Schedule

Week 1

Syllabus / course overview

Assign Project 1

Week 2: What is design? What is the role of the designer?

• Cullen textbook, Chapter 1 “The function of design” (PDF here just for convenience — not intended to replace the purchase of the entire textbook)
• Excerpts from Paul Rand (1947, 1987, 1993)
• Ellen Lupton and Laurie Haycock Makela, “Underground Matriarchy” (1994)
• Jen Wang, “Now You See It: Helvetica, Modernism and the Status Quo of Design” (2016)

Recommended:

• Dieter Rams, “Omit the Unimportant” (1984)
• Alissa Walker, “Grrrrrrr” (2011)

Please complete the reading handout distributed in the last class.

View film Teaching to See

Week 3: The design process

Due: Project 1 draft

Read:

• Cullen textbook, Chapters 2 “Inspiration”, 3 “The design process”, and 4 “Intuition” (pages 16-51 in the linked pdf; **new edition of textbook may have different pagination**)
• Becca Shayne, “On Keeping a Sketchbook”

Recommended: John Hendrix on sketching (it’s all sketches!)

Sketch: Complete a page in your sketchbook five days a week from now until week 14. Please date your sketchbook in the top outside corner using a clear and consistent format.

Respond (#1): Post a reading response two days before class time.

Week 4: Design styles and case studies

Due: Project 1 final (due on 2/8 at 11:59pm on Canvas)

Read: 

• Case studies from Cullen textbook: Aufuldish & Warinner (pgs. 132-5), Capsule (pgs. 136-7), Evelock design (pgs. 154-7), Hammerpress Studio (pgs. 162-3), Helicopter (pgs. 168-9), Kangaroo Press (178-9), Mitre Agency (196-7), NB: Studio (pgs. 198-9)
• Steven Heller, “Know the styles you’re playing with”

Assign Project 2

Presentations (1-3)

Week 5: Advocacy and poster design

• Michael Bierut, “The Poster that Launched a Movement (Or Not)”
• Elizabeth Resnick, interview about Graphic Advocacy
• Foreword to The Design of Dissent by Tony Kushner [you will need to log in to use this library resource if you are not on campus] NOTE: Please scroll through this eBook, which contains many examples of social change and advocacy posters.
• WATCH: “Emory Douglas: The Art of The Black Panthers” (7.5 minutes)
• Ellen Lupton’s How Posters Work [PDFs part 1 and part 2 on Canvas] NOTE: Lupton identifies 14 techniques of poster design. Skim over each one, choosing three that could be techniques you could use in your own poster design for Project 2. Read these three in depth.

View: Examples of posters from the Cooper Hewitt collection and the Graphic Advocacy website. You may also enjoy these other poster archives:

• Center for the Study of Political Graphics archive
• Women’s March poster and sign archive
• WPA poster archive

Respond (#2): Post a reading response two days before class time.

Sign up here for a midterm conference with me in week 7.

Week 6: Design principles

Due: Project 2 draft

Read: Cullen textbook, Chapters 5 “Structure and organization” and 6 “The interaction of visual elements”

Respond (#3): Post a reading response two days before class time.

Sign up here for a midterm conference with me in week 7 if you haven’t already done so.

Presentations (4-6)

Week 7: Midterm conferences

Due: Project 2 final (due on 3/1 at 11:59pm on Canvas)

Due: Project 3 assignment sheet

During conference week, we will not meet as a class. You are required to attend a midterm conference with me. We will discuss your grade so far in the class and I’ll review your Project 3 assignment sheet and suggest changes.

Conference sign-up sheet is here.

Week 8: Color

Watch: “The surprising pattern behind color names around the world” (6.5 minutes)

Respond (#4): Post a reading response two days before class time.

Presentations (4-9)

Week 9: Collaboration and critique

Due: Project 3 draft

Read:

• Cullen textbook, Chapter 8, “Design analysis”
• Essi Salonen Designing Collaboration about how design teams collaborate

Presentations (10-12)

Week 10: Typography

Due: Project 3 final (due on 3/29 at 11:59pm on Canvas)

Read:

• Cullen textbook, Chapter 7 “Typography”
• excerpt from Ellen Lupton’s Thinking with Type (PDF)

Respond (#5): Post a reading response two days before class time.

Assign project 4

Week 11: The design portfolio — what, how, and why

Respond (#6): Post a reading response two days before class time.

Presentations (13-14)

Week 12

Due: Magazine article draft

Read: resources on mobile protoyping and design

• 15 basic types of screens
• mobile typography
• prototyping an app’s design
• Josh Clark Tapworthy PDF, Chapter 2 and (optional) Chapter 3 (I know some of the technical info is outdated but the overall design principles are relevant.)

Review: Cullen textbook Chapters 5 “Structure and organization,”  6 “The interaction of visual elements,” and 8 “Design analysis”

Respond (#7): Post a reading response two days before class time. (this is your last response opportunity)

Work on Portfolio revisions.

Presentations (15-17)

Week 13

Due: Project 4 draft

Work on Project 4.

Work on Portfolio revisions.

Week 14

Due: Project 4 final (due on 4/26 at 11:59pm on Canvas)

Discuss portfolio design and revision of projects.

Work on Portfolio revisions.

Presentations (18-19)

Final exam

The final exam will be held in the classroom on May 3 from 3:30 to 5:30pm

Final portfolio due during the final exam period.