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New Summer Class: Graphic Design as Art! Sign Up! Sign Up!

Graphic Design as Art: ART 399

This course will focus on creating graphic work that is non-commercial in motive and application and instead examines the history of graphic design in an art context, from the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements, Dada, Constructivism, Surrealism, Lettrism, Psychedelia, to contemporary graphic artist that play dual roles in commercial graphic design and art. This course will include class discussions, lectures and research into the history of graphic design in an art context. In-class workshops will culminate in one final project that can be a singular piece or modual piece to exhibited in a gallery/art space and/or public space. Projects will be etermined by student and instructor consultation.

Course open to juniors and seniors in graphic design and fine art.

Show & Tell! Jelly Helm IN PERSON this Thursday the 7th at noon in room 160

Installation, Wieden+Kennedy, 2008

 

Branding/Renaming for Oregon Council for the Humanities, 2009

Timbers, No Pity, 2010

Please help us welcome Jelly Helm to room 160 for this week's Show & Tell. Jelly will be joining us in person this Thursday the 7th at noon in the Art Annex to share with us his story. Please join us!

A bit about Jelly Helm Studio:

 

We are a communication studio in Portland, Oregon. We work with purpose-driven people and companies to articulate and powerfully express their stories.

Clients include ForestEthics, Imperial Woodpecker, Infectious Diseases Research Institute, Oregon Humanities, Portland Timbers, Red Hat, University of California, Wikipedia and Youth, Rights & Justice.Jelly Helm is formerly Executive Creative Director of Wieden+Kennedy in Portland and Amsterdam, Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University Adcenter, Group Creative Director at The Martin Agency, and Founder/Director of W+K 12, Wieden+Kennedy’s experimental in-house school.

 

Building the new PSU.GD Website...

...right before your very eyes!!!

On January 26th, 31st and February 2nd Assistant Professor Ian Whitmore will be demonstrating the fundamentals of setting up and creating a custom WordPress web site during his ART440 class from 3:00-6:00pm.

He is inviting any upper division Graphic Design majors who have taken/or are taking ART341 to drop in and follow along, take notes and see the general awesomeness that is WordPress.

Faculty are welcome to attend as well! 

This will be a demonstration only so note taking will be essential. He is going to look into recording the demos to create some tutorial videos later on.

WHEN? January 26th, 31st and February 2nd (possibly one more day)Shattuck Hall  Rm. 107 (Northwest corner of the basement)3:00-6:00PM

Portland AIGA SHIFT 5 Salon: What does sustainable design mean to you?

AIGA Shift 5 Salon: What does sustainable design mean to you?

November 18, 2010 / 7:00pm - 9:30pm  / Ecotrust 721 NW 9th Avenue

Students from Chris North’s 5wk seminar “Waste Not” (ART 471) will present at this event.

Congratulations to Jessica Cerrato, Jason Heglund, Justin Lucero, Bruce Myhre, Stephanie Kotaniemi, Heather Noddings!

above: Think. Less. by Jessica Cerrato, Jason Heglund, Justin Lucero

Think. Less. Proposes that the true environmental, social & economic costs of consumer choices are not visible to consumers. If the cost of waste were made more transparent, by connecting the price at the cash register with the cost in terms of environmental, social and economic sustainability, it might foster a sense of urgency and responsibility about our finite resources.The tools of branding are used for a labeling/receipt system that ranks waste for food products.Consumers are awarded points for making purchases that generate less waste. These points canbe used towards purchase of further low-waste items. 

above: Perfectly Fine by Bruce Myhre, Stephanie Kotaniemi,Heather Noddings

Perfectly Fine is a proposal to Rebrand Portland’s Municipal Water Supply. Bottled water represents one of the most egregious examples of needless waste in our culture, but most efforts to shift behavior focus on the negative approach of discouraging the use of bottled water.Perfectly Fine takes on the challenge of the negative perception of bottled water by exploring are-branding and marketing campaign for Portland tap water. 

Waste Not is a five week seminar that engages graphic design students in discussion and hands on research to rethink the role they play in product design, packaging, distribution and marketing. Students review, discuss and brainstorm social, environmental and economic issues related to waste. Key concepts addressed include de-materialization (dependency on the material whenwhat you really need is the service), the true cost of a product versus perceived wants and needs,our throw-away culture and the process of understanding how choices or actions influence oneanother within a whole.

Congratulations to these fine students and their wonderful presentations for being selected. Now go and hear them be presented on November 18th! GOOD WORK!

PSU GD + Studio 360 = This Weekend!

Studio 360 contacted me (Kate!) a few weeks back looking for an illustrator to rethink Uncle Sam for an upcoming radio/online feature. I proposed that we make this a PSU Graphic Design project and bring in some of our fantastic students to interpret the Uncle Sam challenge. They rose to the challenge BIG TIME. Check out their fantastic results and our process HERE. 

I sat down with the host Kurt Anderson a week or so ago in the WNYC studios to talk about the work and their process and prior to this, Studio 360 sent a sound engineer to record one of our group meetings. What a fun experience. The students did such a wonderful job.

Students participating: Sarah Baugh, Colby Brooks, Justin Flood, Nate Garvison, Nicole Lavelle, Carrie Peters, Jasmine Silver, Ben Vickery, Sage Warner and Christy Lee Zilka.

The end results of both these projects will air THIS WEEKEND...

