Assignments subject to change...
Color Study Project
To be successful in Imaging, you must have a good understanding of the use and function of color in art. Your first project will be to create a color study. You may choose any color on the color wheel (black, white and gray are not colors). Your main focus for this project will be the representation of that color and the creation of a small-scale artwork which utilizes the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design. Research of the aesthetic, emotional, and cultural meaning of that color will be imperative to the success of your project.
Color Study Project Requirements:
- Imagery/photos
- The name of the color (does not have to be in English). It should be included as a design element, not an afterthought. Incorporate this typography into your design.
- Use of entire picture plane (no "floating" elements). Make sure your design goes off the page!
- Color dominance - you are not limited to the use of that color, but it should be the focus of your work. Think about using color schemes (ie. complimentary, analogous), and tints, tones and shades of the color.
- Thoughtful use of the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design
- Size: 6" x 6" at 150 ppi in CMYK color mode
Everyone will turn in their printed Color Study at the beginning of class on the due date. Any late work will lose 10% per class day that it is late. Because this piece will be printed, you may not use any copyrighted material off the Internet. If you have questions about what copyright restrictions are and how to avoid copyright infringement, please see www.whatiscopyright.org and www.copyright.gov.
Color Study Project due: Friday, March 4.
Self Portrait Project
You will create a "self portrait" using Photoshop. The self portrait may or may not look anything like you, but it should define you in some way that is obvious to those who know you. In order to achieve a better grade and a piece that you are proud of, avoid trite, obvious solutions like collages of all the things you like. On the spectrum of art vs. design, this piece should be more towards the art end: its purpose is to hang on the wall at a gallery, saying something important to the audience.
During the critique, you will explain your self portrait, sharing some things about yourself that the class may not already know. You will explain your creative process, showing and explaining how you came up with your final solution. You will also explain the art and color fundamentals that you used.
In order to receive a perfect grade on this project, you must be committed to the process of creating good art (quick writes, sketches, multiple attempts leading up to a final solution). You must also display good use of color, using the principles of color theory. And you must incorporate your knowledge of the seven principles of organization to achieve unity (harmony, variety, balance, proportion, dominance, movement, and economy). Finally, your final digital file must contain good use of layers (the more, the better) and avoid the use of filters.
Everyone will turn in their printed Self Portrait on the due date. Any late work will lose 10% per class day that it is late. Because this piece will be printed, it must be 150 pixels per inch in resolution and you will not be allowed to use any copyrighted material off the Internet. If you have questions about what copyright restrictions are and how to avoid copyright infringement, please see www.whatiscopyright.org.
Self Portrait Project due: Tuesday, March 15.
Digital Interpretations of the Masters Project ("DIMP")
You will be assigned an artist who has made a significant impact on art history. You will research your assigned artist and find your favorite piece created by him or her (try Webmuseum). Your finished project will be an original piece of digital artwork inspired by some aspect of the historical piece (colors, theme, style, subject matter, feelings evoked, etc.) and a short art history lesson teaching your classmates about your artist.
At the critique, you will first teach the class a little bit about the artist you were assigned. This mini art history lesson (taught with a PowerPoint slideshow) should include important biographical data, should show a few samples of the artist's work, and should explain briefly why the artist is considered historically significant.* You will also need to show the class the piece by your artist that you chose as your favorite and talk about why you choose that particular piece as your favorite, and how you got inspiration from it. You will then show your interpretive piece and discuss the tools and the creative process you used to create it and the connections between it and the original historical piece.
Because this project is much more towards the art end of the design vs. art spectrum, you will be graded on how well you commit to the artistic process with research, sketches, writing, and multiple attempts leading toward a final solution. You will also, obviously, be graded on the level of aesthetic success you achieve: how well you employ the principles of color theory and your knowledge of the seven principles of organization to achieve unity (harmony, variety, balance, proportion, dominance, movement, and economy). Part of your grade will also come from how well you make the students in class understand and appreciate who your artist was in your mini art history lesson.
The only technical restrictions for the DIMP have to do with the fact that your final file will be printed, so make sure your file is CMYK, 150 dpi and 8 1/2 x 11 inches or less. And as always with presentation work, you will not be allowed to use any copyrighted material. If you have questions about what copyright restrictions are and how to avoid copyright infringement, please see www.whatiscopyright.org.
*It is very important that you do not plagiarize in your art history lesson. Make sure you are rewriting what you learn in your own words!
Note: Students who did poorly on this assignment in the past did not take the time to understand the assignment. Please do not try to simply recreate the artist's piece in Photoshop; that is not what the assignment is about at all! Before you ever open up Photoshop, you should do all your research, find your favorite piece by your artist, and then write and sketch about why that particular piece touched you: what does it mean? how does it make you feel? what kind of person was the artist? what powerful feelings did the artist have to make him/her create the piece? what is it about the piece that touches so many people that the artist and the piece are considered historically significant? what does it say about life or the human condition? Then do some original sketching from your answers to these questions. Only when you are done with all that, should you start creating a Photoshop file.
DIMP due: Monday, March 28.
Movie Poster Project
Your next assignment will be to create a movie poster using Photoshop. The poster will be for a fictitious movie or film that you will dream up. The first step will be to come up with proposal for your movie, which will include the genre, the audience type, the "stars", the title for the movie, a "tagline," and a short treatment/synopsis.
Once your proposal has been approved, you can use the information from your proposal to start brainstorming and sketching about what the actual movie poster will look like. It is very important that the poster reflect the genre of the movie and the type of audience you are hoping to attract. This project is more toward the design end of the art vs. design spectrum. Besides being visually appealing (using the principles of organization and color theory), it is important that this piece performs its function: to make people want to see your movie.
Because this piece will (hopefully!) be printed on our large format color printer, it must be 150 pixels per inch in resolution and be 13" x 19" in size. And as always with presentation work, you will not be allowed to use any copyrighted material. If you have questions about what copyright restrictions are and how to avoid copyright infringement, please see www.whatiscopyright.org.
During the critique, you will share your treatment/synopsis with the class and you will explain your creative process, showing and explaining how you came up with your final solution. You will also explain the art and color fundamentals that you used and also, how you made your poster come to life, from a technical standpoint, in Photoshop.
Everyone will turn in his or her printed Movie Poster at the beginning of class on the due date. Any late work will lose 10% per class day that it is late.
In order to receive a perfect grade on your Movie Poster project, you must be committed to the process of creating good art (quick writes, sketches, multiple attempts leading up to a final solution). You must also display good use of color, using the principles of color theory. And you must incorporate your knowledge of the seven principles of organization to achieve unity (harmony, variety, balance, proportion, dominance, movement, and economy). And as with your Self Portrait, your final digital file must contain good use of layers (the more, the better) and avoid the use of filters. Because this is a design project, you must also make sure that your final poster does a good job of "selling" the fictitious movie that you dreamed up.
Movie Poster Project due: Wednesday, April 13.
Magazine Advertisement
You will be given a magazine advertisement from National Geographic from 1979 or earlier. You will make a new ad for the same product that would work in today's world. You must take into consideration today's marketing trends and styles and contemporary people's buying habits. Your ad must also be revolutionary, however, and not just a copy of other ads that you see today. You may use your own judgment as to how much of the "historical" ad is appropriate for today's market.
Your final digital file must contain good use of layers (the more, the better) and avoid the use of filters. Your file must be 150 dpi in resolution and be the correct size for National Geographic magazine (7" wide by 10" tall). And as always with presentation work, you will not be allowed to use any copyrighted material. If you have questions about what copyright restrictions are and how to avoid copyright infringement, please see www.whatiscopyright.org. Because this is a design project, you must also make sure that your final ad does a good job of "selling" the product that you were assigned.
In order to receive a perfect grade on your Magazine Ad project, you must be committed to the process of creating good art (quick writes, sketches, multiple attempts leading up to a final solution). You must also display good use of color, using the principles of color theory. And you must incorporate your knowledge of the seven principles of organization to achieve unity (harmony, variety, balance, proportion, dominance, movement, and economy).
Magazine Ad due: Friday, April 22.
Social Issue/Persuasive Poster Project
For this project, you will design a poster about an issue that is important to you. The goal of the poster is to educate and persuade people to believe the way you believe and, hopefully, change some aspect of their behavior. It is important that the design of the poster, as well as the information you present on your poster, is thoughtful, serious, well-written, well-researched, accurate, and original.
