• Lecture: What is Digital Design?
• Examine Problem #1 (Vietnam Memorial)
1. Begins with review of Vietnam Memorial problem
2. [up to Paula Sher...Rule of 3rds in next lecture]
• Watch Stefan Sagmeister shares happy design | Video on TED.com

• Lecture 2:Logotype
• Continuation, Proximity
• Positive/Neg Space

• Open Adobe Illustrator
• Make a new file; save it as username_ex1_205a.ai, save to your desktop
• Select the type tool
• Type your first initial
• Hit escape (esc)
• Click somewhere else on the page
• Type your second initial, hit escape (esc)
• You should have 2 plain initials on the page
• Switch to the Direct Selection tool.
• Click on a letter. You should see a bounding box around. If not, in the menu, choose "View>Bounding Box". Drag the corners/sides of the bounding box to manipulate the scale, rotation, and orientation of the letter.
• Move the letters around on the page. Arrange them into a pleasing combination. Do this 8 times, all o the same page. Print it out once in a while to see how you're going. Each arrangement should be completely different.
• Save and back up your work.

• Make a list of 20 things that make you happy a-la sagmeister in your sketchbook.
• Decide upon the most important one and circle it.
• Think of a design problem and solution that could relate to it.
• Post design solutions to others' design problems.
• Post it on Angel's discussion board for the class titled "The thing that makes me the happiest, and a design problem/solution for it".

• Design Research 1: Intro to Gestalt
• Typography
• Textbook quiz 1
• Work on Exercise 1. Try using the pathfinder tool: Watch the demo.

• Textbook 1-3. Understanding Design Challenges
• Textbook pg. 102 "Look Around".
• Philip Meggs on Symbols and Icons
• Gestalt Principals Summary
• More Gestalt (not in quiz)

• Lecture/Demo: Exercise 1: Logo and Business Card
• Business Cards, Letterhead, and Envelopes
• Textbook quiz 1

DMA203: Exercise 1: Logo and Business Card DIRECTIONS

OVERVIEW

In this opening exercise for the course, students will create a very simple logo and then utilize it in a 1-sided, standard size business card. Students will also create an alternative, experimental business card.

Please look at past student examples in the PowerPoint file: 203_Ex1_Examples.ppt, in Module 3.

STEPS / RULES

Part 1: Logo

• Design a logo using two letters from your initials. One letter must be black and one letter must be white.
• Layer the two letters together in a creative way to form a simple logo!
• It is OK if you want to make each letter a separate font
• If you have a difficult set of letters, or if you commonly use 3 letters in your initials you may use your middle initial (but try to avoid this first)
• Your logo should NOT have any grey in it, or transparency or filters applied to it. It should consist only of a pure white letter and a pure black letter.
• You may make an alternate logo using the pathfinder/divide as we demo'd in class, or one with two black letters.

Part 2: Business Card

• Take your logo and place it on a business card, add either gray-scale tones or color. Use your name, but make up other info for your card. Note: all business cards should be on a 3.5 x 2 inch card, white background, landscape format (use the AI template provided in the Module 3 folder)
• Try to use the trick of the "invisible square" in your business card layout, you may also submit "DRAFT" files along with your final selections, this is especially important if you choose not to utilize the "invisible square" trick.
• Make a second business card layout that is more unique, experimental, etc, only AFTER you have completed a conventional design.
• You must use your black letter/white letter design in one of your cards. You may use it in your other card, or you may use an alternative design.

SUBMISSION

• Export your final logo and biz cards as a pdf
• Drag a folder with all your exercise files, called username_ex1_203, into my drop box on filer.

DEADLINES

• This Exercise is due before class, Thu, Sep 17

• Examine Problem #2
• Lecture:Intro to Project 1
• Paula Sher and Andy Warhol... Concept of REMIX/SAMPLING
• Do NOT use grey...entire Project 1 is pure black and white
• Continuous vs. Abstract/Symbolic
• 1st Set = Representational
• 2nd Set = Non-Representational
• 3rd set = Typographic
• Not graded on type, no gray...Quiz questions!
• 4:20 How do we know its Jack?...sequential design
• 5:30 Difference between 2 sets...6:30 (no continuity)
• 19:47 Structure...rule of thirds...Quiz question!

