Instructor
Philip DiBello
philip@noideas.biz


Course Description
This course will provide an emphasis on developing your sensitivity to typography. We will discuss when and why certain typographic choices feel relevant and how they are employed in your design. This will be accomplished by both restrictive and open-ended assignments. Projects will be a combination of experimentation and formal exercises with a focus on typographic systems. Together we will discover the details of macro and micro typography.
   Central discussion themes include theory, dialogue, process and personal practice. The goal is to inform your personal opinion about design. Classes are a combination of critique, in-class workshops, and one-on-one meetings with occasional guest lectures and critiques.
   Throughout the semester readings will be assigned along with each project. They are central to your comprehension of the task at hand. Read them carefully and do your best to challenge the thoughts written within the essay.


Student Expectations
This course assumes you already have knowledge of fundamental design and typographic principals. Some assignments will be open ended. You must take initiative in every project and make it your own. You’re expected to engage in critique, both by giving and receiving feedback.
   Your level of effort will dictate your success in this class. You must be disciplined and self-motivated. To get good work here (or anywhere) you must put in the time and effort. This is a space to discuss graphic design in it’s purest form. You’re here for yourself. Not to please your peers, or your professors, or other outside sources. In this classroom we will intentionally subvert “real world” concerns.
   Know there will be general costs required for materials such as paper and color prints as well as hand tools like knives, blades and rulers. Craft is a critical component to your assignments, understand that frayed, crumpled, ripped and uneven work is not acceptable.
   Attendance is critically important to the success of your assignments and your letter grade. You’re required to be in class at it’s start time. Once you walk into the classroom please display your work before you do anything else. It should be hung on the wall, uploaded to the class computer, or set on a table and prepped for presentation. Take pride in your work and display it properly, hang things straight and in an orderly grid, etc.


Attendance Policy
At SVA the individual faculty member determines the number of acceptable absences, if any. My policy is as follows: you’re given one absence without repercussion. Missing a second class is an automatic C. If you miss three classes you will be withdrawn from the course, no exceptions. Tardiness will not be tolerated. Class starts promptly at 3:20, and the classroom door will be closed at 3:30. If the door is closed you are not permitted to enter and your tardiness will be counted as an absence.


Class Schedule & Critique
Critique’s are our way of helping you improve your work. It is an exercise in explaining your ideas and understanding how others react to what you’ve made. Critique’s are only successful if you are willing to participate. If you feel there is not enough room to speak your mind, please make it known. If you are struggling with critique, read the following explanation. Thank you Mitch Goldstein, Lauren McCarthy, Sasha Portis and Sophie Auger for influencing this style of critiques.

3:20-3:30
Attendance. Hang, display or upload work
3:30-3:50
Review assignment next steps and materials
3:50-4:10
reading review (if applicable)
4:10-6:00
Critique and project review
6:00-6:10
Reset room


Grading Breakdown
Grades are a combination of the quality of your work, class participation and progress. Simply showing up will not make you pass the course. You must be prepared for the days lesson, completing any homework or readings assigned and ready to discuss. Completing all assigments and readings awards you a C. Your course grade includes attendance and participation (40%), reading discussions (10%), and assignments (50%). Participation considers critiques and the ability to speak to your work. Reading discussion means you actively read the reading in question and shared your point of view in the discussion. Assignment completion considers you delivering a final project, and my review of how successful the project was from a formal, conceptual and technical (digital / physical craft) standpoint.

Work
3 — Your work is of exceptional quality and reflects mastery of the material covered in class. Your craft is impeccable and you find ways to push design and materiality. You consistently add something new to every project or push your capabilities. Your work steadily improved throughout the semester.

2 — Your work is very good and satisfies the goals of the course. Continue to refine your craft, and find those moments to take initiative in any given project and push it beyond it’s boundaries.

1 — Your work meets the standards of the course. Be willing to take more chances with craft and production. You turn in assignments and did not miss more than one class.

0 — Your work did not meet the requirements for this class. You did not complete all projects or missed 3 classes. You will receive no credit.