Nationally on XM and SIRIUS on channel 196, Saturday July 3rd at 2PM. In New York on 93.9 FM Saturday July 3rd at 4PM, and Sunday July 4th at 11AM. In San Francisco on 88.5 FM Saturday July 3rd at 9PM. In Eugene, Oregon on 1280 AM Saturday July 3rd at 9AM and Sunday July 4th at 10AM. In Tilamook, Oregon on 91.1 AM Sunday July 4th at 8PM.

And will be available as a Podcast on Studio 360’s website. Tune in!

Waste Not | Art 471 White Papers

above image from How Green is Green? submitted by Ryan Sonderegger, Jamie Oelrich and Dustin Norton. Instructor: Chris North

For five weeks ART 471 students reviewed, discussed and brainstormed social, environmental and economic issues related to waste created by product packaging. Key concepts discussed included, de-materialization (dependency on the material when what you really need is the service), the true cost of a product versus perceived wants and needs, our throw-away culture and the process of understanding how choices or actions influence one another within a whole. Waste Not is a white paper of proposed solutions to this conundrum.

 

Three students in 471 (Shannon Crutchfield, Micah Fuller, MinJi Pak) have been selected to present their project at the AIGA SHIFT Salon. In addition, Jamie Oelrich, Ryan Sonderegger and Dustin Norton have been selected as alternates to present at SHIFT.

This class is taught by Chris North.

Please take a peek at their flickr group to read some of the discussion that happened this quarter as well. Also, please download all of the White Papers for further reading. These students are great and so are their concepts!

Download Waste Not White Papers HERE!

Continue after the jump to read all of the White Paper summaries. GOOD WORK ALL!

POTATO SANS / POTATO SERIF : Dispatch from Matt Livengood's Typography Class!

Created with flickr slideshow.

  

Q: Why on Earth would you be asked to bring a sharp kitchen knife to your typography class? 

A: Without that sharp knife, you can't carve potato? Obviously. Duh. 

Earlier this Spring, my typography students engaged in the very, very serious art of creating block prints from potatoes. We began the term with some reading and discussion of historic typographic technologies: moveable type, letterpress, etc. But in order to put into action the things we were examining, I thought it would be good for the class to get their hands dirty (read: starchy) by making their own blocks of typography for printing. 

Certainly, carving letters out of a potato isn't quite the same as what the old masters used to do; potatoes are drastically different than steel blocks and lead slugs. But the basic concept is the same: you want to produce a raised letterform on the flat surface of a block that can be inked and then used for printing that letterform on paper. What the class did with their potatoes required skill and patience, yes, but after spending a good deal of time and attention on their potato print blocks, I wondered aloud, "Can you imagine doing this same carving of letterforms in steel for, say, a letter of type measuring 6 points?" (We were working in 180 pt. type.) I think we could all agree that such an activity was… beyond both our means and materials. 

Briar's Excellent Student Work Round Up from Winter 2010!

Above: August Miller's Stamps from Briar's Winter 224

Above: Matthew Noe's Stamps from Briar's Winter 224

Above: Tanya Naylor's Editorial from Briar's Winter 200

I asked our faculty to send Command Save examples of GREAT work from winter term and Briar jumped at the chance to feature three of her stellar students.

CHECK out Sophomores August Miller, Matthew Noe and Tanya Naylor!

More images and Briar's commentary after the jump!

Let's Think, Designers!

 

Have space in your schedule next term?

The Art Department is rolling out a new course offering for Winter Term, and I'm really excited about it. Sign up now!

What: Design Thinking, Art 199 (can also be a CBA ART 399 for students needing upper division credits.)

Description: This course addresses what graphic design is and examines the many ways in which design engages audiences. Students explore the language and media of graphic design, considering its conceptual and practical methodologies and generating an understanding of the ways it can be framed, made, and used. This overview will foster a more nuanced understanding of the larger discourse of graphic design.

Who: Taught by Matt Livengood, open to students of all levels.

When: Monday and Wednesday, 9-11:50 am. 

Get this:
CAN BE USED TO REPLACE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
ART112 (IDEA & FORM)
ART115 (2-D DESIGN)
ART117 (3-D DESIGN)

Image: Mark A. Hicks

Experimental Type In Context // ART 354

At the beginning of my (Lis C.) Typography Two course we focus on exploring typography & language; meaning & message; and medium, context & environment. Our goal is to develop inventive work that explores how typographic treatment and context affect meaning and message. We consider our experimenting to be (quick) typographic journeys. Here are some of the students' fearless type and meaning explorations (and even more after the jump!). Enjoy!

Nate Preston  // Experimental Type In Context at PSU // http://www.constantprocedure.com/

Nate Preston  // Experimental Type In Context at PSU // http://www.constantprocedure.com/

 

Nate Preston  // Experimental Type In Context at PSU // http://www.constantprocedure.com/

Jessica Cerrato // Experimental Type In Context //

 

Nicole Lavelle // Experimental Type In Context //

 

Nicole Lavelle // Experimental Type In Context // digital mock-up of banner

Nicole Lavelle // Experimental Type In Context //

 

Jordan Lessler // Experimental Type In Context //

Jordan Lessler // Experimental Type In Context //

Alex Bellerud // Experimental Type In Context //

Alex Bellerud // Experimental Type In Context //

Alex Bellerud // Experimental Type In Context //