About the Design Assignment

The Design Assignment has five primary goals:

1. to introduce students to various design theories
2. to provide students with an opportunity to put those design theories into practice
3. to provide students with an opportunity to learn how to use one of the more recently prominent design applications, Canva
4. to provide students with an opportunity to hone their presentation skills
5. to provide students with an opportunity to reflect on the work they have created

The assignment is informed by five Course Learning Objectives:

Objective 1: Effective Communication
Students will begin to understand the foundational and contemporary principles, practices, and ethics of effective media communication, in particular in terms of how it applies to writing, design typeface, and photography.

Objective 2. Presentation Design
Students will begin to understand the principles and practices of effective presentation design and structure.

Objective 3: Inquiry and Reflection
Students will begin to develop their understanding of the important roles of inquiry and reflection during the reading, creation, and communication process.

Objective 4: Experimentation
Students will know what it feels like to step out of their comfort zones and take risks with their approaches to and understanding of communication.

Objective 5. Professionalization
Students will begin to understand the importance of professional communication practices, especially with regards to email and memos.

Design Assignment Specifics

By completing this 4 – 5 week assignment, students will come away with a poster design that:

• is informed by and employs fundamental design theories and practices, such as: line, grid layout, negative space, proximity, repetition, contrast, alignment, and focal point, rule of thirds, golden rule, and others
• is informed by and employs intentional selection of typefaces (fonts) based on typeface theory and practice
• is informed by and employs intentional selection of color based on color theory and practice

When submitting their work, students will create a Google slideshow that traces the development of their poster design, employs appropriate design terminology (such as, line, gutter, flow lines, proximity, and so on), and its self is designed based on design theories and practices.

The work will be complete over a series of weeks, with each week building on and re-envisioning the work of the prior week. Weekly assignments and videos will be presented below based on the following subjects:

• Week 5: Intro to Graphic Design Fundamentals and Draft 1
• Week 6: Color and typeface theory and Draft 2
• Week 7: Advanced Concepts, Purpose, and Graphics and Draft 3
• Week 8: Final Design and Presentation Due

Weekly Project Assignments

Week 8: Final Design and Presentation Due

The work for week 8 is going to include your final poster design and a presentation in which you discuss various features of your poster. Together these make up the final deliverables for the Design Assignment.

The poster counts as 30% of the final grade and the presentation counts for 70%. The presentation counts for more because I am always more interested in the ideas behind design decisions than the actual designs themselves. The ideas are where we see learning at work.

The Final Poster
The final poster should incorporate revisions to your week 7 draft based on what we discussed in your conference. It should adhere to the design feature requirements from week 7 and incorporate other design features learned in the previous weeks. You will be discussing many of those features in the final presentation. Submission information is below the presentation requirements.

The poster will be assessed as a whole document on how well it works as a design:

• A-range: Outstanding bold and well-balanced design that shows intentional use of design features
• B-range: Excellent and somewhat bold design that shows intentional use of some design features whereas others seem haphazard
• C-range: Good design that shows few design features intentionally used
• D-range and below: Poor design

The Poster Presentation
The poster presentation will be completed using Canva’s presentation feature, which allows you to add voice over to a slide presentation and then share a link to it with anyone. And like all of Canva, it is quite easy to use.

The goal of the presentation is to showcase your design decisions. That is, to give the audience insight into why you decided choose what you have chosen and design the way you have designed. In order for you to get your ideas across as well as possible, I strongly recommend that you compose a narrative that you will read rather than just winging it. Winging it rarely works well.

Please watch the below video on how to use the software.

Please note that though there is an audio component to project, I will not be assessing the quality of the audio itself. If there is an echo or it sounds distant, that is okay. I’m only interested in what you have to say. You can use your devices internal microphone; you do not need an external microphone. You can choose to have your video on or off; it doesn’t matter to me.

As described in the video, you will be creating a minimalist presentation, with each slide only allowed to have (your title slide will look different; see the video for the example):

• the phrase as written on the below rubric
• one image
• or or more arrows pointing to parts of the image

Presentation slides are often filled with too much information, making then impossible to understand. By using minimalist design, you will be using your audio portion to explain what we are seeing and, especially, what the arrows are pointing to. Here is the rubric I will be using to assess your presentation. Use it as a checklist so you are certain you have all required components:

• Poster Presentation Rubric (.pdf) (updated to include poster grade, 11/5)

The presentation will have a total of 12 slides and must be less than 5 minutes long. Be concise.