Participation
3 — Your class participation is outstanding, you frequently speak your mind and provide feedback on others work. You are willing to provide insight into your design decisions and receive feedback. You come to class on time, prepared with craft intact and immediately hang your work at the beginning of class. When we discuss readings, you share thoughts and highlights.

2 — You could speak up or engage more often during class discussion. You’re willing to speak your mind when called on. You are brief in your project description and could provide more insight to the group. Consider writing this down beforehand so you are’nt put on the spot. You infrequently share thoughts on readings, if at all.

1 — You do not participate in class discussion. You spend most of the critique unengaged unless we’re talking about your work. You’re often the last to hang your work, or late. You do not discuss readings.

0 — You missed two or three classes and will receive no credit.

Total
6 = A+
5 = A
4 = B+
3 = B
2 = C+
1 = C
0 = F


Academic Integrity
Academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, will not be tolerated. Students found to have committed an act of academic dishonesty will fail the assignment for which an infraction is suspected and substantiated. More serious violations will be handled through the process enumerated in the SVA Handbook. Put simply, make sure your work is your own.


Students with Disabilities
SVA is committed to providing students with access to their academic programs and courses. If you are a student with a disability and require accommodations, you must register with Disability Resources by visiting sva.edu/disabilityresources and completing an online accommodation request. To be eligible for accommodations in this course, students must provide the instructor with a letter of accommodation from Disability Resources. For questions or assistance, please call Disability Resources at 212-592-2396, or visit the office: 340 East 24th Street, New York, NY 10010, or email disabilityservices@sva.edu


Pronouns and Chosen Names
Students may indicate their pronouns and preferred/chosen first name through MyServices; this information will then appear on class rosters (go to "Edit Personal Identity").
   Please let me know the preferred name and pronouns by which you would like to be referred, if that information does not already appear on the roster. A student’s chosen name and pronouns should be respected at all times.


AI Position and Policy
SVA has a position on AI which you can read below. In this class AI can be used freely as a tool, to build and concept with. At no point should you pass AI work as your own. But as a designer, you have the ability to use AI as a very powerful starting point. Please make sure your work is your own thoughts and ideas that you may express freely.
   Artificial intelligence image and text generators are poised to significantly impact all creative industries. As design and advertising educators, it is our goal to provide students with the knowledge, strategies, and skills necessary to compete and excel in their chosen fields today and in the future. In this spirit, the BFA Design and BFA Advertising department has outlined its first AI policy which recognizes that AI will be an important and ever-evolving tool for students and professionals alike while also reinforcing the importance of transparency, accountability, and creativity.
   This policy is an ongoing and evolving document and will be updated and revised regularly in response to changes in technologies, culture, and art. All work generated by AI in a student capacity—at any stage of the process—must include specific software accreditation. This is true across the life of the project from in-class critique, portfolio, and student award competitions. Students are responsible for presenting all work truthfully and honestly. AI is informationally imperfect. It reflects cultural biases and prejudices, can potentially fabricate (hallucinate) informational falsehoods, and cannot be considered either “neutral” or always “true.” Caution should be taken when using AI as a research tool as students are responsible for the accuracy of their work. Students should be able and willing to present the full creative process of any project in order to defend against accusations of improper and/or dishonest AI usage. SVA may employ AI detectors for any/all student projects. SVA students are strongly encouraged to bring the highest levels of conceptual thinking, strategy, and originality across all projects.

Oftentimes graphic design is reduced to the visual. A viewer encounters a piece of ephemera with a common set of pre-conceived notions in history, culture and their own semiotic view of the world. They have to internalize the visual based in-part (or mostly) on the formal aspects they see and in what context it’s viewed. Unbeknownst to the passerby, the designer has followed multiple paths of decisions that lead them to their final solution.
   The point is, the designers process is hidden when the project is delivered, the ink has dried, the code is rendered by the browser… these paths they’ve traveled lay on the cutting room floor. The classroom is different. We have a unique opportunity to discuss the ‘why’ just as much as the ‘what’. This discussion will help shape what ‘design’ is to you. As you continue your practice you will learn, challenge yourself, change your mind (alot), develop your own process & sensibilities, and how you see the world.




