GRPH421 / Advanced Graphic Design
This course will be an investigation of graphic design driven by research. Projects will be socially and civically engaged, will focus on the production of communication systems and require the publishing of self authored work. Collaborative exercises and activities will create an understanding of identity systems, social values and how to promote “justice for all” through visual communications. Deliverables for the course will consist of designed artifacts that document, reflect, analyze, synthesize your research.
The first half of the course will integrate with the series of exhibitions, lectures and presentations relating to the topic of art/ design for social justice that will occur on campus through October. The second half will center around publication and experiential design, site / place investigation and the development of identity systems.
Themes for Exploration~
Graphic Design + Social Responsibility / Message + System + Identity /
Striving for Viability / Designer as Preservationist + Conservationist
/ Designer as Witness, Ethnographer and Journalist.
Participants / Students / Documentarians
COURSE SCHEDULE
{T / August 25}
Show and Tell, Meet and Greet
WAB 105
Review~
Course Syllabus
Projects, Assignments, Exercises
Learning Outcomes
Required and Suggested Textbooks
Visual Research, (Second Edition): An Introduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic Design, by Ian Noble and Russell Bestley
Just Design: Socially Conscious Design for Critical Causes
by Christopher Simmons
Assigned Essays - Shared Google Doc
Google Docs for the course
Reflective Documentation
(What is the point?)
Interdisciplinary approaches to design education
Resources
Keeping Track of your Inspiration
Storage + File Sharing
{TH / August 27}
Exercise 01
Words on the Street / Signs of Equality
Assignment includes a group field trip to the Nebraska State Capitol to observe the designed world and hunt for visual communications that express equality, freedom and justice for all. Using ONLY found imagery from the field trip and walking tour, design a visual communication that is in response to the following quotation that is at the main entrance of the capitol.
“The Salvation of the State is Watchfulness in the Citizen”
H.B. Alexander
Introductory Readings~
Who becomes a graphic designer?
What a graphic designer needs to know?
Why social justice needs a design studio.
{T / September 01}
Work on Exercise 01
Eyes Open: A Pop Up Exhibition of Graphic Design
at Prairie Pines
{TH / September 03}
Present Exercise 01
Have initial studies, sketches, ideation, inspiration ready for Tuesday’s workshop.
Organize your materials and tools for the workshop with Justin Kemerling
Readings~
Just Design: Socially Conscious Design for Critical Causes
pages: 1 - 94
{T / September 08}
Poster Design Workshop with Justin Kemerling
Assignment 01
Design a poster to display in Richards Hall exhibition space during the week of the symposium.
poster series by Justin Kemerling
{TH / September 10}
Present your poster design in large format.
Create a display of Assignment 01 posters and an installation of your research to date on the role of visual communications for social justice in Richards Hall 1st Floor / Medici Gallery.
This will be a collaboration with GD 02, Interaction Design, Digital Literacy, Photography, and Typography courses.
{T / September 15}
Exercise 03
Design + Social Justice Screen Printing Workshop
1 - 4 p.m. / Sheldon Museum of Art
The featured guest speaker and visiting artist is Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture and graphic artist of the Black Panther Party. His work will be exhibited at the Sheldon Museum of Art from mid-September through early January. Emory Douglas will be an artist in residence in the Department of Art and Art History, September 15–16, 2015.
Emory Douglas’s imagery is accessible and powerful; it inspires people to action. He is a revolutionary artist and agent of social change. The struggle for justice continues, and Emory’s art and what the Party fought for are as pertinent as ever.
Emory Douglas will present a free public lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 5:30 p.m. at the Sheldon.
(left) We Shall Survive Without a Doubt, (middle) Afro-American solidarity with the oppressed People of the world, (right) Our people’s army should be built up..., by Emory Douglas Back covers of The Black Panther: Black Community News Service, offset lithographs, © Emory Douglas
Exercise 02
Mediate the events of the symposium
Share the Symposium’s events with as many people that you can through social media....
Or just complete the questionaire...
{W / September 16}
Design + Social Justice
Panel Discussion
5:30 P.M.
LOVE LIBRARY AUDITORIUM
Panelists include Emory Douglas, Billy X Jennings, Suzun Lucia Lamaina,
and Justin Kemerling. Moderated by Professor Patrick Jones.
{TH / September 17}
Reflection / Discussion
Assignment 02
Write a thought paper, a reflection of your experiences from the Design + Social Justice Symposium and your graphic design activities the past two weeks.
Assign Project 01
Passport of Human Rights
Assignment~
Read the Passport of Human Rights document, watch the videos and sketch out some ideas for poster design. Produce initial studies, gather inspiration, research for Project 01.
How will you illustrate the concept of human rights and communicate meaning?
Assigned Reading~
Visual Research
Introduction, Chapters 1 - 4
What are Human Rights
How Posters Work
Cooper Hewitt curator Ellen Lupton and guests talk about how to look at posters as visual language.
{T / September 22}
Review list of deliverables and evaluation / rubrics
Project 01 Brief
Review design research for Project 01: Typology + Inspiration
Philatelic Catalog
Postage Stamps by AIGA Medalists, by Michael Russem
Assign Reading~
Visual Research
Introduction, Chapters 1 - 4
{TH / September 24}
Desk crits of concept and development
Assignment 02
Reflection on Design + Social Justice.
