visual design 2008

first lecture: wednesday 7 februari, 11.00-12.45, S111

As in 2007, Federico Campanale will be guest lecturer, to have a solid link with artistic practice. In addition, there will be contributions from Marek van de Watering, among other things about semiotic theory and visual grammar(s).

However, if you are looking for a theoretical course, or solid guidelines, the visual design course is not for you. This will (again) be a course about practical experience, critical discussions, and hopefully inspiring examples. Also, do not forget to read the guidelines.

As last year, presence at the lectures is obligatory. If you miss any lectures, or for that matter any of the deadlines without a good reason, you're out.

suggestion(s) -- inspiration(s)

what shall we do this year?

This is already the fourth year that the course will be given. The third year for Federico to be a guest lecturer. Thinking about the design course 2007, I wondered what should be the focus. For lack of a better phrase I thought of storytelling within a game, but I realized that my personal interest is often more directed towards the visual experience, or to put it more bluntly the visual effects. Anyway, the course should be about aesthetics, and, one way or another, interactive systems. But not in a theoretical way.

Now, thinking about visual design 2008, first of all, although it is useful to explore the notion of visual identity, it is more worthwhile to explore and find inspiration(s), that stimulate you to be creative and authentic.

selected project(s)

random thought(s)

final assignment -- (pseudo-obligatory)

interactive storyytelling using flex/flash video


For this assignment the technology to be used is flex and the flex (flash) video player, that is produced by the Clima Futura team.

The topic of the interactive application is totally free, that is it may be a personal story, a visual love poem, but also a commercial item selling a product or service in a multimedia-enhanced way, or an interactive museum application.

For the final assignment you are encourage to work in groups, to obtain a result that may qualify for international competition(s).

portfolio(s)

To avoid any misunderstanding, the construction of a portfolio is an essential element of visual design. Your portfolio should reflect your visual identity, as well as give (sufficiently) clear information about your designs and the ideas underlying it. Also the study done for the essay must, one way or another, be incorporated in the portfolio.

You are encouraged to experiment with flex technology to develop your portfolio, in order to gain experience with flex. (Introductory material on flex will be made available during the course.)