Category: 317_F18

November 28 – Prepare for critique

Class Topics

Homework

  • Make template page live for class on Friday. We will be doing some critique and accessibility testing. It is ok if the navigation is not implemented.

November 14 – Prototyping

Class Topics

  • Black and White prototyping (paper prototypes for the win)
  • Revisiting personas to determine content and user flows

Homework

  • Prototypes. Be prepared to narrow scope of web project on Friday with Rebecca.
  • Keep up on your process books!

November 9 – Final Preparations

Class Topics

  • Work on pitches. Remember to consider each of the personas you have (how do your ideas support the needs of each of these community members?). Remember to consider the research you did about peer organizations/campaigns —what can we learn from those to me our proposals stronger?
  • Prep possible questions the mayor may have.

Homework

  • Prepare for pitch. Come to class on Monday dressed professionally. Remember to practice!

October 29 – Exercise 6

Class Topics

  • Work on Exercise 6

Homework

  • Continue to work on Exercise 6 for Friday.
  • Read the following children’s books (and take detailed notes) for Friday. Pay attention to the similarities and differences between the stories. Learn as much as you can about each character and the world they live in. They are on reserve at Penfield Library.
    • The Three Pigs by David Wiesner
    • The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
    • There’s a Wolf at the Door by Zoe B. Alley

Reminder: Wednesday 10/31 is advisement day for art and design students. If you need to participate in advisement go straight to Lanigan 34 to partake. Other students can use the studio to work on Exercise 6. Please be aware that Rebecca will not be available during that class period.

October 22 – Copyright

Class Topics

Homework

  • Our next exercises will give you the opportunity to experiment with fair use. The first exercise will be to create a regular grid where all elements on the grid are the same size and same format (like a card layout). The second exercise will still use a grid, but will allow you to experiment with different sizes and allow items to overlap or go across multiple rows or columns on the grid. For this assignment pick one issue/topic that you care about amd want to make a commentary on. Gather images and materials that you can use to put your idea forward. Remember that we want to stay in the territory of fair use. Use graph paper to sketch out a few different plans for each exercise.

October 15 – Critique

Class Topics

  • Project 1 URLs
  • Critique (take notes on the following): Unity (Consistent Theme/Brand and styles), Modular (header and navigation on each page are identical), Typography/Readability (equilateral triangle, baseline grid, modular scale), Responsive (design on smallest screens to design on largest screens). Test live sites on Mobile devices, iPads, and large screens.

Homework

  • Explore the work of Kelly Walters prior to class on October 17.
  • Project 1 Revisions, process and copyright spreadsheet due by noon on Sunday, October 21.

October 12 – Troubleshooting

Class Topics

  • Q & A
  • Review Questions
  • Work time: get all small screen design issues resolved.
  • Get design to work correctly on mobile with this line of code in the head of your document: <meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0″>

Homework

  • Media Queries. Prepare for critique (site needs to be live before class starts).

September 28 – Micro Typography

Class Topics

  • Q&A
  • Open Type Features: ligatures, small caps, old-style figures, lining figures, tabular figures, em dash, en dash, hair space, non-breaking space, thin space, smart quotes, prime marks, ellipsis
  • CSS Properties: font-variant-ligatures, font-variant-caps, font-variant-numeric, font-feature-settings, text-rendering
  • Get feedback from classmates.

Homework

  • Finish Exercise 4.

September 24 – Baseline Grid

Class Topics

  • Vertical Rhythm: Baseline Grid
  • Horizontal Rhythm: letter spacing (tracking), kerning, indenting (p+p selector, text-indent property), hanging punctuation
  • Check Browser Support

Homework

  • Exercise 4: Set paragraphs (equilateral triangle), implement baseline grid, implement horizontal rhythm on paragraph text. Implement media queries so that the text works well across screen sizes.
  • Read Chapter 7 in Better Web Type
  • Read Fair Use FAQ and Public Domain FAQ from Teaching Copyright

September 14 – Images

Class Topics

  • Critique: How well does the design meet the needs of various audience members? Focus on readability (and the optimal paragraph).
  • Image file types.
  • Adding images to the HTML.
  • Alt attribute exercise.

Homework

  • Revise Exercise 2 based on critique. Write a summary of the critique you received and what you changed and why about your design. Conclude with a reflection on how effective (or not) your design is and why.
  • Read Use of Illustrations and Use of Photography in AIGA’s Design + Business Ethics.
  • HTML for Bio part of Exercise 3

September 7 – Mobile First

Course Topics

  • Web Fonts (Google Fonts)
  • Hierarchy through contrast
  • Chunking
  • Mobile First & Progressive Enhancement
  • CSS Reset
  • Chrome Add-ons: Measure & WAVE

Homework

  • Work on Exercise 2. Complete all CSS for small screens (mobile first) and prepare file for progressive enhancements. The Chrome Add-on I mentioned in class is Measure (can help you measure line lengths without manually having to count characters).