Syllabus Fall 2013

Art 100: Design Elements and Techniques

Professor Reinhardt
CONTACT:
reinhardtart100@gmail.com

Fall 2013

DESCRIPTION: This image-based course will introduce graphic design as the foundation upon which effective visual communication is built.  Investigation of the elements and principles of graphic design will lead to specific design problems and their solution.  The development of ideas and the ability to communicate them effectively will be covered.  Discussion of both vector and bitmap-based digital graphic platforms will begin progress toward industry-standard computer proficiency. 

Required Supplies:

Students are advised to keep multiple copies of all computer files, on a variety of media.

• Flash Drive(4Gigs) or Portable Harddrive. You must bring to each class.
  The best prices for this can be found at J & R at 23 Park Row New York, NY 10038 (across from City Hall Park)or B & H Photo-Video Supplies at 349 West 34th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues.
  You will set up a Dropbox server account to save and access all of your working files.
• 8.5” x 11” (Minimum size 6” x 9”) Sketchbook
• Color Drawing Media  (Color Pencils, Markers, or Watercolor Paint, Watercolor Pencils)
• 2B, 3B, and 4B sketch pencils (or mechanical pencils)

• Art Eraser
•  Scissors
• Gluestick

Art Supply Stores:

• Blick Art Materials
  1-5 Bond Street, New York, NY 10012 – (212) 533-2444
• Pearl Paint
  209 East 23rd Street, New York, NY‎ – (212) 592-2179‎
• Pearl Paint
  308 Canal Street, New York, NY‎
• Utrecht Art Supply
  237 W 23rd Street, Between 7th and 8th Avenues, New York, NY‎ -(212) 675-8699‎

Required Text
Graphic Design,  The New Basics
by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillps

Computer Labs:

Chambers St – N261:
Mon — Thur   8am – midnight
Friday   9am – midnight
Sat – Sun   8:30am – midnight

Fiterman Hall – LL03:
Mon – Fri    8am – 10pm
Sat   10am – 6pm
Sun   Closed

Murray Street – M1109:
Mon – Fri    9am – 8pm
Friday    9am – 3pm
Sat – Sun   Closed

Please check the Instructional Technology website,   http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/it,  for holiday scheduling.

EVALUATION & REQUIREMENTS OF STUDENTS:

• Participation in class discussions and taking notes on key terms and concepts.
• Application of skills and techniques in exercises and design problems.
• Demonstration of concentration, discipline, effort and ongoing evaluation of work in progress oriented towards the successful realization of an idea.
• Timely completion of course assignments utilizing creative problem solving.
• A quiz, exam and/or paper may be required.

ASSIGNMENTS:
There will be a series of weekly assignments, as well as a midterm assignment/exam and class final. There will be 1-2 exhibitions outside of class you will be required to attend and create a written response. Work turned in late will be dropped one full letter grade for each day it is late. (A work becomes a B; B work becomes a C, etc.).

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:
During the semester you will be asked to write about the ideas and concepts we are working on in class. These are free writings meant to ask you to stretch your mind and consider different ideas. They are required, but not graded for grammar or mechanics. These writings should be 3/4 to a page and a half, typed, double-spaced, normal margins, Times or Helvetica only 10 or 12 point font.

EXPECTATIONS: Attend class. Turn work in on time. Try to improve you skills with each new problem. Ask questions about each problem and how it relates to Visual Communication and Design issues. Show an interest in your own work and what the rest of the class is doing. Do more work that is required by the class assignments.

GRADING:

• 5% Quizzes/written assignments
• 15% Attendance and Participation – contributing to class discussions and arriving to class on time
• 10% Craftsmanship – having your work completed on time and mounted or presented as requested i.e. clean, legible,unwrinkled or smudged. We will go over the requirements for this in class.
• 60% Assignments
• 10% Final

ATTENDANCE: You Must Attend Class! You Must Be On Time For Class! You must be present for the entire Class! Students who leave may not come back, Attendance will be taken each class, students who arrive late, must make it clear they have arrived. Being late 3 times is equal to one absence. After 3 absences, or 2 consecutive absences, I will fail you. It is possible to fail this course by being habitually late.

LATENESS:
Students may be counted absent if they are 15 minutes late or more. Roll will be called at 15 after, and all students that are not present will be counted absent. A student may be considered tardy if they arrive after class begins.

If a student can provide documentation in the form of a letter or print out from the website of the MTA, indicating that their train was delayed, the students’ absence may be reduced to a tardy (at the professor’s discretion). However, 3 of these tardies will still be counted as an absence.