In our first class you will draw a card from Oblique Strategies. You are to use this card as a prompt to design a type–dominant 18×24 in. poster. If you are feeling stuck, consider drawing a second card to see how that may change your thinking. Make note of which card you drew, and use that strategy to iterate or fully redesign your initial poster. Rinse and repeat until you are happy with your final approach and outcome.
   In addition to your full size posters you must bring in 20 sketches that visualize your process. These could be (but not necessarily have to be) drawings of different concepts, quick explorations done on the computer of the same concept, a documentation of the poster in different forms before your final compositions were realized, etc. Present these as 8.5×11 in single sheet print-outs.
   Allow the process to lead you to unexpected places. The narrative you walk us through, your process, is of equal importance to your final design. Be ready to present your poster with a rationale for the typeface you’ve chosen, an explanation of your concept, and how the poster evolved based on any subsequent cards you drew.

Deliverables
1. Final, full size poster
 18×24" tiled
2. 20 Sketches
 8.5×11" sketches or b+w print-outs





Background
Read Michael Rock’s essay Designer as Author. Michael Rock is one of three founders of 2×4, a design consultancy located in New York and Beijing. He is a leader in design criticism and writing. His essays and thoughts will accompany this semesters assignments.
   Designer as Author was written in the mid 1990’s when Graphic Design was in a period between modernism and post-modernism. Rock considers the role of the designer throughout his essay.
   As you read, write down certain notes, thoughts & opinions and highlight passages throughout the text. Be prepared to discuss 5 points. Consider Rock’s point of view.





In 1975 artists & musicians Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt collaborated on a project titled Oblique Strategies. Inspired by the readings of I Ching, the two published a set of cards used to generate ideas and break routine thinking patterns.

While born out of a studio context, Oblique Strategies translated equally well to the music studio. For Eno, the instructions provided an antidote in high-pressure situations in which impulse might lead one to default quickly to a proven solution rather than continue to explore untested possibilities: “Oblique Strategies evolved from me being in a number of working situations when the panic of the situation—Particularly in studios—tended to make me quickly forget that there were others ways of working and that there were tangential ways of attacking problems that were in many senses more interesting than the direct head-on approach.
Brian Eno: Visual Music, Christopher Scoates



Now on their fifth edition, Oblique Strategies have been published in English, French and Japanese. Each edition changes slightly, adding or removing different cards. If you're interested in learning more, Gregory Taylor has put together a fine website documenting the editions and pulling together some more information about the deck.



Learning Outcomes
1. Introduction to the concept of process
2. Ability to follow specs: craft & production
3. Execution of idea, from sketch to final
4. Introduction to alternative processes

This weeks class includes a three part assignment. Complete the following tasks and upload your work to Google Drive.

Upload
1. Book or Zine analysis (due 9.26)
1. Designer as Author
—5 highlights & 1 QCQ(due 9.19)
2. Observations From a Fixed Position
—20 Bullet Points (due 9.19)





1.
We will meet at Printed Matter’s Main location in Chelsea at 3:30pm. Find a book or zine that resonates with you. Take this publication home and document the following components of the books design system. Scan your book at a high resolution and display these notes in a PDF presentation (designed for screen 16:9, ex. 1920×1080). Upload your presentation to Google Drive by next class (9.26).

Analyze—
— Size of book
— Format & organization of content
— Binding method
— Typeface used
— Margins & grid
— Folio system (page numbers)
— Running header system
— Three reasons you chose the book

For examples of book scans visit Actual Source. The DIC has large flat-bed scanners, feel free to use them in your documentation process.





2.
Read Michael Rock’s essay Designer as Author. As you read, write down certain notes, thoughts & opinions and highlight passages throughout the text. Upload 5 highlights, points or thoughts and one QCQ to Google Drive by next class.





3.
Read ‘Observations From a Fixed Position’ by James Langdon. Create a doc of 20 points, highlights or other thoughts and notes about the reading and upload your 20 points to Google Drive by next class. In the following weeks you will be making two printed editions using this essay as your content.

