English 309: Computer-Aided Publishing

I presented a paper at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in San Francisco on March 11, 2009, on the future of scholarly publishing in rhetoric and composition. In case you're interested, you can read it here:

http://www.parlorpress.com/newrealities

I am creating a t-shirt for an organization on campus that revolves around the student's love of music. I wanted to find an image that could not only potentially be used on the shirt, but would reflect how music moves in a very colorful and eye-cathing way. I love the color in this image. The black background creates an excellent base for the "mess" of color that visibly portrays the movement of music.

Over spring break, I read a book on Jerry Garcia called Garcia : A Signpost to New Space.  I really liked the placement of the image on top, with the most important part of the title in bigger, bolder letters. The font remains the same through the title and authors, but changes with the quote on the bottom. 

Overview

For Project 5 (as for Projects 2, 3, and 4) you'll plan, design, research, and produce a multi-page document, such as a catalog, newsletter, print-on-demand book (for Blurb or Lulu, for example), or website. As for Projects 2-4, the steps will include completing a Wireframe and Project Management Brief, adding weekly notes to your Project Log, collecting assets at your Drop.io site, and submitting printed and electronic copies of your project when it is completed. Your choices are only limited by the samples in the course texts or in class, which cover a vast range of possibilities. You should complete a Project Management Brief (including a wireframe of the key page(s) of your document), add weekly notes to your Project Log, collect assets at your Drop.io site, and submit printed and electronic copies of your project when it is completed. Examples of acceptable projects include but are not limited to the following: catalog, newsletter, ezine, brochure, ebook, printed book, photo/art book, magazine, multi-page website, digital portfolio (with designed interface), template for Wordpress or Drupal, and more. (Individual or collaborative*: 30% of course grade.)

This week has been challenging for a design standpoint. I really wanted to create some odd shape to use in the header (and possibly footer) of my brief. Kinda like this one.  But I could not figure out how to do this within InDesign, so I gave up.

One of my favorite band's website is probably one of the best designed sites that I ever use.  I probably check this website daily since tDB are on tour now, so it is really beneficial for it to be designed well with good structure and outline elements.

 First of all, I love the general layout and simplicity that is Nylon magazine. The typography and color schemes they use are top-notch. The title font usually stays the same for each issue, but depending on the content and covergirl...the colors change.  I was drawn to this cover from the October 2008 issue becasue of the boldly placed name of the covergirl.

Overview

For this project, you'll design a wireframe (design structure) for what's called a Project Management Brief that you can then use in subsequent projects. (see the sample, "project-management-design-TH.pdf" at our 309 drop site.) You'll create your wireframe in Adobe InDesign and essentially make a re-usable template. I'll show you samples in class, and you'll learn to easily create project briefs that go with a variety of documents, such as websites, brochures, newsletters, etc. You'll also generate a set of questions for each type of project that will help you generate a "brief" for planning purposes. In the real world of publishing and design, writers and project managers use these documents when working with clients on complex design and publishing jobs.

This Wiki page collects all the URLs needed to access the Drop.io assets for students in English 309. To help ensure uniformity, each entry should follow the same form as the first one. Use your username to identify the Drop. The password for each of these Drops should be our class password. Also, each Drop should give permission for others to add content (and comments) but not to delete content.

English 309 Drop
http://drop.io/309assets

username
Drop URL

suzieqmasonjar