Before you start working on your digital file, it is imperative that you do a lot of research. First, you need to make sure that you choose your topic carefully; it should be an issue that you feel very strongly about and have a definite personal opinion about. Once you have chosen a topic, you should do a lot of research about how others feel about the issue (What are some of the counter-arguments? How have other minds been changed?). You should also do a lot of research to find facts to back up your argument (making sure to cite your sources when you put this information on your poster).
There are a number of "tricks" to use when designing your poster. The overall design of the poster should be so compelling that it will grab the attention of people walking by and make them walk up to your poster and read the information on it. The information on your poster should be well-written, persuasive and concise. You need to strike a good balance between presenting enough information to persuade people without overwhelming them with too much information. The overall goal is for the design and the information to be so persuasive that it will not only change people's minds, but hopefully change some aspect of their behavior.
Technical Requirements:
- Size: 11" x 17 " portrait or landscape (your choice).
- Resolution: 150 dpi.
- Color mode: CMYK.
- Correct use of Photoshop, including the use of layers and layer masks.
As always, you will be graded on your aesthetic success. You must be committed to the process of creating good art (quick writes, research, sketches, multiple attempts leading up to a final solution). You must also display good use of color, using the principles of color theory. And you must incorporate your knowledge of the seven principles of organization to achieve unity (harmony, variety, balance, proportion, dominance, movement, and economy).
It is extremely important that you follow copyright law in all content on your poster: images, written information, etc. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in an automatic failing grade on the project. The information on the poster should come only from you, unless you are quoting facts to help you convince people, and if that is the case, you need to properly cite the source (as you would in a research paper). Remember that the goal of the poster is for you to present your opinion on an issue, supported by facts from reputable sources, and convince others to believe as you do and change their behavior.
Social Issue/Persuasive Poster project is due on: Tuesday, May 3.
If you need help choosing a topic, check out these lists of social issues (list 1, list 2, list 3), but make sure that you have a strong personal opinion regarding the topic you choose.
Book Cover Project
You will be redesigning the front and back cover and spine of a book. It must be a book that you have read, because the cover needs to clearly communicate what the book is about. Your redesign must be significantly different from the original, and you must justify the reason for the redesign at the critique, showing the original design along with your redesign, telling us why yours is better. Your redesign must be the same dimensions as the original and it must be created in Photoshop, at 150 d.p.i. resolution in CMYK color mode. At the critique, you will actually wrap the print out around your book like a dust jacket, so we can all imagine what the book cover would actually look like.
On the spectrum of art vs. design, the book cover project is more towards the design end. There is a practical purpose for your design, beyond just being something aesthetically pleasing and emotionally moving. The purpose of the book cover (besides covering the book) is to inform a potential reader what the book is about and get him or her to buy it. You will be graded not only on aesthetics, but on how well you achieve the goal of informing and selling. You will also be graded on your technical skill in Photoshop. Your final digital file must contain good use of layers (the more, the better), layer masks, and an understanding of when it is appropriate to use the vector tools. Make sure that the file is in the correct format to wrap seamlessly around the book as a cover (with the back, spine, and front from left to right).
Book Cover project is due on: Thursday, May 12.
Surrealist Synectic Art Project
You will be randomly assigned 3 seemingly incompatible words from a list. You will take the meanings and ideas behind these three words and create a unified piece of art in the Surrealist style. Think of the completed piece as having the look and feel of a dream. It should look like it could be real, but that there's something definitely surreal (or dreamlike) about it. DO NOT simply produce a collage of images, your finished piece should be a unified work of art, in keeping with the concepts of synectic art.
Because this project is much more towards the art end of the design vs. art spectrum, you will be graded on how well you commit to the artistic process with research, sketches, writing, and multiple attempts leading toward a final solution. You will also, obviously, be graded on the level of aesthetic success you achieve: how well you employ the principles of color theory and your knowledge of the seven principles of organization to achieve unity (harmony, variety, balance, proportion, dominance, movement, and economy). You will also be graded on how well you have incorporated the Surrealist ideals and the concept of synectic art. The only technical requirements are that your final piece be produced in Photoshop at 150 dpi resolution and less than 8.5" x 11" in size and copyright law, as always, must be followed.
This project is due on: Monday, May 23.
"Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience so completely that the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday rational world in 'an absolute reality, a surreality.' (According to the major spokesman of the Surrealist Movement, the poet and critic André Breton, who published 'The Surrealist Manifesto' in 1924.)" from WebMuseum, Paris.
Synectic: The synthesis of disparities; producing unified or cohesive structures and ideas from seemingly incompatible elements. (From Art Synectics by Nicholas Roukes, 1984 Davis Publications, Inc., Worcester, Massachusetts. pg.74)
Corporate Identity Project
You will create the visual identity for your own fictitious company. This identity will include a name, a "brand," and a visual identity (logotype and symbol). Make sure you take the time to read the information at the previous links, you will find it invaluable to helping you come up with the best possible combination of name, brand, and visual identity for your company.
An important piece of this project is creating the artwork for lots of different ideas and doing lots of "market research." Your first Illustrator file will need to be a grid of 12 ideas for your logo. You must print out this file and show it to as many people as possible to gain input. This portion of the assignment (a printed out Illustrator file with 12 ideas and written comments from at least 20 people) must be done by the beginning of class on Wednesday, June 8.
At the critique for the finished product on June 10, you will first tell us the company name that you settled on and how you came up with it. You will explain your company's brand (who your customers will be, who your competitors will be, why your products and/or services are better than your competitors', etc.). You will then show us your file with the grid of your 12 best ideas and talk about how you decided on the very best one to develop and refine into your final logotype/symbol. And lastly you will show us your company's final visual identity (symbol and logotype), as an Illustrator file on screen and printed out in black and white at three different sizes: actual size, half size (50%), and double size (200%).
The specifications for "actual size" are the following: the smallest dimension needs to be exactly 1 inch high or wide. In addition, the following specifications must be followed very precisely. The symbol and logotype must be scalable (look good and not pixelated at all different sizes) and created in Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator lends itself to creating vector art (infinitely scalable) much better than Photoshop, although the latest version of Photoshop has many options for creating vector art. You can choose to use color in your logotype/symbol, but it must also work visually in black and white. If you choose to use color, you must use "spot" Pantone colors if you are using 4 or fewer colors and CMYK if you are using more than 4 colors (please ask me if you need help with this!).
Although logos are often very abstract and "artsy," their main function is to create a visual identity for a company. Because logos serve this very specific function, they should be thought of as falling much more toward the design end of the art vs. design spectrum. You will be graded on how well you have thought out your company’s name and brand and how well your symbol and logotype communicate that "brand." You will also be graded on how well the visual piece of your company’s identity works technically, especially how well it communicates and holds together visually at all different sizes, and in color (optional) and black and white.
The first part of this project (the grid with comments) is due on Wednesday, June 8.
The final project is due on: Friday, June 10.
T-Shirt Design Project
You will create two pieces of artwork for a T-shirt for the fictitious company that you created in the Corporate Identity Project (examples of "two pieces of artwork" would be the design for the front and back or the front and a sleeve, etc.). The purpose of the T-shirt is to increase brand awareness and recognition of your company or one of its products. If you choose to do a different company than the one you did for the Corporate Identity Project, then you will need to go through the same process (brainstorming, new logo, branding, etc.)
You are not required to actually have these t-shirts printed, but in order to understand the screen printing process, you will be pretending to go through the entire process. Pretend that you will be working with San Diego-based Instant Imprints to produce your T-shirts. You may choose the color and type of T-shirt that your design will be printed on and how many spot colors of ink you will print. When making these decisions, make sure you keep your brand in mind (for example: colorful and inexpensive or sophisticated and high-quality). Pretend that you will be printing 100 T-shirts, and your imaginary budget is $1000 total (for the setup charges, T-shirts, and printing). To see what options you would like to choose and still stay within the budget of $10 per shirt use Instant Imprints' online quote calculator (which if used correctly, calculates the price per T-shirt including setup charges, T-shirts, and printing). Note that printing colored inks on dark shirts is more expensive because they have to lay down a layer of white ink first in order for the color to show up correctly. When you turn in your packet at the end of the project, you will need to print out a copy of your "shopping cart" from Instant Imprints that shows all the details of your "order" (here is an example "order" of 100 black Hanes Comfort T's with 1 color printed on the front and 2 colors printed on the back).
