Pens, Pixels, & The Future of Design: January 2017

The book design, production and launch installation was a collaborative effort of the Fall 2016 ARTC 5340 Contemporary Issues and Criticism course. The course examines emerging issues in graphic design and design criticism with goals of developing critical thinking and writing skills, a thoughtful and confident writing voice, and research and analyze design within it’s social/cultural contexts.

By the end of the course each student has read and written design criticism individually then the class comes together on a single topic to act as a design agency in writing, design and production of a publication, a gallery launch exhibition, and advertising for the opening and installation.

At the launch event viewers were invited to interact with each section of the installation and take a copy of the book to enjoy while expanding their own thoughts on the history and future of design.

Pens—an interactive vinyl chalk decal was covered by the team with icons of the "tools of the trade" and invited viewers to make use of the chalk markers to color in icons, answer questions, create custom Pantone® color chips, and fill in the pixel grids with their own artwork.

Pixels—invited viewers to interact with the COM DES Snapchat account by providing a customized exhibit filter to their SnapChat story.

& The Future of Design—showed a possible path of the future with a custom Time of Design 360 photo and other provided 360 videos that allowed viewers to explore the exciting world of virtual reality.

Instruction: Maia Wright, Issues & Criticism
Installation & Launch Coordination:  Mikaela Buck
Installation: Mikaela Buck, Yocelyn Riojas, & Brianna Soto
Editing and Production: Teresa Wingfield
Social Media & PR: Kim Brown
Book Design: Yu Chuan "Erin" Chiu, Seunghee "Simon" Lee, Roland Murillo, Mark Rojas

Timelapse music: Rumbleseat by Podington Bear