Course Description
Focus on identity systems in visual communication design and how they shape and convey concepts of brand, place, and experience. Students will explore brand storytelling, environmental and experiential graphic design theory and practice, wayfinding systems, visual design, the built environment, and how these intersect in graphic design.
Athena Title
Environ and Experien Graph Des
Prerequisite
(ARGD 3030 or ARGD 3030E) and ARGD 3060
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Through the lens of visual communication design, students will use a human-centered and collaborative design process to consider problems related to identity design and branding experience, and its application in the built environment and public spaces. Major topics may include: - Placemaking in the Built Environment: how design can connect people to place through experience creation. - Branding in the Built Environment: how design tools and solutions can help users differentiate one space from another. - Wayfinding in the Built Environment: how design helps people move through spaces, directs them, and aids in avoiding physical and/or psychological barriers; approaches to directional and regulatory signage; and iconography. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to: - Understand the relationship between information design, brand identity, and user experience in digital or physical spaces of place - Develop concepts and design solutions that utilize consistent visual communication elements to connect people to places and brand experiences. - Develop place-based design concepts through research into geography, culture, demographics, environment, and architecture, among others. - Apply foundational design principles to articulate visual messages in identity design and apply that to the environment. - Research and understand fabrication processes, technologies, and materials involved in the implementation of environmental and experiential graphic design projects. - Utilize applicable concepts, materials, tools, and skills to solve three-dimensional design problems. - Utilize formal writing and verbal presentation to articulate design concepts and terminology specific to environmental graphic design proposals and implementation. - Develop tools to collect, gather, organize, and simplify data, and respond to place or event-specific information needs.
Topical Outline
Course content and projects will focus on the basic components of identity design and branding, then explore its intersection with placemaking and the built environment. 1. Identity Design? 2. Branding Systems? 3. Developing Sense of Place? 4. Movement: Mapping and Wayfinding Systems? 5. Activating Space: Dynamic Environments and Experiences Steps in the design process may include research, site studies and barrier audits, brainstorming, audience segmentation, user behavior study and observation, mapping, and prototyping. Content will be delivered via a variety of methods including lecture/discussion, readings, video resources, and field trips.
Syllabus