Tag: bmcc

Weeks #6-7 & 8 – Info & Resources

Welcome back to MMA100!

Weeks #6, 7 & 8!

Here is this week’s useful information and class resources:

Please keep in mind, there is a lot to see here below, take your time through out each week to explore what is shared below, if you have any questions or reactions please add them to the comments section. The comments section is helpful for extending our in class dialogs and gaining clarity by organizing your thoughts in a written format.

*Did you miss the post from Weeks #4 &5 – go Here!

During weeks #6, 7 & 8 we will take a class tour of Adobe Illustrator and get talking about Assignment #3 

**Class video tutorial from class on 3/10 – More tips with Assignment #2 is below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/gbZXvDcHAILiaOtUb2aHntxLRJmIzS1O-JKoNa_bg_9AK9tVW8KKmJTmYxDcatKf.WFYsKHcEc69eGOAn

Passcode: ?GGXfQE1

**Class Video Tutorial from class on 3/16 – Assignment #3 – Part 1:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/8Qyex0g8fKVGrQWYQUdPJvQdH2gRT210lebYTM2LzQE2E1TMQ3hTBLCxIhu0pIpH.6UIbOskK3Yn4gP9s

Passcode: 3^4Q&a$C

**Class video tutorial from class on 3/23 – More tips with Assignment #3 Part 1 & 2 is below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/p_sh85-bcQhg-ebmcD3WjpbvsWmV2Z8y-RfuQEoW03HCedV__J4phydSwOvChz_3.ymZ5L3ISLidmhTYR

Passcode: U6y=Pz*B

Lets jump back in and start with some NYC Design History!! Behold, the NYC Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual. See below

Inspiration – The NYC Transit Authority Graphics Standard Manual

The link above will you take you to a page with an active full PDF version of the manual. Please leave a comment at the bottom of this page after exploring the manual and answering the questions below (you can work on this outside of class over this week or next)

Designed by Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda, Unimark, 1970

I would love to hear your reactions and feedback in the comments section below!

**after you “post” your comment I will have to manually approve it – you may not see it show up right away. No need to post the comment twice 🙂

Some Questions to ponder and react to:

  1. What is your general feedback on the manual? Do you like it? Dislike it? Please Explain. Do you find it to be well designed, illustrated and clear in its application?

2. The manual was published in 1970. Does it still hold up for today’s world? Why or Why not?

3. What is missing or should be added for today’s world to help and expand the NYC Transit System?

4. What additional questions are you left with?

Video – Micheal Beruit from Pentagram Design discusses the manual here – Link to the video above – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg03z1H6cfA

Imagine being offered the opportunity to visually solve, design and illustrate the entire NYC transit system!? What goes into this process and research? Do you know who is responsible for this? How much does the designer charge for a project of such scale? Lets discuss.

Last week we continued talking about Assignment #2  – The Post Card project ! Lets look at student work and talk about your progress and the potentials of the project. There is a lot of room for image manipulation and creating aesthetics with your work. Discussions about presentation methods and why presentation is so important. Please navigate to the assignment #2 page to view the assignment details with me again.

Tonight’s Video tutorial will cover more image manipulation techniques and applications.

Photoshop Video Tutorials –

  1. Creating Layer Masks / Photo Composites – The video below is great example – click here or the image below to view it.

2. Double Expose Technique – Click here or the image below to get started

<———{ week 6 transmission snip }———–>

Color Theory!

Adobe’s awesome Color Wheel Simulator (must see)

GO HERE to Experiment

Several up and coming assignments will surely benefit from the use of understanding Color Theory and the Adobe Color Wheel!

*Above – Color Theory Continued -> GREAT RESOURCE – Must Read

*Above – Color Theory Continued -II >https://99designs.com/blog/tips/the-7-step-guide-to-understanding-color-theory/

Let’s Talk about Adobe Illustrator! 

During weeks #6 & 7 we will take a class tour of Adobe Illustrator and get talking about Assignment #3 

You can also take an additional tour with Adobe Wizard – Terry White

10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do with Adobe Illustrator (subscribe to Terry’s Channel!)

Adobe has a great series of videos on their channel on YouTube: 

Check this series with a focus on Illustrator

https://www.youtube.com/c/AdobeCreativeCloud/search?query=illustrator

Designer Inspiration :: You need to know Paul Rand

Week #2 – Information / Resources

Welcome to MMA100 Week #2!!

