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Visual Form & Communication

concordia university

instructor: santo romano

email: santo.romano@concordia.ca

office hours by appointment

PURPOSE OF THE COURSE

Prerequisite: Enrolment in a Computation Arts program or written permission of the Department.
Key themes of visual communication are explored in the context of computation arts. This studio course considers design elements such as line, pattern, shape, texture, interpretation of space, surface, perspective, dimension, repetition, randomness, colour and colour spaces, typography, drawing from observation, layout and composition and conceptualization. This class is predominantly non-digital and discusses the relationships between analog and digital approaches. NOTE: Students who have received credit for CART 254 may not take this course for credit.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

  1. Explore the concepts graphic design and visual communication.
  2. Understand fundamental technical tools for creating digital and analog media
  3. Have a broad overview of how art and design practice have been employed as creative tools in computational media.

GRADING POLICY

DEPARTMENT STANDARD FOR ABSENCE:
As a Departmental policy, a maximum of two absences per term is tolerated, after which an official medical note (containing the date of the visit, the dates impacted by the medical condition, the M.D.’s name, license/registration number, and contact information) or other valid reason must be provided. Justification must be given in writing to the instructor. Three unjustified absences per course will result in an automatic failure. Notification in writing will be sent to students after two missed classes. If you have started a course late, each class you missed will count as an absence. In all cases, students are responsible for any material that is not submitted. Information will not be repeated due to absence or tardiness, except for a legitimate medical or other emergency.

FINAL GRADE:
The final grade will be based on the University grade point equivalents as listed in the Concordia Undergraduate Calendar, Section 16.3.3.

Work habits/ethics will influence your grades.
All grades will be averaged together.
Late work or class participation will also weigh heavily on your grade.
Late work will be penalized a letter grade for every day late.

  • 10% Attendance and participation
  • 25% Weekly practice assignments
  • 25% Midterm project
  • 40% Final project

EVALUATION:
Specific conceptual, technical and aesthetic objectives associated with each individual assignment and exercise will be clearly identified and evaluated by the following criteria.

  • Conceptual ability (understanding of the exercise).
  • Creativity.
  • Use of design elements and properties.
  • Use of digital and non-digital media.
  • Aesthetic criteria (realization of the idea).
  • Critical thinking - critique of your own work and that of other students.

PROJECT ASSIGNMENTS

Design and innovation within the medium will be considered during the formulation of your grade; highest grades will be given to projects that not only meet the requirements of the assignment, but also engage creatively (in both form and function). All projects must be published online in your personal class web site. Any file not available online will be considered incomplete. A zipped version of the project's root folder should also be submitted to the instructor on Moodle, as well as by email or google drive for archival purposes. Late projects are deducted one letter grade.

25% Weekly Assignments
Students are responsible for posting all exercises and projects on Moodle.

20% Assignment_02_Midterm
Students will design 3 posters using design principles learned in class.

40%_Assignment_03_Final
Students will develop a user interface project using techniques and skills aquired throughout the semester. It should contain:

  • A logo in black and white and colour in large and small sizes
  • wireframe sketches
  • an working Adobe XD or Sketch prototype of the project.
  • a video recording of the prototype (made in XD)
  • A style guide containing examples of typography, color palette and inspirational websites is also required.
  • Finally, the work must be published online.

RECOMMENDED READING

The Non-Designers Design Book Robin Williams
Thinking with Type Ellen Lupton
Graphic Design: The New Basics Ellen Lupton
How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your Soul Adrian Shaughnessy
How to use graphic design to sell things, explain things, make things look better, make people laugh, make people cry, and (every once in a while) change the world Michael Beirut
The Illustrator cs6 Wow Book - Sharon Steuer
Visual Quickstart Guides: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator- Peachpit Press

Schedule * subject to change

Week_01
An Overview of Graphic design history (part1). Work Procedure from thumbnail to final sketches. Forms, structure, and space. Basic layout notions.
4 black squares exercise

Week_02
Forms, structure, and space continued. Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. Golden Ratio and the Rule of Thirds.
ad redesign exercise

Week_03
Type classification, faces, justification, terminology and measurements.
type contrast exercise

Week_04
The colour wheel, complementary and tertiary colors. Color models, color space (RGB, CMYK, Pantone). Psychology of Colour.
Design with type exercise

Week_05
Grid Structure theory Multi column design and large amounts of text
Preparing a mood board. Image, Type and colour.
grid exercise

Week_06
Pre-WW2 design. Modernism. Post modernism.

Week_07
*midterm due
presentations and peer evaluations
Design a poster in 3 different styles: orthogonal, diagonal and freeform. Include: Thumbnails & Mood board

Week_08
Branding and Logo Design Creating a memorable logo. Branding in Graphic design history. Work Procedure from thumbnail to final sketches. The design brief.
logo exercise.

Week_09
Screen Based Graphic Design Graphic User Interface and User Experience Design Desktop vs. tablet vs. phone.
wireframes and preliminary mock up exrecise

Week_10
Signage, wayfinding and infographics

Week_11
In-class Workshop

Week_12
In-class Workshop

Week_13
presentations and peer evaluations