Write for 30 minutes about your experiences, discoveries,
thoughts and feelings about design for social justice.
{T / September 29}
Assignment 03
All Hands on Deck!
Design a presentation deck to pitch your concept and direction for Project 01.
Grading Rubric
20 Great Examples of PowerPoint Presentation Design
Move forward with design research.
Example of solid presentation or “deck”
{TH / October 01}
Present Decks / Assignment 03
Discussion: Representation, Meaning, Symbolism
Read the following article in Places journal about the power of images to sway people’s opinion and create belief systems. The design of Places web site is impressive. The typography/ CSS / Style is commendable. The article is full of great layouts in publication design.
Adolf Hitler was an extreme anti-Semite, convicted traitor, and leader of a violent paramilitary force. In a remarkable press campaign, the Nazis reinvented him as a genial Bavarian gentleman.
DESPINA STRATIGAKOS, SEPTEMBER 2015
“In 1937, Life featured photographs of Hitler with children, with sentimental captions; the editors admitted the images were propaganda.”
Left: Heinrich Hofffmann, postcard of the Berghof, ca. 1936. Right: Heinrich Hoffmann, photograph of Hitler escorting the “favored birthday girl” to his Obersalzburg house, from Hoffmann’s Youth around Hitler (Jugend um Hitler). [Bavarian State Library]
THE ACCLAIMED FILMMAKER OF THE THIN BLUE LINE AND THE FOG OF WAR REVEALS WHY HE NOW TYPES ALL HIS MANUSCRIPTS IN BASKERVILLE.
“In 2013, acclaimed filmmaker and author Errol Morris ran a bold experiment. With the collusion of the New York Times, he asked 45,000 readers to take an online test. The test allegedly measured whether or not readers were optimists or pessimists. But in reality, Morris was trying to find out if the typeface a statement was written in had any impact on a reader’s willingness to agree with that statement. Simply put, are some typefaces more believable than others?”
{TH / October 08}
Project 01 Process Review
{T / October 13}
Work on Project 01
Review your work with 2 other people during class.
{TH / October 15}
Project 01 is due
Review in Richards Hall / 2nd floor
{T / October 20}
Fall Break
Can Posters Still Change the World?
For centuries, printed and mass-produced signs have helped activists spread the message of everything from AIDS awareness to the plight of Syrian refugees.
by STEVEN HELLER, OCT 7, 2015
{TH / October 22}
Introduction to Project 02 / 3D Poster / Design a box to think out of
In class activity.
Using a template of the cube flattened, sketch, map, ideate, and conceptualize what your box could communicate.
Assign Process for Project 02:
1. Work further on the conceptualization and ideations. Seek inspiration and direction for concept. Look around you. Find sources for developing ideas. Design an inspiration board that illustrates direction for a concept.
2.
Bring 5–3D mock up’s of the cube to class on Tuesday. Use the template at actual size, printed on 11” X 17” paper, trimmed and folded down to make cubes.
3. Read the assigned essay.
“Can Posters Still Change the World?”
4. Design a presentation of your research.
{T / October 27}
Review Process for Project 02
In Class Activity~
Write a project brief explaining what your intentions are for the project. Who are you communicating to? Why? What? How? When?
Review contents for Project 02 and directions for process documentation.
Art + Social Justice Week at the Sheldon
Designing Justice Screen Printing Documentation
Tech tool tip~
Perspective Grid Tool
{TH / October 29}
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, it’s unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours.”
Noam Chomsky
Assignment 04
Typography and the Underground
Examine an underground newspaper that is included in the exhibition for the Design + Social Justice Symposium. Analyze the typography and how it relates to the content. Look to the graphic design artifacts to uncover visual languages that can be inspiring and inform your work towards project 02.
Link to digitized underground newspapers
Are there any connections to the ideologies of the radical underground newspapers and those of Fred Rogers?
Reading~
Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Avant-Garde Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century, by Steven Heller
Chapter 08, Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘n’ Roll and Politics: The Influence of the American Underground
Write 3 - 5 paragraphs discussing the typography, imagery and use of graphics for one particular story in one of the featured underground newspapers that is available online. Include supporting text from the assigned reading.
Incorporate visuals [photograph or screen capture] from the paper that you are studying. Discuss how the visual language enhances or contributes to the intended meaning of the article. Describe the technologies that were available at the time that were used to set the type and print the underground newspaper.
Consider the structure of the newspaper and how it was disseminated. Reflect on the time the paper was published and describe how the paper is considered radical or underground.
Typeset your writing and have it ready to turn in on Tuesday.
Continue to process and work on Project 02
{T / November 03}
Work on Project 02
Wood Shop Orientation / Safety Training
Richards Hall / Wood Shop
11:00 – 1:50~
Stay the duration of the class to access the information you will need to build a cube. Learn how to build your confidence in building 3D forms. Embrace the opportunity to learn how to do something you are not familiar with.
