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May 1 – Wrapping Up

Class Topics

Deadlines

  • Presentation (May 6 and 8): Plan on making a 7–8min professionally designed presentation (submit at PDF) highlighting the new work and revisions you made as part of 414 (the work you share cannot be work that you are getting credit for in another course). Showing your process book is not appropriate.
    • New work should include an overview of the design problem and intended audience. Show your process. Show ideation, prototypes, iteration, color studies, etc. Highlight key decisions you made and why you made them. Be sure to connect you decision-making back to the design problem and your intended audience. Your slides should be the visual support for the story you are telling. Most slides will not need more than a heading and image(s).
    • Revised work should include a before and after image. Please make sure you indicate what the brief is (it is ok if you revised it for the purposes of your portfolio). Point out the changes you made and explain why you made those changes.
  • Design Notebook of Project Revisions/New Work (Due May 6, submit PDF and packaged InDesign files). Details of what to include are in the class syllabus.
  • Performance Review (Due May 13 at 2pm, drop off a printed copy in Rebecca’s mailbox and submit PDF on Google Drive).
  • Practice Interview (May 13 and May 14). Sign-ups will be on May 6.
  • Debrief Meeting with Rebecca (sign up for a date/time during finals week after your interview)

April 30 – Development

Class Topics

  • Strategic Coding
    • Develop a pattern library/reusable modules. What is the list of modules that you need? Start with typography (headings, subheads, paragraphs, text links, etc.)
    • Collaborative Coding: Use class time to code, iterate so that you have older versions of code to go back to.
      • Github: Version control and project management. Free.
      • Multihack: Web collaborative coding environment, extension for Brackets has more features available (in Brackets go to File > Extension Manager > Search for Multihack > then click install). Code simulataneously in real time. Make a new copy of the code folder every time you start a collaborative session just to make sure you have a good backup. Free.
      • Codeshare: Web collaborative coding environment. Has good formatting. Need to back up files. Free.
      • Codepen: Online development environment. Has ability to build multiple page prototypes that are coded and live on the web (even with free account). Can collaboratively code on higher end accounts. Can make “forks” on individual files for version control.

Timeline Reminders

  • Tuesday, May 7 at the start of class: Critique of coded mobile design
  • Thursday, May 9 at the start of class: Critique of coded large screen design
  • Monday, May 13 at noon: Final website (must be live) and copyright documentation
  • Thursday, May 16 at 8am: Final Presentations (Dragontown Town Board will be present) and Portfolio Documentation Due
  • Thursday, May 16 at 11:59PM: Process books (individual), timesheet, and team survey due.

April 29 – Critique

Class Topics

Due to the length of our workshop last class, there is an extensive number of students in need of critique today. To facilitate timely feedback for all we will spend the first hour of class in our individual creative groups. Please divide up the hour evenly between your group members (use a timer).

  • Creative Groups: 1 hour of critique (2pm – 3pm)
  • 5 Minute consultations/critique with Rebecca for those who had signed up for critique with her last Wednesday or today (3pm – 5pm)

Homework (Due May 1)

  • Professional Package (updated files and prints) and accompanying design notebook
  • Portfolio (web and PDF)
  • Applying for a job evidence
  • Professional development

April 25: Testing

Class Topics

  • Designing useful user tests
    • Don’t lead the witness.
    • You are testing the product not the tester.
    • Use open-ended questions.
    • Ask the user to share their thought process out loud.
  • Designing useful proofs of concept
    • Consider the essence of the product or service.
    • Consider key user flows.
    • Build less by being strategic.
    • Consider accessibility from the beginning.
  • Website Case Study: Adobe Creative Types Quiz, background information on the quiz available in “We all have a creative type” by Carolyn Gregoire in Adobe Create Magazine.

April 16 – Prototyping

Class Topics

  • UI Challenge
  • Finish feedback/site evaluations. Print and have Rebecca review. Revise as necessary. These need to be handed back to 317 students today.
  • Work on thumbnails and prototypes

Homework

  • Work on building paper prototypes that you can test in class.

April 16 – Planning

Class Topics

  • Work on Pitches
  • Planning
    • Content First: To meet the goals of the website and the needs/desires of the audience what content do you need? How long is that content? Is the content text? Are there images, video or sound? How will this content be organized? (Work on list of content and how it would be organized. Develop content once you know which project you will pursue)
    • Visual Approach: Brand/Style Guide, Moodboards (this will be iterative and should be the start of a conversation about visual direction; these will need to be refined once you know what your content is)
    • Layouts and userflows: thumbnails and paper prototypes (Google Rapid Prototyping, Low Fidelity Prototype Testing of EE App, Paper Prototyping Techniques). Start with thumbnails to generate lots of ideas and then prototype when you think you have settled on a couple of ideas worth exploring more deeply. Prototype critique/testing is next Wednesday, April 25.

Homework

  • Prepare for pitches. Dress the part. Practice. Bring presentation in more than one format including on a USB drive in case the internet decides it is nto going to work. Consider bringing printed materials if relevant. Presentations will start at 11am. You will have from 9:35-11am to rehearse, prepare and get set up.

