Motion can be used as a dynamic and interdisciplinary tool to communicate ideas and narratives that utilize time based media. The intention of this studio class is to equip students with understandings of the mechanics of motion, making and working through analysis and discussion of motion pieces, which they will then use to inform decisions, harnessing motion as a tool for presentation of their work and its documentation as well. Students will navigate motion through the 12 principles of animation, assess moving pictures across different media like live action films, traditional animation, stop motion animation, advertising and motion graphics through diverse screenings. They will also draw on their understanding of time, sequencing, narratives and techniques in their own creative practices. Students will begin with a solid foundational understanding of After Effects, be equipped with essential skills and techniques like working with hand-drawn animation, stop motion and motion graphics using text based-media. As a project focus for the course, students will work on a 45-second motion project of their choice, using vector graphics, kinetic type, or object stop motion. From pre-production to post-production, they will consider processes like storyboarding and sound in creating their visual sequences.

Elective

Typography is never innocent, and a shape is never just a shape. Its interaction with social and historical context, its inextricable link to speech and thought, and its record of instrumentalization all make type profoundly political. The interdependency between letterforms and written content shapes how we experience the world; type has the power to attack, convince, appease, influence, and inform us. But can type be an instrument of transformation, an agent in promoting positive social change?

This course invites both designers and non-designers to ask how typography and type design influence public perception and participation and will investigate to what extent typographic variation may be a tool for empowerment and advocacy. The class will investigate typographic standards, questions of readability and accessibility, and 'appropriateness' through a series of three main project prompts, which will encourage students to rethink typography in publications, posters, and their own practice.  Subsequently, case studies, and readings aim at fostering an open discourse about what typographic variation and disruption of norms can mean in times of protest and how a typographic ‘voice’ can act as an agent for positive change and inclusive world-building. 

Discussions will be informed by lectures and readings/works by Angela Riechers, Audre Lorde, L.i.P. Collective, Læ collectiv·f·e Bye Bye Binary, Sang Mun, Beatrice Caciotti, BeOakley, Corinne Ang, Imad Gebrayel, Silas Munro, and Sabiha Basrai. Visual references include the work of Sister Corita Kent; Emory Douglas (and material from the NY Schomburg Center 'Black Power' exhibition); AIDS-era protest graphics of ACT UP; feminist direct-action graphics of the Women's Action Coalition; anti-Vietnam-war material from the NYPL exhibition 'You Say You Want a Revolution' and more.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $80.00

Elective

“A picture is worth a thousand words”, and that is the level of impact activists aim to achieve when they employ the use of posters in various movements. By looking at posters made for political revolutions and social movements across different cultures, this course will challenge students to engage with critical issues and use visual communication to explore their points of view and find their voices in the social and political realms.

Political posters span across a broad spectrum. They can be about macro-politics such as war/peace, environmental issues, gun regulation, LGBTQ, disability rights, government propaganda, etc. Micro-politics in our day-to-day within organizations such as schools, companies, or other community spaces can also be addressed through posters. Lastly, the personal is political as well. Identities shape the way we experience and perceive the world. This course aims to help students identify what they believe in and to visualize and distribute their message through posters.

Conducted in lecture, seminars, and studio assignments. Students will use typography, photos, and illustrations to create their own compelling posters. We will learn from existing visual heritage and analyze how people tackled difficult topics and supported their causes across a variety of social contexts using the form of the poster. We will look at posters from ACT UP, the Civil Rights Movement, Barbara Kruger, Martha Rosler, Martin Wong, and more. Students will learn to harness their typographic and pictorial skills to address pressing social issues and amplifying underrepresented voices. All majors are welcome.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $30.00

Elective

The poster has been an archetypal graphic design format since the late 19th century when lithographic printing technology came of age and captured the imagination of artists, bringing their vision into Paris streets. This course will invite you to explore future possibilities and contexts for the poster-as paper and as screen-building on its singular capacity to transform ideas into iconic picture planes; and examining the dynamics of typography and image, both still and in motion. Prompts will progress from individual posters, to sequences, to site-specific installations that explore the potential for interactive discourse in public space. Studio assignments will be supported with presentations and readings about poster history and contemporary poster design.

Elective

This is a course about design and motion, filtered through the lens of real-world, graphic design applications. From film titles to animated gifs, design installations to handheld applications, motion is an important consideration in 21st century graphic design. This course combines disciplines of graphic design, animation, storytelling and sound design. Through a series of in-studio and multi-week assignments, students will create animated projects that include real-world assignments as well as experimental exercises. Short weekly lectures will discuss historic and current works of influential Motion Designers, Animators and Directors. Adobe After Effects will be the primary production tool for this class. Through the sequence of assignments, students will become fluent with the software.

