Remaining Projects

mid-term type quiz
(complete worth 69 points)

project 1 what the font
(complete, worth 100 points)

exercise lulu.com poster, worth 50 points

exercise social communication tool, mixed media or digital, worth 50 points

exercise fashion brand identity, mixed media or digital, worth 50 points

project 2 video or pop-up book, worth 100 points

final exam, worth 51 points

That will give a grand total of 470 points you can accumulate for the term. Some of the exercises will happen quickly, in class, and will rely on you to be present to complete the work. So pay close attention to the calendar link and our class website.

Poster Design

Design a poster to promote an upcoming design lecture at Winthrop University.

Lulu digital printing, book making, and online tools.

Nov. 4
12-1:30pm
Owens Building G01

Final poster size: 11x17 inches with 0.25 inch margin on poster
Live area of 10.5 x 16.5 inches
Full color

Multiple thumbnails are due at the end of our Oct. 25th class. This is a competitive challenge: the winning poster will get printed, and posted throughout Rutledge, McLaurin, and Bancroft Hall. Worth 50 points. Assessment criteria includes:

• originality of theme/concept
• appropriateness and professionalism
• use of typography to carry theme
• craft of typography, either digital or built from hand
• overall craftsmanship
• meeting deadlines

Consult the class calendar for a list of complete deadlines.

Video Proposal

Students, who are interested in producing a video that promotes the Winthrop Visual Communication program as their final Intermediate Type project, should craft a comprehensive proposal and submit it at our Thurs. Nov. 3 class. The final video would need to be handed in on or before Thurs., Dec. 8th at 3pm as an HD QuickTime movie.

What content/message should the video have?

1. promotion of Winthrop's Visual Communication Design program
2. incorporation of graphic design, illustration, and interactive media into the movie
3. words that describe the tools, trades, media, and things our students use/do
4. can include people, but typography must take center stage in the video

How long should the video be?

1. Between 2 to 4 minutes.

What form, speed, tone, mood can the video have?

1. Typophile 5 http://youtu.be/p2t4hz_uaHI
2. Typophile 4 http://youtu.be/PHPvHwqmPFk
3. Wood type http://vimeo.com/30631480
4. Stop motion http://vimeo.com/user7917836/sweet-play
5. Living font http://youtu.be/LppK4ZtsDdM
6. Process, hi speed NY Times

What should the proposal have?

1. At least three different themes you intend on creating. Each of the three themes will need 12 story board drawings to give us an idea of what you want to make.
2. Samples of music you'd like to have as a soundtrack, these can be songs you own on CD or iTunes, or so-called "scratch music" that sounds like the soundtrack you want to make yourself. They do not have to be songs you've already recorded on Garage Band.
3. A title for your video.
4. Why you want to take on this project.

Objectives: experiment with typographic construction; use video to render motion graphics and coordinate it with a soundtrack; design a cohesive theme, and visualize it through motion graphics;

Media: Final video can be a combination of recorded imagery, such as physically built typography, stop-motion animation, stop-motion videography, and digital animation. Making a video exclusively using Flash, cartoons, or other animated graphics will not be permitted, but you can incorporate some of that media into your video. Video can be recorded with any of the cameras available in the RVRC. Soundtrack can either be generated by the student, or music can be provided by the instructor. For those willing to author their own music, Garage Band demos will be given, and students will learn how to record, mix, and mix-down tracks.

Final Project's Evaluation Criteria:
1. craftsmanship

• presentation is professional and appropriate
• cohesive, interesting, dynamic composition
• precise edits, renderings, and soundtrack overlay
• demonstrates good use of tools
• follows directions

2. composition

• design, animation, and video is visually dynamic and well executed
• good use of space, and active design
• placement and presence of items on format is decisive
• unity and variety to enhance interest
• use of typographic variety, contrast, styles to enhance message

3. concept

• designs are suitable for the subject matter
• typography is integrated appropriately, use composition to reinforce
• message conveyed appropriately, and relates to project objectives

Deadlines: see class calendar

Pop-Up Book Proposal

Students, who are interested in producing a pop-up book as their final Intermediate Type project, should craft a comprehensive proposal and submit it at our Thurs. Nov. 3 class. The final book would need to be built and handed in on or before Thurs., Dec. 8th at 3pm.

What kind of book can you make? The sky's the limit:

• Alphabet Book ABC-3D
• Educational Book: how can you teach children about letters, language, words, actions
• Word Book: Bembo Zoo how can you teach children about nature, science, etc.
• Color Book: how can you teach children about color using type
• Shape Book: how can you use type and shapes to teach children the names of geometric shapes
• Number Book: ten by Marion Bataille
• Story Book: in what way could type be a primary vehicle to tell a story
• Writing: how could you teach people to write letters, and what if those people had special needs because of dyslexia, reduced vision, or limited muscle ability
• Other: Brandon Oxendine's interactive pop-up book, 2009

What should the proposal have?

1. At least three different themes/content you would like to work with.
2. Samples of books that are similar to your ideas. These can be shown at Amazon.com or you can bring in books you own or got from the library.
3. The number of pages your book will have.
4. Your book's title.
5. Audience, age group.
6. Who would buy the book.
7. Why they'd buy the book.
8. Why you want to take on this project.
   

Objectives: experiment with push / pop / pull methods using paper construction; use paper engineering to create a book prototype; render letters of the alphabet as assigned during a 5-week period; render unity amongst letterforms; design and build a typographic push-, pull-, pop book based on the above

Media: Final product will be a typographically-driven book using any number of push / pull / pop methods you learn about through in-class demonstrations or individual research. Final book should be no smaller than 4-inches in any direction; no larger than 8-inches in any direction (these restrictions are set to enable use of 11x17 papers, purchased in RVRC or at art supply stores). You may work in all lowercase, all uppercase, or a combination. Typography must be a primary vehicle in the design.

