Category: Assignment (Page 1 of 2)

At this point you should have completed your research, then posted both the final PDF of your presentation and the PDF of your bibliography. (This was last week’s Assignment.)

Now it’s time to record your presentation! I find that the best way to do this is to: 1. Open your Personal Meeting Room in Zoom
2. Select Record on This Computer
3. Share your screen to whichever program you are using for the presentation
4. Start talking!
5. Click End Meeting when you are done. It should save to your computer then open the window in which it is saved.
6. Edit any extra material from the beginning and end of your video. (You can do this in Finder on a Mac.)
7. Upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo. Copy the link for the finished video
8. Create a new Post on our OpenLab site to share your video.
9. In the Block Editor for the Post, click the plus + sign then find YouTube or Vimeo. Paste the link into that field.
10. Categorize your Post as Research Project.
11. Click Publish
12. Give yourself a nice pat on the back – your research project is complete!

Your poster/slide deck and your bibliography are due by the end of this week. We will review your progress in our meetings. In the meantime, if you have any questions concerning expectations, requirements, guidelines, etc. please just let me know.

There are 2 items to include in this Week’s Response Post
(1) a PDF of your presentation. This should be the same document that you will use to record your presentation, exported from PowerPoint, InDesign, or whatever program you use to design it.
(2) your bibliography. This should be a separate document, also saved as a PDF. Remember, in addition to class readings, you must include 10 sources from library databases.

Both of these items should be uploaded as a single Post, categorized as a Response. You will upload and share your recording separately. (The “Research Project” category should only be used for the Post containing the final recording of your presentation.)

Project outline/layout

• intro slide ( name and title of project)

• Introduction of artist Keith Haring

• introduction of his work andy mouse/ his pop up shop in NYC with anti consumerist works of art.

• Introduction of Andy warhol

• The many commissions of celebrity portraits from Elvis Presley to Marilyn Monroe
• Discussion of traditional art and design of both artists.
• Discussion of theories that these two artists fall under. Inclusion of underground and mainstream ideas.

For our final reading assignment you will be responsible for reading two articles from Graphic Design Theory. However, for this week you will decide which ones you would like to read. You may choose from the following:

Kenya Hara, Designing Design (2007):

Jessica Helfand, Dematerialization of Screen Space (2001):

Kalle Lasn, Design Anarchy (2006):

Ellen Lupton and Julia Lupton, Univers Strikes Back (2007):

Lev Manovich, Import/Export, or Design Workflow and Contemporary Aesthetics (2008): 

Dmitri Siegel, Designing Our Own Graves (2006):

Jan Van Toorn, Design and Reflexivity (1994):

Again, you only need to read two of these essays, but it might be wise to take a glance at all of them. You may find that a couple of them could be beneficial for your final.

There is no written response to these readings. Instead you will create sketches for your final, as described HERE.

The written portion for this week will not be a direct response to the readings. Instead, your assignment will be to post (1) “sketches” of your presentation and (2) a working bibliography.

You can interpret sketches literally or very loosely. You can include actual drawings, outlines of material, brainstorms of related ideas, relevant images, or a slide deck in progress. You may still be in the early stages of organizing your ideas. But you should establish the direction in which your presentation is headed. And you should be thinking about your own theories regarding the designs in question.

The bibliography can include relevant assigned readings, but it must also include at least 6 outside sources. If you’ve already retrieved 3 library sources for Week 11, you need to add at least 3 more for this week. The cumulative total up to this point should be 6

Our next reading will be a relatively short essay by Steven Heller, from 2008, entitled The Underground Mainstream. Here is a PDF: 

Note that our response to this text will once again take the form of a new Post in which you write 3-4 paragraphs responding to the text. However, for this one there is an important additional requirement:
You must include 3-4 sources accessed through library databases. You can log onto the library’s website using your CUNY credentials. I find that Jstor and Ebsco ebooks are both great resources, but you should explore a few.

If you have questions about using library resources for conducting your research, a good deal of information can be found HERE.

