9.27.07 Graphic Design 1

Alright-overall the type tracings looked good. A couple of them look exceptional. Nice work.

Just like the type tracing assignment, we will be looking at balance and positive/negative relationships with the fingerprint assignment. We will also consider movement, flow, rhythm, etc. Scale and dominance as well.

We discussed the principles of design today.
• balance
• emphasis
• rhythm
• unity
• correspondence/
• continuity
• grid
• alignment
• flow

You should be familiar with all of the key concepts from chapters 1-3 for our quiz on Oct. 9th.

Have your big sheet of tracing paper filled with sections of your fingerprints for Tuesday. Different parts and sizes to give yourself the biggest variety of stuff to work with.

9.27.07 IC101

The critical thinking discussion went a little better today, but you are still not participating like you need to be. How do we achieve that participation?

I do appreciate those that really took the time to read, mark your books up, and participate in today's discussion. All 4 or 5 of you. It makes a big difference. Thank you!

As for the civic engagement project, please advise as to who is doing what and the next steps the group is moving forward with. That can happen right here. Just post a response to this post.

I want you to be thinking of an issue or cause that you are really passionate about for future use in class. Try and come up with it by next class period. Don't neglect your papers. They are due next Thursday the 4th.

Inspiration

I found a nice blog today with tons of beautiful imagery. You all should check it out.

http://desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/

9/26/07 Uncommon Genius 4

Stated simply, it is that creative efforts are neither glib, nor ignorant, but rather stem from a solid base of knowledge...It’s from giving oneself over to the doing that the creator accumulates an intimate fund of knowledge that will inform his efforts. It is through the doing that he exposes the knotty tangle of relevant questions...It is in the act of doing that he opens himself up to the unanticipated directions that may lead him to something new, something useful, something beautiful, something creative. (Shekerjian pg, 74). How are you preparing yourself to be a creative person? Has your liberal arts education contributed to your creativity? Respond to the above quote.

9/26/07 Uncommon Genius 3

“To take on risk, you need to conquer fear, at least temporarily, at least occasionally. It can be done, especially if you look outside yourself for a strong ledge to stand on, at least temporarily, at least occasionally.” (Shekerjian pg. 31) What risk are you taking on? When you need a ledge, to what/whom do you turn?

9/26/07 Uncommon Genius 2

The main premise of part one of Shekerjian’s book is stated on page 1. She says, “The trick to creativity, if there is a single useful thing to say about it, is to identify your own peculiar talent and then settle down to work with it for a good long time. Everyone has an aptitude for something. The trick is to recognize it, to honor it, to work with it. This is the way creativity starts.” Clarify. Do you agree? How does the sentence gel with the title of the section.

9/26/07 Uncommon Genius 1

In the intro section entitled “In The Beginning”, on page xvii, Shekerjian starts to investigate the idea of creativity and the qualities of a creative person. One of the ideas she brings up is that, “A creative person is one who enjoys, above all else, the company of his own mind.” What is your interpretation of that sentence? Clarify what you think she means. Just as important, do you agree/disagree? Why?

9/26/07 Graphic Design 2

I am really thrilled about your roughs for your typographic self-portraits. For the most part, they are better than I imagined. Good work!

The discussion on poster design was kind of quick, but I think we covered the relevant points. Take some time this weekend and do some searches for posters online. Not kitties and puppies and stuff, but actual posters that promote. Music/band gig posters are everywhere. Movie posters intrigue me as well. One of my favorite sites for posters is http://www.theheadsofstate.com Print some examples and bring them in to discuss.

For Monday, be sure to have a tight rough of your portrait. I will hand out a brief for the Messiah poster and we can spend a little time discussing artwork and copyright issues.

Please respond to the Uncommon Genius questions before the start of class next Wednesday, Oct. 3.

9/25/07 Internship Capstone

Today in Internship Capstone we met and turned in our first draft of our paper. I attempted to outline the paper how I would write it. Hopefully that cleared up any remaining questions as to content and/or structure. As I have said before, I have never seen one of these papers, so I have no preconceptions as to what to expect. This may work in your favor. The purpose of this paper is to quantify your internship experience. Not only that, but so you have something to compare against. It will also help your peers in their search as well. We will meet again next Tuesday, October 2 to hand back drafts and determine schedule of presentations. Let’s discuss your other pertinent artifacts from other courses that you think will be beneficial to you in the future.

Be sure to research portfolios and presentation cases a little bit. Ask Prof. Block what he is going to use next semester and if you all can weigh in the selection. Also, be thinking of the digital component of your portfolio.

Feel free to post interesting things here that you find that have relevance to us.

9/25/07 IC101

Today in IC101, I put off the discussion on critical thinking because of lack of participation. Like I said, there is nothing precious about your textbooks. mark them up and annotate them so that you know what questions you have and what you want to contribute. SO, that means that Thursday we WILL discuss both critical thinking pieces from the tapestry reader. Be prepared to contribute in a meaningful way to the discussion.

We also talked through the civic engagement project with the class and determined that Beth Norton, Ashley Waltz, and Liz Ashkins will do some initial research by checking out the available resources. They will report their findings to the class on Thursday and we will continue discussion regarding the scope of the project and narrow the direction. Please share any ideas or suggestions you have regarding the project here, or bring them up in class.

Be thinking of the 2nd outside event you want to attend, and plan accordingly for the Sex, Alcohol and a Million Decisions forums next week. Monday and Friday. See the document I sent previously for exact times and locations.

Please remember to email me the question you are going to answer by class time on Thursday. They are in the Chafee article on page 26 in the IC reader. The paper is minimum 2 pages, but if you have more to say, by all means, say it. There is no maximum length on this paper.

