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I will update this page for each class meeting. Items that appeared on this page from previous meetings can be found via the "<previous Blackboard items>" link at the bottom of this page.

The menu on the left will give you access to other materials related to the course.

Introductions and Roll. (Some things about me).

Syllabus and materials needed

Reading for Thursday : Edward Tufte, Chapter 1 "Images and Quantities," pg. 13

Graphic Representation of a Process.

This will be due Monday, February 14.

Visual Rhetoric Exercise

First, let's look (see the in-class handout) at a classic example of visual rhetoric, Charles Minard's chart showing the fate of Napoleon's army during the march on and retreat from Moscow in 1812.

Next, we'll try an exercise with a printout of the following image: use this road to "map" the happier story of your future plans and priorities. As you enter your goals into this graphic, be conscious of how you're using visual space to organize and analyze (that is, to split apart or distinguish among) these plans and priorities.

Roll

Anyone not get a copy of the syllabus the first day?

Any questions about the syllabus and materials needed?

Reading for Tuesday : Tufte Chapter 2, "Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Making Decisions." pg. 27

Questions about the Graphic Representation of a Process?
This will be due Monday, February 14.

Today, we'll discuss
Edward Tufte's Chapter One:
"Images and Quantities."

Representational Space (Ideas Site)

Moving into Our Disks/Drives

On your Zip disk or jump drive, create a structure of folders that looks like this:

Time permitting, we'll begin an exercise using Photoshop, our second major tool for the course, called "Beginning Banner Techniques."

In this exercise, you'll learn to combine typefaces and images in Photoshop to create a "banner" like the one used at the top of this page.

For this exercise, you'll need to download the image "richlighthouse.jpg" (right-click on this link, and from the menu, choose "Save Image As" and save it to your "nonwww" folder.

Roll

Anyone need a copy of the handout "Beginning Banner Techniques" that I gave you last time?

Any questions about the class? about the Graphic Representation of a Process Project ?

We'll discuss Edward Tufte's Chapter 2, "Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Making Decisions." pg. 27

Resources:

An information graphic from The Onion:

We'll do the exercises "Beginning Banner Techniques
and "Intermediate Banner Techniques" using Photoshop to create a single image.

In this exercise, you'll learn to combine typefaces and images in Photoshop to create a "banner" like the one used at the top of this page.

For this exercise, you'll need to download the image "richlighthouse.jpg" (right-click on this link, and from the menu, choose "Save Image As" and save it to your "nonwww" folder.

On Thursday, then, we'll learn how to upload this image to the Web for viewing, and how to send the URL of this image to our Webx discussion board for sharing with your classmates and me.

Roll

Get out your handout "Intermediate Banner Techniques" from last time and draw a big "X" over the front page. Recycle it when you pass an bin in the hallways. I'll give you an updated copy today.

Any questions about the class? about the Graphic Representation of a Process Project?

Intermediate Banner Techniques

We'll continue working on our "banner.psd" files with the exercise "Intermediate Banner Techniques."

You'll also need to open up the image "seagull.psd" or "seagull.jpg" from your "nonwww" folder.

Moving Files to the Web

Once we've completed "Intermediate Banner Techniques," we'll post this file to the Web by moving our "3220" folder to our Web space.

You'll visit your banner with your Web browser to test it.

Logging onto Webx Dicussion

We'll log onto the Webx discussion board for the first time, and paste the URL into the discussion Exercises/Banner.

Roll
For Thursday:
Bring in all marterials for your Graphic Representation of a Process Project, as well as your Tufte and Photoshop books.
Any questions about the Graphic Representation of a Process Project?

Logging onto Webx Dicussion

We'll log onto the Webx discussion board for the first time, and paste the URL into the discussion Exercises/Banner.

Today, we'll discuss Tufte's Chapter 3 and look at some examples of Graphic Representations of a Process Projects:

Examples:

• Hiker's vs. Height
• Making of a Star
• How to Take Links Out of a Watchband
  

Roll
Any questions about the Graphic Representation of a Process Project?

