Analog + Digital Synthesis
A GDES Elective
Virginia Commonwealth University
Department of Graphic Design
Spring 2012
Most design work today starts and ends on the computer. Our hands are rarely used to operate tools that are not attached to a USB cord. Digital tools are firmly embedded in the contemporary design process—but are not the only (or the best) tools at our disposal. The synthesis of old and new, analog and digital, and hand- and computer-based methods provides designers with an opportunity to work beyond of the container of the computer.
In this course, students will use processes that involve their hands to create graphic design, relying on the computer as a supplementary tool. Students will be encouraged to switch back and forth from analog to digital, aiming to fuse the two together into new hybrid forms. This course will be a laboratory to explore how processes and materials can both form and inform design.
Lectures and demonstrations will cover a wide range of inventive and unique processes used by artists and designers around the world. Assignments and critiques will encourage alternative methods of working, the use of unconventional materials, and conceptual and formal experimentation. Over the course of the semester students will complete multiple projects, each investigating a different approach to synthesizing analog and digital techniques into graphic design artifacts.
More at designcrit.com/synthesis