Structure possibilities: 

1. books must have a factor of four pages
2. large A-Z: an alphabet book with 13 spreads could include 2 letters on each spread, and yield you 26 letters of the alphabet, or 28 pages total
3. small 1-10: a numeral book, that teaches counting 1-10 or 1-9 could have one number on each spread, yielding approximately 20 pages total

Color: Students must work in no less than 2 colors. The paper can act as a 3rd color; such that white paper, red ink, and black ink are 3 colors total. While full color is a possibility, it may prove too expensive.

Final Project's Evaluation Criteria:
1. craftsmanship

• presentation is professional and appropriate
• carefully rendered letterforms for cohesive, interesting, dynamic composition
• clean presentation, free of smudges, fingerprints, glue leftovers
• precise measurement of finished product
• demonstrates good use of tools
• lines are cut straight
• push / pull / pop methods function when used
• employs push / pull / pop method for typographic revelation or interaction
  
• follows directions

2. composition

• designs are visually dynamic and well executed in format
• demonstrates good use of space, and active design
• placement and presence of items on format is decisive
• unity and variety to enhance interest
• use of typographic variety, contrast, styles to enhance message

3. concept

• designs are suitable for the subject matter, active and dynamic
• typography is integrated appropriately, use composition to reinforce
• message conveyed appropriately, and relates to project objectives

Deadlines: see class calendar

AIGA Event Poster

Initial brainstorming ideas have been collected by the instructor, and will remain on file with him until Project 1 has been completed.

What the Font

Generate an A-Z alphabet using any materials you choose. Media is open, but the thrust of this project is to see and render type physically. Letters can be rendered with photography, structures, sculptures, Photoshop, lead, bacteria, fur, hair, birds, bread, eggs, waffles, or a combination thereof. You can work in any media you choose, but the final product must be delivered as stated below under Final Submission (cookie sheet or movie).

Textbook reading to support your research:
pages 34-39, 73-78, 198-199


Final Submission - Cookie Sheet
The final product will be a fully-designed specification sheet with the letters A through Z on an 8.5-inch wide by 5.5-inch high format, 300dpi, RGB colorspace, flattened TIFF with no compression. BUT save all of your process work and build files, especially save files with layers, masks, and other effects needed to construct your work.

Final Format - Movie
In addition, students may consider how to create a time-lapse typeface that would require you to video record its creation, existence, and decomposition. See Ben and Brandon's "Mint Condition." Students who choose to make a movie documenting or animating their letters will not need to turn in the aforementioned cookie sheet. The movie must be submitted as a Quicktime movie file, with the .MOV file suffix.

Final Process Work - 2 options
Students are also required to submit up to 24 still photographs or 1 minute 30 seconds of video. The photographs or video should show the process that went into your planning, building, designing, and producing. Take your still photographs in landscape mode (wide format) as JPEGs. Video should be no smaller than 640x480 format (4:3 ratio). The video must be submitted as a Quicktime movie file, with the .MOV file suffix.

Letters: Upper- or Lowercase
Your typeface may be all of the capital letters, all of the lowercase letters, or a combination thereof. Bradbury Thompson's Alphabet 26 is an example of how to combine upper- and lowercase into a universal typeface. You can use an existing font as the basis, such as the Garamond in Garamond Powerline, a photographically and Photoshop rendered design.

Examples from Spring 2009
Examples from Spring 2010

First Deadline: Thurs. Sept. 1st

• letters ZORL rendered for each of the unique materials you've considered
• such as ZORL in jell-o; ZORL in melted butter; ZORL in Lego

Students may present their 4 initial ideas by doing any of the following:

1. drawing them on the white board with marker;
2. xeroxing drawings from their sketchbook to share as handouts;
3. showing digital roughs on the in-class podium (must be PDF).

Your concept, theme, and materials may say something socially, politically, or culturally relevant; but this is not a requirement, and will not factor into the project's grade.

Final Deadline: Tues. Oct. 11

• Students must burn all of their final content to a single data DVD. A data DVD is not a movie DVD. Demos will be given closer to the project deadline.
• Name your DVD with your last name.
• In the DVD, create folders for your content: final project and process documentation.
• Name your design files using your first name.

Worth 100 points.

Final Classes and Deadlines

Thurs. Dec. 2 - last regular class session

• receive final revised fashion wordmarks
• review Print cover revisions
• deliver final grade for fashion wordmark

Thurs. Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. - scheduled final exam

• due to SPR, students will not need to attend the scheduled exam
• but, students may submit their fully-developed Print cover to Turnstile2 to get feedback before the final due date

Mon. Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. - final work submitted

• Print magazine book cover, PDF to Turnstile2
• pop-up book designs, minimum 11 spreads, bound as book, handed in as built book

Type Change Final - Nov. 4

Your Project 3 Final is due Nov. 4 at 12:30pm and you are required to present your work for critique

"What's due" that day:

1. bring in any three dimensional product that you made for the final
2. take photographs of the product / thing / construct in the specific place you want it presented,
3. if you are unable to get it into the specific place due to logistical reasons, set it up somewhere else, such as your home or a Rutledge / McLaurin office or studio, and then take pictures
4. in your "place" photographs, get some long-shots (far away) and some detail shots (up close); also try and get a person in the photograph to show us the scale of your type product in the enviroment

The photographs you take should be digitized as a well-composed, single Acrobat PDF in High Quality Print format. If you can get it onto a USB key, it will be easy to transfer to my computer that time. However, I will also have blank CD-ROMs if you want to burn a disc for me.