Rafael Fajardo
Director, SWEAT collaborative
Associate Professor,
Emergent Digital Practices
University of Denver

 

Teaching: Graduate Digital Design Concepts

DMST 4000 Digital Design Concepts An introductory course requiring conceptual, perceptual and manual skills to meet rigorous studio research into the history of mark-making, letter forms and layout designs as reflective of cultural, social, political and psychological contexts of interpretation. This class also emphasizes 2-D principles of design, including form, structure, conceptual understanding, visual aesthetics, semiotics, organizational systems, relationships of typography and imagery. 4 Credit Hours

Taught
2003 Fall Digital Design Concepts DMST 4000
2004 Fall Digital Design Concepts DMST 4000

Syllabus
2003 Fall
2004 Fall

Outcomes
Gallery 02 (14 images) documenting a few of the "Evocative Cube" project outcomes. Students were challenged to make a "thing" within a 7 x 7 x 7 inch envelope of space that would evoke a response in a casual audience. The object should call out to be touched. This was an experiment in User Interface and Haptic Strategies.

Gallery 03 (15 images) documenting outcomes of the "Rhetoric of Abundance" project. The project was named after the fact and so does not appear in the syllabii. As part of the students' explorations into the generation and analysis of meaning they explored different environments, both civic and mercantile. In order to "make strange" a familiar environment, I challenged the students to bring back from Wal-Mart the most fabulous thing the could find for one dollar. The experiment had the desired effect. The participants reported back that the challenge caused them to scrutinize the organization and array of products in a way they never had before. I interpret this as an awakening of a critical consciousness to designed spaces and designed experiences.