Brief

The final will consist of a 50-question multiple-choice/matching/fill-in-the-blank exam, and two short essays. The essay prompts are listed below so you can start working on those immediately. The assignments will open on Learning Suite by noon on and close at 11:59 p.m. on . That will give you just over a week to complete the exam and submit your essays. The exam will be open book and open note. The essays can be researched using any any reliable sources. Please do not consult your friends or search engines to find answers to the exam questions; that is cheating. You may form study groups, but the moment the exam opens, do not talk to your classmates about exam contents. You will be able to save, exit from, and return to the exam at any point, but you may only submit the exam once.

Essay Question Options

Each essay should be between 500 and 750 words (no more, no less), not including footnotes, bibliography, name, date, and title. Pick two different essay topics to write about from the list below.

1. Select a meaningful piece of design from your chosen field from the 20th or 21st century* and use one of the following cultural lenses (select an appropriate lens for the work and an appropriate work for the lens) to shed new light and understanding on the piece.
   Cultural Lenses:
   • Ethics, morality, spirituality, and/or religion
   • Truth
   • Education
   • Semiotics and visual languages
   • Historiography
   • Economies
   • Critical Theory and/or Marxism
   • Platforms, distribution, and display
   • Gender
   • Race
   • Intersectionality
   For example, you could use semiotics to break down the ways that Paul Rand’s IBM logo can be understood; you could use feminisms to point out the problematics embedded in Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907); or you could discuss how the economies of movie theaters and megaplexes have limited support for and access to animated shorts such as Bear Story (Historia De Un Oso) (2014). Do not use any of those examples as the basis for your essay.
2. Select two of the readings you did this semester (from required readings, supplementary readings, your own In Tandem or Dominoes research, and debate research) that come from distinctly different weeks and themes, and use one as a lens to explore the other to generate new understandings of their contents. For example, you could use Chinua Achebe’s “Colonialist Criticism” (1974) to focus on aspects of Just Design: Socially Conscious Design for Critical Causes (2011) to critique many contemporary design efforts in developing nations as forms of colonialism.
3. Select the topic from this course that been the most impactful on your thinking and practice. Make that idea the center of your paper and conduct a deep dive on the topic, addressing how it might impact contemporary practices and thinking in general. Be clear and specific, with citations from course material and your additional research. Address the ideas, not yourself or the class. Basically, you are drawing a through-line from the past to the present. Make sure that you are taking an interesting and unique approach. Don’t just say that ealy 20th century abstractions led to abstract graphic design today. That is too standard and linear. Find an idiosyncratic path, intriguing connections, non-standard pairings, seemingly disparate methodologies, and/or jump across mediums.
4. Select two different pieces of art or design from the 20th or 21st centuries. They must be at least two decades apart. Use one of those works as a lens to explore the conceptual and/or formal qualities of the other in order to build new understandings of both works. Use the DIE method to dive into both works—in the interpretation portion is where you can use the one work as a lens for the other. These works should be different enough to create an interesting combination rather than a standard or expected juxtaposition. For example, you might select Jackson Pollock’s Full Fathom Five (1947) and relate its employment of entropy with Victor Moscoso’s psychedelic poster for Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Miller Blues Band, and The Other Half (1967). Do not use the example as the basis for your essay.

Essay Tips

• Follow the advice given on previous writing assignments.
• Have your name and date at the top of the document.
• Before each essay, include the selected prompt followed by a snappy title for the essay.
• I recommend focusing on your essays between now and when the assignments open. Then, when the assignments open, submit your essays and shift gears to work on the exam until the due date.
• It is also recommended that you pass your essay ideas by the instructor for input prior to moving ahead.

Exam Tips

• Assemble your notes and readings since you will be able to refer to them for the exam. If you missed a lecture, get notes or a recording of the lecture from a classmate ASAP.
• Pay attention to the details of how the questions are phrased.
• Double check all your answers before submitting.

Grading

The essays will be graded on the following

• Conceptual Concerns (45%)
  • Student demonstrates evidence that they understand and inventively integrate conceptual concerns. The student’s research is evident and ample given the allotted time.
    • Excellent: Student demonstrates conversational familiarity with the material—making interesting connections between ideas.
    • Average: Student is able to relate material, but not do much interesting with it.
    • Below Average: Student struggles to demonstrate a grasp of the material and shows no facility in connecting ideas or new thinking.
• Articulation (45%)
  • When selecting a thesis or POV, the student is able to succinctly and plainly build a case using good storytelling techniques.
  • This includes proper spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, grammar and formatting for written assignments; and annunciation, confidence and focused arguments for oral assignments.
    • Excellent: Student understands modes of writing and presentation including style guides and is able to nimbly employ these tools in their writing and speaking.
    • Average: Student makes some stylistic and formatting mistakes by ignoring provided guidance.
    • Below Average: Student repeatedly makes the same mistakes and ignores instructor input and suggestions.
• Following Instructions (10%)
  • The student adheres to the guidelines provided for the course and the assignment. If the paper has a particular framework, the student adheres to that framework. If an assignment is to be submitted as a Word doc on Learning Suite, the student does not email the instructor a PDF.
    • Excellent: A detail-oriented student who takes instruction and fastidiously executes it within their work.
    • Average: A student who misses some details because they didn’t read instructions thoroughly or take proper notes when instructions were given.
    • Below Average: Student ignores basic instructions and guidance given for assignments.
• On-time Submission
  • No late work will be accepted (except in extreme circumstances).

Learning Outcomes

Design and Cultural History

Students will be able to identify ways in which visual design shapes and is shaped by society through communications, social relations, culture, economies, education, politics and history.

Critical Discourse

Students will be able to understand, discuss, and write about the theoretical, philosophical, social, and critical discourse—the “whys” and “why nots” of design practice and visual culture—and how their work fits into these contexts.

Image and Meaning

Students will be able to demonstrate fluency in interpretation and analysis of image systems, semiotics and meaning of visual culture in its diverse forms.

Ethics and Innovation

Students will be able to understand the ethics of design and principles of innovation for engaging with and improving the world through design and image.

* Please do not write about anime, manga, Norman Rockwell, Frida Kahlo, or Salvador Dalí. There is a whole wide world out there.