Assessment

Please see the note below from Elizabeth Brown.   This email was sent to me Thursday, kinda last minute, so I am allowing you to turn in either one of the poster assignments (week 5 and week 10) 

Dear Foundations Faculty,

Andrea and Haley have been working hard to organize the assessment process to streamline it for this and future semesters.  As many of you already know, starting in the spring we will have one campus-wide rubric instead of separate departmental and P2 rubrics.  This should be much easier and should more accurately show student progress over their years at MCA.  We are also asking the students to do the bulk of the work in turning in the materials.  I know that everyone put P2 requirements on their syllabi this semester, but with the new changes, you do not need to turn them in.  Faculty will need to include the new assessment items on Spring Syllabi as soon as we have them completed.  I will get these to you as soon as I have them.  The actual assessment of the materials for Foundations happens in the Spring semester.  So for the fall semester, I just need you to have these materials turned in by the students. 

ASSESSMENT ITEM DUE (Due Monday, Dec 5 by 9PM)

You have one assessment item to turn in.

1) Please select the assignment that was collected around the midterm.  Then ask each of your students to turn in photo documentation of that particular assignment.  If they did not complete the assignment, they can turn in what they did complete or if there’s nothing, they can photograph a notecard that says “not completed”  (to keep the results valid).  Please have the students photograph, label the folders/files, and turn it in themselves because one of the assessment items is their ability to document. Please give them clear instructions on how to do so. 

2)  Naming Convention of Folder and file(s)

Here is the link where they turn in the files:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7eUyQp5ehAKYWZsM0IyNFNYTXM

They can go to this link and then select the “Foundations” folder.  Each student needs to create one folder labeled with their name to go in the Foundations folder using the following naming convention:

Lastname_Firstname_Middle initial

Ex. Smith_Fred_S

They will then drop their midterm work from every Foundations class they took this semester.  For example, if a student took 4 classes, they will have four files to go in the folder with their name on it.  They should only include Foundations level classes in this folder.  Otherwise it will mess up our assessment later.  

NOTE: The image files should be 72 dpi 8 x10 in a jpeg file type 

or H264 video file

or pdf for writing included with an image (this should only apply to IPC)

The naming convention for the specific files should be:

StudentLastName_StudentFirstInitial_Course ID_F16_Midterm_image1    (or image2, 3, 4, etc)

Please emphasize that they need to follow the naming convention EXACTLY.

Thank you for your help with this.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Elizabeth

Final Presentations

Final Presentations

As part of your final assignment, you will be creating and delivering a presentation of your work to the class.  The intent of this project is to help you become familiar with speaking about your work and speaking in public.

For the presentation, you should consider the following for a possible outline

1. Introduction- who are you? where are you from? what are your interests?  where do you currently work/ study?   Give us an idea of who you are, what makes you tick.  (does this sound familiar) You could include everything from personal interests, to things you collect, to your favorite foods.     But, do this in a short amount of time (less than a minute).  Remember.... it's only an introduction.   Then you can discuss the work that you have done in the class.   Things to consider:

What was the focus of the work

• What themes, ideas and concerns does your work consider?
• Talk about the work from a conceptual, thematic, and/or emotional point of view.
• The ‘intention' behind the work; what do you want the work to achieve?
• What do you want the viewer to feel, learn, or come away with after viewing the work?
• What kind of questions does your work raise?

Materials and process

• What media do you work with? What interests you about work of this type? Was it a scanogram? did you create photos to assist in the process? 
• Why did you work in this manner? Is there a relationship between the media and the ideas that you work with?
• What processes are involved in the work and how are they relevant to the ideas you are dealing with?

Inspirations — historical, personal, social

• Are there any outside influences and ideas, perhaps from outside the arts, which have bearing on your work?
• Connect the work to something outside of art. That “something” can be homespun observations, personal history, contemporary issues, science, politics…
• Any artists or writers you referenced or were influenced by during the process

After you have talked about your work you could conclude with information regarding: 

Future projects, goals and exhibitions/screenings

• What are your future goals in college?  
• where would you like to exhibit/screen your work?
• How does this work fit into the overall flow of your development as an artist?

You must use either PowerPoint, your website, or your class blog to assist you as a visual reference.   

Your presentation should be about five minutes

Branding, Websites, and basic video editing.

Branding and creating logos. 

Your logo is a visual representation of everything you (and your company) stands for. Think of McDonald's golden arches or the Nike swoosh-these two impressive logos embody these companies well.




There are basically three kinds of logos. Font-based logos consist primarily of a type treatment. The logos of IBM, Microsoft and Sony, for instance, use type treatments with a twist that makes them distinctive. Then there are symbol-type logos that literally illustrate what a company does, such as when a house-painting company uses an illustration of a brush in its logo. And finally, there are abstract graphic symbols-such as Nike's swoosh-that become linked to a company's brand.

