Assignment 05c
Object Project: Formalization

The third phase of the object project requires you to consider a longer form exploration revolving around themes uncovered during your research and exploration. Your goal your first 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. 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.

Timeline

Week 14 — 4.14.20
Sell us on your project
Create a PDF presentation that walks us through what you plan to do. Start designing your final project, whatever final form factor you decide. If it’s helpful, start designing practical things. Create a typographic system, choose typefaces and explain why your decision is relevant to your project. Choose a color palette. Make a logo. Whatever the case, start concepting and designing. It can be loose explorations, but it needs to be progress.
Maybe you develop your own object, complete with an identity system and packaging design. Maybe you develop a magazine revolving around your most interesting theme. Or you could consolidate your research and experiments into a book. Or you could host a dinner party with friends and document the experience. Or you could make a film. It’s up to you.

Week 15 — 4.21.20
One-on-One’s
We’ll meet one on one for a full 15 minutes. Talk through what you’re struggling with, and start to define a plan for how you will finish your project. Sign up for a time slot here.

Week 16 — 4.28.20
Final Presentation
Create a PDF presentation showcasing your journey from beginning to end. Your presentation should recap the object project as a whole. Show us where you started, with your object and research. Then show us your experiments. Lastly, show us your final project. The point of this presentation is to expose your thought process. Where did you realize something important? How did your theme or idea inform your design decisions? Lastly, show your final project.

PODCAST

Listen to the above episode of Design Matters with Debbie Millman and Michael Rock. There are some really interesting ideas here about world building. Consider the last phase of this project the world you would like to build around your theme or idea.

EXAMPLE PRESENTATIONS
Below are some previous student projects to inspire you. Your first few weeks will be less formalized than what you see here, but when you reach the end of this phase your themes and throught process will reveal themselves.

Eddy Lee
Morgan Light
Shanna Shu
Heeyoung Choi
John Patrikas
Anelisa Rosario