Conferences are an excellent opportunity for people to learn, collaborate and engage. Every great conference needs a theme. What’s the unifying message that your speakers will deliver and what’s the key takeaway for conference attendees? The best themes are catchy, relatable, and trigger an emotional response. You want the conference to inspire and stimulate conversation. Your theme has to enable that. For instance, “Stronger as a team” is probably a better theme than “Achieving improved efficiencies through increased cross-functional collaboration.” The theme is more than just a rallying cry for all participants; it will also guide your branding and promotion, from designing a logo to coming up with social media hashtags to printing your posters, brochures, and other collateral.
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Project: Conference
Your next challenge is to imagine, design and produce the materials for a 2-day conference on a topic based on any Ted.com/topics. To give your conference line-up some seriousness you will use TED.com to identify at least 6 of the 8 speakers in your speaker line-up. You need 8 speakers total. At least 6 from Ted.com
What is the big idea behind the conference?
Why would people want to attend?
Who would be the speakers?
Who would attend it?
When and where would it be held.
Look and Feel: The final solutions must be an organic/kinetic series. The audience shouldn’t be able resist your promotional piece, want to find out more AND want to go to your conference and keep the materials.
*Only restriction is it can’t be a Design conference. You can have a designer(s) speak but it can’t be the focus. What is a topic outside of Design that is interesting?
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This is due when you come to class...
Thursday, January 30
Type it up. Organize it as a 1920px x 1080px presentation (use InDesign)
— What are TED.com/topics sound interesting. Consider at least 3 and pick 1.
__ What did you consider and what did you select. Why?
__ Watch at least 8 videos on the topic and pick your 6 - 8 speakers.
__ Also look at 1 - 3 written articles.
— Capture ____key points ____phases ____words they use ____things they refer to.
— What is a common theme(s)/thread(s)? (you have to define at least 1)
— What 3 - 6 question(s) can be answered?
— What 6 questions that can be asked?
— From that what could be the arching/ big ideas about the conference?
** you may have to watch a couple of times. you need this list complete for your concept!
— Who are your 8 speakers?
__ Is there someone that is not a TED speaker that you would like to include? Can have 2.
— Use TED.com to identify at least your 6 - 8 speakers.
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Make sure your speaker line-up is diverse in topic, perspective…
Capture all of the above and start thinking about how want to put it together as an onscreen presentation 1920x1080px
Use as many pages/screens as you need. Use a grid. Pick your typography. Use style sheets.
Save it as a pdf and upload to the class google drive: Name the file your name and put it into the +Conference_HandIn -> Phase_One Folder.
PLEASE... DO NOT GO TO LOOKING EXAMPLES ON WHAT YOU THINK IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE.
You will get sidetracked on making something cool and not having a concept. Don’t look. Just think. :look at the TED.com/topics. Watch TED talks. Read. Research. Brainstorm. What would be a cool conference in regards to CONTENT. IDEAS. You will make this project look cool but do not start there! It is dangerous to your future to image what you want it to look like first. Think first. Take your time to do the list above and you will have a great start.
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HOMEWORK DUE Tuesday, Feb 4
WHO: WHERE: WHAT: + FONT STUDIES.
Add to your presenation the following and upload it to the class google drive
Develop Concept. Conference Name. Tagline.
This should take you several hours. SEVERAL HOURS.. don't think you can bang this out.
What was the tread(s) you found that could tie the 8 speakers together?
What were the questions you could ask?
WHO
Why do people go to conferences?
Why will they come to your conference?
Who will attend?
What will they expect to get out of the conference?
WHERE
Where will it be held (what city)?
What venue in that city. Find a convention center, hotel, museum or art center to hold it in.
Where you hold it may influence the look and feel.
WHAT
What is the concept? The Big Idea? (see below)
Name of the Conference
Tagline
Write 3 -5 sentences about your conference.
Develop a concept. Brainstorm words that can capture, expand, twist your thread. Maybe a metaphor? Look at some Action Verbs. Start with these ideas… expansion, expanding, unfold, unravel, extend, distend, broaden, develop, multiply, disjoin, combine, reveal ... or any other words.. What 2 words could you put together to make a thread?
*you must present 6 different ideas. 6 different names, 6 differnt taglines, 6 short paragraphs, 6 concepts/big ideas. 3 words for each concept (words that help find visuals)
The WHO and WHERE are the same for all 6 WHATS.
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Examples...
Converge
Disciplinarities and Digital Scholarship
Converge encourages design educators, design researchers, and designers to take advantage of opportunities in digital scholarship, learn how to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects, and find new intersections within their existing research trajectories. To redefine what it means to be a designer and a design researcher today, we ask: How can design converge with digital scholarship in more than a superficial way? How might aspects of digital scholarship impact design research? What are the key questions at the intersection of design and the humanities?
RGD DesignThinkers 2015 Conference
Converge. Inspire. Transform.
RGD DesignThinkers, Canada's largest annual conference for the communication design industry, is a two-day event where International and Canadian creative visual communicators converge in downtown Toronto. Registrants have the opportunity to attend high-profile speaker presentations, panel discussions, network with colleagues, attend workshops and participate in a variety of other programs related to the design industry.
"Converge. Inspire. Transform” became the tagline for the event. “Converge", because of people coming together physically at one location with unity of purpose. “Inspire", because of the exchange of new ideas and ways of thinking. And lastly, “transform” because of emotional or intellectual change after attending the conference. Visually, we wanted the branding to encapsulate the digital feel of data but in contrast to something tactile and hand-crafted. To this end we executed the visuals by moving between making things by hand and finishing them off in the computer or by generating assets off the computer and finishing them by hand.
*Converge and Transform gives you visual cues on the visual direction of the conference. If you use the word inspire then you better make something that looks inspired!
Nuts + Bolts
Tightening up classroom fundamentals, reinforcing careers, and constructing the future of the discipline
Nuts + Bolts, a national AIGA Design Education conference for emerging and established design educators, administrators, students, and designers to strip away the mystique of academia and help build a solid foundational knowledge of discipline specific teaching methods.
*LULU: Workbook project you need to be ready to send to LULU by April 9 to get it by the review without having to pay extra shipping. Wil go over how to send to LULU on April 9 in class so be ready.
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Tuesday, February 4
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refine concepts in class
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have 3 key words that help with visuals
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work on phase 2 finish as homework.
Exploration of the Moodboard/Toolkit. You are exploring the visual language of the system for the conference. You can use things you have made or examples you find (you will make your own visuals). You are looking for reference, inspiration, look and feel…
Logotype studies
__ Refine Name and Tagline (how does the tagline support, twist, manipulate the name? conceptual, twist: makeing the normal strange or the strange normal)
__ Create 30 - 50 logotype + tagline studies think how the type supports the name and tagline.
Moodboard/Toolkit includes:
__ typography, font, styles, how it will be used.. 1 | 2 |
__ color palette: define a palette and how you will use it/ overlay. pure. bold. soft
__ images: what images would you use/objects, place... no headshots of speakers for this part
__ images manipulation… full color, bw, bitmapped, juxtaposed/collage...
optional for moodboard/toolkit patterns / icons
__ patterns/textures: if you are using them what do they look like?
__ icons if you were going to use them what is the style?
Print out the 3 different directions on 11 x 17.
You need to explore 3 completely different toolkits for the same concept.
1 concept with 3 different ways to show the concept visually.
The world is open to any visual but it has to go with your concept. You are not making any deliverables/you are just setting up the toolkit. (this is intense but it is something to aim to: example Mint, Lucas, Welch, Kelley)
You will refer to a moodboard/toolkit when it is time to make... you will know what your visual direction should look like. For the toolkit you are only pulling examples of what you want things to look like. What you can make if if you need to show how you would use color, manipulate form, manipulate photos...
