Lectures
01 The Elements of Design
02 The Principles of Organization
03 Compositional Structure: picture plane, format, horizon line, paths of vision, repeated forms, focal points
04 Figure/ground: positive space, negative space (white space)
05 Hierarchy and Grouping Principles (Gestalt)
06 Color relationships (color hue shift file)
07 Typography: anatomy, text, grid, Designing grid systems, readability; Type is art (interactive type anatomy site)
08 Message: purpose, audience, desired result
In-class exercises
01 Circle, square, triangle: within 6" square formats, arrange a black circle, a black square, and a black triangle into 20 different compositions. In each composition, make one of the shapes the focal point, first in hierarchy. Vary size, position, proximity. Do not overlap any of the shapes, they can touch as long as they don't intersect each other. Create each composition on its own layer within the same Illustrator file (refer to in-class instruction). (a)
Make sure you activate the entire 6" format. Use the edges to create interesting negative shapes (white space) around the positive shapes (black square, circle, and triangle). Placing one of the positive shapes close to the edge of the format will pinch off the negative shape around it creating two negative shapes. This also creates tension within the composition.
Next, make 10 new compositions where at least two shapes overlap. Determine whether you want the intersection of the two shapes to be white or black. The background (the square format) can be black with shapes being white. (b)
Finally, add color to these 10 new compositions using only two colors, one solid and one with tints (converting a color swatch to a global color will allow you to create tints of the color; this means you can use color1 for one shape, color2 for the second shape, and a tint of color2 for the third shape). Do not use black or gray as a color. You can use white as a shape color as long as the background (the square format) is a color. (c)
 (a)  (b)  (c)
02 Irregular shape: for this exercise, you will create an irregular shape and duplicate it in a square format to create different arrangements. Follow these steps to create your irregular shape:
1. use this file as a starting template.
2. with the Pencil tool, make a scribble within the white format at about the same size as the following example. (a)
3. find the Stroke tab and increase the stroke of your line so that no white is showing within the shape.
4. finally, in the Obect menu, go to Path and choose Outline stroke. (b)
 (a)  (b)
Now that you have your irrregular shape, create the following designs:
1. three different designs using two or more copies of the same shape, vary only the placement.
(in your file, make these on separate layers: design1.1, design1.2, design1.3)
2. three different designs using two or more copies of the same shape, vary only the size and placement of the elements.
(in your file, make these on separate layers: design2.1, design2.2, design2.3)
3. three different designs using two or more copies of the same shape, vary size, placement, and orientation (rotate).
(in your file, make these on separate layers: design3.1, design3.2, design3.3)
Next, reduce the size of your shape to 20% and create the following design:
4. three different designs using exactly twenty copies of the same shape, vary only placement.
(in your file, make these on separate layers: design4.1, design4.2, design4.3)
5. three different designs using exactly twenty copies of the same shape, vary only the size and placement of the elements.
(in your file, make these on separate layers: design5.1, design5.2, design5.3)
6. three different designs using exactly twenty copies of the same shape, vary size, placement, and orientation (rotate).
(in your file, make these on separate layers: design6.1, design6.2, design6.3)
  
Finally, add color following the Project 2 instructions (below).
03 Hierarchy of elements: in class create three designs consisting of the following text:
- first (or 1st) read
- second (or 2nd) read
- third ( or 3rd) read (with this additional placeholder text)
• keep your designs to black & white at this stage, no color or value.
• look at the hierarchy of the elements, make sure "first read" stands out as the most important element.
• use size contrast and position, isolation, grouping to bring emphasis to a particular element.
04 Alignment and grid:
• Choose a word and find its definition online. Copy between 50-55 words of the definition (can include example phrases). Next, find three synonyms of your chosen words, again copying between 50-55 words of their definition. You should end up with four words (chosen word and three synonyms) with four paragraphs (the definitions). Use only black for your type on a white artboard.
• Using a grid (see steps below), arrange these pieces of text in six different variations using only one font at one size (style can vary, roman, italic, or bold). Next create ten more arrangements varying size as well.
• Arrange and group the text elements in terms of hierarchy making the first chosen word the first read and its synonyms the second reads.
• Follow these steps to make your grid:
- open a new file with an 8" square artboard
- click once with the rectangle tool and make a 7.5" square path
- click the alignment button in the control panel and choose Align to Artboard, then click the Horizontal and Vertical Align Center buttons.
- in the Object menu's Path section, choose Split into Grid (remember that from day one?), set the Rows and Columns to 4 with Gutters at 1.3" then check the Add Guides box.
- lock the guidelines and delete the grid boxes.
Projects
01 Circle, square, triangle: finish your overlapping color compositions, file due at the beginning of class (due Jan 26).
02 Irregular shape: pick your strongest design from each set above (1 through 6) and add color using a two-color palette. Use the Transparency palette to create lighter versions of each color by adjusting the Opacity and the Blending Mode (change from Normal to Multiply or Overlay, located just left of the Opacity setting). This will also allow the colors to mix when they overlap. (due Feb 2).
03 Hierarchy: create three new designs using color, feel free to use one of your earlier studies as a starting point but make it different. You could even combine two or three of your studies or use elements from more than one. For this arrangement, replace your text with a book that you are currently reading or have recently read.
- replace "first read" with the book title
- replace "second read" with the author's name
- replace "third read" body text with a summary of the book either from its jacket or other source.
(due Feb 16).
04 Alignment and Grid: design a one-page menu using InDesign. Feel free to use the information from more than one menu if you like (maybe make a menu of your favorite dishes from different restaurants). First decide what format you want to use (make it fit onto an 11x17 printout so maximum 10x16 but could be any proportion) then create a grid for structure.
05 Booklet design: create a narrative combining a series of images and text into a 16-page booklet using InDesign. This can be a story about a person; it can be a poem or series of quotes or even a longer passage of text, an essay; it can also simply be a series of images and small descriptive text that suggests a narrative; and of course you can also write your own text. The images you use should be yours (photos and/or art) or free-use images. I will bring in some options and suggest some website sources although scanned, high-res images will work best.
-each spread needs to contain text and image (example: page 2 has text, page 3 has image or each page has both).
-choose one main text font for the entire booklet with an additional display font for the cover text/title.
-set up your InDesign document with a page dimension of 5x6" unless you want to work larger (if so, let me know).
Application help
Adobe
Illustrator: creating and setting up a new document
Adobe
Illustrator: customizing the interface
Adobe
Illustrator: creating point and area type
Adobe
Illustrator: working with character and paragraph styles
Adobe
Illustrator: importing content into Illustrator
Links
Adobe
Design Center (inspiration, tips, and tutorials)
Business cards Flickr set
Fwis book covers ("FWIS is a full service design agency with extensive experience designing book covers and book interiors.")
Graphic Design History Flickr set
The Design Encyclopedia
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