Project 02, Visual + Verbal
Project Overview
In addition to pictures and signs, what other ways are there to convey ideas? Students will choose a topic of interest and develop a set of relevant words and phrases that, together, build an in-depth understanding of it. Using these words as a base, students will explore the visualization of ideas through language (typography); non-pictorial, or abstract, images; and strategies for bringing these together, along with pictorial images and signs.
Learning Objectives
- Become familiar with the anatomy, vocabulary, and visual aspects of typography
- Understand the verbal/informational aspects of text and informational hierarchy
- Explore how the formal and informational aspects of type influence each other
- Understand the communicative potential of non-pictorial (abstract) imagery
- Develop strategies for manipulating typography to act as an image
- Develop strategies for integrating typography with images
- Further develop and refine skills introduced in Project 01
Work Process+Schedule (week by week)
- Identify and research word.
- Create class typeface and work on compositions with chosen word.
- Create vector figures (colloquially "little guys") and related compositions.
- Create vector decoration for new and existing compositions.
- Create candidates for final posters, bringing back vector output into Photoshop.
- Review and refine posters.
- Print final posters and critique.
Deliverables
Three final 11" by 17" poster with border trimmed (approximately 10" by 16"), incorporating imagery used for project no.01, vector "illustrations" and typography (bespoke vector lettering, the class typeface, and/or an existing typeface)
Project Evaluation
- Conceptual relevance of texts (selected words and phrases) to topic/theme
- Clarity of ideas conveyed
- Overall clarity of compositional logic and integration of negative space
- Relevance of typographic form and style to content and meaning
- Clarity of visual relationships between type and images
- Clarity of hierarchies and reading order
- Quality of typesetting (size/contrast, spacing, use of punctuation, etc.
- Quality of craft/production (booklet): Trimming, folding, binding, image quality
- Quality of craft/production (animation): Image quality, contrast, smoothness, etc.
Rubric
(each of the below categories is rated 1-5 and then used to produce a letter grade)
| Participation | Process | Presentation |
|---|---|---|
| Preparedness for work and discussion during class sessions (homework, materials, and familiarity with readings) | Demonstrating thorough, open-ended, multivariate ways of addressing creative challenges (in-depth iterative exploration) | relevance of texts to chosen topic; clarity of ideas conveyed |
| Actively seeking and attaining self-guided knowledge; effort to constantly improve skills, techniques, and knowledge | Comfort with the unknown and making mistakes as inherent to the creative process | Clarity of visual relationships |
| Supporting fellow students with active, constructive, and substantive feedback/critique during in-class discussions | Demonstrating ability to consider, address, and incorporate feedback and critique in decision-making (comfort in making changes to one’s work and methods) | Clarity of hierarchies |
| Demonstrating personal connection to the project by incorporating one’s culture, experiences, and viewpoints | Demonstrating an ability to describe one’s decisions and why one is making them | Quality of typesetting (size/contrast legibility, spacing, use of punctuation, etc.) |
| Sharing work at varied stages of completeness; openness in asking for help or support from the instructor and fellow students | Thorough and detailed documentation of process | |
| Sufficiently managing time inside and outside the classroom |