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Thursday, February 6
Crit moodboards, Logotype studies
HOMEWORK
Exploring the Kinetic System
Refine logo type / lock-up how are using typography for the title and tagline of your conference.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE a CONCEPT. Title, Tagline, blurb and moodboards all should have a concept around them!
Explore 6 different design directions. You are now using your any of your toolkits to explore how these things actually look like. These are rough sketches of what the design can look like in 3 different formats. USE THIS ILLUSTRATOR FILE. Your are exploring. Freely exploring your toolkit. Do not get stiff and conservative. The only wrong answer is to not explore.
For the 6 different design directions. Remember the range you had in the last project where you designed very close to a style, to just the likeness (distant relative) to something in between. Looking for range in the 6 different solutions.
Each of the 6 design directions is shown in 3 different proportions. (another wording of the same thing: 6 different design directions each with 3 different formats. A kinetic system is not a cookie cutter solution. It means you are not just scaling things to fit into the next format. How can you change the proportions of the items to make a system? The 3 formats within the 1 solution are not range per se they are change in form/format/hierarchy, they are pushing the directions, cutting it up, changing it up, changing the proportion. They are not a new idea. Make sure you are really clear on this!
Make sure yo understand kinetic system before you start. If you come in with the same thing over and over on class on Monday you will not get any feedback and you will be behind.
PROCESS BOOK: i am not pre-grading this one, you need to show us in class for feedback and you should be able to make a great one by now -- take it seriously -- will be part of the final grade)
Designed as a multi-page book (not a presentation on the screen) be sensitive to type sizes in an book 18 is huge. Type size is typically 9pt /12 point leading! Headers could be 14 - 18pt. LOOK at your typography and make it nice.
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Tuesday, Feb 11
present your 34 sketches and your 6 different design directions printed out 11x17 color
plan out 2 sided poster. tape sheets together to make 19 x 25 inch poster
HOMEWORK
Based on the class crit pick your design direction/system direction and design 6 different conference poster fronts and backs (sketches, overall idea not fussy designs yet, but you have to use REAL text). Rough layouts. But they should be layouts. They shoudl all be considred. Just do it.
Use REAL information: real names, city, bio... you can use random headshots)
REAL TEXT, REAL DESIGN. PRINT OUT in Color on 11x17 pin up for class crit.
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Thursday, Feb 13
crit Posters fronts and back working in class...
HOMEWORK
Refine poster front and back and start thinking about your entire system. x2. So you need to have one direction but with 2 different variations of the front and back. Print one full size tiled and the other on 11 x 17. *Hoping they are very different in scale, proportion of elements, color.... etc. make sure you are using the deliveralbe link
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Tuesday, Feb 25
crit Posters fronts and back working in class...
HOMEWORK: it is a lot! be prepared...
Refine: Conference Poster: (front and back)
Develop 4 different
City Banners
Develop 3 different Billboards (use these or find own)
Develop 3 different Name tags Sets (1 for the speaker, 1 for attendee, 1 for staff)
Develop 2 Tote bag (find a mock up)
or
HOMEWORK
Refine: Conference Poster: (front and back)
Website
Screen capture at least 3 different websites (3 pages) and mark them up so you know what sizes of type you should use when designing your website.
Type Sizes: navigation, header, subheads, body, how small can you go?
Develop 3 different website directions: use a grid, use type styles (so you can change them
Design the homepage, schedule with min speaker info, speaker page
Web banners at least 3 designs for each of the 3 sizes (they can animate so just start with the first and last screen. What do you want people to do? click on link for more, click to register...
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Thursday, Feb 27
HOMEWORK
Refine and Design. At least 3 storyboards for Instagram animation. At least 3 storyboards for Speaker Bumper.
PLEASE MAKE SURE THE CORRECT CONTENT IS ON EVERY PIECE.
it is required content not optional. you can add but you can’t subtract.
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Tuesday, March 3
crit all of the above. speaker bumpbers
HOMEWORK
Refine and Design.
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Thurs, March 5
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Tuesday, March 17
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All due Thursday March 19
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