The following text in circulation, ‘Observations From A Fixed Position’ by designer and writer James Langdon, was first published in December 2015 in Bricks from the Kiln #1 alongside contributions by Ron Hunt, Natalie Ferris, Ralph Rumney, Mark Owens, Jamie Sutcliffe, Iain Sinclair, Traven T. Croves (Matthew Stuart & Andrew Walsh-Lister), Parallel School, Catherine Guiral, and Max Harvey, He Pianpian & LiYou. Now out of print, the text is reproduced here in April 2020 as a free PDF distributed via the BFTK website (www.b-f-t-k.info).
   The accompanying image overleaf—scaled to 75% of its original size—was originally included in BFTK#1 as a loose gloss insert slipped between pages 44–45.The image is a composite made by combining one colour separation—cyan, magenta, yellow, black—from four different photographs. The photographs were taken by Stuart Whipps from a fixed position—a camera permanently mounted on a bracket on the wall at Eastside Projects, an exhibition space in Birmingham—over the course of two months of the exhibition Narrative Show (C:15 May 2011, M:23 May 2011,Y:10 June 2011, K:15 July 2011). Elements in the space that remain unchanged, such as the light fittings on the ceiling, resolve into full colour. Elements that change, such as the mobile walls, appear only in one or two separations.
   Bricks from the Kiln is an irregular journal/multifarious publishing platform edited / run by Matthew Stuart and Andrew Walsh-Lister. For information on forthcoming issues, titles, events and updates please visit www.b-f-t-k.info, join the mailing list and/or follow on twitter @b_f_t_k.



Learning Outcomes
1. Ability to approach one problem in multiple ways
2. Ability to follow specs: production
3. Creative Typesetting
4. Intro to bookbinding & materiality

This weeks session will be heald on Zoom. Find a link to the Zoom meeting on Canvas. Visit the Canvas Announcement or check your email for more information about what is due.



Create two editions of ‘Observations From a Fixed Position’ by James Langdon. Interpret the text when making design decisions such as defining your grid, choosing a typeface and gathering content, images or resources. Consider your interpretation of the text when choosing size, format, printing technique, binding, etc. Edition one requires you to use as little agency as possible. Edition two requires you to use as much agency as you would like.



This week you will focus your efforts on your version requiring as little agency as possible. Define a general concept and design the full edition. Print out your edition to scale in full, all pages typeset. Print single sided and hang your front and back covers as well as 8 key spreads on the wall. We will review as a class, focusing on concept and execution. Lastly, bring three notes or highlights from the The Debate (p.19-42).
   There are specific requirements for this edition. The goal of this version should be research oriented. You can use sourced and minimally edited images for this edition if you would like to include imagery. Your publication should have a title page, index and colophon. It should also have running headers and folios for the text section. Your book should be a minimum of 50 pages. It should be a book–ish book, not a saddle stitched pamphlet. If you want to bulk up your book consider adding supplemental material such as other research based writings or imagery.

Checklist—
— Full Essay Typeset
— Consider format & organization of content
— Define typographic system
— Consider image selection
— Define margins & grid
— Design front & back covers
— Include title page, index and folio
— 50 pages minimum





Our North Star is Wim Crouwel and Jan Van Toorn’s The Debate (p.19-42). These two designers faced off during a debate, specifically discussing their process and approach to graphic design. In the most reductive sense, this assignment asks you to approach one edition in Crouwel’s mindset and the other in Van Toorn’s.

Wim Crouwel
is a Dutch graphic designer, type designer, and typographer. Crouwel's graphic work is especially well known for the use of grid-based layouts and typography that is rooted in the International Typographic Style.

Jan van Toorn
is a Dutch graphic designer. His designs persistently call attention to their status as visual contrivances, obliging the viewer to make an effort to process their complexities. Van Toorn wants the public to measure the motives of both the client and the designer who mediates the client’s message against their own experiences of the world. He hoped in this way to stimulate a more active and skeptical view of art, communication, media ownership and society. Projects such as Van Toorn’s posters and catalogues for the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and his long-running series of calendars for the printing firm Mart.Spruijt are powerful demonstrations of graphic design used as a means of commentary and as a tool of critique.

