Week 01

Introductions & Class Policies

• "ABOUT ME" forms

• Introductions

• BOOKMARK this blog. All pertinent information about the class will be found here. 

• Course Description (click on "About" tab above)

• Schedule (click on "Course Schedule" tab above)

• Policies ("Grading & Contact" above)

• Reading - There is not a required textbook for this course. However clicking on the "Reading" tab above will take you to a page of recommended websites and books. Readings will be assigned throughout the semester. Please check weekly postings for all assignments and reading links.

• Think Tank, Open Work Sessions, Critiques - This class will consist of lecture and demonstration re-enforced through computer based assignments. However, at this point in your education, emphasis, will be placed on an open, think tank like environment.  Class time will be divided into lecture/demo and open work sessions. Works will be critiqued in class to enhance the implementation of art and design theory and the development of technical, creative, and analytical skills.

• Student Blogs (click on "Required Materials" above)

• Semester Assignment: Brand Platform    
• A brand platform is the context (in images, sounds, animations, interactions, etc.) from which a product or service’s later, more specific stage of development and / or marketing may evolve.
• The "component assignments" in this class are meant as short introductory exercises tied together thematically by the above described Brand Platform Semester Long Assignment. 
• The components of the brand platform that you will be building throughout the semester will be:
  
  
  
  

  Selection from Kurzweil AI site

  
  
  
  

  Theme - Short, liberally extrapolated theme from this selection

  
  
  
  

  Color Palette -  Colors and related images appropriate to this theme

  
  
  
  

  Soundtrack - A “soundscape” that evokes your service, product or organization 

  
  
  
  

  Tagline - A memorable phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of your product and reinforces the audience's memory of it

  
  
  
  

  Community / Social Media site - name product or service & further develop its attributes

  
  
  
  

  Stop motion video - what the product/service does (based on results from community site)

  
  
  
  

  Animation/video (Marketing) - the character of the proposed product/service (partially based on community site results) 

  
  
  
  

Presentation:

Digital Design

View more presentations from Carla Gannis Studios.

Open Work Session: Selection & Theme

1. Read this statement as to the current state of design: pratt/des680/article01.html
2. Go to http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1 and choose a news item in the left column (an article, post, or video), that you think promises surprising future developments.
3. Shorten the article title (or headline) into a 5-10 word liberally extrapolated theme.
   
   
   
   

   Original Example Selection: “Robofish and Microchips. MIT engineers have developed robofish that could inspect pipelines, lakes, rivers and boats.”

   Your short, liberally extrapolated theme: "Robofish will change the relationship between water and humans." 

4. You will use this theme as the basis to create your “brand platform” throughout the semester.
   
   
   
   
   See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/realestate/commercial/31sqft.html to read a description of a brand platform project.

Homework: 

1. SET UP a blog that is specifically for this class.
2. FINISH picking a selection and creating an extrapolated theme. *Remember this will the basis for your semester assignment of producing a brand platform.
3. POST your decided upon "theme" on your blog as a GRAPHIC. Work with a few type treatments in Illustrator & upload the one (as a png or gif) that you feel is most successful.
4. READ "Designer of 2015 Trends" http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/designer-of-2015-trends
5. COMMENT on the "...2015 Trends" article and two other articles, of your choosing, on your class blog.