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Fall 2018

  1. Brand Identity Design

    Branding-or the development of an identity and an identity system-is a critical skill practiced by today's designers. Before we can design a brochure or a web site or an interface, there must be an identity to frame and influence the medium. Branding as a discipline not only requires the ability to design logos, but to think strategically about a company's ethos and mission. Having thought strategically about ethos or mission not only positions a designer to create an identity and identity system but to influence the way a company or organization conducts all of its communications.

    In this course, students will create two identity systems: one for a traditional company and one for a socially constructive campaign. While a traditional identity system is defined as a logo and a set of rules for that logo's application, the goal of this class is to expand upon the ways a brand identity can be expressed through the manipulation of language, materials, and audience expectation/participation.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  2. Collaborative Study

    A Collaborative Study Project (CSP) allows two students to work collaboratively to complete a faculty supervised project of independent study.

    Usually, a CSP is supervised by two faculty members, but with approval it may be supervised by one faculty member. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses, though it is not a substitute for a course if that course is regularly offered.

    Permission of Instructor required.

  3. Decolonizing Design

    Western ideas and thought dominate design history, theory, and practice. This course will explore, unearth and work with excluded histories, theories, and processes to challenge traditional perspective and generate design explorations that reflect our present cultural and political communities and context. We will engage with readings, history, and theory, with the non-Western to generate multi-media experiments (form, tools, language, and structures) that allow for an excluded past, present and future to emerge.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to seniors and above.
    Open to juniors, non-majors and Brown students by permission of Instructor.

  4. Design In The Posthuman Age

    The reach of design has moved beyond the materiality of objects, to biotechnological matter of chemicals and encoded genetic information, from physical space to code and data. Post-postmodernism, pseudo-modernism, supermodernism, digimodernism, are only a few of the many terms trying to describe our current state. As designers, we shape, clash, align, and distort this new space, elaborating a stage for the New Man and the New Woman, and perhaps even the Nonhuman.

    In this class, we will explore our contemporary condition through visual-research based projects and use graphic design as a medium to ask questions about ethical and speculative concerns emerging from advancements in science and technology. Ideas from revolutionary recent developments in genetics, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence will be incorporated into a new design vernacular. We will employ machine vision: microscopy, neuroimaging, and NASA archives to create new fictional worlds in concert with the physical forces and life forms around and inside us.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to seniors and above.
    Open to juniors, non-majors and Brown students by permission of Instructor.

  5. Design Studio 1

    In the first two semesters of a two-year studio track, students will come into contact with issues and questions that face the contemporary designer. Students will engage with and develop methods to take on these questions: search (formal and intellectual), research, analysis, ideation, and prototyping. Projects will increase in complexity over time, sequenced to evolve from guided inquiry to more open, self-generated methodologies. Some examples of the questions students might work with are: What is graphic? or How are tools shaped by contemporary culture, technology, and convention? or How is a spatial or dimensional experience plotted and communicated? These questions will be accompanied by a mix of precedents, theoretical contexts, readings and presentations, technical and/or formal exercises and working methods.

    Major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  6. Design Studio 3

    Students are expected to develop personal working methods and interests through more general questions posed by the faculty. Longer-term projects will be intermixed with shorter projects posed by visiting critics. Students should complete the Design Studio track with a developed sense of self, and able to start framing questions and lines of inquiries of their own. End forms will be more emphasized than in Design Studio 1 and 2, in part as evidence that craft and working methods are sufficiently evolved. The twice-a-week format is intended for juniors or advanced designers who have completed the first two semesters of Design Studio or an equivalent "design principles" track.

    Major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  7. Design Studio I

    Design is an ever-expanding field that demands students be accustomed to constant change and requires the development of confidence and core competencies for life-long practice. Students will learn to identify design opportunities and areas of inquiry within question-based units framed by the faculty team.

    Each unit will vary in length, and will begin with a particular question to kick-off the process. For each unit, students will move through research, analysis, ideation, and prototyping and will be asked to communicate their findings. Units will increase in complexity over the four semesters, and are sequenced to move from a guided process to more open, self-generated methodologies. Units will be inquiry-based, allowing for a wide variety of outcomes to open questions.

    By the end of the year, each student should be in tune with his or her own working methods and will have the ability to frame projects independently and with self determination. Inherent in the course format is a kind of elasticity and nimbleness that should allow for group projects, social & cultural engagement, and formal investigations instigated through a variety of faculty-posed questions.

    Some examples of the questions (prompts) students receive might be: What is graphic? or How are tools shaped by contemporary culture, technology, and convention? or How is a spatial or dimensional experience plotted and communicated? or How can you prevent people from texting while driving? These questions will be accompanied by a mix of precedents, theoretical contexts, readings and presentations, technical and/or formal exercises and working methods.

    Graduate major requirement; 3-year MFA Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  8. Designing With Color

    This studio course offers students the opportunity to design with color in a variety of media, while researching and studying color in use (in existing works of art, design, film, and architecture). Students are offered several projects to choose from. Each is designed to bring awareness about the role color plays in different areas, through analysis and interpretation of how color works in terms of optics, communication, metaphor, and visual stimuli. Topics considered include observing color in film, color as narrative device, color and light, color in fine art applications, and color in communication design. Students will also explore the similarities and differences of color palettes as used by artists and designers, and through the creation of several design projects, students will develop a sense of confidence and appropriateness when working with color.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  9. EHP Fall: Studio Concentration

    In this intensive independent studio students continue and complete the work began in "EHP Studio Elective", culminating in the final exhibition and review. It corresponds to the remaining four weeks of the program, after students have finished with their Art History and Italian classes.

    Note: EHP credits replace the on-campus major requirements for the term students attend. Distribution to non-major requirements occurs when major credits are not needed.

  10. EHP Studio Elective

    Independent studio is at the core of the EHP experience. Upon arrival, students are assigned studio space at the Palazzetto Cenci, home of RISD's program in Rome. With guidance from the chief critic, each student develops a personal body of work sparked by his/her interactions with places, people and circumstances in Rome and other locations that are part of the EHP tours (such as the Northern, Southern or Eastern tours, as well as other shorter trips.) The work takes as a point of departure knowledge and techniques specific to individual home departments, but allows, and even encourages, explorations beyond disciplinary boundaries, including collaborations and cross-fertilization within a group of students from different departments working together.

    Beyond consistent and thorough engagement with studio work, requirements include participation in open studios and exhibitions, presentations in reviews, and attendance to all group activities and events, such as lectures at the Cenci and other institutions. From time to time, the chief critic may issue short assignments to introduce or focus on a particular subject. As part of the studio elective, students may be encouraged to keep sketchbooks and/or diaries, participate in optional activities--such as figure drawing sessions--and search for brief internships, apprenticeships, or other forms of interactions with local artists, designers, curators and critics.

    EHP Studio Elective corresponds to the first twelve weeks of the program, while students are also taking Art History and Italian classes. This course establishes the direction for the work in the "Studio Concentration" course that follows.

    Note: EHP credits replace the on-campus major requirements for the term students attend. Distribution to non-major requirements occurs when major credits are not needed.

  11. Experiential Design (Xd)

    As technologies advance, the integration of the physical and digital becomes more common. Screens are integrated into space, objects gain intelligence, places respond to us, and Experiential Design (XD) offers a design approach to the development of new ways to use these opportunities as platforms and tools. XD is the practice of creating interactive spaces which orient, inform, educate, or delight an audience.

    This course is designed for participants schooled in graphic design and attentive to contemporary technologies. Building upon that knowledge, this course will prime students to design and orchestrate spatially located interventions. Workshopping will provide hands on experience in rapid prototyping; resulting skills will then be applied in independent projects. Project prompts will allow for a range of subject matter. Scale of projects will range from hand-held to inhabitable, favoring human scale. Project content will range from complete narratives to crowd authored content. Project completion will range from prototypes to proposals, from full scale segment install to final installations. Course content will include exposure to a range of technologies while assignments will be medium agnostic.

    Estimated Materials Cost: $240.00

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to senior and above.

  12. Graduate Form I

    This 3-credit studio course will teach design fundamentals to the elective non-GD major students entering the field of Graphic Design from other disciplines, and will feature in-class instruction which may include 2D and 3D form basic principles of color; image-making from photography, drawing, collage, etc.; point and plane / figure and ground exercises; sequencing and exposure to various formats; etc.

    Graduate major requirement for first-year graduate students in the three-year program; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  13. Graduate Seminar I

    This seminar will present a forum for discussion on critical issues in graphic design, including: design's context within culture and experience; theory and its relation to practice; and current practice and its models. The course will combine formats of lecture, discussion, small groups, and collaboration to explore the porous borders of graphic design thought and making.

    Graduate major requirement for first and second-year majors; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  14. Graduate Studio Elective I

    Film and graphic design share an omnivorousness that devours all other media, and achieving mastery in either can fill a lifetime. Not coincidentally, similar questions are central to both forms: the careful deployment and control of image, color, text, tone, pacing, editing, communication, history, taste. the list of overlaps is long.

    Through a series of small exercises and short readings, culminating in a self-initiated multi-week project, this class seeks to offer a route into exploratory filmmaking that builds on the training and knowledge of a graphic designer. Skills will be learned through demonstrations and collaborative problem solving. The presumption is that projects will be executed in a film format, but this is not a requirement. Emphasis will be on finding a way to address problem solving in an unfamiliar time-based medium in a way that works for you.

    Graduate elective; Graphic Design majors. only

    Course may be repeated for credit.

  15. Graduate Studio I

    This studio course, as groundwork for the graduate thesis, will emphasize inquiry as a primary means for learning. Through making, reflection, collaboration, and critique, we will explore the underlying principles that design objects require, and synthesize theory and practice as necessary partners in graphic design. We will look at the designer's role in the process of revealing and making meaning - as an objective mediator, and as an author/producer, integrating content and form across projects as visual expressions of the preliminary thesis investigation.

    Graduate major requirement for first and second-year majors; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  16. Graduate Thesis I

    The MFA degree requires completion of a graduate thesis. The thesis, as a major undertaking for advanced study and personal development, also assists the student to direct a program of study for an experience that best serves that individual's interests and needs. The thesis is an inquiry into the process, expression and function of the visual in graphic design. Visual search is the primary means by which to develop and substantiate original work which provides proof of concept for the thesis argument, critique, or point of view. The graduate student is encouraged to go beyond established models and to project his/her unique character in the thesis rather than to evidence vocational training, which is implicit. The productions can involve any medium suitable to need and content. Ultimately the thesis is submitted as a written document supported by a body of visual work that is a meaningful synthesis of the visual and verbal, and a lasting contribution to the field of graphic design. Two copies of the document remain, one for the Library and one for the department. Completion is required before graduation as stipulated by the College.

    Graduate major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  17. Graduate Typography Studio I

    Graduate Typography I through III (GRAPH-332G/342G/352G) are a sequence of courses that focus on the subject of typography. This sequence covers the fundamentals of typography, its theory, practice, technology and history. Studies range from introductory through advanced levels. Grad Typography I includes: the study of letterforms, type design, proportion, hierarchy, legibility, and structures for composition of multiple type elements. Aspects of contemporary practice and theory are integrated into research and discussion.

    Graduate major requirement for first-year graduate students in the three-year program; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  18. Graduate Typography Studio III

    Grad Typography III is the final of a set of required sequence of courses that focus on the subject of typography. This course explores communication and structural aspects of typography and experiments with expressive means of using type to enhance meaning. Building on basic skills students will work on practical applications of advanced typographic design/systems as well as do a research project that concerns theory. Class discussions and demonstrations will complement the process of solving typographical problems.

    Graduate major requirement for second-year graduate students in the three-year program; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  19. History Of Graphic Design

    Chronological survey of graphic design through slide lectures. The course will study how graphic design responded to (and affected) international, social, political, and technological developments since 1450. Emphasis will be on printed work from 1880 to 1970 and the relationship of that work to other visual arts and design disciplines. In addition to the lectures, the course will schedule a studio section in which design projects are integrated with research.

    Major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  20. ISP Major

    The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

    Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

    Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; course is not available via web registration.

  21. Interactive Text: Interactive Sound and Image Emphasis

    Presented as fine art practice, this course will introduce the student to narrative and non-narrative experimentation with language in digital space.

    During the course students will be given a number of short term assignments which will serve as explorations of common themes. Students will also propose a longer term investigation, that will develop in the form of a semester long project.

    We will explore both analog and digital technologies to develop the concepts presented during the semester, utilizing Final Cut, After Effects, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Ableton Live and/or other programs for the production of texts. The course will have an interactive sound and image emphasis. Students will experiment with interactive text, visuals, and audio composition in the digital realm, placing emphasis on the effect and meaning transformation that occurs when texts are combined with visuals and audio material.

    The course will balance conceptual concerns related to content and structuring methodologies with artistic expression. Specific Aesthetic histories will be explored tracing the use of text in artistic practice including Concrete Poetry, the texts of Kurt Schwitters, Russian Constructivist posters, Fluxus poetic works, the Dada and Surrealist Word/Image, Magritte, Jenny Holtzer, Ed Ruscha, Barbara Kruger as well as other contemporary practitioners.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  22. Package Graphics

    This is a course in designing and identifying graphic communication for packaging structures. We will experiment with different 3D templates, examining their structures and then using type, color and images on these prototypes in three dimensions. Experimentation with different materials is also explored while addressing the client's brief and the design rational; being conscious of the target market, place of sale and the price.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to junior and above.

  23. Poster Design

    This course will focus on the poster as a means of expressing a strong point of view. It will advance your experience with two-dimensional form, and address critical relationships between type, image, and message at a large scale. The studio assignments will be supported with lectures about the history of the poster, international contemporary poster design, and future possibilities and contexts for the poster format.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  24. Practice Of Interaction Design

    Interaction designers are responsible for crafting the behavior and flow for complex interactive systems and are concerned with how that behavior relates to form, content, and most importantly, the humans for whom they are designing. While interaction design incorporates practices from fields such as industrial design and graphic design, it's different in that its form can offer hundreds of states across many form factors and as a medium it can/should change and react over time.

    This class presents both a conceptual framework and practical methods so students learn a holistic approach to interaction design that covers audience, content, framework and flow, user interface and presentation layer, and iteration.

    We will experiment with a range of tools to produce low-fidelity / analog flows and high-fidelity prototypes using Sketch, InVision, and wireframing kits in order to test and refine design and examine how humans will use our projects in their own contexts.

    Assignments will include in-class exercises, individual and team-based projects, as well as getting out of the classroom to audition our ideas with users.

    In addition to the design, students take part framing our domain, interviewing with stakeholders and users, analyzing feedback, and engaging in critical discussions about the strengths and weaknesses of their own work and the work of others. No coding required.

    Major elective;Graphic Design majors only

    Open to senior and above.

  25. Pre-press and Risograph Printing

    This workshop will use Risograph printing to combine practical prepress skills with experimental form-making. The aim of the workshop is to teach students to consider the craft and value of well-planned files to produce high-quality outputs that can be replicated and shared. By focusing on the Risograph printer students will work within a series of technical constraints that will require creative solutions as well as a strong understanding of this particular printing process, color, paper, and file preparation.

    Estimated Materials Cost: $40.00

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to sophomores and above.

    Open to non-majors with permission by the Department.

  26. Professional Internship

    The Graphic Design Department allows up to 6 credits of graphic design studies as practical internships in professional studios. It is an opportunity primarily recommended for upper-class undergraduates. All internships for credit must have departmental approval (of placement and studio qualification) and are administered according to department guidelines. The assigned faculty from the department administers this course and will present information about requirements during the fall semester.

    ***Off-Campus Study***

  27. Type Design

    This elective is an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the process of designing a typeface; to consider all the design decisions that are a part of this creative exercise, and to learn the finer points of bzier wrangling, serif and sans, spacing, kerning, and all the other details of execution which turn a roughly-formed idea into a more complete, rigorous and polished type design. This course will provide a fundamental understanding of how typefaces work in addition to accessing a new design tool that can find practical use.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  28. Typography For Non-majors

    This introductory course is intended for non-majors interested in learning the basic principles of typography including the study of letterforms, type classification, legibility, organization and hierarchy, as well as text applications, grid systems and page layout. Typography will be explored as both a means of communication and a vehicle for expression. Projects may include comparative studies for setting text and poetry, letterhead systems, brochure or poster. This course will provide a solid foundation for moving on to more complex typographic problems such as book, motion or web design.

    Open to sophomores and above.

  29. Typography I

    Typography, the physical shaping of language, resides at the center of the discipline of graphic design. Typography I is the first in a sequence of three courses that covers the fundamentals of typographic practice, both as a technical skill and an expressive medium. This course is an introduction to the basic principles of typography-its theory, practice, technology, and history-through the study of letterforms, page composition, proportion, hierarchy, contrast, type identification and classification, and questions of legibility and aesthetics.

    Major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  30. Typography III

    Typography III is the culmination of RISD's typography sequence, with an emphasis on both typographic systems and deep investigations into what type can do. Students will focus on complex typographic structures and hierarchy, legibility versus readability, meaning and voice, page and screen. Students are encouraged to experiment and to explore the relationship between type as image and type as communication.

    Major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  31. Wkshp: Photo/graphic

    Photography plays an important role in the field of graphic design -- within publications, posters, electronic media, etc. Because of the camera's availability and fairly inexpensive cost, photography has become one of the most popular hobbies in the world. Although he/she is in possession of such a device, the average person is not entirely aware of certain image manipulations and other concepts used by the graphic designer. This four-week workshop introduces designers to the lighting studio and the many uses of the camera in creating design artifacts.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to non-majors with permission by the Department.

  32. Workshop Programming Concepts: Processing

    This workshop will use the processing programming language to introduce students to programming concepts. Students will not only learn the fundamentals of the processing language but will research contemporary working methods around programming and explore the ways in which algorithms affect the design process. The aim of this workshop is for students to develop procedural literacy and to open their design work to indeterminacy, interactivity, generative processes, participatory working methods, and new opportunities afforded by technology in general.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to non-majors with permission by the Department.

  33. X,y, and Z

    This course will involve a range of collaborative exercises, inquiries, experiments, lectures, readings, screenings, site visits, and projects, exploring graphic design as an inherently multidimensional and spatial discipline. 3D, not 2D. Graphic design as object, as projection, as display, as gauge, as structure, as installation, as sound, as architecture. Not just the X and Y, but also the Z axis.

    The course's subtitle is "Graphic Design in Space," a literal example being Carl Sagan's "Pioneer Plaque," the sum of humankind and space travel etched in pictographic form onto a pair of 9 ~ 6 inch aluminium plaques attached to NASA's Pioneer 10 probe on its 1972 mission to planet Jupiter. We will also investigate more terrestrial, yet equally literal, types of space and how they relate to the human body: pages, screens, rooms, buildings, and cities.

    A wide range of periods, fields, and figures will be surveyed: from the likes of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, Leonardo da Vinci, and Albrecht Du?rer, to Le Corbusier, Charles and Ray Eames, and Fiona Banner. Ultimately, we'll consider graphic design not only as orthographic (an anthropomorphic system that operates in multiple dimensions), but also as orthography (interpreting and communicating these spaces through signs and symbols).

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to senior and above.

Wintersession 2019

  1. Collaborative Study

    A Collaborative Study Project (CSP) allows two students to work collaboratively to complete a faculty supervised project of independent study.

    Usually, a CSP is supervised by two faculty members, but with approval it may be supervised by one faculty member. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses, though it is not a substitute for a course if that course is regularly offered.

  2. Graduate Open Research

    This course is for graduate students in graphic design to work independently on research. The instructor serves an advisory role in all projects. Students must submit a written proposal for work planned and criteria for evaluation. Course meetings are arranged individually, or with the group as needed.

    Open to Graphic Design graduate students

    Course may be repeated due to new research projects each semester.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  3. Graduate Thesis Research

    This course is for graphic design graduate students in their final year to work independently on their graduate thesis. The instructor serves an advisory role in all projects. Students must submit a written proposal for work planned and criteria for evaluation. Course meetings are arranged individually, or with the group as needed.

    Graduate major requirement; Graphic Design thesis graduates only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  4. ISP Major

    The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

    Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

    Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; course is not available via web registration.

  5. ISP Non-major Elective

    The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

    Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

    Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration.

  6. Intro To Graphic Design

    An in-depth investigation of the principles and possibilities of graphic design. Through a series of experimental exercises incorporating drawing, collage, and the computer, students will learn the fundamentals of graphic form, sequencing, image making, communicating visually, and integration of type. Slide presentations and lectures will introduce students to both the history of graphic design and contemporary designers.

    Open to undergraduate and graduate students.

  7. Motion Posters

    This course uses the motion poster as its catalyst for exploratory making. To do so, we will bolster the basic principles of both animation and graphic design, with a keen focus on skills and concepts that are applicable to all art and design disciplines and skill levels - from freshman to grad students. This particular form of design is in its infancy, and part of our aim is to push its limits. How are they most effective? ... How might a motion poster be dangerous? Students produce 3 compelling motion posters as well as weekly motion poster "sketches" for low-stakes, playful experimentation.

  8. Music Video

    This course is a continuation of the ideas presented in GRAPH-3252 Photo/Graphics, but it is not a prerequisite. This course will explore how video design and sound design can be utilized to convey visual narratives. Students in this studio will design a visible language of video-graphic expression. It involves two-dimensional design, three dimensional design, lighting design, and sound design. As a final project, each student will make a short video utilizing techniques learned.

  9. Professional Internship

    The professional Internship provides valuable exposure to a professional setting, enabling students to better establish a career path and define practical aspirations. Internship proposals are carefully vetted to determine legitimacy and must meet the contact hour requirements listed in the RISD Course Announcement.

  10. Sets Of Points

    Sol LeWitt's Wall Drawings were created from a set of simple guidelines, first executed in graphite, then in crayon, later in colored pencil and finally in chromatic inks, bright acrylic paint and other drawing/painting materials. Conditional Design is a manifesto and working method of design that focuses on the process over the end product, much like the Wall Drawings of LeWitt's. This form of mark making can be applied to both contemporary fine arts and design practices. Throughout this five week course, students will collaborate with classmates to observe and participate in several conditional design activities. Each week, students will re-examine and re-evaluate conventional materials and digital tools that used for drawing. We will use the Conditional Design Workbook as a reference. The workbook provides extensive insights into the Conditional Design method and invites its readers to actively participate in various workshops and drawing activities. These workshops will be accompanied alongside short writing exercises about their experiences, given the specific constraints of each task. Over the course of the semester each student will need to present two new conditional design constructions. A full two weeks will be given to develop each of these new scenarios. The final week of the semester we will participate in each others creations and document all processes. All students will need to compile and publish their work.

  11. Typography Elective

    The objective of this course is to introduce the student to the basic concepts, skills and processes of typographical design. Design problems will be assigned to investigate fundamental aspects of typography (organization; proportion; composition; space; texture; rhythm and meaning). Projects may include the design of such objects as letterhead, packaging and poster. Please note: Some Graphic Design transfer students will be pre-registered.

    Section 1: Open to sophomore and above

    Section 2: Open to all

  12. Web Design

    This introductory course will allow students to understand the web as a medium, covering the technical basics of HTML, CSS, and Javascript, as well as recent practices in web design and development. We'll learn the tools and techniques involved in creating a website from scratch, while exploring the application of graphic design principles to web-based technology. Class time will consist of discussions of relevant readings, technical lectures, design critiques, and hands-on coding workshops. No prior coding experience required.

    Requirements: Students must be comfortable with Adobe Photoshop. Students must provide their own laptop (Mac or PC) loaded with Photoshop and an HTML editing program (Dreamweaver, BBEdit, GoLive, etc.).

    Section 1: Open to sophomore and above

    Section 2: Open to all

Spring 2019

  1. Brand Identity Design

    Branding-or the development of an identity and an identity system-is a critical skill practiced by today's designers. Before we can design a brochure or a web site or an interface, there must be an identity to frame and influence the medium. Branding as a discipline not only requires the ability to design logos, but to think strategically about a company's ethos and mission. Having thought strategically about ethos or mission not only positions a designer to create an identity and identity system but to influence the way a company or organization conducts all of its communications.

    In this course, students will create two identity systems: one for a traditional company and one for a socially constructive campaign. While a traditional identity system is defined as a logo and a set of rules for that logo's application, the goal of this class is to expand upon the ways a brand identity can be expressed through the manipulation of language, materials, and audience expectation/participation.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  2. Color + Surface

    A series of experiences devoted to the development of the perception of color and its use as a tool for the graphic designer. The exercises test the appearance of color relationships in complex structures, dealing with meaning and examining the appropriate use of color in the context of design problems. There will be an emphasis on using gouache paint and matching paint colors with digital color and printing as well as exploring digital color on the computer.

    Major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  3. Computer Utopias

    The goal of this studio is to reimagine the personal computer.

    Three decades ago, the Macintosh dropped a sci-fi bomb on pop culture. It advertised a utopic vision of human-computer creativity to mass audiences. By remixing military-industrial-academic fragments, a product company sold the dream of new humanism. This decade, the planet is bursting with smartphones; billions of people will carry globally-networked pocket computers, each outfitted with sensors that datify the material world. We now have quantities, rates, and kinds of data unlike anything humankind has ever seen. Individual biological minds can't reason at network scale, so we're teaching fields of computers to do it instead.

    If the data center is today's mainframe, is there a Macintosh hiding in the next decade? If your phone's camera is the next mouse, what will it click on? As machine learning reinvents humanism, what are 21st century creative tools? What do network literacy and 21st century citizenship look like? Is the programmer/user dichotomy destroyable? How much of this is just a design problem?

    We'll explore these topics with studio work and seminar-style discussion. Studio work will include creation of mockups, videos, webmedia, interaction design, and beyond. Prototypes and design fictions are welcome. Programming experience is not explicitly required. Sincere eagerness to rigorously engage and reorient computer culture is a must.

    Major elective; Graphic design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  4. Degree Project

    The degree project is an independent project in graphic design subject to the department's explicit approval, as the final requirement for graduation for the BFA Degree. Visiting critics will be invited to review the completed project. Students are only eligible to enroll in this course if all credit requirements for the degree are complete in this final semester and the student is enrolled with full-time status. Graphic Design students on advanced standing who wish to be considered for Degree project in the Fall of their senior year must apply to the department head.

    Major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  5. Design For Publishing

    This course will cover all aspects of designing comprehensive art and photographic books. We will examine the use of type in layouts, editing images, grids, scale, and pacing. Particular attention will be paid to certain elements of design production, including the visual, tactile, and aesthetic qualities of paper, printing, binding, color separation, and advanced techniques in reproduction, namely duotone and three-tone in black and white photography. In the first part of the semester students will design the layout and the corresponding dust jacket for a photographic book. The material will include a number of original black and white photographs from one of the very well known French photographers. In the second part of the semester, students will be given the choice between designing a book based on their own interests and completing a book design project using assigned material.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  6. Design Studio 2

    In the first two semesters of a two-year studio track, students will come into contact with issues and questions that face the contemporary designer. Students will engage with and develop methods to take on these questions: search (formal and intellectual), research, analysis, ideation, and prototyping. Projects will increase in complexity over time, sequenced to evolve from guided inquiry to more open, self-generated methodologies. Some examples of the questions students might work with are: What is graphic? or How are tools shaped by contemporary culture, technology, and convention? or How is a spatial or dimensional experience plotted and communicated? These questions will be accompanied by a mix of precedents, theoretical contexts, readings and presentations, technical and/or formal exercises and working methods.

    Major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  7. Design Studio 4

    Students are expected to develop personal working methods and interests through more general questions posed by the faculty. Longer-term projects will be intermixed with shorter projects posed by visiting critics. Students should complete the Design Studio track with a developed sense of self, and able to start framing questions and lines of inquiries of their own. End forms will be more emphasized than in Design Studio 1 and 2, in part as evidence that craft and working methods are sufficiently evolved. The twice-a-week format is intended for juniors or advanced designers who have completed the first two semesters of Design Studio or an equivalent "design principles" track.

    Major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  8. Exhibit Design

    This course will study the presentation of information in a designed environment: the exhibit. The theme, context, and conditions of this exhibit will be assigned. Study emphasis will be on integrative communication activity of all elements involved, e.g., time, space, movement, color, graphics, 3-D forms, objects, instructions, text, and constructions.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to junior and above.

  9. From Pulp To Print

    A critical component of all art and design practice is an awareness and understanding of paper types, finishes, textures, weights, printing compatibility, specifications, size, fiber selection, project appropriateness, and other qualities. In this course, students will research the science and technology of papermaking, addressing methods, equipment, and materials from antiquity to today.

    The first part of the course includes an in-depth investigation of fibers (plant, half-stuff and recycled) used in the formation of paper. Additionally, students will create an individual paper archive combining their own handmade sheets with commercially available examples and sources.

    After an understanding of the nuances of various pulps and techniques, students will experiment with letterpress, digital printing, and other reproduction methods, building an awareness of what is possible.

    The second part of the course includes the design and fabrication of hybrid books in which paper, printing, and content are melded together to create innovative design solutions.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to sophomores and above.

    Open to non-majors and Brown students with Instructor permission.

  10. Graduate Form II

    This 3-credit course will teach advanced design principles of formal structures, relations, and systems to the eclectic non-GD major students entering the field of Graphic Design from other disciplines.

    Graduate major requirement for first-year graduate students in the three-year program; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  11. Graduate Seminar II

    The objective of this course is to assist students in the development of methodologies for exploration, investigation, and construction of a well-designed proposal of thesis work. This seminar provides students with a variety of discursive and exploratory means to identify, locate, reflect on, and develop areas of interest to pursue in the evolution of individual thesis planning, culminating in the presentation of the thesis proposal.

    Graduate major requirement for first and second-year majors; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  12. Graduate Studio II

    This studio course is based on the premise that the narrative shaping of information is fundamental to human communication. As active participants in cultural production, graphic designers naturally collaborate within varied areas of expertise, assuming a documentary role in how society views itself. Narrative methods enable us to speak to (and through) any content with a sense of the story it has to tell - visually representing historical, curatorial, scientific, and abstract ideas and events. Students will explore design as a process of storytelling that includes linear and non-linear relationships, with an emphasis on developing formal strategies for multiple approaches to shaping a narrative experience from given as well as self-generated content. Particular emphasis is on sequence, framing, cause and effect, the relationships between elements, and the synthesis of parts into wholes. With text and image, and across media, we employ narrative methods to make sense of complex content meant to be shared and understood.

    Graduate major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  13. Graduate Thesis II

    This course is a continuation of the work begun in fall semester's Graduate Thesis I (GRAPH 327G). The 6-credit studio component is complemented with a 3-credit thesis writing seminar, together guiding the synthesis of independent visual and verbal investigations into a coherent thesis body of work. The MFA degree requires completion of a graduate thesis. The thesis, as a major undertaking for advanced study and personal development, also assists the student to direct a program of study for an experience that best serves that individual's interests and needs. The thesis is an inquiry into the process, expression and function of the visual in graphic design. Visual search is the primary means by which to develop and substantiate original work which provides proof of concept for the thesis argument, critique, or point of view. The graduate student is encouraged to go beyond established models and to project his/her unique character in the thesis rather than to evidence vocational training, which is implicit. The productions can involve any medium suitable to need and content. Ultimately the thesis is submitted as a written document supported by a body of visual work that is a meaningful synthesis of the visual and verbal, and a lasting contribution to the field of graphic design. Two copies of the document remain, one for the Library and one for the department. Completion is required before graduation as stipulated by the College.

    Graduate major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration

  14. Graduate Type Design

    This course is an overview of the basic principles of type design. The focus is on negative space, words, and readability. Students will gain a deeper understanding of typography and increased insight into existing typefaces.

    Graduate major requirement; 3-year MFA Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  15. Graduate Typography Studio II

    Grad Typography II continues study of essential typographic elements and principles, reviewing fundamentals from Grad Typography I while advancing typographic functions and theoretical issues, both historical and current. Studies will expand to include text applications, grid systems, layout and page systems, and typographic expression and communication.

    Graduate major requirement for first-year graduate students in the three-year program; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  16. Graduate Visiting Designers

    This graduate-only Visiting Designers course provides contact with the visiting designers in four intensive workshops over the 12-week semester. The course objective is to provide graduates contact and interactions with national and international designers involved in a range of professional practice and public discourse of graphic design. While the emphasis is on typography and print, these designers actively explore a range of visual form. Each workshop will consider what provokes, inspires, and informs your working methods, and the role that "publication" plays in the communication of your ideas. Each session begins with a Thursday evening lecture, a Friday afternoon through Saturday workshop, and a Sunday midday critique.

    Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to non-majors pending seat availability.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

    Course may be repeated for credit.

  17. Graphic Design For The Web

    This course will explore the possibilities of design online from a conceptual, historical, and programmatic perspective. The class celebrates the Internet as a space for social exchange and independent expression, while questioning the cultural contradictions embedded in online discourse and the motivations of individuals and entities behind online platforms. Through projects, readings, workshops, and presentations we will explore the relevance of network technologies in the context of contemporary art and design practices. Students will learn basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript along with methods for conceptualizing, designing, and developing websites. Outcomes won't necessary be practical, nor pragmatically functional. Instead we will strive for a poetic understanding of design and the Internet as mediums for critical research and action.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  18. ISP Major

    The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

    Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

    Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; course is not available via web registration.

  19. ISP Non-major Elective

    The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

    Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

    Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration.

  20. Mapping Information

    The visualizing of information into graphic form is one of the oldest forms of graphic design, and is one of the essential areas of professional design engagement. This course deals with the organization and analyzation of data, and the concepts and methods of visualizing information. Using information structure and visual systems of form, color, and typography, students will work projects which communicate complex information through the use of maps, graphs, charts, and diagrams. These projects will explore issues of mapping, hierarchy, location, time, comparison, motion, format, and the use of symbolic visual language.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  21. Newly Formed

    This course focuses on advanced composition in Graphic Design and Typography using an array of materials, techniques and formats. Form remains an area of study in graphic design that does not need an application, only a surface. Emphasis will be placed on experimental form-making/image-making using generative and iterative approaches. Form need not follow function. Studio assignments are supported by lectures showing contemporary graphic form, from historical to contemporary work, that are effective and evocative. This elective aims to build a collection of work that can be shared with the larger graphic design community.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only

    Open to juniors and above.

  22. Point, Click, Drag: Designing The Digital Interface

    Digital user experiences are a part of our everyday lives, shaping our realities and taking us to new levels of productivity and connectedness.

    In this hands-on studio, students will explore how designers create digital services and products that are easy to use and solve real-world problems. In two initial projects, one independent and one group-based, students will develop interaction design skills such as research, concept development, interface sketching, interactive prototyping, and user testing. For the third and final project, students will choose to work independently or in groups to develop a digital service or product of their choosing. This project will culminate in the final presentation of a "looks-like" interactive prototype and a video that illustrates the intended user experience. By the end of the course, students will have the skills needed to bring web, mobile, and ubiquitous digital user experiences from concept to reality.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to seniors and above.

  23. Pre-press and Risograph Printing

    This workshop will use Risograph printing to combine practical prepress skills with experimental form-making. The aim of the workshop is to teach students to consider the craft and value of well-planned files to produce high-quality outputs that can be replicated and shared. By focusing on the Risograph printer students will work within a series of technical constraints that will require creative solutions as well as a strong understanding of this particular printing process, color, paper, and file preparation.

    Estimated Materials Cost: $40.00

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to sophomores and above.

    Open to non-majors with permission by the Department.

  24. Professional Internship

    The Graphic Design Department allows up to 6 credits of graphic design studies as practical internships in professional studios. It is an opportunity primarily recommended for upper-class undergraduates. All internships for credit must have departmental approval (of placement and studio qualification) and are administered according to department guidelines. The assigned faculty from the department administers this course and will present information about requirements during the fall semester.

    ***Off-Campus Study***

  25. Reframing The Poster

    The poster has been an archetypal graphic design format since the late 19th century when lithographic printing technology came of age and captured the imagination of artists, bringing their vision into Paris streets. This course will invite you to explore future possibilities and contexts for the poster-as paper and as screen-building on its singular capacity to transform ideas into iconic picture planes; and examining the dynamics of typography and image, both still and in motion. Prompts will progress from individual posters, to sequences, to site-specific installations that explore the potential for interactive discourse in public space. Studio assignments will be supported with presentations and readings about poster history and contemporary poster design.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

    Open to non-majors and Brown students with Instructor permission.

  26. Time, Sequence & Sound: A Course In Design and Motion

    This is a course about design and motion, filtered through the lens of real-world, graphic design applications. From film titles to animated gifs, design installations to handheld applications, motion is an important consideration in 21st century graphic design.

    This course combines disciplines of graphic design, animation, storytelling and sound design. Through a series of in-studio and multi-week assignments, students will create animated projects that include real-world assignments as well as experimental exercises. Short weekly lectures will discuss historic and current works of influential Motion Designers, Animators and Directors.

    Adobe After Effects will be the primary production tool for this class. Through the sequence of assignments, students will become fluent with the software.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  27. Type & Image In Motion

    We stand firmly planted in a visual world, surrounded by a universe of things to look at. Images flicker from televisions, iPads, computer monitors and more-as large as towering billboards and as small as compact cell phones. Such images provide us with clues about our environment, feeding our mind with information that we find useful for survival or for orientation purposes. But these very same images clutter the horizon and prevent us from discerning what is truly important. How do we tell them apart? The primary goal is to equip students with the skills necessary to create meaningful and intelligent images. Course content is tailored for three levels of experience - introductory, intermediate and advanced. Some of the class projects include documentary photography, film title design and music video. The works of Saul Bass, Bill Viola and Michel Gondry will be used as the "textbooks" for this course. Readings, film screenings and listening exercises accompany studio work. Some knowledge of Adobe Flash or After Effects or Final Cut Pro would be helpful but is not required. To view student work, visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/risdMV

    Elective

  28. Type Design

    This elective is an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the process of designing a typeface; to consider all the design decisions that are a part of this creative exercise, and to learn the finer points of bzier wrangling, serif and sans, spacing, kerning, and all the other details of execution which turn a roughly-formed idea into a more complete, rigorous and polished type design. This course will provide a fundamental understanding of how typefaces work in addition to accessing a new design tool that can find practical use.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to juniors and above.

  29. Typography For Non-majors

    This introductory course is intended for non-majors interested in learning the basic principles of typography including the study of letterforms, type classification, legibility, organization and hierarchy, as well as text applications, grid systems and page layout. Typography will be explored as both a means of communication and a vehicle for expression. Projects may include comparative studies for setting text and poetry, letterhead systems, brochure or poster. This course will provide a solid foundation for moving on to more complex typographic problems such as book, motion or web design.

    Open to sophomores and above.

  30. Typography II

    Typography II continues the development of typographic practice. With an emphasis on the "finer points" of typography, the course will focus on composition, reading order, grids, and other systems of organization and hierarchy. Students will gain experience working with type and image relationships, looking at various scales, proportions, quantities, and sequences of typographic material. The course will also explore issues pertaining to meaning, concept, and expression.

    Major requirement; Graphic Design majors only.

    Registration by Graphic Design Department, course not available via web registration.

  31. Urgency Lab

    One must continue to work for the possibility of a poetry of the future. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

    How do we address what's truly urgent today? Urgent for whom? Crisis conditions have infused every aspect of culture and society with doubt, but the role and efficacy of art and design as a means for change is still debated. We'll begin this studio course by defining what Urgency Lab is on our own terms, casting a wide view towards climate, gender, race, and oppression. Can artists and designers loosen hegemonic power? We'll engage with a range of voices for guidance and inspiration through weekly studio visits and readings, both within and outside art and design discourse, with a particular emphasis on queer methodologies and historically marginalized perspectives. We'll draw upon Fred Moten and Stefano Harney's concept of the undercommons as a way to imagine our own position within an institutional context, and as the course develops we'll build an "urgency platform"-a network of tools, references, modalities, and scenarios-to help us speculate, imagine, and articulate a more just futurity.

    What is urgent craft? The semester will be devoted to exploring how legacy art and design techniques might be subverted (altered, manipulated, destroyed) to produce new, non-normative forms. Urgency Lab will be a collaboratively designed space, so determining the studio's criteria, scope, and output as a group will itself be an experiment in collective, peer-to-peer making as an act of resistance. Working in public, radical acts of publishing, research-based exploration, rapid prototyping, non-traditional tools and platforms, and experimentation will be encouraged.

    #gender #race #power #bias #safety #privacy #privilege #climate change #algorithmic control #authority #violence #terror #trauma #human rights #migration #identity politics #geo-politics #postcolonial nationality #representation #protest #whistleblower #peer-2-peer #mixed reality #decentralization #decolonization #intersectionality #failure and refutation

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to seniors and above.

    Open to juniors, non-majors and Brown students with Instructor Permission.

  32. Wkshp: 3d Simulation

    This workshop is a hands-on experience where students will learn how 3D modelling is beneficial in conceiving, prototyping and presenting dimensional work. Graphic designers are increasingly using 3D modeling to plan and represent designs intended for exhibits, environmental graphics and signage. This workshop brings the necessary software and conceptual fluency to help designers make work in 3D. These designs may influence 2D deliverables as well as those intended for the built environment. Students will learn Rhinocerous for Mac. No prior experience required.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors.

    Open to sophomores and above.

    Open to non-majors with permission by the Department.

  33. Wkshp: Studio Photography

    This workshop is an introduction to the methods involved in studio photography for designers with an emphasis on lighting-bringing objects to life by articulating their shapes and surfaces with various lighting sources: soft/hard, direct/reflected, focused/diffused, etc. Additional attention will be given to digital file preparation and printing. Throughout this workshop, students will explore the use of DSLR cameras, lenses, exposure meters, and related equipment to create original images of selected 3D objects.

    Elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to sophomores and above.

  34. Wkshp: Web Programming

    This workshop combines the tactical skills needed to structure web pages with a looser more playful compositional mindset. Students are introduced to the structural elements and properties of HTML and CSS through hands-on demos and take-home assignments. Tight technical HTML drawings in week one give way to looser, full-screen abstract compositions in week two. Weeks three and four make use of animation and interactivity using CSS3 and jQuery.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to non-majors with permission by the Department.

  35. Wkshp:digital Printing Technologies

    This workshop provides students with an introduction to the use of digital fabrication tools and an overview of their applications in both art and design. The course also functions as a gateway to Co-Works. Through technical demos and class projects, students are trained in the proper use of both the laser cutter and UV printer. The course explores the theoretical implications of this technology and situates it within the context of contemporary art and design practices. Through slide presentations, readings, and class discussions, students are encouraged to think critically about the role of digital tools in contemporary art and design and in their own practices. Students develop hybrid approaches; incorporating both "traditional" and "new" processes. Class projects encourage experimentation, innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration as well as provide opportunities for individual exploration.

    Major elective, Graphic Design majors only.

  36. Workshop: Screenprinting

    This workshop will focus on establishing a basic understanding of a variety of screen printing techniques and how to make use of those techniques in making your projects. Through in-class demos and out-of-class assignments, this workshop will encourage interplay between screen prints and digital prints. The class will start with simple paper stencils and move quickly into making screens from images and text generated digitally. No previous experience required.

    Major elective; Graphic Design majors only.

    Open to sophomore and above.

    Open to non-majors by permission of Instructor.