Non-Optically Acquired Graphics

Today we'll learn how to create images from scratch in Photoshop. You can also use these techniques to layer graphic elements you create on top of existing photographs or images.

See the page Non-Optically Acquired Graphics from the Techniques Site.

Send the URL of this exercise to the Webx discussion "Exercises/Non_Op"

Web-Based Documents (Not Sites)

For an example, see Making of a Star. We'll use images from this project to create our Web-based document.

Send the URL of this exercise to the Webx discussion "Exercises/Webdoc"

Web Photo Galleries in Photoshop

For an example, see How to Take Links Out of a Watchband

We'll use the same images

Send the URL of this exercise to the Webx discussion "Exercises/Photo Gallery "

Roll
Any questions about the Graphic Representation of a Process Project?

Introducing the Graphic Narrative Project

This project will be due Wednesday, 3/2.

Web-Based Documents (Not Sites)

For an example, see Making of a Star. We'll use images from this project to create our Web-based document.

Send the URL of this exercise to the Webx discussion "Exercises/Webdoc"

Web Photo Galleries in Photoshop

For an example, see How to Take Links Out of a Watchband

We'll see and dowload the images in the folder "web_photo_gallery/assets" into a folder "gallery source" in your "nonwww" folder.

Send the URL of this exercise to the Webx discussion "Exercises/Photo Gallery "

Roll
Any questions about the Graphic Representation of a Process Project?

Studio Session Today

We'll have a Studio Session today to work on the final version of your Graphic Representation of a Process Project, which is due by noon on Tuesday, 2/15.

Though we will be working individually today, I'll expect you to stay and be productive until 10:45.

Checklist: Graphic Representation of a Process

I'm handing out a Checklist in class which you can use to revise your project, as well as give you ideas for commenting on your classmates' pages in workshop starting next week.

I'll also use this same checklist to you feedback on your project

Roll
Any questions about the Graphic Narrative Project?

Printout and Commentary

Brainstorming

We'll talk about Molly Bang's book Picture This to brainstorm ideas for the subject and design of the Graphic Narrative Project.

We'll also look carefully at the assignment, list some ideas for stories we can tell visually, and plot them using the in-class handout "Freytag's Triangle."

As an example of the role (and varieties) of tension in a narrative, we'll look at William Stafford's poem, "Traveling Through the Dark."

Roll
Any questions about the Graphic Narrative Project?

Brainstorming Session

We'll have a Brainstorming Session today to plot the tension in our stories for the Graphic Narrative Project, using an in-class handout, "Freytag's Triangle" handout, and the 4x6 cards I asked you to bring.

As an example of the role (and varieties) of tension in a narrative, we'll look at William Stafford's poem, "Traveling Through the Dark."

Roll
Any questions about the Graphic Narrative Project?
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

Backgrounds from Photos (Graphic Narrative)

For this exercise, you'll need to download the classic Alfred Eisenstaedt photo from the celebration in Times Square at the end of World War II. Download this photo into your nonwww folder. Once we've completed this exercise:

1. Save the completed Photoshop file to your nonwww folder as "background1.psd."
2. Then, "Save for the Web" (as a .GIF) to a folder called "backgrounds" in your exercises folder in 3220.
3. Using Dreamweaver, move the "backgrounds" folder to your folder "3220/exercises" on the Web, and send the URL to the Webx discussion "backgrounds."

Brainstorming Session

We'll continue the Brainstorming Session today for the Graphic Narrative Project.

Roll
Any questions about the Graphic Narrative Project?
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

3D Character, French Fry Guy (Graphic Narrative)

Today, we'll learn to make expressive 3D characters like this:

Because these kind of characters are on their own layers, you can simply drag them into any scene (like the backgrounds we created last time).

