Visual Unit Studio
Work to have achieved:
- Review the resources page and unit assignment goals and options
- Write a visual rhetoric proposal
Plan for the day:
- Guiding thoughts for Studio (5-10 min)
- Studio time (50-55 min)
- Homework reminder (5 min)
1. Guiding thoughts for Studio (5-10 min)
According to Thompson, you can reliably convey three levels of dominance; after that, it starts to get mushy.
- What options do you have for putting in your top three? What's next in line?
- How would the layout need to change if you changed your ranking?
GIMP Notes
- Remember our strategies for creating hierarchy: bit.ly/cdm2019fall (see the section on “Keywords toward a Visual Rhetoric”).
- GIMP’s toolbox is kinda cluttered, but the tools are also indexed by category in the menu bar, helpfully, under Tools. (And every tool has a keyboard shortcut, too: may be worth memorizing your go-to devices.)
- There’s often extra tips for the tool you’re using in a tiny font, under the editing window.
Timing Reminder / HW Preview
Some preview of the project will be due before next class, just to make sure you’re all getting started on it.
Therefore, the rest of today’s class is all about working on your individual projects! Find source images or text, level up on layering, watch relevant tutorials on effects or on layout, and see what happens when you apply them to your own digital canvas.
I know your lives are busy; take advantage of this dedicated time free from other distractions and obligations to move your piece forward. At the same time, it’s worth noting that you’re working in a shared space, in a studio. If you have questions, or you want feedback on something, you have your classmates and your instructor on-hand. Try not to monopolize anyone’s time, but do be open to the possibility of getting farther together than you could on your own.
2. Okay, now go to!
On Thursday, we’ll use that experience to refine our shared baseline criteria and brainstorm some aspirational goals.
Call me over if you need help with GIMP or Git/GitHub!
3. Quick report back
Just as a way for me to check in, I’d like to hear more about what happened today: did you find images? Level up on a particular GIMP skill? Decide something about your project? Raise a question in a new way that you’d like some help with?
Send me a quick email, or say out loud to share with the whole class.
4. Homework for next time
Please turn in:
- A layered GIMP project file (.xcf), showing the arrangement of your images and text so far (need not be a complete argument or collage yet).
- A static screenshot (.png or .jpg) of your GIMP file in progress (for comparison later to subsequent drafts). If you can capture a moment of success or stuckness, all the better.
- A plain text (.txt) or markdown (.md) file, explaining in at least 300 words what you're showing us in this preview. Feel free also to ask questions or lay out next steps for yourself!
- An updated ASSETS.md file, now with the files you're actually obtained. As you go, add source documentation for any outside sources – and your permission to use them (e.g. licenses, fair use; see Writer/Designer p. 160-165).
- If you prefer, you can create a new CREDITS.md file for this, preserving the ASSETS list for things you're still seeking.
- Optional, but encouraged: An exported .png file. Just like Audacity, GIMP's default save mode is a complex / modular "project file," of type .xcf; should the project fail to load, it would be great to have a simple image file as a backup. We won't be able to see how you achieved your layout, but we will be able to see the image. _Important bonus:_ you'll also be able to use GitHub history to compare one version to another, side by side. Pretty cool, right?
Where to turn in? Ideally, to GitHub; if that’s not working for you yet, post to Box (and put a link to the Box folder in the GitHub README.md file).