about the final assignment
The Final Assignment for the semester has four primary goals:
- to provide students with an opportunity to showcase what they have learned about design and photography this semester
- to provide students with an opportunity to showcase what they have learned about minimalist presentations
- to provide students with an opportunity to showcase what they have learned about the design software, Canva
- 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.
final assignment specifics
The final assignment is going to ask you to ask you to use the design and photography skills you learned this semester to create THREE graphics on Canva — a poster, a square Instagram post, and a Facebook Event Cover — that advertise a fake exhibit at the Barnes Museum about your black and white photography.
The Photographs
Each student will create a new series of 7 Black and White photographs informed by a new passage from duChemin (you cannot use the passage you used in the Photography Assignment).
Each of the seven photographs must illuminate, represent, or otherwise embody the ideas in the passage you have chosen.
Each image must also adhere to at least one of the various composition techniques we practiced using the Photography Assignment. In other words, the photos will blend duChemin’s storytelling approach with photographic composition.
The photographs must be created for this assignment and can be most anything you would like, with the exceptions that:
- they cannot be snapshots of friends
- they cannot be banal
- they cannot be items in your apartment or living space (you need to get outside)
- they cannot be selfies
- they cannot be holiday themed (that’s too easy this time of year)
The Graphic Designs
The three graphics you create — a poster, a square Instagram post, and a Facebook Event Cover — must be (as you did in the Design Assignment):
- created using a modular grid system
- informed by and employs fundamental design theories and practices, such as:
- Hierarchy
- Scale
- Balance
- Flow / Eye & Sight Lines
- Alignment
- Contrast
- Negative Space
- Proximity
- Repetition
- informed by and employs intentional selection of typefaces (fonts) based on typeface theory and practice
- informed by and employs intentional selection of color based on color theory and practice
- the typefaces and colors should be the same in each design to give your work consistency and effective branding
Because these graphics are going to advertise a fake exhibit of your photographs, each design should include:
- at least one of your photographs (either in full or scaled to enhance a part of it)
- a title
- a subtitle
- a blurb that describes your photographs
- date
- Barnes Museum info
- SJU Logo
If you want to compose and use some subject areas, you can certainly do that. But, all written content should be your own. Do not use ChatGTP to come up with the written content. The photographs are your own, so the writing about them should be your own.
So you don’t have to go looking for it, here is the museum address and SJU logo
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:
Final Presentation and Submission Information (updated 12/8/23)
Each student will be submitting the following work:
- 7 black and white photographs informed by a duChemin passage that also incorporates at least one of the photography composition techniques we have discussed
- 3 graphic designs — a poster, a square Instagram post, and a Facebook Event Cover — that advertises a fake photography exhibit and incorporate various design techniques
- 1 Canva presentation that discusses your work
The Canva Presentation
The Canva presentation will consist of 22 slides and be no longer than 7 minutes. The 22 slides are (and must be in this order):
- 1 Introduction / Title Slide
- 8 duChemin photography slides
- 1 slide for your chosen duChemin Passage
- 1 slide each for each of your 7 soulful photographs
- 7 Graphic Design Overview Slides
- Introduction (showing all three designs in full)
- 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)
- 6 slides in which you highlight TWO of the below design features on each of your three graphics (in other words, each graphic gets 2 slides)
- Hierarchy
- Scale
- Balance
- Flow / Eye & Sight Lines
- Alignment
- Contrast
- Negative Space
- Proximity
- Repetition
Final Project Rubric
You can see the rubric, which includes the point breakdown at:
Use the rubric as a checklist so you can be sure you include everything you are required to include.
How To Submit Your Work
To submit your work by Monday, 12/18 at 5:00pm, in the Week 16 section of your Discussion and Design Journal document, please paste:
- a link to your Final Photographs
- a link to your Final Graphics
- a link to your final presentation video
Make it clear which link is for the photography, which is for the graphics, and which is for the presentation video. You do not need to add anything else for Week 16.
Bill will later send you an email or share with you your graded rubric.
Due Date
Monday, 12/18 by 5:00pm