ThawStudio’s Weblog
a resource for design students at mason gross school of the artsArchive for Design III A 2009
Thesis Ideas for Jan. 15
Please formalize 4 to 6 visual ideas for your thesis and email to either Leslie or Jackie by January 15 so that we can give you considered feedback in the first class on January 20.
Winter Break
Before you leave for break, be sure to back-up your files, especially if working off a flash drive. You should ALWAYS have at least two current copies of your digital files (on your laptop + on the MGSA server, or on your flash drive + on your home computer, etc.) You can back up to CD at the end of the semester as an extra safety precaution.
See the AIGA 365 exhibit in New York City.
Visit the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum.
For Spring 2010, Design II-B will be taught by Neil Donnelly and Andrew Shurtz.
Call for Entries: Visiting Artists Poster
The Visual Arts MFA students are holding a poster competition for the Spring Visiting Artists Series in the department. Details below (and same info can be found on the first level of my Public folder on the MGSA server):
The poster is due, via email to vaposterdesign@gmail.com, by January 12.
Design III for 11.16
Two things due Monday Nov 16
1
Monday is the interim critique for PSAs. Have 3 PSA poster comps to pin up, at full size; these comps can be b+w and tiled on two 11×17 sheets — no need to print on the wide format yet. OR Show 3 roughs of 15-second PSA spots.
2
Thesis Exercise:
Create a brainstorm of ideas for works based on the ideas touched upon by your image collection. Think of each idea as a problem statement or a description of a visual assignment you might give yourself.
Each idea is not meant to be very detailed or completely thought-out; this is a brainstorm. This won’t lock you into a particular direction for your thesis; on the contrary, the point is to realize that there are many possibilities before you at this point.
See how many ideas you can come up with in two hours. Express each idea using thumbnail sketches and/or words, roughly two ideas per page. Photocopy out of your sketchbook so that you can hand in the work on Monday.
You will not be presenting this work, you’ll hand it in to your section teacher (either Leslie or Jackie).
Your Presentations Monday
Your in-class presentation of your thesis focus is Monday November 9. We’ll meet in separate sections in the labs so that you can project your image collections. Please put your presentation materials in your own Public Folder, for easy access.
Please give either Leslie or Jackie a copy of the recent Proposal you wrote for Gerry’s Thesis class.
PSA Series
A public service announcement (PSA) is a non-commercial advertisement for the public interest. PSAs are intended to modify attitudes by raising awareness about specific issues.
Make a PSA series related to your thesis focus. Create a set of three posters OR three video/motion graphics pieces that expresses a point of view with regards to an aspect of your thesis focus. What do you want to advocate? Who needs to know about it? How will it catch our attention?
You can make up an organization or choose an existing one to frame the subject matter. Your goal is to persuade the audience about an issue that relates to your thesis focus.
Posters: Three @ 13×19 inches each, or
Spots: Three @ 15 seconds each
VIDEO PSA’s
Ad Council: look at PSAs throughout the site
Hunger
Think Before You Speak
John Caserta PSA on fresh foods
Williams College PSA contest on the theme of privilege at Williams
PRINT PSA’s
An exhibition of posters about Social Justice, Peace and the Environment
The Graphic Imperative
Class Action
Domestic Violence Billboard
Domestic Violence Stamp
Guerrilla Girls
Art World Inequities Posters
AIGA’s open call for Get Out the Vote poster designs
GOOD 50×70’s open call for Social Communication poster designs
Game Design
NEW: Future Farmers’ Bingo Game
Good Magazine Board Game insert
The Road to the Presidency Board Game
Daniel Eatock’s VA Fete installation / Game
The Line Time Trial Challenge
See Documentary Video
The Design Office’s Typographic boxes
Letter Boxes
Aesthletics (Look under Projects)
Sports and Games
Some MFA Thesis
Jessie Rauch’s thesis exploring Propaganda
War on Evil
14 Activities for 13 Rainy Days
Mary-Jo Valentino’s thesis exploring Language
Association
James Mckinnon’s thesis on Interactive media / Community building
You / Me / Us / We
See Video
Hoon Kim’s thesis on Sound Visualization (Look under New Media)
Fragmented Memories of Today is particular project on Identity
Studio Projects Revise
Here are the projects we’ve worked on so far, with examples for inspiration. Revisions to these three projects are due for class critique on Wednesday October 14.
24 Hour Narrative
Document something of your choice for 24 hours and construct a narrative based on this documentation. Consider strategies for gathering your data and for structuring and giving form to this collected material. How can you make it into a compelling visual narrative? What graphic choices best express your content? (You do NOT need to document at regular intervals, such as once every hour — you decide what and when to record over a 24-hour period.) This project is about giving visual form to the passage of time. Format is open.
Examples for 24 Hour Narrative:
Jiminie Ha / Sam’s bio video
Sophie Calle / Exquisite Pain
Jonathan Harris / whale hunt
Data Set
Choose an autobiographical fact and from it, develop a set of 7 information graphics. Consider what information would be most compelling (combining “hard” and “soft” data is often powerful) and inventive, appropriate ways to make the data visually clear and provocative. How you present the information is up to you. Create a coherent set of these information graphics, connecting them in some way. This project is about data visualization, or making information more meaningful through choices about visual form. Format is 8×10″ book.
Examples for Data Set:
Nicholas Felton
Interview with Nicholas Felton
Andrew Kuo
More Andrew Kuo
Good Magazine
Stefanie Posavec
Fogelson Lubliner
Christoph Niemann
Visual Complexity Archive
CatalogTree
A New Cliché
Are clichés to be avoided or embraced by graphic designers? Can anything become familiar if shown around enough? How do you get people used to something? Our next project is to create a new visual cliché and to distribute it to a relevant audience. This project is about the possibilities for altering meaning through repetition; it’s also about knowing and involving your audience, and about referencing shared knowledge.
Examples for A New Cliché:
what is good design (Michael Bierut)
artist richard prince
i (heart) ny (Milton Glaser)
spreadin’ the love (Paul Sahre)
m&co products
on design clichés (Armin Vit/Speak Up)
the bubble project
Annotated Image Collections / Bibliographies
Some examples of annotated image collections and bibliographies
16×16 Yale thesis slide presentations
A New Cliché / New Dates
Our next project is to create a new visual cliché and to distribute it to a relevant audience. Sketches are due Sep 28 and the final is on Oct 5. Some inspiration and background:
what is good design (Michael Bierut)
artist richard prince
i (heart) ny (Milton Glaser)
spreadin’ the love (Paul Sahre)
m&co products
on design clichés (Armin Vit/Speak Up)
the bubble project
See the revised course schedule below; note due dates and ongoing projects/assignments.
F09.431.GDIII_NewSchedule
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