These 7 slides are required:

• Introduction / Title Slide (including version history)
• Audience, Message, Display Location
• Use of Modular Grid System
• Color Selections
• Color Contrast (using a screenshot of the WebAIM Contrast Checker results)
• Typeface Headings (using Santa Maria terms from the graphic on p. 26)
• Typeface Sub-headings (using Santa Maria terms from the graphic on p. 26)
  

Create 5 additional slides by choosing ONLY 5 of these design features to discuss (one feature per slide):

• Hierarchy
• Scale
• Balance
• Flow / Eye & Sight Lines
• Alignment
• Contrast
• Negative Space
• Proximity
• Repetition
  

Submission Information

Your final work is due by 11:00pm on Sunday, October 22. If you complete it early, that is just fine, too.

To submit your work, in the Week 8 section of your Discussion and Design Journal document, please paste:

• a link to your final poster design
• a link to your final presentation

Make it clear which link is for the poster and which is for the presentation. You do not need to add anything else for Week 8.

Bill will later send you an email or share with you your graded rubric.

Week 7: Advanced Concepts, Purpose, and Graphics and Draft 3

The work for week 7 is going to radically transform your project, as the last two weeks were essentially designed to introduce you to some design concepts and the Canva workspace, both of which I have been pleased to read in your Discussion and Design Journals have been new to many of you.

Your poster from this week forward will now be advertising a fake exhibit for the subject you have chosen at the The Frances M. Maguire Art Museum, which is a beautiful brand new museum on the SJU campus housed in the former Barnes Museum space.

The title, subtitle, and blurb for the exhibit will be the same as generated by ChatGTP, but you will be selecting which of the remaining content you wish to include on your poster. You may wish to keep all of the subheadings and none of the body text, or you may wish to keep some of both.

The poster will incorporate free photos/images/graphics that you will find online from free stock image sites. These are okay to use because the creator has granted permission as long as it meets certain criteria. You may also find photos/images/graphics online as long as you put a citation in very small font on your poster. These are okay to use because the Fair Use guidelines allow for educational usage.

As with other weeks, the work will be broken into subheadings below.

Videos to Watch to Get You Started

Please watch the below videos, which you will give you some advanced understanding of hierarchy, scale, balance, and eye lines. I’d like you to think about each of these while creating your work.

While watching I’d like you take some inspiration for the poster designs you are seeing. You can also take inspiration from Graphic Design Theory #12 – Grids, which we watched for a few weeks ago. It’s important to see how the grids are used in even seemingly non-grid-like layouts.

(And if you are really interested in posters and poster design, I have added a PDF version of Ellen Lupton’s stunning and informative book, How Posters Work. This is not a required text; just an FYI in case you want to learn more.)

When creating your fake exhibit poster, be intentional with how you are employing:

• hierarchy
• scale
• balance
• eye or sight lines

I will be asking you about these when we meet for our conference.

To learn more about Canva, please see the many videos at:

• Getting Started with Canva
• Canva – Tutorial for Beginners in 13 MINUTES!

Design Prep Work

I’d like to think about and write down answers to the following questions. As described in a video we watched for this week, understanding these will help you target the design.

• audience: who is the targeted viewer?
• aesthetic message: what message do you want the poster to relay? (Time and date are not aesthetic messages; drama, tension, excitement — those are aesthetic messages.)
• display location: where will the poster be displayed?

Then, I’d like you to create a pencil and paper sketch of what you think you’d like your poster to look like. This does not need to be a work of art. It’s just to help you so you aren’t working without any drafts.

Find and Add Images/Photos/Graphics to Your Poster

You can use whatever free stock photo and/or graphic site you would like, but to get started I recommend:

• Pixabay (photos)
• Pixabay (graphics)

You may also use your own images, if you have any.

Because this is for education purposes and falls under Fair Use Guidelines, you may also use images you find online, as long as you add a very small citation at the bottom of your poster. So, make sure to store any URL for any image you find online.

Watch the below video to learn how to download images from Pixabay, upload them Canva, and add them to your project:

Specifically, it covers:

0:00: Introductory remarks about stock image and graphics sites
1:00: Using the stock image site and downloading a selected image
4:40: Making a copy of your poster project in Canva and uploading the image
6:10: Editing and laying out the image, including discussing transparency and layering
9:30: Using the Adobe Color Wheel to make a color theme based on an image you upload

Required Additional Content to be Included in Your Poster

In addition to the title, subtitles, and blurb generated by ChatGTP, this content is required to be included in your poster:

The Frances M. Maguire Art Museum
50 Lapsley Ln
Merion Station, PA 19066

Right click on the SJU logo to download it to your computer so you can add it to your project:

By the End of the Week
By the end of the week, you should have a poster design for a fake exhibit. If you have the time and energy, you may want to create a second that has a radically different design.

Week 6: Color and Typeface Theory and Draft 2

This week we are going to be making color and typography choices. You can work on the color first or the typography first, it doesn’t matter, and I have broken the work into sections.

Creating Typography Comparisons
There are two steps in completing this portion of the weekly assignment.

First, read the whole of chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Jason Santa Maria’s phenomenal book, On Web Typography, which you can download on the Readings and Texts page. (Chapters 1 and 2 are fascinating in that they are about how people read and how typeface impacts reading, but they aren’t required.) This wonderfully written and clearly illustrated book will help you understand how typography works, its features, how to choose, and a bit about how to lay it out. It is 124 pages, but it It reads very quickly. Don’t read so quickly, however, that you are not taking notes. Notes are vital so you can make intentional decisions about your fonts.

Then, follow along and complete the steps in this video I have created:

This videos describes adding typography to your poster design. Specifically, it discusses:

0:00: Opening remarks and discussion of Santa Maria’s book
2:10: Adding the typography comparison page and adding header, subheader, and body font comparisons
9:25: Testing subheading and body font together
13:00: Closing remarks

By the end of the video you will have created a typography comparison sheet and even started adding typography to your poster.

Creating Color Harmony Comparisons
There are two steps in completing this portion of the assignment.

First, watch this wonderful video about color theory:

Then, follow along and complete the steps in this video I have created, which will require you to use the free Adobe Color Wheel:

This video describes adding color to your poster design. Specifically, the video covers:

0:00: Introductory remarks
1:40: Using the Adobe Color Wheel
3:40: Adding screenshots of your color harmonies to color test page in Canva
7:40: Adding color to your design

By the end of the week you will have created a color comparison sheet and even started adding color to your poster. Color can be in the fonts and/or the backgrounds.

Week 5: Intro to Graphic Design Fundamentals and Draft 1

The goals for this week are to familiarize yourself with design theories and practices, set up Canva, and get started with your design, resulting in the completion of Draft 1. We will be using ChatGTP for the text we’ll be using for our poster. Please complete the work in the following order:

1. Create free accounts at Canva and ChatCTP. Use secure passwords and write them down in a place where you’ll remember them.
2. Watch and follow along the below video about using ChatGTP for our project. You will need to come up with a subject that fills in the blank: “Discuss the history of _________ in 300 words.” Whatever subject you choose—and the subject can be anything you’d alike as long as it doesn’t propagate hate or bigotry—make sure that you will eventually be able to find visuals.

   The video covers:

   0:00: Getting started, creating an account, and explaining a bit about the assignment
   1:40: Asking ChatGTP to generate the content
   3:10: Adding headings
   4:00: Adding a title
   4:50: Requesting changes and adding a blurb

3. Watch and take notes on the following videos that introduce you to graphic design. Some of the subjects are repeated, but they are discussed in different ways and project more examples, both of which I always find helpful. When taking notes, take care to focus on the definition of design terms and concepts, as you will be employing them in your work and reflecting on them in your final presentation.
   1. Beginning Graphic Design: Fundamentals
   2. 6 Golden Rules Of Layout Design You MUST OBEY
   3. Beginning Graphic Design: Layout & Composition
   4. Graphic Design Theory #12 – Grids
   5. PERFECT LAYOUT DESIGN Step by Step *With Examples*
4. Watch and follow along with the below video about getting Canva set up and starting on your project. Then, start working on your project. Do not change the default font and do not change the black/white color scheme. We’ll be doing that next week.

   The video covers:
   0:00: Introduction to the assignment and setting up Canva
   0:45: Selecting the Poster option
   1:20: Setting up the grid system and margin border
   4:55: Adding the title from the ChatGTP content
   8:50: Adding blurb from the ChatGTP content
   11:00: Adding subheadings
   13:40: Adding body text
   17:00: Concluding remarks and sharing poster with Bill

5. When completing the work for this week, I’d like you to try to fit in as much of the ChatGTP generated text (title, headers, and body text), while intentionally employing the following design concepts:
   • alignment
   • contrast
   • negative space
   • proximity
   • repetition
   • and a modular grid system
6. In Cavna, remember to share your project with Bill at his sju email address.

By the end of the week, you should have a white poster filled with black text laid-out in ways consistent with the design concepts in Step 5.

If you have any questions, please let me know.