Second-semester students in my ARGD 3060 class were divided into four groups with each group given one of four real forms/business papers (two invoices, a health insurance EOB and a bank statement). They were asked to review them critically in terms of information hierarchy, typography, readability and general usability. They then quickly attempted their own redesign(s) by the next class meeting based on the critical review of their group. This was a quick but valuable assignment and I was surprised to see some students had mentioned it in course evaluations as a favorite.
I was fortunate this semester to co-teach a large class of Advanced Typography with my colleague, Eileen Wallace, who specializes in book arts and letterpress. The term culminated in the printing of a collaborative broadside that contained a custom designed letterform or numeral from each student (plus one from each of us to cover A–Z and 0–9). The students picked a letter or numeral from a “hat” at the beginning of the term, along with a specific historical category (such as modern, transitional, etc.) and formal characteristics (such as ‘heavy’ and ‘condensed’). They worked on their designs by hand, the created a vector graphic of their final design, then we used their digital files to create polymer plates. On the last day of the term, each student attached their polymer/design to an individual wood black (kept separate so they could all keep their block). We then set up the design for the broadside in the press and each student was able to pull their own print. I titled the piece The custom characters of ARGD 4030. The students were enthusiastic and excited to get their prints.
The project was fun, as was the instructional collaboration. I hope we can find more ways to collaborate in the print shop in the future.
I was fortunate this semester to co-teach a large class of Advanced Typography with my colleague, Eileen Wallace, who specializes in book arts and letterpress. The term culminated in the printing of a collaborative broadside that contained a custom designed letterform or numeral from each student (plus one from each of us to cover A–Z and 0–9). The students picked a letter or numeral from a “hat” at the beginning of the term, along with a specific historical category (such as modern, transitional, etc.) and formal characteristics (such as ‘heavy’ and ‘condensed’). They worked on their designs by hand, the created a vector graphic of their final design, then we used their digital files to create polymer plates. On the last day of the term, each student attached their polymer/design to an individual wood black (kept separate so they could all keep their block). We then set up the design for the broadside in the press and each student was able to pull their own print. I titled the piece The custom characters of ARGD 4030. The students were enthusiastic and excited to get their prints.
The project was fun, as was the instructional collaboration. I hope we can find more ways to collaborate in the print shop in the future.
I was fortunate this semester to co-teach a large class of Advanced Typography with my colleague, Eileen Wallace, who specializes in book arts and letterpress. The term culminated in the printing of a collaborative broadside that contained a custom designed letterform or numeral from each student (plus one from each of us to cover A–Z and 0–9). The students picked a letter or numeral from a “hat” at the beginning of the term, along with a specific historical category (such as modern, transitional, etc.) and formal characteristics (such as ‘heavy’ and ‘condensed’). They worked on their designs by hand, the created a vector graphic of their final design, then we used their digital files to create polymer plates. On the last day of the term, each student attached their polymer/design to an individual wood black (kept separate so they could all keep their block). We then set up the design for the broadside in the press and each student was able to pull their own print. I titled the piece The custom characters of ARGD 4030. The students were enthusiastic and excited to get their prints.
The project was fun, as was the instructional collaboration. I hope we can find more ways to collaborate in the print shop in the future.