We’re BACK!

Here is this week’s useful information and class resources:

Do you need a recap of  Week #1 – Go Here <–

Lets be patient with our ourselves and ease in..

Here is a video tutorial from Assignment #1 – Part 1 

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/wHWKYCFb29FFSLchOXGbgb_pMKWRruNCFIEL7iTAVMYk7Ap7pO59AvCn_X2giY-u.JUBze-P2fvZXwvUz

Passcode: pL#b*7@Z

We will begin tonight’s class by recapping week #1’s introduction to the course as well as jumping into assignment #1 – our first assignment! The first assignment has a few parts and I will be sharing a series of tutorials during our class time. I will give a demonstration with adobe photoshop on how to prepare your design layout, place and resize images, apply layers and also preparing your final designs file format for sharing it on the web and in print.

Remember, each assignment will have its own page with all of the specifications needed to work on, complete and submit the assignment. Assignment #1 can be found here.

** a Video tutorial from week #2’s Zoom class of assignment #1 – part 1 will also be posted here and on the assignment #1 page after our class**

Becoming familiar with terms and items like: “design briefs, project sheets and project specifications” are essential to the design industry. We will become familiar with this process and following a simulation like experience 🙂

We will discuss the progress and submissions process of your finished assignments and how to send and share them via google drive. We will discuss the maintaining of your files and data and how to keep it safe and easy to access.

Assignment Submission guidelines:

When your assignment / assignments have been completed please add them to our class google drive shared folder (link is on blackboard).

Please create a folder for yourself with your first and last name. And, please name your files with your name, assignment# & assignment status – here are a few Example file names – they may looks like this:

Ryan_Seslow_Assignment#2_progress.JPG 

Ryan_Seslow_Assignment#2_FInal.JPG

Tutorials – Getting further acquainted with Photoshop – (Terry White is one of my favorite Adobe evangelists!)

Adobe’s youtube channel is here – (so much good stuff!) https://www.youtube.com/c/AdobeCreativeCloud

Inspiration / Resources: Graphic Design Trends from 2020 –

What kind of design do you like? What inspires you and makes you want to learn more? Do you resonate with the “trends” in the examples below? Share your thoughts and links in the comments section below!

And Some More Inspiration:

**The Underground Sistine Chapel is a free documentary on youtube telling the story of the street artist Pascal Boyart‘s construction of a modern Sistine Chapel in the heart of an old gold foundry in the suburbs of Paris, in what some would call a cut-throat area.

Week #1 – Welcome to MMA 100!

Welcome to MMA-100

Foundations of Digital Graphic Design! Spring Semester 2022

Dear Students:

WELCOME!!

Im really excited to meet everyone and share this first class to connect, break the ice and for us all to learn a bit about each other. There is a lot of exciting and compelling content to cover, which will happen beginning tonight – Wednesday 2/2 at 5:30pm – in person in Fiterman room 706.

I will also use Zoom for accessibility and real-time closed captions for the class. I am Deaf and dependent on them. (the zoom link and password can be found on our BMCC blackboard course page) Ill also use zoom to record the demonstrations and tutorials for us.

*Our Class Website Link – https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/mma100-spring-2022

The link above is super important as that is where all of the course content will be published each week. I’m not a big fan of using blackboard – so only password sensitive things (like the zoom password and the shared google drive folder link) will be placed there. Only the minimum info needed will be placed there mainly as reminders. I will go over this in full during our 1st class.

The Class Structure – MMA100 will be taught in person synchronously on Wednesdays at 5:30pm in room 706 (Fiterman building) and also via this website. I am here to help you be the best that you can be in our course. And we are all here to do the same for each other. A big part of our class is learning new skills, being experimental with design and seeing how it forms a relationship with the Internet. We will cover the many tools that are available to us. (Adobe and beyond) We do quite a bit of the fun and creative work from our own personal work spaces as we integrate the class work into our lives. Please know, I will screen record each and every “how-to” and “assignment tutorial” for all assignments and share those videos here on our class website. (I said that twice, haha, just want you to know again) 🙂

The Class Website – Our class website takes place here on the BMCC OpenLab! You will soon discover that the OpenLab is a huge resource and regular source of inspiration! I promise.

