Investigation & Practice 2: Assignment 02

B.A. (Hons) Design for Visual Communication

Module: Investigation and Practice 2 Module Code: VC202-802-16 (20 credits) Lecturer: Katherine Szeto

Date: 24/8/2006

Assignment 2:

Daily Rituals

Introduction:

The word ritual implies something that one practices as part of a religious ceremony. However, rituals are not necessarily spiritual. Ritual can also refer to a procedure, state or condition that is regularly followed. A routine. While our modern lifestyles have afforded us less time to matters of spirituality and ceremony, new rituals have arisen in their place. Think about the different acts you perform daily. They can range from your grabbing a cup of coffee from the Starbucks on your street every morning before you catch your bus, or your need to read the sports section of the paper before you have dinner every night.

Brief:

Develop a new design concept that will explore a specific target group in its performance of their daily modern rituals. You will choose a slice of the Shanghai population (eg. 12-14 year old teenage boys; 55+ women, etc.). DO NOT CHOOSE THE GROUP IN WHICH YOU BELONG. You will then need to discover and explore what rituals they perform while going about their daily lives. You will need to investigate this using different tools, from observation to questionnaires to online research. Use your research to come up with a design concept -it can be realised as any visual communication product -- that documents, explores and makes visible their daily ritual(s) to a general public. Your end product can be anything. Eg. publication, installation, photo essay, packaging design, etc. Go beyond the expected. Be creative!

Learning Outcomes:

Understand the issues involved in preparing a design concept for delivery across a broad spectrum of graphic media. Apply a higher level of independence in resolving a design problem. Find solutions to creative problems utilizing appropriate visual approaches. Identify and evaluate emerging design trends through visual research. Synthesise research findings in order to help solve visual communications problems, which relate to broader aspects of contemporary design practice. Manage a graphic design project using a systematic process. Expand upon creative and production skills applicable to a variety of graphic and communication media. Implement typographic and image generating strategies appropriate to solving a visual communication problem.

Work Required:

Students must submit: 1. 1 sketchbook; 2. 1 portfolio presentation 3. final outcome You are also required to present your project to the class, using visuals, in Week 10.

Deadline:

Sketchbook, portfolio and outcome due September 13th 2006 (week 10) Presentation of project in class September 14.

Assessment Strategy:

Documentation of brainstorming and ideas generation. (20%) Design processses involved in solving visual communication problems. (20%) Research files. (20%) Stages of visual development through sketchbook/ screenshots. (20%)

Final design outcome, which reflects a high standard of finish and functionality. (20%) Project Weighting within the Module:

This project is worth 50% (fifty percent) of the total Investigation and Practice 2 module mark.