Design Project Requirements

All Design Projects in this class will start with a well written and designed Design Brief defining the message, the sender and the audience, as well as well the project's intended objective. You are also required to document your design process for each project and publish along with the design brief, thumbnails, concept roughs, tight comps, in addition to the final design itself.  Please note that all of the elements (listed above) of a single design project must be contained in one single post. You will need to add each element as you complete them to your original project post as an edit. Also, all individual Design Projects, as well as Chapter Outlines need to have a corresponding "title" and "label" so that I can easily access them independently in their entirety. This is how I have organized my blog, so use my blog as an example on how to set up and order your blog's "gadgets" and "labels". There should be little or no difference between your blog's structure and mine, except your postings will be your assignments and design projects themselves, along with short and appropriate text describing the elements.

Design Brief Template

Project Briefs are required for all design projects.

Here is a Project Brief template…

Here is the same Project Brief now filled in with project parameters and objectives…

Remember, we are designers and as such, all Chapter Outlines are NOT to be filled in templates, but custom designed by you with the appropriate content. 

Cubist Designer Self Portrait

Our third Design Project follows selected readings of chapters three and four, as well as a lecture by the professor on WWI and the subsequent social and political dismantling of Europe, and Cubism and the other 'isms" that spun-ff as a result of this "new way of looking" at art, visual communication, and the world in general. The consists of writing a short Designer Statement defining your point-of-view about design. Using this statement as project brief, design and construct a configured "analytical" and "synthetic" cubist designer self-portrait of yourself. 

This is a handout on the Cubist Designer Self-Portrait Project…

Sachplakat Object Poster

Our second Design Project is based upon readings of chapters two and three, and a podcast cast lecture given by design historian Steven Heller on Lucien Bernard. The project is the design of an effective contemporary product promotion poster in the "Sachplakat" or Object Poster style – creating a declarative visual statement by juxtaposing the name of the product, set in bold colorful type, with a simplified image of the product. Emphasis again must be put on the construction of an effective message about the product for an intended audience, as well as appropriate design and era style.

Like all of the Design Projects in this class, you MUST write a design brief for the project defining the message, the sender and the audience, as well as well the poster's intended objective. Publish your design brief, thumbnails, concept roughs, tight comps as well as the final design for the project as a single post on your blog.

Chapters Three & Four

Chapter Three… 

The second part of this chapter introduces the impact of WWI on design. We will explore the use of art and design as propaganda later in the class. Right now, pay more attention to the Dadist reaction against the war, as we will be tracing the impact it had on the emergence of "ISMS" in art and design in Europe. 

Chapter Four… 

This chapter introduces the reader to Cubism – a new way of looking at and representing images based upon space and time, rather than static representation of objects. Particular attention should be placed on Apollinaire's calligrames, Orphism and the rise of Futurism in art and design as evidenced by the work of Kauffer. Other key concepts are Purism, the rise of the machine aesthetic, and the resulting style of Art Deco as evidenced by the work of Cassandre.

Written statements about Analytical and Synthetic Cubism, and examples of design influenced by each, will replace the Chapter Outline for these readings.

Chapters Two & Three

Chapter Two… 

This chapter describes the influence of Art Nouveu in Scotland, Austria and Germany.  In Glasgow and Vienna, designers began to incorporative distinctive divisions of space in their designs, which led to adistinctive geometric Werstatte Syle. In Germany, a counter style, Expressionism emerged, that put more attention on feeling than form in art and design. Pay particular attention to the work and philosophy of Henry von de Velde, who may be considered the "father" of modern design because of his impact on subsequent designers, including Peter Behrens and various faculty members of the Bauhaus.

Chapter Three and the Object Poster…

The beginning of this chapter traces the development of "Sachplakat" in Germany by Lucian Bernhard. Many consider the Object Poster as the beginning of modern advertising – the configuration of product image and manufacturer name.

Create a Chapter Outline for this reading.

Introduction & Chapter One

Read the Introduction for the book…

It traces the development of printing and movable type from Gutenberg up through the Victorian Age.  Pay particular attention to the Nineteenth Century as your first class project will be a the design of a Victorian Era Travel Poster in the vernacular of the era.

Read Chapter One…

It traces the emergence in the middle of the 1800s in Europe of  "Art Nouveau" – a new way of looking at art and visual communication.  Pay particular attention to the influence of Japonism, Mucha and symbolist (sensual) imagery, and the work of the Beggarstaff Brothers.

Create a Chapter Outline or Score for this reading.