This week you will focus your efforts on your second version requiring as much agency as you would like. Define a general concept and design the full edition. Print out your edition to scale in full, all pages typeset. Print single sided and hang your front and back covers as well as 8 key spreads on the wall. Be ready to explain how your decisions relate to your interpretation of the text and how your ‘agency’ comes into play. We will review as a class, focusing on concept and execution.
   There are specific requirements for this edition. If you would like to include imagery, it must be self generated or sourced and treated. Consider the content, and how your interpretation of the text can inform your design decisions. Revisit your 20 points and see if there is something you can reference or pull from the text.

Checklist—
— Second Publication: Full Essay Typeset
— Consider format & organization of content
— Define typographic system
— Consider artwork/image treatment
— Define margins & grid
— Design front & back covers





Read The Debate (p.19-42). Upload one QCQ analyzine a quote from Crouwel and one QCQ analyzine a quote from Van Toorn to Google Drive by next class. Our North Star is Wim Crouwel and Jan Van Toorn’s The Debate. These two designers faced off during a debate, specifically discussing their process and approach to graphic design. In the most reductive sense, this assignment asks you to approach one edition in Crouwel’s mindset and the other in Van Toorn’s.
   Consider the readings we’ve discussed so far, including Designer as Author and The Debate. Rock attempts to organize a designer’s practice into multiple modes or ways of working, including ‘translator’, ‘performer’ and ‘director’. Consider Crouwel and Van Toorn’s approaches, processes and outcomes.

Bring in both editions for review, printed to scale, in sequence, front and back. Print in color only if it is necessary to your concept. We will review your books in the round, marking up your pages with notes and guidance. It should be loosely bound, so we can re arrange or lay out your spreads and discuss your typographic details and pacing.
   Re-consider your work so far and decide what is worth keeping and what can be expanded on. Our review will focus on micro-typography and execution. Consider what you need most help with this week, either from a design perspective, if you’re struggling with production, your concept, etc. Bring in at least one specific point you would like feedback on, and be ready to lead the discussion about your work so far.
   Read Jost Hochuli’s Designing Books and Detail in Typography for reference.

Checklist—
— Both versions Printed
— Consider your theme, interpretation & agency
— Consider format & organization of content
— Define typographic system
— Consider artwork/image selection and treatment
— Define margins & grid
— Design front & back covers



Jost Hochuli: Detail In Typography
Jost Hochulis concise guide to micro-typography considers everything that can happen within a column of text. Detail in Typography discusses in simple steps the factors that make text easy to read and good to look at. It provides, in its own form and manufacture, a demonstration of how books can be made. The book was published first, in several languages, in 1987 and 1988. Hochuli then developed the German text, publishing it again in 2005, in Switzerland. This new edition, by Éditions B42, will be available in german, french and english versions.

You are at the point where you need to start thinking about your book as an object. Consider binding and production techniques. Gather materials like paper samples, book cloth examples, binding techniques, etc. Sketch how you plan to finish your book. This can be a simplistic sketch in Illustrator or photoshop, but it should give us a general understanding of your finishing options and how your object comes together.
   We’re less concerned with the “photo realism” “mock-up” rendering of your book, and more concerned with the accuracy of your depiction. This means, make sure your mock-up is the right size and scale, and you are considering all of the pitfalls you may encounter when producing the book yourself. This is an opportunity for you to plan and troubleshoot.
   Please add your slides to this Google Presentation. See this example of a simple mockup which gives the general direction vs the final outcome.

Checklist —
— Format and thickness
— Proportions of Spread
— Margins & Grid
— Typeface Selection
— Text Setting
— Paper, Printing, Production
— Binding
— Front & Back Covers
— Object Quality as a Whole


Mock-up of finishing options by Studio Lin

Final book production, photos Pin-up magazine

This is the final week for your Two Texts assignment. Finish your designs, then print and bind both of your editions. We will review your final work as a class.