See page 264 in the Kelby Book. You'll need to add two small tasks between Kelby's STEP 1 and STEP 2:

1. change the foreground color to yellow
2. click on the new layer in the Layers Palette, and Edit > Fill it with the yellow color.

Once we've made our figure, we'll also

1. use the Magic Wand tool to select the shadowed side of the figure and then the Paint Bucket to color it a darker yellow, and
2. play around with the Edit > Transform commands to manipulate our figure to make him/her more flexible and expressive.

Finishing Up:

1. Save the .psd version of this exercise in you nonwww folder.
2. Save a "Save for the Web" version (.gif) to a folder called "character" in your www/exercises folder
3. As always, you'll move this "character" folder to your exercises folder on the Web,
4. Visit the image with your Web browser,
5. Copy the URL and
6. Paste the URL into a message to the Webx discussion "character."

Brainstorming Session

We'll continue the Brainstorming Session today for the Graphic Narrative Project.

Roll
Any questions about the Graphic Narrative Project?
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

Turning in the Graphic Narrative by Wednesday

1. Use Photoshop to create a Web Photo Gallery in the folder "narrative" in your "www/3220" folder.
2. Move the entire "narrative" folder to the Web,
3. Visit the first page with your Web browser
4. Copy the URL, and
5. Paste the URL into a message to the Webx dicussion "Narratives" (under "Projects").

Studio Session Tuesday

We'll have a final Studio Session today to work on the Graphic Narrative Project before it is due by Wednesday 3/2 at noon.

Printout and Commentary due Thursday

As you did with the first project, you'll write a commentary and print out a copy of your project to turn in on Thursday.

To save paper, I suggest using Photoshop's automated "Contact Sheet II" to print the images of your project, four to a page.

1. In Photoshop, choose File > Automate > Contact Sheet II.
2. On the "Contact Sheet II" dialogue box, click the "Browse" button to navigate to the "source" folder containing the original, .psd versions of your Graphic Narrative images. Choose the folder and then "OK."
3. On the dialogue box, skip down to the "Thumbnails" section, and enter 2 next to "Columns" and 2 next to "Rows." Click OK.
4. Photoshop will then produce separate page-sized Photoshop documents with your images arranged four to a page. Print out these documents. You can save them in your "nonwww" folder if you wish--or not if you don't think you'll want them again.

See the "Printout and Commentary" section of the syllabus for details about writing the commentary.

Preparing for Workshop on Thursday

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, copy and paste all the written comments you've made for everyone actually discussed (not just scheduled for) that day into the form "Workshop Comments for Today" and click "Send." These comments will come to me. Be sure to label each set of comments with the project number and name of the project's author.
2. Individually send each author your comments on his or her project by using the e-mail list on the the form "Workshop Comments for Today."

Roll
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

Workshop

For workshopping today, we'll use the "Synchron-Eyes" system. Please open the program from your desktop and sign in with your first and last name (first name first).

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, copy and paste all the written comments you've made for everyone actually discussed (not just scheduled for) that day into the form "Workshop Comments for Today" and click "Send." These comments will come to me. Be sure to label each set of comments with the project number and name of the project's author.
2. Individually send each author your comments on his or her project by using the e-mail list on the the form "Workshop Comments for Today."

Roll
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

Introducing the Next Assignment

Today we'll explore The Analystical Essay assignment, and some of the critical ideas that we'll use in writing it.

We'll write and post a paragraph to the Webx discussion "Cultural Work."

Roll
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

Another Example Image

To warm up, let's talk about the cultural work of an image, The Accidental Tourist, that circulated on the Internet in 2001.

Tufte and Bang

Then, we'll dig into the Tufte and Bang books to look for quotes and ideas that apply to your image for the Analytical Essay: The Cultural Work of An Image project.

