Learning Outcomes

• Gain insights and ability into making design more accessible
• Explore the limits of design as service
• Consider the relational and participatory aspects of design
• Design with ecology and non-human actors in mind
• Tags: Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Service Design, Accessibility, Form-Making

Requirements

Students should be comfortable using design software and producing graphic outcomes (these can range from digital outcomes like webpages or videos, to physical materials such as books, posters, textiles, etc.)

• Personal Laptop
• Phone, digital camera, scanner, screen capture etc.
• Access to printers and other means of production

Class Activities

The following activities will take place in-person and online via a number of platforms:

• Reading discussion
• Topic lecture/discussion
• Project critique/discussion
• Group exercises
• A Multi-day Workshop
• One-on-one meetings
• Group meetings

Readings

• There will be routine readings with discussions taking place in class and occassionally online. All students will be required to pose one question and respond to another students question about each reading.

Schedule

Grading

• 60% ... Projects (There will be 2 individual projects and a group project this semester: individual projects = 40%; group project = 20%)
• 10% ... Assignments (Exercises, readings, etc.)
• 10% ... Workshop (Weekend workshop)
• 20% ... Attendance + Participation/Attitude (Being present and active in class via discussion, and preparation)

Letter grades represent the following:

A = excellent;
B = good;
C = satisfactory;
D = unsatisfactory;
F = failure.

Grading Criteria

Individual project grades and final course grade takes into consideration:

• Participation (attendance, engagement in critique, pro-active involvement through the demonstration of discussion and inquiry)
• Process (exploration, iteration, research)
• Concept (thought, originality, creativity, and criticality)
• Design (does the work function as intended, does it communicate, is there clarity of information and intent)
• Presentation (quality of craft, attention to detail, professionalism)

Attendance

Students who are absent for over 1/3 of the class will receive a grade of 'F' or 'U' for the course. (Exceptions can be made when the cause of absence is deemed unavoidable by the course instructor.)

Plagiarism

Students are expected to generate their own work and ideas. Since, this class focuses on a range of ideas including appropriation, there can be some gray area about originality in this context. If you are concerned about the authorship of your work, please discuss with chris.

Submitting your work and Class Archive

As a final deliverable, please send a .zip file with documentation of your work over the semester and send to chris via wetransfer by Weds June 19.

Credits

This website runs on Kirby and was adapted from a site developed by Laurel Schwulst.