Resources —
— Talas Brooklyn
— City Papery
— Print Icon

Choose a song and create a type animation for the track. Your Type Animation’s emphasis should be on typography and the lyrical content of the song. Upload your presentation to this Google Doc and upload your videos here (please remember to make your video public so we can play it in class).

Next week create a presentation outlining:
1. The song you’ve chosen
2. A slide about the artist
3. Why you like this song
4. Three themes that are present
5. How you’re visualizing the three themes
—This can be a moodboard of sourced imagery
6. What typeface you’re using
7. A Specimen of the typeface
—A–Z upper and lowercase and punctuation
8. Three unique features of the typeface
—Details you think make it relevant for the song

and a 15-30 second video test, perferably using the chorus or refrain from the song.


The “lyric video” has humble origins. Early days included fan made ephemera, oftentimes uploaded to Youtube. Since it’s inception it has become a pervasive form of content across social media and video sharing sites. Initially record labels fought to take down copyrighted material, but have since embraced the tradition and are even producing their own versions. Either created in a bedroom or a advertising agency, somehow the “lyric video” aesthetic has remained consistent in both fan videos and produced videos alike.
   Part of the homogenization of this aesthetic is access to motion graphics applications like iMovie, After Effects, Keynote, etc. These programs create simple, smooth animation with built-in presets.
   This assignment challenges you to reinvent the medium of the lyric video. Because of this, your restriction is that you can not directly use after effects or any other motion graphics programs to create the animation for your videos. They can be only used for compositing your footage. Your goal is to find creative, visually appealing ways around this restriction while also expressing the themes present within the song, and choosing an appropriate typeface to deliver the message.







Background
Read the Gradient article with Eric Timothy Carlson and Emmet Byrne discussing the design process of Bon Iver’s 2016 album “22, a million”. Pay specific attention to the section where they discuss lyric videos and the internet. The following videos pass the restrictions of this assignment.





Learning Outcomes

Typography Proficiency
Students will showcase advanced typography skills in conveying song lyrics effectively.

Creative Problem-Solving
Students will develop innovative solutions for type animations without direct motion graphics software use.

Conceptual Understanding
Students will use design to communicate complex ideas and emotions aligned with song themes.

Visual Storytelling
Students will use typography to narrate and evoke emotions in line with the song's message.

Typeface Selection
Students will choose appropriate typefaces to match song mood and themes.

Communication Skills
Students will effectively articulate and justify design choices.

Creative Expression
Students will demonstrate individual creativity and style.

Take todays feedback into consideration and make changes to your type choice and movement. For next week, finish half of your type animation. However long your song is, complete half the track. Upload your work to this Google Drive Folder.


BACKGROUND
Read the fantastic interview with Central Station on the making of their cel animation for the title sequence for 24 Hour Party People on Art of the Title which outlines their process of painting the title credits directly on 35mm film. The energy of this sequence relates to the more well known titles for Enter the Void below !photosensativity warning! This sequence uses flashing lights.

Take todays feedback into consideration and make changes to your type choice and movement. For next week, finish your entire type animation. However long your song is, complete the full track. Upload your work to this Google Drive Folder.

Cape Fear (1991)
Directed by Martin Scorsese

BACKGROUND
Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos.
During his 40-year career, Bass worked for some of Hollywood’s most prominent filmmakers, including Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Among his best known title sequences are the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict’s arm for Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm, the credits racing up and down what eventually becomes a high-angle shot of a skyscraper in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, and the disjointed text that races together and apart in Psycho.
   Pay close attenton to his later work, the title sequences he created for director Martin Scorsese. Theres a sensitivity to typography and subject prevelent in these sequences. His type animations are very traditional, but their movement, typographic choices, and overall tone & feeling match the films closely.

Casino (1995)
Directed by Martin Scorsese

Design a solo exhibition for an artist. You’re the designer & curator. You decide what the show is called, what 20 pieces are in the exhibition, and what the identity and supplemental materials look like. Next week show your Research Presentation and explain your Exhibition Curation & Theme.


