GRA 2545C Graphic Design 3

Syllabus
Spring 2004 (2003-2)

Tuesday, January 6th through Thursday, April 22nd, 2004
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00 p.m. to 4:40 p.m., room 3213

Course Description:
Practical problems in graphic communications with emphasis on producing package design mock-ups to contemporary industry standards. (2 hr. lecture; 4 hr. lab)

Prerequisites:
GRA1113--Graphic Design 2.
GRA2117--Computer Assisted Graphic Design.
GRA2577--Electronic Photoshop.

Objectives:

• Understand the purpose of package design.
  
  
• Understand the requirements of package design.
  
  
• Design a package.
  
  
• Understand the form and function of a shopping bag.
  
  
• View shopping bags as part of the larger identity design system.
  
  
• Design a shopping bag.
  
  
• Comprehend the meaning of a plan that coordinates every aspect of graphic design material.
  
  
• Understand the objectives of a visual identity system and its component parts.
  
  
• Design a visual identity system.
  
  
• Understand the nature of branding.

Text/Supplies:

• Graphic Design Solutions, 2nd Edition by Robin Landa. ISBN 0-7668-1360-6. ©2001, Thomson Learning. (Available in the Bookstore under GRA.
  
  
• Spiral-bound sketchbook, 11 x 14 inches, 100 sheets, 65#.
  
  
• Strathmore Bristol Pad, 19 x 24 inches, 20 sheets, 100#.
  
  
• Mechanical pencil with 0.5mm leads, HB.
  
  
• Plastic cutter with retractable snap-off blades.
  
  
• Metal ruler, 18-inch.
  

Local Art Supply Vendors:
Easel Art & Office Supply
470 NE 167TH St, Miami, FL 33162-3908, Phone: (305) 945-7377 Map

Rex Art Supplies
2263 SW 37TH Ave Miami FL 33145-3009, Phone: (305) 445-1413 Map

Michaels Arts and Crafts Supply Store
various locations throughout Dade and Broward.

Pearl Artist and Craft Supply Stores
6448 S Dixie Hwy, South Miami, FL 33143-4648, Phone: (305) 663-8899 Map
1033 E Oakland Park Blvd, Oakland Park, FL 33334-2798, Phone: (954) 564-5700 Map

Utrecht Art Supply   
6250 S Dixie Hwy, South Miami, FL 33143-4933, Phone: (305) 740-7077 Map

The Art Store
1932 South University Drive, Davie, FL  33324 Phone: 954-370-2330 Map

Attendance/Participation:
You are expected to attend class regularly and to arrive on time for each class. Emphasis on class attendance and promptness is due to the industry’s need for dependable employees so that deadlines can be kept. It is your responsibility to make up class notes when absent or late for class. It would be inappropriate to ask the instructor what was missed during an absence; get the notes from another student.

Attendance and participation is mandatory. Three (3) absences are allowed for illness, transportation problems, family emergencies, etc. Each additional absence, for any reason, will reduce your final grade by one letter grade. Three (3) late arrivals or early departures (15 min. or more) will count as one absence. Missed critiques count as two (2) absences.

The Importance of Punctuality
If you’re going into graphics, get used to deadlines. The graphics industry runs on printed products that announce services or events that often require the viewer’s attention and participation by a certain date. Imagine receiving an invitation in the mail saying, “You’re invited to a special event. By the way, it was yesterday.”

As a graphic designer, you will be hired to design and produce materials that must reach the intended audience’s hands in a timely fashion. Therefore, you must be disciplined and responsible for turning in your projects on time. This discipline and responsibility begins with this class.

A hypothetical situation: you’re hired by a non-profit organization to produce posters, invitations, tickets, program books and other collateral material for a fund-raiser to be held in, let’s say, November. Their intended audience must receive the invitations at least one month in advance. They need to plan for the event: “Do I need to buy something to wear?” “Do we need to hire a babysitter?” “Are we even going to be in town that night?” These are questions your viewers will ask as they plan to attend the event.

In order to reach their hands by October, the materials must be printed on a large machine called an offset press. Some large presses are very expensive. A full-color web press used to print the color advertisements inserted into USA Today cost Gannett Publishing in Miramar over 10 million dollars. The press is very fast, and the inserts take a relatively small amount of time to print. It would sit idle for the rest of the day, so Gannett spun-off a separate company called Florida Offset to take advantage of the press on its off-time, further increasing its profitability. Large presses must be kept running continuously in order to make money for the company, so teams of salespeople schedule the press jobs weeks in advance. If a job misses its “window” because the job isn’t ready, it must get bumped back, sometimes days later. The client won’t be happy.

Now think about the production process used to get your idea to the press in the first place: (1) your client approves your sketches, (2) you produce an electronic mechanical, which is again approved by the client, (3) any changes required by the client must be implemented and the file approved once again, (4) the electronic mechanical goes to a service bureau for high-resolution film output, (5) the film is attached to light-proof sheets called flats, and a contract-quality proof is made, which the client inspects for color and approves, (6) the flats are used to make plates, which are run on the press. Oh yeah, the client approves the press-run, too. Any one of these processes, which are delayed, throws off the entire production process, and delays the viewer from receiving the materials on time: “by the way, the event was yesterday.”

In order to be a successful graphic designer, you must turn in your work on time. It is incumbent on me, your instructor, to impress upon you the importance of punctuality. Therefore, late work will lose one letter grade for each class session that the project is late. That said, there are no absolutes in this world, and I’d rather see a project handed in a little late in order to refine it to portfolio-quality, instead of turning in any old piece of crap to avoid lowering your score.

Class Policies:

• Special concessions, such as reserved computer workstations, will be made for people with special needs. Please see me after class if you have special needs.
  
  
• Please turn your pagers and cell phones on "buzz." Be courteous to your fellow students.
  
  
• If you wish to listen to music while working on your lab projects, please bring headphones.
  
  
• Please note: food and drinks are not allowed next to the computers.
  
  
• Copying software is illegal. Please do not copy software or ask instructors or staff to copy software for you.
  
  
• Do not use spray mount indoors. Spray mount is harmful to the computer's delicate circuitry, and to the lungs also. Some students might be allergic to spray mount, so please spray your work outside.
  
  
• Do not cut paper or boards on the formica tabletops. Formica, once scratched, can never be repaired.

Projects:
Projects and their due dates will be announced. Project grades will be based on originality, design, craft, and presentation. Late work will lose one letter grade for each class session that the project is late.

A Word About Creativity…
It sounds a bit paradoxical, but a creative portfolio will land you a job; once you’ve been hired, you’ll probably work on projects that conform to the company’s strict limitations, and restrictions. Still, you have to do the work that pays the bills.

But for now, you’re in art school, and every project that you work on must go toward building a creative portfolio: develop your “design voice,” capture the prospective employer’s attention, and experiment with styles that no one has ever seen before.

In 1897, two printing technologies existed side-by-side: letterpress, which involves printing from raised type on separate blocks, and lithography, which involves printing from a flat surface on which the greasy ink is kept out of the non-image areas by water. The letterpress technology forced the designer to work within a rigid grid because the individual blocks needed strong pressure from all four sides in order to hold together. On the other hand, lithography freed artists to experiment with asymmetrical compositions, curving baselines and distorted type.

Right now, we’re at a similar point in graphic design history: the computer and its software applications offers today’s artists unlimited flexibility to create and design. It is incumbent on you, the graphic design student, to experiment, to innovate, and to unleash your creativity. Above all, avoid formal, centered compositions, which are easy and safe. Experiment with variations of asymmetrical balance, rhythm, positive/negative space, dominant/subdominant/subordinate hierarchy, contrast, and gestalt relationships. Impress me as you would try to impress a prospective employer.

Project 9-1: Package design for gourmet snack food, due Wed. Jan. 28th.
Project 2: Water bottle, due Mon. Feb. 16th.
Project 9-3: Target shopping bag, due Mon. Mar. 1st.
Project 10-1: Visual Identity and Branding, due Wed. Apr. 21st.

Course Schedule

Note: Incompletes are given only for medical and other college-approved reasons. Should you be granted an incomplete, we will develop a signed agreement as to when and how the incomplete will be cleared.

Holidays:
Saturday, January 17th through Monday, January 19th—Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday
Thursday, March 4th—Faculty Conference Day
Friday, April 9th through Sunday, April 11th—Easter/Passover Weekend