Goal:

Illustrate the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill by using artwork from a limited set of black and white clip art. Two illustrated sets must be completed, one representational and one nonrepresentational set. A third set must be completed, using text only.

Technical Instructions:

Click here to download the source files for the project.

Combine the clip art to make interesting designs and compositions. The final layout should be 3 SQUARES on top and 3 on bottom like this:

Do not use a flashy font to tell the story, do not use any filters on the clip art, do not change the opacity of the clip art (don't make it grey).

IMPORTANT: Every student completes two sets (two stories of Jack & Jill) for a total of 12 boxes. The first set is "representational" (like the one shown above). If you look carefully at it, you will see that the characters "Jack and Jill" are in every single box, except the last (which focuses only on Jill's eyes). This means that this sequence uses "continuity" between the boxes to give them meaning.

The second, "non-representational" set does NOT have continuity between the boxes, yet, it still tells the story. It is more abstract, iconographic (icon-like) and more symbolic in the sense that street signs are symbolicÉyou can read them very quicklyÉ

The third set will use helvetica and Adobe Garamond, bold/italic, turned in any rotation (90 degree increments only)

TECHNICAL NOTES

You will be creating your files in Illustrator, using the provided source files. We will demo making an 8.5"x11" file, creating an "overmat" layer, creating an art layer, selecting and manouevering the shapes into the desired composition, printing out our finals, and mounting them to foamcore.

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

Make sure you do a few test images, early on, many days before the due date. If you have technical problems, please alert the instructor, BUT, if you wait until the night before the due date, you are going to be in trouble. This project should NOT be too technically demanding, but, if you do not have good habits developed for SAVING your work, you may have a crash or something that causes big problems! Please be advised that even the simplest task (like this one) can have technical problems.

HOW TO GET A GOOD GRADE

• Follow the concepts in the lectures
• Combine minimal design with hyper-complex design so you cover the whole spectrum
• Don't get obsessed with little jokesÉinstead ask someone for their opinion, see if an outside eye "gets" what you are trying to communicate
• Remember, especially if you are an artist, the results from Problem #2! If you have wacko crazy ideas, your teacher will probably love them, but they need to communicate the message as CLEARLY as possibleÉdon't resort to self-expressionÉuse you mind, think of it like a rubics cubeÉit's a puzzle, try to solve it as best you canÉ

THE GOOD and THE BAD

The best result is when someone surprises themselves and can't believe how good they are at designÉthis project has given birth to career designers, who never considered it for a career. The worst result is the exact opposite, a student throws themselves into this project and it just gets worse and worseÉIf its not going your way, but you know you are working hard, not being lazy, you need to be mature enough to step back and just submit what you have on time and move on to the next project, which is very different, and may be a perfect turn around for you and your grades.

Due: Thu, Oct 01

• Lecture 4:Composition
• Begin with review of Focal Point problem
• Three Ways to create focal point
• Unity gestalt concept of "proximity" ... postmodern cultural meanings...
• 16:13 Cropping...we "unify" the image, even if we do not see all of it
• 18:00 a Sequence of images...they are getting closer or zooming in, unity works spatially and temporally
• Example of a problematic project ...boring sequence, very little eye movement QUIZ question, create variation in scale..."exercise for the eye 24:00
• Positive / Negative Space

• Lecture: Structure
• 00:30 I do NOT want you to develop "your style" of design yet, rather, in this 1st project I will give good grades to projects that have lots of VARIATION. The key benefit of this 1st project is it shows the student what their natural visual HABITS are...so that they can overcome them, go beyond them...
• 1:30 You are creating a "form" in each box of Project 1...try to see the FORM (rather than the content) of images...Tip #1 See STRUCTURE
• 2:50 The main GOAL of Proj 1 is Composing Forms/Shapes in the boxes (the idea of FORMALISM.
• Web link to the GOLDEN MEAN / GOLDEN RECTANGLE
• 5:30 COMPOSITION is in the 2nd project even though it is a color project...Composition is important in ALL design projects
• Balanced Asymmetrical Composition (missing in lectures)
• 11:15 Tip #2 BALANCE of center aligned forms
• 13:30 Try multiple crops, try moving the AXIS
• Tip #3: Look at the entire sequence...If our habit is complexity, then maybe try to make some boxes more minimalistic...or the other way around...What works best is to COMBINE styles.. Its all about going in the opposite direction of what you naturally do...

