General Instructions

This is a self-designed project using both words and images, an assignment you'll devise for yourself through consulation with your instructor, professors in your major, and others. It must involve a type of technology or a medium which you have not yet used--or used very little. It should also:

1. assist you in completion of your major (a portfolio piece in a capstone course, for example);
   
2. assist you in some personal hobby or life task;
   
   —OR—
   
3. assist you in your current or future workplace.

You will submit a brief proposal for instructor approval, present a well-developed draft to the class for a 10-min. discussion and critique, and hand in a final version by Dec. 6/8. As with Project #2, you will include a Supplemental Notes which comments on your experience, aides your instructor in fairly grading your work, and reflects on class materials and lectures for this last part of the term.

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to further improve your "visual literacy" by asking you to work with visual technologies or media you haven't used much before. The purpose is also to help you further reflect on visual culture.

 

Proposal  Due: Nov. 22nd (T class), Nov. 24th (TH class)

Your proposal should include the following:

1. A name or title for your project.
2. A description of what you hope to make (1 brief paragraph).
3. A statement of purpose or primary goal (1-2 sentences).
4. A description of your intended audience and how you intend to meet that audience’s expectations and needs (1-3 sentences).
5. An explanation of how the project is appropriate for this course (review our course aims in the Homepage)(2-4 sentences).
6. A timetable or plan for completion (1-2 paragraphs). What will you do and when will you do it? Be specific.
7. An explanation of what sources will you likely need to consult (both primary and secondary) and what equipment or tools will you use (1 paragraph).
8. A summary of the criteria by which you believe your work should be evaluated (1 paragraph).
9. Headers to assist the reader of your proposal.
10. Editing and proofreading of your proposal for clarity, concision, and adherence to standard sentence conventions.

If your project idea changes as you work on it, you may modify the content of your proposal. Be sure to discuss it with your instructor first.

Class Presentation Due: Dec.6th (T class), Dec. 8th (TH class)

Everyone will present their work to the class for a very brief discussion and critique.

• TUESDAY SECTION: about 4 minutes each, but prepared for longer. THURSDAY SECTION: about 10 minutes each.
• You should have something well-developed to show us, either hardcopy or electronic.
• You should also have a brief script prepared, in which you explain your subject, your exact purpose, your exact audience, and the criteria we've established for evaluation of your project. You can also come with questions for me or the group, and feel free to tell us what you may be struggling with.
• Be sure electronic materials work, will open or execute, and so on. (Have back-ups ready in case of techno glitches!)

Your presentation will count as cyberwork for the week of Dec.6/8.

 

Suggestions Up the Wazoo

• Something involving "new media": computer software such as Flash, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, or Typo3; newer computer hardware; new web genres(social media such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs); new directions in poetry and fiction (visual poetry, animated poetry, small-screen poetry, hypertext fiction, electronically interactive fiction, etc.).
• A film (narrative, essay, documentary, or some invented genre).
• Installation art (something 3D which uses space as part of its form).
• Performance art (real-world events framed as art, or art works framed as real-world events).
• A one-act play (you'd turn in a script and perform the work on film, YouTube, or some other venue).
• A political brochure or pamphlet (relatively easy--would likely need multiples).
• A TV commercial.
• An additional component for a project already completed. I.e., take your photo essay or timeline and build on it in some way, using additional media.
• A proto-type for a new magazine on...photography, literature, politics, art, basketweaving.
• A game (physical or electronic).
• A verbal-visual Christmas toy for a needy child.
• A visual novel or memoir. Or some other kind of experimental book (fiction, nonfiction, poetry).
• Verbal-visual clothing.
• Something which is primarily TEXT: essay, poetry, flash fiction, etc. but with relatively subtle or secondary visual elements.
• A typographical experiment. Create a new alphabet. Improve the current one. Invent a new font.
• Write a children's story with nothing but pictures. (I know of a wonderful example; will try to show it in class.)
• A family history.
• An historical photo-book on Fargo, or Minneapolis, or NDSU, or 3rd St. South.
• A visual biography of someone you love, think is important, believe should be recognized, or find otherwise interesting.
• A manual on graphic design.
• A survival guide for first-year students of English (or Art, or Architecture, or Pharmacy, or Political Science, etc. etc.)
• A prayer book.
• A prayer.
• An anti-prayer.
• A full-page ad for your sister-in-law's new ...gift shop/photography store/restaurant/computer repair shop/gas station.
• A visual resume.
• A philosophical treatise in pictures.
• A new design for driver's liscences/cereal boxes/the Norton Anthology of English Literature/the first billboard anyone would see as they approach Fargo on I90. The Bible. The Koran. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Cambells Soup cans. Doggie sweaters.

ASK TEACHERS AND ADVISORS FOR IDEAS: WHAT PROJECT FOCUS WOULD GIVE YOU MEANINGFUL PRACTICE IN YOUR CHOSEN MAJOR OR FUTURE PROFESSION?

 

Supplemental Notes

This is a document distinct from, but accompanying, your main project. It should be 2-4 pages, typed and double-spaced. As you did in Project #3, you will comment on how successfully you achieved your aims, problems encountered along the way, and anything your instructor may need to know when she grades your work. You will also reflect on how course materials, subjects, and lectures for this last part of the term contributed to your understanding of visual language and culture. This latter segment should make up roughly half of the document, and include key terms and concepts used in class along with reference to one or more films discussed.

Other than 2-4 pages double-spaced, there is no particular format for these Notes. Just include clear identifying information at the top and staple all pages together.

 

Evaluation Criteria

Though you will propose personalized criteria for your own project (see above), all projects must also:

• include both a verbal and a visual component;
• be sufficiently complex and challenging (a full month's worth of work, taking into account standard expectations for outside-of-class coursework hours);
• be original and new (not an already-completed project for another course);
• show awareness of fundamental design principles;
• show awareness of audience;
• show insight, imagination, creativity, and/or intellectual engagement appropriate to its audience and purpose (and/or as advised by instuctor in her personalized feedback);
• undergo a class critique;
• include a Supplemental Notes written according to the instructions above;
• be carefully edited and proofread for stylistic and mechanical lapses.

 

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