Net Art/Criticism

Course code : DESI1054
Course co-ordinator : David Watson

Introduction

This course is about art and design. It's about learning to look, it's about exploring ways of using the web beyond the normal, it's about learning to be critical of the work of others and it's about improving your own graphic skill. The course is an investigation of the possibilities of the web as a medium for art and design. It also uses the medium of digital photography to explore graphic design concepts such as composition. The course is composed of 3 assessed projects and a number of workshops. The 3 projects, described below, are designed to satisfy the aims of the course. This course does not concern itself with technical aspects of web design such as coding standards and accessibility but any work undertaken should be done with these things in mind. Although the assessment does not give credit for good code, marks may be deducted if a site falls well short of expected standards.

The face-to-face sessions are designed to expose students to a range of creative graphic design topics and to give critical feedback on project work.

Course Diary

The course diary gives an overview of the timetable, weekly topics and submission dates for this course. There may be occasional changes, so check back frequently.

2009-10 Session
DateRoomTitle
7th Oct 2009Lab CCourse & Thesis Project introduction - David & Tom.
Photographic composition - David Watson
14th Oct 2009Lab CWeb Thesis Project
Final crit (all students) - David & Tom.
21st Oct 2009Lab CBranding - Nickie Hirst.
28th Oct 2009Lab CTypography - Malcolm Southward.
4th Nov 2009Lab CInformation design - Nickie Hirst. *
11th Nov 2009Lab CWeb Thesis Project
Personal brief and research proposals - David & Tom.
18th Nov 2009Lab CWebsite criticism - Tom Turner. seminars
25th Nov 2009Lab CFlash & web media 1 - Anastasios Maragiannis.
2nd Dec 2009Lab CPhotoshop for the web - David Watson. **
9th Dec 2009Lab CFlash & web media 2 - Anastasios Maragiannis. †
16th Dec 2009Lab CInterface design - Nickie Hirst.
Christmas Break (3 weeks)
20th Jan 2010OnlineThe Journey is the Reward - submission. ††
24th Mar 2010Lab CProject 2 - brief issued. ‡
28th Apr 2010OnlineProject 2 - submission. ‡‡

All sessions will take place 10am to 1pm on the above dates.
Attendance is not required for "Online" events.

* Critical essay brief issued.
seminars Each student to give a seminar on their chosen topic.
** Critical essay submission.
† The Journey is the Reward brief issued.

Key Texts

See the reading page for more information on these titles.

Further Reading

See the reading page for more information on these titles.

Online Resources

Course Documents

There are currently 6 files in this section

File Listing
  Filename Size (KB) Date Modified
A Critique of your competitors.pdf 39.9 28th Mar 2009
A Critique of your competitors.pptx 37.8 28th Mar 2009
DESI1054 Course Brief 08-09.pdf 66.3 28th Mar 2009
Flash tutorials.pdf 8,354.9 3rd Dec 2009
Photographic composition.pdf 3,836.5 6th Oct 2009
Photoshop Creating Buttons (sample chapter).pdf 4,117.5 7th Dec 2009

Assessed Elements

This course includes 3 assessed elements; two projects and an essay. Details of these elements are given below. Each of the elements has a slightly different weighting and this is indicative of the degree of difficulty and/or the ammount of work required. The weighting is as follows:

Critical essay

Website Graphics compete with Fast Food Fliers for the award of "Worst Graphics Around". This is partly because it is a new field of design and partly because of the limitless possibilities. We can do little about these two problems. But it is also because Website Graphics have received insufficient critical attention and reasoned debate. For the role of critics see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critic and the "See Also" links. So we are asking the Web Design and Content Management class to write essays relating aspects of critical theory to Website Graphics. The brief is: take a topic in aesthetics or critical theory, as set forth in a Wikipedia article, consult other references (electronic and print) and then relate the topic to examples of web graphic design. It will not be enough to explain the theory and it will not be enough to find examples of web design: you must use examples to explain the theoretical topic. You should be generous in providing illustrations and they should be of two types (1) drawn from other arts (2) drawn from web graphics (if the examples can come from the genre of website you intend to use for your Thesis Design Project, so much the better).

It would be sensible for the group to choose different topics but this is not a requirement. The essay question is "How does the topic relate to web design and other types of design?" Please follow the links to all the topics on the list and, for your own topic, make use of the "See Also" and "References" sections on the topic.

Submission requirements: a seminar presentation of around 10 minutes followed by the submission of a 3,000 word illustrated essay. An indicative mark will be given for the seminar presentation and the final mark (= 30% of the marks for this course) will be made after submission of the essay. In all cases, you must cite references and supply web links. See the course diary for relevant dates.

List of topics

  1. Art Criticism
  2. Art History
  3. Critical theory
  4. Literary theory
  5. Aesthetics
  6. Beauty
  7. Wabi-sabi
  8. Composition (visual arts)
  9. Canons of page construction
  10. Genre studies
  11. Golden section
  12. Photography
  13. Typography
  14. Page layout
  15. Mimesis

Notes

  1. if taking a topic covered elsewhere in the course (eg photography, typography page layout) you must give particular attention to genres, indicators of genres and critical principles within genres (eg in Photography the genres include: art photographs/journalism photographs/medical photographs/fashion photographs)
  2. if taking topics which are not "graphic" you must both explain the principles involved and also explain how they could relate to graphic design (eg critical theory and literary theory), using illustrations

Mode of submission

Your essay must be submitted online in the form of a blog. A blog will be provided and you will be given login details. You should also keep a local backup copy of your essay. Completed work must be submitted on or before the date indicated in the course diary above.

