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Participation
- Class Discussions, Attendance, and Workshops - 10 %
This is an
interactive course that will be run much like a studio. It won't work
unless students attend every class and participate actively in discussions. You will also be graded on your effort to complete
workshop exercises.
Group Blog
- 10%
Each group will keep a blog of their activities both as individuals and as a group. The blog should be used to comment on course readings and document projects and workshop exercises. It should also serve as an “artist’s book” where students sketch out ideas, discuss interesting projects or technologies that are relevant to their work, and comment on the work of other students. While the blog is a group activity, each student will be graded INDIVIDUALLY based on the quantity and quality of posts.
Group
Presentation - 20%
Each group will prepare a powerpoint performance in the style of pecha-kucha, based on one of the course readings. Pecha-kucha involves 20 slides x 20 seconds each, usually with a live narrated voiceover. In this class, you will be allowed 30 slides of 20 seconds each. Students will submit their slideshow and a script of the voiceover as part of this assignment. Use the slideshow to cover
key points, important terminology, and links to other course readings. This is not simply a summary of the reading, although the
group must give a comprehensive overview of the text; instead, the goal
of the presentation is to "translate" the weekly reading so
that it is relevant within the context of previous and future course discussions. The grade will be based on the following: comprehensiveness (did you cover the most important concepts and terms from the reading?); oral performance (are you relying heavily on a script? are you speaking too quickly to be understood?); relevance (did you relate the reading to other course readings or discussions?); visual readability (are the slides an enhancement of the voiceover or are they just "wallpaper"?). Groups who perform well without use of scripts will be highly rewarded.
ASSIGNMENT
1 -Typology of Visual Rhetoric - 20%
Iteration 1: Thursday, January 31
Final Iteration: Thursday, February 14
Design (5%) + Essay (15%)
Using the "typology of visual rhetoric" developed by Phillips and McQuarrie, each group will create an 11 x 17 (recommended) poster containing their own typological grid, complete with images selected to fill in each category. Each group member will write his or her own 5-6 page essay that includes a description of each image in the grid and a theoretical explanation of how it fulfills the category in the typology where it is placed. The poster will be graded on the following: logical use of space; readability; "cleanness" of images. The essay will be graded on your appropriate use of course readings as well as clarity of descriptions. Your essay must include at least one other reading from the course list besides Phillips and McQuarrie.
ASSIGNMENT
2 - Picturing Theory (select ONE option below) - 40%
Iteration 1: Thursday, March 21
Final Iteration: Thursday, April 4
Design (15%) + Essay (25%)
Picture
Theory Poster
Drawing on your knowledge of a specific theorist covered in the course,
develop a detailed poster that encapsulates this person's work. Your poster
should serve as a sort of hypericon that uses images and text to capture
the "essence" of an entire text or a specific concept. You will
also be required to write a 7-8 page essay describing how your design
choices achieve the goal you have set for yourself with this assignment.
Specifically, how does your design reflect the theory or theories you are trying to encapsulate in the poster? Quote directly from course readigns (at least 3 separate texts). You may dedicate up to half of your essay describing how your poster adheres to White's "elements of graphic design." Additional details provided in class.
Theory
Book Cover
Drawing on your knowledge of a specific theorist covered in the course,
develop a book cover for one of his/her works. Like the poster project
above, your cover should serve as a sort of hypericon that captures the
"essence" of an entire text. Unlike the poster, however, you
are dealing with a specific set of design constraints, and you must also
take into account other covers created for the same text. You will
also be required to write a 7-8 page essay describing how your design
choices achieve the goal you have set for yourself with this assignment.
Specifically, how does your cover reflect the theory or theories you are trying to encapsulate in the poster? Quote directly from course readings (at least 3 separate texts). You may dedicate up to 3 pages of your essay describing how your poster adheres to White's "elements of graphic design."
Custom Typology of Visual Rhetoric
Create a customized version of Assignment 1 by designing your own images to include in the grid established by Phillips and McQuarrie. The images may be digital collages made of "found footage," self-designed graphics, photographs taken by you, or a combination of all of these. As with all final assignments, you must accompany the project with a 7-8 page paper describing your work in terms used by McQuarrie and Mick plus at least two other readings from the course list. Special consideration will be given to students who use this assignment to create their own custom typology of visual rhetoric, perhaps challenging the categories set out by McQuarrie and Mick.
Open Design Project Option
Do you have an idea for a project that will demonstrate your knowledge of course readings and workshops? Suggest it to the prof before March 18, providing specific details about what you would like to design. This option will also require a 7-8 page essay as with the above options.
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