Elective

This studio course is an investigation in the act of making. We’ll begin the semester by looking at performance theory, linguistics, ornamentation, and replication to explore the “act,” and simultaneously use digital fabrication, material research and hand craft to explore the “making.” You will further expand on these ideas by applying lenses of your choice to develop your own methodologies and frameworks to situate your work within a larger conversation about making and graphic design. While our primary modes of making will be within the realm of digital fabrication (using the resources at CoWorks), we will also incorporate other modalities to explore the tensions between presenting information/concepts and performing design. Course meetings will range from group discussions, making and fabrication demonstrations, work time and critiques. This course is designed for the graphic design student who already has an established independent practice with strong research and conceptual interests. The class will culminate in a final project that will support, enhance or evolve your Graphic Design Degree Project or Thesis.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $125.00

Elective

Digital text is an interface for so much of our emotive, interpersonal, industrial, and political lives. Language in digital space is inseparable from the aesthetics of automation, network culture, and its origins within computational history. What is the role of a graphic designer in digital space-where language is simultaneously content and code, and exists at such scales that we begin to call it data.

This course will be a laboratory for designers to explore the relationship between computation and language. We will transform text using processes such as paper cut-up, copy paste, autocomplete, crowdsourcing, and Natural Language Processing models. Through projects, we will explore questions like, How does the addition of computational ingredients- networks, automation, randomness, etc- affect the visual form and meaning of language? Who produces digitally-based language, and how?

Students will create projects through a range of expressions, including but not limited to websites, printed objects, and readings-out-loud. Students will be supported if they want to pursue project work through HTML/CSS, p5.js, RiTa.js, Twine, Scratch, or NLP engines like GPT2. As part of this class, we will also discuss the ongoing relationships between computation, reading, and writing in a social context - transcription workers, human computers, web moderators, and so on. Basic HTML, CSS and/or programming experience is helpful but not required.

Elective

Motion design is a powerful, foundational feature of digital screens. It helps direct the viewer’s attention, present information sequentially, add personality or depth to otherwise static graphics, contextualize interactive elements, and so much more. In this studio elective, students will learn the fundamentals of motion design and explore a wide variety of video and animation techniques. We will look at a wide range of influences and styles ranging from stop motion animation, to film title sequences, to early-Internet Flash animations, to interface design, to contemporary practices for brand identities and social media. Instruction will focus on digital motion design using Adobe After Effects, with additional tutorials in Premiere Pro, audio production, and HTML/CSS for web-based animations. Students will leave the course with a broad overview of the field of motion design and a deep understanding of rhythm, timing, sequence, narrative, and expression.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $25.00

Elective

This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of motion graphics, as well as the implementation of video, and sound design. Students will learn a variety of motion graphics software, such as Adobe After Effects and Premier, as well as studio tools like Ableton Live, and/or other audio-visual programs. Students will learn how to capture, manipulate, mix and optimize audio visual material for final production and implementation. Through a series of in-class and multi-week assignments, students will create animated projects that include motion design real-world assignments, as well as experimental exercises, with the goal of exploring intersections between graphic design, story telling, visual composition, and the realms of rhythm and sound. Adobe After Effects will be the primary production tool for this class. Each student will propose a long term project, this project will be developed throughout the semester and presented as the final project for the class. In addition to our software tutorials, there will be a series of short weekly lectures to review specific histories, and also current practitioners who are using motion graphics and sound to create works in the worlds of design, fine art, and performance.

Elective

Building on a collection of texts at the intersection of language, identity, and societal conditioning, this course examines the extent to which typography can engage in world building and the production and dissemination of proposals for alternative systems. Through a series of parallel assignments including reading, writing, and making, we will individually and collectively explore different strategies and mediums through which we can activate a multitude of voices and approaches that comprise our complex world of many worlds.

Elective

In this Graphic Design studio, students will learn the building blocks of book construction. In addition to handwork and bindery skills, students will work to set type, manually and digitally, to match their conceptual vision and learn to plan, execute and create well crafted book projects. The course will cover the history of the book from codexes and manuscripts all the way through modern zines to give us context for our technical work. We will study the medium of the artists’ book which, though rooted in traditional book forms, take on any shape and design that the artist can imagine. This medium has a rich history—we’ll study exemplars in the Special Collections archive and visit with contemporary artists in the field. 

Craft is essential to creating effective forms that tell the story of our design practice. How can the technical skills learned in traditional book binding be adapted to your vision and voice?

Elective

This course is for students who want to explore or further develop their understanding of typography. It will cover the study of letterforms, type classification, legibility, organization, and hierarchy, along with text applications, grid systems, and page layout. Typography will be examined as a means of communication and as a medium for experimental expression. Projects may include various studies that address text at both micro and macro levels and the creation of posters, signage, and publications. Systematic versus intuitive learning methods, or programming, will be introduced. 