SECTION I:
RESEARCH PRESENTATION
Research and explore an artists work, shown in the form of a 5-7 minute presentation. Tell us who your artist is, what you like about their work and what you find interesting about them as a person. Upload to our Drive Folder. You also have the option to show a video presentation rather than presenting live in class. Answer the following questions, at least one slide per question—

1. Who are they?
2. What is their background?
3. Where did they come from/what’s their story?
4. What context was the work shown originally (gallery, museum, outdoors, etc)?
5. At least 10 slides of their work
6. A deep analysis of two pieces (guide)
7. What themes are present in their work?
8. What drew you to what they’ve made?
9. How does it make you feel?


SECTION II:
EXHIBITION CURATION & THEME
Next, begin to think about your exhibition. Consider the artists work; How will you organize the show? What 20 pieces will you include? What tie these pieces together in a cohesive way? Establish 5 adjectives that characterize the meaning, tone, and primary aesthetic qualities of your artist’s work. Source one piece of writing that is a critical analysis of the artists work. This will be used in your publication. Present the following:

1. Five adjectives that characterize your artists work
2. Three potential titles for your exhibition
3. Select 20 pieces you will feature in the exhibition
4. One moodboard to organize your thoughts visually
5. Three takeaways from the critical analysis you sourced


TIPS
Don’t pick an obvious artist. Don’t choose someone you already know and are fond of. Avoid clichés and known celeberity artists. Visit a museum or gallery. Take a walk around and find something that gets you excited. Note the artist, and try to find as many pieces in the location by that person. You can design your presentation in Indesign, Figma, Google Slides, Keynote, etc. Whatever the case, your presentation should be well designed (please do not use default presentation templates).
   This is not a book report (!) This is a documentation of your experience of discovering a new artist. Design it, make it interesting for us. It should not be dry or boring. It should be insightful and personal.





BACKGROUND
It’s not required, but I highly recommend choosing an artist from the collection of Dia:Beacon.Their permanent collection of 60’s to now modern art is incredible, and there are plenty of artists you can explore for this project. DIA’s galleries are specifically designed for the presentation of one artists work, so you’ll see more than one of their pieces in person.

   Dia:Beacon Hours
   November–December
   Thursday–Monday, 11am–4pm
   Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays year-round

Take the Metro North at Grand Central Terminal, which costs $36.50. If you get a package with your Metro North ticket admission into the museum is only $6. But the museum is amazing! and the town is nice! Especially if you’ve never visited upstate before! Seriously, really try to get there, it will be worth it. Give yourself as much time as possible.



GALLERIES
Chelsea
DUMBO

MUSEUMS
The Whitney
MoMA PS1
The MET
The New Museum
Gugenheim
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum
Jewish Museum












TIPS
If you’re having trouble analyzing the work use this as a guide. You will need either your own photographs or images you find through your research for this project. If there is already professional photography of the work in question it will make gathering content for your publication easier. Choosing someone showing at Dia:Beacon means they will likely have a large body of work, it will be easily sourcable, and finding an essay exploring their work will be readily available.

Next week design two completely different directions for your book and poster. Your directions should differ both conceptually and visually. Typeset three spreads of your essay, and three spreads of how you will treat artwork pages and design a 24×36" poster (can be printed on 11x17").

    Select a sentence, passage or highlight from your sourced piece of writing that is a critical analysis of the artists work. Explain to us how this is informing your design decisions and overall concept. Write a 2-5 sentence statement of intent and be prepared to read this to introduce your work.

DELIVERABLES
Print your materials to scale for the following...
—2-5 sentence statement of intent
—3 spreads of your essay typeset (x2)
—3 spreads of artwork pages (x2)
—Poster sketch 24×36" (x2, on 11x17")
  Must include:
  — Title of show
  — Dates show is running
  — Location
  — Museum/gallery logo (optional)



CONSIDERATIONS
Your essay and supplemental content should be informed by your research. Your artwork pages should establish a system of how you will title and caption the pieces. This assignment is about your identity system; But it’s really about typography. Your identity should support the work in question. It should not imitate it. It should not crowd it. It’s your job to find that balance, or more importantly what that balance means to you.



BACKGROUND
Our main reading for this assignment is James Goggin’s essay titled “The Matta Clark Complex”. James discusses book design and materiality using American artist Gordon Matta–Clarke as an example.
   James Goggin is a Providence-based British and/or Australian graphic designer and teacher from London via Sydney, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Auckland, Arnhem, and Chicago. He runs a design practice named Practise, together with partner Shan James, working on books, websites, identity systems, exhibitions, typefaces, videos, textiles, posters, magazines, signs, and symbols in Europe, Asia, Australasia, and North America. James teaches at Rhode Island School of Design, writes now and then, and lectures here and there.

Continue to design your exhibition identity, and preapre your publication fully designed including the front and back cover, graphics mocked-up on a title wall, poster, ticket and any supplemental material you may like to design or add outside of the project requirements (for example: videos, pamphlets, take away’s, etc). Print your work and be prepared to review with the class. Bring in paper samples, cover options, and any other materials that will help us visualize your design decisions for the exhibition.
    Class will be held at No Ideas. Sign up for the early or late group and arrive on time for your block.

REQUIREMENTS

1. Exhibition Title Wall
— Graphics applied to title wall

2. Exhibition Publication
— Foreword required, minumum 10 pages
— Feature 20+ pieces of artists artwork
— Mock-up of book finishing options (like wk.7)

3. Exhibition Poster
— 24×36"
  Must include:
— Title of show
— Dates show is running
— Location
— Museum/gallery logo (optional)

4. Exhibition Ticket
  Must include:
— Title of show
— Dates show is running
— Location
— Museum/gallery logo (optional)



FINAL DELIVERABLES
Below is an explanation of your project’s final deliverables and requirements, printed and produced to scale by the final week.

EXHIBITION TITLE WALL
Design a typographically driven title wall for your exhibition, featuring the title of the show and the artists name. Your deliverable is to apply your graphics on the wall of the exhibition for context. Print this on tabloid size paper. Consider what type of material your signage will be produced. Some options include silkscreen, vinyl lettering, 3D lettering, etc.

EXHIBITION PUBLICATION
You are to create a publication for your exhibition. It can be any size or material you would like, but it must be printed. It should include at least 20+ pieces of artwork. It should include a foreword about the artist, minimum 15 pages. Find an essay, interview, review of their work, a show, or some other longform piece of writing about the artist and use that for your content. This piece of writing should not be their wikipedia page, or their biography. It should be a text examining the work or artist in question. Develop your typographic system including primary and if necessary secondary typefaces. What will the body text of the publication be set in? What will work for captions?

EXHIBITION POSTER
You are to create a poster for your exhibition. It’s dimensions are 24×36". Imagine this poster would be wheatpasted around New York, or as an advertisement in the subway. This poster should feature the title of your show, artist name, date range and venue location.

EXHIBITION TICKET
Design a ticket for your exhibition. This ticket should feature the title of your show, artist name, date range and venue location.




Background
Identity design is an important component of this assignment. Developing a visual language around the artists work is the main objective. But you also have an opportunity to consider the full design of the exhibition. You job doesnt need to stop at typography. Take a look at the work of Fraser Muggeridge studio, Graphic Thought Facility, or Wkshps. Consider the design as a whole. If you have any other ideas that can push your project further, explore!

Finish designing your exhibition identity, print and bind your book, mock up your title wall, print your full poster at 24×36", and create any supplemental material you may like to design or add outside of the project requirements (for example: videos, pamphlets, etc).

REQUIREMENTS

1. Exhibition Title Wall
— 11×17"
— Graphics applied to title wall

2. Exhibition Publication
— Foreword required, minumum 15 pages
— Feature 20+ pieces of artists artwork

3. Exhibition Poster
— 24×36"
  Must include:
— Title of show
— Dates show is running
— Location
— Museum/gallery logo (optional)

4. Exhibition Ticket
  Must include:
— Title of show
— Dates show is running
— Location
— Museum/gallery logo (optional)

Please create a PDF with your work from the semester. Upload everything by Saturday, December 15th. If it is a physical object, please photograph the final result. Upload your final type animation and the PDF of your work to Google Drive in a folder labeled with your name.