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Here is the Paper Lecture I gave in class today: the Keynote version, and the PDF version.

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Here is the Concept/Idea presentation I gave in class.

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Project 3 links

What does it mean to be “from” somewhere, “of” someplace? Design a book which explores your personal geography: a place that has helped to make you who you are. You may interpret place and geography in any way you wish: it could be a literal geographic location or a more metaphysical space which helps to define you. Your book might function well as a first or last project in your final portfolio, to tell others something about who you are—and where you are coming from, or where you are going.

Below are some student examples of this project from recent years, which range from extremely complex built objects to much more humble (but conceptually strong) traditional books:

Sebastian Yepes’s book, Stolen, about the theft of his beloved violin and how he finally healed from the loss when he met the woman who became his wife.

Alexis Fowler’s book, Impressions, emerged out of a papermaking course she was taking. She realized that all of the people closest to her had made different impressions on her life, so she made a custom paper for each in this book. 

Austin Alphonse’s book, OneTwo, consists of two parts (One is here, and Two is here), each of which explores the happy and sad halves of his personality; the books show off his strong writing skills with excerpts from his journals.

Christy Chen’s book (the name of which I cannot recall as it’s all in Chinese!), was a moving examination of her relationship with her mother, who died when Christy was young. The memories of her mother were fleeting and precious, so the book was all white and had to be handled with gloves which she provided.

Ashleigh Korona’s book, A Manual, was a removable-spine book about her relationship with her father, who taught her how to repair cars. Read one way, it’s “How to Replace a Cylinder Head,” and read the other way it’s “How to be a Daughter.” The cover features fingerprints made with oil from her father’s garage.

Lee House’s book, Finding Place: A Self-Portrait through Maps, is the perfect vehicle for a guy who spent his life as an outdoorsman and orienteer. 

Mariah Beard’s book, Where I’m From, Where I’m Going, emerged out of her desire to break away from the Boston area and head out to Arizona, which she considered her “adopted home.” She took advantage of the silkscreen class she was enrolled in to silkscreen a small edition of her book.

Sean Morse’s book, Soles of Identity, told the story of his life so far through sneakers, of which he had a huge collection. He created a “taxonomy” of the shoes along with a custom rating system; the book was packaged in a shoe box, naturally.

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From XKCD.com

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Project 2 links

Did you know that in state prisons in this country African Americans are imprisoned at 5.1 times the rate of whites? That the U.S. has only 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prison population? That the female prison population in the U.S. is now eight times higher than it was in 1980, and more than 60% of women in state prisons have at least one child under 18? The prison system in the United States—consisting of federal and state prisons, both public and private—is the subject of this visual explanation project.

Here’s a link to the excellent research guide that Greg Wallace helped put together through the MassArt Library.

Here’s a link to my Evernote notebook on the subject, with lots of links to relevant articles and statistics!

Here are some past student examples to get you inspired. Note that I can’t post the *print* examples here, but I’ll show them to you in class.

Fukushima nuclear meltdown, by Jules Farnham

Hurricane Katrina, by Amanda Warren

The BP Oil Spill, by John Boilard

Student Debt, by Ally Phelps

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Make that Pitch!

Thinking already about designing your pitch to WorkAround? Here are some links to get you started...

https://deardesignstudent.com/how-to-pitch-a-project-4a391f7cf3b3

“How to win the pitch” (printed version of this was handed out in class)

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The e-book on Impact Sourcing is here (taken from the Cloud Factory website)

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Project 1 links

WorkAround is a Massachusetts-based startup company, founded by a Syrian woman who was herself a refugee, which seeks to tap into the growing business processing outsourcing market and provide these refugees with opportunities to earn an income in their host countries through “microtasks” (such as data entry, link checking, image tagging etc). WorkAround needs a well-designed branding package to take it to the next stage of its development. You will design a branding proposal, including logo, website prototype, and funding pitch deck that clearly communicates the mission of the company and how it helps both US business and Syrian refugees.

Most recent presentation that Jennie gave in class today:

WorkAround’s current pitch video is here.

WorkAround’s current “pitch deck” is here

Past WorkAround logos with client notes are here

WorkAround’s MassChallenge page is here.

WorkAround’s current website is here 

Some links to information about the Syrian refugee crisis (required reading):

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-refugees-idUSKBN1710XY

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2015/12/151209100759278.html

https://fee.org/articles/who-are-the-syrian-refugees/

https://www.thenational.ae/world/why-many-refugees-fleeing-to-europe-are-highly-educated-1.132319

What is business process outsourcing? (required reading):

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2015/06/22/getting-a-piece-of-business-process-outsourcing/#25aebb1b2a64

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwork

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/microwork-is-the-new-new-buzzword-in-global-outsourcing/article1496456/

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/417082/the-truth-about-digital-sweat-shops/

This looks like a company with a similar model, if you want to see what its online presence looks like:

https://www.samasource.org/

Here are some recent branding proposals done by GD4 students as examples for you to look at:

Austin Alphonse’s responsive branding system for the Swiss ski town of Kitzbuhel (MassArt senior Fall 2016)

Christy Chen’s adorable branding for New England Zoo. (MassArt senior Fall 2016)

Mindy Villaran’s dynamic (and interactive) logo for TuitionTrack (MassArt senior Fall 2015)

Pink Nye’s dynamic logo presentation for Barrel (MassArt senior Fall 2015)

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Course downloads

Course syllabus and grading policy

Project 1 assignment sheet

Project 2 assignment sheet

Project 3 assignment sheet

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About this course

Course Description In this senior-level course in the Graphic Design department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, students will be asked to formulate and solve advanced problems in graphic design, meeting professional standards in execution as well as demonstrating personal vision and growth throughout the semester. Students will be expected to perform at the highest possible conceptual level. Successful completion of all Junior year major courses is the pre-requisite for entrance into this course.

Course Objectives To gain confidence in taking a complex project and a system from concept through finish; to experiment with a variety of problem-solving methods; to gain expertise in working with multiple levels of typography and meaning; to gain experience in presenting your work to others; to recognize your personal design process and make it more effective; to develop three portfolio-quality projects in preparation for entrance into Portfolio class in the Spring.

K E Y   D A T E S Last class meeting: Thursday December 14 Senior Reviews: Wednesday, December 20