Katherine Dillon Visual Communications Basics

Choose a website that you think could be improved. (Ideally a website and not a blog) and analyze its adherence to the 10 rules of design. Come to class prepared to share and discuss your analysis and recommendations. The sample analysis discussed in class is here. You will have 4 minutes to present and discuss your work in class. Send Katherine your blog URL.

Photograph 4-5 examples of unsuccessful signage or other visual communication. Come to class prepared to present and discuss your examples and your recommendations on how to improve the signage.

Set your name in 6 different typefaces including at least 2 serifs and 2 sanserif faces. Take the unique characteristics of the typeface in terms of letterform, weight, texture and spacing as it relates to the uniqueness of your name into account. Put each example on its own slide with a final slide that shows all 6 examples.

For the second part of the assignment, create at least 3 expressive words. Each word should be its own slide. Here are some excellent examples of expressive words.

Design a business card for yourself. Consider typography and layout carefully. Post a digital copy to your blog but also bring 18 actual size cards to distribute to the class. Card size is 3.5″ x 2″, unless there is a good argument for a different size or format. Please use both sides of the card. Some inspiration here.

Assignment Week 5
Choose an iconic logo designer whose work you think is excellent and come to class prepared to give a 4 minutes presentation on the designer and their work. A few good resources for research are Logo Design History and Iconic Logo Designers, but don’t feel you need to limit yourself to individuals identified on those two sites.

Assignment Week 6
Design a logo for the ITP program. Assume that the acronym I-T-P is sufficient. A good blog post to read before you start is Ten Logo Design Tips From the Field Post your sketches and the evolution of your thinking as well as the final logo to your blog.

For Monday, please take the color IQ test I am not looking for a particular score but hope you will find it interesting to see how perceptive to color nuances you are.
Please also start to think about the final project for the class which is the design of a portfolio website for your work at ITP. This can be a WordPress theme or original site but if starting with a theme start to think about how you will make it yours and reflect your personality and your work. Here are some resources you might use to find a theme that you can start from:
Theme Forest,
Rocket Theme and
Themeshaper.
How to install WordPress on the ITP server.

1. Create an abstract color composition that is based on a monochrome, compliments, or adjacent color strategy. Manipulate one variable at a time: hue, brightness and saturation, within the composition to achieve the result you desire. Post your work to your blog and be prepared to share your creative strategy for it.
2. Create a second composition that creates the illusion of transparency or create a composition that represents an optical illusion but do so without using the opacity tool in Photoshop.

Come to class next week prepare to present your strategy for your final project. Show a wireframe schematic of the site architecture and a first look at the template and palette you plan to work from. Here is an excellent resource for wireframing and a good resource for thinking about your portfolio site from Smashing Magazine: 10 Steps to the Perfect Portfolio Website.

Create an infographic about one aspect of your life. Think creatively about choosing a display type that is appropriate and apply lessons of typography and color to make the message clear and memorable. Before you get started please read the 7 Basic Rules for Making Charts and Graphs. Keep in mind there are a lot of ways to represent something. Take a look at these 21 ways to visualize your inbox. Here are some additional inspired examples.

Come to class prepared to share your final project. Every line of code does not need to be written but you need to have enough design work done so the look and feel and functionality of the site is apparent.