Mid-Term Paper DIRECTIONS

Important: Papers submitted up to 3 days after the final due date, will receive 10 Points off the final grade. Papers will be graded on (1) the overall concept and argumentation, as well as (2) how well the visual examples convey the points, and finally, (3) the overall grammar, proofreading, and readability of the paper. Papers should be written and submitted in the Microsoft Word (.doc format). Each paper should be ~ 1000 words in length and will require visual examples in an appendix.

Paper 1: Design History, Mid-Term Paper, 200 Points Early in this course, students will select a topic from design history to research. The instructor must approve the topic. Although any topic of design history from the 20th century may be proposed by the student, past approvals have fallen somewhere in these six categories below.

• Early Modern Design (i.e. Bauhaus, Russian Constructivism etc.)
• The New York School (Photographer-Illustrator-Designers, Edward Steichen, Milton Glaser, Vignelli etc.)
• Editorial & Magazine Design (i.e. Paula Scher, Pentagram, ƒmigrŽ, Fashion People, etc.)
• Motion Graphics (i.e. Saul Bass, Movie Titles, Broadcast Design etc.)
• Music & Sports Design (i.e. MTV, Nike, Skateboarding, Snowboarding etc.)
• Corporate Design & Identity, Contemporary Designers (i.e. Lester Beal, Weymouth Design Inc. etc.)

The first paper should be accompanied with, and refer to, an appendix with 5-10 good quality images. Note: many images from the web, do not look as good as a simple digital photo of an image from a book. Ideally, I would like no less than half of the images taken from the web. Of course, all sources to both images and quotations should be referenced in a bibliography at the end of the paper!

TIPS

• If you have a good book or two on your topic, you will have a much easier time!
• Even if you have 1 good book, don't forget to use the web as a source for finding more images, also, don't forget to look for more books, especially at Erie County Public Library or UB...
• Make sure you really like the LOOK of the design that you are researchingÉIt should be a topic that INSPIRES you and you mix your own style with it in project 2.

DIRECTIONS

So far we have learned a number of design concepts. The objective of the paper is to do an AESTHETIC ANALYSIS of a style of design. You should begin by LOOKING at lots of images. If you get a book, with lots of images, then this process is much easier. Take simple digital pictures of the images you like best, and put them into an appendix. As you look at the SET of images, what DESGIN CONCEPTS are at the core of the style? Your grade is based on how carefully you LOOK, how good your image set is, and how well you argue your opinions to make your case.

Do NOT focus heavily on the HISTORY of the particular designer/design movement you are researching. Rather, use the design concepts we have covered in class (focal point, structure, positive/negative space etcÉ) to analyze the images. When you are reading/researching, keep your eye peeled for any discussion of aesthetics (the way things look) or new design concepts that are similar and relate to term that we have discussed in class, for example, a book may say something like: "Paul Rand emphasized the picture plane with his famous cover for the '45 Christmas issue of Vogue Magazine". You should say to yourself what does "picture plane" mean? Then try to figure it out, and write about it.

DUE:Tue, Oct 20

Project 2: Design an Event.

Directions:

In this project students will come up with a creative idea for a fundraiser event and then design three pieces to publicize the event; a poster, a website mock-up (not functional) and a T-shirt. The three pieces should share continuity of style between them, yet they should all be effective as standalones, thus students will need to make each piece appropriate for the given medium. Students can use any software they want, but should be able to complete the project with only Photoshop and Illustrator.

