Typography in conjunction with imagery poses a challenge for designers and this course addresses these issues through a broad mix of assignments that enables students to improve their aesthetic sensibilities and design skills. Various typefaces are investigated as functioning visual systems and design languages, each one possessing its own organization, proportion, spacing, texture and conveyed meaning. The history of writing systems is presented in daily short slide lectures as a supplement to the studio classes. High-end Mac workstations, digital cameras, a hot-metal typeshop, bookbinding facilities, a photo lighting studio and a darkroom are all available to participants. This course is open to professionals and students with introductory, intermediate or advanced levels of experience, with students assigned projects according to their specific skill levels. For additional information, please contact fwerner@risd.edu.

While computer labs are utilized for each SIGDS course, students are encouraged to augment the studio experience by bringing their own laptops and storage media.

Credit Options: Undergraduate, Non-Credit

This course looks at the structural dynamics and organizing systems at work in graphic design (such as module, proportion, grid, rhythm, progression, series, pattern). To gain an understanding of systems at many levels, students work on design projects from a holistic perspective that stresses the dynamic relationships between form, content and context. Via studio projects students engage in a search for meaning in the layers of visual structures, and in the building of bridges between dissimilar and incongruent systems that make up organic and formulated environments to facilitate and expedite the communication. Visual search also observes the process of design as an integral system for establishing relationships: in selecting visual vocabularies, framing interconnected bodies of visual work, and controlling systems that assist in experiencing information systems (diagramming, identification, wayfinding, media, etc.). Studio work is supplemented with lectures on aspects of systems design. Some knowledge of and competency in beginning typography and the language of two-dimensional design is helpful. Note: Students enrolled in this course for credit will also take part in the workshop Systems + Design: Nonlinear Dynamics, scheduled Thursday + Friday, June 18 + 19, at no additional cost. Students are required to have a digital camera for this course.

While computer labs are utilized for each SIGDS course, students are encouraged to augment the studio experience by bringing their own laptops and storage media.

Credit Options: Undergraduate, Non-Credit

Advanced Workshops
These two advanced workshops on design theory (Systems + Design: Nonlinear Dynamics and Unfolding/Enfolding Meaning) encourage participation by graduate students, professional designers and design educators. At the core of the workshops is the theoretical content Professor Ockerse has gathered and developed over four decades of teaching and shared with his students. Feedback from past participants identifies this experience as a guaranteed enrichment: as food for design inquiry for graduate studies; as a preview of graduate study for prospective students; and as an inquiry into design for all practicing designers or design educators. For all participants, this "meeting of minds" at diverse levels of experience is a unique opportunity to exchange views, gather feedback, and engage in a stimulating discourse. For additional information, contact Thomas Ockerse at tockerse@risd.edu. Early enrollment is highly recommended.

Our changing social and media-dependent environment demands that designers understand the logic of meaning by which design serves to communicate. Without that understanding, design is limited to empty form and senseless embellishment. This workshop offers insight into the mechanisms of meaning by introducing the principles of semiotics as a critical method to help the designer understand meaning in complexity. We transform semiotic theory into practice to unfold meaning from which we can draw in order to enfold ideas into design systems that function as the interface for the user experience to perceive, understand and value. Participants will come to realize how semiotics can become an indispensable analytical -- as well as creative -- tool to: define visual needs; stimulate design innovation; improve the quality of design; apply media; and understand the need for contextual thinking. We also look beyond the limitations of semiotics as an intellectual system, and consider the fuller sense of the mind in experience -- for the user as well as in the design process. Lectures, case studies and practical studio assignments expand this semiotic landscape with intimately related issues that can help create truly inspired design as a conscious, mindful, analogic practice vs. being understood as merely a rational, logical practice. Note: Students are required to have a digital camera (minimum 3 megapixel) for this course.

The poster is an inspiring format for graphic designers. This course builds on a sequence of quick exercises exploring unexpected ways to activate two-dimensional space. The studies are then developed into finished pieces where space and message converge to create powerful posters. This hands-on course is designed to challenge design majors as well as the experienced professional.

While computer labs are utilized for each SIGDS course, students are encouraged to augment the studio experience by bringing their own laptops and storage media.

Credit Options: Undergraduate, Non-Credit

This course is a project-based introduction to designing an interactive web portfolio using Flash. With an emphasis on visual concepts and graphic design for the screen, the course is intended for both beginners with basic computer knowledge but no experience in interactive design, as well as advanced students who wish to build upon previous knowledge. Accordingly, an introduction to Flash is provided, while advanced students get advice on how to integrate sophisticated interaction technologies into their projects. Topics covered include preparing existing content for online presentation using programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator with the goal of learning how to combine these tools with Flash to realize successful visual communication. Also covered are an introduction to Dreamweaver, as well as animation and sound for interactive media, on-screen typography, structuring information within a site's architecture, user experience design and questions of usability and accessibility. Upon successful completion of the course, students create their own web portfolio online. Students are invited to bring the artwork they want to present on their website in digital formats.

While computer labs are utilized for each SIGDS course, students are encouraged to augment the studio experience by bringing their own laptops and storage media.

Credit Options: Undergraduate, Non-Credit

The magazine, as a highly accessible print medium, has remained extremely effective at communicating information even in the age of digital media and the web. This course looks at what makes the magazine distinct as a tactile reading experience, as well as what design elements contribute to making it a powerful and efficient medium. Through an analysis of both American and European magazine design, the course examines the use of elements such as systems, navigational devices, typography, illustration and photography, and applies them in practical exercises. On scheduled field trips, students also have the opportunity to meet creative directors working in the publishing industry.

While computer labs are utilized for each SIGDS course, students are encouraged to augment the studio experience by bringing their own laptops and storage media.

Credit Options: Undergraduate, Non-Credit

Following the chronological development of visual communication from the birth of writing systems 5,000 years ago to the 20th Century, this course focuses on developments in typography, book and magazine design, advertising and propaganda, logos and corporate identity, posters and printed ephemera, as well as exhibition and information design. Students work on two studio projects: the first integrates design and its historical context, while the second focuses on the work of an important 20th-century designer. Slide lectures are given throughout. The course is appropriate for students, design professionals, and teachers of design or design history, even those seeking a general introduction.

While computer labs are utilized for each SIGDS course, students are encouraged to augment the studio experience by bringing their own laptops and storage media.

Credit Options: Undergraduate, Non-Credit

In this course, students design an identity system for an organization or company of their choice. Students begin with creating a visual language and the core graphic elements, such as the logo, color palette, icons and typeface selections. They then design a stationery set, grids, sound, an animation and a website to experience how the identity adapts to different contexts. Students explore what makes an identity successful and cohesive, how an identity translates across media (print, motion and interaction) and aspects of branding. For the final assignment, students create an identity manual. Daily lectures augment the workshop environment. This course is open to students of all levels, as well as professionals. Macintosh labs, digital cameras and video recorders are available to all students.

While computer labs are utilized for each SIGDS course, students are encouraged to augment the studio experience by bringing their own laptops and storage media.

Credit Options: Undergraduate, Non-Credit