using The Bézier Game (it’s simpler than Illustrator, and it probably isn’t worth getting to the higher levels)

NB2 means Graphic Design: The New Basics, 2nd edition. NB1 is the 1st edition. The 1st edition generally has the same chapter titles as the 2nd. Where the chapters differ, this schedule specifies an alternative.

Software tutorials

Software demos, during class, will be very limited. If you need more guidance, work through online tutorials. There is no due date; choose as much or as little as you need in order to support your project work. Sign in through LinkedIn Learning—see the AU Library if you need help.

• Illustrator basics
• Photoshop basics

Typography basics / Type hierarchy

A relatively dense week for new material.

Topics

• Typography introduction (Tue)
• Lettering exercise (be sure to bring technical pens/pencils) (Tue)
• Type hierarchy (Fri)
• InDesign intro (Fri)

Projects

• Choose three possible designers for Designer presentations and enter your choices in a form.
• Some studio/small group critiques for Graphic translation (Fri)

Reading (for Tue)

• Rhythym and Balance (NB2 48–)
• Thinking with Type site, Letter (size, scale, type classficiations, type families, caps and small caps, and mixing types)
• Thinking with Type site, Text (tracking, line spacing, and alignment)

Hierarchy, grids, and alignment

Topics

• Type collage/composition exercise (Tue)—bring gluestick and (if available) tape and scissors
• Hierarchy and alignment exercise, in class (Fri)

Projects

• Start Timetable (Tue)
• Final critique for Graphic translation (Fri)
• Studio for Timetable (Fri)

Reading (for Tue)

• Grid (NB2 186–)
• Hierarchy (NB2 128–)
• Start working through InDesign basics as necessary

Posters

Topics

• Posters (Fri)

Projects

• Studio for Timetable (Tue)

Reading (for Tue)

• Allan Chochinov, A Manifesto for Sustainability in Design
• Matthew Butterick. Typography 2020: A Special Listicle for America
• 99 Percent Invisible, Norman Doors

Images and meaning

Topics

• Images and meaning exercise

Projects

• Final critique for Timetable (Fri)
• Start Issue poster (Fri)
• Studio (Fri)

Reading (for Tue)

• Siegler, Bonnie. Signs of Resistance: A Visual History of Protest in America. New York, N.Y.: Artisan, 2018. [On Blackboard.]
• Layers (NB2 140—)

The New Deal through design

Topics

• Design and the project of the New Deal

Projects

• Present initial poster idea (Tue)—be able to give us a few sentences about your idea, perhaps with example images
• Studio (Fri)

Reading (for Tue)

• Billy Fleming, Design and the Green New Deal
• Jason Reblando, New Deal Utopias (photos)

Class checkin

Class moves online from this date because of COVID–19 and campus shutdown.

Topics

• Video conference checkin (optional, as are all video conferences)

Projects

• Continue work on Poster

Data visualization

Topics

• Data visualization exercise

Reading (for Tue)

• Diagram (NB2 214–)
• Bill McKibben, Hello from the Year 2050

Sustainable design

Topics

• Continue work on your own

Reading

• Look through some projects at Cooper Hewitt National Design Triennial: Nature
• (Revisit) 99 Percent Invisible, Norman Doors

Color

Topics

• Color

Projects

• Start A reversal of priorities (Fri)

Reading (for Tue)

• Color (NB2 80—)
• Transparency (NB2 154–)

Field trip to your own home

Projects

• Continue work on your own

Reading (for Tue)

• Lucienne Roberts, What Role Does Design Play in a Public Health Crisis?
• Optional: Rules and Randomness (NB2 248—)

Professional practice

Topics

• Design ethics
• Professional practice

Projects

• Semifinal critique for Reversal (Fri)

Reading

• Optional: Time and Motion (NB2 232–)