Design Concepts:

The design concepts we will emphasize in this project are: Stylistic Unity of Typography, Color, Photos/Illustration and layout. Students are encouraged to use original photography and illustration as much as possible, but access stock photos and illustration if they want. Per students requests, we will focus on more "real world" concepts via our textbook chapters 2&3 Using Photos and Illustration, Chapter 6 Logos, Chapter 9, Advertising.

Theoretical Concepts: Persuasion & Propaganda

This project comes with one difficult challenge for the designer: the event must be a fundraiser and thus the goal is to get the guests to donate money. This will require students to focus on a persuasive marketing / PR strategy to entice people to come to the event. In class, we will discuss the idea of propaganda in advertising and the Designer's integral role as a creator of propaganda in society. We will discuss real-world, design industry scenarios to understand how formalism, aesthetics, fashion trends, sub-cultural contexts and gender stereotypes are manipulated to persuade people!

Historical Research and Examples

Although there is no written research required for this project, students should examine visual historical sources to support their design strategy. For example, if a student were to do a 1970's Disco Party for an event, he/she should look at the work of Peter Max. For the purpose of more general examples, students should take a look at the history of poster design, as the workflow will most likely begin with the poster design and then move on to the website and the T-shirt. Please check out these poster design links:

• http://www.poster.com.pl/theater-posters.htm
• http://www.footlightsgallery.com/newcattext.htm
• http://www.petermax.com/
• http://www.brushstroke.tv/peace.html
• http://swissposters.library.cmu.edu/Swiss/Tour.html

Purpose for Project 2

In project 1 (Jack & Jill) we focused on the idea of underlying structure within a project with very tight restrictions. In project 2, we will focus on the opposite of tight structure--we will consider style, color and type through their outermost attributes, that is, their aesthetics, style and form. We are not abandoning structure in favor of decoration; rather, we are discovering structure from the outside-in, rather than building it up from the inside-out (as we did in Proj. 1).

The choice of the content is entirely the choice of the student. The events can be everything from a Toga Party to a Corporate Self-Improvement Seminar. Students who believe that their portfolio needs more corporate-looking work are free to pursue that objective.

Deliverables

• Poster (8/12 x 11, "portrait" orientation)
• Website Home Page Mock-Up (not functional, just 1024x768 mock up of home page)
• T-Shirt (template provided by teacher)

• Use clusters...are photos/images working WITH the words
• 2:45 Flush Right Type on a block that sits on left side of Layout so the type blocks form geometric shapes / clusters
• Create Contrast of Scale in the Layout...how small can you make an element, yet it still reads? This opens up the negative space/breathing room in layout...
• Designing in photoshop vs. Illustrator vs. Indesign
• T-Shirt and Website

• General best practices
• HTML and CSS (csszengarden.com)
• Software
• 1024x768
• Usability & Flash
• Validating pages
• Wordpress

• Design a 4 column newsletter page with a title, headings, subheadings, and callouts. Use stylesheets.
• Watch a portion of typography video

• Midterm Paper Due.
• Textbook: 11. Websites 12. Table of Contents and Indices, 13. Newsletters and Brochures
• Watch intro to "Intro to No Logo Video": http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/logo/nologofilm.htm

Lecture and Demo: Project 3: Logo/Brand Design.

Part 1: Brand analysis essay due Tue, Nov 10.
Part 2: Logo design, Magazine ad and brand guidelines due Tue, Nov 17.