{TH / November 05}
SDSU Visiting Artists
Richards Hall / Wood Shop
Class will meet in Richards Hall Wood Shop to use studio time to complete the production of the cube.
11:00 – 1:50~
Stay the duration of the class to access the information you will need to build a cube. Learn how to build your confidence in building 3D forms. Embrace the opportunity to learn how to do something you are not familiar with.
{T / November 10}
Reflect on process for building boxes.
Exhibition Opportunity! Prescott Gallery?
Justin Kemerling speaks about “Design + Social Justice”
Resources about Mr. Fred Rogers / Philosophy / Ideologies / Idyll / Hero
Process Review / Individual Meetings
{TH / November 12}
In Class Activities~
Collaborative mind map on the idealogies of Mr. Rogers. Integrate ideas and concept into your research.
Review process with the class.
Write a project brief explaining what your intentions are for the project.
Who are you communicating to? Why? What? Where? How? When?
What do you want to learn about, master a skill, learn more about typography, understand how to generate 3D images with the documentation of the cubes.
Think about how these communication devices can function.
Review progress
Demonstrate use of materials and painting of boxes.
Materials are on hand in WAB 105.
{T / November 17}
Work on Project 02
Assign Project 03
Building Books
Publish a book of your processes, experiences and discoveries.
What did you learn and how did you learn it?
Design a publication that visualizes your design process.
Reminders~
Assignment 04 [50 points]
Thank you notes + with customized postage stamps
Order a sheet of stamps from Zazzle.com.
Design a Thank You note to send to the people who helped you with your research.
[Emory Douglas, Justin Kemerling, Susanna Lamaina, Patrick Jones, Dean O’Connor, Andrea Maack, Charlene Maxey Harris, Joanie Barnes, Michaela Habe, Dr. Nancy J. Busch, Amnesty International, etc.]
Allow 5 business days for delivery / Order by Friday, 11.20.
Process Book [100 pts.]
Keep an organized record of your research, ideation, developments and evolution.
Participation [200 pts.]
{TH / November 19
Project 02 Review
Richards Hall / 2nd Floor Crit Space
Black Lives Matter / Student organized event
12:20 – 2:00 p.m.
in
Front of the City Union
Exhibition Opportunities....
Emmit Martin Public Library
- 3D
Prescott Gallery - 3D
Lefler Media Center - 2D / 3D
Lefler Middle School
Lincoln Public Schools
1100 S 48th St
Lincoln, Nebraska
Prepare to turn in your descriptive text for the 3D exhibition. Edit down your thesis. This will be published in a directory of your works that will be on display.
Document your work over the weekend. Do it! It may require a couple attempts to get it to look professional and portfolio ready.
Create a production schedule
for you to complete Project 03 in a timely manner.
No last minute craziness.
Discuss printing options. UNL Printing Services.
Digital Publications.
Work on Project 03
Turn in your descriptive text for the 3D exhibition. Edit down your thesis. This will be published in a directory of your works that will be on display.
Assign:
Grid Studies
Typographic Systems
Documentation of projects
Inspiration
{T / November 24}
Work on Project 03
Review grid systems, typographic studies, inspiration, documentation of work from the course.
Create dummies, mock-ups, macquettes.
{TH / November 26}
Thanksgiving Holiday
Remember the planet.
Reduce. Reuse. Repurpose.
Give Thanks.
Work on Project 03
{T / December 01}
Present mock-up or dummy
Work on Project 03
Building Books / Presentation on Book Design
Link to Documentation for the Course
E-Publishing / Creating Rough Drafts / Approval of layout before sending to “press”.
3D Mock Ups of Cover Designs / Mocking up the book to make it believable.
.psd templates, learning how to work some digital magic with excellence and grace.
Publishing to Issuu and sharing with social media? Publishing electronically instead of to print. Conserve materials and not print until your content is the best it can be.
How can we publish this electronically and still have it be a portfolio piece to showcase? Consider staging shots, using free downloads and learning to build 3D mock ups in Photoshop.
Decide collectively on a method to organize a way to showcase your process book publications. Make a group page that is public and shareable.
Project 02 / Installation
Turn in your descriptive text for the 3D installation of your cube project. Edit down your thesis. This will be published in a directory of your works that will be on display.
Discuss Project 02 Exhibition
Lefler Media Center - 2D / 3D
Lefler Middle School
Lincoln Public Schools
1100 S 48th St
Lincoln, Nebraska
{TH / December 03}
Building Books Presentation
Work on Project 03
Install Project 02
This may require some volunteer help for Friday and Monday.
{T / December 08}
Student Evaluations
Continue to work on Project 03
Project 02 / Installation
Turn in your descriptive text for the 3D installation of your cube project. Edit down your thesis. This will be published in a directory of your works that will be on display.
{TH / December 10}
Project 03
Final Presentations
Last day of class
*Course events and schedule is subject to change.
Possible Date for Project 03 Review
{M / December 14}
Project 03
Final Presentations
3:30-5:30
First Things First Manifesto, 2000
Installation systems
Far from Indochine, curated by Chuong-Ðài Võ, 2014. Image courtesy of Will Howcroft.
stacyasher@unl.edu
stacyasher.com