Mark Addison Smith

This research, discussion, and critique course develops a visual and verbal vocabulary by examining relationships between form and content, word and image. Study includes symbolic association and the problem of effective communication in a highly complex culture.

In this course students explore the principles of visual communication by creating two-dimensional printed comprehensive layouts, and three-dimensional mock-ups. Stress is placed on process and development of solutions to problems; idea and form exploration; research; image and text development; compositional structure and hierarchy; verbal, technical, and hand skills. The course also covers the technical aspects of graphic design such as printing methods, papers, and binding. Students will produce 3?4 finished pieces exploring the use of image and type in both single page format, multi-page format, and possibly three-dimensional format. These projects are to be included in the VCD department's obligatory portfolio review for advancement into the VCD intermediate courses.

This critique seminar explores conceptual and structural configurations of personal and public cultural space. Constructing discourses about social, cultural and political phenomena, students derive content and voice to produce process artifacts that may range from a communications tool (a singular, interactive element) to a communications scenario (a system of urban or media elements). Two projects are given, each using a distinct methodology. Beginning with a focus on personal cultural space, students investigate the influence of mediated messages on the construction of identity using a generative matrix, pairing symbol systems with functions of communication. The semester continues with a focus on public cultural space, as students examine the dynamics of a chosen community using the process of dialogical mapping, developing diagrams that clarify rhetorical and metaphoric relationships within a community. Each methodology introduced in this seminar is inferred from linguistic analysis, intended to reveal and cultivate the complexities within each student's work.

This critique seminar explores conceptual and structural configurations of personal and public cultural space. Constructing discourses about social, cultural and political phenomena, students derive content and voice to produce process artifacts that may range from a communications tool (a singular, interactive element) to a communications scenario (a system of urban or media elements). Two projects are given, each using a distinct methodology. Beginning with a focus on personal cultural space, students investigate the influence of mediated messages on the construction of identity using a generative matrix, pairing symbol systems with functions of communication. The semester continues with a focus on public cultural space, as students examine the dynamics of a chosen community using the process of dialogical mapping, developing diagrams that clarify rhetorical and metaphoric relationships within a community. Each methodology introduced in this seminar is inferred from linguistic analysis, intended to reveal and cultivate the complexities within each student's work.