This week we will be creating logos for ourselves and using adobe Muse to create a "mock" website of our artwork.  You are welcome to buy a domaine name and publish the site as well, but it is not required.  You will be able to publish your site temporarily for thirty days.   Here is a link that better describes Publishing sites with Adobe Muse. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/muse/how-to/publish-your-site.html

When you leave college and start using Adobe CC on a regular basis, you will gain free hosting for up to five sites with your subscription.  You may also take advantage of using the Behance network to post images, video and get feedback from peers and other professionals worldwide.  

If you want to design and create professional, original websites without ever touching code, Adobe Muse CC is one of the best programs to use.  

With Muse, you can quickly and easily design and create user-friendly, interactive websites without the help of a developer. Design your site in Muse using the same skills as Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop. Then, after creating your site in Muse, you can take your site live using Adobe hosting or export to a provider of your choice, publishing your site as original HTML pages that conform to the latest web standards.

A. Top of Page: Defines padding above the page and is the same as the Padding Top setting in the page properties.

B. Header: Delineates the bottom of the header area. Items inserted on a master page above the header guide appear at the top of the page and are locked (cannot be selected or edited) on the pages of the site.

C. Margin guides: Define a safe area of the page in which to lay out page content. Objects snap to the margin guides as you lay out your page. Margins, columns, and gutters in Muse are similar to margins and columns you use when designing layouts in Adobe InDesign.

D. Column guides: Divide the page area into columns of content.

E. Gutters: Specify the distance between columns.

F. Page area: Indicates where you can add the unique content for each page.

G. Footer: Delineates the top of the footer area. Items below the footer guide appear at the bottom of the page. Elements associated with the footer stay at the bottom of the page below the Footer guide regardless of content height, and elements placed in the footer on a master page are locked (cannot be selected or edited) on the pages of the site.

H. Bottom of Page: Defines the minimum page height. This is the same as the Min Height setting in the page properties. You set the minimum height in an earlier step when you edited the master page properties. This guide is a visual way to edit that value.

I. Bottom of Browser: Defines padding below the page and is the same as the Padding Bottom setting in the page properties.

Here is an overview tutorial from Adobe expert Terry White you can refer back to if you forget anything we have gone over in class.  We will play with some of these features as we go along.  Place your images and logo assets in a folder on your desktop, as you will need them to create your site. 

In Class Assignment:

Come up with 5 logos for your "brand" or art business.   Your logo could be more of a personal brand.  See example logos below.   You may create these in Illustrator (ideally), Photoshop, or any other way in which the file can be saved and applied to your website--png, psd, jpeg. 

Here are some more well recognized logos.  What makes them successful, not successful?  What attributes would you like to incorporate in your own logo?   Use a sketchbook (if necessary) to jot down some ideas, make thumbnail sketches and really think out your ideas visually.

After you create your logos, we will pick one for your site.   

Examples of well-recognized logos:  Let's take a moment to ponder what the logos are suggesting.

Examples of Student work from previous semesters

OUTSIDE ASSIGNMENT: 

Please follow the guidelines below:


Design and personalize your own website, using your logo as a symbol on your site.  your site should be a total of (minimum) four pages.   Home, About, Gallery, Contact.  

1. On your Gallery page, you should place images of all work you have done this semester.    You could also place images of work you have done in other classes: 2D design, Color Foundations, Drawings, photographs. 
Customize the site to your liking and to show off what you do.   

2. You will also place an image and the bio  we wrote during InDesign into the About page.   On the Contact page, use one of the widgets, and link the address to 1930 Poplar, Memphis, 38104. 

On one of the pages, create a Facebook or Twitter photoshop button that will link to another site.




HERE IS A LINK TO ANOTHER SITE WHERE YOU CAN DOWNLOAD FREE BUTTONS

Week_11_In Design

Adobe^® InDesign^® CC is a powerful page-design and production application that offers precision, control, and seamless integration with other Adobe professional graphics software. Using InDesign, you can produce professional-quality, full-color documents and print them using a variety of output devices, including desktop printers, high-resolution imaging devices, and high-volume color printing presses. You can also design publications for a broad range of electronic devices, such as tablets, smart phones, and eReaders, and export InDesign document in several formats, including PDF, HTML, and EPUB.Writers, artists, designers, and publishers can communicate to a broader audience than ever before and through an unprecedented variety of media. InDesign supports this with its seamless integration with other Creative Cloud components.

So, if you haven't watched the tutorial above.  It explains a lot of things you can do in InDesign in a short amount of time.   It will be here for you to refer to in the future should you ever work in InDesign again.

