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Projects

Listed below are descriptions and deliverables for our major projects this semester.

  1. Project One: CD Packaging Project
    Description
    For this project, students will design and deliver a rhetorically informed CD package for a collection of songs. Students will determine the occasion/purpose for the song collection: a holiday collection, songs for a special occasion, a greatest hits compliation, a collection of original recordings, etc.
    Focus
    This project aims at developing visual rhetoric and proficiency with image manipulation software.
    Weight
    5%
    Duration
    Weeks 1-3
    Deliverables
    A completed project will include:
    • A CD jewel case or other construction with both a front and back cover. Excellent projects will include song lists either on the back cover or on the inside. Professional quality printing encouraged.
    • A copy of the CD
    • A copy of the creative brief
    • A completed project post-mortem
  2. Project Two: Advertising Campaign Project
    Description
    For this project, students will design and deliver an advertising campaign for an existing project (see deliverables for what is included in the campaign). Students will give short presentations on potential projects that establish why it is a kairotic time for this product to receive a new image. Students will form groups of 3-5 based on presentations.
    Focus
    This project aims at further developing the skills laid out in project one. Additionally, it incorporates team elements and creating shared identity across several compositions. Finally, it will stress audience research and developing kairos.
    Weight
    10%
    Duration
    Weeks 4-6
    Deliverables
    A completed project will include:
    • 3 magazine advertisements
    • A poster (intended for mass transit systems such as subways)
    • A bus banner ad (11'' x 17''-22''-32'')
    • A 20-30 second radio, television ad, or web advertisement or other alternative advertisement (groups of 3 or more)
    • A copy of the team's creative brief
    • A completed team project postmortem (done individually)
  3. Project Three: Web Resume
    Description
    For this project, students will design and code a single web page for their purdue career accounts. This page will be a web resume (for those looking forward to the job market) or vita (for those looking forward to graduate school)
    Focus
    In addition to practicing visual design skills accumulated in our first two projects, this project introduces students to eXtensible Hyper Text Mark-up Language, a.k.a. XHTML, and Cascading Style Sheets, a.k.a. CSS. Students will learn about the importance of web standards and methods for validating code.
    Weight
    5%
    Duration
    Weeks 7-9
    Deliverables
    A completed project will include:
    • One page of semanitc W3C validated XHTML code with corresponding validated CSS
    • A project post-mortem
  4. Project Four: Zen Garden Project
    Description
    The most intense project of the semester, the Zen Garden projects asks students to design a Cascading Style Sheet for The Zen Garden. We will go over the XHTML file in class and identify the divisions, elements, classes, and spans with which students can work (STRESS: you are not allowed to make anu changes to the XHTML file. None. Not a sinlge change
    Students will have three weeks to work on this project. At the end of the project, students from our class (and from other classes) will vote for their four favorite designs. The winning designers will be encouraged to submite their designs to the mezzoblue/zen garden archive (if accepted, this would be a tremendous addition to a resume).
    Focus
    I want to stress that the Zen Garden project is a design project. As such, visual design skills lie at the core of this project: begin by creating a theme for your design--what kind of tone are you attempting to create? Think in terms of adjectives and adverbs before you begin sketching, drafting, and coding. Oh, there's a hint to the process I expect you to follow: sketches, research, Fireworks mock-ups, code. I want to comment on a draft before you begin to write a single line of CSS code.
    This project will be accompanied by an extensive postmortem--and the postmortem grade will be based on your explications for design decisions. I highly advise you keep some kind of design journal and document your decisions as you go (don't count on remebering all the decisions when you finish).
    As above, your first decision concerns design "theme," and you should be looking through the Garden for inspiration. Your second decision should concern layout--one page, two columns, three columns, etc. You'll notice that Shea categorizes desings based on layout, so that's where we'll begin
    Weight
    20%
    Duration
    Weeks 9-12
    Deliverables
    A completed project will include:
    • One validated CSS page
    • A creative brief
    • A project post-mortem
  5. Project Five: Service Learning Project
    Description
    A capstone for everything we have worked on this semester, this project asks students to design and code a website for an instructor on campus. The instructor is responsible for providing students with all content materials--syllabus, projects, calendar, etc. Students, in teams of two, are responsible for producing a workable, sustainable site for instructors. Students will meet with instructors twice: once at the start of the project to gather design information and after completion of the project to present the final results.
    We will be working with Steven Cain from INVOD, re-organizing and designing the INVOD website.
    Focus
    This project seeks to put all the lessons we have learned this semester into practice. Additionally, we will learn to code our sites for cross-browser support and to check for usability.
    Weight
    20%
    Duration
    Weeks 12-16
    Deliverables
    A completed project will include:
    • Complete website with validated XHTML and CSS
    • Cover letter: 1-2 pages, professionally formatted. This cover letter should provide documentation for mangaging the site and discuss design objectives.
  6. Project Six: Final Portfolio Project
    Description
    As the title indicates, this final project asks students to create a professional online portfolio. This can contain either work from our class or work from their major. Essentially, this project expands the web resume of project four into a more comprehensive and professional web presence.
    Focus
    As with project five, this project asks students to combine the lessons of previous projects.
    Weight
    10%
    Duration:
    Weeks 12-16
    Deliverables
    A completed project will include:
    • Criteria to be determined on a student by student basis