Zachary Vernon - Design Foundations

This course is an introduction to composition and communication through visual means. The students are taught lessons in the use of positive/negative space, typography as form, utilization of imagery/photography, and grid systems as a means to communicate concepts or ideas.

Project 1: Composition and Communication

The students choose two words from a list and create a single composition for each that communicates a specific message about that word. All compositions must be hand-rendered.

Project 2: Reduction in Form

The students must photographically document a building (or buildings) and create a composition that communicates a specific message about the building. They must then reduce the photograph into positive and negative shapes, omitting unnecessary details and creating a clear visual for their message. They are asked to write a statement of intent to explain their thought process and message.

Project 3: LetterForms

The students are tasked with creating a companion visual for a newspaper or magazine article using only the letterforms in the actual article.

Project 4: Less is More

This project is broken up into three parts:

1. The students take an object of their choosing to scan in and create a black and white composition.

2. They then zoom into that composition to the point beyond recognizability, creating an entirely new composition from the first.

3. In the final part, they invert the second composition and add a color photograph in the background in order to create a new composition that entirely changes the context of the previous two.

This project is meant to teach the creative use of everyday objects as artistic tools, as well as to look beyond the initial use of such objects.