Elective

Type + Code is a studio course in which students combine web programming with variable fonts to create interactive, dynamic typographic experiences. Students will become proficient in code (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) and type design (Glyphs) to create original fonts, web specimens, digital articles, and more. This course encourages students to push the boundaries on contemporary type design and find new or underutilized use cases for experimental typography, both as a form of expression and in practical applications. These experiments are supported by readings from a wide variety of influences, including video games, performance studies, and computer science. No prior experience in type design or coding is required.

Photography plays an important role in the field of graphic design -- within publications, posters, electronic media, etc. Because of the camera's availability and fairly inexpensive cost, photography has become one of the most popular hobbies in the world. Although he/she is in possession of such a device, the average person is not entirely aware of certain image manipulations and other concepts used by the graphic designer. This four-week workshop introduces designers to the lighting studio and the many uses of the camera in creating design artifacts.

Elective

Photography plays an important role in the field of graphic design -- within publications, posters, electronic media, etc. Because of the camera's availability and fairly inexpensive cost, photography has become one of the most popular hobbies in the world. Although he/she is in possession of such a device, the average person is not entirely aware of certain image manipulations and other concepts used by the graphic designer. This four-week workshop introduces designers to the lighting studio and the many uses of the camera in creating design artifacts.

Elective

Photography plays an important role in the field of graphic design -- within publications, posters, electronic media, etc. Because of the camera's availability and fairly inexpensive cost, photography has become one of the most popular hobbies in the world. Although he/she is in possession of such a device, the average person is not entirely aware of certain image manipulations and other concepts used by the graphic designer. This four-week workshop introduces designers to the lighting studio and the many uses of the camera in creating design artifacts.

Elective

From Letterpress to Inkjet: this workshop will offer the students a unique opportunity to connect the dots. Two technologies more than 500 years apart will inspire the students in finding either harmony or discord. Neither is proven wrong. Students will be introduced to the Type Shop through the techniques and procedures for setting and printing metal and wood type on the Vandercook proofing presses. Engaging in this historic craft, newly developed skills will be transformed into contemporary results. The students will unite the digital with the analog technology, for example by feeding a letterpress print through the inkjet plotter or to digitize hot metal type. The options are endless. Specifications on paper selection will be discussed and samples of letterpressed books will be shown for inspiration. Any such targeted integration of science and art goes beyond the sheer structural and aesthetic qualities of given product. But as regards graphic design "product," it must contain the conscious integration of the human factor, technology, and aesthetics to prove effective.

Elective

From Letterpress to Inkjet: this workshop will offer the students a unique opportunity to connect the dots. Two technologies more than 500 years apart will inspire the students in finding either harmony or discord. Neither is proven wrong. Students will be introduced to the Type Shop through the techniques and procedures for setting and printing metal and wood type on the Vandercook proofing presses. Engaging in this historic craft, newly developed skills will be transformed into contemporary results. The students will unite the digital with the analog technology, for example by feeding a letterpress print through the inkjet plotter or to digitize hot metal type. The options are endless. Specifications on paper selection will be discussed and samples of letterpressed books will be shown for inspiration. Any such targeted integration of science and art goes beyond the sheer structural and aesthetic qualities of given product. But as regards graphic design "product," it must contain the conscious integration of the human factor, technology, and aesthetics to prove effective.

Elective

From Letterpress to Inkjet: this workshop will offer the students a unique opportunity to connect the dots. Two technologies more than 500 years apart will inspire the students in finding either harmony or discord. Neither is proven wrong. Students will be introduced to the Type Shop through the techniques and procedures for setting and printing metal and wood type on the Vandercook proofing presses. Engaging in this historic craft, newly developed skills will be transformed into contemporary results. The students will unite the digital with the analog technology, for example by feeding a letterpress print through the inkjet plotter or to digitize hot metal type. The options are endless. Specifications on paper selection will be discussed and samples of letterpressed books will be shown for inspiration. Any such targeted integration of science and art goes beyond the sheer structural and aesthetic qualities of given product. But as regards graphic design "product," it must contain the conscious integration of the human factor, technology, and aesthetics to prove effective.

Elective

This workshop will use Risograph printing to combine practical prepress skills with experimental form-making. The aim of the workshop is to teach students to consider the craft and value of well-planned files to produce high-quality outputs that can be replicated and shared. By focusing on the Risograph printer students will work within a series of technical constraints that will require creative solutions as well as a strong understanding of this particular printing process, color, paper, and file preparation.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $40.00

Elective