1. look through your Tufte and Bang books (at our assigned readings so far, but elsewhere if you see something that strikes you) and, on a piece of paper, make a list of quotes and ideas (with page numbers) that may prove relevant to analyzing your image. Keep this list with your materials from last time.
2. pick one idea, from either book, that you think is especially useful to note and remember
3. Then, post a message each the Webx discussion A Catalogue of Ideas from Tufte and Bang.
4. In the first line of that message, type a word or short phrase that sums up that idea and page number so they will display as the title of your message in the listing.
5. Below the first line, explain why you chose the idea or technique, and demonstrate how it can be used to analyze an image by referring to specific example. Link to the specific example with a URL. Feel free to use one of the images we've looked at in class: Beardsley's Yellow Book cover, the Tianamen Square Tank Man, Victory (Tianamen Square skin), In-A-Gadda-Da-Oswald (a.k.a. "Oswald in a Jam"), the Accidental Tourist.
6. Finally, look through the postings of your classmates and find one to comment on (click the "reply" button directly above the message you're responding to). Make this reply substantive by using it to call attention to a related idea from Tufte or Bang, or perhaps offering another image (with URL if possible) that illustrates the same principle or critical idea.

Roll
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

Next Project

Today, we'll look at the next project, the Confection, which will be due Wednesday, 4/27.

Selecting with Masks

See the page "Selecting with Masks" for details. I will also give you an inclass handout.

Roll
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

Understanding Visual Confections

Today, we'll talk about Edward Tufte's Chapter 7 on Confections, which is also our next project, due Wednesday, 4/27.

Brainstorming

1. Make a list of possible topics. Look in Tufte for what he says makes for successful confections (or not).

2. Choose one, break it down into its parts or aspects in a cluster.

3. Make three analogies (comparisons of unlike things) for the relationship or dynamics among those parts: all at once? one after another? different varieties? cause and effect process? transformations across time? branching choices? dialectic? synthetic process?

4. Look through the Tufte chapter for examples of confections that parallel those dynamics

Roll
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.
Want to learn more about publishing as a line of work in the Twin Ports? There will be an informal conversation with local publishers on Thursday 4/14 from 3:00 to 4:30 in Kirby 333.

Representatives from 11 local publishers will be there, and refreshments will be served.

Questions on This Project?

Creating Complex Imagined Scenes and Compartments for the Confection Project

See the in-class handout and the accompanying page from the Techniques Site.

Once we have completed this image, "Save for the Web" as a jpeg in a folder "www/3220/exercises/complex" on the Web.

Send the working URL to the Webx discussion "Complex Scenes"

Roll
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

Due Wednesday, April 27 at noon

On Tuesday, we'll have a Studio Day to work on this project in class.

Any questions on this project?

Conceptual Mapping (The Confection Idea)

The whole idea of the Confection is to visualize the nature or relationships among a rich set of ideas.

As you work on this project, though, it's a good idea to have a clear notion of what ideas your visualizing.

Let's make a "Conceptual Map" of your Confection Project topic. This process will help you to understand better just what ideas you're visualizing, and to see more deeply the relationships among those ideas.

First, let's try this together using a "found confection": the cover from Radiohead's 2003 album Hail to the Thief.

STEPS:

1. On a blank piece of paper, make a diagram of the basic set of ideas that make up your confection. (Do not make a diagram of the parts of your image or their arrangement). For example,

• five causes of an event (the event in the middle)
• six varieties of something (each variety spaced around on the page)
• seven possible effects of a cause (the cause in the middle), etc.

Make a little circle around each one.

2. Draw lines, arrows, boxes, etc. that express the basic relationships among these component ideas:

• for causes of an event, have lines converging on the event in the middle
• for effects of a cause, have lines radiating out from the center
• for varieties of something, draw a box around the entire diagram and label the border of the box with what that "something" is.

3. Break down and elaborate the big ideas here into smaller, component parts. Write small words and phrases near the major ideas, circles and boxes in your diagram and connect them with small lines. Try drawing in ideas from your original source (an article, book, album, etc.) For instance:

• looking at one of the causes of an event, what are the causes of that cause? What are the details and dynamics that makes that particular cause what it is?

