Visual Rhetoric Review

Design Principles:

• Contrast
• Repetition
• Alignment
• Proximity

Definitions of Robin William's terms.

Santos' del.icio.us links for design, see especially the A List Apart article on "Whitespace" and Mike Rundle's Vitamin article "How C.R.A.P. is Your Site Design."

Color Theory:

• Color in Motion
• Color Wheel Pro
• Color Meanings and Colors that Go Together

Santos' del.icio.us links for color theory, see especially the worqx.com overview and "Colors on the Web."

Resources:

• Flickr / image collections
• Introductions to Typography / Font Choice
• Photoshop tutorials
• Fireworks Tutorials
• GIMP
• Free online image editors

Also, last semesters' resource page on visual rhetoric includes powerpoints on design principles and typography. Be sure to log in to see the attachments.

Image Manipulation

Overview
Because I believe technology instruction is most effective when its practice more than preach, I'd like to spend the rest of today's session using image manipulation software. Your project will be to recreate a magazine cover as a self-portrait. Your recreation can either be playful or sincere (but, as an instructor, you should pick one depending on your pedagogical goal: self-expression or recreation). In other words, you can either create your own magazine or imagine yourself on the cover of an existing magazine.

Materials

• Digital Camera
• Photo Editing Software
• Imagination

Process

1. Some Inventin': First, you need to use that imagination. What magazine cover would you like to appear on? What would the headline be? What other stories might appear around the magazine? Take a minute (actually, about five minutes) to write brief responses to these questions
2. Research: Look at some covers for your magazine--I would say the easiest way to do this is to search google and look at the image responses. Those feeling uninspired and/or ambitous can shoot for the stars. Make a brief list of conventions common to the magazine (or of specific details if you are recreating a specific cover)
3. Shoots: Break into pairs/groups (depending on number of cameras!) to shoot photos. Break and attack--but move quickly (about 10 minutes)
4. Download: Get those pictures onto your computers
5. Image Manipulation Open your editor of choice and get to work! (I'll do some sample stuff to get us started).
6. Share: Cause that's the fun part!

Thanks to Jeff Spanke for sharing these pics:

• web.ics.purdue.edu/~jspanke/dadbday.png
• web.ics.purdue.edu/~jspanke/judyhouse.png