The 2023 Design Notebook Project

 

The DESIGN NOTEBOOK PROJECT:

Designers will be given a blank notebook at the beginning of the semester to use throughout

the semester to complete with any “outside” design interest in art, design, photography, mixed media, poetry, illustrations, etc.

The design notebook should indicate your outside influences on your own design by creating visual stories based on experiences, themes or randomness. This notebook contains paper that various multimedia can be used.

*Inspired by https://www.sketchbookproject.com/

http://instagram.com/thesketchbookproject

The SPECS:

Each designer is receiving a 24-page black 11x17 (Tabloid) paperback sketchbook.

1. Design Notebooks should probably have a Theme or Topic…a jumping off place for you to connect to. You should indicate the theme somehow inside the book and possibly on the cover(s).

2.  The name of designer (you) and the Theme/Topic should be listed on the last page of the sketchbook (not the inside back cover but the last page someplace.)

3.  Each Designer should “sign and date” the design notebook on the last page near their name.

This will be your final project for the semester and you will present it on the last class day this semester. You've got all semester to do something creative.  Warning: Please don't wait until the last day to complete it.

These designbooks will be seen by everyone in class. You should have more than enough time to fill the entire book but I advise that you do a page or two each week just so you have a thoughtful book at the end.

You can us the pages as single pages or double page spreads. It could even be one continuous design throughout the entire 24 pages…or 12 full spreads (gates.)  Maybe the design is like an accordion fold when opened. You can cut the pages in half or fold them according to your theme/concept.  Look at the designbook in it’s original form/shape and think what you can do with this book.

Any media is acceptable.

You can take the book apart and run it through the printer or use collage materials or you can stamp it, perforate it, cut it, fold it, or allow it to be half pages/full pages. It could contain “pop up” images, silkscreened images, gate folds, die cuts, or more conventional image making like pen, pencil, & watercolor. The sky is the limit.  Creativity is the goal.

It’s your chance to just show off on this last piece for the semester.  Concept is the ultimate goal as well as the storytelling that takes place as it’s “theme.”

The book MUST be returned back to me in its original shape and size. No larger and no smaller and no heavier. You cannot add or delete pages to it. If you glue, staple, collage materials to the pages then it should still retain its 2D flat shape with possible width and weight. 

Again, the size and shape must be the same when you return it.

Every page must be acknowledged which means no blank pages unless you are seeking spatial or compositional qualities that one side of the page can lend to another side.  For drama or focus. In the end, the book must fit back into its cover. YOU can even change the cover into something more compelling.  Change the weight of the paper or the color or the texture. You can change all the cover paper stock if you wish. Maybe it’s cover is made of wood or cloth or plexiglass, mylar wood or any other substrate that will join your thematic approach.

It’s Art serving Art with the intent/purpose you give it.

I would encourage you to even put these pages up on your blogs for posterity.

Possible Ideas for your Designbook:

Photography, illustrations, typography, posters, doodles, collage, mixed media, painted images, die cuts, pop ups, stamps, embossed images, printed images, printmaking, etc.

Possible Themes:
Youth, Voting, Loyalty, Courage, Truth, Friends, Aging, Death, Acceptance, Safe spaces, War and Peace, Work, Academics, Playing, Relationships, GSU, Families, Paths, Injustice, Sex, Tolerance, Safety, Spirituality, Fashion, Travels, Adventures, Death, Political, Cooking, Explore, Seashore, Foreplay, Language, Chemistry, Hunting, Touch, Secrets, DYIs, Hashtags, Beauty, Sexuality, Experience, Kiss, Plunder, Nomad, Unity, Survival, Openness, Memories, Senses, Dilemmas, Passions, Nakedness, Compass for Life, Beaches, Mountains, Music, Poetry, Catastrophic, Painful Breakups, Loneliness, Flirting, Theatre, All Creatures great and small, Pets, Car Trips, Recipes, Past Relationships, Discoveries about yourself, Lifestyles, Films/Movies, Buried Treasures, Fetishes, etc. 

It'll be fun so just relax and experiment and have fun doing something so creative. That’s it.  No get to work and have fun.

Possible 20pts  total

 

Courtesy Design Libre

 

After ::  My concept for this sketchbook came from my love for collecting old photographs.  Ever since I was a kid I’ve been collecting old things - postcards, letters, matchbooks, photographs, etc.  I had this old yearbook from 1954 that I thought was so great and so funny.  Inspired by Andy Warhol and the Pop Art movement of the 50s - I took apart this old yearbook, used quotes and images from it - and gave it a little pop art twist.  Here’s what I came up with :: 

http://cargocollective.com/Yellowbirdvisuals/The-Sketchbook-Project-round-2 (bigger images) 

Below: This is what an incredible Sketchbook looks like created by Michaela Jelin. Incredibly thoughtful. Poetically Beautiful. A piece of Art that is personal with a universal message. More beautiful in person actually than reproduced here. There were several from the seniors last fall and I'll bring them to class to show you in person.  Achieve for what this can be as an object that represents visual thinking and authentic concepts.