Contents

Welcome

Tutors

Office hours

email

Course structure

Stream 1 summary

Stream 2 summary

Stream 3 summary

Optional sessions

Our expectations

Assessment

Reading

Facebook

Evernote

Final Major Project

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Weeks 12-14

Week 15

Weeks 16-17

Semester 2

Brief 1 - Stream 1

Brief 1 - Stream 2

Brief 1 - Stream 3

Welcome to WSAmacd.

WSAmacd is the tag for the MA in Communication Design at Winchester School of Art. We’ll be talking more about tags as the course progresses but essentially it’s the nearest thing social media has to a logo – recognisable brand communication. The main difference being that the brand (us, this course, the University) doesn’t have control over it. Anyone can tag their content with WSAmacd or #WSAmacd and so add it to the distributed picture of our course and brand. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. These questions, issues and problematics will crop up as we move through the year. In the meantime, welcome…

WSAmacd looks to take your existing design work and push it into new areas; to question your ideas about design and the designer; to explore where the design industry is and where it’s going.

You arrive on this course as good designers – you wouldn’t have got in unless you were already a skilled illustrator, typographer, photographer, motion or static graphics creator… but this MA is more than just about polishing those skills. It’s about deepening your critical and analytical skills, pushing those skills or developing new ones that can address the complex realities of the global, digital design industries and markets.

I hope you enjoy the course. If you have any questions or comments or ideas of ways we can make it better,  let’s talk.

Paul Caplan

Senior Teaching Fellow, Digital Media & Design

Pathway Leader WSAmacd

facebook.com/WSAmacd

p.caplan@soton.ac.uk

@internationale on Twitter

Your tutors

We have backgrounds in the media and design industries as well as being active designers and researchers:

Paul Caplan

After a career in business to business journalism as editor, photographer and designer, Paul formed his own company to provide digital media consultancy to the UK Government, public sector and charities as well as business. His journalism and photography have appeared in national magazines and newspapers and his company has worked for COI Communications, the Royal Air Force, the NHS and Airbus. He has just completed a practice research PhD at Birkbeck, University of London. Paul’s research focuses on strategic approaches to distributed global media and communications as well as digital imaging, software and object-oriented approaches to media.

Paul is Pathway Leader and looks after Stream 3 of the programme.

Jacqueline Perkins

Jacqueline has an established professional background in graphic design and art direction in television, film and print. She has directed her concepts for titles, content, commercials and brand identities across a range of media working for the BBC and for clients including Channel 4, ITV and independent production companies. She has also been a judge for the British Film and Television Awards. Her research focuses on work-related learning in design, industry collaboration and employability.

Jacqueline looks after Stream 2 of the programme.

Naomi DePeza-Purvis

Naomi has worked in the media for 20 years, specialising in newspaper and magazine design. She has been Art Director for publications including The Independent on Sunday Review, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, The Illustrated London News and Blueprint magazine.

Naomi looks after Stream 1 of the programme.

Your tutors are here to advise, offer feedback and supervise your Final Major Project, but perhaps more importantly to stimulate your thinking and your practice; to raise questions and things you might not have thought of; to point you in the direction of material, artists, film-makers or designers, theories, concepts and technologies that you can use to develop your own distinctive design vision.

Sign-up tutorials a.k.a. “office hours”

Each tutor offers weekly sign-up slots where you can arrange to meet and discuss your work, the streams, your assessments or any aspect of the course. The tutors try to make themselves available at other times of the week but sometimes that is difficult hence the rather clumsy mechanism of “office hours”.  You can sign up for these sessions on sheets on the tutors’ office doors. The sessions are listed on the Timetable.

email

You will be given a university email address. It may not be the most attractive, sexy or witty email address you have ever had and it might not be the easiest to remember, but it is VERY IMPORTANT.

Your tutors and others in the University will contact you via this email address with any information you need to know and changes to the sessions or timetables, cancellations etc. You need to check this address as regularly as you check your other email addresses, social media feeds etc.

You can of course check this email box via the Web or configure your email client to pick up mail sent to your university address. You can also set up an automatic forward so mail to this address is bounced to your Gmail or Yahoo account etc. Have a look at the information on http://www.southampton.ac.uk/isolutions/services/index.php#7. Ask if you need help.

The important thing is to keep this channel of communication open all year.

The course structure a.k.a. “the Streams”

The programme has compulsory core sessions, compulsory modules and optional sessions.

The compulsory core sessions Design 1 and Design 2 are built around three “Streams” each managed and delivered by one tutor.

The three Streams run concurrently. Each week you will work with each of the tutors on each of the streams: three days, three streams, three tutors. The idea of the streams is that they feed into each other across Semesters 1 and 2, preparing you to develop your Final Major Project in Semester 3. As you explore the specifics of contemporary publication and illustration in Stream 1, you’ll be exploring how ‘live’ ePublications and Apps present new challenges and opportunities for those skills, practices and philosophies. As you address hacktivist remixing of data in Stream 3 you’ll be bringing in the work you’ve done on ideas and experience in Stream 2.

This MA is a year long. The Streams run across the first two Semesters. Volume 1 of this handbook covers in detail the work you will be doing in Semester 1… with a taste of what is to come in Semester 2. Before Christmas you will get Volume 2.

Stream 1: Editorial Design for Print Media

About the stream

Stream 1 looks at the printed word and specifically the essentials of the editorial process. In today’s information-saturated world, succinct visual communication is becoming more and more important. The designer is the person who moulds the printed format in all its diverse guises – from magazine, newspaper or book to map, banner or label.

In Stream 1 you will be challenged to focus on what print can do. You will explore concepts and content, flatplanning, layout and grid construction as well as the visual language and significance of typography as a design tool.

Delivery

Stream 1 uses a series of lectures and workshops to help you build a sound knowledge and understanding of the techniques and processes necessary to work with editorial formats. Specific practical sessions will focus on Adobe InDesign. We will look at how technology is a key ingredient to both the structure and dynamic of your work. In addition you will study and explore typography and reprography – how both can redefine and strengthen the methods and outcomes of your printed work. At the same time, you will be involved in collaborative discussion and debate on issues relating to the editorial process from brainstorming ideas to decision-making, in order to strengthen your abilities to think, articulate and bring clarity to your work.

Tutor

Naomi DePeza-Purvis

Stream one takes place on a Monday

Stream 2: Ideas and the experience

About the stream

Stream 2 examines and debates the role of ideas as the currency of communication.

Diverse global creative industries and practices are constantly shifting and evolving but the one constant is the importance of strong ideas that communicate, be it through sound, image, word or experience. This stream interrogates what makes, defines and adds value to an idea and how it can be made to translate across, and even transcend multiple forms of media and move from ideas into experience.

This Stream, like inspirational design solutions, is built on critical analysis, enquiry and innovation. It doesn’t matter about the medium, what matters are the ideas, the audience and their experience.

Delivery

In Semester 1 the Stream is delivered through a set brief, which builds on workshops and small projects. You will cover reflective practice, collaboration and idea generation exploring issues such as deconstruction, global branding, identity and guerrilla campaigns.

During Semester 2 you will work in design teams across a set brief. Your group will explore stories, looking to challenge design conventions via research, experimentation, strategic problem solving and insight.

Teaching takes place as lectures, crits, presentations, seminars and workshops.

Tutor

Jacqueline Perkins

Stream two takes place on a Wednesday

Stream 3: Whose design is it anyway?

About the stream

This stream of work looks at design in terms of remix culture and distributed media. In a world where anyone can sample content, culture and designs, remix it and distribute it globally; where brands can crowd-source creativity and even product design; where live-time media extends beyond ‘news’ and information’ to creativity and design… well what is the position of “design” and the “designer”.

This stream looks to answer that question through research – lectures and seminars looking at theories and histories of remix culture and digital media, but also through practice. The lecture programme on Fridays will run alongside a practice-research workshop programme on Tuesdays where we’ll explore the issues by doing them: remixing images, words, computer code, video etc.

Delivery

Stream 3 is a partnership between WSAmacd and the MA in Advertising Design Management (WSAadm). You will be studying, working and creating with students on the WSAadm Pathway, students exploring advertising and branding from a business rather than a creative direction. You are both studying the same issues, the same media and design cultures, the same remix world. This Stream enables you, and the students on WSAadm, to have different perspectives on those spaces, those practices and those problematics, to engage in dialogue and debate as well as work as a team on the two assessments. Heh, the partnerships might work so well you decide to set up a business together at the end of the course…

To ensure that dialectic is at the heart of the Stream, Paul (from WSAmacd) and Dr Cui Su (from WSAadm) will share the ‘lectures’ on Fridays with each session consisting of two responses to the same issue, question or problematic.

On Tuesdays, in two groups we will be using remix practices (words, images, sound, video and data) to explore the issues raised in the lecture programme and also our own practice and position as designers.

Tutors

Paul Caplan and Dr Cui Su

Stream three takes place on a Tuesday and a Friday in Semester 1 and Tuesday and Thursday in Semester 2.

Optional sessions

In addition to the compulsory Stream sessions for Design 1 and 2, WSAmacd runs a number of other sessions. These are not assessed (although hopefully what you look at will help with your assessed work) and they are not compulsory. They’re there because the tutors think they add value to the course and to the work you do. This year, these include:

The Journal Club

Many creative people - designers of course but also business-people, even academics - keep a journal. More than a diary, more than a sketchbook, for some it is a place to doodle - pictures or ideas. For others it’s a place to record. For others a place to collect and accumulate. But for all there is something self-reflexive about it. It is the space in which they critically reflect on their work, projects or plans. We suggest you all keep one. Different than the research logs you will be working on for specific projects, your Journal is more free-floating, flexible, anarchic even. This Club offers you a space to talk with tutors and other students about your Journal, how and why you use it and share tips, techniques and ideas.

Jacqueline runs the Journal Club on Mondays

The Live Brief Club

WSAmacd is fortunate in having very good industry contacts. We often have professionals from industry asking us to work with them on projects. We encourage all WSAmacd students to take these opportunities alongside the assessed briefs and projects for the course. Jacqueline runs a weekly session and offers support to those of you who want to attempt these briefs or enter the competitions.

Jacqueline runs the Live Brief Club on Thursdays

The Show Club

All the MA pathways at WSA work towards the Interim Show and the Final Show. As communication designers we should take a lead not only presenting our own work (which you will be working on in your Streams) but also in designing the Shows themselves - the publicity, the materials even the whole Show ‘experiences’. Naomi runs a group all year where you can start to think about those Shows, how they could work, what they could look like and how they could be marketed.

Naomi runs the Show Club on Thursdays

The Module Club

As well as Design 1 and 2 (the Streams) you will be doing other modules as part of your MA. In Semester 1 you’ll be doing Research Skills and in Semester 2 you will do an optional module. The tutors for these modules will give you all the details. These modules are a vital part of your study. Not only in terms of the fact your marks for these modules counts toward your final grade but also in terms of opening up new questions and developing new skills that you can use as part of your design career. We know however that it is sometimes challenging to connect academic research with design practice. To support you through these modules, WSAmacd offers an optional workshop where you can explore the question of how issues of research, entrepreneurship, marketing etc. work with design. This workshop does not take the place of the seminars and workshops on the modules themselves nor the support the tutors on those modules provide. Rather the WSAmacd group is a chance to more generally discuss the issues raised on those courses within a design context.

Each week, we will discuss a piece of design - it might be a print piece, some motion graphics, a website… anything. We will use this as a springboard to unpick the research, entrepreneurship, marketing, responsibility theories and ideas as they relate to design. As an example, we might take the front page of the Guardian and explore what research underpins it, what research task has been developed and responded to. We might approach it in terms of the Guardian Media Group’s marketing strategy in the UK and increasingly globally. We might look to understand the ways in which the design and designers develop new opportunities - are in some way entrepreneurial.

We might look to take apart a public health campaign video on YouTube and address the background and context to its development and deployment, its approach to marketing in a social media space and what its viral, or as Henry Jenkins calls it ‘spreadable’ nature says about the nature of entrepreneurship.

Paul runs the Module Club on Thursdays

Global Futures Speakers and Film Forum

The Winchester Centre for Global Futures in Art Design & Media hosts events by leading figures in the arts, design and media industries. This year it is also launching a Forum in which it shows films that address issues highlighting the complexities of a globalised world. The series emphasises the role of films as catalysts for change. The showcased films deal with globally relevant topics such as environment, society, politics and art.

Programme

3 Oct 2012

Kristoffer Gansing is the Artistic Director of Transmediale. He is interested in the interfaces of media culture, art and everyday life. His research interests include the contrasting parallel worlds and conflicts of network culture and the distribution of media technology. Gansing co-founded The Art of the Overhead, a pioneering project of media-archeological art practice.

10 October – I am Nasrine / Tina Gharavi / Iran & UK / 2011 / 84mins
I Am Nasrine is an intimate journey of self-discovery. Set in modern day Tehran and the UK, the film follows the paths of Nasrine and her brother Ali, from a comfortable, middle class Iranian home to being refugees and immigrants in the North of the UK. They have to choose between being part of a Muslim community, or embracing a new culture, with unforeseen consequences.
The director of the film will be in attendance to talk to the audience after the screening.

22 Oct 2012

Francesco Manacorda is an Italian art expert. He has been appointed as the new artistic director of Tate Liverpool, and was previously director of Artissima, Turin's international art fair. He has previously been curator at London's Barbican Art Gallery and is a visiting lecturer at the city's Royal College of Art.

01 Nov 2012

Rod Cousens is one of the UK’s leading games industry executives and the Chief Executive Officer of Codemasters, the award-winning Midlands-based developer and publisher of video game entertainment titles for game consoles, PC and online platforms. Cousens will give a talk about the Future of Video Games from an Industry point of view.

14 November – An African Election / Jarreth Merz / Ghana and South Africa / 2011 / 89mins
This documentary looks at the complex political machinery of developing democracy: the 2008 presidential elections in Ghana, West Africa. It follows the key players to provide an insider’s view of the political, economic and social forces at work in Ghana. This film reveals the struggle postcolonial nations face to legitimise themselves to their “first world” contemporaries.

This film is screening in association with Afrika Eye Festival, Bristol. Debate will be facilitated by the festival.

28 Nov 2012

David Gauntlett is Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Westminster, where he co-directs CAMRI, ranked #1 for media and communications research in RAE 2008. He is the author of several books, including Creative Explorations (2007) and Making is Connecting (2011). He has conducted collaborative research with a number of the world's leading creative organisations, including the BBC, the British Library, LEGO and Tate. He will talk about "Creativity, innovation and disruption."

04 Dec 2012

Scott Klein specializes in Modernism and the 20th century English novel, with interests in the works of James Joyce and Wyndham Lewis, the history of film, avant-garde music, and 20th century experimentation in visual art. He heads Ballet Mecanique: James Joyce and avant-garde music. He is currently Chair of the English department at Wake Forest University.

12 December – Girl Model / David Redmon, Ashley Sabin / Siberia, Japan & USA / 2011 / 78mins
The film follows two protagonists in the fashion industry. Ashley is a model scout; Nadya is a thirteen year old plucked from her home with promises of a profitable modelling career. Ashley and Nadya’s stories are inextricably bound. As Nadya’s optimism about rescuing her family from poverty grows, Ashley’s jaded outlook on the industry’s corrosive influence intensifies.
A fashion industry professional will lead the discussion after this screening.

Our expectations

The programme we have designed only works effectively if you engage with all parts of it. The cross-fertilisation of ideas and practices we are looking for and that we think will equip you with the skills, knowledge and experience to build your careers, will only work if you play a full part in all three streams.

As such we expect you to:

- turn up on time to all sessions

- have done the reading/preparation you were asked to complete

- engage in discussion with the group providing constructive feedback and critical support.

We are here to deliver the programme but more than that, to support you in working through it. We have timetabled workshops, seminars, crits and optional sign-up tutorial slots throughout the year. We try to be as accessible as possible – tutors have “office hours” where you can book time to see us - but we believe that a key part of postgraduate study is managing your own time, research, work and deadlines. The projects and particularly the assessments you develop will be very much self-directed.

Assessment

Your assessment is really quite simple. At the end of each Semester you will submit a portfolio and a written commentary. Your portfolio will consist of:

- A piece of work developed in Stream 1

- A piece of work developed in Stream 2

- A piece of work developed in Stream 3

- A 500 word report reflecting on your learning across the three Streams during the semester

These pieces of work will be in response to Briefs set by the tutors. The Briefs for Semester 1 are at the back of this Handbook.

You will of course have assessments for other courses and the Final Major Project, of which more later…

Stream I assessment

You will develop and produce a dummy redesigned magazine including layouts, cover, contents page, stylesheets and flatplan for a specified existing magazine.

Stream II Assessment

You will create and deliver a campaign and a design work with a specified theme and audience. Your outcome will be will be accompanied by a research workbook and a written commentary.

Stream III assessment

In a small group (consisting of WSAmacd and WSAadm students) you will develop and produce an ePublication. You will decide on the design, format, platform and content for the ePublication as well as developing the business, content and marketing strategies. WSAmacd students will submit the publication and a short reflexive account of the design and business approach and process. WSAadm students will submit the business strategy in the form of a written assignment.

Group work and individual assessment

All of your work is individual. You are assessed as an individual and your marks refer to your own work. As part of the Streams you will be working in groups. In Stream 2 your group will produce the campaign while in Stream 3 your group will produce a design object as part of that assessment. You will hand that group work in as part of your portfolio as well as a written commentary/analysis. You will be assessed on both the object and the written work. Part of your mark will reflect the finished object but part will be based on your commentary/analysis. Two students in the same group, submitting the same object may get two very different marks depending on how well their written piece meets the assessment criteria.

Plagiarism and pla(y)giarism

Stream 3, with its theme of remix, uses the term “pla(y)giarism” as a spur to creating new designs. The Stream looks at the legal and ethical issues around such appropriation, perhaps even ‘stealing’. While you may choose to engage in “pla(y)giarism” as part of your design work (with appropriate critical discussion in the written part of the assessment), your essays and written work must follow the University’s guidance on academic plagiarism:

All written submitted work will be passed through plagiarism detection software. If plagiarism is detected in your work, your final grade will be penalized heavily or worse, you may fail the assignment altogether. You should submit only your own work and whenever you have engaged with someone else’s work, you should attribute clearly to the source. You can view the WSA Academic Integrity Handbook on the School’s Intranet via the SUSSED portal.

In Stream 3 we will be exploring this tension and you will be encouraged to explore it in your design work. As always, if in doubt… ask!

Work Not Submitted and Late Work

Meeting deadlines is an important part of the discipline of higher education, and marks for work handed in or presented late will be reduced to ensure fairness to students who submit on time. The reductions of marks for late work are as follows:

Work submitted up to 5 days after the deadline will be marked as usual, including moderation or second marking, and feedback prepared. The final agreed mark is then reduced by the factors in the following table. This applies to all students from 2010 onwards. If the calculations detailed below reduce your final module mark to below 50% you will have failed the module.

University Working Days late

- 1 day late (final agreed mark) X 0.9

- 2 days late (final agreed mark) X 0.8

- 3 days late (final agreed mark) X 0.7

- 4 days late (final agreed mark) X 0.6

- 5 days late (final agreed mark) X 0.5

- More than 5 days late Zero

Equal Opportunities

In line with the University’s Equal Opportunities Policy, individuals are treated on their relevant merits and abilities and are given equal opportunities within the module, School and University.  The aim of the policy is to ensure that no prospective or current student should receive any less favourable treatment on any grounds which are not relevant to academic ability and attainment. Every effort is made to ensure that disabled students are aware of and assisted in making use of the support provided by the University; to ensure access to lectures, classes, learning materials; and to ensure that where necessary appropriate variations to normal examining arrangements are made.

Reading

Communication design is not just about producing graphic designs, it is also about thinking, and the three Streams have identified a number of texts that we think stimulate that thinking and can maybe spark new ideas or practices. These are texts that we’d like you to explore as the course and the Streams progress. You will be pointed in the direction of other readings and resources but these texts will keep popping up and are certainly important to read. We would even encourage you to think about buying them as they are the sort of texts that you need to be active with: scribble notes in the margin, annotate or doodle your own ideas in response to the author’s – you can’t really do that with the library copies! Note that some of the texts include difficult passages. Don’t worry if you don’t get what the author is saying straight away, make a note of your questions and bring them to tutorials.

Stream 1 text

- Klanten R, Ehmann S., 2010, Turning Pages: Editorial Design for Print Media, Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin.

Stream 2 text

- McAlhone.B,& D. Stuart., 1997, A Smile in the Mind, Phaidon Press

Stream 3 text

- Amerika, M., 2011, Remix The Book, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

In addition to these core texts, each session includes some suggested reading. This is divided between core reading and extra reading. You will get far more out of the lectures and workshops if you read around the subjects, issues, themes and ideas. You should ensure that you read or view the core reading for each session at the least.

You should also explore the other readings/videos/artist/designers etc. as starting points for your own independent research. The more you explore, the more you have to work with in your own designs.

Facebook

WSAmacd is on Facebook (www.facebook.com/WSAmacd). This is more than just a publicity page for the course or even just a showcase for your work. It is an active part of the WSAmacd community we are looking to build over the next year.

Staff will add material, links, ideas, content and news to the page as the year progresses, but we will be looking to you to add material you find and think would be relevant to the group, as well as photos and videos of your work in progress. What is more, each session will be followed up by a Facebook discussion.

We’ll explain more about how Facebook works with the course in the induction week, where we will also show you other tools you'll find useful as you work on the course.

The Facebook Timeline Cover

As you probably know, Facebook uses a “Timeline” theme to layout its pages. We’ll be talking more about this on the course but one of the nice design things about this is that you can play with having different ‘cover’ images and profile images. If you’re clever you can play with the way they work together. We like to think of the WSAmacd cover as the course’s ‘Google doodle’. We want to keep it changing so any time you fancy creating a new one - in honour of a special day or just because you can, send the cover and avatar image files to Paul and he’ll put them on the page.

For specs and some fun examples, see:

http://www.nealcampbell.com/2011/12/17/facebook-timel-for-photoshop/#.T4QCze2hBFJ

Evernote

As well as the course’s Facebook page, WSAmacd uses Evernote (www.evernote.com), a free web service that enables you to collect fragments – web pages, documents, photos, notes, whatever -  in what is best described as a digital shoebox. These fragments can be tagged, organised and searched (Evernote will even search the text in an image). We would encourage each of you to have an Evernote ‘notebook’ as a great place to collect research, source materials, inspiration as well as material for essays, assignments etc.

Paul has an Evernote notebook where he adds material relevant to WSAmacd. This is available online at www.evernote.com/pub/theinternationale/WSAmacd.

Here you can read the various web pages, fragments and rags 'n refuse (as Walter Benjamin would call it) that he has collected or curated. Each fragment has a range of tags which you can use to find material relevant to each session or theme we are exploring.

Final Major Project (FMP)

Much of Semester 3 is given over to developing the FMP which forms a major part of your Final Show. It is important that you see this as developing all year rather than something you rush after Semesters 1 and 2 are finished. By that time you should have a clear idea of what you are going to do and why. You should look at the sessions across the three Streams (as well as your other courses) as developing your thinking and researching the area, idea, market and strategy you want to explore in the FMP.

Mid-way through Semester 1 you will be asked to submit your initial idea for your FMP. Don’t worry, you are not committing yourself at this stage. We just want you to start thinking about what you are going to do. This first proposal should include:

- Your practice-research question

- The 'object' you imagine creating.

Mid-way through Semester 2 you will be asked to submit a firmer proposal outlining:

- Your practice-research question

- The 'object' you imagine creating

- Which tutor you would like to supervise your work.

At the start of Semester 3 you will have a tutorial with staff to discuss this proposal and work out your schedule and a tutorial timetable. During Semester 3 you will have supervision sessions with your tutor.

It is important to note that your FMP is an independent study project. Your supervisor will help and support, but the onus will be on you to research, explore and develop the work. You will have a certain number of tutorials with your supervisor and opportunities for group crits and workshops but the FMP is very much your own work. Don't worry, all will become clear as we work through the course.

Week 1:

Monday (1/10) This is me

We’ll get straight into design. In a full day workshop, we’ll ask you to produce a design object (poster, book, video, App… whatever) that communicates who you are. You’ll have until 14.00 - no extensions!

Tuesday (2/10) This is Paul

Over the first week, each of the tutors will run a workshop where you can find out about what they’ve done, what they do, what they’re planning to do and why photography, design and type excite them.

On Tuesday… Paul, who says:

“What will I talk about? Well… being a hack, a hacker and a (h)academic, some photography, some imaging, some imag(in)ing, some objects… oh and some software”

‘Reading’

- www.theinternationale.com

- www.flickr.com/content2bdifferent

- http://youtu.be/vVA–pDFxo0

Wednesday (3/10) This is Jacqueline

On Wednesday… Jacqueline who says:

“ Wednesday morning will be about my design journey, influences and practice, about MACD collaboration, alumni and about you… we’ll start with “Under the Influence.”’

Reading

- D&ad annual 2011. Taschen.

- D&ad student awards., 2008. Simple as that. D&ad published.

- Camuffo, C.& M.D. Mura., 2010, Graphic Design Worlds /Words. La Triennale Di Milano. Design Museum.

- http://www.triennaledesignmuseum.it/adiaryofanexhibition/graphic-design-worlds/

- Hirasuna, D., 2007. The Pentagram Papers: A Collection of 36 Unique Publications Designed by Pentagram. Thames and Hudson.

- McAlhone, B,& D. Stuart., 1997, A Smile in the Mind, Phaidon.

- Moriarty, C., J. Rose & N. Games, 2003, Abram Games, Graphic Designer: Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means. Lund Humphries.

- http://www.dandad.org/dandad/white-pencil-news/news/the-power-of-great-ideas-is-limitless-a-q-a-with-pentagram-s-harry-pearce

- http://www.dandad.org/awards/student/2012/categories/1/open-brief/09517/martin-headon-olly-wood

- http://designmuseum.org/design/abram-games

- http://www.pentagram.com/what-type-are-you/

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fypi6dAJB8E

Thursday (4/10) This is Naomi

On Thursday… Naomi who says:

“We’ll begin by looking at my experience in the newspaper and magazine industry and the significance of expertise – not just mine, but of all those skilled craftsmen and creative minds that I have collaborated with in the editorial process. But, before we begin looking in depth at different and specific creative experts and their projects, we need to clarify exactly what you will be studying while you are here and all that the subject of communication design involves. Following this, I will show you a documentary film screening of The Cool School: The Story of the Ferus Art Gallery, featuring such influential artists as Ruscha, Kauffman, Warhol, Johns, Lichtenstein and Duchamp – whose collaborative expertise fuelled their creative work.”

Friday (5/10)

Stream 3: LECTURE. Introduction #1. The course, the themes and the assessment.

We’ll start the Stream with an overview of what we’ll cover, how we’ll deal with it and most importantly how the two pathways will work together. We’ll also let you know how the assessment will work, what we expect and how you can make the best of the lectures workshops and readings.

And… RiP: A remix manifesto. the movie http://ripremix.com

Extra Reading

- Navas, E., 2012, Remix Theory The Aesthetics of Sampling, Springer Verlag, Chapter 2

- Miller, P.D., 2004, Rhythm science, Mediawork/MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Week 2:

Monday (8/10)

Stream 1: Expertise, collaboration and the editorial team

Lecture

In this lecture, we’ll be looking at how print can survive the digital age. We’ll begin by thinking about how the combination of different creative skills apply to and enhance the editorial process. We’ll move on to explore the structure and hierarchy of the editorial team and how expertise and collaboration is key to producing a successful product.

We’ll explore the structure of a publication: the story with a beginning, middle and end. In the design of print publications, it is the juxtaposition of stories, the different themed sections, the particular decisions about how each tale will be told, on how many pages, in what kind of visual style, and in what order.

Workshop

We will be handling and analysing various editorial design print pieces, discussing what works and what doesn’t and why. Analysing the different pieces, we will discuss their concepts, content and context as printed objects. We’ll be clarifying what are editorial concepts and what makes a great idea for a print publication. We will explore the harmonious balance of content and structure, looking at the best examples.

Task

For next week, research two pieces of creative collaboration. The first, a piece of work that demonstrates the mixing together of more than one creative mind. The second, a piece of editorial copy within an existing print publication. Analyse their narrative – thinking about concepts and context within the whole work and the way collaboration has manifested.

Core Viewing

- How Ink is Made http://vimeo.com/13206165

- BBC One Imagine: Books - The Last Chapter? Presented by Alan Yentob

- Ben Eine – The Origin Wine Canvas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlbDNT6cyEI&feature=related

Core Reading

- Lupton E., 2010, Thinking in Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors and Students (Design Briefs), Princeton Architectural Press, NY, USA.

- http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/22/are-books-dead-ewan-morrison

- http://unbound.co.uk/

- http://www.futureofthebook.org/

- http://www.pokelondon.com/

- http://www.frostdesign.com.au/

- http://www.minaletattersfield.com/

- http://www.pentagram.com/

- http://www.bibliothequedesign.com/

Tuesday (9/10)

Stream 3: WORKSHOP. Let’s great stuck in  - source material everywhere
In this first workshop we’ll just get straight into remix. Using ‘the Web’ as source material you’ll create a remix. What you mean by that, what you do and what ends up coming out of it all… well we’ll see. The key thing is, this workshop is about ‘source material everywhere’.

Core Reading

- Amerika, M.. Source Material Everywhere: The Alfred North Whitehead Remix. Culture Machine, North America, 1012 01 2009. Available at: http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/viewArticle/351

Extra Reading

- Evans, D. (ed.), 2009, Appropriation, Whitechapel ; Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, London

Wednesday (10/10)

Stream 2: Overview and Semester 1 assessment

In this first session we’ll take a look at what will be covered during Stream 2 as well as the structure of the  formative and summative assessment. You’ll also feedback and we’ll discuss the work you began last week on ‘Under the Influence’.

Core reading.

- Moon.J., 2006, Learning Journals: A Handbook for Reflective Practice and Professional Development. Routledge

Extra reading

- Arden, P., 2003, It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be: The world’s best selling book. Phaidon.

- Berger, J., 2008, Ways of seeing. Penguin.  BBC series available at: http://www.ubu.com/film/berger_seeing.html

- Cottrell, S., 1999, The Study Skills Handbook. Basingstoke. Macmillan.

- Denscombe, M., 2003, The good research guide for small-scale social research projects, 2nd edition. Buckingham: OU Press.

- Dewey, J., 2011, How We Think, John Dewey. Martino Fine Books.

- Hall, S., 1997, Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Sage publications.

- Kolb, D.A., 1984, Experiential Learning. Englewood Cliffs. Prentice Hall.

- Lupton, E. & J. Miller, 1999, Design Writing Research. Phadion.

- Moon, J., 2000, Reflection in Learning and Professional Development: Theory and Practice. Routledge.

- Moon, J., 2006, Learning Journals: A Handbook for Reflective Practice and Professional Development. Routledge.

- Ind, N. & Watt, C., 2004, Inspiration. Palgrave Macmillan.

- Schön, D.A., 1991, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Ashgate Publishing.

- Schön, D., 1983, The Reflective Practitioner. Temple Smith.

- Sudjic, D., 2009, The Language of Things. Penguin.

- Williams, K., M. Woolliams & J. Spiro, 2012, Reflective Writing. Palgrave Macmillan.

- Vark  http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp

- Wenger, E., 1998, Communities of Practice: learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge University Press.

- Wertsch, J. V., 1998, Mind as Action. Oxford University Press.

- http://tundrablog.com/2010/10/07/how-ink-is-made

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJGp5HX-

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7M7U8rP_K8&feature=related

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGKrKJnelFM&feature=fvwrel

- http://www.dontpaniconline.com/magazine/arts/chris-mcveigh

- http://www.antonygormley.com/

- http://www.davidshrigley.com/

- http://printjam.tumblr.com/

Friday (12/10)

Stream 3: LECTURE. Introduction #2. Digital media, digital cultures and digital business. Remixing everything. (PC)
Social media, social networks and real-time digital streams like Twitter are changing communications and communication design. They are also changing – expanding maybe – our conception of the Brand. This session looks at the technological and cultural shifts and what that means for the idea of brand, brand values and whose design it is anyway.

Core Reading:

- Leadbeater, C., 2009, We-think : [mass innovation, not mass production], Profile, London. pp 1-27 Also see videos and links at: http://www.charlesleadbeater.net/home.aspx

- Navas, E., 2012, Remix Theory The Aesthetics of Sampling, Springer Verlag, Chapter 1.

- Amerika, M. 2012, Source Material Everywhere [[G.]]Lit/ch RemiX]: A Conversation with Mark Amerika, in T Gournelos & DJ Gunkel (eds), Transgression 2.0 : media, culture, and the politics of a digital age, Continuum International Publishing Group, London, pp. 57-68

Extra Reading:

- Mandiberg, M. (ed.), 2012, The social media reader, New York University Press, New York.

- Johns, A., 2012, Gutenberg and the Samurai: Or, The Information Revolution is History, Anthropological Quarterly, 85(3), pp. 859-83

- Shirky, C., 2010, Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, Penguin, London and New York

- Shirky, C., 2008, Here comes everybody : the power of organisation without organisations, Allen Lane, London

- Weinberger, D., 2007, Everything is miscellaneous : the power of the new digital disorder, Times Books, New York

- Lanier, J., 2010, You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto, Allen Lane, London. See also http://www.jaronlanier.com/gadgetwebresources.html

- Howe, Jeff. Crowdsourcing : How the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business. London: Random House Business, 2008.

- Shirky, C., 2008, Here comes everybody : the power of organisation without organisations, Allen Lane, London

- Lovink, G., 2012, Networks without a cause : a critique of social media, Polity, Cambridge

- Anderson, C., 2009, The longer long tail: how endless choice is creating unlimited demand, Random House Business

- Jenkins, H., 2006, Convergence culture : where old and new media collide, NYU Press, New York

- Anderson, C., 2009, Free : the future of a radical price, Random House Business, London

- Weinberger, D., 2003, Small pieces loosely joined: A unified theory of the Web, Merloyd Lawrence Books,

- Hassan, R. & Thomas, J. (eds.), 2006, The new media theory reader, Open University Press, Maidenhead, England; New York Part 1

- Trend, D. (ed.), 2001, Reading digital culture, Blackwell, Malden, Mass. Part VI

- Snickars, P. & Vonderau, P., 2011. Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media. New York: Columbia University Press.

Week 3:

Monday (15/10)

Stream 1: Collaborative Creativity, concepts and ideas

Presentation

As a group, we will look at the pieces you have researched that signify collaborative creativity and discuss what worked and what went wrong in the process.

Lecture

Concepts resemble machines: they are the reason you work on the content, and at the same time they define the method of your work. This lecture asks what is an idea and what is it not? These are the questions that define an idea, that create a seed, that extend the boundaries of exploration. The answers always come down to the fundamental question: what do you want to say?

Workshop

It is now your turn to join creative forces and apply cognitive thinking as the experts do. Brainstorming is an exercise practiced the world over in creative, communicative environments. The reason for this is simple: idea generation is key to innovative thinking and successful design. It unleashes thought processes and at the same time triggers new cognitive processes. A key element in these sessions is collaborative play – with an emphasis on words and images to generate new ideas. And fun, of course.

Task

Ready for next week, you will be given a piece of narrative to consider and analyse, coming up with an idea about how you would illustrate it, within an editorial context.

Core Listening

- Milton Glaser on using Design to make Ideas new http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/milton_glaser_on_using_design_to_make_ideas_new.html

- Paula Scher: Great Design is Serious (not solemn)  http://blog.ted.com/2009/01/16/great_design_is/

- Steven Johnson: Where good Ideas come from http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html

Core Reading

- Barnard M., 2005, Graphic Design as Communication, Routledge, UK.

- Fletcher A., 2001, The Art of Looking Sideways, Phaidon Press, UK.

Tuesday (16/10)

Stream 3 (Groups A & B): MACD WORKSHOP. There’s nothing new...

In the first practice-research workshop we’ll be looking at the history of remix. We’ve already seen Girl Talk and explored some contemporary remix spaces and ideas. But artists, designers, writers and activists have been ‘playing’ with remix long before computers and the Internet. We’ll be looking at three themes these ‘designers’ have explored: potentialism, pla(y)giarism and appropriation. In particular - and if you want to find source material everywhere, these are the starting points - we’ll look at The Situationists, Oulipo, Tom Phillips, William S Burroughs, Kenneth Goldsmith, Peter Kennard. We’ll by taking some of their techniques and trying them out.

Core Reading

- Explore Mark Amerika’s site for Remix The Book, in particular:

- http://www.remixthebook.com/the-course/potentialism

- http://www.remixthebook.com/the-course/playgiarism

- http://www.remixthebook.com/the-course/cut-ups

- http://www.remixthebook.com/the-course/appropriation

- Queneau, R., 1981, Exercises in style, New Directions, New York available at http://www.almaclassics.com/excerpts/exercisesinstyle.pdf

- Madden, M., 2005, 99 ways to tell a story : exercises in style, Chamberlain Bros, New York available at: https://www.courses.psu.edu/art/art168_awm14/downloads/99ways_madden.pdf

Extra Reading

- Navas, E., 2012, Remix Theory The Aesthetics of Sampling, Springer Verlag, Chapter 4.

- Sadler, S., 1999, The situationist city, MIT, Cambridge, Mass.; London

- Mathews, H., Brotchie, A. & Queneau, R., 2005, Oulipo compendium, Atlas Press ; Make Now Press, London; Los Angeles

- Levin Becker, D., 2012, Many subtle channels : in praise of potential literature, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

- Sadler, S., 1999, The situationist city, MIT, Cambridge, Mass.; London

- Robinson, E 2010, LITERATURA INGLESA: From Cut-Up to Cut and Paste, http://literaturainglesafhuce.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/from-cut-up-to-cut-and-paste-plagiarism.html

- The Real Kenny G PDFs from the Guru of UbuWeb.com http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/goldsmith/

- Burroughs, W.S., 1961, The cut-up method of Brion Gysin, The Third Mind. Available at http://www.ubu.com/papers/burroughs_gysin.html

- Reality Studio A William S. Burroughs Site http://realitystudio.org/multimedia/

- The Cut-Up Machine An electronic cut-up generator. http://languageisavirus.com/cutupmachine.html

Wednesday (17/10)

Stream 2: LECTURE. Decode the story.

This session introduces a two-week team task where you will be examining perspectives of brand experience and decoding FMC packaging. Design teams will disseminate findings to the rest of the group.

Core reading

- Camuffo. G. Mura. M.D., 2010, Graphic Design Worlds /Words. La Triennale Di Milano. Design Museum.

- http://www.triennaledesignmuseum.it/adiaryofanexhibition/graphic-design-worlds/

Extra reading

- Barnard, M., 2005, Graphic Design as Communication . Routledge Taylor and Francis.

- Bringhurst, R., 2004, Elements of typographic style. Hartly and Marks.

- Carson, D. & L. Blackwell, 1997, 2nd Sight: Grafik Design after the End of Print. Laurence King.

- Carson. D. & L. Blackwell, 2012, The End of Print: The Grafik Design of David Carson. Laurence King.

- Crow, D., 2003, Visible Signs: An introduction to semiotics. AVA Publishing.

- Fletcher, A., 2001, The Art of Looking Sideways, Alan Fletcher. Phadion.

- Lupton, E., 2011, Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming. Princeton Architectural Press.

- Maan D. J ,  1990, Typo-foto/elementaire typografie in Nederland 1920-40. Veen. Reflex.

- McAlhone.B,& D. Stuart., 1997, A Smile in the Mind, Phaidon Press.

- Norris, C, 1991, Deconstruction: Theory and Practice. Routledge.

- Oliver, V., 1991, Exhibition/Exposition. Une Creation Du crdc. Nantes

- Poynor, R., 2000, Vaughan Oliver: Visceral Pleasures. Booth-Clibborn Editions.

- Poynor, R & E. Booth-Clibborn, 1991, Typography now: The next wave. Booth-Clibborn Editions.

- Rand, P., 2008, Conversations with students. Kroeger Princeton Architectural Press.

- Rand, P., 2000, A designers art. Yale University Press.

- Ritts, H., 2010, Notorious. Bullfinch.

- Royle, N., 2003, Jacques Derrida. Routledge.

- Thackara, J., 1988,  Design after post modernism. Thames and Hudson.

- Ambrose, G. & P. Harris, 2010, The Visual Dictionary of Typography. AVA Publishing

- David Carson: Ted Talks.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFpANOqSdi8&feature=related

- http://www.thedieline.com/

- http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/oct/11/guardianobituaries.france

- http://www.musevery.com/

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgwOjjoYtco&feature=related

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFY6PQRCE78

- http://elupton.com/2009/10/deconstruction-and-graphic-design/

Friday (19/10)

- Stream 3: LECTURE. ePub PR demonstration
Part of your Design 1/Semester 1 assessment is to produce and critically assess an “ePublication”. WSAmacd students will produce the publication alongside a short commentary and WSAadm students will produce a business analysis and presentation. This session explores the creation of an ePublication as a way of opening up the possibilities and the issues that are raised by platforms, proprietorial standards and interfaces.

- Core Reading:

- McKesson, N. & Witwer, A., 2012, Publishing With iBooks Author, O'Reilly Media, Sebastapol, CA. EBook available free at http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920025597.do

Extra Reading:

- Glazman, D 2012, iBooks Author, a nice tool but.. http://www.glazman.org/weblog/dotclear/index.php?post/2012/01/20/iBooks-Author-a-nice-tool-bu

- Sturken, M. & Cartwright, L., 2009, Practices of looking : an introduction to visual culture, Oxford University Press, New York

- Foresman, C 2012, iBooks Author EULA restrictions invite antitrust concerns, arstechnica.com. Retrieved March 13, 2012,  from http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/01/lawyer-ibooks-author-eula-restrictions-could-raise-antitrust-concerns.ar

- Gruman, G., 2012, iBooks Author for dummies, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, N.J.

- Ludovico, A., 2012, Post-Digital Print: The Mutation of Publishing Since 1894, ONOMATOPEE 77,

- Eraso, M., Ludovico, A. & Krekovic, S., 2006, The Mag.net reader : experiences in electronic cultural publishing, Arteleku-Diputacion Foral de Gipuzkoa, [Spain]

- Ludovicho, A. & Muller, N., 2008, The Mag.Net Reader 3 - processual publishing Actual Gestures, Openmute, London

- Thompson, J.B., 2012, Merchants of culture : the publishing business in the twenty-first century, Polity, Cambridge

Week 4:

Monday (22/10)

Stream 1: Thinking with type

Lecture

In this lecture, we’ll be asking the question, what is type and where is it found? We’ll think about typography as the art or process of printing with type. We’ll move on to investigating typography within the editorial context. As Steven Heller wrote in his book The Education of an Art Director, “typography is the foremost skill necessary in all of design”.

Workshop

As a group, we will be looking at and discussing last week’s assignment, the narrative, and how each of you chose to illustrate editorial content.

Screening
Helvetica is a documentary film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them as well as a series of interviews with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type. Helvetica encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology, and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day.

Task

For next week, select an acclaimed typographer from an envelope and research their work for next Monday.

Core Listening

- Typographic Design in the Digital Domain with Erik Spiekermann & Elliot Jay Stocks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG0Ou07IDhQ&feature=related

Core Reading

- Baines P and Haslam A., 2005, Type & Typography, Laurence King Publishing, UK.

- Poyner R.,1991, Typography Now, The Next Wave, UK, Booth-Clibborn Editions, UK.

- Garfield S., 2011, Just My Type: A Book about Fonts, Profile Books, London, UK.

- Heller S., 2004, The Education of a Typographer, Allworth Press, NY, USA.

- Heller S.,Talarico L., 2011, Typography Sketchbooks, Thames & Hudson, China

Tuesday (23/10)

Stream 3 (Groups A & B): MACD WORKSHOP. Remixing Apple an exercise in détournement
In Week 3’s lecture we looked not just at the technology and techniques of Apple’s iBookAuthor but also at the wider context of iBooks and Apple’s (beautifully designed) walled gardens. In this week’s practice-research workshop, we’ll be engaging in détournement, a Situationist technique. We’ll be remixing Apple’s ads, documents, images, words… whatever, using its very own software.

Core Reading

- Explore Mark Amerika’s site for Remix The Book, in particular:

- http://www.remixthebook.com/the-course/detournement-2

Extra Reading

- DJRABBI – SOS www.djrabbi.com/sos Guy Debord spinning in his grave.

- International Situationniste www.nothingness.org/SI/ The Archive of Situationist Writing.

- Ken Knabb www.bopsecrets.org/ Bureau of Public Secrets

- SI: YouTube Version www.youtube.com/watch?v=g34XVscFkIs

- Rebirth of Nation www.rebirthofanation.com/ Paul Miller summons the spirit of D.W. Griffiths

- McGarrigle, C., 2010, The construction of locative situations: locative media and the Situationist International, recuperation or redux? Digital Creativity, 21(1), pp. 55-62

- Wark, M., 2011, The beach beneath the street : the everyday life and glorious times of the Situationist International, Verso, London; New York

Wednesday (24/10)

Stream 2: LECTURE. Triangles and Dead Lions.

This week we’ll be exploring the origins and development of global brands. We’ll also be having progress group workshops for project 2.

Core reading.

- Hine, T., 1998, The Total Package:Evolution and Secret Meaning of Boxes, Bottles,Cans, Tubes and Other Persuasive Containers. Little, Brown and Company; New edition

Extra reading

- Berger, J., 1972, Ways of Seeing. Penguin.  BBC series available at: http://www.ubu.com/film/berger_seeing.html

- Barnard, M., 2005, Graphic Design as Communication . Routledge Taylor and Francis group.

- Camuffo, C.& M.D. Mura., 2010, Graphic Design Worlds /Words. La Triennale Di Milano. Design Museum.

- Crow, D., 2003, Visible Signs: An introduction to semiotics. AVA Publishing.

- Hine, T., 1998, The Total Package: Evolution and Secret Meaning of Boxes, Bottles,Cans,

- Tubes and Other Persuasive Containers. Little, Brown and Company.

- Kozak, G. & J. Wiedemann, 2009, Packaging Design Now!  Taschen.

- Lupton, E. Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming (Design Briefs). Princeton Architectural Press.

- Lupton, E., 2010, Thinking with Type, Second Revised and Expanded Edition: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students (Design Briefs) Princeton Architectural Press.

- McAlhone.B,& D. Stuart., 1997, A Smile in the Mind, Phaidon.

- Neumeier, M., 2005, The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design. Peachpit Press.

- Roberts, K., 2005,  Lovemarks. PowerHouse Books.

- Olins, W, 2008, The Brand Handbook. Thames and Hudson.

- Olins, W, 2003, On brand. Thames and Hudson .

- Olins, W, 1990, Corporate Identity. Thames and Hudson.

- Mollerup, P., 1999, Marks of Excellence: History and Taxonomy of Trademarks. Phaidon.

- Poynor, R., 2003, No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism. Yale University Press.

- Spiekermann, E & E.M. Ginger, 2003, Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works. Peachpit Press

- Sudjic, D, 2009, The Language of Things. Penguin.

Friday (26/10)

Stream 3: LECTURE.  ePub sharing session

This first ’sharing session’ gives your group the opportunity to present its initial thoughts and plans for the ePublication. We’re not expecting huge amounts of detail or fully realised sketches let alone designs but certainly by this stage your group should have an idea of:

- The client

- The purpose

- The project plan.

Week 5:

Monday (29/10)

Stream 1: Acclaimed Typographers, Layout and Grid

Presentation

We’ll discuss the typographers you have researched and think through what made their work groundbreaking and how their designs changed the way we look at the world.

Lecture

Without the grid nothing is possible. The grid means reference, order, hierarchy. The grid is the structure that holds a publication’s design together. It is the rules that each page must conform to, the invisible threads that keep text and images in position. In this session, we will be looking at the diversity of the grid system – from the simple to the complex – and what meaning and message is projected through their structure.

Workshop

This first workshop will start with a quiz on the terminology used by designers and printers when discussing the editorial and print requirements of a publication.

Workshop

This second workshop introduces you to the measuring and mathematics behind setting up the pages of a magazine. This session highlights the invisible elements of a blank page that will help you to plot and plan your publication. No screens necessary, just pencils and paper.

Lecture

The power of Adobe InDesign to construct page layouts for editorial content has enabled designers the world over to produce innovative designs that have geometric accuracy and beauty. This lecture looks at the history of the technology and the importance of learning the application.

Workshop

This concluding workshop allows you to set up an editorial template using InDesign. Using your measurements, you will input the sizes into the technical programme and learn how to flow in the editorial copy from your previous week’s task.

Task

You will be given an editorial feature from an existing magazine to transfer onto a template using InDesign for next Monday’s session. It will be your role to research an appropriate image to illustrate the copy.

Core Reading

- Ambrose G, Harris P., 2008, Basics Design 07: Grids, Ava Publishing, UK.

- Muller-Brockmann J.,1996, Grid Systems in Graphic Design: A Handbook for Graphic Artists, Typographers, and Exhibition Designers, Niggli Verlag, Ram Publications.

- Elam K., 2004, Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type (Design Briefs), Princeton Architectural Press, USA.

- http://www.lynda.com/

Tuesday (30/10)

Stream 3 (Groups A & B): MACD WORKSHOP. Remixing theory

Remix is a critical design praxis. It starts from the premise that there is source material everywhere and everything is available for remix. That includes theory. This practice-research workshop takes some theory - don’t be frightened, we’ll go through it! - and uses it and imag(in)ings as the basis for a remix. Be sure to have read the articles and viewed the work. Come with any questions and then we can get straight into the remix.

Core Reading

- Extract from Flusser, V., 2000, Towards A Philosophy Of Photography, Reaktion, London Available from http://www.altx.com/remix.fall.2008/flusser.pdf

- Shaviro, S., 2004, Vilem Flusser, Available from http://www.shaviro.com/Blog/?p=266

- Tina La Porta - Distance. http://www.turbulence.org/Works/Distance/

Wednesday (31/10)

Stream 2: SEMINAR & GROUP PRESENTATIONS. Decode the story.

Core reading

- Olins. W., 2003, On Brand. Thames and Hudson

Extra reading

- Evans, J. & S. Hall, 1999, Visual Culture: The Reader. Sage Publications.

- Hall, S., 2012, This Means This, This Means That: A User’s Guide to Semiotics. Laurence King.

- Hall, S., 1997, Representation: Cultural Representation and Signifying Practices. Sage Publications.

- McCandless, D., 2010, Information is Beautiful. Collins.

- Noble, I. & R. Bestley, 2011, Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic Design. AVA Publishing.

- Parikka, J., 2012, What is Media Archaeology? Polity Press.

- Shroeder, J. E., 2002, Visual Consumption. London. Routlege.

- Williamson, J., 2005, Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising. London. Marion Boyars.

- http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/

- http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi

- http://www.pierozagami.com/#1795590/Premio-Ischia-2011

- http://iancarr.net/10627/60983/data-design/voyage-information-design

- http://vimeo.com/5601437

Friday (2/11)

Stream 3: LECTURE.  Remixing readership – Problematic: What is a reader/consumer?
As designers and advertisers we are (or at least should be) obsessed with the reader, the consumer of our carefully crafted communication texts or sales messages. In a remix culture and distributed mediaspace, the problem is, what is reading and the reader? What do we mean by ‘consumption’? This session poses these questions to the two tutors who will approach the problematic from their different professional experiences as well as different theoretical and conceptual positions.

Core Reading:

- Rosen, J (2006) "PressThink: The People Formerly Known as the Audience." http://archive.pressthink.org/2006/06/27/ppl_frmr.html

- Ritzer, G. & Jurgenson, N., 2010, Production, Consumption, Prosumption, Journal of Consumer Culture, 10(1), p. 13

Extra Reading:

- Lury, C., 2011, Consumer culture, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, N.J.

- Ytre-Arne, B., 2011, ‘I want to hold it in my hands’: readers’ experiences of the phenomenological differences between women’s magazines online and in print, Media, Culture & Society, 33(3), pp. 467-77

- Baudrillard, J., Turner, C. & Ritzer, G., 1998, The consumer society : Myths and structures, Sage Publications, London

- Rashbass, A (2012) Lean-back 2.0: Andrew Rashbass, CEO, The Economist Group keynote presentation - video, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media-network/media-network-blog/video/2012/apr/10/lean-back-2-0-andrew-rashbass-ceo-the-economist-group-keynote-presentation-video

- Trentmann, Frank. 2006. The Making of the Consumer: Knowledge, Power and Identity in the Modern World. New York: Berg.

- Gehl, R.W., 2011, The archive and the processor: The internal logic of Web 2.0, New Media & Society, 13(8), pp. 1228-44

- Trend, D. (ed.), 2001, Reading digital culture, Blackwell, Malden, Mass. Part IV

- Trend, D. (ed.), 2001, Reading digital culture, Blackwell, Malden, Mass. Part V

Week 6:

Monday (5/11)

Stream 1: Flat planning and assessment briefing

Brief One

Now it is your turn to have a go and design your own publication. You will choose an existing title and redesign it, using your newly acquired knowledge and understanding of print and editorial criteria.

Assessment Briefing

In this session, we will be covering what exactly you will need to produce for your Stream 1 part of Semester 1’s portfolio.

Lecture

What is a flatplan and why is it necessary? We will look at how the configuration of pages are highly likely to change, according to fluctuating content and emphasis, as well as advertising sales.

Workshop

The focus today will be on constructing a flatplan from scratch. We’ll sketch a flatplan to explore its relevance to the overall editorial design. You will be given a magazine to analyse for structure, drafting its original flatplan. Once you have successfully assessed your draft flatplan, you will input the content into a new template using InDesign.

Task

Once you have chosen your existing title to redesign, go away and examine why you think it requires a new design. Research your title and make analytical and critical notes. Come back on Monday 19 November and tell the group your initial plans for the redesign of your magazine. You must include a new initial rough flatplan, and be able to articulate what you want to change and why this is necessary to the new concept.

Core Reading

- Elam K., 2011, Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition (Design Briefs), USA, Princeton Architectural Press.

- Ambrose G, Harris P., 2011, Basics Design 02: Layout, Ava Publishing, UK.

- Ambrose G, Harris P., 2005, Basics Design: Format , Ava Publishing, UK.

Tuesday (6/11)

Stream 3 (Groups A & B): MACD WORKSHOP. Remixing the Remixing readership lecture
In the final three practice-research workshops we’ll take the remix tools, techniques and principles we have been exploring and build a specific piece of communication design. We will take the previous Friday’s lecture and remix it. You will remix words, images, audio and video from the lecture as well as from anywhere else across the distributed Web to create a remix… whether in print, in motion, online or whatever. This week we’ll remix Week 5’s session: Remixing readership.

Wednesday (7/11)

Stream 2: LECTURE. Thinking outside the box.

This week we’ll be brainstorming, engaging in some word play, imag(in)ing and generating concepts.

Core reading

- D. Hirasuna., 2004, Pentagram Papers.Pentagram Partners. Chronical Books

Extra reading

- Brereto, R., 2011, Cut & Paste: 21st Century Collage. Laurence King.

- Camuffo, C.& M.D. Mura., 2010, Graphic Design Worlds /Words. La Triennale Di Milano. Design Museum.  http://www.triennaledesignmuseum.it/adiaryofanexhibition/graphic-design-worlds/

- de Bono, E., 2009, Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity. Penguin.

- Haworth-Booth, M. &  Twemlow, G., 2012, E.McKnight Kauffer: A Designer and His Public. V & A Publications.

- Hughes, R., 2010, Cult-Ure [Imitation Leather]. Fiell Publishing Limited.

- Lambie-Nairn, M & J. Myerson, 1997, Brand Identity for Television: With Knobs on. Phaidon.

- Lemon Scented Tea, 2009, The Meduim is the Massage and 50 other ridiculous advertising rules. Pageone.

- Lemon Scented Tea, 2009, Never use white type on a black background and 50 other ridiculous advertising rules. Pageone.

- Lois, G., 2012, Damn Good advice (for people with talent)! Phadion.

- Lupton, E., 2011, Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming. Princeton Architectural Press.

- McAlhone.B,& D. Stuart., 1997, A Smile in the Mind, Phaidon.

- Modern chinese design, 2009, Dopress Studio. Page One Publishing.

- Rose, C., 1991, Design After Dark: The Story of Dancefloor Style. Thames & Hudson.

- Williams, N., 1995, Paperwork: The Potential of Paper in Graphic Design. Phaidon.

Friday (9/11)

Stream 3: LECTURE.  Remixing authorship – Problematic: What is a designer/advertiser?

If remix culture is changing readership and consumption practices and our conception of the reader and the consumer, it’s doing the same to our idea of authorship: the designer and the advertiser. Once upon a time we were the privileged ones, the creative, the leader. Now… well when the (people formerly known as the) audience is active does that mean we are passive or is some sort of partnership possible? This week the tutors will address that question, again from their different starting points.

Core Reading:

- Manovich, L (n.d.) Who is the Author? Sampling/Remixing/Open Source. Available at:  http://manovich.net/DOCS/models_of_authorship.doc

Extra Reading:

- Navas, E., 2012, Remix Theory The Aesthetics of Sampling, Springer Verlag, Conclusion.

- Huhtamo, E 2004, Trouble at the Interface, or the Identity Crisis of Interactive Art,  Retrieved February 23, 2012,  from http://193.171.60.44/dspace/bitstream/10002/299/1/Huhtamo.pdf

- Dean, J., 2010, Blog Theory: Feedback And Capture In The Circuits Of Drive, Polity, Cambridge; Malden, MA

- Berry, D.M., 2008, Copy, Rip, Burn: The Politics Of Copyleft And Open Source, Pluto Press, London

- Hassan, R. & Thomas, J. (eds.), 2006, The new media theory reader, Open University Press, Maidenhead, England; New York Part 3

Week 7:

(w/c 12/11): Formative Feedback Week.

This week will be given over to tutorials with the Stream leaders where you will get feedback on your work so far and possible directions for your assignments.

Week 8:

Monday (19/11)

Stream 1: Magazine redesign

Presentation

The morning session is your opportunity to tell the group about your publication and your plans to change it. We will want to know the reasons for these changes and how you intend to implement them.

Workshop

Throughout this afternoon session, you will be using InDesign to set up your magazine: creating a template for your magazine, inputting all the sizes and dimensions for the copy and images. This template is the flatplan – the empty bowl before the ingredients are added and mixed together. Getting this bit right from the outset will set you up. You will be shown how to style up your text and be expected to use the session to practice this.

Task

You will be given a set of exercises for setting up and styling alternative templates for your magazine. Bring these to the next session for analysis, feedback and discussion.

Core Reading

- Bringhurst R. 2004, The Elements of Typographic Style, Hartley & Marks, USA

Tuesday (20/11)

Stream 3 (Groups A & B): ePublication progress workshop 1

By this time in the Semester your group will be well advanced in their work on the ePublication. The WSAmacd team will have sketches, wireframes and notes about interface, interaction and content. The WSAadm team will have begun to develop the communications strategy and business case for the particular ePublication. This first sharing session gives you the opportunity to pitch your ePublication to the tutors and your fellow students. The tutors will be there to offer comments and ideas but perhaps more importantly, we’ll be looking to you all to provide constructive feedback to each other. Groups should have initial sketches of the design as well a presentation of the emerging strategy.

Wednesday (21/11)

Stream 2: London trip.

Details tbc.

Extra reading

- Amos, A., 2010, The Blue Lady's New Look and Other Curiosities: Posts from the crossroads of design and marketing. JKR Brand First Books.

- http://www.jkr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/jkr-Champions-of-Design-Downloadable-Book.pdf

- Braungart, M, 2009, Cradle to Cradle. Vintage.

- Boylston, S, 2009, Designing Sustainable Packaging. Laurence King.

- Chick, A. & P. Micklethwaite, 2011, Design for Sustainable Change: How design and designers can drive the sustainability agenda.  AVA Publishing.

- Kirkpatrick, J., 2009, New Packaging Design. Kirkpatrick

- Williams, N., 1995, Paperwork: The Potential of Paper in Graphic Design. Phaidon.

- www.wrap.org.uk

- www.oneplanetliving.org

- www.environment-agency.gov.uk

- www.rspo.org

Friday (23/11)

Stream 3: ePublication progress workshop 1 cntd.

Week 9:

Monday (26/11)

Stream 1: Navigation

Lecture

However the reader chooses to travel, it is important that they never feel lost on their journey, which is where clear and consistent signage comes in. Order, hierarchy, legibility and impact are the key factors in helping a reader navigate through a publication.

Workshop

This week’s session will focus on last week’s task and troubleshoot any problems – what the task has thrown up in terms of difficulties fitting text to a fixed grid and the logic to moving elements around on the page to maximise impact and ensure legibility. Next, we will concentrate on ensuring everyone has a magazine mapped out in InDesign.

Workshop

Concentrating on navigation, you will be given a set of exercises to complete to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of positioning and styling up copy to emphasise hierarchy and readability.

Task

For next week, research and come up with plans to improve a failing publication by implementing a new navigation system.

Core Reading

- White A., 2005, Thinking in Type: The Practical Philosophy of Typography, Allworth Press, Canada.

Tuesday (27/11)

Stream 3 WORKSHOP. Remixing the Remixing authorship lecture

In the second remixing the lecture practice-research workshop, you’ll be remixing Week 6’s session: Remixing authorship.

Wednesday (28/11)

Stream 2: London. Lecture. Best Practice in Sustainable Design.

Details to follow

Friday (30/11)

Stream 3: LECTURE. Remixing business – Problematic: What is business?
So we (or more correctly the remix media culture) has problematised the designer/advertiser and the reader/consumer, but maybe the challenge is even more fundamental than that. What if the rules of business, the nature of the organisation, the brand and what they do are changing – not in some sense of moving from a capitalist to a different economic system but rather shifts in the nature of capitalist economics, business organisation and design itself. This session opens up those macro questions, looks at some models emerging and asking what they mean for us as designers, marketers and advertisers.

Core Reading:

- Van Dijck, J. & Nieborg, D., 2009, Wikinomics and its discontents: a critical analysis of Web 2.0 business manifestos, New Media & Society, 11(5), p. 855

Extra Reading:

- Tapscott, D. & Williams, A.D., 2008, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Portfolio, New York

- Tapscott, D. & Williams, A.D., 2010, MacroWikinomics : rebooting business and the world, Atlantic, London.

- Bauwens, M., 2009, Class and capital in peer production, Capital & Class, 33(1), p. 121

- Jarvis, J., 2009, What Would Google Do? Collins Business, New York

- Shirky, C., 2010, Cognitive surplus : creativity and generosity in a connected age, Allen Lane, London

14.00 − 15.00 Integrated Lecture

Alan Rutter from Condé Nast will be talking about ePublishing, tablets and magazine design and business.

Week 10:

Monday (3/12)

Stream 1: Contents and the contents page

Lecture

The most obvious navigation tool is the contents page of a publication where articles are trailed and the structure is laid bare. We look at some award-winning designs to assess their ability to lead us through the pages with clarity and ease, whilst remaining innovative creations in their own right.

Workshop

We will discuss a diverse range of contents pages, analysing what works and how we can implement a similar strategy for our own publications. You will then start to assemble the material for your contents page, using drawn sketches and InDesign to shape content into structure on the page.

Screening

Cover - ID magazine.

Task

You will be given an existing contents page to redesign.

Core Reading

- http://i-donline.com/

- http://www.flickr.com/groups/thefacemagazine/

- http://www.tate.org.uk/research/library/tate-publications

- http://www.monocle.com/

- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/9544044/Ultratravel-autumn-2012.html

- http://www.colorsmagazine.com/magazines

- http://www.wallpaper.com/

Tuesday (4/12)

Stream 3 (Groups A & B): Remixing the Remixing busines lecture
In the third remixing the Lecture practice-research workshop, you’ll be remixing Week 9’s session: Remixing business.

Wednesday (5/12)

Stream 2: SEMINAR. Thinking outside the box.

This week we’ll be thinking (some more) outside the box as well as sharing where we’ve got to with projects. We’ll also spend some time reflecting on the London trips.

Core reading

- De Bono.E., 2009, Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity. Penguin books

Extra reading

- Baudrillard, J., 1970, The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. Translated by

- Chris Turner. London. Sage Publications.

- Hall, S., 1997, Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Sage Publications.

- Noble ,I. & R. Bestley, 2005, Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic Design. London. AVA Academia.

Thursday (6/12)

Stream 1: Visual language

Lecture

Images and graphics are narrative tools. They are necessary, but not as decoration. In this talk, we look at how visual language is about showing how a publication sees the world. The visual language will depend on the amount of information that has to be conveyed, and the visual literacy of the intended audience. Visual language is a crucial element in the creation of a coherent experience on paper.

Workshop

You will be working in small groups for this session. You will assume the roles of editor, art director and illustrator/photographer and explore the commissioning process. You will be given a piece of editorial copy and you need to think about the imagery. Highlight certain paragraphs that have specific meaning. Make notes in the margins to indicate relevant parts of the narrative and how you are thinking about illustrating the piece. Now research imagery that will help you illustrate the text – photographs, illustrations, woodcuts, lino cut, screen prints, digital art, whatever. Set up a double and single three page feature in InDesign, input the copy, style it up and scan, import and position an image or multiple images that you consider emphasises the written word. Print out your work for a group presentation and discussion.

Task

You will each be given a series of cover lines to style and arrange onto a cover – which you will also source and design. The emphasis will be on wordplay and positioning of type over image. Use the previous sessions to decide how to tackle this and bring your solutions back after the Christmas break. Put them on the wall before we begin on Monday 7 January for a group critique and discussion.

Core Reading

- Kress G. and Van Leeuwen T., 2006, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, Routledge, UK.

- Berger J., 2008, Ways of Seeing, Penguin Books Ltd, UK. BBC series available at: http://www.ubu.com/film/berger_seeing.html

- Berger J., 2008, About Looking, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, UK.

Friday (7/12)

Stream 3: LECTURE.  Remixing power. Perspectives on media power. Problematic: Who/what is powerful?

The new cultural practices, media and spaces we have been exploring are not neutral. They are deeply power-full. In order to make sense of these issues we need to explore what we mean by ‘power’, how does it work? What do we mean by powerful and powerless? This session explores those questions through the work of various theorists of power.

Core Reading

- Foucault, M. 1980, Truth and Power, in C Gordon (ed), Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, The Harvester Press, Brighton, pp. 109-3

Extra Reading

- Sheridan, A., 1980, Michel Foucault : the will to truth, Routledge, London

- Nealon, J.T., 2008, Foucault beyond Foucault : power and its intensifications since 1984, Stanford University Press, Stanford, Calif.

- Chun, W.H.K., 2006, Control And Freedom: Power And Paranoia In The Age Of Fiber Optics, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

- Galloway, A.R. & Thacker, E., 2004, Protocol, Control, and Networks, Grey Room(17), pp. 6-29

- Bucher, T., 2012, Want to be on the top? Algorithmic power and the threat of invisibility on Facebook, New Media & Society

- Beer, D., 2009, Power through the algorithm? Participatory web cultures and the technological unconscious, New Media & Society, 11(6), p. 985

Week 11:

Monday (10/12)

Stream 1: The cover

Presentation

We will discuss the covers and cover lines you produced last week.

Lecture

Finding dynamic and appropriate armour, wrapping or mantle for a publication is no easy task. We look at the cover’s two main functions: to express the brand and mission at a glance, and also work as a newsstand sales tool. We will explore the history of the editorial cover and the significant part typography has played in that development.

Workshop

We’ll examine various covers and discuss what makes the best cover and why.

Task

You will design and create the cover for your publication using InDesign. Work (brainstorm) collaboratively with colleagues to come up with appropriate words that will entice and hold readership. Use the next few weeks to ensure that you have all the completed ingredients that make up your publication. Use the time well to ask peers and tutors questions to resolve any problems. Reflect on what you have produced so far and redesign certain elements if necessary. This process is part of being a good designer.

Tuesday (11/12)

Stream 3: WORKSHOP. ePublication progress workshop  2

By this second progress workshop, your ePublication and its strategy should be near completion. This session offers you the chance to hone the finishing touches with the tutors and the other groups. You should have a version of the ePublication to demonstrate as well as a draft pitch of your strategy.

Wednesday (13/12)

Stream 2: CRITS. Thinking outside the box

Core reading

- D.Sudjic., 2009, The Language of Things. Penguin books

- Camuffo. G. Mura. M.D., 2010, Graphic Design Worlds /Words. La Triennale Di Milano. Design Museum. http://www.triennaledesignmuseum.it/adiaryofanexhibition/graphic-design-worlds/

Extra reading

- Sudjic, D., 2009, The Language of Things. Penguin.

- McLuhan, M., 2008, The Medium is the Massage. Penguin.

- Arden, P., 2010, It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be: The world’s best selling book. Phaidon.

- Arden, P., 2010, Whatever you Think, Think the Opposite. Phadion.

Thursday (14/12)

Stream 2: CRITS. Thinking outside the box  cntd.

Friday (15/12)

Stream 3: WORKSHOP. ePublication progress workshop 2 cntd.

Weeks 12-14:

Christmas vacation… Merry Christmas everyone!

Week 15:

Monday (7/1)

Stream 1: Magazine redesign

Presentation

Today and Thursday, each of you will present to the group, your new redesigned magazine strategy and content – in preparation for assessment.

Tuesday (8/1)

Stream 3: MACD and ADM Presentations

Spread across the week, each of the ePublication teams will pitch their publication to the ‘client’ in a business presentation. For ADM students, this is part of the assessment (see ADM handbook). For MACD students, while the presentation itself is not assessed, teamwork is. The assessment requires MACD students include a short commentary on the process of design and development. This should include a critical account of the work of the team and the pitch. All team members need to play a part in the presentation.

Wednesday (9/1)

Stream 3: MACD and ADM Presentations cntd.

Stream 2: Thinking outside the box Presentations

Thursday (10/1)

Stream 1: Magazine redesign cntd.

Stream 2: Thinking outside the box Presentations cntd.

Weeks 16-17:

(w/c 14 & 21/1): Assessment

… and coming up in Semester 2

Stream 1

Your brief… the design consultancy

18: The Frontiers of Print

19: The Print Industry

20: Repro-ready

21: Brief and Assessment Briefing

22: Designing the Interim Show

23: Designing the Interim Show

24: The Interim Show

25-28: Vacation

29: Self-Promotion

30: Communication: Discussing ideas

31: Convincing the client

32: Self-Promotion Presentations

33: Self-Promotion Presentations

34-36: Assessment.

Stream 2

Your brief… telling a story or two or three

18:  Overview, assessment and stories

19:  The Interim Show

20: Stories - the ideas

21: The 30 second story

22: Audiences and the experience

23: Planning the Interim show

24: The Interim show

15-28: Vacation

30: Defining the audience

31: Defining the stories and ideas

32 and 33: Story presentations

34-36: Assessment.

Stream 3

Your brief… to create an App

18: Mashups, Yahoo Pipes and Google Maps and Apps

19: Mobile apps and remixing the material

20: HTML, CSS and Javascript

21: Facebook apps and remixing space

22: Remixing data

23: Globalisation, the glocal and remixing the Interim Show

24: The Interim Show

25-28: Vacation

29: Pla(y)girism devices and a mobile app

30: Remixing politics: activism and hacktivism.

31: Hacktivism and circuit bending

32: Remixing ethics

33: App presentations

34-36: Assessment.

Brief 01 (Stream I): a publication redesign

Your task

To provide a redesign for an existing print publication. Your task is to develop a new design for the publication, but not to revolutionise its appearance, content or position. Rather your role is to work with the publisher and editors’ existing content, strategy and business to create a more impactful and creative layout. The challenge is to work within a client’s existing constraints while still producing a strong design.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this task, you will:

1. Be able to work creatively with layout, styles, type and content objects

2. Be able to work creatively within existing business constraints and affordances

3. Be able to deliver a coherent, deliverable and manageable layout appropriate to the chosen client.

Assessed Deliverables

1. Flatplan

2. Stylesheets

3. Sample cover

4. Sample contents page

5. Sample layouts.

The client

During Semester 1 you will decide on an existing print publication - magazine, newspaper, journal etc. Your client will be the design team for that publication. Your job will be to produce layouts that meet their needs. The client is looking for a layout change, appropriate to their readership, content and business strategy but not a ‘design revolution’. You need to research and understand their business, USP, market, audience and strategy - to understand that client if you are to meet their needs.

The flatplan

The client wants to see how their publication would flow, how the different existing sections would fit together and how the layout you propose would take their reader through the publication. They need to see that you understand the cultural practices associated with their publication, how people read it, what they do with it. Your layout and the flatplan that showcases it needs to clearly communicate that journey

The stylesheets

Your client will be using In Design and needs you to provide the styles and stylesheets that the new layout would use. This would include the Master pages, the paragraph, character and object styles. You should annotate these styles with notes that explain to the client why particular choices have been made and how they work together. This needs to be clear and focused not merely “Font X has been chosen because it is appropriate for audience Y”. Rather it should reference other publications and designs as well as particular elements of the client’s work. “Font X has been chosen for the headline because it echoes the use of Font Y in the client’s advertising while also connoting the traditional image of publication Y…”

The sample cover and contents page

Your client does not want a dummy issue but wants to see how your layout will work. She asks for a sample cover and contents page. As with all of the job, the client does not want to radically change things. If they use cover lines or a contents pages with a list of all staff, they want to keep that structure. Your job is to lay out those existing elements in a better way.

Assessment criteria

Your work will be assessed according to the standard WSA marking criteria:

- Knowledge and understanding: you will demonstrate at an advanced level, a developing understanding of the relationship between your work and contemporary practice, and an informed understanding of the skills, materials and methods required to experiment with your ideas

- Cognitive (thinking) skills: you will demonstrate at an advanced level, a developing ability to reflect critically on your work and ideas, make decisions and advance your practice, through a questioning approach to your work and that of your contemporary peers.

- Key transferable skills: you will demonstrate at an advanced level, a developing ability to creatively engage with complex issues, debate apply and communicate visually and in written form, your ideas with increasing clarity.

Specifically we will be looking for:

- Layouts that are sensitive to the chosen client’s business and strategy

- Layouts that improve clarity, readability and impact

- Layouts and styles that fit with the client’s broader business

- Layout and style elements produced and presented in a professional way such that they could be immediately implemented.

Brief 01 (Stream II): Thinking outside the box

Your task

You will be put into small design teams to research and create a concept for a campaign, to raise awareness of a given theme. Your team will be given this theme at the briefing (see timetable).

Your team will select a target audience and have the task to collaboratively explore and define a concept, that will raise awareness of the theme the team is given. As a team you will discuss and explore communication design issues and develop a campaign concept for your audience. You will need to be able to describe that concept in a sentence and be able to demonstrate your research rationale for why you chose it.

The aim, of the team is to develop the campaign, the concept that would appeal to a specific audience.

Your next objective, as individual designers is to produce design works that bring that concept to life, for particular audiences. The design works can be in any form but must meet the strategic aims and detail of the campaign. Your wider research and thinking should be apparent in a research workbook/log, which you will each maintain and build upon throughout the Stream.

Briefing details are issued at brief launch.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this task, you will:

1. Be able to evaluate your design work, ideas and methods

2. Be able to develop ideas through collaboration, in order to achieve a communication aim

3. Be able to research a communication problematic, audience and market

4. Be able to use sketchbooks, reflective journals and resources as a research log, to feed the design process

5. Be able to reflect critically on your own learning and practice.

Assessed Deliverables

1. A finished campaign for a defined audience (produced jointly)

2. A finished design work for a defined audience (produced individually)

3. A research workbook/log, demonstrating development, reflection, idea generation (produced individually)

4. A 500 word maximum commentary about your outcome, with critical reflection  (produced individually submitted through Blackboard).

Assessment criteria

Your work will be assessed according to the standard WSA marking criteria:

- Knowledge and understanding: you will demonstrate at an advanced level, a developing understanding of the relationship between your work and contemporary practice, and an informed understanding of the skills, materials and methods required to experiment with your ideas

- Cognitive (thinking) skills: you will demonstrate at an advanced level, a developing ability to reflect critically on your work and ideas, make decisions and advance your practice, through a questioning approach to your work and that of your contemporary peers.

- Key transferable skills: you will demonstrate at an advanced level, a developing ability to creatively engage with complex issues, debate apply and communicate visually and in written form, your ideas with increasing clarity.

Specifically we will be looking for:

- Evidence of appropriate research into audience, communication and culture

- Development of research through insight and design processes

- Professional level of final outcome and the idea.

Brief 01 (stream III): an ePublication and ePublication strategy

Your task

You will be assigned a group whose task is to form a Strategic Design Communications Consultancy. This consultancy has been commissioned by a client to produce an ePublication and a strategy for its development and use. The ePublication may run on a specific device (e.g. iPad or Kindle) or may be designed to be accessible across devices (e.g. as a PDF or HTML publication). The consultancy will pitch the ePublication and the strategy to the ‘client’ in a presentation.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this task, you will:

1. Be able to work as part of a team to strategically investigate, plan and produce an ePublication for a specific client

2. Be able to critically analyse the affordances and implications of ePublishing

3. Be able to critically develop and present an ePublication/eDesign communications strategy.

Assessed Deliverables: MACD students

1. ePublication (produced jointly)

2. c500 word written commentary analysing the design decisions in terms of the specific affordances and user experiences of the ePublication (written individually submitted through Blackboard).

Assessed Deliverables: ADM students

(this will count as Assignment 2 of Design 1)

1. 2000 word written analysis of the management decisions and the communications strategy for the ePublication

2. 15-minute Presentation of the ePublication and analysis to the ‘client’.

The client

Your ePublication needs to have a clear purpose and client. It can be a company report, an information or campaigns document or a journalistic publication. It can be for a large or small company, a campaign or charity or a public body such as a Government department, hospital or school. Each Strategic Design Communications Consultancy must submit details of its client and the job it intends to do for that client by midday 3rd November. Bearing in mind the importance attached to the way your ePublication fits with the strategy of the client, you should pick a client and job that is very focused. It is easier to identify audience and message when creating a promotional ‘booklet’ for a small photography gallery or a particular health campaign than create a ‘magazine’ for mothers.

The ePublication - form

The ePublication can be in any form (iBooks, ePub, mobi, PDF, JPEG) and for any device (phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, e-reader).  Your choice of format and device should be informed by your ePublications strategy and this should be explored and explained in your supporting document and your pitch. For instance if you decide to go for an iBook, you need to explain why the affordances of the iPad enable you to communicate your message more effectively than using ePub or PDF. Similarly you need to argue why a particular device is your target bearing in mind your audience and what you intend that audience to do with your work.

The ePublication - content

You need a similar strategic approach to content. Your supporting documentation and pitch needs to be clear why particular content has been chosen and how and why it needs to be delivered via digital media. This is a professional piece of communication and so not only does the design content need to be of a professional standard but so does the language. You need to ensure that the copy is proofread, grammatical but also engaging. If you choose to create a  publication in a language other than English, you need to provide a full English translation.

The ePublication - milestones

- 19th October - Sharing session

- 22nd October - ePublishing demonstration

- Midday Friday 3rd November 2012 - submit Client and Job

- w/c 12th November 2012- Formative feedback (MACD only)

- 20th and 23rd November - First ePublication progress workshop

- 11th and 14th December - Second ePublication progress workshop

- 8th and 9th January 2013  - Presentations (Client pitches)

- 18th January 2013 - Submission.

Assessment criteria

Your work will be assessed according to the standard WSA marking criteria:

- Knowledge and understanding: you will demonstrate at an advanced level, a developing understanding of the relationship between your work and contemporary practice, and an informed understanding of the skills, materials and methods required to experiment with your ideas

- Cognitive (thinking) skills: you will demonstrate at an advanced level, a developing ability to reflect critically on your work and ideas, make decisions and advance your practice, through a questioning approach to your work and that of your contemporary peers.

- Key transferable skills: you will demonstrate at an advanced level, a developing ability to creatively engage with complex issues, debate apply and communicate visually and in written form, your ideas with increasing clarity.

Specifically we will be looking for:

- Design (form and content) that appropriately and creatively meets the need of the client and targets specific audience, audience practices and audience culture

- Strategy that explores and critically engages with affordances of digital media devices and content

- The integration between design and strategy in terms of the product and the teamwork involved in its development.