Syllabus cover credit: J. Kopera

  Publication
  Design
  Course
  Description

If last semester was almost as good as it could get, this semester is definately as good as it can get. My two sections of Publication Design and, intermittantly the Ficition Writing Department have self-published Zine Columbia since Spring of 2003.You probably have not seen a copy of this publiction since only 30 copies are printed each semester and then the graduating senior leaves with his or her copy. The Art and Design Department as well as other entities around campus are now interested in seeing our two sections of Publication Design (this semester team- taught with Patrick Hogan) and Jotham Burrello’s Fiction Writers and Publishing Class write, design, print and distribute for sale around the Chicago area the Spring '09 issue of Zine Columbia. Also the publication is designed to have a web presence that will additionally include images, sound and animation. To assure your wildest sucess, we will spend this entire semester working exclusively on Zine Columbia, Spring '09. At the end of the semester you will have copies of the publication with your work in it and your web Work posted on an official site (which you are going to help build).These lofty expectations have personal ramifications for everyone enrolled in the class. It means you should have the prerequsites for this class, a GPA of at least 3.0 and a desire and willingness to work your behind off. Your work will represent the Art and Design in some pretty lofty institiutions and publication collections around Chicago. To arrive at that destination, your work will be evaluated by a Publication Committee made up of a group of your peers and two to three faculty members. Only work that scores an “A-” or better can be included in the print version of the publication.

Come prepared to work like your design career depends upon it.

Course Objectives
1. You will learn to design conceptually.
2. You will learn to think prolifically (large quantities of ideas).
3. You will learn the power of metaphor on a publication page.
4. You will learn about the extension of a design motif through multiple pages or screens of a project.
5. You will learn how to maximize creativity despite financial and other limitations.
6. You will move your design solutions across media from paper to web site.
7. You will learn how to work within a team.

Course Prerequisites
22-1101 History of Art I: Stone Age to Gothic
22-1102 History of Art II Renaissance to  Modern
23-1100 Foundations Of Photography
23-1101 Darkroom Workshop I
22-1210 Drawing I
22-1220 Fundamentals of 2-D Design
22-1310 Beginning Typography
22-1320 Design Lab
22-2170 History of Communications Design
22-2330 Intro. to Graphic Design
22-3340 Intermediate Typography
22-2510 Advertising Art Direction: Introduction
22-3530 Photo Communications
35-2400 Designing for the Web

Course Overview

1.Printed ZINE
The Zine is a great place to grow as a designer. You will have opportunitys
to work expirementally with type and images.You get great text, great images
and great printing - a bonus piece for your portfolio.

A. Feature Design
Everyone will be assigned a Fiction Writers and Publishing Class story.Your
job will be to make it come alive on a double page spread. Features vary in
length from 300 to 400 words.

B. Illustrated feature
This exercise is about combining the right fonts and the right images with
your choosen story. It’s about creating a little piece of culture in 72 pages. (If everyones work gets selected.)You don’t have to be an illustrtor to make engaging images, but you may need to learn some stategies to be succesful. Go to the Zine Archives link above.

C. TOC and Cover
The TOC lists all the stories, writers and designers contributing to this semester’s effort. Each Publication Design section will name their own Zine,
design its cover complete with its own masthead.

D. Prepress Production
Two classes will be spent on how to prepare all files for the Web and our printer in Shanghai. You will be issued a set of guide-lines to keep near you at all times of file preparation. There will be pre-flight software toassist you in making perfect files for our printers.disregarding these
directions and the publication may be late for the:

E. Release day  celebration
May very well be off campus where we can find our own bliss. May be on
campus since so many people are interested out side of the project.

2. Digital Zine
The digital version of the printed 'zine will commence after several weeks of HTML 'bootcamp', to make sure students are conversant with web design, cascading style sheets and the beginnings of content management. The actual 'zine will be produced in teams/assigned roles and will be soup to nuts; involving the planning, design, build, implementation and testing of the online magazine.