>>>ASSIGNMENT ONE: SELF PORTRAIT

Problem
Select a group of items that, seems together, form a kind of self portrait.
There is no limit to what these items can be, except that you must bring them to class and they must fit on your desk.
In our next class you will place these items on a desktop for others to read and interpret.
After you have chosen the self portrait items, write a corresponding text that explores
the meaning behind each item and describes what you hope to evoke with your
choices. This text should be well thought out and also interesting to read; you might
try reading it aloud to see if it makes sense. The length of the text is up to you.
Please e-mail me the text by Sunday, January 26 by 5PM.
Bring a copy of the text (typed, with your name on it) in class next Tuesday, January 28.
Bring your items to class, but do not reveal them until told to do so. (Don’t tell anyone.)
You will place your items on the desk in an anonymous fashion once class begins.
There will be subsequent parts to this exercise in the following classes.

The purpose of this project
To start to develop your interpretive and analytical ability.
To start to develop you visual communication skills.
To begin development of your understanding how to develop meaning and message.
To begin development of verbal critique; develop your written/verbal articulation skills.
To start to be aware of how you approach/think about things (your process)

>>>ASSIGNMENT ONE: SELF PORTRAIT part II

Problem
After today’s review, you may see that misreadings are going to happen.
There are discrepancies between what you intended and what people “read” into your objects as meaning.
An audience will always bring personal, societal, and common/cliché understandings when trying to create meaning.
As graphic designers, it is our job (and our challenge) to control this; to try to find images and text that will mean what we intend, and will communicate our (and our client’s) ideas to a larger audience.
The next phase is simple revision. Knowing now what you know, revise your objects.
What would you pick now, to express your ideas? Is there a better object you can use to
communicate your idea?
Send me an e-mail by next Monday 5PM, about your revised objects and why you are
revising it, why you think this object will communicate better, and what criteria(s) are you using
to make this change?

The purpose of this project
To understand that revision is an important part of the design process (and learning).
That revision is a important part of understanding your thinking process.
To understand the limits of your audience(s) understanding of “things”.
To understand visual choices: why certain visual choices work and don’t work
in expressing your idea.

>>>ASSIGNMENT TWO: Three squares: image, text and color

Problem
Select a found image, a found text and a color, each of which communicate the same message as the other two. The message of each element should refer somehow to the distinction between the notions of “public” and “private”.Each element — the image, the text, the color — should be 6 x 6 inches, mounted separately on white bristol board and trimmed flushed (ie: no border). We will pin these up in class.

Due next class
Next class will be an in class workshop where we will break up in groups and talk about
your emerging ides. You should have a conceptual matrix (in sketchbooks), at least 3 different images, text and color samples.

The purpose of this project
To develop visual research skills.
To continue to develop your interpretive and analytical ability.
To start to develop you visual communication skills.
To begin development of your understanding how to develop meaning and message.
To begin development of verbal critique; develop your written/verbal articulation skills.
To start to be aware of how you approach/think about things (your process)

>>>ASSIGNMENT THREE: ALPHABET CARDS

Problem
Create a set of cards made of photograph, that you shoot, as it exists in society,
environment, and possibly nature. You will have twenty-six cards with photographs of
representations of each individual letter (representation, is the key word here). Pay attention
to cropping and formal composition. The size of the cards is up to you. This will be a half
semester project. You can photograph them traditionally or digitally.
Some things to think about:
What are the traditional ways type/letters are represented?
Can you think of other ways (existing or inventive) that the characters of the alphabet
can be represented? Can you push the visual or conceptual representations of our
understanding of letters?

Due next class
Start taking pictures and scanning them in. Show letters A-E. When thinking and taking
photographs, always start with the obvious and then move onto more abstract ideas.
We will pin up your photos in our next class.The purpose of this project
To develop skills in creating images (as opposed to found).
To develop a “way of looking”
To develop a sense of visual composition.
To experience and discover graphic typographic vernacular as it exist in society.
To exercise visual research.