Graphics I Final Exam

Name: ______

Graphics I Final Exam

For the exam, you will be devising and carrying out your own project; your project design must incorporate at least two visual ideas and/or graphic techniques or methods that you've used in the course of the second semester. )You may also use additional visual ideas and/or graphic techniques from the first semester, along with ideas and techniques of your own choosing.) Part of your task is to gauge what it will be possible for you to accomplish in a bit under two hours; it is important that you create a finished piece. This will probably require that you do one or more (all?) of the following: avoid setting a task for yourself that requires a great deal of elaborate and detailed selection work; take the time to come up with a plan you have good reason to believe will be successful; don’t get too ambitious. (I hope you’ve already taken an earlier piece of advice, and planned ahead, perhaps gathering imagery in advance of the exam period, for example.) Since this exam-project is asking you to build upon what you already know and are able to do, keep that in mind: draw on your past successes and adapt ideas and techniques you feel comfortable with. Keep in mind that you'll need to reserve ten to fifteen minutes to write a clear rationale of your project, which in which you'll explain which techniques you chose to work with, and where you'll describe your intentions with the piece, along with your process of creation.)

You’ll find a folder labeled “Graphics Final Exams – 2011-12” within our Graphics 2011-12 folder. In that “Final” folder, you’ll then find a folder with your name and “final exam” on it. Please put any and all source imagery in that folder. Please save your work as you go, and name it right from the start as “First name Last initial – final exam piece.” REMEMBER TO WORK AT A REASONABLE FILE SIZE. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 dpi for resolution and 7.5 x 10 inches for physical dimensions is a good starting point.

Here is a list of the projects you have worked on during the second semester. Each item is followed by a list of some of the visual ideas, techniques, and/or methods related to it. Please keep in mind that most projects involve a mixture of different ideas and techniques, some of which are not always in the forefront of our minds. As you review this list, try to think about what you did with each project yourself -- and what you saw classmates do -- and you may be able to add to the list of ideas and concepts.

Second Semester Projects

Book cover design

- dealing with/creating a hierarchy of information (e.g., title in relation to author’s name, and imagery in relation to name and title)

- choosing which elements of a complex whole (a book) to concentrate on in order to best represent the whole

- choosing/designing typefaces suitable to represent a particular book

K-12 Art Show poster

- creating a design that will reproduce well even when photocopied (design in grayscale)

- choosing/creating imagery and letter shapes that will convey a tone appropriate to the event

- making sure that text and imagery complement each other well

Logo design

- use simple elements to convey an idea/identity in a bold, memorable, and eye-catching manner

- combine text and (highly simplified) representational imagery

- use principles of visual perception (e.g., gestalt principles), especially relating to implied shapes

Letter grid

- design with a very limited number of elements using a clear and rigid grid, with equal-sized rectangular elements

- use guidelines and the “snap-to” function, in combination with layer masks, to enable yourself to scale letter forms up without having them break the boundaries of their units, visually

- use a fairly limited color scheme: a triad of colors, two analogous and two complementary, with flexibility as to saturation and brightness of colors

- aim for three important visual effects: 1. visual continuity; 2. focal points (preferably, one main focal point and a couple/a few subordinate focal points; 3. visual balance

Use of a grid (perhaps an “implied” grid, and perhaps very flexible use of a grid) for a “real-life” graphic application (i.e., such as a book cover, a CD cover, a poster, etc.); the project incorporates words and images.

First semester projects

Amorphous Blob design

- working with translucency (visual idea)

- working with varieties of shapes and developing simple design ideas; contrasting types of shapes

- working with positive and negative space (the "50/50" guideline for pos/neg space, to help create a very dynamic composition

- working with color mixing (by means of translucent overlays)

- working with the creation of new shapes as one shape overlaps another

Amorphous Blob design: four part piece

- working with the idea of variations

- working with different kinds and degrees of symmetry

- using repeated -- and somewhat varied -- parts to create a new whole: creating a piece made up of equal-size elements

- [creating texture with text – Matt]

Translucent Shape Overlaying a Photographic Image

- designing a silhouette shape that relates to an image in a meaningful and visual clear way: using selection tools and/or other methods (paintbrush, thresholding, cutting-out and scanning a shape, etc.) to create the shape(s)

- dealing with color design in choosing color(s) for a shape(s) that feel appropriate to the underlying photographic image

- coordinating "flat" shapes successfully with photographic detail and texture

Translucent Text Overlay

- creating text to relate to an image

- applying translucency effects to text

- dealing with readability of text

- thinking through the appropriateness of text color in relation to a photographic image

- working with letter spacing, font choice, and very simple text layout issues

Proverb Project

- working with text tools including letter spacing and word spacing, line spacing, thoughtful layout decisions, and various possible distortions and alterations of letter shapes (in effect, re-drawing or re-creating some letter shapes)

- using text design and layout to reinforce and modify the meaning of a short text

High Contrast Montage

- combining diverse photographic imagery to make a unified whole

- working with both visual and thematic unity

- using layer masks in combination with multiple threshold levels to maintain optimum detail in all image areas

- using layer groups and copying layer groups from one file to another to facilitate working with multiple layers

Halftone dot exercise

- creating varied visual textures using the halftone conversion process

- using layer masks, including the use of gradients and shades of gray on layer masks, to combine colors and textures from different copies/layers of the image

- choosing or creating a photographic image that is well-suited to the technique (in that it has interesting detail throughout, as well as a good range of values)

- using the Variations tool to create color where there was none

- combining full-color imagery with halftone and monochrome imagery

High Contrast Montage Incorporating Halftone Dot Textures and Full Color Areas

- incorporating multiple fairly sophisticated graphic methods and techniques in a single project (a good model for your own midterm exam project, in that it involved taking multiple ideas and methods and putting them together into one project)

- contrasting several different "looks" in a single graphic piece, possibly reinforcing and emphasizing object boundaries or using the opportunity to create "new" shapes (somewhat as you did way back for the Translucent Shape Overlaying a Photograph project)

Name: ______

Rationale for your project and explanation of your creative and technical process:

In the space below, please describe how your project addresses the exam’s requirement that you combine two or more ideas/techniques in a new way. Clearly set forth how you came up with your ideas and explain whether, why, and how you may have elaborated or revised your plans as you went along. Finally, give a clear overview of how you went about creating your piece.