Founder’s Day and Fairytale Projects in Design: History and Theory Class (ART312)

Students in Art312, Design: History and Theory, are learning important design skills (meeting deadlines, working with a client, creating a design brief, and most importantly teamwork) in a series of projects that express their study of course material. The course introduces key styles from the 1860s to the present. Each project has a real-world application and multiple deadlines (so work is revised based on feedback for a final deadline, which is part of a designer’s normal career experience).

In the first project, students used as their content Butler University’s Founder’s Day. The campus celebration, February 7, provided the first deadline, and drafts of the projects were displayed at Irwin Library and in Starbucks for two weeks. While Butler’s history was the content of the team-produced designs, students had to also reference some element of one or more styles that developed from the 1860s to the 1910s. They were able to choose among Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Cubism, Futurism and Dada. Part of the challenge was to not lose their sense of individual voice while working as part of a team and adapting elements from these earlier styles. Students worked in teams to produce a timeline (an example of information design) and a poster.

Kaylin Greer, Founder's Day Timeline, Inpspired by Art Nouveau
Kaylin Greer, Founder’s Day Timeline inspired by Art Nouveau designs
Taylor Sitorius, Founder's Day Poster
Taylor Sitorius, Founder’s Day Poster

Creating the work was only part of the project. Students also documented their inspiration and process in a design brief, which is also a tool that can be used to market their work to potential clients. See Taylor and Kaylin’s full design brief at: http://foundersdayposter.blogspot.com/2014/02/design-brief.html

The second project asked students to interpret one or more styles from the 1920s to the 1950s – here it might be a style like Art Deco or Streamline, or concept-based work like WPA posters, or even the work of an individual designer, like Bradbury Thompson, Paul Rand or Saul Bass, that provides the inspiration. The content for this project was fairy tales, ghost stories or urban legends, which tied into this year’s ArtsFest theme. Work produced for this project is eligible for a juried show that will take place in the Schrott Center during ArtsFest during the first-two weeks of April.

Emma Landwerlen, Poster that combines The Hound of the Baskervilles with the style of Saul Bass
Emma Landwerlen, Poster that combines The Hound of the Baskervilles with the style of Saul Bass
Will Heed, Poster for a Ghost Story in the Style of Saul Bass
Will Heed, Poster for a Ghost Story in the Style of Saul Bass

Students have only just begun brainstorming for the third and final project, which requires them to try their hand at Experience Design as defined by Nathan Shedroff. In teams of four, students will create an experience that addresses a topic of contemporary relevance (such as globalism or sustainability), that also incorporates elements of style from the 1960s to the present.

The final deadline for all the projects created in Art312 is ART NOW – the end of semester exhibition that will take place in Butler’s Reilly Room on April 22 (opening 5-7) and April 23 (9-5). Some of the teams will present documentation of their third project; others will make the “experiences” available during the exhibition.   Margaret Citron designed this year’s poster, which is a modified version of her design created for the Founder’s Day project.

Margaret Citron, second marketing proof of Art Now poster, Spring 2014
Margaret Citron, second marketing proof of Art Now poster, Spring 2014

Margaret’s poster is inspired by Futurism (which is seen here in the choice of geometric elements which suggest movement and progress) and Orphism (which is seen here in the use of a wide range of colors and values).