Examples of student work

The journey is the reward (project 1)

The introduction

When designing a website, we often talk about the "user experience". Whole books have been written on the subject and we (as web designers) spend a deal of time thinking about it.

One of the more interesting distinctions between "art" and "design" is in the concept of "experience". A designer will usually consider the experience of the user i.e. the person or persons for whom he/she is designing. Conversely, an artist is more concerned with their own experience. This can be either the experience of making a piece of art or of forming a piece of art from a previous experience.

In this project, we will move from design into art by changing the emphasis of "experience" from projected to personal. We are going to use a website to convey a personal experience with little or no consideration for the viewer – they may take from it what they will.

Watershed by Richard Long

The journey

Each of you must make a journey. It doesn't matter whether the journey is from your living room sofa to the kitchen fridge or whether it's from Land's End to John o'Groats. It will probably help, however, if you are unfamiliar with the chosen journey. You must record the journey. You may record the journey in any way you feel to be appropriate. You may use still photographs, video, sound, sketches, words, phrases, found objects, memories, colours, textures, feelings, maps, interactions or any other method.

Your aim is to record your experience of the journey rather than the journey itself. For example, simply drawing a line on a map may illustrate the journey but it says absolutely nothing about your personal experience. Consider carefully what you see, how you feel, what you hear and how time passes. Consider also how your mental picture of a place is composed – glimpses and broad strokes or studied detail. To some extent this may be a function of your mode of transport.

The website

When you have completed your journey and have recorded your experience, you must create a website to express your experience of the journey. Depending on your experience, you may want to use a traditional narrative framework (start, middle, end) or you may want to play with time, or even eliminate time altogether, simply focussing on feelings and memories. Since this is "art", there are no real rules except that the work must have integrity.

The assessment

Assessment for this project will be based on the success or otherwise of your website to convincingly represent your experience. Naturally, as with all art, this is rather subjective but integrity, depth of thought and innovation will score well. The site will also be judged on the appropriateness of the graphic design and aesthetics. No account will be taken of technical issues such as coding. This project represents 35% of the course mark.

Completed websites must be online and ready for viewing by the date indicated in the course diary above.

Walking in a moving world by Richard Long

All text pieces by Richard Long – www.richardlong.org

Examples of student work

The four pieces of work listed above are examples of past student work for this project. Some are Flash-based artworks; others are just embedded video and some are just HTML and images. This project is a really good opportunity for you to experiment with Flash and other media.

Typographic design for a poetry website (project 2)

This project is designed to get you thinking about the important role that typography plays in website design. It's often tempting simply to use the standard fonts in a default state. After all, they're designed to be legible on a screen. However, a creative use of typography can really set your site apart from the others and inject personality into the design.

The introduction

Typography is a hot topic in web design at the moment. Designers are excited because of new/recent technologies that will allow future websites to correctly display any font the designer wishes. This has never been possible on the web before and graphic designers do not have the same fredom of expression on the web that they do in print.

Despite the obvious restrictions on the web, it is still possible to create imaginative and professional-looking designs with type. There are many typographic controls in CSS that designers often fail to use effectively. Simply setting the line-height of text can make an enormous difference to legibility.

The recent interest in concepts such as "progressive enhancement" means that it is no longer considered essential (or desirable) for websites to look identical in all browser and on all platforms. Consider, therefore, using creative font stacks - server preferred fonts to those who have them but allow your design to degrade gracefully for those who don't - or serve alternative fonts.

Some inspiration (in no particular order)

The brief

You are to design a website showcasing the poetry of a poet. If you do not have a favourite poet of your own, you may choose one of the following:

  1. Ted Hughes
  2. Stevie Smith
  3. Robert Frost
  4. Emily Dickinson
  5. Philip Larkin
  6. Thomas Hardy
  7. Seamus Heaney
  8. Ogden Nash
  9. Sylvia Plath
  10. William Blake

The website need not be comprehensive but it must consist of a homepage containing some introductory content and at least 3 pages featuring poems by your chosen poet which are navigable from the home page. Content should be accurate and some historical research/reading will be required.

The assessment

Assessment for this project will be based on the success of your website to effectively and creatively display the typographic content. Marks are awarded for visual design and for technical accomplishment in a 60/40 ratio. This project represents 35% of the course mark.

Completed websites must be online and ready for viewing by the date indicated on the course diary above.

Workshops

Photographic Composition

Taking photographs for web pages and considering composition…

Composition

Photographic Portfolio

What's the best way to create a photo portfolio page using XHTML and CSS? Can you improve on this one?

How about this technique?

Flash

Creating a Flash slide show…

Course Materials

There are currently 11 files in this section

File Listing
  Filename Size (KB) Date Modified
flash01.jpg 17.2 28th Mar 2009
flash02.jpg 23.7 28th Mar 2009
flash03.jpg 14.7 28th Mar 2009
flash04.jpg 10.5 28th Mar 2009
flash05.jpg 14.6 28th Mar 2009
Photoshop_Balloons.jpg 136.4 28th Mar 2009
Photoshop_Rockies.jpg 154.0 28th Mar 2009
template01.htm 2.5 2nd Dec 2009
template01.jpg 6.4 28th Mar 2009
template02.htm 2.5 1st Dec 2009
template02.jpg 7.6 28th Mar 2009

Copyright David Watson 2005–2010
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