ur class will meet every Monday and Wednesday from 10:45 AM until 12:45 PM in room 003 of Franklin Hall. You should expect to spend two full hours with the class for every session. Our sessions will include numerous tutorials and creative exercises to further your design abilities. Tutorials will be accompanied by handouts (and many videos, recorded for a remote version of this class, are available). Most classes will feature a lecture, and all will involve you working to build skills in the necessary software or in producing some form of creative work.
We will conclude each unit with a short quiz. These you will take on Canvas and outside class, and they will be due at 11:59PM on the day they are assigned.
Attendance
Every class is important to your learning and mastering skills, and your attendance is mandatory. You are here to learn, and I trust you will find a way to make it to class. Missing class sessions is a sure way to lose track of what is happening in class, and falling behind can snowball in a class like ours.
Deadlines
Deadlines are the lifeblood of media practice, and blowing deadlines in our business is simply not tolerated. I am, however, aware that university life sometimes places additional pressures on students, and that it is not inconceivable that some assignments, once in great while, may have to be handed in late. If this should happen to you, and I hope it doesn’t, I will accept late projcts for the first five calendar days after deadline. I will take off 10 percent per day, though, so it’s in your interest to be on time. (An exception to this is the final project, which is due during finals week and cannot be turned in late.) If you are having problems meeting a project deadline, please let me know ahead of time.
Our quizzes will be taken on the last day of each unit. We will take quizzes on Canvas, on the same day as class sessions, with a deadline of 11:59PM. If you cannot take a quiz but have an excused absence — serious illness, religious holiday, death in the family or your attendance of an IU-sanctioned event — you can make it up at a later date. You must have written documentation for your absence.
Participation tutorials and exercises will feature heavily throughout the semester so you can build the necessary skills and practice design thinking and execution in preparation for project work. You can turn in these assignments for half credit if you miss a deadline, but I would encourage you to stay on top of these assignments.
Academic integrity
Design is almost always a collaborative process, and I encourage you to seek the advice and input of others — classmates, friends, etc. — along the way. But in this class, all the graphic design material — anything drawn or rendered, any piece of design work — must be 100 percent your own. While I hope you will find influence in many areas, please understand that stealing another person’s ideas or artwork is wrong, it will get you fired in the real world and will not be accepted in this class. This extends to the proper use of imagery as well. During class, we will go through ways in which you can obtain copyright- and royalty-free images to use within a design. Drawing from photographic resources is acceptable, but tracing an existing illustration is not.
Academic misconduct is defined as any activity that tends to undermine the academic integrity of the institution. Violations include: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, interference, violation of course rules and facilitating academic dishonesty. When you submit an assignment with your name on it, you are signifying that the work contained therein is yours, unless otherwise cited or referenced. Any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged. All suspected violations of the Code will be reported to the Dean of Students and handled according to University policies. Sanctions for academic misconduct may include a failing grade on the assignment, reduction in your final course grade, and a failing grade in the course, among other possibilities. If you are unsure about the expectations for completing an assignment or taking a test or exam, be sure to seek clarification beforehand.
In the classroom
Class will begin on time at 10:45 in the morning ... if you do arrive late, please slip in quietly. We will usually have a short break roughly halfway through every session — please try to remain in the class otherwise, unless it’s an emergency.
Masks are, at the beginning of the Fall semester, optional on IU campus. Feel free to wear a mask if you like, or not to if you don’t. I will let you know if IU policy changes at any time during the semester. If you are feeling unwell, please be tested promptly, and do not attend class in person; I will be able to catch you up with what you missed.
Sexual misconduct
As your instructor, one of my responsibilities is to create a positive learning environment for all students. Title IX and IU’s Sexual Misconduct Policy prohibit sexual misconduct in any form, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, and dating and domestic violence. If you have experienced sexual misconduct, or know someone who has, the University can help.
If you are seeking help and would like to speak to someone confidentially, you can make an appointment with:
- The Sexual Assault Crisis Services (SACS) at (812) 855-8900 (counseling services)
- Confidential Victim Advocates (CVA) at (812) 856-2469 (advocacy/advice services)
- IU Health Center at (812) 855-4011 (health and medical services)
It is also important that you know that Title IX and University policy require me to share any information brought to my attention about potential sexual misconduct, with the campus Deputy Title IX Coordinator or IU’s Title IX Coordinator. In that event, those individuals will work to ensure that appropriate measures are taken and resources are made available. Protecting student privacy is of utmost concern, and information will only be shared with those that need to know to ensure the University can respond and assist.
I encourage you to visit stopsexualviolence.iu.edu to learn more.
Materials
There is nothing you will need to buy for this course — though I would recommend you have at hand a sketchbook and some quality pencils. Because we will be learning to draw in Illustrator later in the semester, you might consider a good mouse for your own computer, but this is not required either. There is no textbook for this class, though there will be a couple of short readings available as PDFs on Canvas. And I'm happy to recommend actual books if you are a book-reading sort of person.
This syllabus
I have mapped out what I believe to be an achievable schedule for this course that will keep everybody working at a steady and challenging pace. Because there are wide variations in your experiences coming in and because we will cover a lot of ground in this class, I reserve the right to amend this syllabus to reflect any shifting realities we may encounter. I will be certain to let you know in advance if and when there will be any changes to deadlines or the schedule.