Designing on the Grid

Design and the process of "designing"--put simply-- is the way of visually organizing elements onto a picture plane.When creating multi-page documents, the grid is the principle way of organizing page elements. A grid divides a page into columns. An artist can follow the columns strictly, or use them as a rough guide to work within. 
The Gutenberg Bible visual example follows a very rigid grid structure: the two columns of text have the same line length.The two columns of text also have the same vertical length.

However, the grid can also be used with much flexibility. In the visual reference example of the New York Times layout from 1918, the grid is more complex and versatile. This grid divides the page into eight columns.

We will be doing two separate introductory assignments using InDesign.  One based on a strict grid structure, and one that chooses to completely deviate from the grid in its aesthetic. 

In Class Assignment:  Designing on the Grid

Follow the short tutorial here to learn about designing on a grid and the basics of master pages in InDesign

Click here to go to the assignment on the Digital Foundations Wiki


Here are some great examples of getting away from the grid and how text can drive a work in alternative ways.

Outside Assignment: 

Create a layout for a magazine article about yourself.    First, you should write a short bio about yourself.  

1.  Write a short bio to go in the magazine article.  who are you? where are you from? what are your interests?  where do you currently work/ study?   Give us an idea of who you are, what makes you tick.  You could include everything from personal interests, to things you collect, to your favorite foods.  

WHAT are you?   A photographer... a designer.... a sculptor... a painter.  What type of work do you make.  What are your inspirations, techniques, materials?  What is the style of your work?   If you aren't there yet.  Then talk about what type of work you would like to make. What you study.  What inspires you. 

2. Create an article using InDesign. Your article should be a minimum of 3 facing pages, including a cover page, and body pages that follow a master page.   You will design the layout using a grid (or you may deviate, but still use a grid to deviate from)

3. Save a header, and subheadings for image descriptions.   You will need to save these paragraph styles as "Header, body text, and image_descriptions" 

4. Your article should contain a minimum of 3 images and should use Text wrap around an bounding box and also around a shape that has a cut out background (from photoshop). 

Your article should also include page numbers on the second and third pages, but not on your.   hint: this will require that you use a master page on the sequential pages and not on the cover/title page. 

NEXT WEEK WE WILL BE: 

Something for you to think about.....

Branding and creating logos. 

Your logo is a visual representation of everything you (and your company) stands for. Think of McDonald's golden arches or the Nike swoosh-these two impressive logos embody these companies well.




There are basically three kinds of logos. Font-based logos consist primarily of a type treatment. The logos of IBM, Microsoft and Sony, for instance, use type treatments with a twist that makes them distinctive. Then there are symbol-type logos that literally illustrate what a company does, such as when a house-painting company uses an illustration of a brush in its logo. And finally, there are abstract graphic symbols-such as Nike's swoosh-that become linked to a company's brand.

This week we will be creating logos for ourselves.  Keep these simple.  I recommend working in illustrator.  Here is some inspiration and ideas.   But, please, do some of your own research.  You will create a total of three logos for your website (which we will be building next week) 

Adobe Muse Introduction from Terry White:

More on Typography

Typography has a personality.  Consider the following. d

More Poster themes and ideas.

Compost Awareness

https://contestwatchers.com/international-compost-awareness-week-2017-poster-contest/

Reggae Poster Contest

http://www.reggaepostercontest.com/

Photoshop_Final

Week 10_Photoshop Final

A Brief Introduction to Swiss Style from Navy Sisomphou on Vimeo.

Homework- 

1. Research Swiss Design or International Typographic Style and read/learn/understand the basics of their philosophies of design, layout and typography.   Please include images in your research.   Here is a link to a documentary entitled Helvetica.   This is a wonderful full length feature film.  You might only have time to watch parts of it, but I highly recommend you finish the film when time allows. 

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE HELVETICA DOCUMENTARY

2. Review the video (if necessary) on text in Photoshop. 

3. Collaged Poster

*at least 8 images, half must be authored by student *must use some element of type in the poster.   Perhaps you would like to make a poster for your first solo show at the Whitney, perhaps this is a promotional poster (like that for a movie, play, or even a travel poster)

I leave this up to you, but I want Original work.  You may use digital painting techniques if you like.  

NOTE: You will receive an extra 10 points if you complete the submission process and enter your poster in one of the poster contests that you find online.  This will require some additional research and some critical thinking and idea generating/brainstorming.   It would be wise to use a sketchbook to organize your ideas and your designs before executing the digital manipulation. 

RESOURCES: 

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TEXT IN PHOTOSHOP

Links to competitions

http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/students-only/

http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/students-only/


PREVIOUS STUDENT WORK: