Assignment 04
Object Project

Choose an object that resonates with you. It can be anything you like, but should be something that stimulates you visually and critically. You’ll be using this as the pillar of your identity project for the next four weeks, so choose wisely. Consider this objects materiality, history, lineage, function, and so forth. It can be old, attached with personal meaning, or brand new.

Week 10 you will be presenting your object to the class in the form of a scripted presentation or video which is a deep analysis of your object. Weeks 11 through 15 will be focusing on designing an identity system and project which relate to your object and research.

Deliverables
1Identity System
Logo, wordmark or avatar
Typographic System
Color Palette
2Final project, or multiple collateral items

Timeline

Week 12 — 3.27.18
Research Presentation
Show your research in the form of a scripted presentation with slides, or make a video. Keep your presentation around 2 minutes. Your main goal is to explain how the ideas in your object are expressed through form and/or function. These should be a combination of subjective opinions and objective thoughts. Be as specific as possible, research and present even the most obvious themes and physical attributes (they might not be so obvious to us). Work on forming an opinion of the object, and explain it’s significance culturally and personally. Your presentation can take quantitative form as a traditional powerpoint with comparisons, statistics, interviews and visual collections or it can be crafted as a visual exploration of the object. In both cases, keep in mind pacing, design, sequence, juxtaposition and tone. Your presentation should answer the following questions with thought and critical analysis of your object—
1It’s history
2Analysis of form
3It’s users (past, present and future)
4Associative meanings or other uses
5Cultural context
6Personal significance

Week 13 — 4.3.18
Experiment
Find 3 main themes or ideas from your object and conduct an experiment for each. Shift your focus from what it is to what it suggests. The form and medium of each is up to you. They should be a further exploration of what you uncovered during your research. The exercise you preform should be documented and designed. Your 3 experiments should be presented to the class in a PDF presentation, with a thorough explanation of how you came to your conclusions. Consider pacing, design and sequence.
3Experiments with explanations

Week 14 — 4.10.18
Make
Your goal this week is to define what your large project or smaller projects will be. The following weeks will be to design and produce your project in full. Focus your effort on one theme or idea you’ve uncovered in your research and experimentation. Think through what you've learned and find most interesting about your subject. Most importantly think through what you want to say about it. Take your experiments and begin to bring them back to a world more commonly associated with graphic design. Think printed pieces, ephemera, physical objects, digital work like websites or animation... Make things. Make one big element, or make smaller elements which explore your topic. Begin expanding and contextualizing your designed element with your research. Put the following items together in a presentation. Begin to build a visual language around your idea or theme, this can for example inform the design decisions of your presentation. Consider how you might structure and weave a narrative around your idea. Put the following items together in a PDF presentation. Again, consider pacing, design and sequence. If your initial project is a physical object, bring in physical tests and examples of what you're working through.
15-10 slides explaining your process, documenting how you arrived at your idea
2Initial project
3Mood board
4Naming
5A logo, wordmark, icon or avatar
6Typographic system
7Imagery
8Color palette