p r a g u e . b l a g u e

Grading

Studio 6 credits

Postings: 20%
2 per week:
Updates on any subject and/or response to weekly field trips
Responses to the readings as required (post under the reading topic)

Project 1: Credit
Two slide shows:
What is clear about what you encounter in Prague?
What is opaque?

Project 2: 15%
Poster: Respond to "New Europe, New Spirit" in a poster aimed at graphic design students. Place in in the context of Prague.

Project 3: 20%
Repurposed artifact: Comprehensive representation of an artifact for domestic "use"

Project 4: 25%
Souvenir series: surprisingly evocative memories in artifacts or ephemera. The concept should be played out across at least six pieces to establish the series.

Project 5: 20%
Archive: collect thematic design or some such into a portable artifact readable by outside eyes.

Typography 3 credits

Display Typeface: 60%
26 characters (plus diacritical marks as needed) plus 10 figures.
Other glyphs as needed.

Postings: 10%
Found typography in Prague and other excursions posted to the blog.

Specimen Folio: 30%
Tabloid (A3) showing full character set (2 pages) and a poster (double A3) describing the typeface.

Criteria

Project completion.
Fulfills the stated objectives of the project. If you choose to design off topic or skirt the objective, be prepared to defend your decision. An ill-conceived rationale will be graded accordingly.
Final work should be well crafted and well presented.
The final artifact should clearly communicate the concepts and area of inquiry.

Studio and Typography Overview

GD 400 Studio
The objective of studio projects is first and foremost to communicate through objects, images and text with the premise that pleasure and artifice resonate with users or readers. Additionally, the projects ask students to engage a full range of visual expressions found in Prague as they read about its cultural history and interpret the city. To prepare, students will read Prague: A Cultural History (Burton) and other essays before arriving. Additional readings will be assigned as they pertain to studio projects. Relevant field trips will be dispersed throughout the semester.

GD 492 Typography
The objectives of the typography course are similar to the studio. In addition, the projects ask students to communicate an aspect of Prague by developing a typographic alphabet, and determine apt application for the typeface.

GD400 Projects

Project length and content is speculative.

Collect / Observe

VISUAL ARCHIVE: Draw, photograph, write, shoot video to study and document the details of Prague in architecture, products, books, television, advertising, signage, clothing, and all things visual devised by humans. The collection will be gathered into a final archive, the form of which is to be determined by each student: a book/journal, a web log, movies, a folio or some combination. 12 weeks. Studio will focus on this project in the first week and use class time to share/analyze what students are finding. Progress will be reviewed and shared with the class throughout the semester.

Say Hello!

POSTER†: Say “hello” to Czech students as a visiting American student in a poster that would ostensibly be placed in and around Prague universities. To say “hello” is to make a simple but direct statement, but how might the message from an American visitor “reach out” to Czech students in their city? Is the message about what you understand of Prague? About a similarity to or difference from your culture? Is it a celebration of exchange? A politically charged greeting? Or just an attempt to make friends? 1 week.
Reading: Selection from Up Against the Wall: International Poster Design.

Excavate

OBJECTS FOR A HOME: Visit thrift shops and used bookstores to find artifacts of interest and “repurpose” them to create a new artifact(s) that communicates the value and use of emotionally and culturally charged things. Use the found artifacts as a point of departure, or build upon the actual piece, combine pieces or parts, or apply aspects of found artifacts (i.e. surface treatment and decoration, shapes, color combinations, text) to household objects such as dinnerware, teapot and cups, vases, appliances, etc. Object may be constructed or visualized through renderings or illustrations. 3 weeks.
Reading: Selections from Objects of Desire; Emotional Design; Hella Jongerius; Ornament: A Modern Perspective.

Celebrate

POSTER†: A celebration of Prague’s ornamental curiosities from the perspective of a visitor. 1 week.
Reading: Further selections from Ornament: A Modern Perspective.

Remember

SOUVENIRS: Design a series of souvenirs that communicate the experience of Prague, artifacts that move beyond the clichés of customary “souvenirs,” or that comment upon the clichés. The souvenirs will anticipate what might be meaningful (which includes fun) to other visitors. The series can take the form of portable objects, a postcard series, booklets, t-shirts, etc. The aim is not to simply apply graphics to standard souvenirs but to integrate the object, message, and form into collectable artifacts. Objects may be constructed, prototyped, or visualized through renderings or illustrations. 3.5 weeks.
Reading: Selections from Curious Boym; The Culture of Design; On Longing.

Express

POSTER†: Subject matter to be determined by each student based on his/her archives with approval of the poster artist. 1 week.

Leaving Prague

FINAL PRESENTATIONS: Prepare for and conclude with a show of work accomplished. Final archive due on the last day of class. 1.5 weeks.

†Lead by a visiting Czech poster artist. Project subject to change.

View a printable PDF file of all projects.

GD492 Projects

Project One

Photograph typography found in the city. Choose several to identify and research origins. From the type studies and from the visual details of Prague collected in Studio, investigate three directions for a display face using a limited alphabet to test the viability of the ideas. Typefaces can be hand drawn and scanned, created from digital photographs or drawn in vector-based software, but ultimately need to function in Illustrator and InDesign.

Project Two

Select one of the investigations for further development and refine a full alphabet: 26 upper or lower case with supplemental letters, and 20 related dingbats, decorative sorts and borders. Typeface anatomy, typographic structure and systems will be addressed with visits and lectures from Czech type designers.

Project Three

Apply the typeface to an appropriate text (in dialogue with the city and the Czech culture) and design a broadsheet to show the typeface and communicate its origins.

Reading/Reference:

Selections from Type Design: Radical Innovations and Experimentation; Type and Typography; A Manual of Decorated Typefaces; Anatomy of a Typeface; Typology: Type Design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age; A Typographic Workbook: A Primer to History, Techniques, and Artistry; Metro Letters.