Before you begin working on your files in Illustrator, make sure you understand the subtleties of producing "camera ready" artwork for screen-printing, such as what spot colors are, what color separations are, why you should convert all text to outlines, minimum stroke sizes, what you will need to consider if you choose to import bitmaps into your Illustrator file, etc. Many of these topics are covered at Instant Imprints' Art Requirements page. Also, read this article called Artwork Design Tips for Screen Printing and/or this Digital File Submission Guide from Mirror Image Screenprinter. If you're really interested in learning more, check out Mirror Image's screenprinting tutorial section.
On the day of the critique, you will show us the Illustrator files of your two pieces of art at actual size and you will also turn in the printed B&W separations (at actual size!) for those 2 pieces of art. FYI, it is very important that the artwork in the Illustrator files is the actual size that will be printed on the T-shirt. You will also show us Photoshop "mockups" of the front and back (or back and sleeve or front and sleeve, etc.) of your T-shirt with the designs on them, showing the T-shirt style and color and the placement and size of your designs.
You will be graded on how well your T-shirt as a whole achieves the goal of increasing brand awareness and recognition of your company or one of its products. You will also be graded on your technical skill in creating "camera ready" artwork that a screen printing company can use to produce your T-shirts. And you will, of course, also be graded on the aesthetic success of your T-shirt design as a whole and your commitment to the artistic process.
This project is due: TBA.
CD Art Project
You will create all the artwork for a local band’s new CD. You have two bands to choose from: 34below and Delancey. The artwork that you will create includes the booklet (that goes in the front of the jewel case), back "tray card" (with spines), and the artwork that actually gets printed on the CD itself. You will be given templates to work from with the correct sizes, resolutions, and colors (CMYK not RGB). Each band has chosen to work with a different vendor to produce their CDs (34below is using Discmakers and Delancey is using Oasis CD Manufacturing). It is very important that you read the very detailed instructions for the band's vendor so that your artwork meets the technical requirements!
All the templates, information, and digital files you will need, plus samples of the band's music can be found on the server in the Share folder.
Each band has provided information that you will need to put on the CD and some art direction for how they envision final the CD packaging. You will be required to put the band name, CD name, band members’ names and instruments, and song names on either the front, inside, or back of the jewel case (the band’s name must go on the front and the spines). You may also put all or some of the song lyrics inside the booklet. If you are doing 34below, you also have the option of using photographs of the band, which I will provide for you in digital format. If you choose to include any other photographs or images that you have not created yourself or that the band has not supplied to you, they must be copyright free and credited (if you have questions about copyright law, check out www.whatiscopyright.org).
You will actually print a mock-up of the CD art to show to the class on the day of the critique. You are required to physically put the mockup together and place it in a jewel case and also to cut out the CD art and glue it onto a dummy CD (if you don't have a ton of free AOL CDs laying around the house, I will provide one to you). This is so that the class and the band will be able to see what the final product will actually look like. You will also be required to turn in a digital folder with your name on it to the "FineArts" (Groups) folder on the server. This folder must have all related files for the project, as though you were sending them to the printer, which includes the fonts you used!
You will be graded on your technical expertise (including correct bleeds on your jewel case art and correct use of CMYK colors)—this is a very technically demanding project! You will also be graded on your artistic skills, and your ability to visually promote the band's brand. The bands want people to buy their CDs and listen to them!
Not only will you be graded on this project, but each of the two bands has agreed to actually use their favorite design for their new CD (one of them is even offering a cash reward!). Make sure your name appears somewhere on the front, inside, or back as the creator of the CD art. This is your chance to get published! Please note that you are not required to submit your artwork to the band in order to get a grade on this project, but why would you not?
Note: One of the points of this project is to get you used to the idea of working for a real client and competing against other artists/designers to get your artwork published. If you have a very strong philosophical or ethical problem with both the bands that we have chosen to work with, please let me know and we will try to make other arrangements. Simply not liking the music is NOT a philosophical or ethical problem; you are likely to have clients, bosses, or coworkers in your life that you won't really like, get used to it!
This project is due on: TBA.
New Project Ideas
There is a strong possibility that we will add or change projects as class interests dictate. Please email me if you have an idea for a project that you think would be interesting and educational.