IN CLASS: No food or drinks in class. Clean up after yourself! Turn off all cell phones; if your phone rings, or if I see it or other electronic “toys” in class, I may mark you as late. Demonstrate respect for yourself and the class by being present.  If you miss a class, you are still responsible for turning in your work on time. Either see me in my office or contact me via e-mail if you have questions about what you missed.

GRADING: Your work should demonstrate a serious and well-executed attempt to understand and express an idea. Regular class attendance, class participation, contribution to critique discussions and attitude will be counted as elements in your grade. Additional time required outside of class is an average at least 2 hours weekly. No make-up or extra credit work will be accepted. GRADES will be earned only by the work presented at the scheduled critique.

CRITQUES: Attendance during critiques is crucial! I expect everyone to have their work finished and ready for show promptly at the beginning of class on critique days. Be sure to allow time for outside printing and clean presentation of your digital projects. If you miss a critique, your grade for that project will be lowered one letter for each class day until you turn it in. In other words, if your work is not ready for the critique, you cannot possible make higher than a B. If you attend the critique without your work, I will allow an extra class day before I lower the B to a C.

Each student’s work will be displayed during every critique and every work in progress critique. Class discussion at this time is essential. Critiques will be conducted as open, informal forums where you will discuss and comment upon other students’ work in a constructive, critical, and intelligent manner. I expect you to openly question your fellow students on their decisions in regard to aesthetic, composition, and technical matters. Be prepared to answer for your work – no decision is made arbitrarily, and I want to know why you did what you did, and to explain why you believe your images is effective and appropriate to your concept.

USE OF TECHNOLOGY:
The computer component is organized around Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign and Photoshop CS with and emphasis on Adobe Illustrator.

Note on software versions: The machines at BMCC all have CS6! Learning via older versions is also useful because much has remained the same version to version. Many “real world” offices don’t always carry up to date software.

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor. Adobe Illustrator is widely used by artists in the fields of graphic design, commercial advertising and desktop publishing to create logos, symbols, and sharp-edged text. Illustrator also allows users to develop images and text for Internet and multimedia usage.

Adobe Photoshop is a raster-graphics editor (with significant vector graphics functionality). Adobe Photoshop is universally used by artists in the fields of graphic design, commercial advertising and desktop publishing for image creation, image editing, and color correction. Photoshop also allows users to develop and adjust images for Internet and multimedia usage.

Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing application. Adobe InDesign is universally used by artists in the fields of graphic design, commercial advertising and desktop publishing for creating single and multi-page documents such as collateral material, brochures, books,  and magazine layouts.

We will frequently look at examples of design and on the Internet.

COLLEGE ATTENDANCE POLICY: At BMCC, the maximum number of absences is limited to one more hour than the number of hours a class meets in one week.  For example, you may be enrolled in a three-hour class.  In that class, you would be allowed 4 hours of absence (not 4 days).  In the case of excessive absences, the instructor has the option to lower the grade or assign an F or WU grade.

Academic Adjustments for Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations or academic adjustments for this course must contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities.  BMCC is committed to providing equal access to all programs and curricula to all students.

BMCC Policy on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity Statement: Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else’s ideas, words or artistic, scientific, or technical work as one’s own creation.  Using the idea or work of another is permissible only when the original author is identified.  Paraphrasing and summarizing, as well as direct quotations, require citations to the original source.  Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional.  Lack of dishonest intent does not necessarily absolve a student of responsibility for plagiarism.

Students who are unsure how and when to provide documentation are advised to consult with their instructors.  The library has guides designed to help students to appropriately identify a cited work.  The full policy can be found on BMCC’s web side, http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu. For further information on integrity and behavior, please consult the college bulletin (also available online)

Web Gallery of Art:
A giant resource of high quality images from art history.
http://www.wga.hu

Adobe Video Workshop
This is adobe’s learning lab.  Any program technique I will teach you in class can usually be found on this site taught in video form.  Videos are created by teachers like me from all over the country.

http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/

Adobe TV
Similar to AVW, adobe TV offers more content and tutorials.  http://tv.adobe.com/#

The Help Menu
After the demo of the lesson every day, If the teacher has introduced anything new, any tool, any operation etc., you should search for that tool or operation in the help menu.  This seems obvious but you will be surprised by how massive and in-detail the adobe help menu is.  It is easy to navigate and includes images and step-by-step tutorials.  In any given assignment I will print the terms you should search for in the help menu in bold.  The help menu gives a different, more formal approach to the technical skills I teach, and learning both from class and from the programs tutorials is the best way to learn the programs.

DISCLAIMER:  Inevitably some pertinent essential bit of information has been inadvertently omitted or is incoherently phrased from this syllabus. I reserve the right to fix it at any time.