4. Expand, Associate, Interpret. As you break down and elaborate the bigger ideas into component ideas, also write down any other thoughts, associations and interpretations that you're having. These may be ideas or nuances that you'll want to suggest visually in the Confection.

5. Look again at your Confection Project (plan, or draft), and think about ways that you can design into it fuller, more complete, more vivid visualizations of the ideas you've just mapped.

Roll
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

Due Wednesday, April 27 at noon

Post the images to your folder www/3220/confection on the Web. Send the URL to the Webx discussion "Confection URLs"

Any questions on this project?

Studio Session Today

We'll have a final Studio Session today to work on the Confection Project.

Printout and Commentary due Thursday

You'll write a commentary and print out a copy of your project to turn in on Thursday.

See the "Printout and Commentary" section of the syllabus for details about writing the commentary.

Preparing for Workshop on Thursday

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, copy and paste all the written comments you've made for everyone actually discussed (not just scheduled for) that day into the form "Workshop Comments for Today" and click "Send." These comments will come to me. Be sure to label each set of comments with the project number and name of the project's author.
2. Individually send each author your comments on his or her project by using the e-mail list on the the form "Workshop Comments for Today."

Today

Roll
Check "Coming Up" for reminders and news.

1. Creating Informed Viewers

To give your classmates a more informed view of your Confection Project, go to the Webx discussion, "Confection URLs" and choose to "Edit" from the upper right of the message you sent previousl with the URL.

In "Edit" mode, add to that message (perhaps by copying and pasting from your commentary if you have it on disk), an explanation of the confection. Adapt any language from the commentary for the audience and situation.

Say as much as necessary to help your classmates understand the original idea and your visual development of it in this project.

2. Collect Printout and Commentary

3. Revising Your Feedback in Light of the Posted Commentaries

4. Workshop Today

Today

Roll
Evaluations. For the first few minutes of today, we'll complete course evaluations.
Digital Legacy (Permissions). I will also ask you to fill out permissions forms to allow, or disallow, me to make your work available as samples of student work (either with or without your name)
Remember how helpful the examples were when you were approaching these assignments? Saying yes will make your best work this semester part of UMD's digital legacy!
For Thursday 5/5, visit and prepare comments on the remainder of the Client Projects for the workshop.
The Revision Project will be due by our final exam start time of 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, May 11 in my office (424 Humanities) or my mailbox (420 Humanitites).
Wednesday, May 11, at 4:00. The location for the "final exam" will be my office. If you are dropping by print materials, come by Humanities 424, or leave them in my mailbox in Humanities 420, between 4:00 and 4:30.

Workshop Today

Today

Roll
The Revision Project will be due by our final exam start time of 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, May 11 in my office (424 Humanities) or my mailbox (420 Humanitites).
Wednesday, May 11, at 4:00. The location for the "final exam" will be my office. If you are dropping by print materials, come by Humanities 424, or leave them in my mailbox in Humanities 420, between 4:00 and 4:30.

"Visiting Day" Workshop

Given our time constraints, we'll alter our workshop method today to discuss the remaining projects. Instead, we'll have a "Visiting Day Workshop."

In the table below are "hosts" and "visitors."

The hosts are people whose projects have not been discussed in class. They will sit at their computers with their Client Projects opened in a browser. Hosts, try to sit so there's an empty space next to you for visitors.

The Visitors will, when the workshop starts, stand and choose one of the hosts to sit with for about eight minutes. Visitors, start by saying what you liked best about the project. Talk about your reactions and suggestions. Ask questions of the author to get a conversation going, rather than rattling off a list of things to fix or do.

After eight minutes, I'll ask the visitors to stand again and choose another host to visit. Follow the same process.

After another eight minutes, we'll change again.