Let me know if I have forgotten anything.

9/25/07 Graphic Design 1

Today in Graphic Design 1 we turned in our art influence papers, continued work on the type tracing project, (due this Thursday, Sept. 27) and received our first major project (Fingerprint assignment).

The type project is due at 9:40 for the am class, and 2:40 for the pm class. Done in black ink on the 11x17 white paper I provided in class. As I mentioned several times in class today, the design studio is usually open M/W from noon to around 2, and is usually free after 4:30ish each day until 6:30/7ish. If you cannot accommodate those times, Campus Safety has a list with your names that give you clearance to be in the studio.

Regarding the Fingerprint Project, it is worth 100pts. I will record points for each step in the process, so please keep up. If you get 100pts on the final, but lose 30 because you didn’t keep pace and turn things in on time, you could really take a hit. Remember to keep in mind the final size of the project, so you can work within the prescribed proportions. Please have your fingerprints and and have them enlarged for class on Thursday.

Regarding the discussion. We covered the first half of chapter 3 in the Landa book. That included the formal elements of graphic design.
Namely:
• Line
• Shape
• Value
• Texture
• Color
• Format

We will cover the second half on Thursday. Principles of Design.

Quiz on chapters 1-3 in Landa will be on Tuesday, 10/9.

Let me know if I have left anything out.

9.24.07 Graphic Design 2

Today we worked in class on the 3 roughs. You should definitely have your paragraph of rationale written now and be using that as your foundation. If you find your design straying from that, analyze why. Go with whichever is most true to you and your vision of self or the way you would like people to perceive you. Don't distort (stretch or squish) any of the letterforms. You can flip, rotate, and create a mirror image, but let's keep the integrity of the letterforms.

For Wednesday, the 26th have 3 tight roughs done and ready to look at by 9am. If you are done, show up at nine. If you have work to do, I better see you at 8! Wednesday I will have questions for you based on the reading in Uncommon Genius up to page 79, or the end of section one. Be prepared to contribute to a discussion on posters (chap. 8 in Landa) on Wed. after we look at roughs.

Let me know if I have missed anything or if you understand something differently.

9/19/07 Graphic Design 2

Graphic Design 2-
Today in class we looked at initial rough sketches for our typographic self-portraits. You were supposed to have 3 good sketches of yourself so that you could begin experimenting with type solutions. However, as I have never taught this assignment in a classroom situation, that didn't go as well as I had hoped. So we looked at some examples of the assignment to help clarify and open up the creative conduit. You seemed to understand it a little better by the end of the class, and most people made a good start.

For Monday you should have a written paragraph of what you are trying to portray in your portrait and why you are approaching it the way you are. We will read those while analyzing your 3 roughs on Monday. The roughs do not need to be in a finished state, but we should be able to see a distinct direction. You should also be reading Uncommon Genius in preparation for discussion in class. You should be through pg. 79 by Thursday. On Thursday I will give you a set of questions derived from the basic tenets of the book. You will need to answer, in essay format, 3 of the 5 questions. We will then discuss in class your responses.

You also need to read Chapter 8 in the Landa book for Wednesday.

9/20/07 IC101

IC101
Today in class we broke into small groups to critically analyze the TeaCh Goals and the Statement on Liberal Learning from the 2007 Tapestry Reader. There were varying levels of participation. Many of you were much too quiet. Remember, there is a participation grade associated with the course. In the future, you might use this venue as a way to boost your participation grade by posting to the blog any responses you might have to future discussions in class.

Tasks and Info
We will go over learning styles stuff next Tuesday in class. Make sure you have read and completed the Amos article from the 07 reader. Also, you will want to hang on to the extra handout I gave you for discussion in class. Also please read pages 21-24 in the 07 Reader. It is a short article on critical reading and analysis.

I will return your questions to you Tuesday as well for use in class. Please hold on to them and bring them with you to classes.

Last thing, we talked about maybe taking a night next week to watch a film. We need to figure out a location where we can watch the film that still allows food and sodas. Let me know if you have suggestions.

9/21/07 Graphic Design 1

Graphic Design 1 (am & pm)-
Today we discussed the reading from Universal Traveler. The afternoon class was far more prepared and willing to talk about the excerpt. We had a meaningful chat and respondents offered clear, well-formed comments. The morning class will need to write a one-page, single-spaced response paper to the article detailing how they foresee the principles discussed in the article affecting their lives. Not just in respect to art, but in daily life as well as prospective employment.

We discussed chapter 2 from the Graphic Design Solutions book(hereafter referred to "the Landa book") as well. Both classes were better prepared for this discussion. The main ideas and concepts to remember from the discussion include:
• the creative brief
• the difference between strategy and concept
• the analytical process used to determine the strategy
• the types of questions asked • processes and phases of solving a design problem, including, but not limited to:
a. understanding the problem
b. gather information
c. thinking by sketching and writing
d. self-editing (both sketches to roughs, and roughs to comps
• production-understanding that it is the technical process by which a digital file gets prepared for final output by whatever means determined in the creative brief.

Remember, the designer has two goals: communicate the correct message to the audience, and make create a design with enough visual impact to stand out amongst all of the mediocre work out there.

We also talked very briefly about the visual differences in type and the secondary meaning they bring to a design solution. (First being the literal meaning of the words themselves.)

We began working on a type tracing assignment. This comprises gathering interesting samples of all different styles of typography from magazines, internet or other sources, composing the samples into a well-balanced design on a sheet of 11x17 paper, and then inking them in. This is not due Tuesday, but noticeable progress should be made on it.

Follow-up tasks:
• Read Chapter 3 in the Landa book
• Make progress on the type tracing project
• Finish research paper due on Tuesday, September 25