Standing Assignment:
These are assignments that we are to work on independently throughout the semester. These are expected to be completed by the end of the semester if you wish to earn a passing grade.
Blog
Morgue
Descriptive Essay
Blog:
Instructions HERE for setting up your blog. Once setup, copy the link and email it to me with your full name.
The blog will be where you will publish all of our assignments as we do them. This will be your portfolio at the end of the semester from which your final grade will come.
Morgue:
The morgue is simply a collection of work. A Morgue is what artists and designers call their collection of work by other artists and their own. It is used to inspire future projects and to learn from. We are going to use it for these purposes, with an emphasis on Learning. The best way to develop design skills is to expose our selves as much as possible to good design. You are to collect a minimum of 100 pieces (emphasis on MINIMUM).
Descriptive Essays:
Through out the semester you should select 5 pieces to write a brief descriptive essay about. These pieces are to be published on a page in your blog. Due dates below.
While this is not an English class it is University, proper sentences, grammar, and punctuation is expect.
So what do I write? How do I pick the pieces? How do I know good design from bad? ARE YOU NUTS? Last question first... no... well... hmmm maybe –(long silence – crickets chirping, frogs croaking) – Okay. Yes, but that has nothing to do with the issue at hand.
What you write is basically just what you see. Describe the piece, and write about how, what we learn class is employed in the piece. In the beginig the descriptions will be quite simple and short, as the semester progresses and we cover more and more material your essays will grow to include principles, and elements of design, gestalt, and typography. You can’t really get it wrong, you can be lazy or unobservant, being wrong would be difficult. This is a description of what you see, not a quiz.
How do I know good design? This is not something that can be summed up easily. Nor is it something that we will understand overnight. Developing an eye for design is a process that will continue through out the semester, and in fact your life should you decide to peruse a career in the arts... so have some patents. As stated above your essays are expected to be short and simple in the beginning and develop through out the semester. That being said, we have to start somewhere so lets start with some basic questions.
Does it communicate its message quickly and effectively? Do you know what the piece is about at first glance or do you have to study it?
Does it catch and hold your attention or do you want to move on and look at something else quickly?
Does it move your eye to the most important parts?
Does it flow well? Does it move your eye through the piece and to the important parts to communicate its message?
How does it relate to what we are working on or talked about during class?
AVOID ‘LIKE’! Like does not exist anymore! The question is ‘does it work’? There are all kinds of things that influence us to like or not we like or don’t something. For example, I don’t like blue. Does that mean that I think that every thing I see done in blue I think is bad? Do I hate the sky? Do I hate the Ocean? No, that would be ridiculous. There will be more discussion on this throughout the semester.
Deadlines dates for the essays.
September 8
September 29
October 20
November 10
December 8