Here is your prompt:
How, according to Heller, is the concept of mainstream vs. underground relevant in contemporary design? Where do the designs or the designer that you’ll be addressing for your final presentation fit into this dichotomy? What sort of underground designs influenced the work in question? In what ways has the work in question shaped the mainstream? Or how will it do so in the future? Provide full citation information for at least 3-4 sources from the library to support your response.

As per usual, you can type your response into the body of new Post, categorized as a Response. Please just add your cited sources at the bottom of that post.

After you have completed your second paper, there are two new readings for next week. These readings are unrelated to the paper, but they will serve as the basis for next Week’s asynchronous discussions. They are as follows:

Paul Rand, Good Design is Goodwill (1987):

Denise Scott Brown, Steven Izenour & Robert Venturi, Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form (1972):

Please be sure to budget your time so that you can give proper attention to these readings.

Second Paper:
The second 2-3 page paper is a response to Roland Barthes’ Rhetoric of the Image. The objective for this paper is to analyze the rhetorical elements of a recent advertisement. The ad should be from a print magazine.

The chosen advertisement must use photographic imagery, and must include text. Begin by describing the image in detail, examining the characteristics of the pictured objects, models, environment, etc., as well as the layout, typography, interaction of forms, image style and composition of the entire ad. Try to identify all of the signs at work in the image.

Make your best attempt to articulate the meaning of the image, using Barthes’ terms. What are the linguistic messages? What are the non-coded iconic messages? What are the coded iconic messages? Identify the denotative and connotative aspects, the use of anchorage and relay, the semantic and lexical components, etc. Consider the effectiveness of the advertisers’ rhetoric, and the ideological metalanguage employed.

This response will be submitted as a 750-1000 word typewritten paper, double-spaced in 12 pt. Times New Roman. Include an image of the advertisement under consideration. All references and quotations, including image sources should be properly cited in MLA format. Upload a PDF of your paper to a new Post on OpenLab before April 10. Please also add an image of the ad you examine in your post (this will allow your peers to see the image without opening the pdf of your paper).

Once again, please note: I am well aware of the versions of this essay that can be found online. Submissions that address the ads examined in those versions (i.e. the chopped up Heinz bottle, the VW porcupines) will not be accepted.

Our reading for next week is Roland Barthes’ 1977 essay, Rhetoric of the Image. Here is the PDF:

As you read, please make note of all important terms (ie. polysemy, linguistic sign, connoted, denoted, etc.), especially if their meaning is unclear.  Also make note of important points that you don’t completely follow. Record a brief list of questions you have concerning the essay. When you’ve completed the reading, drop these notes and questions into a post; this will be your submission for the week.

You do not need to write lengthy paragraphs for this one. Scattered notes are perfectly fine and encouraged.

The second 2-3 page paper, due at the end of Week 10, on April 10, will be a response to this article. In this paper, you’ll critically examine a contemporary advertising image in a manner similar to Barthes’ approach. You will be expected to employ the logic and terminology that Barthes uses in this text.

You should begin to consider the advertisement that you would like to address for your essay. It should be a recent full-page print advertisement organized around a single photograph. Please bring ideas to class next week.

Our next reading is from a 1981 essay by the cultural theorist, Stuart Hall. In this article, entitled The Whites of Their Eyes, Hall examines the ways in which mass media have perpetuated racist ideologies. Here is a PDF:

Your post for this reading will be a little different. Instead of writing 3-4 paragraphs, please identify and document 3-4 advertisements in recent magazines, web pages, posters, billboards, etc. where race, ethnicity, gender or cultural identity play a role in shaping a brand’s message.

Note that race, gender and identity can be used in a positive, embracing way, or in a cynical, negative manner; or it may be difficult to tell. The most interesting ads are probably the most subtle.

Post ads that you encounter this week, after completing the reading. And please note that they do not need to be racist or sexist per se. We’ve all seen some of the widely publicized missteps from companies such as H&M, Dove, Sony, etc. …These are all very obvious. They really don’t require critical examination and we really don’t need to see them again. Do not post them.

Look for nuanced ads in which it is clear that the advertising is aware of identity and representation. Try to find ads that show diversity in a productive and celebratory light.

Post phone pics, scans or screenshots of your selected ads with short captions describing the image and the source from which the image was found.

Here are three examples of ads that I have found recently, which I think are very interesting…