Month: January 2022

Our first reading assignment consists of a couple short texts. Each can be found at the links below. Your response should be 3-4 paragraphs, which can be typed directly into a post or handwritten in a notebook. If you decide to hand-write please just snap a picture and post that image into a new post.

Here are the readings:
Helen Armstrong, “Introduction: Revisiting the Avant-Garde” from Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field (2009):

Bruno Munari, selected chapters from Design as Art (1966):

Here are some questions to which you might respond:
According to these authors, what role should design play in our lives and culture? What distinguishes the field, or fields, of design from other types of creativity? Why should designers concern themselves with unsolvable theoretical questions? What are the most urgent problems facing designers today? How, and why, is a designer responsible for solving these problems?

Please complete your response before class on the 9th, and categorize it as Response.

And please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or issues. You can send a message through OpenLab or email me: mlange@citytech.cuny.edu

Our first objective (which is sort of just an extension of the first class session) will be to create a short video introduction.

While the hybrid classroom will keep us socially distanced to varying degrees, the quality of our discussions will depend on our willingness to speak openly with one another. The goals for this exercise will be to tell the class a little bit about yourself, and meet everyone that you’ll be working with through the semester.

Please record a short video providing the following information:
– Your name, preferred name, and pronouns
– Your “relationship” to City Tech and COMD; meaning a bit about why you decided on COMD, how far along you are in the program, your primary field of interest, and goals for the future
– A description of a recent project, or project-in-progress, that you are particularly proud of or excited about
– A theory that you have, or have heard recently…it can be about anything, but should ideally be impossible to prove.

You’ll need to record your video, upload to YouTube, Dropbox, Vimeo, etc., then embed the link into a New Post by clicking the + box in your block, locating Video, then selecting “Link”. (See the OpenLab Intro video for additional details.

Also important: Please categorize your video as Response.

Finally, the most important part of the assignment: Watch all of your peers’ videos! You may need to check back a couple times throughout the week if you upload yours early. And feel free to comment on them.

Here is mine:

And here is a snapshot of the project I mentioned: