Today’s Plan:
- Extra-credit opportunity
- COVID Visualization Revisited
- Designing Something Awesome
- Homework
Extra-Credit / Design Something Awesome Opportunity
Design a drink sponsor sheet (and write a bit of copy) for the Go West film festival. I need this on a quick turn around (5 days max).
COVID Visualization Revisited
I have come up with what I hope is a clear grading scale:
- If your infographic contains at least 3 visualizations, then you get a 75%
- If your infographic contains at least 3 visualizations and some text boxes describing those visualizations, 80%
- If your infographic contains at least 3 visualizations that are good (easy to understand findings, contains legible key/legend/labels, uses color to differentiate data) OR the text boxes describing your visualizations are meaningful, concise, descriptive, accurate, sufficient, etc: 85%
- If your infographic contains at least 3 visualizations that are good (easy to understand findings, contains legible key/legend/labels, uses color to differentiate data) AND the text boxes describing your visualizations are meaningful, concise, descriptive, accurate, sufficient, etc: 90%
- If your infographic does all the things above and is nice to look at 95% (pays attention to contrast, repetition, alignment, and spacing/proximity)
- If your infographic does all the things above and is really nice to look at (je ne sais quoi, something that suggests you really invested in the project): 100%
Designing Someone’s Holiday Gift(s) and/or Designing Something Awesome
Let me begin by revisiting what I mapped out in my earlier rest of year post.
People need gifts this holiday season. People need love and connection. So, instead of buying them crap, make them something special.
What might you make? If your friend is a poet, you could steal some of their poems and design them their own volume of poetry. Get that thing printed. Hand it to them.
If your friend is a gamer, then you could make them some kind of calendar with collages of their favorite game characters. Print that thing. Hand it to them.
You could also make a calendar about your relationship with someone. I hope the relationship lasts as long as the calendar. Or maybe your parents have a dog. No cats allowed.
Maybe you want to make a photo essay about a Colorado location, or person, or historic event. Maybe you are familiar with the work of Maria Kalman? Maybe you could make a photographic Kalman essay.
Maybe there’s a professor you really like and you could surprise them by turning their syllabus into a kick ass infographic. Or you could design the syllabus to be a much cooler print document rather than the standard black and white full-page fare.
Maybe there’s a novel you love and you could turn it into a zine. Or a visual essay. A poet, and a volume of their poetry. Make that collection into a multimedia collection. Juxtapose classic poems against contemporary art. Maybe you have a friend or sibling who has a favorite band: turn song lyrics into a classical volume of poetry? Maybe you could make your favorite professor a volume of poems, or a visual edition of a short story. Or illustrate one of their academic research articles. ( See the graphic guides / introducing series.
Maybe *you* have a favorite author/game/person. Make yourself something.
I used to teach a rhetoric class that concluded with the following assignment: make something that says something significant to someone. This is a bit of a rebrand: make something significant for someone. I leave it to you to fill in the details (though I will ask you what you made, why you made it, what design decisions you are particularly proud of, etc).
Assignment Expectations
Looking back through this material, I’m thinking about the following criteria for this project:
- Audience: You will have to determine to whom you will give the final product (I will accept yourself as an option)
- Introduction / Dedication: In most cases, your project should include either an introduction or dedication that talks about what you’ve done, why you’ve done it, and highlights the major design decisions [we can talk about this more later]
- Copy: You will need to specify, locate, thread, and stylize body copy
- Images / Illustrations: whether you take your own pictures, or work with found objects, there should be some kind of aesthetic/rhetorical strategy guiding your choice. You should be able to explain to me why you selected the images/illustrations/whatever given your copy and your audience
Note: the above expectations speak to books, because I expect that is what most of you will elect to develop. I am still willing to entertain the calendar option, although I haven’t done research on how to get one of those printed.
Minuteman Press
I called Minuteman Press this afternoon and got quotes for material production of a 16 page spinal booklet (front and back printing). Note: 16 is a minimum, you can do as many pages as you would like.
- Black and White (no-bleed option) with cover, black back page: $5.50
- Color (without bleed, slight upcharge for bleed) with cover and back page: $12.50
- Print submission: .pdf file. They can do same day production (but you should give them 24 hours to complete printing)
- Booklets: 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″, 8 1/2″ x 11″, 8 1/2″ x 11 and 11″ x 17″
- For full credit, you will need to bring your printed item to class on Thursday, December 2nd
Design and Create Something Awesome Project’s Timeline
Something like this:
- Today: intro discussion
- Due Monday, November 1st: Project Proposal Due
- Wednesday, November 10th: Project Progress Check [Complete body copy, collected illustrations/assets, InDesign wireframe]
- Wednesday, December 1st: Show and tell with printed materials (in class pizza party)
Homework
Finish infographic.
For next Monday: complete proposal.