April 11 – Research

Class Topics

  • Team Communication: Shared Drive and Slack Channel
  • Establishing Group Roles: Project Manager, Lead Visual Designer, Lead Developer
  • Brainstorm: Ways a website can address the problem your team identified in Dragontown. You need to run five different ideas (not variations of the same idea) by your Creative Director today in class.
  • Audience: Who is the primary audience for each proposal? Why? Who are the secondary audiences? Why?
  • Research: Personas and Competitive/Peer Analysis
  • Goals: Client Goals and Audience Goals

Homework

  • Complete all research and goal setting in preparation for pitch development in class on Tuesday. Start thumbnails and moodboards.

April 9 – Presentations

Class Topics

Homework

  • Brainstorm ways a website could address the issue your team identified in class today. Come up with as many ideas as possible.
  • Review assignment sheet and write one page discussing what you need to do to make you and your team successful on this project. Remember that the assignment is worth a large percentage of your grade, so you need to plan for success.

March 25: Countdown Begins

Class Topics

  • 2pm Visiting Graphic Designer
  • 3pm CNY Compete Practice Presentation
  • Sign-up for critique times
  • What is a portfolio template? Includes: hierarchy, key repeating content blocks, consistent metadata, consistent formatting (including typesetting and whitespace), etc. Examples: The Lab, Adjacent, Pinckney Hugo, Mower, Digital Hyve.
  • 4pm work time

Homework

  • Work on portfolio templates. Plan to receive feedback no later than April 8.

March 11: LinkedIn

Class Topics

  • Using LinkedIn to network and find/apply for jobs.
  • Check in with Rebecca about work plan

Homework

  • Work on LinkedIn profile
  • Start sketches on portfolio layout (both web portfolio and PDF portfolio).

March 7: Work Day

Class Topics

  • UI Exercise
  • Work on poster layouts

Homework

  • Finalize Project 1 including portfolio documentation, process book and website. Be prepared to present your work on Tuesday!

March 6 – Demos

Class Topics

  • Silouette Demo @ 3 in 33
  • Photography Demo at 3:30 in 33
  • Discuss work plans

Homework

  • Work on items in your work plan. Add in a plan for designing the portfolio itself.

March 5: Documenting Work

Class Topics

  • Thinking in sketches: Making and using effective and useful thumbnails and wireframes
  • Critique on Project 1
  • Discussion of presenting work (both as a presentation and as a poster) and documenting work for your portfolio.
  • UI exercise (do at the end of class today)

March 5: Thinking in Sketches

Class Topics

  • Thinking in sketches: Making and using effective and useful thumbnails and wireframes
  • Open Type Features: ligatures, small caps, old-style figures, lining-figures, tabular figures, fractions, etc.
  • CSS Properties: font-variant-ligatures, font-variant-caps, font-variant-numeric, font-feature-settings, text-rendering (See Adobe’s Syntax for OpenType Features for more help)
  • Punctuation: spaces and dashes
  • Google Font Open Type feature resource (notice that this resource is not pefect and is not supported by Google)

Homework

  • Wrap up Exercise 4

February 28: Work Day

Class Topics

  • Focus on revising web version of the Print to Screen project based on feedback from critique. Ideally this should be finished or very close to finished by Tuesday. On Tuesday we are going to shift focus to Phase 5 including how to display, document and present your work.

February 26: Typographic Rhythm

Class Topics

  • Horizontal Rhythm: tracking, kerning, indentation (p+p selector), hanging punctuation)
  • Vertical Rhythm: Baseline grid
  • Checking browser support with caniuse.com
  • Check baseline grid with Chrome Add-on: Baseliner
  • Introduce Exercise 4

Homework

  • Work on sketches and wireframes for Exercise 4
  • Implement horizontal rhythm and baseline grid for mobile in Exercise 4.
  • Read chapters 7 and 8 in Better Web Type

February 25: No Class

For Next Class

Don’t let canceled classes put you behind schedule. Today was designated as a work day and should still be used as such wherever you are. Your identity package (resume and cover letter on letterhead, thank you card with envelope, business cards, and promotional item) with your design notebook are all due a week from today.

On Thursday you will meet in critique groups to review files and look at the typesetting of the résumés and cover letters (remember to bring printed copies to class—ideally, one per group member). Prepare for that review by making sure you are appropriately using paragraph/character styles and master pages in InDesign. Double-check the following:

  • The line-length of the text should not be more than 75 characters. Adjust the margins on your letterhead accordingly.
  • The résumé should be easy to skim by making the hierarchy clear and consistent.
  • Appropriate capitalization and punctuation should throughout your documents.

Next class we will also start discussing the requirements of a professional portfolio.

February 20: Critique

Class Topics

  • What are you planning for your professional development activity?
  • Time Management and Time Keeping (calendars and time trackers like Toggl)
  • Critique of Identity Packages
  • Continue revising and working on Identity Packages

Homework

  • Identity Packages
  • Who are your top 5 design inspirations? Create a short slide deck with each designer and a couple of samples of their work. Include notes on why they inspire you. Be prepared to share with your team on Monday.

February 19: Images

Class Topics

Homework

February 18: Identity Packages

Class Topics

  • Critique on Identity packages (minimally logo, business card and stationery). Be sure to have prints cut to size.
  • Remember to keep your design notebooks up to date.
  • Printer training for group leaders.

Homework

  • Read creative briefs of team members.
  • Prepare for critique if you did not critique today (see above).