Tentative Schedule

 

This schedule is a tentative outline of how the course assignments will progress through the first half of the semester. Dates and assignments are subject to change as individual and group projects develop. Always refer to current project handouts for most updated information.

 

Week One 

Wednesday, January 17

 Review syllabus, discuss course structure

 Lecture: What is design


Lecture: Design Process


Assignment (for next class):

(1) Order textbook and supplies

(2) Bring 3-ring binder, sketchbook, pencil, ruler, .05 sharpie, tracing paper

Week Two

Monday, January 22
Lecture: Design Principles
Inking demo
Work on Shape and Composition sketches

Assignment:
 20 thumbnail sketches

Wednesday, January 24
Lecture: Gestalt, figure and ground relationships
Review progress on sketches/studies, choose three best sketches and create several larger studies/comps out of these. Experiment with scale, overlap, positioning, rotation, positive and negative shapes
Mounting demo

Assignment:

(1) Refine comps
(2) Bring in laptop if available

Week Three

Monday, January 29
Mini group pre-critiques
Ink final composition on quality paper
Scanning/Image retouching in Photoshop demo

Assignment:
Prepare project for critique. No need to mount but needs to be finished in ink on quality paper

Wednesday, January 31
Introduce Graphic Translation Project

 CRITIQUE


Assignment:

(1) Incorporate feedback from critique and prepare project to hand in
(2) Scan/Retouch finished images for Shape and Composition Project in Photoshop, crop, resize, label and organize in a folder
(3) Bring Design Vellum, Bristol Board paper, black Micron pens, pencils
(4) Bring reference photographs (printed at 8.5”x11” size) for several animals that you can translate into a graphic form

Week Four

Monday, February 5
Lecture: Symbols and Simplicity
Work on Graphic Translation: pick an animal and draw a realistic sketch 


Assignment:
(1) Finish realistic drawing, start creating 20 sketches for steps 1–4
(2) Prepare Shape and Composition Project for hand in

Wednesday, February 7
Continue creating 20 sketches for steps 1–4
Hand in Shape and Composition Project

Assignment:
(1) Finish sketches

Week Five

Monday, February 12
Review progress on sketches/studies of Graphic Translation
Generate more detail/larger rough comps of translation steps


Assignment: (1) Complete and ink 1 step of Graphic Translation
(2) Complete refined comps for all four steps; make sure they go from light to dark in equal intervals

Wednesday, February 14
Review detailed comps for all steps and 1 completely inked step
Lecture: Semiotics
Introduce Symbol Development Project
Create more iterations of all steps, refine shapes


Assignment: (1) Ink finals, prepare for critique

Week Six

Monday, February 19
President’s Day

Wednesday, February 21
Graphic Translation Critique

Assignment:
(1) Incorporate critique feedback and prepare project to hand in on Feb 28.
Scan/retouch finished images in Photoshop, crop, resize, label and organize in a folder

Week Seven

Monday, February 26
Lecture: Symbols and simplicity 

Work on Symbol Development sketches
Mid Semester Reviews by Appointment

Assignment:
(1) Develop sketches for Symbol Project 


Wednesday, February 28
Hand in Graphic Translation including image library
Sketches for Symbol Project due
Illustrator demo
Refine sketches, choose a direction to go with and create 4 symbols that go together stylistically

Assignment:
(1) Create rough comps of symbols

Week Eight 

Monday, Mar 5
Lecture: Hierarchy
Lecture/illustrator demo: Color
Review comps, refine

Assignment:
(1) Prepare for pre-critique: create tight comps for all symbols, make sure all symbols communicate well and use similar visual language

Wednesday, Mar 7
Lecture: Typography 101
Introduce Type as Image project
Pre-critique: Review tight comps, start rendering finals. You can use computer to recreate these if you are comfortable with the software
Assignment:
(1) Prepare for critique

Week Nine 

Spring Break

Week Ten 

Monday, March 19
Symbol Development Critique
Assignment:
(1) Incorporate feedback and prepare project for hand in March 26



Wednesday, March 21
Work on developing sketches for Type as Image by hand and rough comps

Assignment:
(1) Complete Text as Image sketches / rough comps

Week Eleven 

Monday, March 26
Hand in Symbol Project

 Review hand sketches and rough comps
Develop tight comps, start working on computer

Assignment:
(1) Finish computer-generated layouts

Wednesday, March 28

 
 Lecture: Visual communication/ Image and Meaning Review
computer-generated layouts

Assignment:
(1) Refine layouts

Week Twelve

Monday, April 2
Lecture: Visual communication: Type and meaning

Assignment:
(1) Print layouts for pre-critique

Wednesday, Apr 4
Small group pre-critique
Lecture: design with a purpose
Introduce Social Commentary Project 


Assignment: 
(1) Prepare for critique, print final layouts

Week Thirteen

Monday, Apr 9
Type As Image critique

Assignment: (1) Incorporate feedback and prepare project for hand in Monday, April 13
(2) Research current social problems, write short proposal

Wednesday, April 11
Review Social Commentary Proposals, develop sketches based on concepts in proposal

Assignment: 
(1) Social Commentary sketches
(2) Incorporate feedback for Type as Image and prepare project for hand in

Week Fourteen

Monday, April 16

 Hand in Type as Image Project
Review sketches for Social Commentary


Assignment: 
(1) Choose 3 sketches and tighten them

(2) Write a statement of what you are communicating

Wednesday, April 18

 Review refined sketches

 Write your copy, develop tighter compositions


Assignment:
(1) Write your copy, develop tighter compositions

Week Fifteen

Monday, April 23

 Review copy and progress

 Continue working on the project


Assignment: 
(1) Continue working on the project, print layout for pre-critique

Wednesday, April 25 

Pre-critique: Review progress, continue with project development

Assignment: 
(1) Incorporate feedback

Week Sixteen

Monday, April 30
Finish work, print
Hand in files of all in-class projects

Assignment: (1) Prepare your work for final critique
(2) Prepare all final files (jpg or PDF, depending on project) for ALL projects to hand in. Make sure to reduce file size. Bring on flash drive.

Wednesday, May 2
Social Commentary Critique and hand in
 Hand in files for all projects

Finals Week
Return grades and projects
Graphic Design Majors will have Freshman Portfolio Reviews to complete the first year in the program.