*Class Website Link – https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/mma100-spring-2022

Class Time: 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM – USA Eastern Time

Meeting Day & Dates: Every Wednesday, as per the CUNY academic calendar (please be aware of the cuny calendar for this semester)

If you have questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to me here – rseslow@bmcc.cuny.edu

Everything that we cover this semester will be posted and published to this website as a weekly blog post (much like this one) and as individual pages that host specific content (like assignments and their details). You will be asked to visit this website each week. At the bottom of each page and post there is a section for comments, please feel free to use it to ask any questions that you may have.

One of the most well known logos around the world, by Milton Glaser

Week 1 – Introductions & Discussion –

What is Graphic Design?
Design Solutions: Strategy, Concept, Design, Execution & Production
Exploring the Design Process.

Software skills this semester will focus on– Adobe Photoshop & Adobe Illustrator as well as a few other apps and non-conventional methods of image-making.

Logos by Paul Rand

What is Graphic Design?

“Graphic design, also known as communication design, is the art and practice of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content. The form it takes can be physical or virtual and can include images, words, or graphics. The experience can take place in an instant or over a long period of time. The work can happen at any scale, from the design of a single postage stamp to a national postal signage system. It can be intended for a small number of people, such as a one-off or limited-edition book or exhibition design, or can be seen by millions, as with the interlinked digital and physical content of an international news organization. It can also be for any purpose, whether commercial, educational, cultural, or political.” (Via – Juliette Cezzar)

*Watch this Video Definition – *Watch this Video Definition – https://vimeo.com/10532686

Great explanation of Graphic Design, but what about the speed of the video??

Poster Design by Milton Glaser

The History of Graphic Design – We will be exploring and referencing Design history in our class. Lets explore these two references below over the course of this week.

Design History.org – http://www.designhistory.org

Key Moments in Graphic Design / Timeline – https://www.thoughtco.com/key-moments-in-graphic-design-history-1697527

Lets talk a bit about assignments – Most assignments are broken down into 2-3 parts. For example, assignment #1 has 3 parts. For each assignment, I will be sharing a series of video tutorials during our class time. Each assignment has its own page with all of the details and specifications needed to work on, complete and submit the assignment. The Assignments page is here

* a video tutorial from week #1’s Zoom class of assignment #1 – part 1 will be posted on the assignment #1 page the next day after our class ends.  

We are going to ease into assignment #1 with just a few easy tasks. Lets check out the assignments page for that here.

Becoming familiar with terms and items like: “design briefs, project sheets and project specifications” are essential to the design industry. We will become familiar with this process and following a simulation like experience 🙂

We will discuss the progress and submissions process of your finished assignments and how to send and share them via google drive. We will discuss the maintaining of your files and data and how to keep it safe and easy to access.

Assignment Submission guidelines:

When your assignment / assignments have been completed please add them to our class google drive shared folder (the google drive link is located on blackboard)

Please create a folder for yourself with your first and last name. And, please name your files with your name, assignment# & assignment status – here are a few Example file names – they may looks like this:

Ryan_Seslow_Assignment#2_progress.psd

Ryan_Seslow_Assignment#2_FInal.JPG

————————–

Tutorials – I will always share a few video tutorials each week that coincide with our assignments. This one below is about getting further acquainted with Photoshop – (Terry White is one of my favorite Adobe evangelists!)

Ill also share Designer Inspiration each week? Let’s be inspired and see Who’s Who in the field? There are so many great designers out there to follow these days! Each week, lets showcase one and talk about how their work functions.

50 Graphic Designers We all Should Know About 

Who is Aaron Draplin? Surely by now you have heard of Aaron Draplin?

———————————————————

Assignment #1 – Discussion continued – lets chat about vocabulary

Assignment # 1 will introduce you to The Elements & Principles of Design Vocabulary, thats the language of design.

(please note, there are several variations of these definitions that can be found across the web and through out the design world, its ok to mix and mingle variations from other sources to help expand your knowledge)

The Elements & Principles of Design are the governing vocabulary that define, illustrate and communicate how Graphic Design functions all around us. These terms are of great value and importance and should be understood and applied by designers. 

The Elements & Principles of Design Vocabulary – <— click the link to view the PDF of vocabulary