Part 1:Brand Analysis

1. Answer these questions:
   • What is the process of branding? What does "branding" mean? How does it work?
   • What does it have to do with the work of graphic designers?
2. Choose an existing brand. The brand should be similar to your project 3 either by virtue of being a similar product or a similar lifestyle. Examine the ads, website imagery, TV commercials, corporate literature etc. of the brand. Include 5 -10 images. REFER to your images in your writing.
3. Formal Analysis
   • Interpret the imagery formally or graphically.
   • Consider the design concepts we have discussed in class, and try to identify them.
   • Describe the logo or mascot
   • Is there a color or color palette that is part of the brand? Research Pantones, etc.
   • Try to identify the "graphic standards" or rules of using the logo, i.e. is the tag always with the logo, if so is it always in the same place etc.
   • Try to identify the typefaces used by the brand. Identifont and whatthefont are good resources, or consult me.
   • Identify the design conventions of the given advertising campaign...i.e. use of positive/negative space, consistent layout schemes, color schemes, etc.
   • Essentially, what design concepts are being used to engage the viewer and cause them to participate in the message of the ad and unify all the parts of the ads into a single, concise graphic image?
4. Content Analysis
   • Carefully examine the content of the writing and the pictures
   • Decode the message. What's really being sold?
   • Are the pictures product shots, endorsements, abstract shots, illustrations...etc.
   • What kinds of associations can be made from the choice of words?
   • Target Demographic: What kind of people are portrayed in the ads (age, gender, race)?
   • Try to understand the symbolism, if there is mythological or totemic symbolism, what are the traditional meanings?
   • Specifically, what is the strategy of the ad?
   • Speculate on what choices were made and what choice could be made to further stretch the brand or corporate identity
   • What's being sold back to the customer? In other words, what has the brand co-opted, overtaken or mutually created from its customer?

Part 2: Magazine Ad

1. Design a logo for a new brand (product). Past products that have worked well are more generic, like: soap, pens, eye glasses, energy drinks, etc...
2. Take this logo and utilize it in a magazine advertisement. The advert should be 8 1/2 x 11 inches, portrait format. Begin with a 200dpi CMYK photoshop file. Import/place/resize images, shapes, etc. on layers as needed.
3. The new brand that you create should relate to your "brand analysis" piece. So for example, if you wrote about the red bull brand, you should design a brand for a new energy drink.

Extra credit

• Size/Spacing Requirements
• Color Specifications: CMYK, PMS, and Hex.
• Typography Specifications
• Graphic Treatments

• READ Textbook: 6. Logos, 14. Flyers, 15. Designers and the Design Process
• WATCH "NO LOGO"

• Exercise 3: Newsletter layout

• CD Booklet: 4-3/4" x 4-11/16" with four panels/two spreads (front/back, inside left and inside right), CMYK, 300dpi.
• CD label: 4-3/4" diameter, with a 1/2" hole in the center, duotone, 300dpi
• Tray card: 5-7/8" x 4-5/8", with 1/4" spine on each side, CMYK, 300dpi.

If you have something really funky in mind, run it by me first. Form teams of 2 (artists/designers). Teams should brainstorm their idea for the musician(s), song title and design concepts. Build dummys using xerox paper. Sketch, sketch, sketch, scribble, scribble, scribble. Consider how type and image can work together in unique and dynamic ways. Remember your design concepts-Scale, Contrast, Gestalt! Make determinations about where the following type content will go:

• Musician/Band name
• Song title
• Lyrics
• Credits
• Copyright information
• Xtra credit: Slick custom record label logo

Designer will get started using "fpo" sketches. These will be replaced by final artwork when it's ready. Designer will select appropriate type, spacing, composition, etc. for cd layout. Artist will shoot photos and/or work on illustration. Once final artwork is ready, designer will replace fpo's with final files.

Both students are responsible for printing out and mocking up their own finished cd. Craftsmanship counts! 50% of your grade will amount from the design/artwork/concept, and 50% from execution. The final product should be as identical to a commercially produced cd as possible. You will need to use the print lab, so get in early before it gets mobbed.

Fonts: See http://wlab.canisius.edu/~dunkleb/fonts.php for some guidelines on choosing fonts, including the ones you MAY NOT use. Also, see the links section of the 203 website for links to great font resources. Stay away from Dafont.com if at all possible.

Layout: You may complete the entire project using photoshop alone, if that is the most comfortable software for you. However, we will discuss and demonstrate the advantages of using illustrator for any illustration work or vector graphics, and indesign for incorporating text and multipage capabilities.

FAQs

Can I be the artist? If you already have a song you've written, and want to use it, be my guest. Make sure your partner is cool with that. If you can write a song, record it, and produce it by the end of the semester, be my guest. You may want to withdraw from all the classes you'll be failing first.

Should I follow the band's branding (e.g., White Stripes uses black, white, and red on all their albums)? No. All creative must be original.