About Me

Design 2110: Design Fundamentals

Project 1: About Me

Description

In this assignment, you will explore page layout to communicate about yourself and your ambitions in your Foundations Portfolio About Me page. This project will introduce you to building the Portfolio website, creating content, testing content arrangements, and communicating professionally. Through this project, students will:
  • Interpret and practice basic layout principles provided with template structures
  • Apply basic professional communication approaches with respect to your work
  • Explore iteration as part of the design process
  • Compare, contrast, correlate expectations commonly applied to design products

Exercises

“Good/Bad” Design

1: Reading
Find, read and/or listen to a minimum of three articles, blog posts, podcasts with the subject “good design.” Note what they have in common and what differences in opinion are presented.

2: Activity
Collect 4 photographic images of designed “things”.

  1. Photo 1: a design you feel is “good”. It is a design you “like”.
  2. Photo 2: a design you feel is “bad” design. It is a design you “dislike”.
  3. Photo 3: a design you do not like but are reticent to admit you do not like it. You tell others you “like” it but in secret you do not.
  4. Photo 4: a design you like but are embarrassed to admit you like it. “Bad” design you love.

Create a one-page PDF with labeled images. Provide a concise explanation for each choice (no more than 200 words per image.) Cite gathered images and information. Upload to Carmen Discussions (see Carmen for due date). Once your Portfolio site is created, you may upload into your process post.

Assignment Process

  1. Empathize: Who will be reading this bio? Investigate design industries and possible careers, activities, and fields of interest. Record your notes/sketches.
  2. Define: Make a list of requirements for your About Me page. What information about yourself do you want to communicate? Written bio in paragraph form should range between 200-500 words. Consider using lists and other visually concise information formats. We encourage you to create your own content. If you use “found” images or information, credit your sources and consider copyright-free materials.
  3. Practice and Commit: Your website is a living space and you will be shaping it throughout the academic year. This assignment is designed to set the format, tone and confidence for building your program portfolio. You are required to use the preset format. Content over the year will expand and provide the space to relay your developing ideas, discipline and creative processes.
  4. Establish your website: Complete the u.osu.edu set up. Use the basic instructions here to create and establish the format for your Foundations Portfolio. Once you have established your u.osu.edu website, follow this tutorial about creating Process Posts. Make the dedicated Process Post for this project and write/show the details your earlier process- your exercise content, bio drafts, image testing.
  5. Make final design decisions on hierarchy, order, and proximity. Publish your final content to your Foundations Portfolio About Me page. Create final submission deliverables.

Requirements

  1. Build and post to your Foundations Portfolio “About Me” page
  2. Address color and type limitations in the u.osu.edu template. Your page must contain a header, sub-header(s), body copy, and graphic image/photo elements that characterizes or identifies something about you.
  3. Body copy must contain (in any order you choose):
    1. Short bio in a format that reflects you (paragraph, bullets, poem?)
    2. Noteworthy information about you that you are willing to share
    3. A short reflection on design
    4. What interests, excites, or sparks curiosity about the design process you hope to explore in this program

Final Deliverables

See your Carmen page for deliverable due dates

  • PDF of final Portfolio “About Me” page (saved as a PDF directly from the browser) uploaded to Carmen
  • A link to your About Me Process Post as a comment in your Carmen submission
    1. See post here for more information on creating blog posts.
    2. Your Process Post will contain notes and images from our readings and “Good/Bad” design exercise. It may also contain assignment drafts and organization tests.

Rubric

There are 100 possible points for this assignment. This assignment counts as 5% of your final grade.
Points are achieved based on the level of effort, and in demonstration and application of knowledge and skills.

Process
Requirements met and instructions followed: 10 points

  • Creation of website, About Me page PDF, and Process Post link submitted

Process: 30 points

  • Quality and substance of documented process including exercises, readings, and composition iterations

Participation: 10 points

  • Participation in discussion and critique; Attendance and preparedness to work; Meeting checkpoints and deadlines

Final Outcome
Content: 25 points

  • Quality of included content: photo/image, noteworthy information, bio, definition of design, and what you are curious about design, etc

Design: 25 points

  • Quality of document design following provided template and application of hierarchy and space planning

Calendar

8/23: Course introduction
Homework: Review Assignment Brief and complete Reading exercise and begin Exercise 1: Good/Bad Design

8/25: Focus on u.osu.edu set up, Q&A Discussion on Hierarchy

8/30: Exercise 1: Good/Bad Design due; Focus on About Me draft discussion, Q&A

9/1: About Me uploaded to u.osu.edu site. Discuss and edit content

9/6: A1 Final submission due: Upload PDF and Process link to Carmen